The Only Four Imperial Agents Pairings: Veiled Blade Plus One

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The four pairings, ranked by how much the two halves talk to each other

All four are legal and all four cost exactly 3 Detachment Points. What separates them is whether the 2 DP detachment's rule reaches your assassins, and the answer is the same for three of them and different for one.

1. Plus [Imperialis Fleet](/40k/armies/imperial-agents/detachments/imperialis-fleet). The only one where both rules reach both halves.

At all Costs is gated on AGENTS OF THE IMPERIUM, which is the faction keyword every model in the army carries, assassins included. So nominating an enemy unit with Eliminate At All Costs gives your Vindicare +1 to hit against it while Prime Target re-rolls its Wound rolls of 1, and nominating an objective with Acquire At All Costs puts your Callidus on it with a 5+ invulnerable save and +1 Objective Control. No other pairing does that.

2. Plus [Ordo Malleus, Daemon Hunters](/40k/armies/imperial-agents/detachments/ordo-malleus-daemon-hunters). The cleanest division of labour.

Destroy the Daemonic reaches INQUISITOR, INQUISITORIAL AGENTS and ORDO MALLEUS models, and assassins carry none of those keywords. So the two rules cover disjoint halves. That is not a waste: it means your Inquisition core gets an unconditional Hit roll of 1 re-roll in every phase while your assassins get a second use of their signature abilities, and neither rule is doing redundant work.

3. Plus [Ordo Xenos, Alien Hunters](/40k/armies/imperial-agents/detachments/ordo-xenos-alien-hunters). The one that fixes a real weakness.

Deathwatch Mission Tactics is powerful for three turns and absent for two, and it reaches DEATHWATCH units only. A Deathwatch firing line is also poorly placed to reach an enemy character hiding in a bodyguard unit. Prime Target's Warlord clause and the Vindicare's Shieldbreaker cover exactly that gap, and they work on the two turns your Mission Tactics are not.

4. Plus [Ordo Hereticus, Purgation Force](/40k/armies/imperial-agents/detachments/ordo-hereticus-purgation-force). The one with the weakest evidence.

The pairing itself is fine: a horde-clearing rule with a five-model floor patched by models that specialise in single high-value targets. But this is the one Imperial Agents detachment the Faction Pack does not print, amend or mention anywhere, so its whole rules text is mirror-sourced. Read its disclaimer before you commit.

Common questions

Why can I only ever take two detachments if one of them is Veiled Blade?

Because it is the only Imperial Agents detachment that costs 1 Detachment Point. The other four cost 2 each, a Strike Force budget is roughly 3, and 2 plus 2 is 4. There is no faction rule involved and no Unique Tag: it follows entirely from the published costs and the published budget.

Do Imperial Agents have any Unique Tags at all?

No. Neither the Faction Pack version 1.1 nor the Munitorum Field Manual version 1.3 lists a Unique Tag on any Imperial Agents detachment, and the community mirror prints none either. The pack contains no UNIQUE banner anywhere in its text. This is the only faction in this series with none, so we assert the emptiness rather than leaving it unstated.

Which of the four pairings is best?

Imperialis Fleet, on a technicality that is worth understanding. Its At all Costs rule is gated on the AGENTS OF THE IMPERIUM faction keyword, which every model in the faction carries including assassins, so it is the only pairing where the 2 Detachment Point detachment's rule reaches the Veiled Blade half of your army. The other three are gated on DEATHWATCH or on Inquisition keywords that assassins do not have.

Can I take two detachments at 1,000 points?

No. An Incursion budget is roughly 2 Detachment Points, and every pairing here costs 3. At 1,000 points you take one 2 Detachment Point detachment, or Veiled Blade Elimination Force alone with a point unspent. There is no two-detachment Imperial Agents army at that size.

Does the Extremis abilities disagreement change which pairing I should take?

It changes how many points your assassins cost, which affects every pairing equally since Veiled Blade is in all four. Under the pack's reading a four-assassin list pays 160 points of mandatory surcharges out of the same total your partner detachment is drawing on; under the Munitorum Field Manual's reading you pick a couple of enhancements from the ordinary allowance. Confirm which applies in the Warhammer 40,000 app before you commit either half.