Lias Issodon

LIAS ISSODON: Lias Issodon is the current Chapter Master of the Raptors Space Marine Chapter. Issodon is a consummate strategist as well as being one of the finest marksmen within the Chapter. He possesses an innate talent for ambush, infiltration and sabotage that borders on the supernatural, and cares little for glory or regard -- only the pursuit of victory matters to Issodon. An extremely taciturn and private individual, Issondon communicates little even with his own Battle-Brothers unless needed, which, coupled with his expressionless countenance and dark eyes, have earned him the nickname "The Grim" within his Chapter. Outsiders observing this reserved commander would go so far as to call Issodon's silent, watchful presence sinister. Though he is hardly the most charismatic leader within the Raptors' long history, he remains a highly effective commander who is deeply respected by the Astartes who follow him. When executing one of Issodon's plans they know that their Chapter Master's strategies are always well-conceived and cunningly wrought, designed to inflict the maximum damage while minimising the casualties of his warriors.

History

Lias Issodon is in many ways the living embodiment of the Raptor Chapter's favoured arts of war. A consummate strategist as well as one of the best shots in the Chapter, he possesses a talent for ambush, infiltration, and sabotage. This noted warrior first came to the wider Imperium's attention during the dark days of the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion. Under his command, the Raptors have fought and secured victory time and again, against forces far superior in numbers and resources and somehow have always emerged the victors. The Raptors lethally entangle their enemies in the shadows and feints they have woven, slowly bleeding their enemies to death from a thousand cuts or setting them up for a single, devastating coup de grace. During the infamous conflict known as the Badab War, Issodon led his Chapter against forces far superior in numbers and resources, and resorted to the use of stealth and guerrilla tactics that wreaked havoc with the Secessionist forces throughout this campaign.

On the Tabletop

Lias Issodon, as the Chapter Master of the Raptors, brings to the table a stupidly abundant collection of rules, all wrapped up into one neat and well-priced grab-bag. In fact, one of the only real detriments he has is the saddening fact that there isn't a cool model for him. Sure you can kit out your own, but don't you think he'd make for a fetching piece? You'll have to surf your bitz bin for now. His rules are in this pdf on FW.

	Pts	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Lias Issodon:	175	5	6	4	4	4	6	3	10	2+

First, another look at the rules that constitute his chapter tactics:

• Strike from the Shadows (as per the Raven Guard Chapter tactic in Codex: Space Marines): On the first game turn, models in the detachment have the Shrouded special rule. Note that units which contain models with any variant of the Bulky special rule do not benefit from either rule.
• Legendary Marksmen: Any unit with this special rule that does not move in the Movement phase of their turn may choose to gain the Rending special rule when firing in the Shooting phase of that turn with boltguns, combi-weapons fired as boltguns or bolt pistols. When using this rule, all boltguns, combi-weapons used as boltguns and bolt pistols fired are counted as being Heavy 1 weapons instead of Rapid Fire or Pistol type weapons for that turn.

Wargear of the 'Grim'

• Artificer Armor - 2+ save, for your reasonable ass.
• Malice - A piece of hot contention, as some rule lawyers strive to maximize on power by neglecting the specifics of rules. In short, Malice is Lias' 30" range, S:4 AP:5 2/4 Salvo Boltgun with the option to use 'Special Issue Ammunition', a la the Sternguard. If special ammo is used, the profile of the weapon is COMPLETELY replaced with the special profile from THAT ammo. What isn't all that certain, just like with Sternguard Raptors, is what exactly that means for the special ammo. Malice is stated to benefit from Raptors chapter tactics, specifically. So, then, you can not move to make a special ammo Malice... Heavy 1, Rending? Alternatively, could you have the option for special ammo OR the Heavy 1, rending? Read the rules, make a choice, and ask your opponent if they are game with your interpretation. Some gaming circles are understanding when it comes to strangely worded, or out-dated, FW rules.

Some History - It worked better in previous versions of the game too. Malice was originally an Assault 2/Heavy 4 weapon, where the type depended entirely on whether you moved or not. In said older versions, he was also able to fire his sternguard ammo as either assault 2 or Heavy 4, so there is a precedent for the baffling ITC ruling that he fires sternguard ammo as Salvo 2/4.

• Power Sword - AP:3 goodness. His Initiative 6 means he gets a fair bit of use out of his sword, but Issodon's lack of an invuln save means he should always be out of combat unless you're charging Eldar.
• Bolt Pistol - Just there to give Lias 4 base attacks in melee. You're doing literally everything wrong if Malice isn't being fired.
• Frag/Krak Grenades - Remember when we were playing grenades wrong for the LONGEST? Oh well.
• Locator Beacon - Works great with his built-in reserve fuckery. Keep reserves deliberately, and make them come on the board to intercept anyone that tries to make a move for Issodon

Special Rules of the 'Grim'

• Standard Chapter Master Rules: ATSKNF, Ch. Tactics(Raptors), Independent Character, Shrouded
• Warlord: If Lias Issodon is part of an army then he will always be the army’s Warlord, regardless of the Leadership value of other HQ choices. He does not roll on the Warlord Traits table, but instead receives the Master of Ambush Warlord trait (see page 111 of the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook).
  • Master of Ambush - Your Warlord and three non-vehicle units of your choice have the Infiltrate special rule. This one is... tricky. As written, the rules state that transports are pieces taken with an infantry unit. The infantry can confer the Infiltrate rule to their transport. This means that you can "infiltrate" some assault terminators, and their Land Raider Dedicated Transport, while keeping your Kosher seal of approval.

• Cunning Strategist: Whilst Lias Issodon is alive, the army may re-roll any Reserve rolls made (failed or successful). In addition, the opposing army has a -1 modifier to all Reserves rolls.
• Infiltrate, Isolate, Destroy: If an army includes Lias Issodon its controlling player may select a single enemy unit, Monstrous Creature or vehicle that has been deployed onto the table. After any Scout redeployments have been made, but before the game begins, the chosen unit suffers D6+3 wounds with no AP value if a squad or Monstrous Creature, distributed as shooting hits (assume the attack has originated from the closest unit in Issodon’s force). If the target is a vehicle, it suffers D3 rolls on the Haywire table instead.

Strategies for Use

• Strategic Fuckery

Lias Issodon benefits best when used to capitalize on his army fuckeries. Typical mid to high-tier Raptors lists will often use Issodon's guaranteed MoA to make more or less 99% of their army Outflank. Just put him in an army with Scouts and Tactical marines in Rhinos, or Terminators in Land Raiders, along with something to hold your backfield.

By using copious amounts of Outflanking, you can more or less bypass entire gunlines, thus getting up the board unmolested. Lias Issodon himself is best suited to sitting in the backline with a Devastator squad, so his Shrouded SR can give his chosen squad delicious 2+ cover saves all game long, while he stays alive to maintain his reserve fuckery.

Also, given that you can Reroll EITHER success or failed reserves while issodon is alive, it might be worthwhile to deliberately keep terminators in reserve so as to provide an emergency "Oh fuck" button if someone gets too close to their chapter master. When the situation warrants it, just slam your reserves with a Rerollable 2+, and place the termies exactly where they need to be to rescue their chapter master.

• Stay out of Melee

It should not be understated that Issodon has No Invulnerable saves of any kind. If he gets in melee, he will die like a bitch to a single power fist attack. He also loses soundly to every special character in both Codex Space Marines, and the Badab War characters update.