TACTICA: Callidus Assassin

"To assume the shape of the accursed and deliver death from the purity within you." -- Dictatus Callidus

The Callidus is by far the most popular and most dreaded Imperial Assassin. Every player has a horror story about a game with a Callidus, but even with their feared reputation they are rarely seen on the battlefield. I hope this tactica helps to change this fact.

New players choose a Callidus because she can appear in any location without deviation and her phase sword ignores even Invulnerable saves. Veteran players like her because of her powerful A Word in Your Ear ability. For both new and veteran players, the Callidus is a fantastic tool and with a little planning, a little support and a little luck, she can cripple your opponent like no other model.

If the Eversor is the Officio Assassinorum's sword and the Vindicare is the scalpel, then the Callidus is intensive radiation therapy. She can zero in on any enemy unit on the board and has an excellent chance of eliminating it. This tactica discusses the Callidus, highlights her strengths, and gives you some suggestions for fitting her into an army.

CALLIDUS 101.
The Callidus is second only to the Eversor in close combat. But she outshines the Eversor in one key area: enemy characters protected by Invulnerable saves. She can be placed in a location where an Independent Character is her closest target, which allows her to shoot him (and nearby squads) with her template weapon and then assault the character. Her close combat weapon levels the playing field and gives her an excellent chance of taking out the best protected characters in the game.

The Temple Callidus Assassin is armed with the C'Tan Phase Sword, a Neural Shredder, Poison Blades and a supply of the shape-altering drug Polymorphine.

Polymorphine is one of the most unique (and nerve wracking) abilities in 40k. It allows the Callidus to appear anywhere on the battlefield without restricting her ability to move, shoot or assault. This ability is what makes the Callidus so dreaded. Nothing is safe from her, as evidenced by your opponent's nervous shuffle and constant sweating until she appears on the field. She is more effective against the player than she is against his army; this anxiety she causes is one of the best reasons to include her in your army.

The C'Tan Phase Sword is a living metal weapon that can take on any shape required by the mission. It is a power weapon that allows no saves, not even Invulnerable ones!

Her Neural Shredder is a Strength 8 template weapon that uses the target's Leadership instead of the target's Toughness to determine wounds. The Neural Shredder can also affect vehicles; automatically causing a Glancing Hit. But instead of rolling a D6 on the Glancing table, you roll a D3 (so you can only Stun or Shake a vehicle with a Neural Shredder).

Poison Blades allow her to get the last word in close combat. At the end of the Assault phase, the Callidus may make an extra attack against a model in base contact. Unlike her phase sword, this attack wounds on a 4+ (handy against T5+ models) and allows saves normally.

The Callidus has two special abilities, Jump Back and A Word In Your Ear. Jump Back allows the Callidus to disengage from close combat at the beginning of an Assault phase. She rolls a D6 and if she rolls a 2 or better, she moves that number of inches away from the enemy unit. The enemy unit can consolidate normally, so unless she rolls a 4+ she's likely to remain in close combat. This isn't quite as effective as Hit & Run, but it happens at the beginning of the Assault Phase which can be handy against a deadly opponent.

A Word In Your Ear is by far my favorite of her special abilities. This ability allows the player with the Callidus to move one enemy unit up to 6" after both sides have deployed. The unit must remain within the unit's normal deployment zone and the owning player may choose facing after the unit has been moved.

WHEN TO USE A CALLIDUS.
The Callidus is the easiest Assassin to work into an army. Unlike the others, she is effective without support and can have an impact before she even appears on the table. But unlike other Assassins, she doesn't benefit from working with other units. For example, the effectiveness of an Eversor is increased by combining it with Death Cult Assassins.

Note: She is also effective in Alpha missions where you don't have the Infiltrate special ability.

The best time to use a Callidus is when you expect to face an independent character (or characters) with a dramatic effect on the enemy's army. Space Marine Masters (with Rites of Battle), Necron Lords (with Resurrection Orb), solitary Synapse creatures, and Eldar Shadowseers and Farseers are all excellent targets.

I also use the Callidus when I expect expensive, long-range shooting units that have a hard time defending themselves from a fairly tough melee character. Tau Broadside units, Space Marine Devastator Squads, Imperial Guard Heavy Weapons teams and Dark Eldar Scourges are good examples of units that struggle against a Callidus.

Don't use a Callidus unless you have a plan. Randomly picking a unit on the turn she arrives is a waste of a very effective tool. Also don't expect her to eliminate more than her initial target. Focus her on your most dangerous enemy and be pleasantly surprised if she survives. In 80% of your games, she'll die in her initial assault - but she'll wreak havoc before she dies.

HOW TO USE...
There are really two sections here: "How to use a Callidus" and "How to use A Word In Your Ear". If you treat them as completely separate things, you'll have a lot more success.

HOW TO USE "A WORD IN YOUR EAR".
I love this ability. In most games, I'd pay the 120pts just for this ability (so the Assassin is free!). There are very few opportunities where you can force your opponent to make a mistake. If used properly, this ability can be as demoralizing as it is devastating. After both players have completely deployed, you can select one enemy unit and move the unit 6". You get to move the unit -- not your opponent. Walk around to his side of the table to do it. Players hate that. Remember each model can be moved up to 6", so you can change their formation in addition to their location.

Here are some suggestions of orders the Callidus can give using A Word In Your Ear. I'll start with safe orders; these will help you even if you lose the first turn. Then I'll follow it with risky orders that are crippling if you win the first turn (but worthless if you don't). As you will see some these orders are dirty tricks. Don't expect your opponent to be too happy about them.

