Vindicare

BOOM, HEADSHOT!

"Exitus Acta Probat - The Outcome Justifies the Deed."

– Motto of the Vindicare Temple

"Super lengthy range / All is visible to me / I watch as you pee."

– Vindicare Assassin Zer0(Somefag)

Vindicare (Latin: present active infinitive of Vindico, thus meaning "to avenge/vindicate/punish, to liberate/deliver/spare, or to defend/protect, depending on the context) assassins are one of the varieties of assassin fielded by the Officio Assassinorum in the Warhammer 40k universe. They are superlative snipers capable of making accurate shots from ridiculous distances (and also doing 360 noscopes without hassles), selected for their natural talent and further honed by extensive training and indoctrination by the Vindicare Temple. The primary weapon of the Vindicare is the infamous Exitus sniper rifle (Latin, lit. "exit" fig. conclusion, termination). In addition to the "ordinary" solid slug projectiles it can fire, an assortment of special munitions are available for the weapon, allowing the Vindicare to engage different types of target effectively. They also are some of the most lurvely looking, because of their bad-ass visors.

Occasionally known as "Ork snipers" after a particularly humorous after-action report filed by the Inquisition.

/tg/'s most well-known Vindicare is LIIVI of Love Can Bloom fame, an agent sent to Kronus who turned rogue and deserted the Imperium when he fell in love with the Eldar farseer Taldeer.

Vindicare Training

Vindicare Assassins are either orphans or have been abandoned as young children. The Officio Assassinorum takes them in, and since no one cares about them, they are trained in the arts of infiltration, sniping, and escape/evasion tactics. Dark Heresy also tells of VERY high profile, but "ordinary", assassins/bounty hunters/killers taken onboard Assassinorum ships (usually after killing another similarly high profile target, designated via an anonymous letter with a name on it) to Terra and made Vindicares, if they pass all of the tests. They are brutally punished if they fuck up and are ordered to avoid all human contact, except for their handlers. Even though sometimes there will be other circumstances that prevent them from succeeding (say their target chokes on a bagel and dies) and there has got to be some situations where interacting with others could be the key factor in getting to the necessary vantage point to put a bullet into the guy. This is meant to reduce the chance of heresy or desertion - if they don't know even the basics of socialization, it'll be hard for them to hesitate to fire or to be corrupted. Difficult, but not impossible. Grimdark indeed.

(Heck, Warmaster Horus managed to sway one of them to SWITCH SIDES and targeted Euphrati Keeler! He fails thanks to Garro though)

Vindicare Weapons

As mentioned before their primary weapon is the Exitus Sniper Rifle (think of a .50 cal sniper rifle cranked up to 11). This weapon allows the Vindicare to kill targets from a long, long, long, long, long, loooong WAY AWAY. The Vindicare's secondary weapon is the Exitus Pistol, which is merely a scaled back version of the big ass rifle the operative carries.

Vindicare Fashions

Vindicare Assassins are some of the most sexiest beasts out there, with a tight latex suit, glorifying their abdominal power. They also are known to wear LOEVLY masks, which are way smexy-er than the other assassins'. Reports of them being partial to pointy ears are unconfirmed.

On the Tabletop

Metal Grim Solid

Vindicare snipers are one of the most rapey single models in the game (as with all assassins). All Assassins come with an impressive statline:

WS:8 BS:8 S:4 T:4 W:3 I:7 A:4 Ld:10.

Their incredible reflexes give all assassins a 4+ invulnerable save. The Assassins differ through their equipment, the Vindicare is armed with the fearsome Exitus Rifle and pistol, and thanks to his BS of 8, he only has a 1/12 chance of missing.

Exitus Rifle: Range:72" Str:X AP:2 Type:Heavy 1, Sniper

Exitus Pistol: Range:12" Str:X AP:2 Type:Pistol, Sniper

Obviously this means with standard rounds for both weapons always wound on a 4+, however, Vindicares are not equipped with stock ammo. They have access to special rounds which incur special bonuses, these rounds can be used any amount of times with the rifle. With AP:2. No one, that is right, no model gets an armor save. Leaving you to worry about those Tanks. But wait, we got a bullet for that.

• Hellfire rounds: Wound on a 2+, instead of a 4+ (this is your standard round, basically you can very, frighteningly easily kill any one-wound model within 72").

• Shieldbreaker rounds: Wound on a 4+, ignores invulnerable saves. Through the magic of mathematics we know that these are only better than hellfires if the invulnerable save the target possesses is 4+ or less. If it's 5+ or 6+ you have a better chance of causing a wound with hellfires.

• Turbo-penetrator rounds (commonly referred to as "sex toy" rounds, which are TURBO PUNS): NERFED FOR 7TH ED! They now count as strength 10 against vehicles. Against non-vehicles, these cause D3 wounds on a 4+. Using these rounds against models with 3 or more wounds is just a waste unless you just want to soften them up for some charging allies. Against models with two wounds this round is a gamble, you can either almost certainly kill them in two turns (with hellfires) or have a 1/2 chance of killing them in one turn (with Turbo-penetrator rounds). If you have 2 turns, the chance of killing a 2 wound model is 69% with hellfires, and 75% with turbo-penetrators. But the chance of doing some damage is 97% with hellfires. If Lady Luck and Admiral Awesome are on your side, enjoy killing Failbaddon in two shots.

