Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Imperial Agents (section)

==Officio Assassinorium==
[[File:IA OA.jpg|300px|right|thumb|]]
===Special Rules===
All Assassins are '''Fearless''', and can '''Move Through Cover''' as well as '''Infiltrate'''.  They also have three special rules unique to them:
*'''No Escape:''' Wounds inflicted by this model inflict a -2 to ''Look Out, Sir!'' saves against them.
*'''Independent Operative:''' A model with this special rule can never be joined by another character. If a model with this special rule is your army’s Warlord, it never has a Warlord Trait.
*'''Lightning Reflexes:''' A model with this special rule has a 4+ Invulnerable save, and does not suffer the penalty to initiative when charging through terrain.
====Callidus Special Rules====
*'''Fleet'''
*'''Hit & Run'''
*'''Polymorphine:''' When a Callidus Assassin is deployed using her Infiltrate special rule, she can be set up anywhere on the table that is more than 1" from any enemy unit, whether deployed enemy units can draw a line of sight to her or not. If a Callidus Assassin starts the game in Reserves, she can choose to move on from the enemy board edge when she arrives. In either case, during the first game turn, or during the game turn in which the Callidus Assassin arrives from Reserves, enemy units can only fire Snap Shots when targeting her.
*'''Precision Strikes'''
*'''Reign of Confusion:''' If your army includes a Callidus Assassin, you can re-roll the dice when attempting to Seize the Initiative. In addition, your opponent suffers -3 to the first Reserve Roll they make during the game.

====Culexus Special Rules====
*'''Fear'''
*'''Life Drain:''' Armour saves cannot be taken against Wounds inflicted by a Culexus Assassin’s close combat attacks. Any close combat attack inflicted by a Culexus Assassin that rolls a 6 To Wound has the Instant Death special rule. Any close combat attack inflicted by a Culexus Assassin that is allocated to a Psyker has the Instant Death special rule.
:Note that his attacks are not technically AP2 - rather, the model hit can't take an armour save - which can be [[Aun'Va|situationally superior]].
*'''Preferred Enemy (Psykers)'''
*'''Psychic Abomination:''' Psykers, friend or foe, within 12" of a Culexus Assassin have -3 Leadership, do not generate any Warp Charges, and only harness Warp Charge points on a 6 (even if the unit would otherwise harness Warp Charges on another result). A Culexus Assassin can never be targeted or affected by psychic powers – other units in the Culexus’ vicinity that are hit by beam or nova powers, or by witchfire powers that use templates, are hit/affected normally. Any blessing or malediction psychic powers affecting a unit immediately cease to be in effect if the unit moves within 12" of a Culexus or vice versa. This rule does not apply whilst the Culexus is embarked in a Transport.

====Eversor Special Rules====
*'''Fast Shot:''' Whenever an Eversor Assassin fires his executioner pistol, he does so 4 times. All of these shots must be at the same target, but can be any mixture of bolt pistol and needle pistol shots.
:Note that despite sharing a name with the special rule enjoyed by [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Eldar#Heavy_Support|Dark Reaper Exarchs]], this rule is drastically better on his pistol (quadrupling his ROF rather than doubling it and allowing him to mix profiles) and drastically worse on Fortification guns, and really just doesn't behave the same way at all.
*'''Feel No Pain'''
*'''Furious Charge'''
*'''Bio-meltdown:''' If an Eversor Assassin is ever reduced to zero Wounds, before removing the model as a casualty, each nearby unit (friend or foe) suffers a Strength 5 AP- hit for each model it has within D6" of the Eversor Assassin. After resolving any additional damage, remove the Eversor Assassin from play as a casualty.

====Vindicare Special Rules====
*'''Deadshot:''' All successful To Hit rolls made by a Vindicare Assassin, excluding Snap Shots, are Precision Shots.
*'''Stealth'''

===The Assassins' Blades (Armoury)===

====Wargear of the Callidus Temple====
*'''Neural Shredder:'''  Basically a template Sniper weapon, hits at strength 1 but at AP2 and always wounds on a 4+, sadly no effect on buildings or vehicles. Mainly used to wipe out the bodyguard of whomever she's going to be fighting.  Also keep in mind that as a Template weapon it can be used to Wall of Death enemies who are charging her, which might save her life if she's caught by somebody you don't want her to be fighting (likely because you decided to Infiltrate her too close and the opponent didn't like the idea they could only fire Snap Shots at her). Is a Pistol, so she is technically rocking three close combat weapons total.
*'''<s>C'tan</s> Phase Sword:''' Strength User, AP2! (Bye bye Terminators) and has Phasing, which allows for each roll of a 6 in CC to ignore invulnerable saves, which makes her an excellent choice to take on enemy HQs.
*'''Poison Blades:''' Strength User, no AP, but has rending and poison (+3). You're almost never going to use these, anything with Toughness high enough to require them is either going to be something with an armour save so good that there's no point (even with Rending, and sometimes they'll have an Invulnerable save too) or it's going to be something strong enough to kill her anyway (a lot of MCs can become S8 to ID her).  If you're up against something tough enough to require them, you'd be better off stocking up on something that isn't a Callidus.
:Note: Despite the name, this is a ''single'' melee weapon.

