No matter what version of Kill Team you play, its very likely that you have a team you are proud of or are working on at this very moment...

You must share with us! Show us your team and also mention what version of KT they are intended for. And more importantly let us know who they are and something interesting about them...

EDIT: By all means show us your Fireteam for the new Fireteam board game. We'd love to see those too!

I'm making a Night Lords kill team. I'm taking it pretty slow, carefully picking out the right bits and making conversions here and there. Hopefully I'll have them done by the time the books actually come out.

Well, that's at least one team gearing up for mayhem! Looking forward to seeing a snapshot of those bad boys...

A cheap and cheerful team that I've been running for most of the KT'18 era...



..."The Sudden Scream", hailing from Hive Fleet Oregano.

I'll throw my hat into the ring on this one, as I've just finished up my nob! Not quite a kill team yet, but I've got one more big lad, and then I'm thinking of lots of little lads should do the trick...

Just picked up a box of Sternguard to chef up some kick ass First-born Marines.

Got some 2nd/3rd Ed CSM I want to assemble into a Kill Team, as well as a leader I made from some spare bits (old CSM head, backpack, and shoulder pad, new torso and arms). Don't have anything yet to use as an Icon though.

Both teams sound promising. Be sure to post a quick pic once they're done, or just to see how they are coming along.

Love the one-eye-squig on that ork's shoulder, posermcbogus! I take its been kitbashed from something else?

Thanks very much! Hahaha, I wish I had that kind of skill! He's an older metal freeboota, the squig came molded to his shoulder! I think it's actually the first squig I've ever painted!

I got a bunch of teams in planning stages but nothing painted yet. Made a Tau, Kroot & Marine team for KT18 but still nothing concrete for KT2, as Marines are super inflexible in it, and I can't make up my mind which heavy & special weapons I want to be running with. Flamers and HB's seem super powerful in KT2 (HB's can use the bolter discipline ploy), so I'm not sure about my earlier ML/Plasma builds anymore..

Ahh yes, I also have most of the BSF minis & KT Rogue Traders, but they are still on the sprue.. Praying they will get updated datasheets for KT2.

And then there are a bunch of teams I've fantasized about building.. Like kitbashed GSC, Custodes + Sos, Automata-based Mechanicum for the KT:HH ruleset.. those all will have to wait hehehe!

The ultimate dream is to make a 2000AD inspired cultist team ("CREDO!") with Nemesis The Warlock as a leader. The Tzaangor models from AoS range will give me a great starting point, I'll just need to find a 3D sculpting artist who can make/print me the head and the Sword Sinister.. But that one is a task for the ages!

I’ve got a genestealer team( from the last space hulk game) about 1/2 painted up. I also have enough Imperial guard to make any combo that games workshop can come up with.

Can't wait to see these teams. Can never go wrong with Genestealers & 2000AD.

I'm working on a Sisters Crusade in 40k, and fully intend to appropriate models from it for my Sisters KT efforts, considering I'm approaching the Crusade as a good excuse for a small format with a lot of light conversion (kitbashing and parts-swapping to get even more unique poses, etc.) and lore investment like naming models and such in the same way I'd lavish attention on a KT.

So I've got a roster going for Kill Team Flammae Absolutionis, of the Order of the Stained Lily as they support the Renascitus Crusade. If I remember later, I'll collect the appropriate models and get a WIP shot.

WIP shot below. Black base edges are finished models, messy grey edges are to the point I'm happy to field them (except for the 5 that are actually WIP and still missing heads/arm subassemblies), but need more detail work to be completed. In my 40k Crusade, I'll be playing them as an Ebon Chalice off-shoot.

Very posh!

That's a nice Sisters team you got cookin there guv

Do we know if KT21 is using Part of Models Body for LOS, or are they back to Any Part of Model?

I just assembled my Sergeants with their old school Back Banners, and I'm not sure if that's modeling for disadvantage now.

I was excited to go old school Firstborn.

I believe LOS is drawn from the head of the model (models without heads, e.g. drones, have their own rule).

LOS is evaluated from the attacking model's head into any part of the target model (but not its base) and obscuring terrain is evaluated from a point in the attacker's base to all parts of the target's base.

Not really sure what that means for things such as flags.. are they considered being a part of the model for LOS purposes?

Finished up the genestealers . Now I just need a box of warriors and gaunts and I’ll be good to go. In the meantime I’ll get started on a Guard roster.

Found my old pathfinders and got a basic two fireteam KT going. Still undecided about filling up an entire roster, I want to see the new KT box pathfinder teams first before I decide whether to go with a Compendium team or a Chalnath team..

