SHOWCASE: Culexus Assassin - Speed Paint

The one problem with a hobby blog is that it can make it tough to surprise your opponents, especially when your primary opponent is on the blog with you. I decided to speed paint an assassin before a game with Trip a week or two ago, here's the results and my thoughts on his rules.

I'd been sitting on this figure for a while, originally planning a substantial Inquisition supplement for my GK back in 6th edition. The Culexus was selected simply because he was the cheapest assassin I could find on eBay. Not Rules. Not looks. With the new codex, most of those figures have been shelved in favor of more pressing needs, but when the Assassin Dataslate came out I couldn't resist fielding one. With Trip surely bringing a Flyrant and/or Swarmlord, I wanted to be sure to own the psychic phase.  I hadn't really paid too much attention to the rules.  I just knew this guy was the anti-psyker and that'd probably be useful.

I probably spent less than 3 hours from opening the blister to finished model.  That's definitely quick for me.  It helps he's mostly black with just some drybrushed metal. I highlighted using a pretty light blue-grey like the one on the GW site, but it was way too contrasty so I dialed it back with a Drakenhof Nightshade wash. I think it looks decent now. The base is an amalgamation of parts of chopped up Scibor bases. They have a limited number of designs and I needed to shake it up.

Now for the game.  I had to quickly read up just before the game to see what this guy brought to the table.  Turns out it's a lot.  I've since read plenty of threads about him and how crazy powerful he is.  I think Trip would agree.  In one turn he helped me shut down the Flyrant and then went on to kill the Swarmlord in one strike without breaking a sweat.  Now, I gave Trip a quick primer on what the Culexus could do prior to the game, but neither of us really comprehended at that point what that meant. In the heat of the game, Trip was pissed, and rightfully so. I'd killed 2 expensive HQs like they were nothing. I was inclined to agree he was overpowered for the cost.  Not that I've thought and read a bit more, I think he's just one of those models like a Riptide that you're only going to get surprised by once.  At ~130 points, he's definitely powerful as he will absorb a crazy amount of fire and require immediate attention, but to make him really useful you have to pair him with something to get him up the field and that effectively makes his cost a lot higher. I won't ever be able to march him up the field again. Not against Trip anyway. His effective range is pretty limited meaning he'll likely not be a lot of use around a mobile psyker like the Flyrant. He's definitely beatable, but powerful. 

Anyone else had a run-in with a Culexus? Any of the other assassins?  What's your verdict?

~Deet