On top of all this, YOU can choose which models in the enemy unit takes the wounds (just like Telion), so you can pick off heavy weapons etc. that pose a threat to your army.

Vindicare snipers are excellent support units. They can pick off the most threatening enemy weapons (including vehicles, to a degree), ensuring the rest of your army can bring the pain free from some harassment. Do not waste precious shots on lowly grunts; unlike the other assassins, you can't expect the Vindicare to recoup his entire points cost in two turns due to his low rate of fire. They also have the 'Infiltrate' special rule, so they appear wherever you want on the table ready to kill (even on objectives!), and they have the 'Stealth' special rule, which vastly improves his chances of survival when you put him in sufficient cover (which you damn well should) - otherwise, his 4+ Inv save may look good on paper, but isn't much better than Veteran Guard Carapace in the open.

In light of this, if possible, include a Techmarine (for that tasty 'Bolster Defences' special rule) in your army, giving him a 2+ cover save all told in the ruin he deploys in, ensuring even the heaviest weaponry can't shift him. Just make sure to pick off any nearby flamers (with precision shots and Hellfire rounds, easy pickings), and this sniper will be a constant pain for your opponent. Make no mistake though, while his statline and blind grenades (defensive grenades) ensure he can withstand small units in close combat, he's no Eversor, and lacks a power weapon; a concentrated assault will finish him off, so know when to cut your losses and retreat him. For some reason though he is terrible against enemy characters (which is kind of the thing, lore-wise, Vindicares are born to kill, fucking Ward) due to his inability to inflict instant death against models with 3+ wounds. However, in the new dataslate, the rule 'No Escape' inflicts a -2 penalty to 'Look Out, Sir!' rolls, meaning characters need a cold sweat-inducing 6+ while Independent characters need a 4+. Not bad.

And then there was 8th Edition

The above was his 6th/7th Edition profile. Here's his 8th profile.

	Pts/PL	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	A	Ld	Sv
Vindicare Assassin:	85/5	7"	2+	2+	4	4	5	5	9	6+/4++

He still keeps his Lightning Reflexes rule above, but now he's a CHARACTER, which means he can only be targeted if he is the closest unit, or by a weapon/unit with a special ability. I don't need to tell you how awesome this is. Speaking of characters, thanks to his Deadshot he can shoot CHARACTERS even if they aren't the closest models, and if you roll a 6 to-wound it does D6 damage instead of D3 damage. In addition, thanks to his Spy Mask, any unit he shoots does not receive any benefits from being in cover. Likewise, his Spy suit ability forces a -1 to-hit modifier which becomes -2 if he's in cover (which he should be). Suffice to say, don't ever think about supercharging Plasma against him.

His Exitus Rifle has took a bit of a retooling. It's now a S5 AP-3 D D3 72" Heavy 1 weapon, that only forces a -1 to-hit modifier if the Vindicare moves. Not too bad compared to 7th, but as I said, it was retooled. It now wounds all INFANTRY on a 2+, and Invulnerable saves cannot be taken against wounds caused by it, but he forgot his Turbo-penetrator rounds and is stuck with his shitty base strength of 5 against vehicles. With the March 2019 mini-index for the Assassins, the Vindicare finally manages to recover his anti-vehicle utility with the Turbo-Penetrator Round Stratagem. For 1CP it lets him deal D3 mortal wounds if he hits instead of rolling to wound, letting him ignore the high toughness of vehicles and monsters. He can't use Head Shot if he uses this stratagem though.

His Exitus pistol is the same as above, but with S4 instead of 5, and is a 12" ranged Pistol (duh). The good news is, Pistols can now be fired into close combat. However, if your Vindicare is in close combat shit has hit the fucking fan.

Did I mention he's now much, much cheaper than he used to be? Yes.

The downside? 2+ to hit, with very few ways of getting him rerolls. Between 1/6 missing and 1/6 failing to wound, he'll fail to force an armor save a bit too often for some people's liking. Also, his 6+ to wound rolls don't cause mortal wounds, which means opponents with a 3+ or better will always get a saving throw. He's great against anyone reliant on cover/saving throws (assuming you don't roll any ones), but against good old fashioned tanky infantry, he's going to have a tough time. Consider hiding him in cover with a squad of your favorite snipers, so that both units can focus fire and give you a little more consistency while keeping enemies from targeting the assassin directly.

See Also

• The Samos Sanction
• Celestial Lions
• Vindicare doing some precise shots

Gallery

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  Holy shit... someone made one...

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  Needs more skulls.

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  A Vindicare Assassin. Not a crazed gunman.

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  Another Vindicare Assassin. He's a number.

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  A Vindicare assassin demonstrating what can happen to entire squads that forget that 6 attacks on the charge is not to be trifled with.

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  The 7th Edition update. Awesome as hell.

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  This is gonna require some precision shots...