Lias Issodon

Lias Issodon is the current Chapter Master of the 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, Issondon 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 minimising the casualties of his warriors.

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, as the Chapter Master of the Raptors, brings to the table a stupidly abundant collection of rules, all wrapped up into one neat and well-priced grab-bag. In fact, one of the only real detriments he has is the saddening fact that there isn't a cool model for him. Sure you can kit out your own, but don't you think he'd make for a fetching piece? You'll have to surf your bitz bin for now. His rules are in this .pdf on FW.

	Pts	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Lias Issodon:	175	5	6	4	4	4	6	3	10	2+

First, another look at the rules that constitute Chapter Tactics (Raptors):

• Strike from the Shadows (as per the Raven Guard Chapter Tactic in Codex: Space Marines): On the first game turn, models in the detachment have the Stealth special rule, and all have the Scout special rule. Note that units which contain models with any variant of the Bulky special rule do not benefit from either rule.
  • This is the current wording, despite the Raven Guard Chapter Tactic granting neither Scout nor Stealth. Despite this, Forgeworld Emails indicate that Raptors use the NEWER version of Strike from the Shadows instead of the older version. So if you're in doubt, go by the word of the designers and their RAI. The newer chapter tactic is more of a sidegrade, since you lose stealth and scout and get them merged into Shrouded.
• Legendary Marksmen: Any unit with this special rule that does not move in the Movement phase of their turn may choose to gain the Rending special rule when firing in the Shooting phase of that turn with boltguns, combi-weapons fired as boltguns or bolt pistols. When using this rule, all boltguns, combi-weapons used as boltguns, and bolt pistols fired are counted as being Heavy 1 weapons instead of Rapid Fire or Pistol type weapons for that turn.

Wargear of the 'Grim'

• Artificer Armor - 2+ save, for your reasonable ass.
• Malice - A piece of hot contention, as some rule lawyers strive to maximize on power by neglecting the rules. In short, Malice is Lias' 30" range, S:4 AP:5 2/4 Salvo Boltgun with the option to use 'Special Issue Ammunition', a la the Sternguard. If special ammo is used, the profile of the weapon is COMPLETELY replaced with the special profile from THAT ammo.
  • The first confusing option: Chapter Tactics (Raptors) (see ABOVE) explicitly causes the unit to gain Rending when firing in the Shooting phase with bolters, combi-bolters, or bolt pistols, provided it did not move in the movement phase. Accordingly, the Special Issue Ammunition profiles can be used with Rending, which will be on the firing model's rules list, when shooting. This is the logic that allows Raptor Sternguard to do the exact same action, and USUALLY will not meet with any contention over the ruling.
  • The second confusing option: Chapter Tactics (Raptors) replaces Rapid Fire and Pistol profiles with Heavy 1 when using the above rule. This will happen with Special Issue Ammunition, as that ammunition has Rapid Fire in its profile, replacing it with Heavy 1. It will not happen with Malice's Salvo profile, listed below, as Salvo is neither Rapid Fire nor Pistol; this means if Lias does not move in the Movement phase, and uses Malice's Salvo profile in the Shooting Phase, it will be Salvo 2/4 Rending. This is the rules-lawyer part of his rules. Similar logic gives Cataphractii Termies jump packs and bikes via poor wording and/or a lack of specifics. Cataphractii Termies with jump packs or bikes is based on completely different logic: the logic there is that "because there is a rule saying Cataphractii armor is Termi armor in one context, it is not Termi armor in other contexts" (i.e. the argument is based on assuming rules are not redundant, so the existence of a rule implies the existence of its converse), while this logic is based on applying the RAW directly (the rule says it replaces Rapid Fire and Pistol, so it replaces Rapid Fire and Pistol, and there is no rule replacing Salvo). Read the rules for yourself, and decide if this is how you wanna play. It's that simple. But if you try to play this rule as a surprise, expect a debate.
  • Some History - It worked better in previous versions of the game too. Malice was originally an Assault 2/Heavy 4 weapon, where the type depended entirely on whether you moved or not. In said older versions, he was also able to fire his sternguard ammo as either assault 2 or Heavy 4, so there is a precedent for the current baffling ITC ruling that he fires sternguard ammo as Salvo 2/4 (even though his rules explicitly ban this). You should feel bad if you are fishing for a Salvo 2/4 Spec. Ammo., with or without Rending.

