No Assassin Kill Team?

[Adeptekon]

Seriously? Only 4 ugly models over a decade old?

[Griefbringer]

Considering how tough fully trained assassins are considered to be, in any sort of balanced game you would end up with a very small kill team (1-2 models?), which might not make for a very interesting game. The only alternative that I could think would be to make the team consist of trainee assassins, with significantly weaker profiles, which would allow for a bigger team.

 

As for models, the original metal assassins (at least 8 different variants) can still be found in the second hand market, and though the original sculpts are around three decades old, they have not aged too badly. Or for more modern variants, there are at least 3 rresin assassins in the current Horus Heresy range.

Edited August 21 by Firedrake Cordova

[Adeptekon]

That's crazy they are that powerful, but it's even more a shame they didn't bring all 8 into the 21st century. That said I would think there would be all tiers of assasins in 40k, not just the elites.

[Lathe Biosas]

We had the death cult Assassin released in the Elucidian Starstriders kit a couple years ago:

 

 

Then we just had the new Death Cult Assassin released in the Sanctifiers Kill Team last year:

 

 

And then we have my favorite 30k Assassin, who I am wanting to get professionally painted just to put on display (he's my favorite marine model): Exodus, the One Who is Many.

 

[Griefbringer]

I forgot to mention the death cult assassins. I have to admit that I was not particularly fond of their older models, though that one from the sanctifiers kill team set looks more to my taste (though he does not seem to match too great with the robed sanctifiers model-wise). That said, death cult assassins of various types can also be found as individuals in inquisitor retinues, chaos cults etc. so there would be possibilities for including one in future kill teams. They are also significantly toned down compared to the Officio Assassinorum agents, so would be less dominating on the table top.

 

And then for something a bit different there are the Spyre Hunters in the Necromunda game/setting. Not exactly assassins, but they have a bad habit of stalking around for unsuspecting underhivers, who tend to hold them in dread. And the figures (old and new) can have some creepy style, especially if provided with a sufficiently sinister paint job.

[Adeptekon]

11 hours ago, Lathe Biosas said:

We had the death cult Assassin released in the Elucidian Starstriders kit a couple years ago:

 

 

Then we just had the new Death Cult Assassin released in the Sanctifiers Kill Team last year:

 

 

And then we have my favorite 30k Assassin, who I am wanting to get professionally painted just to put on display (he's my favorite marine model): Exodus, the One Who is Many.

 

That Alpha marine is awesome. I think there's a lot of untouched ground for Alpha Legion agents, operatives, and sleeper cells.

 

6 hours ago, Griefbringer said:

I forgot to mention the death cult assassins. I have to admit that I was not particularly fond of their older models, though that one from the sanctifiers kill team set looks more to my taste (though he does not seem to match too great with the robed sanctifiers model-wise). That said, death cult assassins of various types can also be found as individuals in inquisitor retinues, chaos cults etc. so there would be possibilities for including one in future kill teams. They are also significantly toned down compared to the Officio Assassinorum agents, so would be less dominating on the table top.

 

And then for something a bit different there are the Spyre Hunters in the Necromunda game/setting. Not exactly assassins, but they have a bad habit of stalking around for unsuspecting underhivers, who tend to hold them in dread. And the figures (old and new) can have some creepy style, especially if provided with a sufficiently sinister paint job.

Yeah female model is fine, the other one is meh. So much meh that's coming out these days I'm just going to look for proxies in G.I. Joe. Snake Eyes blows all these away.

 

On the subject of Necromunda, I do think House Delaque fits the bill for sneaky back stabbers.  

 

[kabaakaba]

Well, technically we don't know how powerful assassins in 40k. But we have assassins fighting marines in 30k and assassin's fighting marines in 32k (Rise of the Beast) and they are on par with sm. So we could have 5 wo/men team and it's should be ok. Don't forget they aren't superman and doomsday. They augmented and trained Humans. Even eversor could kill few marines at the best.

 

Also death cult assassins as rend ordo assassins. They weaker by default.

[Lathe Biosas]

You need to read Assassinorum Kingmaker by Robert Rath.

 

It's a team 3 Assassins trying vs. a Imperial Knight World... The Callidus does have an Armiger though.

 

 

 

Oh and a single Imperial Assassin took out a traitor Primarch.

[Griefbringer]

14 hours ago, Adeptekon said:

On the subject of Necromunda, I do think House Delaque fits the bill for sneaky back stabbers.  

 

Delaques are certainly sneaky, but my understanding is that their preference is for espionage: gathering and using information.

 

If they have to use violence to further their aims, they will do it - and they would likely prefer shooting you to the back than to the face. But given a chance, they would prefer to use their information to get somebody else to do it on their behalf. For example by hiring outside assassins of their own - or just providing the right persons with the right information.

 

If you know that certain underhive bounty hunter has made enemies previously with a certain gang of dump but violent Goliaths, then reminding those Goliaths of their pending vendetta and the current whereabouts of the bounty hunter in question might go a long way if you want to get rid of the bounty hunter. Or you could instead extort the bounty hunter into doing something for you by threatening to expose him to the Goliath gang.

[kabaakaba]

1 hour ago, Lathe Biosas said:

You need to read Assassinorum Kingmaker by Robert Rath.

 

It's a team 3 Assassins trying vs. a Imperial Knight World... The Callidus does have an Armiger though.

 

 

 

Oh and a single Imperial Assassin took out a traitor Primarch.

Don't forget that in guards books they kill csm with ease. An mr. Mkoll kill anything he meet.

[Adeptekon]

10 hours ago, kabaakaba said:

Don't forget that in guards books they kill csm with ease. An mr. Mkoll kill anything he meet.

The same type of assasins? 