====Wargear of the Culexus Temple====
*'''Animus Speculum:''' A shooting attack at 18" fired in the psychic phase, Strength 5 and AP1 three shots, increases in shots by how many Psykers there are near him...friend or foe. You can also elect to use three warp charges to add three shots to the speculum's attack. Using this also doesn't count as shooting (due to it being in the psychic phase) meaning you can still toss a 'nade or run in the following phases.
*'''Psyk-Out Grenades:''' Low range, S2 with no AP. However, one Psyker in the unit targeted sufferers Perils of the Warp... and when charging the Culexus, Psykers do not get extra attacks. A mulligan at best, you'll likely use it just because the Culexus has no other ranged weapon and you're already in a position to assault.
*'''Etherium:''' All units targeting the Culexus Assassin, in close combat or at range, have to swing at BS and WS 1. Note that no matter what, your opponent cannot boost their weapon skill, meaning that even the Tau are stuck at BS1! Psykers hate Culexus by default, but this is why ''everyone'' hates him. Be wary of stuff that does not use BS or WS to hit, like Kharn hitting on 2+ in CC (why you would try to fight Kharn in assault with a Culexus is beyond us); BS is set to 1 but shots are not made into Snap Shots, so template weapons will also work fine.
*'''Close Combat Weapon''' by default, as he has no melee weapons listed.

====Wargear of the Eversor Temple====
*'''Executioner Pistol:''' Strength 1, AP nothing but with ''Poisoned'', or it can fire just as a regular Bolt Pistol.  Would be pretty meh if the Assassin couldn't fire it four times, and as a mixture of both Needle Pistol and Bolt Pistol at that.  Generally the Bolt Pistol will be more useful. Who knows, you could be up against something like Necrons or Plague Marines, in which case [[wat|poisoning the Plague Marines would be more helpful than blowing them up]].
*'''Frenzon:''' The Eversor Assassin rolls 3d6 to charge and gets 3 extra attacks from the charge instead of 1...giving you 8 attacks at WS8...have fun drinking your enemy's tears. 
*'''Neuro-gauntlet:''' Gives the Eversor Assassin ''Fleshbane'' and ''Shred'' in close combat, though it has no AP.  Great against low armoured targets like Orks where the Power Sword wasn't going to help as much due to only being S4, and if he's up against something like TEQs then the Neuro-gauntlet will serve him better (though you'd be an idiot for pitting him against TEQs, literally every other assassin is better for that role).
*'''Sentinel Array:''' An Eversor Assassin fires Overwatch using his full Ballistic Skill.
*'''Power Sword'''
*'''Melta Bombs'''

====Wargear of the Vindicare Temple====
*'''Exitus Rifle:''' This is the reason this guy is so well known. This rifle is a Sniper with a range of 72"(!), AP2, and access to Exitus Ammo. This allows the Vindicare  to take down a number of different enemies...See that angry Chaos Lord? *BLAM*. See that Farseer? *BLAM* See that Chimera? *BLAM*. You can do this by using one of the following bullets...
**'''Exitus Ammo:''' Each time he fires, the Vindicare assassin may choose 1 of 3 bullets, each useful in one way or another.
***'''Hellfire:''' Shots will always wound on a 2+.  Of the three it's the second most useful, coming in handy whenever Shield-breaker and Turbo-penetrator rounds aren't needed.
***'''Shield-breaker:''' Invulnerable saves cannot be taken against wounds, glancing hits, or penetrating hits from this bullet.  Mainly useful against models that either have really good Invuln saves but few Wounds (such as Legion of the Damned, some Daemons and Commissars) or against models that have Invulnerable saves that are too powerful to rely on Turbo-penetrator rounds (such as Cataphractii Captains or Daemons buffed with the Grimoire of True Names).
***'''Turbo-penetrator:''' Against vehicles, bullets hit at strength 10. Against all other targets, it inflicts D3 wounds.  This is the one you want to use whenever a character is in sight, even if that character is in a unit.  The Vindicare has a hefty price tag and killing characters is the fastest and most efficient way to make those points back.
*'''Exitus Pistol:''' Highly overshadowed by the rifle version, but worth noting that this little fucker is Range: 12", S:X, AP:2 Pistol, ''Sniper'', '''Exitus Ammo'''. What does that means? Well, +1 A in combat along with his combat weapon, which is nice as a last resort; and the notion that he can relocate  and keep firing anyone who gets too close with the same ammo that the rifle (a good thing as the rifle is a Heavy weapon). Which could save his life temporally until help arrives. Still not worth it using it instead of the rifle: you've brought a sniper, not a gunslinger.
*'''Spy Mask:''' All shooting shots made by the Vindicare Assassin Ignore Cover... We do not need to exaggerate how awesome this is, it speaks for itself.  Any direct-firing fortification shots also benefit from this (and the BS8), which can often be more useful than the rifle.
*'''Blind Grenades'''
*'''Close Combat Weapon'''

