Lias Issodon

Lias Issodon is the current Chapter Master of the Sneaky Marines Raptors Space Marine Chapter, a superb strategist, and remains one of the finest marksmen within a Chapter of fine marksmen. He possesses an innate talent for ambush, infiltration and sabotage that borders on the supernatural, and cares little for glory or regard -- only the pursuit of victory matters to Issodon. An extremely taciturn and private individual, Issodon communicates little even with his own Battle-Brothers unless needed, which, coupled with his expressionless countenance and dark eyes, have earned him the nickname "The Grim" within his Chapter. Outsiders observing this reserved commander would go so far as to call Issodon's silent, watchful presence sinister. Though he is hardly the most charismatic leader within the Raptors' long history, he remains a highly effective commander who is deeply respected by the Astartes who follow him. When executing one of Issodon's plans they know that their Chapter Master's strategies are always well-conceived and cunningly wrought, designed to inflict the maximum damage while minimizing the casualties of his warriors.

His name also appears to be taken from a term for a subage of the Jurassic Period that is mostly only used in Great Britain, which make sense for a Chapter Master of the "Raptors", as well as a genus of bandicoot, which does...not.

History

Lias Issodon is in many ways the living embodiment of the Raptor Chapter's favoured arts of war. A consummate strategist as well as the best shot in the Chapter, he possesses a talent for ambush, infiltration, and sabotage. This noted warrior first came to the wider Imperium's attention during the dark days of the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion. Under his command, the Raptors have fought and secured victory time and again, against forces far superior in numbers and resources and somehow have always emerged the victors. The Raptors lethally entangle their enemies in the shadows and feints they have woven, slowly bleeding their enemies to death from a thousand cuts or setting them up for a single, devastating coup de grace. During the infamous conflict known as the Badab War, Issodon led his Chapter against forces far superior in numbers and resources, and resorted to the use of stealth and guerrilla tactics that wreaked havoc with the Secessionist forces throughout this campaign.

On the Tabletop

Lias Issodon, in 8E, has returned with a keen eye and a fresh rule set that cleans up all the mess he once created. He is still the Master of the Raptors, and still the best crack-shot they have. His new rules of course still leave him as the deadliest shooting character in the entire game, second only to Tau crisis commanders (even then, crisis commanders aren't packing a 0+ save, or his infiltrate fuckery).

Sadly, Lias Issodon (including many other Forge World related models/characters ) has been removed with the coming of 9th Edition. While most Raptor players already did just use Raven Guard rules added flavor was always a nice thing to have. The most popular suggestion right now if you still wanna use Issodon in this nu-marine era the Primaris Phobos Chapter Master with the ex tenebris relic is an okay replacement if you still want to retain a deadly ranged HQ. Warlord Traits mostly come down to your army composition/Opponent however for a fluffy Phobos Raptors list both Storm of Fire and Target Priority work rather well.

	Pts	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	A	Ld	Sv
Lias Issodon:	150	7"	2+	2+	4	4	6	4	9	2+

	Pts	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	A	Ld	Sv
Lias Issodon (Phobos Chapter Master):	135	6"	2+	2+	4	4	6	5	9	3+

Wargear of the 'Grim'

• Artificer Armor; Stealth Modified - 2+ save, for your reasonable ass, with a +2, instead of +1, added to your save throw while in cover. This essentially means that he packs a 0+ save in Cover, which will negate the first 2 points of AP against him.
• Malice - Fed up with fuckwads trying to bullshit their way to victory, FW saw fit to remold the identity of Malice. The new variant is an extremely useful gun, and in very capable hands. Quite fluffy in a way, since this gun would have been with him for ages and would be heavily modified and tuned. As a result of its statline, Malice is uniquely suited to bitch slapping Multi-wound units out of existence, such as Terminators, Meganobz, and Warriors.

Malice

Range	Type	S	AP	D	Abilities
30"	Assault 3	5	-4	d3	Units do not gain the saving throw bonus for being in cover against attacks from this weapon.

• Raptorclaw - S:U, AP:-3, D:2 replacement for Lias' old Power sword, basically the same thing it used to be but master crafted. For now, don't assume that getting near melee combat is entirely wrong. It is poor form to get Lias into melee, but in a pinch you have a useful melee weapon and can deal 8 damage in 4 attacks if you get lucky. Just remember your lack of a Invulnerable save.
• Bolt Pistol - It exists solely so that he can shoot into melee. However given that he now essentially has Hit & Run, you are an idiot if you use this. You're better off disengaging from melee in order to fire Malice again.
• Frag/Krak Grenades - Remember when we were playing grenades wrong for the LONGEST? Oh well.

