Horus Heresy 3e Review: Culexus Assassin

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️ 2/5 stars. Thematic, and would get higher star rating against psykers. 

Background. 

Members of this assassin clade possess the Pariah gene, but at an incredible level. Even being near them can give ordinary people a bit of the shudders. The clade gives them the ability to switch on and off this ability and enhance it to obscene levels, whilst also training them physically to be formidable. 

Strengths.

The same stat line as Adamus, with willpower boosted to ten. 

The main weapon here is the Animus Speculum template. This comes with breaching, panic and psy-shock. At S=5 this is a good template regardless of psy-shock, but will really come into its own against enemies that can be affected by it. 

They also have limited use (3) psyk-out grenades which can be used in close combat and come with a wealth of special rules including aflame, rending, precision, and breaching. With S=5, AP=3 and 2 damage, these will slaughter regular space marine squads which is good for an assassin. 

In addition, the Culexus also has a bunch of special rules including infiltrate, anathema, ex-oblivio, infiltrate at 9 inches, and shrouded to name but a few. The unique one here is Etherium which in third edition reduces the incoming unsaved wounds by 1 (to a minimum of 1) helping keep them alive. 

I can see a strong case here for this assassin to be a backline disruptor and destroyer. Put them down near a heavy support squad and they will be able to cause havoc before they perish outside of challenges. 

Weaknesses. 

A strong combination of rules exist here, but to make the most of them, the enemy needs to be psykers or malefic. This means that they're best against armies like the Thousand Sons and certain Word Bearers builds. Outside of this, they can be a bit average. And if they were infiltrated next to a heavy support squad, they'd still make a juicy target for them, and I'd be challenging them in a challenge as a direct way to nullify most of their potential. 

Builds.

There are no builds to discuss.  

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Callidus Assassin

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. Masters of confusion and thematically well done. 

Background. 

Chaos and confusion incarnate on the battlefield! In large part this is thanks to the polymorphine compound that this clade has become synonymous with. If you've ever played Dungeons and Dragons, then you'll know that this substance is the future equivalent of a polymorph self spell. The assassin use this compound and then poses as enemy commanders (or similar) to sow said chaos, revealing themselves at the opportune moment. 

Strengths.

The same stat line as Adamus, but gets better infiltration to 6 inches which is remarkable in itself. The neural shredder weapon is a template that causes pinning which is a very nice opening volley for the assassin. They also have poison blades which are short range (12 inches) with 3 shots. Nevermind its strength, it has poisoned and precision at 3+ along with breaching at 4+. It is, however, one shot only. This is a killing opening volley unlike the pinning template from the shredder. 

The main melee weapon is the phase sword. This goes at I=7 and has AP=2, along with precision, rending and a new rule which is Bypass on a 6+. If when wounding you roll the number in question, then the target gets no saves of any sort. This is quite amazing really, but might not be enough for the toughest of opponents. 

Two further rules help out a lot. The polymorphine means the assassin cannot be shot at or charged at until it has already attacked or been attacked. The only way for the enemy to do this is with an Intelligence test within 3 inches. Secondly, the assassin causes stunned when they first charge.  

Weaknesses. 

I quite like the combination of rules here as they will cause damage and can get a good part of the assassin job done. As with other assassins, they won't take out entire squads, and they are squishy with T=4 and a 4+ save (but do note the other assassin special rules to help keep them alive). 

Builds.

There are no builds to discuss.  

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Adamus Assassin

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. Despite being a sword master, the launcher weapon is equally valuable.  

Background. 

These assassins are the tradition blade masters of the clades. They are sword masters supreme and have a bit of martial regality about them if I'm reading the background correctly. 

Strengths.

As with almost all assassins, they have 5's in WS, BS, and I, 4's in S and T, and 3 wounds coupled with 10's in leadership and cool. The 4+ in both kinds of saves will help keep them alive a little longer too. 

