GW Focus In On New Warhammer 40,000 Kill Teams
August 27, 2016 by brennon
Games Workshop have added support for another facet of the Warhammer 40,000 game on the tabletop. Now the focus switches to Kill Team and them giving you more tools to play this version of the game out on the tabletop.
In this Kill Team collection you get a small rulebook focusing in on the rules for Kill Team and scenarios to play out with both the Space Marines and the Tau that you get inside the box.
While the main box is focused towards two players it also gives you the rules you need to play multiplayer games and additionally link your games into narrative campaigns. The main thing to take away from this though is that it requires very few miniatures and is focused in on these squads and their movements on the tabletop.
Kill Teams Assemble
As well as this main boxed set they have also put together collections of miniatures based on team members own Kill Teams. For example you might want to make Luke's Corruptio Malum squad...
Now interestingly as well as putting forth these Kill Team sets they have also put up the lists for these for you to Download. So, here are the rules for this list and on the store page they even have tactical advice for playing them.
Next up we have Snagrod's Burna Boyz.
This is where Kill Team tends to tip over the edge for me as it suddenly involves vehicles but never mind right? I thought it was always a better game with infantry and maybe a few light walkers. Either way you can get their rules HERE.
Filling the void of the Necrons and maybe something for John to consider with his new army we have the Pariah Conflux.
I really like the style of this one where its focused on the brutal killing machines, the Flayed Ones, and those Canoptek Wraiths drifting around in the shadows. You can get their rules HERE.
The Astra Militarum call on the power of the Militarum Tempestus with their set, Strike Pack Alphic.
You can pick up the rules for this very small and very elite force HERE. I actually don't mind this one but the Taurox just seems like one of those additions which makes the game that little less 'fun' once it starts blowing stuff up.
Last but not least we have The Red Death of Duriel which is a Kill Team in my wheelhouse.
Focused in on the Harlequins this is another elite fighting force but one that will need some nuance to play. Their rules can be found HERE.
Whatever you think of Kill Team this is a great little nod towards more interesting gameplay choices becoming a focus for Games Workshop. Kill Team is of course nothing new and it's been around for a while but it's nice to see some more dedicated support for it.
Will you be picking one of these up?
"The main thing to take away from this though is that it requires very few miniatures and is focused in on these squads and their movements on the tabletop..."
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great if you like the look of some of the cool 40k minis out their but don’t have the time to invest in the larger scale battles. a lot of room for narrative and I suspect we will see some very characterful kill teams coming from the beasts of war 40k community , looking forward to that.
Perhaps a cool community challenge? Paint up a cool Kill Team, give them a little story and all that.
Something GW should have done years ago. Smart move, although should have streamlined the 40k rules first IMO.
This is interesting direction that GW is taking. Maybe this will lower entry point to 40k.
40K itself should be the lower entry point to 40K, but hopefully these are the baby steps towards that.
I was going to put in a preorder for the ork set as it looks a good gang for Gorkamorka, but then I saw the price =(
Surprised after how well received the start collecting boxes have been that they still continue to put out full price “web bundles”.
Even 10% off to compete with some of the independent stores would make them so much more inviting but still don’t see why the larger bundles aren’t 20%+ off.
Delighted to see this get an update. This is the best option for anyone that wants to “Start Collecting”. Not only can you play with what you get in the box but as you slowly add new units to your army you can still play games without having to invest money in a fully playable army all at once. And for people like myself it offers a quick alternative to putting aside an entire evening for a game.
I like it 😎
£40 for the rather cool Deathwatch minis and a squad of Tau plus rules etc is great value.
I might get a box.
After the BA2 starter box 😉
They’re unfortunately not the Deathwatch dudes. 🙁
Just a normal Space Marine Tactical Squad.
Nice to see a them focus on Kill Teams but the bundles they seem to push for this are much more costly than I would have thought. \better off making my own kill team then at a reasonable price.
Well the contents are two opposing teams and the rules, so it’s a two player set. If you just wanted the Tau or the Space Marines you’d be better off buying them separately, but they are a discounted bundle.
Think @manpug meant the web bundles with zero discount compared to buying them separately.
The 2 player set is indeed a good value set as you say (just the minis would be £55 separately).
Yes the Kill Team web bundles are a joke, just compare this (https://www.games-workshop.com/Tempestus-Scions-Kill-Team) to this (https://www.games-workshop.com/start-collecting-militarum-tempestus), why should one buy the Kill Team bundle?
Only reason would be lack of knowledge that they could get more for the same price.
That’s quite interesting. I’ve still got some nostalgia left for 40k from teenage years, and while I have no interest in the absurd super-heavy, 100+ figures 40k of today, I might be interested in Killteam, esp. if they developed it from the humble 4th Ed WD publication state.
It just looks wrong when you have the KT starter contents for 40£ next to bundles with seemingly less for more .. also just in general; 5 man scion squad with a small transport for 50£ is looking seriously screwed up any way i look at it.