I've been undecided about the colourscheme for years! I had been thinking about a grey futucamo scheme in the spirit of Kojima's Metal Gear games, but now that I have DKoK, I want them to be grey (I intend to base the colourscheme on Finnish WW2 era uniform colours, with the darker wehrmacht helmets) so now I'm again torn about what colourscheme to go with.. 1st world problems!

(the Battlesuit and a few extra drones not part of the teams)

These are my kill teams from octarius. The orks got sealed and are on hold for now, but I've been trying to get the Krieg done. I just put the decals on them tonight.

I'm absolutely stoked for KT21 so I've been working on a bespoke kill team specifically for it. Here's the first fire team, finally done after a couple of weeks of painting.

I already have a sizeable World Eaters army, but KT is an excellent way to explore them in a new light. Loving the journey so far!

argonak wrote:



These are my kill teams from octarius. The orks got sealed and are on hold for now, but I've been trying to get the Krieg done. I just put the decals on them tonight.

Looking good! I still haven't even took mine off the sprue, waiting for another DKoK box so I can make all options.

Cheex wrote:I'm absolutely stoked for KT21 so I've been working on a bespoke kill team specifically for it. Here's the first fire team, finally done after a couple of weeks of painting.

I already have a sizeable World Eaters army, but KT is an excellent way to explore them in a new light. Loving the journey so far!

These look awesome! How fun is this team to play? Have you had any games vs Custodes with that grav gun op on your team?

 tauist wrote:
These look awesome! How fun is this team to play? Have you had any games vs Custodes with that grav gun op on your team?

Thanks! I haven't had any 'proper' games with them yet since my city has been in COVID lockdown to some extent since late June. I have played a couple of test games against myself to help with learning the rules and found it to be a ton of fun. That's a Heresy-era meltagun, though; not a grav.

I'm expecting Custodes to be a very tough fight. Thankfully, none of my regular opponents have them (as far as I know) and I'm not interested in tournaments, so I'm not too worried.

Eyy, finished a one-off project for Kill Team as well.

Rise, horrors of the Old Night! Death to the False Emperor, for Terra belongs to the proper philosopher kings!

Whole gang, vibin' some good Unification Wars feels for the people:



The Three Kings:

















Particularily happy with the psi-sword of the last fella.

Dancer of the Apocalypse:






Champion of the Lost:







Pew-Pew XIII:





Atomic Blyat:





Icon of Sin:




I'm very happy with how they tuned out, as well as always loving working with reds. The aesthetic chaos of the Unification theme is... tempting. Though this is only a off-the-cuff side project, it might lure me to continue under its siren song. After all, representing the Thunder Legions with counts-as Custodes teams wouldn't take more than a handful of models...

These are totally Blanchitsu. I love the high contrast style. Superb work. You should be very happy with them.

I-am-Kroot wrote:
These are totally Blanchitsu. I love the high contrast style. Superb work. You should be very happy with them.

Thanks I-am-Kroot, I am indeed
They also seem to perform well on the table, with Warpcovens having a wide suite of tricks up their irradiated sleeves. Very fun to play with, though it takes some getting used to.

Was asked to take a few pics in terrain as well, so why not. I don't (yet...) have another Unification team, so enjoy some Crusade era imagery instead as the XIV legion runs into trouble while cleansing a non-Imperial human civilisation.

HEHEHEHEHEHE!

"underkontula"

love it!

Such an awesome team

It's a rough neighbourhood

Thanks!

Kroot Kill Team

I stink at taking pics. I know.

Magnificent paint jobs.

I'll echo that sentiment, those are some terrific paint jobs!

Good looking Kroot. Easier to appreciate them with a single colour background, though

Great looking Kroot team! Is that the BSF model I see as the leader?

 tauist wrote:
Great looking Kroot team! Is that the BSF model I see as the leader?

I think it is, I would recognize his snazzy little cape thing anywhere.

Finally finished my starting Spec Ops campaign team, including three extra CSM I immediately added to the roster.






It was so much fun modelling and painting these guys, I got to practice a lot of techniques that I've been avoiding for a long time and I'm very happy with how they turned out. I still have a few operatives I'd like to add to the roster, but for now the project is more or less complete.

Now there is an angry mob if there ever was one! Good work.

Repainting a bunch of my infiltrators and intercessors for my Minotaurs (and some orlocks too!). There was something wrong with the agrax wash effect and they looked greasy, oily and way too shiny instead of darkened and matt.

Go the infiltrators sorted, have 7 intercessors to tidy.

More Unification Wars madness, to be played as a Harlequin team.

The Dancing Circuit of the Church of the Ravenous Spark, M29, dancing on the glowing ashes of Old Earth. Before their eventual demise before the Thunder Legions, their arcane mastery over reality-bending quantum field technologies was feared far and wide amongst the warlords of the era.

Holy moly, those are gorgeous.

 Cheex wrote:
Holy moly, those are gorgeous.

Thanks Cheex, fun to make as well

Another fine jengi duking it out in Underkontula

Really like the conversions and your unique painting style.

 tauist wrote:
Another fine jengi duking it out in Underkontula

Really like the conversions and your unique painting style.

With this basing style, they should really be fighting over the far future version of Hiekkaharju ("Sand Esker", another suburb)

And thanks, #NoModelUnconverted represent.

Technobarbarism of Old Earth, vol. III, painted!

The Veteran Guardsmen are a joy to play KT with, but man if it didn't feel like a slog to get them finished. I put some "good enough" tabletop slop on them on one June afternoon to have them ready for some demo games, but it took two months after that to return to them. The simple underlighting covered by translucent red was good for the first speed painting goal, but felt somewhat lacking when approached properly, sapping my motivation a bit. It happens, but at least two days of work later they are finally done and playable. Note to self, this was not a favored workflow of mine.

Anyway. The tax collecting bullies of a minor no-name warlord have come for your shoes, citizen! Cough up or prepare to get wrecked!

Extort softly and carry a big gun: plasma, flamer and grenade launcher.




Mortar spotter, melta and sniper.




The most trustworthy command group: a friendly doctor, an encouraging leader and his softspoken HR executive.




The special grunts: bossman's strong brother (known as "the Handle" for the bit he carries around, inexplicably proud of it) and the agitator, always ready to read their victims the reasons they are to be immediately de-shoefied.




The regular grunts. At the end of the day, fancy guns won't get you far without the riflemen kicking down the doors.

Another badass team! schweet

 tauist wrote:
Another badass team! schweet

Cheers tauist

-- || --

We do not build
We do not liberate
We are but ghosts
Memories of the Old Night

-- || --

Kill Team M29, Revenant Legion done! Let loose the angelic cannibals of the IX!



The commander requires your attention, don't lose your head!







Fire support requires occasional aiming.




Phosphex and assorted grenade-shaped treats for everyone!




Some proper dakka is needed even in the rad-wastes.




Sons of the Angel, knowingly or not, murderers one and all.





With bolt and blade, no mutant shall threaten the nascent Imperium ever again.

For my first Kill Team I decided to go for something simple:






Next one is going to be the Blooded for a total change of playstyle

Love the White Scars! Must have taken a while to paint.

SamusDrake wrote:
Love the White Scars! Must have taken a while to paint.

Thanks! After quite a few big projects completed purely with Contrast speedpainting I wanted something more involved for a change a tiny project like a Kill Team is perfect for this, and the next one (the Blooded) is going to be done with a similar approach.

First I need to finish a set of jungle terrain for KT, that I've been working on for some time.

Well, this year has been a bit of a disappointment on the painting front. Not much progress, but there has not been much purchasing progress either. This lack of progress has been driven by me completing my "Pile of Shame" a few years ago, and not deciding what project I want to finish for this year. This process has been made a bit more complicated as my local gaming group has been on a bender playing Games Workshops' Kill Team.

I stopped playing Warhammer 40K at the tail end of 6th edition or so. I think 5th was my personal Peak edition, and I mostly kept up with GW via Specialist Games. In the Kirby years, when they decided to focus only on their core games I completely lost interest in them. They lured me back in for a few teams and the core game with Blood Bowl when they decided to turn back to creating games at Games Workshop. However, they had not managed to lure me in with other games or take more of my money. I was still, semi-interested in their lore and being able to create land, sea, and air campaigns within that lore but was content with my own head canon and using the rules I wanted to play in that world.

Last year, I spent a decent amount of time trying to put together a local game group. I was actually fairly successful, with Castles in the Sky being the go to game. However, that plateaued and the group wanted to attract new members. From there, Kill Team was determined to be the way forward and for the most part it has worked to grow the group and stabilize attendance. To support that effort, I purchased a Corsair Kill Team and have learned the basic rules and have been playing and doing y part to draw in more players ever since.



However, I am personally not keen on chasing the GW dragon so am pretty happy to use my old GW models in new ways. I have used Orks, Eldar Craftworld, Imperial Guard, and Space Marine Kill Teams with my old models. Kill Team is probably my most played game in 2023 so far. However, I wanted to try something a bit different and new. Plus, I really wanted something to paint!

Then, one day when I was organizing my game room I came across an ancient discovery. All the way back from 1988, I found the old Eldar Harlequins. I had probably picked up and painted this set in late 1989, and it showed! Here are some samples of the original paint jobs.



I figured in 2023 I could maybe do a bit better. Therefore, I set about getting them ready for a new coat of paint.

You can see the process and how they turned out on the Blood and Spectacles Blog if you are so inclined:
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2023/07/on-painting-desk-back-to-80s.html

You tease, E, driving traffic to your blog like a sneaky git

Finally they're suitably colourful, now.

Yeah, but.... that back banner though.....

These are such cool models, EasyE, it's great that you are giving them a new life And don't worry about their rules in KT, the general ones may be tricky, but on the other hand the operatives themselves are mostly uncomplicated and come in just a few variants. Btw, my friend, who plays Harlequins also uses these vintage models, they are still awesome ! Here is a photo of his team: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=553050203678887&set=a.404842478499661


I, on the other hand, have managed to finally finished a longer project - a full KT jungle board. I am really happy with th result!
Just some staged photos for now, tomorrow the first game on this board:

Lovely!

Nice board. You were much more restrained on trees than I would have been!


and that Great Harlequin model..... wow!

My new Slaaneshi Blooded. I think my WYSIWYG turned out ok, despite numerous conversions.

Yeah, it's easy to see which roles the models have. Very clean visuals altogether, too.

Also a nice and lush board, Cyel!

 Sherrypie wrote:
Yeah, it's easy to see which roles the models have. Very clean visuals altogether, too.

Also a nice and lush board, Cyel!

Thanks! The size of Kill Team certainly makes such projects less daunting.

Why is there so little discussion about Kill Team on Dakka?

Here in Poland it is extremely popular, far more than any other non-main GW game and on a similar level to AoS. But hardly anybody talks about it on Dakka.

Cyel wrote:
Why is there so little discussion about Kill Team on Dakka?

Here in Poland it is extremely popular, far more than any other non-main GW game and on a similar level to AoS. But hardly anybody talks about it on Dakka.

Not many spaniards in dakkadakka. As far as I know, we have more KT tournaments than anywhere else in the world, and it's easily the most GW played game.

We have a lively scene in metropolitan Finland as well, but I'd say most of the chatter around the game is pretty local. Amusingly enough, I'd wager that is at least partially due to the nature of the game in comparison to the bigger beasts like 40k: it's pretty much all happening on the table rather than in pre-game armchairing, which drives a large chunk of the 40k discussions. There is a lot less after action analysis or detailed battle reports on the 40k side as well, while lore discussions are one and the same.

I have no idea about the Finnish KT21 scene (I only play with my group), but am constantly surprised about the lack of engagement on Dakka. Which is kind of weird cuz I have the feeling that KT21 can be played quite competitively and seems to have solid enough of a ruleset for tourney play

Yup, it's sad, this game desreves more attention IMO. Its quality when it comes to rules writing and engaging gameplay isn't something I normally expect from GW (so many interesting decisions, so few dice rolls! ).


Anyway, I've finished my second table built mostly of a half of one set of ITD walls (the other half of the set was used in the jungle one).

Cool looking board!

I have my first game coming up with my 'bashed Corsairs.. I really should finish them one of these days, but I'm such a slow painter..
Any tips from fellow Corsair players?

Oh, I would certainly try to change these Guardian helmets, they seem far too big for these lean Corsairs. But other than that, great looking team!

From my games against them, the countercharge ploy is certainly something that spoils my plans quite often (I should remember it by now!). Just don't forget to leave your operative in Engage if you plan to intercept your opponent like that.

Also, psyker's teleport trick is a nice way of getting your Engage model into out-of-LOS safety while putting a Conceal model into a forward position in cover.

Aim with Shuriken Catapults can wreck most non-space marines pretty good. Balanced and Rending is nice.

The Sticky Fingers Op can also help you flip an objective that your opponent might not be expecting you to grab.

Cyel wrote:

Spoiler:

That is great terrian and the minis look great.

tauist wrote:Cool looking board!

I have my first game coming up with my 'bashed Corsairs.. I really should finish them one of these days, but I'm such a slow painter..
Any tips from fellow Corsair players?

Those are nice minis. Looking forward to see them painted.

Cyel wrote:
Oh, I would certainly try to change these Guardian helmets, they seem far too big for these lean Corsairs. But other than that, great looking team!

From my games against them, the countercharge ploy is certainly something that spoils my plans quite often (I should remember it by now!). Just don't forget to leave your operative in Engage if you plan to intercept your opponent like that.