Here are some Safe Orders:

1. "There's a good spot over here!": Move a heavy weapons team 6" deeper into area terrain. This will cost your opponent 1-2 turns of shooting while they reposition. This is probably the most common use of A Word In Your Ear.

2. "I know a shortcut!": Move fast Infiltrators 6" further away to prevent first turn assault.

3. "A little more to the left... Perfect!": Move pesky indirect fire weapons into LOS. This forces your opponent to leave them in a dangerous location or lose a shot moving them.

4. "Path's clear, boss!": Move vehicle deep into dangerous terrain.

Dirty Trick #1: A Word In Your Ear re-deployment is a move, this means that dangerous terrain tests may be forced. Moving a Vehicle (Bike or Jetbike) into difficult terrain forces a dangerous terrain test. This tactic gives the bonus of forcing a second test when they leave the terrain feature. Note: This doesn't work on Jump Infantry.

Dirty Trick #2: Moving a Bike into difficult terrain prevents them from Turbo-boosting (and forces a dangerous terrain check). This can be a great help against Daemonbomb armies.

Note: Nothing in A Word In Your Ear says that the unit must be moved in coherency. As long as it's in a legal deployment area, you can move the models however you want. I haven't found a real use for this (it forces the unit to move into coherence on its next turn), but it's something to consider.

Risky orders are great when they work. They can completely cripple your opponent before his first turn giving you an edge throughout the rest of the game. But if your opponent gets the first turn, you've wasted the order. Here are a few fun Risky Orders:

1. "Group hug!": Bunch well armored units tightly together so that they are completely covered by blast or Ordnance templates. This is very effective (and one of my favorite tactics) when combined with a Plasma Cannon Servitor (with 2 Sages to re-roll misses).

2. "Where is everybody? I said charge!": Move Independent Character 6" forward so he is the closest target to your entire army. This works nicely with deadly long-range shooting like multiple Exorcists. This is definitely a dirty trick and can cause some pretty dramatic reactions in a tournament setting (insert evil laugh).

3. "What a pretty flower...”: Place a Daemonvessel, heavy weapons, hidden Powerfist, Icon Bearer, Apothecary, etc. in a location where he's the only model that can be seen. Since he's the only model that can be seen, he's the only viable casualty.

Dirty Trick #3: If you want to try risky orders, then I recommend combining the Callidus with an Emperor’s Tarot. This 15pt piece of wargear is available to Daemonhunters Inquisitors and gives you an 83% chance of getting a +1 on your roll for first turn. I also recommend adding a Callidus if you ever use Solar Macharius or a Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought. Perfect synergy.

HOW TO USE A CALLIDUS.
The nice thing about the Callidus is that she can do her job before she appears on the board. If you use A Word In Your Ear properly, you opponent is going to change his tactics across the board to prepare for the Assassin’s arrival. He’ll play more conservatively and he’ll make mistakes. Don’t let them go unpunished!

I usually place my Callidus extremely close to the unit (or often model) that I intend to assault. There’s rarely a need for her to actually move during the Movement phase. Before placing her, I consider the terrain and any targets I can touch in my Neural Shredder template (especially vehicles that are automatically Stunned or Shaken by the Neural Shredder). When using the Neural Shredder against open-topped vehicles don’t forget to add the +1 to your D3.

Take care not to place your Callidus in a location where she has to assault a unit protected by cover. This should be easy to do, but it’s also easy to forget. Imperial Assassins don’t have Frag Grenades. This will get her killed. Also avoid characters with high Initiatives (like a Broodlord).

I usually go after soft units, but most players prefer Independent Characters. If you go the IC route, don't expect much help from the Shredder. It's almost useless against LD10 models. But since any wounds caused are AP1, you don’t want to skip this step.

Dirty Trick #4: With the Neural Shredder wounding hits are determined by the model's Leadership instead of the unit’s Leadership. This allows you to snipe models with Leadership scores different than the rest of the unit. This is very handy if there is an upgraded character like a Space Marine Veteran Sergeant or Tau Shas'ui.

Note: There’s a lot of argument about the Neural Shredder and Instant Death. After careful consideration, my interpretation is that the Wounding rules and the Instant Death rules are separate. Since the Neural Shredder has a Strength value, it is compared to the model’s Toughness to determine if the model can be instantly killed by the weapon. So the Neural Shredder causes Instant Death on T4 models.

If you are after an IC, then make sure that he is the only model you are in base contact with. This will prevent attacks from an attached unit. The Callidus only has 4 attacks on the charge, so you want to make sure they are all applied against her target.

At the absolute end of the Assault phase (after all close combats are resolved), the Callidus uses her Poison Blades. This happens after pile-in, so if your Callidus is still alive she can potentially wound a completely new opponent. This can be quite a surprise.

Note: Poison Blades allows a single attack against any single model in base contact. I tend to focus this attack on hidden Powerfists that get too close.

Finally, Jump Back. Since it happens at the beginning of the Assault phase it’s rarely used. If she is assaulted by an opponent that I know will kill her (e.g., a statured Daemon Prince with a Dreadaxe), I'll use it.

The Callidus is an easy Assassin to use effectively, but she is challenging to master. A new player can get 120pts of value out of her by trading her for a 120pt character, but if played well, she can be much more effective. I hope that this article created some new ideas for an old model. Comments are welcome.

Next time: The Eversor...