The third assassin faction

Mythicveil1415

Right now there are two assassin factions so far: eshin and alith anar. If there already is or there will be a third assassin faction, what is it or what will it be. For the latter, I would guess somewhere in dogs of war?

Captain_Rex#1635

Shadowblade for the DE would be a fantastic choice

Draxynnic#3149

Dark Elves. In a way, Morathi is already somewhat there, given her bonuses with heroes and hero actions. In tabletop fluff, it was the Dark Elves and Clan Eshin that were the masters of assassination.

After that... DoW and maybe some Chaos factions, possibly. Sneaky Stabbers were assassin-like on tabletop, but I always had the impression that they were pretty much purely battlefield assassins rather than going into deep cover assassination missions.

Crossil#2134

But Alith Anar isn't an assassin. He's a guerilla fighter.

Mythicveil1415

Crossil said:

But Alith Anar isn't an assassin. He's a guerilla fighter.

its easier to type than his faction Naggorond in case I get it wrong

Slayer_Yannir#8069

Dark Elves would be the most obvious pick with an expanded Khainite/Shade unit roster. Shadowblade as a LH. Dunno who the LL would be.

Zekerath#3609

Would Oxyotl count?

Captain_Rex#1635

Zekerath said:

Would Oxyotl count?

You are a good person

Sir_Godspeed#8395

Zekerath said:

Would Oxyotl count?

Potentially, absolutely.

XxXScorpionXxX#2310

Shadowblade is a proper assassin, so is Oxyotl.

I wonder if I'd count a Lahmia faction.

Slayer_Yannir#8069

XxXScorpionXxX said:

Shadowblade is a proper assassin, so is Oxyotl.

I wonder if I'd count a Lahmia faction.

Neferata(not Lahmia since Neferata lives in the Silver Pinnacle now) might be an assassin faction but more of an espionage faction.

As someone said, Alith Anars Nagarythe is more a guerrilla faction, and I'd put Oxyotl in the same basket.

Espionage, assassinations and guerrilla warfare all fall under the umbrella of stealthy factions but they're not quite the same.

afverrall#1754

shadowblade starting in northern ulthan would be a good counter to alith anar in naggarond. in mortal empires he could be somewhere crazy like imrik is.

DeadpoolSW#7283

in the fantastically small chance that we get Nippon, they could have an assassin faction, as they taught Clan Eshin

Sir_Godspeed#8395

The problem is talking about "assassination FACTIONS".

Obviously, once you're an entire organized military holding fortresses and assembling armies and tugging along siege weaponry and monsters, you're not assassinating anymore. Even Eshin, famously the "assassins" archetype of Warhammer are much more than that.

Ultimately, the question here becomes what factions will have a focus on strong heroes for assassination outside of battles, which is really the only time assassination is truly applicable in the correct sense.

In a broader sense, it applies to factions with a focus on strong heroes for hero-sniping during battles, possibly with some added evasion or stealth and maneuverability.

In the broadest sense it also applies to factions with special faction-wide abilities or bonuses to ambush, sabotage, special movement stances and so on, but as others have noted, this is really moving into the more general concept of asymmetric warfare or guerilla warfare.

Ironically, by the most stringent definition, any faction with heroes who are good at killing heroes on the adventure map are "assassin" factions, even if it's wood elves or greenskins or chaos we're talking about (just throwing out random examples, not that they are particularly good).

I think we all acknowledge that this isn't JUST about mechanics, however, and ultimately the aesthetics and theme matters a lot too. Voice lines, ability blurbs, etc.

Malalforthewin

In the same vein, I supposed that the Cabal (Tzeench worshippers) would also fall in the same kind of plotting/devious/sneaky faction. There is also the Changeling (a Tzeench demon) that could take the appearance of anyone. I suppose he would be a great assassin, but he is mostly a troll in lore.

Another well-known assassin is Apophas, a Tomb King character, but he was incapable of leading armies (and for good reasons; he is completely cursed for killing his family in the pursuit of power).

RomeoReject#1666

Unlike others, I'm going to say "guerilla fighter" and "assassin" are close enough to be that same thing, so then:

-Alith Anar
-Deathmaster Snikch
-Oxyotl
-Shadowblade
-Prince Apophas

Would be my suggestions for Game Two races.