 

This is really for my Illuminati Kill Team.

[kabaakaba]

28 minutes ago, Adeptekon said:

The same type of assasins? 

 

This is really for my Illuminati Kill Team.

They = guards. I mean it's a plot armor. 

[Adeptekon]

I'm thinking assassins on bikes.

[Griefbringer]

Big noisy motorbike does not really sound like the ideal equipment for a stealthy space-ninja assassin trying to sneak up on his/her unsuspecting opponent.

 

Thinking of officio assassinorum agents, ideally their aim is not to take on a hordes of enemy combatants (which they often end up doing on a table top), but sneak into a position where they can take out their high-priority target (ideally with a single shot), and then disappear. Any other casualties in the way are just collateral damage, not a goal.

 

While just sneaking scenarios can be in principle enacted on the tabletop, they would require very specific scenario goals and rules for sneaking past the sentries etc.

[Lathe Biosas]

I can totally see the Eversor Assassin on a bike. It 100% fits it's style of attack.

 

The Eversor's job is to create terror in the populace as it does massive collateral damage.

 

There's one story where the powers that be fires an Eversor Assassin at a city in a torpedo, and let it massacre the heck out of everyone on its way to take out it's target.

[Adeptekon]

Maybe they're on ebikes so quieter, and they're dispatched to locations quickly to target leaders of disorder.

[Griefbringer]

To clarify on my previous point, I would like to add that agents of Officio Assassinorum are generally versatile, willing to adapt, well resourced and trained in using a variety of equipment. To reach their target, they may be ready to dive long distances underwater, scale high fortress walls or crawl through miles of narrow (but smelly) sewage tunnels. They might disguise themselves as gentle old ladies, bizarre alien cactus plants or medium-sized pet squigs. Occasionally they might end up using a motorcycle, paraglider, riding horse, grav chute, drop pod, cargo-lifter sentinel, powerboard, jump pack or some other means of assisted locomotion as part of their mission.

 

All of which might make interesting material for one of miniature conversion, diorama, short story and/or narrative special scenario. But in the big picture, these tend to be occasional special cases, rather than commonplace events - so I would not expect to see these catered for with moden multi-part plastic miniatures and matched-play style rules. That said, all sorts of things can happen, so maybe one day we will see a dedicated miniature board game focusing on a team of officio assassinorum agents in squig-disguise racing on powerboards through hive city sewage tunnels.

 

As for giving an Eversor a bike, he might just end up using it as weapon to bludgeon his victims, rather than using it to drive around - those guys are seriously psycho!

[Lathe Biosas]

My favorite Eversor Assassin story had him go after 300+ members of the ruling family at the same time. From babies to elderly folks. It said in the Codex that he killed some of them with a spoon.

[Griefbringer]

That does not sound like a character that I would feel like converting... I might perhaps have a spoon somewhere in my bits box (not that it would be difficult to make one in the first place).

 

There is actually a fair number of assassins of various types making an appearance in various stories, Black Library or otherwise. One of the more peculiar ones that I have read involved a Callidus assassin subjected to a Total Recall -style memory scrubbing, making him temporarily forget that he was an assassin. This somehow allowed him to get close to the target, without the target's pet clairvoyant psyker realising who he was.

[Adeptekon]

10 hours ago, Lathe Biosas said:

My favorite Eversor Assassin story had him go after 300+ members of the ruling family at the same time. From babies to elderly folks. It said in the Codex that he killed some of them with a spoon.

There wasn't a like emoji to cover my reaction.

7 hours ago, Griefbringer said:

That does not sound like a character that I would feel like converting... I might perhaps have a spoon somewhere in my bits box (not that it would be difficult to make one in the first place).

 

There is actually a fair number of assassins of various types making an appearance in various stories, Black Library or otherwise. One of the more peculiar ones that I have read involved a Callidus assassin subjected to a Total Recall -style memory scrubbing, making him temporarily forget that he was an assassin. This somehow allowed him to get close to the target, without the target's pet clairvoyant psyker realising who he was.

Just throw in some 40k ninjas and I'll be happy.

[Adeptekon]

This is what I imagine, I made a video, but it's too long to upload. I also have another where they dismount and draw submachine guns and unload their clips. They wouldn't take out marines, but soft targets.

Spoiler

 

[Griefbringer]

Your concept sounds more like hive gang hitmen cruising around on motorcycles and shooting with autopistols, than Officio Assassinorum agents. Or maybe Arbites, with their helmets and uniform lookout in the picture.

 

As for modelling hive gang hitmen cruising around on motorcycles and shooting autopistols, I would start with the Necromunda / Genestealer Cults set of Atalan Jackals. Looking at the sprues, you get four bikes with riders (plus a quad with rider) and a lot of weapon options, including an autopistol (which in the grand Necromundan tradition looks very much like an Uzi). The upper bodies are sepate pieces, so it would be quite straightforward to replace the upper bodies and heads with alternative items from some other kit. Paint in suitable sinister colours, and then let them loose in the streets of the closest hive city.

[Lathe Biosas]

To me they look like a group of Spyres. Coming down to visit the locals on the road... and murdering the heck out of them.

[Griefbringer]

The thing with Spyrers is that when they go slumming downhive (young rakes just having a good time!), they probably do not particularly care for who they end up shooting - they are all proles down there after all.

 

Hive gang hitmen on the other hand are likely after some sort of target - if not a specific individual, then at least after a specific rival gang or house or other organisation. Dedicated professionals are likely after specific individuals.

 

And back to the Spyrers uphive, if they really need to get somebody downhive offed, they will likely hire somebody to do it, rather than try to go stalking around themselves in an unfamiliar environment.

[Adeptekon]

Those were Illuminati.