What You Need to Know 'bout Cypher

posted by Kevin Rodgers


So I just picked up the Cypher book. Do I recommend you do so? Only if you're interested in adding shrouded, infiltrate and hit and run to your army, for a considerable fee...

Oh, I forgot to mention, ATSKNF. Hrmmm...

Clocking in at just under 200 points, Cypher has a bad ass statline headlined by BS10. He has eternal warrior, but has no invulnerable save and has managed survive down the millennia in nothing but power armor, which admittedly, used to make things a lot more survivable than it does these days, but still.

He is an HQ choice that does not use a slot but cannot be the warlord in any army. Chaos Space Marines is one of the armies that can take him along with most of the Imperial factions except for Dark Angels. If you do take him, your warlord is at -1 LD, so make sure your warlord isn't a psyker, or has a spell familiar. He may not be taken in a secondary detachment.

He has a bolt pistol and a plasma pistol. The bolt pistol shoots 16", which I think is unique, if pointless, but the hook is he can shoot each weapon twice, and in combat, half his attacks use the bolt pistol profile and the other half the plasma pistol. As he has four attacks, this means two and two. If he charges, the bonus attack goes to the bolt pistol per the rule.

All in all, he's not overwhelmingly powerful as a character for his price, which causes me to question his utility.

So, what do you want to infiltrate and give shrouded and HnR to? Slaanesh Bikers? Nurgle Spawn? Obliterators?

Riptides?

Oh, good, Tau get to do that some more... (Space Marines primary, of course.) Actually, that isn't all that big a deal with Tau as the secondary detachment.

I'm pondering what would happen if you infiltrated 35 Plague Zombies with hit and run. Oh the crap you could tie up at will... Oh, the silliness of such a setup. Somebody needs to run this ASAP.

Cypher is an interesting fellow, but I'm not so sure he's worth the price tag. Then again, now Imperial armies can infiltrate Terminators in Land Raiders just like we can! Land Raider Crusaders, even!

Also included in the book is a dataslate formation for CSM's that is Cypher and 1-3 units of Chosen, who get infiltrate but can't take marks. Whoopee doo!

What book is this? I wonder what the price tag is for him. The author indicates a couple times that it's a pricey tag.

Dataslate. Probably around $6

Clocking in at just under 200 points

didn't buy this one myself but i may depending on how much i'd want draigo and friends to get H&R. problem is, with only Draigo to tank the STR8 AP2+ stuff, i don't really have alot of points left over to splurg on what amounts to just H&R for the draigowing.

maybe for funzies sometime and definitely if I was playing 2k-doubleFO.

$6 hahaha nope cypher data slate is 16.99. Insanely priced for what it is IMO

With infiltrating, I read that if a unit doesn't have the usr (infiltrate) to start with, then cypher can't give infiltrate to the unit. Example - basic troop unit that doesn't come with infiltrate can't have Cypher attatched and start 12 to 18 away, they would all set up as normal. ?

Definitely not worth 17$$$.

An IC can give a unit Stealth, Shroud, Infiltrate and Hit Run. They don't benefit from a unit that has any of these if they themselves don't.

Examples:
Shadowsun infiltrating Riptide/Drones or Bodyguard/Crisis unit, passing on Stealth and Shroud.
Karandras infiltrating Wraithblades passing on Stealth.

He is prob well worth the points but with no hardback...I'll pass.

Edge wrote:

Definitely not worth 17$$$.

I don't necessarily agree, there.
Though it's not a 'book' per-se, the fluff reading was very deep (for the size/format) and introduced new material...and expanded more on who/what Cypher is/represents.
Like the HH books, the price tag seems high but is commensurate with the additional entertainment value.
Add to that, the myriad ways he can be fielded/employed (both individually and as a formation) and he brings a great deal to both the table AND your 'historical' data.
I loved it, and dug out my old Cypher to strip and re-paint.

Glad to hear your juices are still flowing EAP.
I think a price point of 10$ would have been more suited. Maybe after the fallout of what is 'accepted' at the tournaments I'll change my mind. I don't we'll see too many Cyphers on the tables.