shadowblade

King porky · Post by **King porky** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:22 pm

I am just wondering if anyone is having him in their army because you can get a normal assassin for around half the points to do his job and it doesn't take up a hero slot.

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Post by **Calisson** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:44 pm

I don't know if I will ever play actually him, but I just bought one shadowblade model so that my usual playing partners know that I have got one.
The main difference with the normal assassin is his ability to begin inside an enemy's unit: it kills one of the models (he replaces it) and immediately attacks the unit (deadly for war machines).
The use for support in attacking bigger units is less credible, there you better have a mundane assassin.

Atherus shadowstorm · Post by **Atherus shadowstorm** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:58 pm

Dont think ill ever use him either but heres my general thoughts on him:

Good points:
Very high Ws, Bs, I and a decent if not huge move
Killing blow + poison atttacks (sure they dont go all that well together but its still a decent combo imo)
Dark venom (can be useful in a challenge especially if the unit champion accepts it)
Str potion is useful if really handicaped by being only 1 use.
Can hide in enemy units

Bad points:
Ultimately hes still an elf (t3) with no armor save and only a 5+ ward save to protect him.

Reason wont take him:
Points cost. At 300 pts even in larger battles thats a lot for 1 character, and probably a good chunk of your points. For the same you can get 2 assassins with double the wounds, more than double the attacks (with Rune of Khaine, which for some stupid reason he doesnt have) and they can be in 2 places compaired to his one.
You can just get so many more damaging units for 300 pts than shadowblade will ever be imo

Post by **Dalamar** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:43 pm

Shadowblade doesn't have Rune of Khaine for fluff reasons.
And he had more attacks to offset this.. now it's just silly.

Cadeyrn · Post by **Cadeyrn** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:41 pm

I tried shadowblade against dwarves and was very disapointed.

Ultimately, he has only 4 attacks, which is his biggest downfall. I also hate the rule that if you don't reveal him on turn 1, you basically have to announce to your opponent that your using him, then roll I die to see if he gets caught.

His "kit" has lots of stuff that doesn't always work well together, or against your current enemy. Too bad they didn't just give him an equipment allowance, so you could at least customize his toxins.

Monkeylord · Post by **Monkeylord** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:33 pm

Yup. Shadowblade's only boon, really, is his special deployment. Otherwise, you can put together a far more deadly combo yourself for a little more than half the points. Am I willing to pay 140 points for "cool factor" ?

Not really. Against 99.9% of opponents, WS9 is just as effective as WS10. Granted, it means WS4 opponents are hitting you on 4s instead of 5s, but I think it's reasonable to say that if your opponents are still alive to attack after your first round of attacks, then your assassin hasn't done his job, and is probably going to die anyway.

Gorenut · Post by **Gorenut** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:49 pm

The only time I can see him as worth the risk is perhaps vs a VC general. If you can try to take him out first turn, it'll make the rest of the game much easier for you from then on.

Post by **Dalamar** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:28 pm

You can tool an assassin with Rune of Khaine, Touch of Death and Cloak of Twilight, and if your magic is strong enough do a 1st turn charge anyway for half the points.
Sure it also requires you to have magic heavy army but the magic isn't there only for the assassin.

Phierlihy · Post by **Phierlihy** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 2:43 pm

A friend of mine was at the Las Vegas GT last month as a Dark Elf facing off in the first heat against another Dark Elf. My friend finished deploying his army - three units of Cold One Knights, three units of Dark Riders, and a dragon. His opponent looked at it all and said 'you have no infantry?" He looked very sour and later Shadowblade had to appear in one of his own units.

Post by **Dalamar** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 9:39 pm

other thing is... if enemy has no infantry the shadowblade gets pretty useless.

Rising son · Post by **Rising son** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 10:52 pm

@phierlihy: That's hilarious! Your friend's opponent must have been well annoyed.

Damnedscorpio · Post by **Damnedscorpio** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:04 am

I also have minimal infantry. my only infantry units are a unit of shades and a unit of crossbowmen. i would have a lot of fun with this. one question though he will break if beaten by combat resilution right?