I am sure most of you have heard of GW’s latest limited edition game set, Assassinorum Execution Force. My first thought was “that looks cool, but I don’t really need more assassin models.” Then I read the description and realized that it’s a 1-4 player cooperative game. With that in mind I thought it could be a fun game to play with my kids. Cooperative means I can walk them through it until they get a hang of the rules without feeling like I’m just faking a game to keep them busy. So I picked up a copy at the FLGS and figured I would give you all a peek at what’s inside.
Assassinorum Execution Force
The cover of Assassinorum Execution Force has some nice artwork on it, just like the other more recent boxed sets from GW.
What’s Inside Assassinorum Execution Force?
It is a GW set, so we would expect a small mountain of plastic inside, and we find one!
There are two factions included in Assassinorum Execution Force. The Chaos Terminator Lord, 3 Chaos Marines, and 15 Cultists are all available separately. The more interesting models are the four assassin models that are exclusive to the box. I haven’t assembled mine, but they are nicely detailed. GW has some nice 360 views on their website if you want a good look.
Each of these is supplied with a 32mm base. The chaos models total about $65, and the equivalent assassin models total about $62 so on strict model value the box is worth the $125 cost. Of course, it will take a while to properly assemble and paint all of these, so I’ll be using proxy models in the meantime!
Under the models and dice there’s a decent set of game pieces. There are two sheets of room cards and markers. These are printed on both sides of some thick card so they’ll be pretty sturdy.
The hexagonal markers are wound counters with one wound on one side and two wounds on the other. These would be a nice addition to the 40k starter box! There is also a deck of event cards and four map tiles.
As you can see here, the map tiles are very thick! The edges are unfinished though so they may start to peel if you beat them up.
Gaming
I have only managed one game so far with Assassinorum Execution Force, but the rules seem pretty solid. My 8 and 10 year old daughters were able to pick up the basics quickly enough.
Basically, each assassin is allowed two actions per turn, chosen from a list of available actions. Each has specific abilities and some special tactics that can only be used a certain number of times per game. The cultists and marines show up according to event cards that are drawn each turn and once on the board they follow semi random patrol routes until then discover an assassin.
There are 12 rooms that start as unknown and are drawn at random as they are explored. The assassins need to find the transporter room and the control room in order to teleport into the ritual chamber and kill the Sorcerer before he can finish his ritual.
The Assassinorum Execution Force game we played was fun and I think it will stay interesting for a while. The basic rules are easy to remember and each model has a reference card showing their particular capabilities. As I said, my daughters and I were able to pick it up pretty quickly. It’s simple but with enough tactical considerations to keep you thinking.
The instruction manual includes a page of game modifiers and challenges to keep things fresh. I am sure that a crafty gamer would have no problem coming up with their own modifications as well.
Wrap-up
Overall I am glad I bought this game. Assassinorum Execution Force is a great 40k themed game that is accessible enough to bring my wife and kids into. Plus, there’s a good chance the models will be wandering off to the occasional game of 40k!
Like Space Hulk, Assassinorum Execution Force is a nice standalone game that also has some great 40k models in it. Have any of you tried it out?
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I must admit I haven’t tried it yet, the price tag puts me off purchasing it myself, despite the value for money. I find I don’t need any of those models enough to get it, just like with Space Hulk to be honest.
Is there only one mission on it though? I wonder how many play throughs it would last.
As a board game it could be just as much fun with less expensive playing pieces. If you aren’t interested in the models it will feel very overpriced.
I do have some concerns about replay value as well. It does only have the one mission but the random room layout and event cards should ensure that each run has it’s own peculiarities. Also, there is a list of suggested game modifiers to change things up. Modifiers such as trying to defeat the game with only one assassin entering the final chamber, or only killing renegades in hand to hand. These may help to extend the replay value. I won’t really be able to say until I’ve been through a few more games at least.
There is a lot of potential here if GW decides to support it with expansion packs, or if the gaming community starts coming up with variations. I think it could also be played using the Space Hulk tiles and some minor modifications to the room placement and patrol moves. In any case I think I can get my money’s worth out of it but it may not be worth the investment for everyone.
Well good luck with it. I think I will let this one pass. But a nice and comprehensive review, so thanks for that.
Thanks. I agree that for the price you could get three or four equally entertaining games. This is a decent game but only really worth the money for the models. In my case it was a chance to use the kids as an excuse to buy some new toys ;)
It does look like a fun game. When I finally manage a time to head over to your place we should play. You, the kids and I would make for a good game I’m sure.
Sounds like a good idea, we’ll have to do that some time soon!
