Unveil the blade [Tactica on the veiled blade detachment]

[Darwhine]

INTRODUCTION

 

Hello. I'm embarking on this long-standing project that's close to my heart for several reasons. 
I hear a lot of criticism about Imperial Agents, and even more so when it comes to the Veiled Blade detachment. If you believe the online influencers, everyone agrees: it's a trash detachment, which is only fun in narrative or causal games. 
I've played this detachment and I don't share this opinion. 

I tried to defend it on French forums, and EVERYONE laughed in my face. 
What I've discovered since then leads me to believe the opposite of what's been said (even among tournament players): this detachment is NOT for causal players; on the contrary, its strength lies in its competitive game mechanics. 
The more I play this detachment, the more its gameplay takes on the form of a devious game where you use your tools to set traps ... both for the miniatures and the human beings in front of you. 
There's a form of psychological warfare that sets in, which represents the fluff of this detachment well: no raw power, but precise strikes and traps that serve your game plan and disrupt your opponent's play.

 

I'm not saying it's a top meta, but if you want to get the most out of it and appreciate this detachment at its true value, you need to know its mechanics.

I wouldn't write this tactic all at once; it's too big and there's a lot to cover. I'd like it to be as comprehensive as possible, so I'll add articles as I go along.

Note: 
I apologize in advance for any grammar and spelling mistakes; not being bilingual, I rely mainly on Google Translate to write this post.

 

Chapter 1: Techniques, tips and tricks to know

To understand what I'm going to talk about next, it's essential to understand some fundamental mechanics commonly used in competitive gaming.

In this chapter, I'll try to provide a brief, illustrated overview so you know what we're talking about. This is only a summary; by searching the internet, you'll most likely find better, more in-depth explanations.

 

 

1) Staging (shooting and close combat):

"Staging" is a secure position that threatens a strategic position (objective, firing lane, etc.). "Staging" can be threatening in shooting (unit with long-range weapons) or in close combat (unit strong in melee and within charging range).

In this example, the CK player takes advantage of his towering rule by positioning himself behind the ruin.

During the opponent's turn, he is not visible because he is not in the ruin.

On his turn, the CK player only has to place one foot in the ruin to have a line of sight on all the firing lanes beyond the ruin, as well as on the two nearby objectives. He thus forces his opponent to move hidden from ruin to ruin and complicates his objective capture.

 

 In this example we have essentially the same thing but with a melee unit: the impulsor is hidden in a ruin on the opponent's turn, which prevents it from being shot at. On the SW player's turn, the latter can land at 3 inches, move 6 and charge behind.

That is a threat range of 15 (9 + 6) inches, if we consider a charge at 6 as highly probable.

The opponent does not take the risk of placing his units in this 15 bubble.

 

2) Charge phase and combat phase: the subtleties.

Mastering your charges and the combat phase means anticipating:

- The path of the charge, through a wall to avoid the ow or not declaring a nearby unit in charge to "force" the positioning of your figurines by preventing them from putting them in their engagement zone.
 

-The activation at pill in; knowing how to put your most lethal figurines within engagement range (example the hammers of the Dw), "blocking" the engagement of non-lethal figurines in combat (example the frag cannon/shotguns/infernus dw) to allow them to pill/consolidate on an objective or another nearby unit.

 

-The opposing interruption; sometimes it can be a good thing for you if the opponent activates first and pill in towards you.

 

- Anticipate the opponent's response (especially in the case of several units engaged), know which figurines will be able to hit what (rule of the figurine in contact with a figurine of the same unit), know which figurines to withdraw in loss to limit the opponent's response.

In this well-known example of a technique, the first three subductors "lock" each other in close combat, preventing the fourth from reaching base-to-base contact; he therefore has the "right" to get closer to the scouts as long as he finishes his movement closer to the reivers than he was at the start.

He puts himself 1.4 inches from the scouts, which will allow him to engage them in pill in his activation and come and threaten the second objective.

 

3) Heroic intervention and its subtleties:

Heroic Intervention is not just about engaging the enemy to have a melee phase or gain movement distance during the opponent's turn.

Heroic intervention can be defensive and block the enemy's pill in by putting its models in base-to-base contact with the enemy's models.

The enemy charged by the intervention can no longer pill in with all of its models, since it now has terminators as models closer to some of its own.

This can save the charging unit, but also prevent the capture of an objective.

 

4) The Ruins: WTC (2 inch) and GW (1 inch) competitive rules:

Mastering the engagement rule of the ruins in competitive play allows:

- To protect yourself from charges through the ruins by placing yourself 2, 1 (WTC) or 1 (GW) inch from the walls; 

 

-To only be hit on one row by placing yourself 1 inch (WTC) or stuck to the walls (GW);

 

-To take advantage of the absence of base-to-base contact to be able to "slide" along the wall upon activation and gain ground with the pill in movement.

In this example, the CK cannot pass through the wall because it does not have room to place its base.

It also cannot charge the unit because it does not pass through walls during the charge phase and therefore cannot end up in engagement range even if it sticks to the wall.

By going around it, it is out of charge range.

 

5) The "lone operative" abilitie:

Mastering and anticipating the range of enemy units after their movement to position their lone op units allows them to counter fire staging, but also to move block or to staging themselves in exposed areas of no man's land.

