Vindicare
- "Exitus Acta Probat: The Outcome Justifies the Deed."
- --Motto of the Vindicate Temple
- "Critical killing / Is an art unto itself / And I am Rembrandt."
- --Vindicare Assassin Zer0
Vindicare (Latin: from Vindico, thus meaning Avenger/Punisher/Protector, depending on the mood) assassins are one of the varieties of assassin fielded by the Officio Assassinorum in the Warhammer 40k universe. They are superlative snipers capable of making accurate shots from ridiculous distances (and also doing 360 noscopes without hassles), selected for their natural talent and further honed by extensive training and indoctrination by the Vindicare Temple. The primary weapon of the Vindicare is the infamous Exitus sniper rifle (Latin, lit. "exit" fig. conclusion, termination). In addition to the "ordinary" solid slug projectiles it can fire, an assortment of special munitions are available for the weapon, allowing the Vindicare to engage different types of target effectively. They also are some of the most lurvely looking, because of their bad-ass visors.
/tg/'s most well-known Vindicare is LIIVI of Love Can Bloom fame, an agent sent to Kronus who turned rogue and deserted the Imperium when he fell in love with the Eldar farseer Taldeer.
Vindicare Training
Vindicare Assassins are either orphans or have been abandoned as young children. The Officio Assassinorum takes them in, and since no one cares about them, they are trained in the arts of infiltration, sniping, and escape/evasion tactics. Dark Heresy also tells of VERY high profile, but "ordinary", assassins/bounty hunters/killers taken onboard Assassinorum ships (usually after killing another similarly high profile target, designated via an anonymous letter with a name on it) to Terra and made Vindicares, if they pass all of the tests. They are brutally punished if they fuck up and are ordered to avoid all human contact, except for their handlers. Even though sometimes there will be other circumstances that prevent them from succeeding (say their target chokes on a bagel and dies) and there has got to be some situations where interacting with others could be the key factor in getting to the necessary vantage point to put a bullet into the guy. This is meant to reduce the chance of heresy or desertion - if they don't know even the basics of socialization, it'll be hard for them to hesitate to fire or to be corrupted. Difficult, but not impossible. Grimdark indeed.
Vindicare Weapons
As mentioned before their primary weapon is the Exitus Sniper Rifle (think of a .50 cal sniper rifle cranked up to 11). This weapon allows the Vindicare to kill targets from a long, long, long, long, long, loooong WAY'S AWAY. The Vindicare's secondary weapon is the Exitus Pistol, which is merely a scaled back version of the big ass rifle the operative carries.
Vindicare Fashions
Vindicare Assassins are some of the most sexiest beasts out there, with a tight latex suit, glorifying their abdominal power. They also are known to wear LOEVLY masks, which are way smexy-er than the other assassins'. Reports of them being partial to pointy ears are unconfirmed.
On the Tabletop
Vindicare snipers are one of the most rapey single models in the game (as with all assassins). All Assassins come with an impressive statline:
WS:8 BS:8 S:4 T:4 W:3 I:7 A:4 Ld:10.
Their incredible reflexes give all assassins a 4+ invulnerable save. The Assassins differ through their equipment, the Vindicare is armed with the fearsome Exitus Rifle and pistol, and thanks to his BS of 8, he only has a 1/12 chance of missing.
Exitus Rifle: Range:72" Str:X AP:2 Type:Heavy 1, Sniper
Exitus Pistol: Range:12" Str:X AP:2 Type:Pistol, Sniper
Obviously this means with standard rounds for both weapons always wound on a 4+, however, Vindicares are not equipped with stock ammo. They have access to special rounds which incur special bonuses, these rounds can be used any amount of times with the rifle. With AP:2. No one, that is right, no model gets an armor save. Leaving you to worry about those Tanks. But wait, we got a bullet for that.
- Hellfire rounds: Wound on a 2+, instead of a 4+ (this is your standard round, basically you can very, frighteningly easily kill any one-wound model within 72").
- Shieldbreaker rounds: Wound on a 4+, ignores invulnerable saves. Through the magic of mathematics we know that these are only better than hellfires if the invulnerable save the target possesses is 4+ or less. If it's 5+ or 6+ you have a better chance of causing a wound with hellfires.
- Turbo-penetrator rounds (commonly referred to as "sex toy" rounds, which are TURBO PUNS): NERFED FOR 7TH ED! They now count as strength 10 against vehicles. Against non-vehicles, these cause D3 wounds on a 4+. Using these rounds against models with 3 or more wounds is just a waste unless you just want to soften them up for some charging allies. Against models with two wounds this round is a gamble, you can either almost certainly kill them in two turns (with hellfires) or have a 1/2 chance of killing them in one turn (with Turbo-penetrator rounds). If you have 2 turns, the chance of killing a 2 wound model is 69% with hellfires, and 75% with turbo-penetrators. But the chance of doing some damage is 97% with hellfires. If Lady Luck and Admiral Awesome are on your side, enjoy killing Failbaddon in two shots.