As I’ve mentioned across several forums, it seems like the replayability might be an issue for this game. I’m a big board gamer and we have lots of choices to try out. Seems like this one would be fun once or twice, but after that would get looked over for other games that have a lot more variation. The missions in Space Hulk and Zombicide, for instance, make every game feel different even though the rules stay the same. You’ll have to let me know after a few goes if it’s losing its luster or what. I love the idea of it, I just wish it had some variety baked in.
What Tibbs said. Although this is GW, I do half expect a dateslate with more missions…
Actually I think that would help a lot, but with the limited board tiles… Part of me wishes there was a whole series of these and they all worked together… ;)
I am a little disappointed that the map is static. I think this would have much more depth if it used smaller interchangeable tiles for more board variety. Time will tell if this game suffers for that.
I agree. Though I feel that if you pick this up from an online retailer (at 20-25% off), your overall value is higher then buying the four assassin models by themselves separately (guessing 26 a pop), even if you never touched the game itself or even looked at the chaos models (though the lord is a super awesome kit!)
Oh, sure! If you’re buying the models anyway it’s a great deal. I just happen to really like board games, and I want them all to be as good as Space Hulk. :D
Does Blood Bowl count as a board game? I LOVE Blood Bowl and think it’s their best game ever.
Absolutely it does. I would buy an updated version for sure. I have great memories of playing with my big brother.
I enjoyed the original Space Hulk but I passed on the updated version both times. If there’s a third release I may pick it up “for the kids…”
Nice review.
On the topic of the unfinished board edges…can you actually do such a thing without hand-making every single tile?
The printed sheet on the back could have been made with tabs to wrap around the edges to the top, then the top sheet could be glued down over these tabs to conceal them. I’ve seen plenty of game boards with this design but I don’t know of they’re assembled by hand or machine but I imagine a machine could accomplish it.
That said, most of the games I see with multiple tiles have unfinished edges. It’s not a deal breaker but they do tend to wear more quickly.
I’ve never seen a board game do that with the tabs. That’s really cool! We’ve gotten in the habit now of tinting the edges of cardboard tiles, tokens and chits with markers. It helps finish them off nicely. I’ve also sealed the edges of some tokens with brush-on CA glue if I know they’re going to be abused. Makes them darn-near bulletproof.
Tiled board usually aren’t made that way but folding boards are. Check out Monopoly, Clue, Ascension, etc. This is four large tiles that could easily have been a single folding board or a three-panel folding board with separate Temple board.
I like the marker and CA glue approach. That really would help hold everything together!
Oh, I see what you mean! Yeah, that makes sense.
I wrote a blog post with some pics, but when I tried to link it, Disqus embedded the article. Weird.
Let’s try again: http://tibbsforge.com/tinting-tokens/
Sigh.
GW releases a board game for the family, sorta…and it’s 125 bucks.
Eesh.
Eh, I wouldn’t call it a family game. Sure, it can be and in Kamui’s case it is, but with that price tag it’s really for the existing crowd.
I would also say when those assassins are released separately they will be 30 bucks a pop most likely. So from a model perspective it’s a good value(as far as gw products go).
Based on the quality of the models I would say that’s accurate. The Culexus actually has two faces to chose from and all four are on nice scenic bases. Given the current price of $15-16 per resin assassin this box is about break even for the models, but the character kits comparable to the assassins in the box are usually priced higher.
As Thor said it’s really more targeted at existing players than the outside market. In my case it just happens to be a way to indoctrinate my own spawn into the grimdark…
Sad to hear the assassin models are exclusive to the box.
Wait, is that a new thing? Everything I’ve seen shows them being released individually later on. Has that changed?
I got that impression from this article because it said exclusive to the box?
Oh… I think he just meant for now. I have no idea if they’ll really release them later, but that’s the traditional wisdom online. And how often are rumors wrong…? LOL. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. How much are they going for on eBay right now?
Vindicare is about £15 ex postage. Sold. I’m buying him. Unsure on the others at the moment.
Hmmm no. Seems like £20.
The GW site says that “this is the only place to get the Imperial Assassin miniatures deployable in Warhammer 40,000.” So they are currently exclusive to the game. This doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t be released later and I certainly don’t have any inside information on this. Personally, I hope they do release these separately.
On ebay they seem to be going for $20-$50 each. There are bunch with bids under $10 and less than 24 hours remaining though, so you might be able to snag them cheap.
There are also auctions for the game without figures for under $20 if anyone is interested in playing the game with proxy models.
I too bought a copy of this game, but I was lucky to be able to buy it from my FLGS too, but for half price… now, the main reason for commenting is to highlight to those of you who would like the game, but don’t want to pay a premium for the figures, there are plenty of copies on Ebay being sold as new without the figures (here in the UK at least) for relatively small prices (£10-15 typically). There are obvioulsy plenty of people buying the game only for the figures and selling on the rest of the stuff to recover a little of the cost.