The Adamus comes with a needle spine blaster which can be shot like a bolt pistol, or like a launcher (one shot only). The launcher gives 3 shots at S=6 with a range of rules that are extremely valuable once the assassin closes in with their blades. These include phage on toughness, as well as breaching and precision to try to ensure that you cause some damage on the way in. 

The Nemesii Blade has had a glow up compared to the previous edition and is now natively AP=2 with critical hitting and shred. This should pose a threat even to terminators - doubly so if they have had their toughness reduced through phage. 

The Nemesii Grenades are a defensive measure to provide a disordered charge when the assassin is moved against. And if the charge move is completed, then count that charge as going over dangerous terrain too This is quite nice.

Death's Artisan gives access to the Mirror Form gambit (but why have 2 names for it!). The player MUST select this gambit though and anything that prevents this is over-ridden. This means always hitting on 4+ regardless of WS comparisons. The assassin can always strike back in the round they are reduced to 0 wounds even if they don't have the advantage. 

Weaknesses. 

Nice in one-on-ones with a good chance (well, at least 50% perhaps) of hitting, although wounding with S=4 may be a worse problem unless you used phage earlier. AP=2 will certainly help with them being deadly though. Infiltrate and shrouded will help you get to where you need to be early in the game too. But with T=4 and 3 wounds with a 4+ save, there is vulnerability to massed incoming fire (bit of a waste given the rules and reactions possible) and challenges against Praetors will certainly be entertaining and deadly quickly. 

Builds.

There are no builds to discuss.  

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Divisio Assassinorum Rules

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. The assassin rules are middle of the road average. 

We begin our examination of the Liber Custodes by starting at the end for a change. And for this Liber, that means the Divisio Assassinorum - the assassin clades. 

As with all units in this volume, assassins are forced to be loyalists in terms of their faction. Indeed, the entire book might as well as have the word Loyalist in the title to be maximally descriptive. 

The assassins themselves can never be a detachment or army on their own. They can only ever be taken by using the Clade Operative prime advantage. If a loyalist army does this, then they gain 3 support slots that can only be filled with assassins, and only once in a prime detachment. 

Whether this is worth doing or not is dependent on many factors. 

In a large game, they're probably not worth it in my view. A single assassin is unlikely to be taking out a squad of terminators. However, in lower points games where one-on-one match ups are a bit more valuable and impactful, they can do extremely well. I would therefore recommend them for narrative play and up to (e.g.) 1500 points to play around with. Although the sacrifice of the Prime Advantage is steep to purchase them in such games as well. 

They all come with a Divisio Tactica called Nemesis. This means that any incoming shots are snap shots unless made by the closest unit. This gives the assassin a bit of breathing room to operate in, but doesn't make them invulnerable. Yet they remain vulnerable to volleys and precision shots by the same token. This ties in with their fluff: they wear a body glove which helps them disguise themselves against their background - hence my recent paint scheme using a glitch camo approach for my Vindicare. All of them are also heedless - they can never take or contest objectives. Their personal missions are beyond such petty concerns! Their advanced reaction (Tactical Displacement) also helps keep them going by moving them in response to incoming fire. 

Overall then, the rules for assassins get a middle of the road 3/5 from me. We will look at the individual assassins in the next suite of posts. 

Salamanders Fire Drake Conversion

One of the only options that a Salamanders Fire Drake terminator can take is to replace their shield with a (forge crafted) heavy flamer. There are no resin parts for this, so a conversion is the only way forward at this point in time. 

Sitting in my bits box collection was a heavy flamer from the older chaos space marines range. I decided that I would use this for several reasons. This first is that it looks more ornamental than a regular flamer and that communicates "forge crafted" more readily than other alternatives. Secondly, what if this were a traitor Salamanders anyway (shudder!)? And thirdly, there's also the rule of cool. So I went with it.