Since lone op works figure by figure, it is also possible to protect yourself from only a portion of the enemy squad's fire (if you only want to kill a few figures with fire to make future charges impossible or eliminate lines of sight).

 

 

6) The "Move block":

Knowing how to anticipate the enemy movement phase and movement restriction rules (terrain for motorcycles/vehicles, prohibition of entry into the unit engagement zone, unit consistency, etc.) to be able to block all or part of a future enemy movement. This is a particularly important concept when you face IK and CK.

In this example, the CK cannot finish his move in the subductors' engagement zone.

Even if he has the right to pass over them thanks to his super heavy walker rule, the split placement of the subductors with their 1 ps engagement bubble prevents him from passing.

 

7) The wall of 25:

I call the "wall of 25" the defensive or offensive positioning with 25mm bases in the front row. The 25mm base is the only one measuring less than 1 inch. Any model in base-to-base contact with a 25mm model, itself within engagement range of an enemy model, is therefore itself within engagement range of that model.

 

In this example, the first rank of intercessors can hit either the voidsmen or the veterans; but the presence of the voidsmen prevents the second rank from hitting the veterans because the first is not in base-to-base contact with the veterans.

They are therefore forced to hit the voidsmen. In return, the veterans of the first rank with the hammers can hit because they are in fact within engagement range through the 25mm bases of the voidsmen.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5 by Darwhine

[Darwhine]

Chapter 2 : the Stratagems

Veiled Blade stratagems all work the same way: you have a generic effect on certain units; when you target a particular assassin, the effect is amplified or a new effect is added.

This means that if you don't play all the assassins, you can't take full advantage of all the tools the detachment offers.

 

As the cost of assassins is increased by mandatory upgrades, which make them VERY expensive (the vindicare has 155 points ..*sigh*) this pushes players to make a choice that impacts their game plan.

Of these 6 stratagems, 2 increase lethality (under conditions), 1 increases your resistance and the last 3 are utilities.

Of these last 3, 2 (see all 3) will have an impact on your tactical choices, or even strategic ones, from the creation of the list.

1)Prime target :

This stratagem gives you the reroll of 1s to wound and full reroll if the target of the stratagem is an assassin and the assassin TARGETS the enemy warlord.

 

Warning: Warlord is not a keyword, the assassin MUST therefore make his precision attacks on the warlord to benefit from the full reroll... except that if he kills the warlord, the excess wounds will go to the bodyguards... which in a sense makes it apply to the unit anyway ?

 

The reroll of 1s to the wound may seem anecdotal, but certain weapons with devastating wounds in particular... will benefit from it.

 

On a veteran squad with 4 hammers, 4 power swords, a black shield, a xenophase blade and a watch master, we go on average:

 

- From 10 marines killed to 12;

- From 12 to 14 hp on a large IK

- From 5 to 6 custodian guard killed.

 

It is an interesting reliability for the DW which makes certain levels pass (on the custodians in particular) and works as an insurance to get the target out of your charge.

In most cases, the grenade will probably be more "safe".

 

It is the only stratagem which also applies to vehicles in veiled blade, on a chimera with 10 inquisitorial agents equipped with two heavy plasmas, the vehicle in heavy bolter, goes from 4 boddy sm killed to 5 on average; which can be interesting to dislodge a point occupied by MSU units.

 

The same goes for the flamethrowers of a Sanctifier unit when shooting with an Inquisitor; the number goes from 4 Marines to 5.

 

The effect on assassins is not to be underestimated:

-An Everssor charging a Shield Captain in Alarus armor has only a 50% chance of taking it down with Overkill.

These chances rise to 77% with this stratagem if it's the Warlord.

 

-The Callidus also benefits greatly, especially since the stratagem can be combined with the Ensnaring Trap bonus.

-Finally, if for some reason you've used your command reroll for another shot, you can always play insurance on the Vindicare's Exicitus Rifle to avoid the 1 (hoping he didn't do it to hit). What is less known, however, is that a vindicare does not kill a shield captain with a rifle (5 hp on average) ... nor with a pistol (3 hp on average) on the other hand, with the full reroll to wound, suddenly he goes to 6 hp; for the captain allarus, he goes from 3 to 6 leaving him at 1 hp. Equipped with his pistol, with this stratagem, the vindicare is almost as strong as an everssor charging the warlord!

We can find this anecdotal and many influencers mock this stratagem for the drastic conditions necessary to unlock the full re-roll; what they forget is that assassins have much more facilities in reaching their target.

 

An eversor with his scout 9, advance + charge + overkill activated, can very easily take out any infantry warlord as early as T1 with almost certainty.

Knowing this, the warlord's deployement will no longer be the same, and that's where we begin to enter the psychological warfare ...

 

 

Psychological Warfare tips:

 

If you have an eversor, and the deployment of the opposing warlord does not please you (because it threatens too much a key unit of your army), do not hesitate to remind your opponent what your eversor can do under this stratagem ... and you will see him hide his unit deep in his lines.

 

Bravo: You have just gained a strategic advantage without having spent the slightest resource.

The death of the T1 warlord was not guaranteed: you might not have the T1.

 

However, it works in a competitive environment because the decision-making is measured by the risk-taking: he risks his warlord against the eversor while the latter can, if you do not have the T1, back with his scout movement;

the risk is too high for too low gains.

 

2) Hypperstimms:

One of the army's two defensive stratagems.

