Greetings Icarus fans; we've got another concept art preview for you today. This time, we're taking a look at the Nexus Assassin!
The Nexus method of war is aggressive, relaying mostly on brute strength. The Nexus race give little value to guile and stealth; except for in their assassins.
Knowing that sometimes the direct method isn’t the most effective, ancient Nexus began training soldiers to use stealth to approach and eliminate a target. These first assassins were distrusted by the average Nexus soldier, and many of them still are today; but their skill is never questioned.
Following the increased popularity in using terror as an effective means of waging war; the Nexus assassin has become a staple to the invasion force.
Assassins will arrive on a target planet sometimes months before the invasion host. Along with a small unit of other Nexus, they will gather intelligence about their target area; defences, locations of strategic importance, and most importantly, who the leaders are.
Dozens of assassins may be sent onto a planet, arriving over a period of up to a year. Each will gather intelligence of a particular region, co-ordinating with each other, and the invasion fleet to plan their next move.
An assassin’s mission following the gathering of intelligence; is to kill the most prominent leader of their target area. The confusion that follows the murder of these figures makes the invasion easier, as leaders are not yet in place to make the crucial decisions to stop the invasion.
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| The Finished Piece |
One of the things I like most about this piece is the helmet/mask. Those pinpoints of light are very sinister, and you can picture the outline of the assassin in the shadows, those glowing eyes the last thing you see.
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In game, the Assassin is a hero killer. With the Poison Blades special rules, any unit that is wounded by the Assassin in close combat takes 1D3 damage at the start of every game turn after. All the Assassin's weapons have the Fear Toxin special rule too, meaning any unit wounded by the assassin also takes a courage penalty.
This combination makes the Assassin incredibly powerful; and they are sure to be a high priority target from the start of the game.
Thankfully, the Assassin also has a stealth system, meaning they can deploy in secret outside of the Nexus deployment zone. This can be very useful for effectively closing off sections of the board to you enemy through fear of revealing the Assassin.
However, leaving the Assassin hidden all game is a waste of their talents. If you equip them with a sniper rifle, and deploy them in the right area, you can get some devastating shots off in the first rounds of the game.
Because of their effectiveness, Assassins are prime targets for enemy snipers, which can tear through their armour and wound them on 2+, so keep your assassin in cover! It's worth taking a smoke grenade to offer that little bit of extra protection if you find yourself caught in the open.
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We hope you enjoyed this look at the Nexus Assassin; you should be getting a nice flavour for the Nexus play style after reading our previews on the Brawler and Feral Nexus as well.
Don't forget, you can download an early build of the rules for The Icarus Project HERE.
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