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Individual [[Assassin]]s of the Imperium were a deadly weapon deployed as a scalpel against enemies of [[Human|Mankind]] and are often deployed on the highest authority of the Imperium. However, there are occasions when it was decided that a single assassin was not enough to accomplish this goal. At such times, the [[High Lords of Terra]] have often dispatched an Execution Force - a number of assassins that work in concert with one another to defeat their foes.^{{Fn|1}}

These assassin divisions are only deployed in the most urgent of threats as deploying even a single assassin was committing a scarce and valuable resource. This was because of the assassinorum temples only recruited a small number of individuals each year. To deploy an Execution Force was a gamble as their loss would seriously weaken the Officio Assassinorum who might takes years to replenish the assassins that may potentially be lost on their mission.^{{Fn|1}}

This means that the deployment of an Execution Force was a rare order and only done so when an entire sector's future may hang in the balance.^{{Fn|1}}

The first known of Execution Force was formed to assassinate the traitor [[Primarch]] [[Horus Lupercal]] during the [[Horus Heresy]] of [[M31]]. While the mission resulted in failure and the death of all members, the Execution Force did manage to eliminate a [[Spear (Assassin)|counter-assassin]] tasked by [[Erebus]] of the [[Word Bearers]] with eliminating the [[Emperor]].^{{Fn|2}}

*^{{Endn|1}}:[http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?community=&catId=cat60016a&categoryId=900006&aId=3400020&_requestid=1435292 Imperial Guard Apocalypse Datasheet] - Officio Assassinorum Execution Force.pdf*^{{Endn|2}}:[[Nemesis (Novel)|Nemesis]]by [[James Swallow]], {{Cite This}}