It's the only one that costs 2 CP.

It allows you to increase a unit's stamina by 1 with the "character" keyword; if it's an Everssor assassin, it will also have a 4+ FNP.

 

This stratagem, like Prime Target, was criticized from the start by influencers: too expensive, not profitable on an army with stamina of 3.

It was deemed barely usable on Terminators to increase their stamina from 5 to 6.

As for its use on the Eversor... it seemed like a joke, given that the model only has 4 HP and a base stamina of 4. In addition to being expensive, it's restrictive because it can only be used on a squad with a leader.

This makes it impossible to use it on a single Terminator squad.

Therefore, they must be accompanied by at least one Inquisitor, which increases the squad's cost to... 255 points!

This is far too expensive to even use this stratagem at 2 CP.

 

All these remarks are generally true at first glance.

But if you dig a little deeper, you can see that this stratagem can become very important depending on the situation.

What matters is not the overall power of this ploy but the situation in which you use it... a situation you can provoke.

The mechanics of this stratagem are unique: it only has an effect on targeted strength values to pass "tiers."

 

-Use on a Toughness of 3 (arbiters/sanctifiers/inquisitorial agents, etc.) It is only useful against Strength 2 (it increases the wound roll from 5 to 6), Strength 3 (it increases the wound roll from 4+ to 5+), Strength 4 (it increases the roll from 3+ to 4+), and Strength 6 (it increases the roll from 2+ to 3+).

All intermediate strength values (F5) or higher (F7 and above) are not affected by this stratagem.

 

-Similarly, on 4-strengths (DW Veteran/Eversor), it is only useful against forces 4, 5, 8, and 9.

 

-On 5-strengths (Terminators), it is only useful against forces 3, 5, 6, 10, and 11.

 

Its mechanics immediately show that its use depends on what we're exposing our units to.

Against a Tau line with F5 rifles, it will be useless on Inquisitorial agents with Toughness 3; however, it will be useful on Terminators (who will be injured on a 5+) and the DW (who will be injured on a 4+).

Passing a threshold, in statistical terms on a 6-sided die, represents approximately 17%.

On one of these thresholds, the wound rolls are therefore reduced by 17%.

This may be negligible if the attack is few in number and does little damage, and has no AP, but the greater the number of attacks and the higher the "quality" of these attacks, the greater the impact it will have.

 

On Terminators, 20 strike teams, each with a Fireblade Frame, can kill 2 or even 3 Terminators marked with Staratgeme.

This stratagem reduces this number by 1.

A Terminator for 2 CP is a steep price to pay, but if they held a point, it's also 3OC.

Which can be decisive for primary scoring.

Although, remember: you absolutely need a leader to use this stratagem... (255 points for this unit).

 

Another more telling example: a 10-DW unit being charged by Khorn Berserkers accompanied by Khârn.

 

They're mostly F4, the Evicerators are F8 and the Khârn is F7.

The stratagem works quite well, and the average death toll goes from 9 to 7.

It might not seem like much, but on a squad with 4 shields and 4 hammers, you go from one hammer survivor with the Watchmaster to 3 hammers surviving.

These two survivors are much more valuable than a typical Marine Corps since the weapons they carry account for almost all of the squad's lethality.

Especially since the Watch Master allows them to disengage, fire, and charge.

 

In response, the DW will kill 6 Berzerkers, and in turn, the unit that can fall back and charge behind will take out the surviving Berzerkers and potentially kill Khârn!

This stratagem transformed the loss of your DW squad into a loss for the attacker.

And most importantly: the Watch Master reduces the cost of stratagems by 1, so it will only cost you 1 cp...

 

This stratagem can have very interesting tactical value depending on the situation and can be very effective against DW veterans.

 

Let's go even further: what would happen if we also used the Wall of 25 technique?

The losses on the DW would be partially absorbed by the 25-man bases, and it's not impossible that it could emerge virtually unscathed, losing just one or two shields, as well as the heavy weapon carriers.

In fact, this formation, coupled with this stratagem, could completely negate a Berserker charge.

 

This is where we enter the strategic dimension, where the stratagem allows for aggressive deployment against World Eaters.

 

Not bad for a stratagem considered "trash tier."

 

Another possibility to consider: Inquisitorial agents.

This unit may have a Toughness of 3, but when accompanied by an Inquisitor, it inflicts a -1 to wound on the enemy attacking it.

Against the appropriate forces (2, 3, 4, and 6), the two combined can skip not one level, but two! This therefore reduces the wounds on these attacks by 34%.

 

This can produce surprising results, again depending on the situation:

 

5 GK Terminators charging 12 Inquisitorial agents take them out 84% of the time. If the 12 agents are accompanied by an Inquisitor, they kill 11 on average.

With hyperstimulations, they only kill 8, leaving the Inquisitor and 4 agents alive (potentially both heavy weapons, with the two skull tomes, or the two plasma pistols); but more importantly, potentially preventing them from returning to reserve if they are in the Brotherhood detachment.

 

If this Inquisitor is Coteaz, which grants invulnerability at 4+ against psychic attacks... they only kill 4!

Even if the GK Terminators had been 10 to charge, they would not have been able to statistically take them out in close combat (only 7 to 8 killed) because of the stacking of bonuses: endurance, -1 to wound, invulnerability at 4.

 

The stratagem is situational, but its impact can be very strong.