Wargear of the Primaris 'Grim'

• Mark X Phobos Power Armor - 3+ save, this was changed due to 9ths new cover rules while it is not the amazing 2+ of the former in 8th the ideal way to playing with Priamris Issodon is to keep him in the backfield (Probably with some Eliminators, Dreadnoughts, or Heavy Intercessors) you can really exploit both the chapter master rerolls and a good number of Raven Guard/Phobos Traits.
• Ex Tenabris - Still fluffy in a way, and is actually somewhat better than the Malice? You still retain the benefit of opponents losing the bonus of cover however you also gain 2 more extra rules such as a +1 to hit along with ignoring the rules of "Look out Sir"

Malice(Ex Tenbris)

Range	Type	S	AP	D	Abilities
36"	Assault 3	4	-3	3	Units do not gain the saving throw bonus for being in cover against attacks from this weapon. Each time you select a target for this weapon, you can ignore the Look out, Sir rule, and add +1 to the hit roll

• Combat Knife - S:U, AP: 0 , D: 2 - Sadly crossing the Rubicon means no fancy ass power sword for this old bird while you originally never wanted to be in melee with him anyway it really sucks to lose out on a rather nice melee option.
• Bolt Pistol - Kinda useless all together you never want to be in melee and with the various Raven Guard rules you can effectively juke your way out of it if you play the rules right.
• Frag/Krak Grenades - Its a grenade really depends on if you really NEED to use it but shooting would be a much better option.

Special Rules of the 'Grim'

• Angels of Death (ATSKNF, Bolter Discipline, Shock Assault, Combat Doctrines).
• Chapter Master: You can re-roll failed hit rolls for friendly RAPTORS units within 6" of Lias Issodon.
• Stealth Modified Armor: You may add 2 to saving throws made for Lias Issodon instead of 1 When he has the benefits of cover.
• Infiltrate, Isolate, Destroy: You can add +1" to all moves, including Advance, Charge and Fall back moves made by friendly RAPTORS INFANTRY units within 6" of Lias Issodon during the Movement phase and Charge phase.
• Grim Hunter: After falling back, Lias Issodon may still shoot or advance in the same turn, but may not charge.
• Master Of Ambush: During Deployment, you can set up Lias Issodon and up to three friendly RAPTORS INFANTRY units (not including TERMINATORS, CENTURIONS, or PRIMARIS units) in the shadows instead of placing them on the battlefield. At the end of any of your movement phases, Lias Issodon and any accompanying units can reveal themselves on the battlefield - set them up anywhere one that battlefield that is more than 9" away from enemy models.

Strategies for Use

• Strategic Fuckery

Lias Issodon works best as a Tactical Support character, as well as army-buffer. Use him to infiltrate himself and three units into danger-close range, which works especially well when paired with devastators, as well as smaller army sizes(that can finish deploying first, and thus get a major Alpha-strike advantage). Simply dump as many points as possible into your primary-three units, and then infiltrate-reveal once your turn rolls around.

His personal retinue should always include at least one devastator squad armed with Multi-meltas, since his Infiltration allows them to get within the 12" melta range on a whim, as well as gain a much wanted reroll from Lias. Alternately lascannons will do quite nicely as well, use the infiltration to ensure you have a clear line of sight and then light up the enemy's tanks and monsters from a safe distance.

• Even More Strategic Fuckery

Consider the Raven Guard rules that Raptors can also utilize. They gain cover at >12" range (so you’ll always have a 0+ save on Turn 1 and probably turn 2) and gain -1 to hit instead if they’re already in a building. They can also Infiltrate anything before the game for CP. This is already a good setup for a Hammer and Anvil move, where you distract and pin select enemy units in place with infiltrators (who can also charge, mind you) while your firebase, hidden in ruins and enjoying enhanced protection, picks the enemy apart. However, once you commit, there are precious few ways you can change anything, as both Drop Pods and transports got quite expensive. Lias is uniquely capable of throwing a grenade-shaped wrench into your enemy's plans on how to deal with you by appearing out of nowhere on the 2nd or 3rd turn with a handful of squads and punishing any positioning mistakes with his aura buffs to shooting and mobility. Remember, you can charge both out of Infiltrate and out of Ambush. And true, this means that you will have less total firepower available on the table on the 1st turn, but the sheer mindfuck of trying to position units before the game to neuter infiltration only to then worry about Issodon and whomever he can bring pretty much anywhere on the table at will is priceless.

• Stay out of Melee that you can't survive. But don't be stingy about charging

It shouldn't be understated that Lias Issodon isn't a dedicated melee character, but he can serve as one in a pinch. Because of his complete lack of an invuln save, he should never be used to attack units that can AP him out, or hit him with high-damage weapons like power fists. However his melee skills are fairly decent, and he has a built-in "Get outa jail free" card in the form of Grim Hunter. Therefore it may sometimes be worthwhile to charge anyway.

Against units that are under-strength, or not a significant melee threat, Lias should ALWAYS charge if he can. It'll give you the double-whammy of taking said unit out of action for a turn, and giving Lias the best cover save in the entire game: Locked in Melee, which is indeed 100% better than even his 0+ cover save.