No one expects the Imperial Inquisition

[CrystalSeer]

I finally splurged and got the execution force over Christmas, and used them for the first time yesterday.

 

Overall I'm impressed by their performance, but it's pretty obvious their success is highly dependent on being able to deploy them in unconventional ways.

 

Barring infiltration behind Los blocking terrain (got that one already), what strategies do you guys use to get your assassins to the target without getting nuked?

[CyderPirate]

I haven't tried it out yet, but one of the guys over in the IG section (can't remember who) often advocates deploying the Culexus by Valkyrie, using the grav-chute insertion to drop him wherever he needs to remove psychic buffs.

[GreyCrow]

I think you can afford to dpeloy them with the standard Infiltrate (considering the execution force already costs around 570 points, I'm not sure it's worth it to invest much more into it !).

 

Considering that the assassins have a very strong specialty each, I feel that the trick with the execution force is to use them as a very specialized support unit for the main battle line of your army, bringing the right amount of pain at the right time. What that means is being conservative with the assassins you really need and throwing the ones you don't really need as distractions and targets of opportunity.

 

For example, when facing Orks, your two most valuable Assassins will be the Eversor (high number of attacks against Ork mooks) and the Calidus (high number of attacks and AP2 to deal with the pesky meganobz). Throwing the Culexus and the Vindicare as bait to draw the enemy where you want or to draw fire away (due to their in built tanky capabilities), while keeping the Eversor and Callidus behind Rhinos to go with your line is a viable way to run them.

 

The assassins are still specialized support with a low volume of fire and low survivability, so they should be deployed to get a specific local edge where you need it, prioritizing the specialties you value the most (lol Culexus against Tzeench summoning lists)

[librisrouge]

I've used the Execution Force formation within about a half-dozen games and I've found that they need to have one of two roles. They either are a part of a fully aggressive list, full of scouting, drop podding, or infiltrating units that are right in the enemy's face quickly or they are a delaying force. In an aggressive army, you give the enemy too much to worry about. Killing an assassin means letting another unit fire off meltas or get a charge. In a delaying force, you need to really use terrain and defensive rules to just hold off as long as you can. The enemy is forced to spend an extra turn or two dealing with a mere three models (the vindicare takes his place on the firing line) while the main threat, a whole ton of guns from the other side of the board, does its job. Yeah, the assassins almost always die to the man, or woman, but even a turn extra for a dedicated firepower army is essentially a game won.