If you manage to provoke this situation.

 

3) Blind Grenade:

 

Like the first two, this stratagem is situational, but its use is more refined.

The stratagem allows you to give -1 to the charge of an enemy unit—and only one—that targets you.

If you are charged with multiple units: it will only work for one.

 

The unit must have the grenade keyword, and if it's a vindicare assassin, this penalty increases to -2.

 

Important note: the callidus does NOT have the grenade keyword. And therefore, it cannot use the stratagem.

 

Still, the -1 penalty is too low to be reliable, and you'll almost never use it...

However, in a competitive environment, it becomes a tool of psychological warfare.

 

Psychological warfare tips:

The charge is a risky operation in a competitive environment that can pay off handsomely (significant movement gains in pill-in/consolidate gains, possible objective capture, etc.);

but it can also cost you a lot: a unit that fails its charge and finds itself alone in no man's land is generally destroyed on the next turn by the enemy.

This is why in competitive environments, players generally limit themselves to short charges that have a low chance of failure.

 

For example, the coach of the French national team forbade his players from attempting 7-reroll charges, as they were deemed too unreliable.

In this context, it's worth reminding your opponent that you can use this stratagem during their charge phase:

 

They begin to take preliminary measures against their units and announce their intention to charge you. "If I place my squad there, it would give me a charge at 7"... "Yes, a charge at 7, potentially 8 with my stratagem..."

This may make them hesitate, force them to expose their units more by moving them 1 or 2 closer, or even abandon a charge.

Also, don't forget that while this increases the charge distance, it also REDUCES the distance they travel, and if they plan to pill-in on a secondary target after the charge, the penalty could cause them to fail this operation... don't hesitate to remind them of this.

 

With the improved penalty of -2 on a Vindicare, however, we enter a strategic dimension:

 

-The Vindicare has infiltration, so it can position itself on an objective in the T1 no-man's land.

-It is lone operative and cannot be targeted more than 12 inches away, in addition to being stealth.

 

So with the blind grenade stratagem and by positioning correctly, it is potentially unstoppable if you win the first round and it will earn you 5 primary points in the second.

If, in addition, you started with a fixed scoring with cleanse rather than tactical, you will score:

 

2 VP for T1 cleanse, 5 primary, and another 2 VP for T2 cleanse.

 

You won't have fired any shots, but the model alone will have earned you 9 points!

That's enough to cover its staggering cost of 155 points... right ?

 

And if you don't have T1, it makes excellent bait, provided you've placed a DW squad nearby in staging or have a unit to rapid ingress on your opponent's turn 2.

 

But we can go even further by combining the stratagem with orbital oversight ...

 

 

A well-placed Vindicare can become impossible to target with fire (lone op 6 with orbital oversight), or even impossible to charge with blind grenades !

For 2 cp, it can ALONE block corridors against large pieces that don't penetrate walls, such as IK and CK.

 

Of course, it's always more cost-effective not to have to spend cp and to signal this to your opponent to encourage them not to take their chances and to go around.

At least you won't be accused of "gotcha."

 

4) Orbital oversight:

 

One of the two "signature" stratagems of the detachment.

When playing veiled blade you will ask yourself each turn whether or not to use it.

The stratagem gives a lone operative at 18 inches base on an infantry unit; lone op which increases to 6 on an assassin.

The stratagem is strong on classic units (at least in the first two turns) and very strong on your assassins.

 

This allows in a first time to secure actions and the capture of primary; in a second time, it takes on a tactical dimension, because it allows you to set traps for your opponent to force him to go uncovered.

Finally it also has a strategic dimension if we include it in an overall game plan.

 

The tactical plan:

The tactical plan: The idea is simple: place a unit in the open to either perform an action/capture an objective, or staging... in the open.

This counters the enemy's staging fire, which will either have to close in to shoot or engage you in close combat.

If we stop there, you will certainly have forced the enemy to become uncovered, you will have performed your action, and perhaps you will have scored your primary. But your unit is doomed to a short period of time, and losing 1 cp for that is potentially not profitable.

 

Anticipating this, it is worth preparing a staging counter that will be able to seek out the threat, either by shooting or in close combat.

To be perfectly honest, there are few units capable of fulfilling this role: in Imperial Agent, the average range of weapons doesn't exceed 18 inches, and the lack of AP makes them very ineffective against most armies, especially if the units are in cover.

In close combat, the 18-inch range is very high, and again, there are very few units in the army that exceed 6 inches of movement and could counterattack. A foot infantry unit with 6 inches of movement if the enemy puts himself at the 18-inch limit, 18-6... that leaves you with a charge at 11 or 12 inches.

In other words, impossible.

 

Effective shooting units in staging:

However, there are certain units or combinations that are capable of this:

 

-The Chimera with Imperial Agents.

The Chimera can have a slew of hull weapons with a range of 24 to 36 inches.

2 heavy bolters, 1 heavy stubber, 1 las-gun array, and 1 tracking missile.

This only hit on 4, but it's really not bad for a 70-point unit.

It also has 2 firing decs and can hold an Inquisotorial Agent squad with a heavy bolter or a plasma cannon, along with a plasma pistol.

For "only" 130 points, you get a firing platform capable of handling an MSU unit that wants to fire on your lone ops unit.

 

-Draxus in breachers.

This is probably one of your best shooting options.