Also, psyker's teleport trick is a nice way of getting your Engage model into out-of-LOS safety while putting a Conceal model into a forward position in cover.

Dude, I literally spent weeks trying to locate those vintage plastic helmets! They only come 3 to a box in the old jetbikes kit from the 00's.. The idea with this team was specifically to go with the Rogue Trader "Eldar Pirates" aesthetic, and since I don't have access to a 3D printer, there isnt much I can do about the scale diffs. Plastic Eldari helmets used to be bigger thatn they are now, just a fact of life, in fact I'd say this trend for smaller heads overall can be seen in almost all modern GW resculpts. It's a PITA and makes kitbashing with vintage bitz an excercise in frustration.

Team tactics tips are appreciated though, especially the one where I swap an engaged operative with one on conceal

Catachan Jungle Fighters (Kasrkin) team slowly taking shape...

Cyel wrote:
Catachan Jungle Fighters (Kasrkin) team slowly taking shape...

Spoiler:

Nice! Where are those torsos from?

Not just torsos but full models are SpaceNam from Reptilian Overlords. Very nice quality, all big WH40K guard options (KT specialists required conversions, though), 20 models in the box, excellent value for money.

https://bolter.pl/pl/p/Reptilian-Overlords-SpaceNam/21674

Hi everybody I have decided to join this thread. I'm just starting KT, I have many question and a lot of content to share. I will start posting pictures after work tonight. Chat with all of you soon!

@Sherrypie: your models are inspirational!
I love them so much and I'm going to share them with my friend who doesn't play but is into the lore. The fact that you made techno barbarians makes you a legend!

@Tauist; I've been playing since 1993. I recognized those heads from my rogue trader days and was happy to see them. I'm glad you were able to find those old antiques.

 MeatShield wrote:
Hi everybody I have decided to join this thread. I'm just starting KT, I have many question and a lot of content to share. I will start posting pictures after work tonight. Chat with all of you soon!

@Sherrypie: your models are inspirational!
I love them so much and I'm going to share them with my friend who doesn't play but is into the lore. The fact that you made techno barbarians makes you a legend!

Welcome to Kill Team, MeatShield. See your work soon, which factions are you into?

And thanks! I've always loved the imagery of techno-barbarism and KT has been a great outlet to try out various aspects of that

I have 1 completed team and 2 on the way. The team I'm working right now are the commandos from the Octarius box The DKoK are already painted up. I would like to have them finished by December 3rd. I just finished priming them so here we are.


So far everything except one piece has turned out fine, but as you can see here the squigs lower jaw needs some putty.

I had the same issue with my squig. Nothing a minute with green stuff wouldn't solve, but good to see it wasn't just me being clumsy with assembly

Time to report in. They are not done but they are ready for some games.

And here, my Catachan Devils (Kasrkin rules) finished

I assembled a Hand of the Archon team and got them undercoated. Not sure if I will get them painted by the End of the Year.



My undercoat was Grey Seer primer, with a dark grey wash, and then dry-brushed with white. This undercoat works really good with Contrasts and Speed Paints.

@Cyel: nice Rambos! I like the blue plasma effect.

What size of bases do genestealers have in kill team?

 MeatShield wrote:
What size of bases do genestealers have in kill team?

https://wahapedia.ru/kill-team2/kill-teams/hive-fleet/#Genestealer-Fighter-

Don't know something about Kill Team? Always check Wahapedia first

Is there a good discord I should join to ask rules questions as I learn how to play Kill Team?

I used speed paint to nock out 10 genestealers today. I don't like the way the speed paints look in comparison, but hey that's a full kill team in one night and I still had enough time to attend a dinner party for 4 hours today so I can't complain.

I just finished this Lil guy and I love him.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

I will admit that I didn't do the greatest job putting the squig together so I needed to fix some things with some milliput and of course there is always some left over. What's easy to sculpt and always looks good on an orky base? that's right mushrooms! Here is a picture from my squigs only fans so you can see the mushroom I sculpted and painted.

Hi,

can you tell me how you interpret the new addition to the Kasrkin Elite dice manipulation rule from the last Balance Dataslate ?

I thought I got it right after reading it a few times...and then I saw how people on the internet say it's something quite different...

Elite ability: After adjusting your first dice, if you discard one
of your attack dice, you can spend Elite points to adjust an
additional dice, but only one of your remaining failed hits to
a normal hit.

No suggestions from me for now, just tell me what you think.

Cyel wrote:
Hi,

can you tell me how you interpret the new addition to the Kasrkin Elite dice manipulation rule from the last Balance Dataslate ?

I thought I got it right after reading it a few times...and then I saw how people on the internet say it's something quite different...

No suggestions from me for now, just tell me what you think.

My impression is this is good if you want to spend potentially a lot of points when a lot of dice miss. Here is a rundown using 4 Attack dice as standard:
- 3-4 hits: can't use this ability
- 1-2 hits: can modify 1 miss to normal hit + 1 other dice (hit or miss) to hit/crit
- 0 hits: can modify 2 miss to 1 hit and 1 hit/crit

For example shoot with 4 dice hitting on 4+ with results of 5,4,3,2. Discard the miss with result of 2. Spend 1 point to convert the 3 to 4. Then spend 1 point to convert 5 to 6 (crit). Now you spent 2 points and got 2 hits + 1 crit.

My buddy picked up the starter set and, after watching a How To Play video, I think I'll be swinging by Element games to pick it up today!

I'm going in for the Kommandos but might build and paint the DK anyway in the off chance I can convince my AoS mates to try it.

Cyel wrote:
And here, my Catachan Devils (Kasrkin rules) finished

So cool to see other catachans in kill team! I have a similar project, but if I had seen this before I would have been inspired to make some changes. And those bases are just perfect.

Here are mine, primarily veterans, but made enough to also proxy as the other cannon fodder teams with similar equipment:

Those are some good looking catachans Baxx! Good job.

Oh, they very much are, excellent job!

If only the rules for jungle fighting weren't such a joke.

Thanks! Very pleased with Wargames Atlantic SpaceNam minis.

Greetings all,

My first painting for 2024 was a quick Kill Team. The Hand of the Archon is now painted up and ready to hit the table. I all ready had a Craftworld, Harlequin, and corsair team so it seemed appropriate to get the Dark Eldar team. It looks like I am the "space elves" guy at the True Crit Gaming Guild.



I used Armypainter Speedpaints and got the whole Kill Team painted in about a weekend. If you are interested you can see the full process on my blog here:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2024/01/on-painting-desk-hand-of-archon-kill.html

Apart from the red shoes, which feel off, these Dark Eldar look great, Easy


And for everyone - what's your experience with Blades of Khaine? On paper they seem pretty weak, and extremely vulnerable with unreliable save, low Wounds and few operatives and offensively they are also not that impressive. But I heard that they are doing well in tournaments. What's the recipe for their success, if you can indeed confirm that they can be consistently successful?

Its so they can click their heels three times, and get the hell outta there at a moment's notice.

I recently just did a 5-day Challenge to paint up a Sisters of Battle compendium Kill Team for a Narrative Campaign we were starting at my local.



You can see the progress from day 1-5, some DIY terrain I made, the Sisters on a board, more Hand of the Archon, and other stuff on the blog that maybe of interest to Kill Teamers.

https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2024/02/5-day-challenge-epilogue.html

My first wargaming of 2024 was the start of a Kill Team narrative campaign.



The Hand of the Archon takes on some Vet Guardsmen during the Siege Perilous around Powellington.

My Hand of the Archon were fighting for the forces of Chaos, and brought home the first Chaos victory.

You can read some details about the campaign and prep work on the blog if that is your thing:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2024/02/5-day-challenge-epilogue.html

My KT group tried playing Spec Ops, but it was such a dull, mechanical experience. Zero extra excitement wasn't worth additional bookkeeping and imbalance. This video sums up pretty well how it went for us too (even though it wasn't the Ashes of Faith one)


GW "campaign systems" are hardly playtested at all, I believe. There are tons of options to gain, loads of tables full of bonuses. Playtesting them all in all plausible scenarios and combinations would take ages even for a large team.

I think it's just one guy who gets 2 or 3 weeks to write everything down, because other important deadlines (production of physical product related) need to be met, so he works overtime producing whatever strikes his fancy, just to meet the word quota. And afterwards players treat this as official rules, so something akin to the word of god, which is weird, as, if they have tried out the campaign, they probably have more experience with it than the writer.

Whenever I ran campaigns (quite a few, actually) in WH40K or WFB I always used my own rules which I knew would fit my gaming group.

Umm, this guy first makes up a bunch of house rules to change how SpecOps plays, he then complains about the results?

Typical Dunning-Krueger behaviour at its finest. Yeah go ahead and change game rules without thinking the changes through. Sounds totally legit and hey, "must be better than what the dorks at GW could ever come up with"

Comedy gold

Yeah, with our campaign we are kind of skipping the special ops part and just making it a simple Imp vs Chaos board zone control campaign using a points system that rewards a lot of different behaviors such as painting, getting involved, and playing games.