===Detachment===
'''Assassinorium Operative:'''
*Requires:
**1 Elite
*'''Operation Assassinate:''' Gain 1 additional Victory Point if enemy warlord was killed by an assassin from this detachment.  Better for some assassins than others, but pretty much the only way to take assassins (other than unbound or with an Execution Force, below).  In any case it's a nice bonus, even if you don't plan on capitalizing on it the detachment otherwise has no restrictions.
:'''Jan 2017 update:''' The Castellans of the Imperium formation from Fall of Cadia allows you to take assassins as elite choices, so 3 of them per CAD.  Fun.  Sadly they can't all go inside a transport together, because 3 Eversors charging out of a Landraider would make people cry a little too much…

===Unit Analysis===
====Elites====
*'''Vindicare Assassin:''' The most expensive of the four, he's got a decent way to go to make that back for somebody who can shoot only once a turn (and who you do not want in assault), though thanks to his special goodies that let him kill things better it's not an uphill battle. In general he's the best for picking out targets thanks to 'Deadshot', making shots from the Vindicare Assassin have precision shots (unfortunately Look Out Sir! is still allowed, though thanks to No Escape it'll only work half the time on IC's), but unfortunately this doesn't apply to Snap Shots. He is also an Independent Operative, which means he can never have a character join him, however he can still join units, he can be the Warlord (ironically) but sadly he still can't have a Warlord Trait (though you were probably going to roll Fear anyway, so it's about the same).  Like all Assassins he has an awesome stat line - though the only stat he should be using is his BS and he is not meant to be the model that gets back his points in 1 turn - his job is back up, to take down the units that are bothering you. 
:Though the other assassins are great in their own right, the Vindicare is undoubtedly the best for most situations. His Exitus Rifle can quite literally deal with everything except large hordes, though even that isn't an issue thanks to the fact that the Vindicare can enter fortifications, which can then use his BS of 8.  Put him on something like a Plasma Obliterator with an attached Haemotrope Reactor so that all of his MEQ-killing S8 AP2 in that Massive Blast will ignore cover, and at BS8 on average it won't even scatter.
::Most fortress walls also offer fantastic vantage points for his rifle, so if you're getting him, try to get something extra that'll allow him to immediately set up and be able to shoot turn one.
*'''Callidus Assassin:''' The second most expensive, she is the sneaky, infiltrator type out of the 4. She has a special rule which allows her to be up to 1" from a enemy unit during her infiltrate, and enemy units can only snapfire at her during her first turn on the field, but you should try not to set her up this close.  She can be counter-charged, probably by something you didn't pay for her to be killing and even though she has Hit & Run, you don't want her losing Wounds against the wrong targets (or getting ID'd by them if you were stupid enough to set her up anywhere near a S8 enemy). 
:The Callidus is basically a mini-distraction carnifex meant to scare the fuck out of the opponent. Use this assassin to destroy low Toughness highly armoured models (Terminators, Power Armour, Daemon Princes with warp forged armour) as well as enemy leaders, thanks to her chance to ignore Invuln saves. With her high WS, BS and Neural Shredder she could properly take a few terminators before getting overwhelmed. Still, she is an assassin. Get her into the fight, take someone out and leave. Sticking around in fights will cost you. 
:Note that if you want to take advantage of her Neural Shredder the most and are confident enough, a ballsy tactic is to shoot an enemy squad with it, then let them charge her, killing one or two more in the Wall of Death that follows since all of its attacks are AP2.  She doesn't lose that much by not charging (just one attack, though the tradeoff could easily be worth it since she'll auto-hit at least one WoD anyway) and she'll almost always make her 5 attacks before the enemy can strike back, but if things don't work in your favour and the enemy retains enough models for when they get their turn, things can get sour fast.  Hit and Run can also help to abuse the Neural Shredder since even if you can't fire it normally before she gets charged again, she'll still get another Wall of Death use out of it.
*'''Eversor Assassin:''' The cheapest out of the lot, he is the overwhelming attacks assassin. The Eversor excels at killing hordes, MEQ's and GEQ's thanks to fast shot which allows him to fire 4 times in one turn (at the same target) and still charge, using 3d6 and gaining 3 attacks on the charge. If he dies, he activates "bio-meltdown" which is a strength 5 hit to all models within 6" before he is removed (though thanks to the wording Wounds are applied to the unit as they would a blast weapon, so the models who get hit might necessarily not be the ones Wounded) which is a nice and final "fuck you" to whoever you're up against (and seeing as how he should always be in combat, you should always get a few extra kills with it).  
