Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Imperium (section)

===Officio Assassinorum===
These gimp suit wearing boy toys have massively improved going into 8th edition; each of them has dropped about half of their points while keeping all of their sick abilities and wargear! Universally, they all have the '''Independent Operative''' ability, which allows them a 9" deep strike, but they can never have a Warlord Trait, even if they're your Warlord. Also, they have the '''Lightning Reflexes''' rule, which is a 4++, because GW is bad at rules, resulting in them being very good at dodging a flamethrower, but completely unable to dodge, e.g., a Vindicare Exitus round. They also all have the {{W40kKeyword|CHARACTER}} keyword, which means they can't be shot at unless they are the closest model, making them better than they appear to be at winning a gun battle.  Because they are all single-model units, 100% of the unit can throw a grenade when they want to, which is only ''really'' useful on the Culexus.

All of them are M7 WS2 BS2 S4 T4 Ld9 Sv6, not that you care about their armor save, or usually, their leadership. 
* Callidus - W5, A5
* Culexus - W5, A4
* Eversor - W6, A6
* Vindicare - W5, A5

White Dwarf issue of March 2019 has provided us the Index Imperialis for these guys, which not only buff the Vindicare and Eversor, but provide some interesting Stratagems as well. This also made their power and points cost a universal 5 or 95 respectively.

====Special Rules====
*'''Assassinorum Execution Force''': Assassins can be taken in any army with the {{W40kKeyword|Imperium}} keyword as a Vanguard detachment, even though they have no HQ units to fill the HQ slot. However, this detachment will not grant its customary +1CP as a Vanguard detachment normally would.  Also, as of the Beta rules, this is the only way to take them other than as Auxiliary Support. So unless you want to sacrifice command points, you'll have to pay ~400 points for a full quartet, even if you only really want to wield one. As of their mini-index, bringing a Vanguard detachment of exactly 1 of each Assassin (Culexus, Vindicare, Eversor and Callidus) will provide you with the usual detachment bonus of +1CP. Fluffy, and admittedly more useful than the usual deal, but that's still running you 380pts in an Edition where Marines can pump out 100 shots with 222 points with Agressors.

====Stratagems====
*'''Operative Requisition Sanctioned (2/3CP)''': In a matched game, set aside 95 reinforcement points as of CA 2019 (the cost of an Assassin) to call in an Assassin. Sounds absolutely dumb at first, because it's more expensive than an auxiliary reserve detachment. However, you use this stratagem ''during deployment'', meaning you can custom-tailor your list with the Assassin you need. Instead of bringing that Culexus to every battle as insurance against Psykers, you can instead use this stratagem. Facing Imperial Guard infantry? Bring a Vindicare to break their chain of command or an Eversor to RIP AND TEAR. Facing Thousand Sons or Eldar? Bring the Culexus you were going to anyway. Easy. The 3CP cost is for when you aren't playing matched play since there are no reinforcement points in other game types.
*'''Priority Threat Neutralised (1CP)''': If an enemy {{W40kKeyword|character}} is slain by one of your Assassins, spend 1CP to get 2CP - a net gain of +1CP. This increases to gaining 3CP (or +2 because of the Stratagem cost) if said {{W40kKeyword|character}} was your enemy's Warlord. Pretty handy, literally no reason not to use this unless you have 0CP anyway. Probably hilarious when used with something like Kurov's Aquila or the Ultramarine WL trait. 
=====Callidus Stratagems=====
*'''Acrobatic (1CP)''': Used in the Movement phase, allows a {{W40kKeyword|Callidus}} to advance and charge, and enemies must subtract 1 from hit rolls against her until the start of the next battle round, which includes the Assassin player's current fight phase, and their opponent's entire turn IF the opponent is taking the second turn. Not bad, but your Callidus is most likely going for a turn 2 charge straight out of their Polymorphine deployment, meaning they cannot advance anyway, but -1 to hit is still neat.
*'''Supreme Deception (2CP)''': One use only, but during the start of any battle round after the first, one of your {{W40kKeyword|Callidus}} Assassins' Reign of Confusion ability functions again until the end of that battle round. See the Callidus Assassin entry for the usefulness of her ability, but 2CP to grant a 50% chance to cost the enemy extra CP is pretty steep: you'd have to expect the opponent to use 4 Stratagems that turn to mathematically break even.