Breachers have no AP and fire at 18. However, they saturate well, and the reroll of wounds on Draxus's powers makes them formidable against lightly armored infantry, even Space Marines.

They're still expensive at 165 points.

 

-Sanctifiers, with or without a priest/inquisitor.

Probably the shooting unit that will do the most anti-infantry damage in your army when you use your Holyfire. The range is generally only 12 inch, which won't allow you to seek out a cautious opponent who stays within the 18-inch range.

However, if the opponent ventures further, the Sanctifiers will be able to punish any unit with a Toughness lower than 8 and a save up to 4.

They can still inflict damage on a save of 3, but the result remains random.

The version with the priest allows for an additional charge and combat phase thanks to its +1 wounds, sustained hit 1 in melee (only if the opponent advances 12 seconds), but in any case, the squad has a high chance of being defeated later.

100/140 or 155, all three options remain valid depending on whether you want to beef up the unit or not for this role.

 

-The Sisters as Immolators with or without Inquisitors.

The box opener or full flamethrower option.

The advantage of this combination is that the immolator in staging can come out, move 12, land the sisters at 3 inches, then shoot.

A unit that would stay at the limit of 18 would not be able to hide from it; all the more interesting since the immolator, by shooting first, will lift cover to allow the sisters to shoot.

At this distance, there is a good chance of being within melta range.

In full melta, the immolator has 2 twin linked shots, 1 heavy bolter, 1 tracking missile, all hitting at 3+; for the sisters we will have 2 multi-melta shots at 4+, 1 melta shot at 3+ and an inferno or plasma pistol shot.

+ or - 2D6 psychic flamethrower shot that will inflict deva wounds with an inquisitor.

 

It's effective against all types of armor and up to a Toughness of 9.

Beyond that, even with a cherub, the fire volume is too small to hope to inflict damage on a 5+.

It's still good against Terminator-like creatures, or light vehicles/motorcycles.

On top of that, a grenade is always possible to ensure sufficient damage is inflicted.

It won't come out of large blocks, and the flamethrower version remains significantly inferior in terms of damage to what a Sanctifier unit could provide.

 

The major drawback remains the cost: to play this combination, you need to invest in a squad of 10 Sisters at 100 points in addition to a 100-point Immolator that will split the squad in two.

The sister squad alone in an immolator comes back to 150 points which is affordable for what it does, but only if you find a use for the squad of 5 sisters that remains. (which can very well play the role of bait under orbital oversight).

Finally, the immolator remains a resistant chassis with an endurance of 10 and 11 hp.

You can always charge behind to block an enemy unit and draw fire on it ... Or perform a tank shock to add mortal wound.

 

-DW equipped with shooting With or without Artemis.

The DW has access to medium/long range shooting weapons with the frag cannon and the H bolter, as well as various shoot guns.

The impact is not huge given the lack of AP, even if in the presence of Artemis and the lethal hit, it can do damage.

However, I do not recommend this choice.

Heavy weapons are limited to one version in increments of 5, to have all 4 you must take at least a squad of 10 to 190 points. It is much too expensive for what it does.

 

Effective units for melee staging:

The options are very limited for Imperial Agents.

 

-Sanctifiers + Rhino Priest or Inquisitorial Agent + Chimera Priest.

These options are only valid if the enemy arrives within 15 inches; beyond that, the chances of reaching melee will be too low.

The idea is to use the 3 inches of landing to reach melee, after a 6-inch movement.

Sanctifiers will have a more effective shooting phase in addition to the melee phase.

Inquisitorial Agents will be slightly more lethal in melee and will—perhaps—be able to use their skull tome before charging or in melee.

Neither will work miracles, even in the presence of a priest, on anything above endurance 4 and save 4.

 

It remains an expensive option, 140 per unit + 75 rhino points.

You'll have to make the rhino worthwhile.

 

- DW by 10 + Watch Master or Artemis with or without rhino.

The best melee staging option, hands down.

The four hammers combined with the power swords, in addition to the leaders' weapons, make this a formidable unit, capable of damaging MOST enemies. Artemis in DW, with her lethal hit, is the strongest in your codex.

 

Both can pose a threat with high IK (although they probably won't kill him, even with prime targets). T

he Wtach Master, with its advance + charge, has a high chance of contacting at 18 inches; if you add the Rhino's 3-inch landing, the result is very reliable. The Artemis version is less reliable; it is essential to start as a Rhino, just like the Sanctifiers/Agents we saw above, to seek out targets at 15 inches max.

Both remain expensive, 255 to 285 points in addition to the Rhino at 75... it is essential to send them against large, threatening packs, or even perform a multi-charge to maximize their effectiveness.

 

-The Eversor.

It's rather unconventional, but the Eversor remains the most reliable projection option when using its overkill ability.

Movement at 15 + advance + charge... we're even beyond 18 inches!

He won't take out large packs and can bounce off some MSUs very well.

He remains expensive at 145 points, but his ability to take out leaders in squads makes him an excellent rebounder.

 

This was for use on a "classic" infantry unit.

You can use the lone op from the assassins for a more reliable result: The assassins' lone op is 12 inches by default.

This forces the enemy to get even closer; with the stratagem, it increases to 6 inches, which practically forces the enemy to come into close combat. However, this exposes our assassins, who are key players in this detachment.

