Hey everyone, Reecius here to review the Assassin Dataslate. Check out the Tactics Corner for more great reviews!
So first of all, folks are still a bit confused on what that
exactly means, so to be clear, the dataslate is a digital rules source that
gives rules for a new Faction. And yes, they are a Faction of their own
(Officio Assassinorium Faction), and included in the Armies of the Imeprium and
as such are battle bros with all other Imperial armies.
An assassin detachment consists of a single Assassin of your
choice. If you play unlimited detachments, you can just slap one into any army.
If you play limited detachments (as is the case in most tournaments) taking an
assassin will take up one of those slots. Conversely, you can also take the
assassin formation, which is 1 of each assassin and looks like it would be a
ton of fun to play!
In either case, you get a bonus VP if your assassin kills
the enemy warlord. Further, in the Formation, the assassins gain Preferred
Enemy: Warlord. They always act alone, too, and can never be joined by another
model. They also ignore the penalties for charging through cover as well. Cool
and fluffy, I dig it.
All of the assassins have a respectable statline of WS8,
BS8, S and T4, W3, I7, 4 attacks and LD10 with a 4++. Not bad! A nice little
boost over what they had previously. They also have the No Escape special rule
that makes enemy LoS! rolls suffer a -2 penalty. For (Ch) characters that means
they pass on a 6, for (IC) characters they pass on a 4+.
The Vindicaire is
first out of the gates weighing in at 50pts over a Thunderfire Cannon. He comes
with Blind Grenades, a CCW, a Spy Mask, his Exitus Rifle and Pistol. The Mask
gives him Ignores Cover except when snap firing.
The Rifle and Pistol are AP2, Poison, and have special ammo.
The rifle has a staggering 72" range while the pistol is 12". Plus,
all of his shots are Precisions Shots. Not bad!
The special ammo is similar to what he had in the past, but
slightly different. Shield-breaker ignores invul saves, Turbo-penetrator shots
are strength 10 versus vehicles and cause D3 wounds against toughness based
targets, and Hellfire rounds wound on a 2+. That is pretty dang versatile. You
can use that to target key models in a unit and try to take them down, such as
the Baron, a model with an important power or piece of wargear, vehicles, Monstrous
Creatures, etc. With Infiltrate and massive range, he can safely park in the
backfield and take pot shots on enemy models, relatively safe.
He comes with Infiltrate, Stealth, Fearless and MtC.
The Vindicaire is a really solid model and just for his MC
and vehicle busting alone, he is worth his points. His other abilities are just
gravy.
The Callidus is
up next! She weighs in at 5pts less than the Vindicaire.
She also comes with Fearless, Infiltrate, and MtC, but she
also has Fleet, Hit and Run, and Precision Strikes. When she Infiltrates
though, her Polymorphine allows her to do so as close as 1" away from the
enemy or to come out of Reserves behind the enemy, ala Snikrot. In either
instance, in the first turn she can only be hit by Snap Shots, which is pretty
fantastic! Templates and Blasts can't impact her on that turn, all other shots
hit on 6's. Nice little ability to keep her alive in the early game.
Her Reign of Confusion ability also allows her to reroll the
Seize roll similar to Coteaz, which is great, and it gives your opponent a -3
to reserves on their first reserve rolls. That is really useful for armies that
only reserve a key unit or two such as a Heldrake or Vendetta, etc.
Her wargear is cool, too. She has a Neural Shredder that is
a template pistol, AP2, wounds on a 4+. Not bad, especially when you consider
she can infiltrate 1" away from enemy units! You will wound 50% of what
you hit which against armies like Tau, or certain Marine builds like Grav Cav,
etc. can be devastating if you go first. You see where they deploy, put her
right next to a vulnerable target and splat!
In melee she sports a Phase Sword that is essentially an AP2
power sword that ignores invul saves on a to wound roll of a 6. Not bad at all.
This can be great if you get luck vs. things like TH/SS Termies, Farseers, the
Baron, etc.
Her secondary weapon are her Poison Blades, which are melee,
Poison 3+ and Rending. The two of these together (or her Neural Shredder) grant
an extra attack as well.
The Callidus is a solid backfield disruption unit that
starts in the backfield! Not bad. You can either go for the alpha strike and
hit them hard if you go first, or, reserve and come in behind them and do the
same thing. She will be great for picking off weak units, and support units and
in general being annoying with her speed, and Hit and Run.
The Eversor assassin
is up next, and my favorite. Not my favorite for his rules per se, but because
I love his look and fluff. An insane, murderous ninja hopped up on goofballs is
just too cool! He is also the cheapest, at just 35pts over a Thunderfire
cannon.