:While he's very good in combat, two things that can be kind of an issue are actually getting him there, and Instant Death from anyone S8 and above with their ranged attacks.  A good solution for both is to just stick him in a transport, preferably one that can assault as the Assassins can now join units.  So long as he's sheltered until he can [[Rip and Tear]] you shouldn't be disappointed by the results (though you should try to avoid S8 opponents in melee anyway).
*'''Culexus Assassin:''' The second cheapest and easily the most survivable of the lot. While obviously meant to fuck over Psykers in every way imaginable, this isn't the only thing the Culexus is good at.  Firstly is the reason he's so survivable, Etherium.  All attacks against him are made at WS1/BS1, no matter who he's up against and this cannot be buffed up in any way, shape or form, not even by [[Tau|markerlight spam]] (so go out there and kill some blue commies).  On top of this he still retains the 4++ save for whenever anything does hit, if he didn't manage to kill whatever the hell it was first of course.  Secondly, all of his attacks ignore armour saves.  This is important as it means his AP2 doesn't come from any sort of weapon, and isn't actually an AP value so models [[Jain Zar|who can take AP values away]] and models [[Aun'Va|who use the AP values of others against them]] are completely fucked, regardless of whether or not they're Psykers, and especially if he rolls a 6 on his To Wound since that's now an AP2 Wound with Instant Death.  Thirdly is his Animus Speculum, which works on more than just Psykers and at an AP value that'll let it pop Rhinos and Chimeras so long as you get a lucky shot into their weaker armour.  Last is the threat he's meant to counter, Psykers.  As bad as he can fuck up everyone else, Culexus assassins fuck up Psykers twice as hard.  No Psyker within 12" can generate a warp charge, every Psyker within that distance makes his Speculum stronger, he has Preferred Enemy (Psykers) which can help the Speculum nuke a unit (so long as a Librarian is inside a unit of terminators the entire squad's fucked), and his close combat attacks always cause Instant Death to Psykers.
:The Animus Speculum is a fantastic ranged weapon, and one that can easily be abused now that the Astra Telepathica can now be allied in, as it's possible to abuse this weapon by buying some cheap Astropaths and running them near the Assassin, on average an extra 100 points can get you [[Awesome|7 S5 AP1 shots at BS8 a turn]].  The only downside is that thanks to his Independent Operative rule he cannot be joined by them directly, however [[Rules Lawyers|thanks to how it's written]], you could put him in a unit of Wyrdvane Psykers, then add the Astropaths to that as his rule states that his model can't be joined by characters, and in that case they're both just joining a different unit.
::Note that his Speculum is powered by ''Mastery Levels'', so he won't get an extra shot for every Wyrdvane model in the unit.
::Also, as he has Infiltrate, you can't attach him to non-Infiltrating units during deployment; see below for a (shitty) way around this.
:Another ballsy tactic is to use the Culexus as a shield for everyone else in a unit (possibly even the unit of Psykers, as mentioned in the above tactic) and put him front and center, so that the only shots that'll hit the unit will hit the Culexus first.  This effectively means the entire squad's invisible, only being hit on 6's, with no hope of buffing this up thanks to markerlights.
:A really ballsy (and frankly bullshit) tactic is to ally in an Inquisitor and try to get Master of Ambush (usually allying in two or three to take advantage of their abilities and increase the odds).  If you do get it, infiltrate the Culexus, and then infiltrate several Psykers alongside so that he can immediately use the Animus Speculum to tear shit up, before charging into melee to finish the job.  It relies more on luck, but even if you don't get it those Inquisitors were still going to come into handy, as were those Psykers, so failure doesn't really hurt all that much.
::Do this with a 5-ape Jokaero unit to make his Speculum 30" and Rending for the rest of the game.
:You also get bragging rights if you play with the Empyric Storm random results, the opponent's Warlord gets Psychic Apotheosis, and then you kill him with the Culexus, netting yourself a bonus VP in the process.

===Formation===
'''Execution Force:'''
*Requires:
**Vindicare Assassin
**Callidus Assassin
**Eversor Assassin
**Culexus Assassin
*All gain Preferred Enemy (Warlord)
*Gain 1 additional Victory Point if enemy warlord was killed by an assassin from this detachment.  
*Generally a little overkill for anything short of Apocalypse and there's no real reason to take it as the regular detachment also provides the same bonus, even Preferred Enemy is generally not worth it thanks to the fact that the Assassins are going to cost so much more than the Warlord they're trying to kill unless, once again, you're playing Apocalypse and were going to be taking all four to do different roles anyway.