Hexrifle
- – Tony Stark, Iron Man
The Hexrifle is another one of those bizarre Eldar weapons. Hexrifles are Dark Eldar weapons used primarily by Haemonculi and their pet minions that use crystal cylinders that contain a tiny amount of the Glass Plague virus. Crystalline cylinders containing the tiniest quantity of the disease are fired from the rifles, shattering upon impact and exposing the target to the plague. The virus spreads incredibly fast on contact with flesh, turning the victim into a glass statue. More often than not, the particular Dark Eldar would shout, "Strike a Pose!" before adding the victim as part of their collection. How a virus can rearrange the molecular structure of a carbon-based lifeform into silicon is unknown, with the only explanation without going into supernatural means is through techno-babble/Webway-physics bullshit.
The Plague of Glass had once afflicted the Dark City in the 36th Millennium. Apparently, a Commorite "artist" called Jalaxlar opened his glass statue museum and was met with praise from other Dark Eldar. But a rival house attacked his crib and ransacked his lab, which released the Glass Virus into the dark city. It became a pandemic until the Haemonculus Coven known as the Hex developed a counter-virus that mitigated its effects. But not without storing samples of the disease in their laboratories, to employ as a weapon against their enemies. Each Hexrifle is unique, created for an individual Haemonculus to deliver this potent and exotic plague in battle, but all function in essentially the same way.
Now, the Glass Plague is really terrifying to the Dark Eldar. "Why tho?" you ask. "A Haemonculus should be able to resurrect a glassed Dark Eldar, right?" Wrong. The Glass Plague also grants a true death. This means that any Dark Eldar that gets glassed gets their soul destroyed. On one hand, they don't get nommed by Slaanesh. On the other hand, they are gone for good.
Unfortunately, despite the cool/weird fluff written down, on the tabletop, the Hexrifle is just a bog-standard Sniper Rifle now. It can shoot at characters and has a tiny chance of inflicting a mortal wound in addition to normal damage. The weapon had a unique rule when it was introduced where it had a chance to insta-kill its target on a lucky dice roll, but not anymore! The fact that both the Acothyst and the Haemonculus like to get close and dirty in melee and not stand back and fire Heavy weapons further hurts the potential of this weapon.