It's therefore important to weigh the risks carefully before using them in this way (see the vindicare and the combination with the blind grenade).

 

Finally, an important tactical tip: the lone op ability works ONE FIGURE BY FIGURE.

It is therefore entirely possible to PARTIALLY expose yourself to an opposing unit if you correctly predict its range.

(See the example of callidus in the article on lone operatives in chapter one)

In this example, the Callidus served as bait for the motorcycles.

The motorcycles arrive within 12 inches, but only the lead motorcycle is close enough to fire.

All others (including the ATV) are out of range and won't be able to target it. Orbital Oversight and Lone Op can be used this way: not to prevent fire, but to prevent the destruction of the bait.

Here, the Callidus is an important element of the army; we're taking a measured risk: it will take two shots from twin bolt rifles, which won't kill it and exposes it to a charge between 10 and 11.

This is extremely unlikely without a bonus.

 

BE CAREFUL, HOWEVER: at 8 inches, even if you have Lone Op 6, your assassin will be targetable by a grenade. A lucky roll can kill him on the spot!

 

The Strategic plan:

 

I mentioned the strategic plan in the introduction.

It's possible to establish a game plan based on lone ops mechanics.

Using the bait system, you can play a defensive game, based around fixed missions like clense, quarter tables, or even hostile storms:

 

-Infiltrated assassins clense T1 objectives, before handing over to other T2 units.

Behind them, staging units wait their turn, hidden behind the ruins.

 

-We can also imagine quarter tables in no man's land with this stratagem or lone op units.

On paper, the enemy, unable to fire at you at 18/12 or even 6 inches, must expose themselves or risk losing the primary and leaving you to your secondaries; they then enter your threat zone (charge from transports, fire units, etc.).

 

-We can also imagine a storm objective each turn with a unit benefiting from a medic (Breacher + RT, Terminator, Exaction Squad, Sanctifiers) and/or an Aquilla/Tome Skull (Inquisitorial Agents/Arbiters) / Culexus; they will use orbital overtrike to expose themselves only partially, remove models from the objective to let the enemy retake it, and then recover it in their command phase with regeneration + BS test, to score both the primaries and the storm.

 

This type of strategy has two major flaws:

 

-The stratagem can only be used on one unit.

The only way to get more is to expose your assassins and/or include Draxus and his power (which can fail on a 1).

 

-The other flaw is that it necessarily uses one CP per turn.

If you also have to go on fixed missions, the CP generation may be too low to compensate for unforeseen events. This is why I recommend at least having one Watchmaster with DW (reduces one stratagem per turn on your squad by 1 CP) and one Inquisitor in one squad (or even two) on your list (recovers 1 CP on 3+ when a stratagem is cast on your squad).

 

Despite this, it's still a strategy that allows you to score against opponents you can't kill because they have too high a stamina (IK/CK).

It's also a good strategy against back-of-the-line armies (Tau and Astra Militarum types).

 

5) Will-Sapping salvo:

 

This stratagem allows an infantry unit to benefit from sustained hit 1 on its weapons when shooting;

if it's used on a Culexus Assassin, its ranged weapon's damage will be set to 3 instead of D3.

 

This is probably the least useful stratagem in the detachment. Most shots in Imperial Agent have little or no AP.

The rare shots that do have AP are too few in number to benefit from sustained hit.

 

There are, however, a few exceptions:

 

1) The DW equipped with full shooting.

 

We're talking about a unit of 10 with 2 frag cannons, 2 heavy bolters, 5 shotguns, and the sergeant with a combi-bolter. In this configuration, the unit kills an average of 3 Marines.

With the stratagem, it increases to 5; with Artemis, who brings the lethal effect, it increases to 7.

The last 3 can be killed in close combat by the same squad.

The same squad fully equipped in close combat with Artemis takes out 10, without having to use CP; however, the combination has the merit of being noted, because it is always easier and safer to do attrition at a distance than in close combat.

 

The stats are based on SMs, which aren't xenos.

On xenos, the stats go further: with full hit reroll, you can afford to "fish" for 6.

On flash giz or nobz, you get 9 kills; almost a full squad of shots.

 

2)  A breacher squad on "Low tier" infantry (Endu 3, Sav 5+).

 

A breacher squad targeting such a unit on an objective causes an average of 9 kills (and therefore fails to wipe a unit of 10). With the stratagem, this number increases to 12;

guaranteeing a wipe on a squad of 10 and adding 3 kills on a squad of 15 or 20 (which is worth something because 3 kills is what a grenade does on average on this type of unit).

 

3) An exaction squad with a priest on "Low tier" infantry (Endu 3, Sav 5+).

By targeting a unit marked with "Imperial Law," it kills 8 with a shot.
It increases to 10 with this stratagem.
With the Priest, it is also capable of killing 10 more in close combat.
This stratagem therefore allows the squad to take out a full unit of 20 low-tier units.
It's not as good as a grenade (only 2 more kills), but since the squad has precision, these are still wounds that can be allocated to a leader... something the grenade doesn't do.

 

4) A breacher squad + rogue traders on "Low tier" infantry (Endu 3, Sav 5+).

 

A RT + Breacher squad averages 10 low tiers off-objective kills; 13 on an objective.

With this stratagem, they increase their kills to 13 off-objective kills and 17 on an objective.