On top of all this, YOU can choose which models in the enemy unit takes the wounds (just like Telion), so you can pick off heavy weapons etc. that pose a threat to your army.
Vindicare snipers are excellent support units. They can pick off the most threatening enemy weapons (including vehicles, to a degree), ensuring the rest of your army can bring the pain free from some harassment. Do not waste precious shots on lowly grunts; unlike the other assassins, you can't expect the Vindicare to recoup his entire points cost in two turns due to his low rate of fire. They also have the 'Infiltrate' special rule, so they appear wherever you want on the table ready to kill (even on objectives!), and they have the 'Stealth' special rule, which vastly improves his chances of survival when you put him in sufficient cover (which you damn well should) - otherwise, his 4+ Inv save may look good on paper, but isn't much better than Veteran Guard Carapace in the open.
In light of this, if possible, include a Techmarine (for that tasty 'Bolster Defences' special rule) in your army, giving him a 2+ cover save all told in the ruin he deploys in, ensuring even the heaviest weaponry can't shift him. Just make sure to pick off any nearby flamers (with precision shots and Hellfire rounds, easy pickings), and this sniper will be a constant pain for your opponent. Make no mistake though, while his statline and blind grenades (defensive grenades) ensure he can withstand small units in close combat, he's no Eversor, and lacks a power weapon; a concentrated assault will finish him off, so know when to cut your losses and retreat him. For some reason though he is terrible against enemy characters (which is kind of the thing, lore-wise, Vindicares are born to kill, fucking Ward) due to his inability to inflict instant death against models with 3+ wounds. However, in the new dataslate, the rule 'No Escape' inflicts a -2 penalty to 'Look Out, Sir!' rolls, meaning characters need a cold sweat-inducing 6+ while Independent characters need a 4+. Not bad.
Changes from 6th Ed
To make the Vindicare more fluff friendly, (and probably to bow to faggots who complained about their land raiders getting popped in one shot) his tank popping ability has been dramatically nerfed. His rifle is now AP2 and turbo penetrator rounds are now s10+d6 to pen. While this means his ability to pen transports has not diminished, heavier vehicles may pose a larger problem (Leman Russes and Land Raiders will pose a problem with only one shot and then requiring a 6 to destroy them).
Against non-vehicle models, Turbo rounds now inflict D3 wounds instead of 2. This is very good considering the amount of high toughness monsters with tons of wounds. A shot from this would really put a wraithlord or Riptide in its place.
Feel no pain(6+) has been traded off for an extra wound.
The "no escape" rule (which all assassins get) means look out sir rolls now get a -2 modifier against wounds inflicted by assassins so, unless the target has dedicated bodyguards (autopass LoS rolls), it'll be very difficult to transfer the wound to a random meatbag.
Invulnerable saves granted by equipment can no longer be destroyed, only ignored by shield-breaker ammo. It's just as well, as breaking equipment was just ridiculous, especially considering that it'll screw you over for the entire game if it happens (it still happens on the fluff, tho).
On the plus side, his Rifle got a huge range increase (72") so he can hit anything on a standard 6x4 table he has Line of Sight to. Also, due to his Spy mask, all his shots ignore cover.
The Vindicare is now equipped with a close combat weapon as well as his pistol, meaning 6 attacks on the charge! Lulz shall be had when a Vindicare single handedly wipe out a wolf lord, wolf guard battle leader, and his pet puppy. Seriously, if you want to embarrass someone, charge his character with this guy! Regardless the Vindicare is undoubtedly the weakest of the four in overall CC performance, stick to his guns and only resort to CC if you get boxed in (though being an assassin he should not be seen as useless at it however).
Loses frag grenades but still doesn't suffer from charging through cover because of lightning reflexes.
Sniper rifles used to have the pinning and rending rules, so assaulting with this man would formerly result in lulz for at least one player, he will charge in against a small squad, drop one enemy with his Exitus Pistol, the squad fails it's pinning test and goes to ground, then the Vindicare wipes out the squad with his 5 attacks on the charge. Well, either that or he will charge in, drop one enemy with his Exitus Pistol, the squad passes its pinning test, then the Vindicare does nothing with his 5 attacks on the charge and get killed by the counter attack......But trust me, it's totally worth it, imagine the look on your enemies face when a dedicated SNIPER kills his squad of Tau Fire warriors. He can also hold his ground against characters due to his 4+ invuln, which allowed him to hold out against Draigo for 3 turns.
See Also
Vindicare doing some precise shots
Gallery
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Holy shit... someone made one...
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Needs more skulls.
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A Vindicare Assassin. Not a crazed gunman.
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Another Vindicare Assassin. He's a number.
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A Vindicare assassin demonstrating what can happen to entire squads that forget that 6 attacks on the charge is not to be trifled with.
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The 7th Edition update. Awesome as hell.
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This is gonna require some precision shots...
