Alright, first off I have to comment on the price of this datasheet. This far surpassing the cheap price that all the other advent calendar downloads have been. However this is a lot more information than everything else has offered. With the Cypher Dataslate you get the complete background of Cypher, the past of the fallen dark angels, history of the "loyal" Dark Angels, including stories of his arrival on the battlefield and the finally the big question of does anyone even know what Cyhper is really doing. I honestly think there is more fluff in this Dataslate than in the short stories that have been released in the Advent Calender. Fans of Cypher will enjoy the assortment of detailed information about Cypher and have fun choosing what side Cypher's alliance really lies.
The rules for Cypher are summarized under the profile section of the Dataslate and I don't really know how to feel about him yet. When I first saw Be'lakor I was impressed instantly but Cypher applications on field seem underwhelming if not cool. I however can see him adding a little damage in an Chaos list but maybe that is just my dark Nurgle heart talking .Cypher comes in at 190 points which is kind of steep however he comes with a truckload of rules. He can be including in every Imperial army but Dark Angels and can be choosing for Chaos Space Marine. He can't even be in an army that has Dark Angels models in it. He fits outside of the Force Organisation chart so including him just takes a cost. Cypher stats are nothing to call home about but do reflect him as being a seasoned warrior. He has WS7 though I wouldn't put him against anything that is dedicated CC. With BS 10 you should be putting holes into whatever you aim at. He has normal Space Marine stats for strength , toughness and armor save which makes sense. Although I wish he had artificer armor. Cypher has amazing speed with initiate 8 which means he will be hitting faster than most things in the game. Finally as just an added bonus he has 3 wounds and attacks. Cypher carries frag and krak along with his relic bolt pistol and plasma points. There is nothing special about these weapons aside from the bolt pistol having 4 more inches of range and the plasma pistol doesn't overheat. Also Cypher has a sword of Immense power ,which may be the blade of his Primarch but he is too awesome to use and instead just carries it around. The sword does grant him Eternal warrior and Shrouded but that is a mystery to me why he doesn't wield a blade of near infinite power but hey, that's why he's Cypher.
Cypher's special rules are ATSKNF, fleet, hit and run, independent character and infiltrate. I cant argue with those rules, I believe these are an accurate interpretation. Now we get into the fluffy rules. Cypher has Divine Protection and At Any Cost. Divine Protection says that any model D6 of Cypher when he loses his last wound or is removed captures him. If no model is in range then Cypher pulls a Batman and disappears into the shadows and does not count as giving up victory points for being a casualty. At Any Cost basically means if your opponent has any Dark Angels that capture Cypher he gives up 3 victory points but if he isn't captured or forced to escaped you gain D3 victory points. I can feel the narrative being forged just thinking about it. Cypher rules continue with Blazing Weapons which means he can fire his pistols twice or fire them once before or after a run move. Cypher's overwatch shots are also at full BS and instead of using his God sword in close combat he actually using his guns. To represent this have his attacks ,rounded up are str4 ap5 and the remaining attacks are Str7, AP2. Cypher knows Gun Kata!
The final special rules for Cypher are I guess there for balance maybe or we are still forging the narrative because they are negatives for picking Cypher. Never Forgive means that Dark Angels with Inner Circle have Zealot special rule and Shadowy Herald of Strife means Cypher can't be your Warlord and the actually Warlord of your army loses 1 leadership. I don't know why the included that Cypher couldn't be your Warlord because he couldn't be in the first place since he isn't a HQ unit but I guess just for extra clarification.
Next they included a Chaos Formation which is Cypher and 3 units of Chosen. This formation is really expensive, at bare minimum it is 460 points and with all the upgrades you can give these units this will be a sizable chuck of your army. The formation gives all the units infiltrate and restricts them from talking Chaos Rewards and artifacts, Marks of Chaos or transports. So basically you are stuck using vanilla Chosen. You can however get all the weapon upgrades as normal which means you can tailor this guys to your liking. Four infiltrated plasma guns in a squad sounds good to me. The formation also has the rule Fallen Leader that gives units in the formation within 12 of Cyhper ATSKNF and forces them to use his leadership for leadership test. So all it took for Chaos Space Marine to remember ATSKNF was for Cypher to lead them, TAKE THAT ABBADON!
Lastly they include four Alter of War missions and two Echoes of War mission that seem pretty fun. I myself have never really delved into these narrative driven missions but I think I will try out seem of these. Sometimes the game doesn't have to be about the most optimized list or balanced mission but just about two guys throwing out dice.
Over all I think this was a good Dataslate. Cypher probably isn't for competitive play but everything cant, and shouldn't be. I could see putting him into a CSM army so that a squad can benefit from ATSKNF and the host of other rules he has. Off the top of my head I can see putting him with obliterators so they can infiltrate or dropping him in a 20 man block of marines so they no longer have to worry about being ran down in assault. The formation is neat but I won't put much stock in formation until the community decides how they want to handle them. If only GW just put a 1 restriction on formations, oh well that is a discussion for later. The Cypher Dataslate offers all the fluff on our mystery man and fun ways to include him in your games. I will start painting my Cypher as soon as I finish my current project.
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