Assassinorum Execution Force

Assassinorum: Execution Force

An awesome new release from GeeDubs that, as opposed to revolving around Spess Muhreens, follows an Officio Assassinorum Execution Force on a mission of life and death for the Imperium.

The Fluff

Chaos Sorcerer Lord Dranon (or Drask or...something) has come up with yet another way for Khay-ohss to dick the Imperium over, this time by sacrificing a solar system's star to the Dark Gods in exchange for daemonhood. Oh, also, it'll create a new Eye of Terror, which is bad. So the Officio Assassinorum sends in an Execution Force to shut that shit down. The Assassins all have names, and there's a whole (ridiculously overpriced) novella that goes along with the game, but do you care? Not for $17.50 US, you don't. It's more fun to make your own story up, which is what 40K is all about anyway.

The Crunch

The game is intended for 1-4 players, each of whom control one of the Assassins. Chaos Renegades are an NPC faction controlled by random dice rolls and Event Cards. Each type of character (Assassins, Cultists, Chaos Marines, and the Sorcerer Lord) has its own unique rules, abilities, and modifiers. Actual character gameplay revolves around Actions; Assassins get two Actions per turn, and Renegades get one to two Actions (determined randomly by a helpful spread sheet for anything that might go down during the game, located on the back of the rule book). Stamina takes the place of Wounds here: if a D6 is rolled in either a Fight or Shoot Action, and the number on the D6 meets or exceeds the number next to the character's Stamina, the character takes a wound. Cultists have one wound, Assassins and Spiky Muhreens have two, and Sorcerer Lord Derpatron has three.

All four Assassins have the ability to Move six squares and Sprint D6 squares. They each have a Shoot and Fight ability, determinate on whether they are at range or in CC, and they each have three Alpha Tactics and one Omegon Tactic, which can be used three times and one time per game, respectively. They have a Assassin gameplay revolves around being Sam Fisher and attempting not to alert the guards (very difficult), all while revealing hidden rooms in an attempt to locate the Teleportarium and its Control Room. If one Assassin ends its turn on the Control Room, the Teleportato is activated. Any Assassin who ends their subsequent turns on the Tilapiaquarium are then...er...teleported to the next (and much smaller) map, where they must make their way to and assassinate the Sorcerer Lord. Assassins have 16 turns, counted by a midget covered in dirty laundry, to accomplish this before the Sorcerer pwns the Imperium.

Renegades that have not been alerted to the Assassins' presence, or who are not otherwise occupied, make a random Patrol move of D6 squares. There are helpful little red arrows on many of the squares that tell you where the Renegades go next if they land on them; some of the arrows branch off in multiple directions, and each direction corresponds to a D6 number (determined randomly...obviously). If a Renegade spots an Assassin or is within six squares of someone who performed a Shoot action, they will go On Alert. On Alert Renegades perform a CC Fight Action if they are in base-to-base contact with an Assassin, Shoot if they are not but have LoS, or Move D6 squares toward the nearest Assassin. If a Renegade is On Alert but otherwise unoccupied and an Assassin wanders into their field of view, the Renegade gets to perform an automatic Shoot Action. Like Assassins, Renegades have special modifiers to their abilities based on what type of Renegade they are.

Characters The different characters play pretty closely to how they work in 40K proper. Special abilities of each are discussed below.

• The Assassins
  • The Vindicare: The Vindicare is an exclusively Shoot-centered character (obviously). He may make one Shoot attack (which is awesome) or one Fight attack (which is not). If he Moves and then Shoots, he gains a +1 modifier to his D6 roll. If, however, he does not move before Shooting, he gains a +2 modifier to his D6 roll and deals two wounds, meaning that he is one of only two Assassins who can kill a Spiky Muhreen by himself in one turn (the other being the Eversor). If he is more than six squares away from an enemy that would normally have LoS, his stealth suit renders him invisible (useful for watching the long hallway portion of the first map). He may expend one Alpha Tactic per turn to re-roll a failed Shoot Action, or he may expend his Omegon Tactic to throw a blind grenade up to six squares away. This stuns whoever it hits, in addition to stunning whoever is adjacent to the target.
  • The Callidus: The Callidus offers an okay 2D6 Shoot Action and a single epic Fight Action. In melee her phase sword grants a +2 modifier to her Fight roll, and if she expends her Alpha Tactic she can make a single re-roll in melee. Her unique attributes allow her to move through enemy models (she is the only model who can do this) and make a Hit-and-Run move at the end of a Fight roll, even if she has already expended both of her Actions. Her Omegon Tactic makes
  • The Eversor:
  • The Culexus: