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40K hasn't been in the best shape recently (As in the last 1,5 year, proberbly more), and will properbly stay this way... Not that that's bad or anything, but compared to many's wishes of a well designed and balanced game made to have both fun and challenging games, it isn't exactly the best game right now. There are alternatives of course, games like Warmahordes, Malifaux, Flames of War and the like, who are having a true resurgence, but to those of us who actually like the 40K universe and want proppa games with it, the current situation isn't exactly stellar. Therefor, I bring you this: Kill Team, made by the blog Heralds of Ruin!

Now, most of you know of this I am sure, and a good lot of you have proberbly played it at some point, but that leaves the question: Why don't we see more to it? It is quality work, unofficial of course, but mostly balanced, fun to use and it fixes a lot of the problems the game has, so why isn't it more widespread? Aren't people talking about it on the forums for some reason, or is it really that unknown?

I have ditched regular 40K completely for the moment being, as I find HoR Kill Team to be the best way to play the game, and for that very reason I'd like to give my reasons as to why you should play it too! Be free to ask questions or add to the list, the more the merrier!

1. It's FREE!: Or, mostly free. You'll still need the Codex for most of the factions and the main rulebook, but the supplement itself is completely free, available on the blog itself.

2. No loopholes!: When making supplements like this, the easiest way to add all available options for all factions would be to allow, say, all factions to take "One elite slot for each Troops" and weird stuff like that, but Heralds of Ruin didn't do that - Oh no. They made an entire Army List for EVERY faction currently in the game, with new entries and limitations to keep exploitation down. Enjoy a complete and revised version of you favourite army's list and make something truly unique to this game!

3. It has NEW content, too!: Have you ever wanted to play Deathwatch in 40K, for real? Or maybe Adebtus Arbites? What about Genestealer Cults? HoR Kill Team has all that, and more! It is very obvious that the producers of the supplements are fans and want the very same stuff everyone else want from regular 40K, so look forward to be able to play the factions who are normally unusable or simply not represented in anything other than fluff! Not only that, but all factions have their own list of Relics and Armory items to really personificate your dudes!

4. Fixed, revised rebuilt!: Tired of having your faction bite the dust all the time? Well, the creators of Kill Team certainly seemed like it, so most of the traditionally weak factions have now been put up to speed - Not only does the small and claustrophobic environment of a 250 pt game allow each model to be more than mere cannonfodder, the rules themselves very changed and added to for many individual models, allowing you to use models that would otherwise be completely useless in game (I.e the entire goddamn Sisters of Battle Codex).

5. Far less cheese!: Tired of Ion Accelerator Riptides and Leman Russ Battle Tanks wiping out whole squads with impunity? Well, here's your answer to those shengians - They aren't in there! Only models and units who can roughly compete are in the game, and so Vehicles and Monstrous Creatures are almost untakable, allowing the footsoldiers and veterans to really shine!

6. Cover is a thing!: It is explicitly stated in the main HoR Kill Team rule book that a proper game of Kill Team should be played on as cover-heavy and claustrophobic a board as possible, allowing models who are usually weak and frail to really shine - Stalk through ruins with melee assassins, or achieve control over the streets by putting you Devastator on a rooftop! If you are currently thinking of Necromunda or Mordheim, good - You are paying attention!

7. It's a cheap game!: For most Teams you won't need more than a few boxes of models, who most of you should already have, so there's no excuse when talking about the availability of models! You just need some terrain and you are golden!

8. It's cinematic and dramatic!: We all know how Gets Hot works, but wouldn't it be awesome if it was represented the way Plasma were meant to be, by making them EXPLODE? What about having people catch fire when hit by Flamers? What if you were actually allowed to jump around ruins with your Wyches, gaining a Strength advantage when making a jumping attack? All this is a part of Kill Team, alongside more optional rules like Injury rules and similar!

9. It has a Campaign Mode!: If you know how Necromunda and Mordheim are like when in Campaign mode, then you know what this is all about - Build your team through battles, upgrade their gear, give them new team mates, by base upgrades and Battle Honours to furhter hone their skills. It's not just a game of upgrading though, as you have to mind your model count, buy new recruits and exploit your enemies weaknesses, or you will be left in the dust by players far stronger than you!