=====Culexus Stratagems=====
*'''Pariah's Gaze (1CP)''': One {{W40kKeyword|Culexus}} Assassin's ranged weapons gains D3 damage for the duration of the Shooting phase, which makes the Animus Speculum absolutely terrifying against regular TEQs and Psyker characters of all kinds. The Stratagem also works on the Psyk-Out grenade, but it will still only do ''one'' mortal wound on the 6+ to hit against a {{W40kKeyword|daemon}} or {{W40kKeyword|psyker}}.
*'''Soul Horror (2CP)''': At the start of the Fight phase, choose a {{W40kKeyword|Culexus}} Assassin. Enemy units within 3" cannot be chosen to fight until all other units have already fought, even if they charged, and if a unit has an ability that always lets them fight first (looking at you Slaanesh), they fight normally this phase (i.e. alternating picks). Note that the Culexus doesn't have to be in close combat for this Stratagem to work, meaning merely being near another unit or after making a heroic intervention can be enough to potentially lessen the effects of an enemy charge.

=====Eversor Stratagems=====
*'''Hypermetabolism (1CP)''': At the start of any phase, give an {{W40kKeyword|Eversor}} a 4+++ FNP that for some reason doesn't work on mortal wounds for the rest of the phase. A tad bizarre that it doesn't work on mortal wounds unlike practically every other FNP equivalent in this edition of "no universal rules", but still incredibly handy. Supposedly, this is so you can't save against the mortal wound caused by the Stimm Overload stratagem.
*'''Stimm Overload (2CP)''': At the end of the Fight phase, choose an {{W40kKeyword|Eversor}} Assassin to fight again, but afterwards they suffer a mortal wound on a D6 roll of 1, 2, or 3. You know, just in case your bundle of fun and joy hadn't quite wiped that entire squad yet. Note that you can't consolidate 6" into another squad and trigger another fight, because you can only target the unit you charged on the turn you charged. Unless you had also declared a charge against that unit, of course, or were already in combat to begin with.

=====Vindicare Stratagems=====
*'''Double Kill (1CP)''': Allows a {{W40kKeyword|Vindicare}} to shoot again at a different target after they've already shot during the Shooting phase. Bonus points if you can imitate the Unreal Tournament announcer's voice. Needless to explain how strong this is.
*'''[[FATAL|Turbo-Penetrator-Round]] (1CP)''': After you hit a {{W40kKeyword|vehicle}} or {{W40kKeyword|monster}} during the Shooting phase with a {{W40kKeyword|Vindicare's}} Exitus rifle or pistol, deal 1d3 mortal wounds instead of regular damage, but you cannot use the new Headshot ability that Vindicares have. While softening up a Tyranid Malanthrope sounds helpful, you'd be wounding on 4s with a regular Exitus rifle shot anyway, and then you get the chance for the d6 damage on a 6+ to wound, as well as the Headshot ability for mortal wounds anyway. Also, there should really be no reason for a Vindicare to be shooting vehicles unless you're a madman playing a pure Assassin army (21 assassins in an 1800 point army ftw!) or your opponent brought Bjorn, Ashmantle, or a Chaplain Dread. This is also useful if you want to finish off a critically damaged enemy unit and absolutely want the job done properly; 2+ to hit, bang garunteed at least 1 mortal wound. Go on, brain the pilot of that doom scythe you know you want to.