Nothing that fancy really, just an excuse to play some games and paint some models.

Tired of getting guff from my gaming guild for bumming barricades and tokens I bit the bullet and got an Octarius box.

Therefore, I am getting all the barricades, widgets, terrain, and Kill Teams painted up.

The starter is pretty good, I like how the tutorials are structured too.

I haven't had chance to play through it yet for various reasons, but it looks solid.

I finished painting up the Vet Guard pretty quickly. I have oved onto the Orks, but.... they are not as easy to paint quickly. A lot of details and lack of uniformity makes them tough to speed paint.

Finally got some paints back on the table this year

Heel, cur.

An (imperial?) noble of Old Earth for my Unification Wars project. Trying to convert some regular humans from various things in the bitz box, in this case a hideously soft-detailed Reaper witch. A one-day job to test how to sculpt and paint candles.








Gamewise she might end up leading a counts-as Starstriders team down the line when her court retinue gets in line.

This is awesome! Great theming and lighting. I wish KT could see something more solid for narrative approach than very formulaic and mechanical Spec Ops, so that such projects could thrive.

I also wish I could contribute to this section being less flooded by LI and having more KT content, but my next project (Nurgle Legionary team) is progressing slowly. Getting all Legionary operative/weapon options from the Plague Marine box (magnetising, conversions) takes some time and painting (first time experiments with oils) may also be a slow process. With techniques I know it is usually pretty automatic, but a new approach will require more deliberation at every step.

Thanks Cyel, looking good on the smelly boys too. Have fun experimenting, oils are great for all sorts of stained schemes.

From the ammount of skull i would think those are khorn worshippers

I'm still playing Kill Team. Probably my all time favorite Warhammer game. here's my current project, a hand of the archon kill team that was a surprise gift from my sister.

Cyel wrote:
This is awesome! Great theming and lighting. I wish KT could see something more solid for narrative approach than very formulaic and mechanical Spec Ops, so that such projects could thrive.

I also wish I could contribute to this section being less flooded by LI and having more KT content, but my next project (Nurgle Legionary team) is progressing slowly. Getting all Legionary operative/weapon options from the Plague Marine box (magnetising, conversions) takes some time and painting (first time experiments with oils) may also be a slow process. With techniques I know it is usually pretty automatic, but a new approach will require more deliberation at every step.

These Nurgle Legionnaires are looking great! Am looking forward to seeing them painted.

 Sherrypie wrote:
Have fun experimenting, oils are great for all sorts of stained schemes.

Yeah, it appears to work fine These still require quite a lot of work on the details and further weathering, but the oil wash itself did the job I expected it to do. Actually it feels similar to the method of using wood stain to paint armies quickly, popular in early '00s.

Cyel wrote:

Actually it feels similar to the method of using wood stain to paint armies quickly, popular in early '00s.
]

Ah, yes, the infamous "dipping" era. I remember the harrowing pictures of whole units dunked in a mix of wood stain and lacquer in a bucket, sometimes even fastened to a drill for quick removal of extraneous liquid

As it made people, who would have otherwise never painted their models, play with painted armies, I didn't complain

I'd rather players who don't enjoy painting took shortcuts, to still offer a FPA experience to their opponents, than just drop a pile of grey plastic on the table with no excuses given, as if it was the default visual quality of the game.

I got to use my Order of St. Augustine Martyred SoB Kill Team in our Imperial vs. Chaos campaign.



You can read all about it in the Bonus Material on my blog for the week here:

https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2024/04/wargame-design-all-sizzle-and-no-stakes.html

Cool report! I got my rear handed to me twice in a row last Saturday by a Compendium team, so I am not going to underestimate them anymore

I've also had very similar thought about stakes for combat in RPG recently. Without them combat is boring, because the loss condition doesn't exist - well, it does, but it is an unsatisfying one as it means the end of adventure. It's undesirable by both sides of the fight - players and GM, so both are going to avoid it, which makes it a non-stake.

Bringing actual stakes, ie a loss condition that is different than Game Over, makes the fight so much more exciting. For example - we didn't die, but we didn't make it in time to stop the execution! A loss that our characters need to live with.

Probably a topic for another thread, but your observations about GAME OVER and both sides wanting to avoid it make a ton of sense to me. Yet, obviously other players feel very different, I mean look at the rise of OSR where death as a lose condition is a big part of the appeal. I don't really get it.

For Kill Team, we have been playing a simple Warzone control campaign that has greatly enhanced the "stakes" as winning and losing give points to which faction control the Warzone. Good fun and dead simple to run and administer.

 Easy E wrote:
Probably a topic for another thread, but your observations about GAME OVER and both sides wanting to avoid it make a ton of sense to me. Yet, obviously other players feel very different, I mean look at the rise of OSR where death as a lose condition is a big part of the appeal. I don't really get it.

While we're on the topic, I can try to open that a bit as a big fan of meaningful stakes and certain playstyles that fall under the OSR umbrella (which is nowadays almost so broad as to be useless without further explanations). My preferred campaigns are very much on the nihilistic void side of things, where players have no right to succeed but plenty of opportunities to try.

Character death is a big part of OSR games that ride on the "combat as war" vs. "combat as sport" idea. Most adventurous RPG's such as D&D treat lethal situations as sport, something that should routinely be engaged in and enjoyed for the spectacle without much stakes to it as there are large HP buffers, plentiful back-up mechanisms like healing or resurrection and so on to keep it all in pretty light tone. This often ties together with a notion of "fairness" or "balance", like there should be limits on what can be brought against a particular group of protagonists at any given time and the gamesmaster should prepare to avoid such situations from snowballing too far. The combat isn't there as an actual life or death stake, it's there to let the characters show off their cool moves.

On the other end of the paradigm spectrum there is the idea of treating violence as something dangerous and irrevocable, something that pitilessly crushes and maims those who engage in it and there are no holds barring you from mucking it up big time if the conditions say so. There is no avoiding GAME OVER from the referee side, as the referee is a neutral faciliator of the world where the characters can make it big or hit a wall by their own actions. A big portion of OSR is closer to this end of the spectrum. In this context, exploring a world is often more important than propping up individual characters before we know they're worth something. We don't mind that an individual character is likely to die off in the process by getting whacked in a meaningless street fight or by stepping into a land mine, as those are consequences of other larger decisions like engaging with particular adventures, not gathering enough intelligence before acting et cetera. A proficient player will become much more likely to survive with any particular character and thriving in a world where we all know that death is on the line, no punches pulled, is a worthy achievement for the player. You might think of it as high score, having gotten a character from rags to riches without succumbing where so many others have. It's cool to riff about interesting characters, but in this paradigm it's even cooler to riff about them knowing how hard a journey it has been to get there.

There are certainly plenty of other stakes than death involved, too, like getting crippled, threatened, robbed, put in a politically precarious position and so on, but death is the ultimate price for an individual. It is intuitive and powerful, as it caps whatever achievements one player might have gotten up to with one character: you did this, now make another one and improve on it. But it's not just about the individuals, as character deaths often do not mess the big picture up all that much. Mercenary bands carry on as soldiers die. Adventuring parties recruit new members. Organisations live. Those factions might still suffer consequences beyond the individuals, too: rampaging monsters on the countryside, crazy magic on the loose, whatever. In a game that is broadly more about exploring a world, such consequences can hurt regardless of whether a character survives or not.

If you're interested in the topic more broadly, I heartily recommend Eero Tuovinen's Muster for a treatise on playing a high-stake wargame in such RPG's: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/413382/Muster (pay what you want PDF).

Thanks for explaining the thought process Sherrypie. I sense there is a Survival Horror aspect to it as well.

However, I don't want to clog up the KT thread so created this thread to discuss Stakes in Wargames (and other games) here:

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/813515.page#11657703

Yes, survival horror is a big part of that kind of fantasy-effin-Vietnam play where the player characters are quite often nowhere near the top of the food chain.

But let us continue in the other thread

Finished! The bases indeed smell of Khorne, but my wife likes them (in natural light red creates a nice backdrop for all the browns)

Those look great!

Khorne doesn't have a monopoly on skulls

Thanks the goo between the skulls is actually just Blood gor the Blood God which isn't that visible at this angle, but is vividly red when lit from above.

I was wondering if I should replace it with the Dirty Down Rust wash (which really should be called Diarrhea In A Bottle, because of how glossy it is even after very long shaking) but my wife said that she really likes the contrast so it stays

Cyel wrote:
Thanks the goo between the skulls is actually just Blood gor the Blood God which isn't that visible at this angle, but is vividly red when lit from above.

I was wondering if I should replace it with the Dirty Down Rust wash (which really should be called Diarrhea In A Bottle, because of how glossy it is even after very long shaking) but my wife said that she really likes the contrast so it stays

Plenty of diseases can cause blood thinning states that result in death via exsanguination, so I think it is neat.

I was actually working on a concept for my own plague units along a similar line, focussed on spreading a plague that leads to widespread bruising and haemorrhages. The Ecchymosites.

I was thinking along the same lines, and I like the effect. Will post some in-action shots of the team soon