There's a cumulative effect between the stratagem and the full wound reroll on objectives, which translates into 1 additional kill. Four more kills is better than a grenade, but it doesn't wipe a squad of 20.

You'll have to go into close combat to finish the squad (RT + Breachers average 8 kills off-objective kills; 10 on an objective in close combat).

 

We can see that the stratagem, outside of full-fire DW, is really only useful for moving from "tiers" to shooting at the "low tiers" crowd.

 

5) On the culexus ...

 

This is where we get to the real nitty-gritty, which makes the stratagem really interesting.

On paper, the Culexus's ranged weapon only has 3 attacks on a 2+, F5, AP-3, damage D3, and anti-psychic 2+.

The Sustained Hit 1 stratagem gives a 50/50 chance of landing an extra shot.

Which is pretty low since you have to be wounded, and the opponent doesn't save to take the 3 damages behind it.

 

HOWEVER, the Culexus is a "psychic assassin" and has a rule that DOUBLES its attacks if the target is a psychic.

And this is something else entirely: statistically, every 6 attacks have a guaranteed extra hit, which will wound on a 2+, FLAT 3.

So on a psychic, we have an average of 6 hits and 5 wounds.

Even against a 4+ invulnerable, you're almost guaranteed to deal between 6 and 9 damage. That's enough to kill almost all the psychic infantry figures in the game.

Since his weapon is precision-engineered, he also has the ability to deep strike at 6 inches, and his weapon has a range of 24 inches, it's almost impossible for the enemy to hide from it unless they mobilize a very large portion of their army to repel the incoming 6-inch deep strikes.

 

The culexus then becomes a strategic weapon: it is capable of sniping a psychic character from the opposing army almost anywhere on the table.

 

But that's not all:

we're within the statistical average; when we're lucky and roll 2... 3... 4... 6s, we get completely crazy statistics where the Culexus will not only kill the leader, but also his entire squad!

When the rolls get wild, it sometimes even becomes more interesting not to target the leader precisely and to put everything into the squad. (I once killed four Zoanthropes by targeting a Neurotropic with my Cullexus).

 

Just so you understand, if the Cullexus rolls a 6 on all its dice rolls (an extremely unlikely event), it potentially deals 18 damage to a psychic.

If you add its grenade at 3+, 18+6 = 24. With just a 6-inch reserve arrival.

It sounds incredible and will probably never happen, but with this stratagem, the Culexus then has the potential to take out Magnus the Red in a single shooting phase.

 

6) Ensnaring trap:

 

The second "signature" stratagem of the detachment.

Probably even more impactful than Orbital Oversight, because its effectiveness remains the same on all infantry units, whereas Lone Operative 18 is only fully exploitable in the first two turns.

Again, we'll want to play it almost every turn. At first glance, this stratagem may seem like "only" an additional use of the generic "Heroic Intervention" stratagem, and that's how it was presented by online influencers when the detachment was released.

 

In reality, it's much, MUCH more interesting when you look more closely at the sequence of the charge phase to which it is linked.

Unlike the classic Heroic Intervention, the stratagem allows you to:

 

1) Declare a charge on an enemy at 6 inches, WITHOUT THE RESTRICTION THAT THE LATTER HAS CHARGED.

2) You must trigger it AT THE END OF THE CHARGE PHASE.

3) You are NOT LIMITED TO A SINGLE TARGET.

As long as there are units within 6 inches, you can declare THEM ALL to be charged.

 

The stratagem lifts the major restrictions on Heroic Intervention.

It therefore becomes much easier to use and gains new strategic advantages while retaining those of Heroic Intervention (see Chapter 1).

In addition to being able to block the enemy before pill-in, and to gain ground and a combat phase during the enemy phase, you can now charge and engage multiple units;

this can take on enormous proportions when applied to the subtleties of the charge and the combat phase (see Chapter 1), but also to units that may be populated with Imperial Agents (RT + Breacher = 14 models).

As a reminder: the charge is performed on a unit at 6 inches, but you can do much more on the roll, which allows, with the pill-in at 3 inches and consolidation, a much greater movement gain.

 

-Exit reactive move: As is the case during the enemy phase, units that survive the combat phase find themselves stuck in close combat during our turn (the Eldar will appreciate it).

-Exit overwatch: We can contact shooting units or tanks that will no longer be able to overwatch on our turn (overwatch is not done during the player's shooting phase, so their vehicles do not benefit from the "big guns never shoot" rule to be able to shoot).

-No more heroic intervention reaction charges: Since the stratagem is triggered at the end of the enemy's charge phase, it can no longer declare reaction charges as is the case with heroic intervention.

-No more units trying to steal an objective from you using OC: An opponent wants to steal the objective from you with low-tier models, whether through movement, advance, or reactive moves? (See Tyranid Gargoyles, Admec Pteraxii Skystalkers, Aeldari Swoping Hawks, etc.)

As long as you have a model in the center of the objective, with this stratagem, they won't be able to avoid a 6-man charge and a combat phase.

 

Psychological Warfare Tips:

Again, if you don't want to use your CPs to perform a snaring trap, or if you're planning an attempt to charge or take points from your opponent, remind them that you can do so. This will force them to reconsider their move.

Combined with other stratagems and mechanisms discussed in Chapter 1, the possibilities are multiplied and can be planned to set traps.

Here again, we move beyond the tactical aspect to the strategic.