====Unit Analysis====
=====Elites=====
*'''[[Callidus Assassin]]:''' The Callidus continues to be the odd model of the assassins. She is less of a murder machine (though she is still damn good at it) and more of a tactical threat - if at least one is in your army, any CP your opponent spends on Stratagems (which is all of them) during the first round lets you roll a die; on a 4+, the Stratagem costs 1 more CP to use, and if your opponent can't or won't spend it, the Strat fizzles with the CP already spent lost. Polymorphine improves her Deep Strike so that instead of the standard >9" distance, she rolls 1d6+3" when she Deep Strikes to determine her distance.  Worst case, this is of no benefit at all, but on average, it gets you about 2.5" closer; on anything but a 6, you'll show up close enough to shoot your Neural Shredder, and the net probability of pulling off a Deep Strike charge is 62.50%, which isn't bad, although it's not as good as the Eversor's 74.07%. Sadly, her shredder is garbage, and so is her melee; Usually she'd attack five times at S4 AP-3 D2 that ignores invulnerable saves, and an additional S4 AP-1 D1 attack that wounds non-{{W40kKeyword|vehicles}} on 3+ and {{W40kKeyword|vehicles}} on 6+. You can swap any number of the five attacks for any number of the poisoned attacks of course. She can also shoot and charge after Falling Back.  Take one of her for her ''excellent'' CP fuckery, and use her to harass the enemy backline, not to actually assassinate anything.
**Neural Shredder's profile:  9" Assault 1 SX APX DX: on a hit, instead of rolling to wound, roll 3d6 vs. target's Leadership; on a tie or better, it deals 1d3 mortal wounds.
*** The average of 3d6 is 10.5, which is a bit misleading, because you don't deal more mortal wounds for beating the target's leadership by more.  On the other hand, mortal wounds spill over, so there's no need to use her for assassinating a single target - against single wound units, she'll simply murder 1d3 targets, and she's a ''lot'' better against low Ld targets.  Expected mortal wounds, after accounting for her BS of 2+ (the lower number is for shooting when she drops, since you have a 5/6 chance of being in range to shoot):
****'''3: ''' 1.66/1.38
****'''4: ''' 1.64/1.36
****'''5: ''' 1.59/1.32
****'''6: ''' 1.51/1.26
****'''7: ''' 1.40/1.16
****'''8: ''' 1.23/1.03
****'''9: ''' 1.04/0.87
****'''10: ''' 0.83/0.69
***The net result between her shredder and her melee is that if you want her assassination drop to be productive, it is ''absolutely critical'' you deep strike her close to the target, both so her shredder can contribute and, more importantly, so you have a realistic chance of making the charge.  It is worth spending the CP to re-roll her distance, accordingly, if she has a promising target - for example, assuming she is close enough to shoot and then makes the charge, the net result of her shooting and melee on an Ld9 T4 2+/3++ target with enough wounds to absorb all of her output is 4.38 wounds, on average - and she'll do even better against lower leadership, toughness, and/or armor.  She will straight up murder a company commander, for example - but only if she's close enough, and most of her output is from melee.
** Also note that while the recent changes to arriving from reserves prevent you from making full use of Polymorphine on the first turn, her Reign of Confusion ability works just fine because the rules don't say the model has to be on the table for it to work. 
** She is most useful against Alpha Strike armies; the possible CP drain can prevent an Alpha Strike list from doing everything they would have wanted to do, either forcing them to wait a turn to attempt to mow your forces down, or if the army is small enough, prevent them from using any of their big stratagems at all.
** Despite remaining the same in the White Dwarf codex as in the original index, she's now up from 85 (as of Chapter Approved 2019) to 95 points in order to bring her in line with the other Assassins. Her phase blade now has Damage 2 and she can fall back, shoot, AND charge in the same turn. All this combined allows her to threaten even the infamous Custard shield captain on Dawneagle jetbike (statistically if she shoots and melees the guy, ignoring the odds of making the charge, she'll deal 3.27 wounds a pop; even if he falls back and you have to charge him again, he can't make you need to roll more than a 6 to make the charge, so it makes no significant difference - on average you will need more than 2 turns but fewer than 3 to murder him).
