“His eyes were set on the thing before him. It looked different than the drones he’d seen with spears. Its chitinous armor fit it perfectly, designed for its size precisely, including legs and arms. The helm covered its entire head and even the expression on it was meant to intimidate, with large, sharp teeth showing in a grin. Most dangerously of all, the creature lacked the uncertain body stance of the drones. It drew two knives from behind the back and stood before Hunfrid, full of purpose and obvious intelligence. It mocked him with its stance, Hunfrid realized; it mocked him before they’d even started fighting.”

Nepenthe: The Last Argument

The Assassin’s Role on the Field

The Mimetic Assassin is a Character-removal tool unique to the Spires. Even though there are many Characters that can perform well in melee, the Mimetic’s unique strength is the speed with which it can traverse the Battlefield and be at the right place at the right time. With a March of (8) it can “Seek New Escort” up to 16” away, allowing a Spire commander to constantly threaten enemy support Characters and effectively shut down Spell casters. After all, it is a little hard to concentrate with a chitin-dagger in your ribcage!

As effective as the Assassin is at setting up a Character kill, it takes finesse and understanding of the “Seek New Escort” rules in order to successfully pull it off. The most important thing to remember is that the Regiment you want your character to join must not be in contact with the target enemy Regiment and it cannot have already activated. Then you need to be aware that in order to reach supporting Characters it is very likely that you will have to overextend your Regiment. Watch out for those flanks!

Thankfully, the Assassin has a few tricks up its sleeve, along with its chitinous arsenal of murderous tools. It has a good selection of different Infantry Regiments in its Warband, each greatly benefiting from the Mimetic’s Flank Special Rule. By providing Flank to its Regiment, the Mimetic can ensure that it will appear at the right time to ambush its target.

Then there are the Mutations*

*Para Bellum Wargames and its affiliates do not take responsibility for the possible loss of friendship as a result of these combos.

So unlike other Spire characters the Mimetic can opt to take two Mutations instead of the usual one. The load out will largely decide how the Assassin will perform and you can either gear it for combat or for Character Assassination.

Venom and Degenerative Aura combo

Deadly Blades and Decay (1) to all enemy Stands in contact with the Assassin’s Regiment is very powerful for holding and contesting Objectives! A mimetic with this load-out joined by a Regiment of Vanguard Clones will really put a dent in the enemy ranks.

Cloned Redundancy and Adrenal Surge combo

With a Clash of 6 and 10 Attacks you are guaranteed to take care of that annoying enemy spell caster. The drawback is that the Mimetic dies, however with Clone Redundancy you come back to do it all again. A risky combo however, destroying a Character and re-appearing in combat only to Duel someone else is quite powerful.

Unstable Enhancement, Venom and Biomantic Plague Node

This combo requires a bit of set up as it requires a Biomancer for it to work.  The Unstable Enhancement deals damage to an enemy Character for every Wound the Assassin receives due to the Biomantic Plague Node. Then Duel that Character with 6 Attacks and Deadly Blades for a swift finish!

What crazy combinations have you tried so far? Have you tried these before? Let us know on our social media!