Malice

Range	Type	S	AP	Special Rules
30"	Salvo 2/4	4	5	Special Issue Ammunition

• Power Sword - AP:3 goodness. His Initiative 6 means he gets a fair bit of use out of his sword, but Issodon's lack of an invuln save means he should always be out of combat unless you're charging Eldar or mooks.
• Bolt Pistol - Just there to give Lias 4 base attacks in melee. You're doing literally everything wrong if Malice isn't being fired.
• Frag/Krak Grenades - Remember when we were playing grenades wrong for the LONGEST? Oh well.
• Locator Beacon - Works great with his built-in reserve fuckery. Keep reserves deliberately, and make them come on the board to intercept anyone that tries to make a move for Issodon

Special Rules of the 'Grim'

• ATSKNF
• Independent Character
• Chapter Tactics (Raptors)
• Shrouded
• Warlord: If Lias Issodon is part of an army then he will always be the army’s Warlord, regardless of the Leadership value of other HQ choices. He does not roll on the Warlord Traits table, but instead receives the Master of Ambush Warlord trait.
  • Master of Ambush - Your Warlord and three non-vehicle units of your choice have the Infiltrate special rule. This one is... tricky. As written, the rules state that transports are pieces taken with an infantry unit. The infantry can confer the Infiltrate rule to their transport. This means that you can "infiltrate" some assault terminators, and their Land Raider Dedicated Transport, while keeping your Kosher seal of approval.
• Cunning Strategist: Whilst Lias Issodon is alive, the army may re-roll any Reserve rolls made (failed or successful). In addition, the opposing army has a -1 modifier to all Reserves rolls.
• Infiltrate, Isolate, Destroy: If an army includes Lias Issodon its controlling player may select a single enemy unit, Monstrous Creature or vehicle that has been deployed onto the table. After any Scout redeployments have been made, but before the game begins, the chosen unit suffers D6+3 wounds with no AP value if a squad or Monstrous Creature, distributed as shooting hits (assume the attack has originated from the closest unit in Issodon’s force). If the target is a vehicle, it suffers D3 rolls on the Haywire table instead.

Strategies for Use

• Strategic Fuckery

Lias Issodon benefits best when used to capitalize on his army fuckeries. Typical mid to high-tier Raptors lists will often use Issodon's guaranteed MoA to make more or less 99% of their army Outflank. Just put him in an army with Scouts and Tactical marines in Rhinos, or Terminators in Land Raiders, along with something to hold your backfield.

By using copious amounts of Outflanking, you can more or less bypass entire gunlines, thus getting up the board unmolested. Lias Issodon himself is best suited to sitting in the backline with a Devastator squad, so his Shrouded SR can give his chosen squad delicious 2+ cover saves all game long, while he stays alive to maintain his reserve fuckery.

Also, given that you can Reroll EITHER success or failed reserves while Issodon is alive, it might be worthwhile to deliberately keep terminators in reserve so as to provide an emergency "Oh fuck" button if someone gets too close to their chapter master. When the situation warrants it, just slam your reserves with a Rerollable 2+, and place the termies exactly where they need to be to rescue their chapter master.

• Stay out of Melee

It should not be understated that Issodon has No Invulnerable saves of any kind. If he gets in melee, he will die like a bitch to a single power fist attack. He also loses soundly to every special character in both Codex Space Marines, and the Badab War characters update. This means you should never attach him to a squad that can't Overwatch. Such as Centurions or Cataphractii.

• Ideal targets for "Infiltrate, Isolate, Destroy"

As tempting as it may be to troll for First Blood during DEPLOYMENT, rolling up the haywire table on some random vehicle isn't always the best choice, nor is it very reliable. IID is best used against high-toughness Monstrous Creatures, so as to capitalize on it's guaranteed wounds. While it's not going to outright kill a Carnifex or a Wraithknight, having said Wraithknight start the game with 2 less wounds is nothing to scoff at. Your army can use this small advantage to more easily bring down said monster with their Rending Bolters on turn 1. On the other Hand, Imperial Knights don't activate their shields until your first shooting phase, and IID activates well before your shooting phase first starts. So shaving d3 Hull Points off of Knights can be another ideal option if there aren't any MC's to harass.

• Consider giving him a sneak-bitch

The synergy here, for your LGS, at least, is just too choice. In addition to MORE infiltrating, cause bitches love the infiltrating, sending the Raptors off with a Callidus offers you a great chance at MANY of the silly perks you want. For one, re-roll that failed Seize the Initiative! Cause going first is awesome. Secondly, Lias and Callidus force the first reserve roll your opponent makes to come in at a hilarious 7+. Troll by not informing your opponent of this before-hand. Odds are, you will be looking at a lynch-pin unit for that first roll; odds are, your opponent will have a hard time rolling a 7+ on a 6-sided die. Also, she adds another chance to alpha-strike a key unit. Unless your opponent is hiding his warlord in a pack of Bananas, or is Smashfucker, then you have a reasonable chance to secure a kill.