*'''[[Culexus Assassin]]:'''. The anti-psyker assassin, now with a few more nasty tricks, and broadly speaking, the best and most useful Assassin.  His Abomination rule makes him completely immune to being targeted or affected by psychic powers, friendly or enemy, but he subtracts 2 from only ''enemy'' (March index seems to be "fixing" this issue. From now on all {{W40kKeyword|psykers}} will be affected. ) {{W40kKeyword|psykers}} Psychic and Deny the Witch tests within 18".  Furthermore, Etherium means any enemy model attacking him resolves at WS and BS6+ - not a penalty to hit, he just forces their characteristic to a specific value, making him far and away the hardest of the four assassins to kill, and very good at surviving just about anything that isn't piling on flamers until his invuln save gives out on him.  He has an Animus Speculum, which is 18" Assault 1d3 S5 AP-4 D1, increasing to 1d6 if there are any enemy {{W40kKeyword|psykers}} within 18", meaning he's better off showing up near them and leaving them alive to buff him, and a Psyk-out Grenade, which is 6" Grenade 1d3 S2 AP0 D1, inflicting a mortal wound instead of 1 damage on each hit roll of 6+; he can fire both of them in the same Shooting phase (but ''not'' on Overwatch), provided he didn't Advance, and both of them can target {{W40kKeyword|psyker characters}}, even if they're not the closest.  He only has a stock melee weapon, but it completely ignores all armour saves.  
**Not only can he pop up near enemy psykers to debuff them, he always pops up close enough to shoot his speculum, and he's just ''incredibly'' difficult to kill without specific tools - utterly immune to Psychic phase attacks, of course, and only auto-hit Shooting attacks can hit him reliably, none of which in the game ignore his invuln, and there aren't any auto-hit melee attacks, although there ''are'' ways to bypass his defences; for example, Kharn the Betrayer will ruing your day every time, the Imperial Guard stratagem Crush Them! will let a Baneblade hit him on 2+ in melee, since the strat ignores the vehicle's WS, and anything that deals mortal wounds without being psychic or dealing with accuracy will ruin his day eventually, like Nurgle's Gift from the Death Guard. Don't blindly trust him to survive everything - use him intelligently, and he'll make a stunningly effective tank for the rest of your army.
**Remember, he won't shut down psychic buffs, just make them harder to cast in the first place, so a psyker-heavy enemy force will still usually have some tools to fight him, and Abomination's debuff won't stack with itself.  To give you some perspective, Magnus fighting his "weight" in Culexi (about 4.88) of them, having brought Warptime, Weaver of Fates, and Prescience, even with the Culexi debuffing him and shutting down his Smite, will kill the Culexi faster than they can kill him, statistically.  There are two reasons he wins: first, that the Culexus debuff doesn't stack with itself, and second, that they can't actually Deny the Witch, only debuff casting.  They're great, but they won't win battles by themselves.
*'''[[Eversor Assassin]]:''' Smashing through walls and punching dudes like a boss. His stats give him the usual assassin line, but with six wounds and attacks apiece. His executioner pistol is 12" Pistol 4 S4 AP-1 D1 and re-rolls failed wounds against {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}}; he also has a melta bomb, which is 4" Grenade 1 S8 AP-4 D1d6 and re-rolls failed wounds against {{W40kKeyword|vehicles}}. As of White Dwarf, his new Sentinel Array ability allows him to make a shooting attack against each unit that Falls Back while within 1" of him as if it was the Shooting phase, which is pretty neat as it can allow you to force a unit to either fall back and be shot, or give up  their own shooting unless they have the {{W40kKeyword|fly}} keyword, also allowing your Eversor a screen against other enemy shooting.  What he's really good at is charging; he charges 3d6", not 2d6" (note, however, that he can still only declare a charge from 12" away; the extra dice is essentially insurance to help you to get into combat), and gains +2A on the charge (to a total of 8), giving him a 74% chance of pulling off a Deep Strike charge.  Once he's in melee, he has a regular power sword, and a neuro-gauntlet, resolving at S5 AP-1, re-rolling all wounds, which is actually better against e.g. MEQs.  