Venenum

Just because your assassin temple doesn't get as much screentime as the super snipers, morphing ninja infiltrators, soulless psyker hunters and screaming junkie berserkers, there's no excuse to stop looking boss.

"Somebody's poisoned the waterhole!"

– Renegade leader, mere seconds before his whole army died of dysentery

"You come for the toxin, but you stay... because you're dead!"

– Dr. Thrax

Venenum Assassins are an Officio Assassinorum clade that specializes in poisoning people (their name is the Latin High Gothic word for "venom"). They use all sorts of natural poisons, and presumably an impressive array of synthetics too. While one would assume they would just poison food and drink as well as use discreet injectors, they're trained to utilize unconventional delivery methods too, like poisoning chairs (poisons that soak through the skin and clothes, becoming only apparent once body heat is applied...). They're also known to use blessed psi-negative poisons to kill daemons or chaos corrupted targets, suggesting that they don't just sit around palaces messing with the seating arrangements.

Overview

Despite the utility of such killers, they're a more behind-the-scenes type. Their specialization and training doesn't appear well optimized for battlefield roles, and thus Games Workshop doesn't seem to care much about them. Probably because the "I poisoned the well and caused your entire army to get sick and die" angle doesn't translate well to game rules. Just like the "I hacked your fap folder, Inquisition's on their way".

Took us long enough...

... and here we are in 2022, as the revamped Horus Heresy wargame has seen the overlooked Vanus and Venenum assassins getting models and statlines. These guys now wield two primary weapons: a Hookfang on one arm and a Venenum Toxin Injector on the other. They also carry a bunch of Poison Globe Grenades for a more ranged touch and wear the standard-issue Panoply of the Assassin for protection.

Crunch

Homebrew Venenum Assassin

Venenum Assassin

Pts	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv/Iv
100	7	2+	2+	4	4	5	7	5	9	6+/4++
Keywords	Faction	Imperium, Officio Assassinorum
	Non-Faction	INFANTRY, CHARACTER, AGENT OF THE IMPERIUM, Venenum ASSASSIN

• Special Rules
  • Agent of the Imperium (1/detachment can be in an Imperium detachment without taking up a slot, without preventing detachment abilities in that detachment, without preventing army abilities in that army, and ignoring any rule that requires it to share a specific faction keyword with its detachment and any rules for determining your army faction.)
  • Deep Strike
  • Execution Force (If you have an Imperium non-Fallen Warlord, you can include this unit in your army as part of a Vanguard Detachment even if that detachment contains no HQ units. If you do so, that Detachment’s Command Benefits are changed to "None" and its Restrictions are changed to "This Detachment cannot include the same datasheet more than once.")
  • Fearless
  • Independent Operative (Cannot join or be joined, cannot generate Warlord Traits if made warlord.)
  • Lightning Reflexes (4++ invulnerable save, has no penalties on Initiative for charging through difficult terrain.)
  • Move Through Cover (Roll an extra die when rolling to move through difficult terrain.)
  • No Escape (-2 to Look Out, Sir tests vs wounds this model inflicts.)
  • Explosive Injections: Each time an enemy model is destroyed by an attack made by this model, that enemy model’s unit suffers 1 mortal wound after your model has resolved all of its attacks.
  • Poisonous Miasma (Aura): While an enemy non-VEHICLE unit is within 6" of this unit, subtract 1 from the Strength and Toughness characteristics of models in it.
  • Lesser Catachan Barking Toad Protocol: If this model is destroyed, roll one D6: on a 2+, the closest enemy unit to it (this model's player breaks ties) suffers D3+3 mortal wounds.
• Wargear
  • 2 Venom Injectors; dual profile:
    • Melee: Melee SU AP-5 D1, Poisoned (2+), Hypertoxic, Slow Toxin.
    • Shooting: 12" Pistol 1 S4 AP-5 D1, Poisoned (2+), Hypertoxic, Slow Toxin.
      • Hypertoxic: Each time an attack is made with this weapon, if the target is not a VEHICLE, the Damage of this attack is increased by 2.
      • Slow Toxin: Models that suffer an unsaved wound from this weapon must take a Toughness test at the start of each turn for the rest of the game. If the test is failed, it suffers 1 mortal wound.

Horus Heresy 2.0

Name	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv	Pts	Type
Venenum Assassin	7"	5	4	4	4	3	6	4	10	4+/4++	125 pts	Infantry (Assassin, Character, Light)

Wargear

• Hookfang
• Toxin Injector
• Poison Globes - Enemies that attempt to charge this unit must re-roll the successful rolls they make.
• Panoply of the Assassin - Provides the 4+/4++ save

Special Rules

• Infiltrate
• Scout
• Unnatural Conditioning - Immunity to Rad-Phage and any weapons that affect Toughness like Rad Grenades. In addition, any weapons with Fleshbane or Poisoned (X) will only wound on a 5+ rather than the stated roll.
• Support Squad - Cannot be taken as a compulsory choice.
• Loyalist

Notable Venenum Assassins

• Tobeld - The absolute best Venenum assassin in the clade during the Horus Heresy. He was the last assassin to try and solo Horus and also the one who came the closest to pulling it off, but he still wound up caught and dead.

• Esad Wire - Aka Beast Krule. He was originally a Venenum who was converted into an Eversor, as a bodyguard for Drakan Vangorich. The guy is like Bane on steroids, he was able to "slow time" through his perception and went toe to toe with an Eldar.

• Drakan Vangorich - Yep, the Grand Master who carried out the infamous Beheading. Pretty much an all-round good guy as far as assassins go. Known to be quite deadly and a prodigy and by skill and his superior biology didn't require as many augmentations as his peers. He also was good at politicking (read: Threaten and blackmail) during his tenure as a High Lord of Terra. Was eventually killed by the above mentioned Esad Wire.

• Urhua Theraux - A Venenum assassin who was dispatched to kill a rebellious planetary governor in 563.M37, only for her ship to run into a Warp rift along the way. By the time it emerged, six hundred and ninety-eight years had passed and the governor in question was long since dead. Fortunately for Theraux, the planet in question was now being run, so to speak, by an anti-Imperial democratic committee with a thousand members. Figuring she might as well do what she came there to do anyway, Theraux spent three days poisoning every single chair in the committee's auditorium and bagged the lot in one fell swoop.