 

The strategic plan:

 

-Combined with the 25mm Wall:

Placing a unit between 5 and 6 pushes behind a 25mm miniature wall, allows, just like a heroic intervention, to engage the units that charge them.

The advantage, unlike the 25mm Wall, is that you will be the operating player and can place your miniatures as you wish within engagement range.

 

-Combined with heroic interventions:

This stratagem allows 2 charges during the enemy's turn.

If we take into account the Eversor's "Intraneural Biotech" upgrade, we increase this to 3 charges during the enemy's phase!

 

-Combined with the Eversor: "The Intraneural Biotech" allows a heroic intervention for 0 cp OR a counterattack for 0 cp;

This stratagem allows you to bring the eversor into contact while saving the heroic intervention at 0cp, in order to trigger the counterattack at 0pc.

This also allows you to be in position to use TWO counterattacks.

 

-Combined with the callidus:

The latter, if she is the target of the stratagem, will gain +1 to wound. At strength 5 and with the lethal ability of her weapons at AP -4, she can very well finish off or damage heavily armored elites (terminators, crisis, grotesques), or even monsters or vehicles with endurance 9. Since she is also "fight first," she will activate first.

A callidus used in this manner removes 4 HP from a Hellbrute... half of its HP !

Those who have already had to face this infamous plague in close combat will understand.

Let's also not forget the "Decoy Target," which allows the Callidus to replace a unit model (one that was deliberately left hanging back), making a counter charge at 6 almost automatic if the targeted unit were to be charged by the enemy... especially if the unit has 25mm bases (see the 25mm wall).

 

-Combined with Rapid Ingress:

THE trap that will make your opponents sweat.

Depending on the placement of your bait (which could be an assassin - remember: lone op 12, potentially 6 -), it's possible to plan a rapid ingress from reserves (Terminators) or strategic reserves (mainly DW veterans).

You must place them more than 9 inches from the opponent, but since the rapid ingress occurs during their opponent's movement phase and they haven't charged, by placing yourself at 9, you'll almost certainly be 6 inches away to be able to trigger the stratagem!

 

Let's assume that in the worst case scenario, they are more than 1" away from your unit and have an automatic charge:

They are more than 1 inch away, so you arrive 8 inches behind your unit.

If they charge, they will have to bring their models into contact with your unit. If he charges at 2 and/or is few in number, you'll be at 7 and won't be able to use the stratagem.

HOWEVER, if he can't charge head-on and must "overflow" to the sides to get into contact with your unit, the simple diameter of his base will put you at 6 inches.

 

This allows for "risky" positioning with your assassins by deliberately exposing them to charges.

 

This example is from a game I played against a Necron player.

The Necron player has Turn 1.

He has infiltrated some Flayed Ones near the objective, and nearby he has 2x3 Ophidian Destroyers in his deployment zone.

I decide to set up my trap, and to trigger it, I scout my Eversor towards the objective, hiding it behind the wall of a ruin, out of charge range of the Flayed

Ones, but within charge range on my turn.

 

I could have exposed it and taken advantage of orbital oversight, but I don't because I need 2 CP for my trap.

So I carefully keep my CP.

 

In any other detachment, this would be a bad move: even if it kills the Flayed Ones, the Ophidians will charge and massacre the Eversor.

He decides to take the point as planned, inviting me to charge him.

At my T1, this is what happens: I charge him and destroy the Flayed.

I use Consolidation to get to the other side of the wall.

Again, I don't want to use orbital oversight to keep my PCs, The Silent King could have taken a line of sight if I had left him inside.

 

At his T2, the Ophydians close in as planned, allowing them to charge at 6 inches, hoping to kill the Eversor and take the point... In reality, he gives me the point and loses his Ophydians.

 

I rapid ingress my Terminator squad to 9, with a Terminator on the verge.

This leaves him only two options:

-Stay put and lose his Ophydians on my turn, allowing the GKs to gain ground.

-Or charge anyway to try to take out the Eversor.

 

He charges another of my units elsewhere, and I make a heroic intervention with my DW unit, reducing it to 0 CP thanks to the watchmaster's Ritte of Battles.

In desperation, he charges the Eversor, only roll 6, and can only put one within engagement range of the Eversor.

I use Ensnaring Trap, the Terminators charge at 7.

He won't be able to take out the Eversor, which he leaves at 1 HP, and will manage to kill a Terminator, which will return the next turn. The Eversor and Terminator's response will take out the Ophidians.

 

Result: a squad of Flayed + a squad of Ophidians and an objective lost.

 

Of course I was lucky and I could have lost the eversor on a charge at 7.

But the loss of an eversor at 145 points is equivalent to the loss of his two units at 140 points, especially since he had just lost two mobile units that he had reserved to make his secondary tactical.

Worse: he puts my terminators in comfortable suitation, in defense of a no man's objective from my T2 !

 

[Edit: I made a mistake in the example by reproducing what happened, the eversor of course consolidates the objective, it cannot conso if it does not put a foot on it.]

 

We can easily imagine a list based on this principle, with two Terminator units (the only generic unit with the "deep strike" keyword in the codex) and two Assassins acting as bait.

The Terminator's deep strike also allows for a fixed deployment with "behind the enemy line" as a secondary objective (as long as you have a Cullexus and/or one or two other units in strategic reserves that can arrive in the enemy camp at T3).

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 07:14 AM by Darwhine
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