The primary issue here is that the part needs to be shaved with some precision to make it flush with the shoulder and billowing drake skin comes down from the shoulder. This is straight forward if you can get hold of a good looking bit of resin to clip. Here I have used Right Arm Part B (hope that makes sense for anyone wanting to follow this pathway). I clipped off the hand and shield attachment, of course. Essentially getting rid of the elbow as well in order that the plastic heavy flamer could then be pinned into position.

My strong recommendation here is to do lots of dry fits and judgments by eye by holding the bits up against each other and seeing where to slice. I went slowly and took off less than was needed at each slice, slowly progressing toward a natural joint. Largely because putting back on bits that had too much chopped off it a severe problem! In terms of conversions, this is a reasonable one to execute, but it did require precision and patience. 

The base meanwhile is supposed to be lots of accumulated battlefield debris. Maybe from the drop site that they fought in. I like the outcome here, but haven't yet painted it. I have the rest of the squad to build first!

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Veteran Breacher Squad

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. The rules are very good!

Background. 

One of the main reasons that I bought the Journal Tactica on release day was to see the full extent of the Veteran Breacher Squads. These are offensive line breakers for Zone Mortalis or otherwise elite reserves for the legion, and rarer than the other veteran squads available. 

Strengths. 

Space marines with 2 wounds, 2 attacks, and WS=5. They come native with a 3+ armmour save and a 5+ invulnerable save which makes them almost ideal for Zone Mortalis short of a 2+ armour save - but that is what terminators are for and there is some worth in considering the relative points cost against that. 

Veteran (3) ensures that they will be on point to swipe at your enemies and get on top of their tactical objectives. The Leadership and Cool of 8 is also reasonable here. 

Players will want both the vexilla and the nuncio vox as the basic upgrades. 

As with other Veteran squads, the customization for this unit is really where it shines. The humble bolt gun can be swapped out by any member of the squad for a variety of options. 

Chainswords and Chainaxes are clearly nice to have here, and the chain axe in particular is very well suited to certain legions (looking at you Space Wolves and World Eaters) but all legions can have them. The Astartes Shotgun is nice for stun, but perhaps little else. It might be worth taking a couple per unit if you are so inclined. 

Volkite chargers are fine so long as you take them in number! Always with volkite: go big is the rule of the day. 

The melee swaps are good as well: charabal sabres are reasonable, but I'd honestly spend more points and take a power weapon, power fist, or lightning claw here instead. Or maybe a mixture of them all depending on your points value you have to spare. 

The one in five swaps are also tempting. The flamer is strong for Zone Mortalis, and perhaps more broadly as the Medusan Immortals show. Graviton is excellent, the las cutter also has its place. The melta gun likely calls for a more specific set up. Speaking of which, the sergeant can also have melta bombs (yes for specific builds), disintegration pistol (reasonable if you don't mind dying too), and a thunder hammer (yes!). The Vexilla and Nuncio Vox are automatic upgrades here as well. 

Weaknesses. 

The basic 3+ save is a mild concern offset by the invulnerable save. 

The points cost can also build up rapidly here and I advise watching how it might compare to a naked set of Tartaros Terminators at least. 

Builds.

5 Veterans, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, 1 shotgun, 1 graviton gun, 2 power weapons, thunder hammer and disintegrator pistol for the sergeant  (195 points). 

An all purpose squad for throwing out statuses and taking on many comers. It is very expensive though. 

5 Veterans, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, 1 shotgun, 1 flamer, Sergeant with thunder hammer (165 points).

A cut back version of the above with a flamer instead. 

10 Veterans, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, 9 Volkite Chargers, Sergeant with thunder hammer (308 points).

Lots of Volkite. 

10 Veterans, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, 2 Melta Guns, Sergeant with thunder hammer and melta bombs (310 points).

The melta set up. I'd suggest a couple of shotguns here as well just in case. And chain axes too because why not. 

10 Veterans, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, 10 Power Weapons (355 points). 

Very expensive compared to raw terminators, but they do have the rule of cool it has to be said.