The Foxhound unit of the 40K universe

When a single man is needed to save the day, the Imperium looks to the Officio Assassinorum. This is the organization that recruits and trains…well you guessed it assassins. There are six groups or Temples to this organization, but only four of them have playable 40k units.

All of these assassins are elite choices and unique. They also all have the same stats and share some basic rules and gear. They all also all very close in point costs and can cover a variety of battlefield roles.

As I said they all have the same stats; WS 8, BS 8, strength, toughness and attacks 4, initiative 7, 2 wounds, leadership 10 and a 4+/4++ save. They are all armed with frag grenades and Synskin. They also all share the Move Through Cover, Fearless, Fleet, and Lightning Reflexes rules.

Synskin- is a secondary skin that helps absorb damage. It gives the assassin Feel No Pain, but a roll of 6+, instead of 4+. Good luck with that!

Lightning Reflexes- is what gives the assassin a 4++ save.

As I said there are four playable Temples; Callidus, Eversor, Culexus and Vindicare. They all have their own special rules, gear and abilities. They all specialize in one form or style of combat.

Callidus

These are the super infiltrators. They basically shape shift to help infiltrate an enemy force. They use a drug called polymorphine to morph their appearance. They can look like anyone and that is how they get close to their prey.

They are armed with a Neural Shredder, a C’Tan Phase Sword and Polymorphine. They also have the rules Hit and Run and Stealth.

Neural Shredder- is a S 8, AP 1 template weapon. It wounds against the enemy leadership instead of toughness.

C’Tan Phase Sword- is a power weapon that causes Instant Death regardless of the opponent’s toughness.

Polymorphine- is used when the Callidus arrives from reserve. They are placed using the deep strike rules, but they do not scatter. A enemy unit is chosen and the Callidus is placed within 3” of that unit. The enemy unit also takes D6 S 4 AP 2 hits when the Callidus arrives.

These guys or girls by the look of the model run $1.45 in points.

Eversor

This is the least subtle of the assassins. He doesn’t use fancy stealth or infiltration. He prefers to punch stab his targets in the mush while playing Twister with their innards. These guys are drug crazed killers that use brute force over subtlety.

They are armed with a Nero gauntlet, Execution Pistol, Melta Bombs and Frenzon. They also have the Furious Charge rule.

Neuro Gauntlet- is a basic power claw

Execution Pistol- is a 12” S 4 AP 2 pistol with the Poison (2+) rule.

Frenzon- is the drug that is pumped into these guys. It gives them an extra D6 attacks on the charge.

They are the cheapest in points, being 15 points under the cost of the Callidus (who is tied for most expensive).

Culexus

These are psychic blanks or soulless. They are the anti-psyker assassin, Since psykers hate blanks. It makes them all twitchy.

They carry psyk-out grenades, a psyocculum, the Animus Speculum and Etherium.

Animus Speculum- is a ranged weapon. It has 12” range is S 5, AP 2 and assault 2. It does gain a shot for each psyker within 12” of the assassin.

Etherium- causes all psykers that target the Culexus with a power to pass a leadership test. They take this test on 3D6 and if they fail, then they cannot target the assassin. They can however target something else.

These weirdy skull helmed freaks run 10 points less than the Callidus.

Vindicare

This is the sniper assassin. He kills from long range and is good at it.

This guy has the Infiltrate and Stealth rules. He is also a Dead Shot. He carries Exitus Weaponry (rifle and pistol), special ammo and blind grenades.

Dead Shot- allows the Vindicare to allocate any wound caused, not the controlling player.

Exitus Weaponry- uses special ammo and it must be declared before shoot attacks are made.

Exitus Rifle- has a 36” range is S X, AP 1, heavy 1 and has Sniper

Exitus Pistol- has a 12” range is S X, AP1, pistol and Sniper

Exitus Ammo

1. Hellfire-these always wound on a 2+.
2. Shield Breaker- will cause a wounded model to lose any invulnerable save they have for the remainder of the game.
3. Turbo Penetrator- will cause two wounds to the target instead of one. It still has to wound once to get the effect. It also gives a 4D6 for armor penetration vs. vehicles.

The Vindicare is the same points cost as the Callidus.

Thoughts………….

As a whole assassins aren’t awful. They have great initiative for close combat (for the two you want in close combat). Having frag grenades is great to solidify that you are almost always, almost, going first. The Synskin is a waste. If you think a 6+ anything is good them you are a crazy person.  They are not super tough and will fall to massed fire/ attacks, protracted combat and high strength.  Still they all have a use, just make sure you only use them for that, since specialists fail if forced into being generalists.

Callidus- are good for jumping out of a soft target and hopefully getting more than one wound from their Polymorphine attack .Then they can template the target with a Neural Shredder template. After that they are stuck with their cheese in the wind for a turn.  I think these are great for Devastators, Long Fangs, Heavy Weapon Squads and other small squads/ static ranged squads.

Eversor- is kind of meh. His pistol makes for a nice one-off shooting attack pre-charge and a lightning claw can be helpful with wound re-rolls. Sure he has a lot of attacks on the charge (maybe). If you don’t get the charge then he is very meh. I would throw him at non-combat oriented units. A Tactical Squad, Veteran Squad, or any HQ unit that doesn’t really want to fight would be a great target for an Eversor.

Culexus- can be tricksie. If you have a lot of Grey Knight squads or other associated psykers, near him then his Animus Speculum becomes a very formidable weapon.  If there are no opposing psykers then he is kind of a waste.  He is also rubbish in combat and needs to stay the hell away from it.

Vindicare- is great for shooting and that is it. If he is fighting then your opponent is winning. He is also hamstrung a bit by 4+ cover saves everywhere. Still with a BS 8 he should hit his targets rather easily (a re-roll of 4+ on a hit roll of 1 is nice) just like the Eversor and Culexus. The special rounds and AP 1 of his guns are also great stuff.  As is the fact he can load his pistol with these bullets as well. I like the Hellfire rounds with their 2+ to hit, wound and AP 1. Sure the Turbo Penetrator is cool as is the Shield Breaker, but they are tied to the sniper 4+ to wound rule. I’ll take a 2+ over a 4+ any day.