If you want to check it out, they have collected all the rules on this site: http://heralds-of-ruin.blogspot.dk/p/kill-team-rules.html

Thanks very much for this

I will take and look and share it with out club and hopefully come back with feedback as well

 Mr Morden wrote:
Thanks very much for this

I will take and look and share it with out club and hopefully come back with feedback as well

Awesome! I had actually been thinking about blogging about my band of friends - We have one Ork (Me), two AM in different flavours and an Necron player, so it could be fun to blog about.

will check that out, thanks.

YES! Same here!

This is awesome, sounds like finally someone has done Games Workshop's work for them and actually made people happy with something. Will check this out

Thanks!

I actually thought most people knew about Kill Team... Oh well, it's nice that I can help some people! Remember to write back when you've got an idea of the core of the game

You know I have seen this before. I tried out GWs killteam rules and its just eh. I'll have to try these out sometime with my buddy.

Having read the rules, I'm sold. But I haven't gotten the chance to play it yet.

Looks like it could be solid. I'll have to give it a play with my friends.

Thanks for the hint, I'll check it, even though I do not dislike the regular game like the OP does.

Have started reading through and already impressed with the Sororitas army list - great work

I've played this several times, but my group has become increasingly ornery and would rather play 7th and bitch than be proactive. There's maybe 3-4 people in our group of about 20 who will happily play it, and we have a blast every time.

Hell, it's a game mode where tactical marines aren't complete garbage, and armour saves usually matter! That alone makes me adore it.

Yes! Heralds killteam is fan-fething-tastic, and I recommend it to anyone wanting something new and different (or, well...similar to mordhiem or necromunda). Great fun.

I like it because it lets me try out armies I'd otherwise never play, because I only need to make a dozen models or so. Here's the Raptors squad I had a blast painting up.

 McGibs wrote:
Yes! Heralds killteam is fan-fething-tastic, and I recommend it to anyone wanting something new and different (or, well...similar to mordhiem or necromunda). Great fun.

I like it because it lets me try out armies I'd otherwise never play, because I only need to make a dozen models or so. Here's the Raptors squad I had a blast painting up.

You magnificent melon-fether, you come here, praise my favourite game and then show me an amazingly painted Team of my favourite Space Marine Chapter. How have I deserved this

Anyway, my descend (ascend?) to insanity (acceptance?) began when i started playing around summer last year. I wanted to play Tau and got me some models, and tried out a relaxed tournament at my roleplaying club which I was always a part of... Then I was completely moshed without remorse by the local powergamer/That Guy with Eldar, who used rules to his advantage and simply didn't show me any kind of will to help me get into the game. I realized that the tabletoppers at my club was primarily the Inner Circle of the club, and me being the annoying hothead and upstart didn't fit in at all. Only one guy really helped me, and then he just criticized my moves and paint jobs.

So I layed of for a while, and found Kill Team while browsing around, and luckily I had some friends who had some models or were able to try it out, due to the low model count of the game. That way I effectively created a new gaming group in my club with my friends, and we're actually growing! The other day I got an old friend into it by appealing to his passion for Flames of War, and I'm planning on making a secondary army with the Chosen and Cultists from Dark Vengeance, breaking up the box with another friend, who plays Dark Angels.

Yeah , I'm working to try and convince my local club to try a campaign with this rule set. It looks really awesome.

 McGibs wrote:
Yes! Heralds killteam is fan-fething-tastic, and I recommend it to anyone wanting something new and different (or, well...similar to mordhiem or necromunda). Great fun.

I like it because it lets me try out armies I'd otherwise never play, because I only need to make a dozen models or so. Here's the Raptors squad I had a blast painting up.

Want!

I thought this was well known by now.


I find it generally nice, but I must say I dont like how they handled the markerlights (they are still godly useless in killteam)

Also highly disappointed of CSM that have representation to all legions, except 1k sons who gets the short stick with minimal treatment.

Having read the rules and army lists on their website, I've decided this is a wholly better game than GW have produced because it's very well balanced and gives everyone the opportunity to use whatever they want and still have a fighting chance. It's also great not to have to spend feth loads of money to try out different factions

Really like the game, thanks again for posting this as I didn't really have any idea what Kill Team was before

 BoomWolf wrote:
I thought this was well known by now.


