Imperial Assassins are terrifying – genetically engineered killing machines bristling with arcane technology and bred to slaughter their targets in one of many exciting ways, from shapeshifting disguises to unmitigated psychic grief. Warhammer veterans will be familiar with assassins from the Eversor, Callidus, Culexus, and Vindicare temples, but now a new face joins the roster: the Vanus Infocyte.
Operatives of the Clade* Vanus use information as their weapon, processing staggering amounts of battlefield data and detecting enemy troops from the moment they arrive. Their advanced augury equipment can even peer into the noosphere – the veil of communication between machines and their controllers – and twist transmissions to their own ends.
With the keys to friendly and enemy weapon systems at their fingertips, Infocytes can intercept newcomers with a barrage from their own allies’ weapons. They can also wreak havoc on the internal systems of Mechanicum automata, making them perfect counters to the robotic legions of Traitor Taghmata.**
Although this is the first time Clade Vanus has received their own model, they’ve been part of Warhammer lore for some time. Readers of the Horus Heresy novel Nemesis will remember Fon Tariel, who took part in the mission to assassinate Horus, while the Infocyte Elixa de Mornay is mentioned in the short story To Kill a Dark King – and the Unbound Infocyte Iaeo duels with the Alpha Legion’s plotters in Tallarn.
The Vanus Infocytes aren’t the only new recruits – there are more reveals from Warhammer: The Horus Heresy coming, and you can be the first to see them by signing up to our newsletter.
* Assassins are organised into Clades during the Horus Heresy, instead of the 41st Millennium’s Temples.
** As members of Malcador’s Officio Assassinorum, Vanus Infocytes operate exclusively for Loyalist armies.