I played my first game with Hexmark destroyers yesterday. I brought two of them in my list against Genestealer Cult.
I read that they weren’t that great, but wanted to see their performance for myself. I kept one model in the hyperspace dimension (reserves). The other I had just pop out on turn 2.
Hexmarks aren’t really good in melee, but they are no slouches either, with T5 and W5 as well as 4 attacks. They have no special weapons, just clubbing people with their pistols. In a pinch they can be used to tie up a light unit. Where they really shine is the mid/late game where they can arrive in much needed spaces and mop up small straggler units and backfield objective holders.
They have an additional defensive power: Living Metal allows them to regenerate one wound a turn.
They are great at shooting with six pistols. This also allows them to shoot while in melee. I found that one round of shooting will peel off ONE marine equivalent (two wounds), and against lightly armored units at least three models, and maybe peeling off a unit of five. They ignore cover and also hit in overwatch on a 2+. All their attacks re-roll ones, so pretty much they hit six times with each volley. And at S6 they get 2+ to wound light infantry. On top of all that they get an additional attack each time they kill a model with their pistols. On the outside they could conceivably wipe out a unit of twelve models.
With Aetheric Interceptors you can warp in and shoot in response to an enemy unit coming in. The obvious benefit is the surprise shooting, but it can also cordon off an area from further incursion, possibly keeping objectives clear. You can also slap the stratagem card down and shout “surprise mother****er!”
In my game the first Hexmark warped in and blew up four out out of five Acolytes that were camping on a back objective. It then killed another four Acolytes that charged it (with overwatch its pistol fire is undiminished). The second came in while the bulk of GSC infantry were popping up from underground, after the first unit arrived, my Hexmark warped in, shot down half the unit, took the backfield objective and created a protective bubble against the rest of the units.
I love them. They are flexible, pack a punch, and give you a lot of options. An invulnerable save of 5+ would make them absolutely perfect, and push them into auto-include range. Hit and Run would be a tremendous option to that, letting them survive a close encounter.
I liked them and they did a lot of work in the late game.
With hunters’ instincts honed over aeons, the Deathmarks pounce precisely at the moment their prey enter battle, gunning them down before they can even act.
- If that HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit is in a hyperspace dimension or in Strategic Reserves, set it up anywhere on the battlefield that is within 18″ of that enemy unit and more than 9″ away from any enemy models.
- That HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit can, at the end of the phase, shoot as if it were your Shooting phase, but until the end of the phase it can only target the enemy unit that was just set up on the battlefield (and only if that enemy unit is an eligible target for that attack).
Hardwired for Destruction: Each time this model makes an attack, re-roll a hit roll of 1.