He is also Fearless, has infiltrate (finally!), and MtC, but
he also has FnP (nice!) and Furious Charge. Shame he doesn't come with Fleet
but with his special rule granted by his Frenzon drugs, it may have been too
much. Frenzon grants him a 3d6" charge range and +3 attacks on the charge
for a mighty 8! He also explodes when he dies for lols, at strength 5 in a
D6" radius.
His Fast Shot rule grants him 4 shots with his combi
Bolt/Needle Pistol (the Needle Pistol is 12", Poison 4+) and he can fire
overwatch at full BS. He can mix up the shots between Bolt Pistol or Needle as
he desires.
The Eversor sports a Power Sword, Melta Bombs and a
Neuro-gauntlet which is a melee weapon with Fleshbane and shred...just in case
you rolled a 1! Haha.
The Eversor is a light infantry lawn mower. He can wade
through MEQs fairly well, too, with 8 WS8, Str 5 attacks on the charge. His
ideal target is larger units of light or medium infantry that do not have the
ability to kill him in a single shot (Power Fist). He is relatively safe here
and his speed and bucket of attacks will cut them down in short order. He is
also fairly resilient with a 4++ and a 5+ FnP. Now that he finally has
infiltrate, he can begin the game in a good position, and almost certainly get
a turn 2 charge. His array of weapons makes him a threat vs. pretty much any
target be it vehicle, MC or infantry. Just be wary of things that can one shot
him. Honestly, he is probably the least powerful of the assassins, but for a
relatively low price point, he can really harass the backfield well and attack many
MCs, vehicles, even fast ones like skimmers, with his big charge range and mass
of strength 5 attacks or his Melta Bombs.
The Calexus is up
last and is the most exciting of the assassins. He is a game changer! Weighing
in at 40pts over a Thunderfire cannon, he is also quite reasonable for what you
get.
As per usual, he is Fearless, Infiltrates, and has MtC. He
also comes with Preferred Enemy (Psykers). On top of this, he has a boat load
of unique special rules. His melee attacks ignore armor saves full stop and
cause ID on a to wound roll of a 6, and against a psyker, all of his melee
attacks are ID. His Etherium special rule is nuts too, all attacks against him
are resolved at WS and BS 1! WOW. That really helps to keep him alive. Enemy
psykers assaulting him (so long as he is not locked in assault already) do not
get their bonus attack for assaulting.
The game changer though, without a doubt, is his Psychic
Abomination rule. Holy crap does this change the meta. The Calexus has a
12" radius debuff that causes all Psykers within it to suffer a -3 to their
leadership, generate no warp dice, only harness Warp Charge on a 6, prevents
the Calexus from being targeted or affected by psychic powers, and turns off
all Blessings and Maledictions....holy crap!!!
That is just like, mind blowingly good. He essentially
grinds the psychic phase to a stop within his bubble. Why this is so good is
because a lot of the top tier lists in the game right now rely on psychic buffs
to create deathstar units. Powers like Invisibility, Fortune, Guide,
Prescience, etc. all just go poof! in the Calexus' AoE. Daemon summoning got
you down? Not anymore. Iron Arm too good? Kiss it goodbye! It also shuts down
the tricks psychic heavy units have once they are within his radius. Gate for
example, is most likely not going to allow a unit to escape once the Calexus
has them in his sights.
The trick is getting him into position as any player with
these units will throw everything they have at killing him before he gets into range.
You can lean on his Etherium rule to survive, or stuff him into a durable,
mobile transport vehicle to increase his radius and get him where he needs to
be.
Further, he also comes with Psyk-out grenades which are a
str2, small blast that if it hits a unit with a psyker, the psyker suffers a perils
(and remember his -3ld debuff, too!). His Animus Speculum is basically a
psychic machinegun: assault 18", str5, ap1 that gets one shot per Mastery
Level of all psykers within 12" of him, plus up to 3 Warp Charge from your
own pool. He can quickly stack up an impressive number of shots, and I imagine
some players will add in some cheap psykers top their list to follow him around
for just that purpose.
This guy is a game changer, pure and simple. He has the
power to absolutely shut down certain deathstars which IMO, is nothing but a
good thing.
In all, the Assassin dataslate is a nice addition to the
game and gives players a lot of fun and useful tools in the tool chest. I think
the Formation will be a ton of fun, if not the most competitive choice. At
570pts it isn't crazy expensive, but it is a healthy chunk of points. You do get
a fun mix of units though, and I will certainly be trying it out!