I think we can safely call this a GW deal’, and not a deal in the real sense… and of course, the problem with bundling is that you always get a few things you don’t want. A good idea, as an entry level game, I suppose.
Are any of these mini’s new? I like the strike pack Alphic, but when I try and incorporate GW models with other sci-fi ranges in my games they come off fat, even given the armour they’re wearing.
I stand corrected. I just saw the price. Definitely not interested.
For me Kill Team games (and Combat Patrol) is much more what 40k is about, I’ve never really been interested in big tables with massive armies (thats what Epic was for). I love that you feel every death rather than just drive wave after wave forwards. However, I would have preferred them to trim the fat from 40k first. I hope that when the 8th ed rules land (suitably trimmed) that the set gets updated or that the new Kill Team rules have been built with any changes in mind. I dislike ebooks and much prefer a hard copy. Of… Read more »
What kept them so long with this idea? – Its a great way to get people back into playing 40K.
My Elder assassins/Kill-team project stalled because of work 🙁
That Astra Militarum box needs to be done A-Team – that’s why the Taurax ‘van’ is there!
A-Team ?
I thought it looked more like a Gears of War squad to me, especially when you consider the bulky armor and the dark gray colours.
Now that you mention that, you could do old school show groups such as A-team or Scooby Doo gang for your kill teams.
This may get me to dip my toes into 40K.
I would be all over this if I thought GW was planning to release free rules for Kill Teams from different armies. I love the idea of assembling multiple small teams – the start collecting boxes seem perfect for this. But do I need to buy the codex to assemble a team? That is a deal breaker for me.
They are perhaps turning towards the better, but they have some way to go still to show they care about their community.
If 40k does go in an AoS direction then we may well see free data sheet downloads. That would make the possibility of multiple Kill Teams (from different factions) viable. Otherwise I can see people turning to illegal downloads rather than a hefty price tag for a few pages.
love it two ten man squads for 30$ especially if you keen anyone wanting the other army? you could double up.
Why is that Harlequin kill team almost twice as expensive as the Harlquin Troop that’s in the ‘build your kill team’ section ? https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Harlequins-Kill-Team vs https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Harlequin-Troupe-Troop It’d be cheaper to proxy the one special character in that set, right ? The ‘start collecting imperial guard’ box looks like a better deal than the ‘kill team variant’ The former has additional models. And please GW … try to put some effort into this and support it a bit better this time. It does appear to be a good entry level 40k product though. And yet despite the fact that this Killteam… Read more »
It’s the Marines. I think they’re a necessary evil when it comes to starter boxes but we have several on the go now so they had room to play around with this one. Tau facing off against Eldar would have been interesting. Both factions that would suit kill team fluff.
Or if they were determined to make it Marines then why not chuck in an upgrade sprue and tie it in with all the recent Deathwatch releases?
You’re right. I’m not at all interested in space marines, so it would have been good if they could have found a different faction.
@irredeemable isnt there a raven guard codex being released soon? if so this is probably the teaser release for that in terms of box contents. As for SM being a necessary evil i agree, bloke at the village show had made a space marine costume, not many people could say what it was other than ohhh hes come as one of those games workshop/warhammer things, so in terms of being an ambassador of their brand i dont think they have any choice but to always have them in starter sets.
Excellent – Kill-team was always my favourite aspect of 3rd/4th edition. Might dust off the old Deathwatch or put together a rag tag band of xenos mercenary bounty hunters helping free a small Hive City from the predations of a cut throat Imperial militia regiment led by Captain Elias Cavaleras. Maybe have seven of them.
That sounds like it’s never been done before.
I would love to see other people’s Kill Teams so have opened a thread in the painting and hobby section for anyone wishing to post.
Love the idea of kill teams and quite chuffed that GW have gone down that route!
As always with their stuff though it is bloody expensive!!
Think I might have to try out an ork team with lots of conversions and character!! Have always fancied giving the orkish hordes a try but doubt I could stomach painting the sheer numbers of boyz required for an army!
Love the idea of the story you could give the members of the team! Very cool!
It would have been great if they’d turned this into its own ruleset with integrated campaign rules (like the old days). As it is I don’t know if I’d want to pay $110(au) for a 32 page rulebook and a stack of minis I already have plenty of.
I’m interested, but at this point I’ll probably hold off until people start dumping the rulebooks on ebay.
The Harlequins are the army I started to collect before moving out here.With this Kill Team and the Death Masque box set I might finally be able to get some new ones out here.
Kill team has always been an interesting varient. Considering the box as its reasonable and nice to have hard copy rules.
As a bonus as I had 6th ed killteam get the digital rules for free which is a really nice touch from GW.
I’ve got the ebook on my iPad, so I’m happy I’m getting the new rules! My local Games Workshop Oslo will be doing a Kill Team campaing event. Hopefully I can use my Militarium Temptestus with the Strike Team Alphic!
Neat bundels for the other stuff, uniqe flavour!
I’m actually really looking forward to this. I think it could be an excellent way to get a few quick and fun games in during an evening. Color me intrigued.