When he dies, each ''enemy'' (how they turned off friendly fire on his bomb is a mystery; presumably friendlies know to stay away and the Eversor launches himself into his enemies before detonating) unit he's in melee with takes 1d3 mortal wounds on a 4+ on 1d6, i.e. on average 1 mortal wound.  Since he can't Deep Strike melta bomb, and his pistol isn't remotely worth his points, he's actually best when you can buff his charge range even further; for example, Guilliman's aura raises his odds of a successful Deep Strike charge to 83.8%.  As codices drop, keep an eye out for other sources of charge buffing for him. White Dwarf gave this guy a new absolutely devastating ability that allows him to make an additional attack for each model killed in melee, with these extra attacks unable to generate any further ones, and in addition can consolidate 6" instead of the usual 3". That's potentially 16 attacks, presuming you charged and kill your first 8 targets; against horde army units, this is very possible, and also damned awesome. On average against GEQ, your first set of attacks will cause approximately 5 unsaved wounds. These extra 5 attacks will then cause another 3 unsaved wounds, making 8 in total. That's an automatic Morale wipe on a 10 man Leadership 7 Infantry squad. In case you were fighting something with double the amount of models, use the Stimm Overload stratagem to repeat.
*'''[[Vindicare Assassin]]:''' Everyone's favourite sniper is back, and as punishing as he always is. His trademark Exitus rifle is a phenomenal 72" Heavy 1 S5 AP-3 D1d3 that ignores invuln saves and always wounds {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} on a 2+, and increases to D1d6 on a 6+ to wound, while his pistol is 12" Pistol 1 S4, with the same rules, and his Blind grenade is 12" Grenade 1d6, but you don't roll anything past the rolls for volume and hitting - if at least one hit gets through, the hit unit subtracts 1 from all hit rolls until the end of the turn, making the grenade usually your best bet in Overwatch, especially given how far you can throw it.  All three guns have the Sniper rule (able to hit {{W40kKeyword|CHARACTER}}s even when not closest) and ignore Cover bonuses to saves during the Shooting phase only, plus the Vindicare always hits on a 2+ if he remained stationary (but not in Overwatch).  He inflicts a -1 to hit against anyone trying to hit him with ranged weapons, increasing to -2 while in cover. He competes with the Tau for having sniper rifles that don't deal mortal wounds, but his rifle actually does a better job than most sniper rifles of acting like a sniper rifle; while he's not competent enough to probably kill his target, dealing 1.6 wounds, on average, to a Sv4+/X++ {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY character}} in cover, he still does more than he would with most other sniper rifles in the game. As of White Dwarf, he received his chance to deal mortal wounds through his Headshot ability: after dealing damage to a model with a ranged weapon, roll a D6; on a 3+ that's one mortal wound, and, if successful, you can roll again, dealing another mortal wound on a 4+ this time, and on another success again on a 5+ and on another success a 6+, assuming you haven't already killed the target.  The net result is an additional 1.13 mortal wounds to the target (which can't spill over, since you only deal them if the target lives to suffer them). Note that you cannot use this with the Turbo-Penetrator-Rounds stratagem. You'll need to field him in incredible numbers to reliably bring a target down - 3 of them to delete an AM Company Commander, assuming he hasn't got an Ogryn Bodyguard, for example - so he's actually at his scariest when using his Blind Grenade on Deep Strike turn (he can throw it farther than his minimum Deep Strike distance), which has a roughly 96.67% chance of inflicting its debuff, prior to charging something else to wreck face in melee. Bringing 3 of them is advisable, especially if you don't want to use vital CPs to take 1.
**He can, however, do wonders against 3 wound characters, likely killing any he wounds. His problem is, like many 1 shot weapons, every miss is felt.
**Due to the new Headshot ability, two of them should now be sufficient to kill an AM Company Commander.  However, most of his output still comes his non-mortal wounds, for which he is heavily reliant on an {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} target.  He's quite bad, for example, at murdering a Jackal Alphus off her bike.


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