I find it generally nice, but I must say I dont like how they handled the markerlights (they are still godly useless in killteam)

Also highly disappointed of CSM that have representation to all legions, except 1k sons who gets the short stick with minimal treatment.

Don't they always

I don't know where you've gotten the idea that Markerlights are useless - I've played Tau, and those small counters are freaking amazing. Not that they are much worse in Kill Team, the 11 pt price tag of a Pathfinder just hurts more now. I would just stuck up on dakka instead, personally.

The keypart was "in killteam"
I play tau as my one and only army. I know full well their power in a real game.


But when each model is on its own, they just don't work. it gets far too expensive to get an actual value off the marker compared to just fielding more guns.

Even with the added bonus the placed, how likely are people to Hubble in 3" of each other in killteam? and even if you get the max dice, its 4 markers, meanings 4 of your dudes gets the bonus, compared to regular games where 6 or even 12 might be using it at once.

And the odds of multiple markers on one dude are abnormally low, the maximum 3 pathfinders (as specials) will only net you an average of 1.5 hits, and in return block you out of any suits (the guys who actually care for markers)

You can just never get any millage off them with the way its set up.

I personally love the HoR Killteam, and especailly enjoy the campaign rules, they're reminiscent of Gorkamorka.

That being said, I don't know why everyone is touting this thing as being super balanced.

My personal experience is that in pick up/one off games, the possibilities for abuse and power gaming are atrocious, and the disparity between gimmicky WAAC lists and TAC lists are much worse then normal 40k.

That being said, the campaign rules themselves act as a very effective balancing tool, as if you're opponent is running a super specialized/gimmicky build, you're usually only one or two unit/wargear acquisitions from acquiring the type of hard counter that will completely ruin his day.

As an aside about marker lights, try taking them as marker drone wargear on a suit with a drone controller, or on a stealth team leader (he can fire both his burst cannon and the ML in the same shooting phase). Also, crisis suits with two burst cannons make excellent use of marker lights.

This gets very expensive very quickly when using controller suits to harbor drones.


The way markerlights work there it really is just more simple to bring another gun. you never find yourself in a "damn there are too many pulse rifles shooting at that target" situation.


If anything you want the sniper drone team. you get some badass snipers to pling away and a great BS5 marker so at least its rather safe to assume you get the mark, but even that's rather situational on the list to contain at least someone else who is a high-impact striker that can make the markrs mean anything on his own.

So, have any of you tried out the rules, or read it through? I REAAALLY want to discuss the game with someone who know it as well as I do, and want to know what other people think about the game now that they've tried it out. Meantime, I can tell some of my own antics with the system...

I have found some problems with the game, though - The Ork list has some great Leaders (T 4 W 3 S 4 Nob for 18 pt? Sweet.), but HOLY FLYING FUNGUS the other choices are expensive! Why exactly is it that the Boss Mek, who has the same stats as the Boss Nob, who is 18 pt, has a price of 30 friggin' points WITHOUT a Megablasta? And the Weirdboy 45 pt? Why isn't the Weirdboy a Special, too?

Something completely different is that some factions can make some fething nasty lists, and if you don't overhear your opponents plans, you'll get roasted - I played a mobile Ork list with Bikers and Trukks with Shootas against a juggernaut (bitch!) of a Necron team with ten Immortals and a Lord carrying Gauss pew-pews. Suffice to say, I was wrecked, which isn't so much of a problem, really - My problem is that I had no way to know that that would be what I was up against. Of course, Campaign play should help you built lists to counter your opponent, but I haven't actually played a Campaign yet... Maybe I should do that next.

I have not had a chance to look them over properly but I enjoyed reading and thought it well done.

Several others at our club looking to play this over the winter to test it out and then we can feedback.

Personally I would have preferred 6th Ed Psyker rules to 7th ed style but we may adjust that in our games.

 Mr Morden wrote:
I have not had a chance to look them over properly but I enjoyed reading and thought it well done.

Several others at our club looking to play this over the winter to test it out and then we can feedback.

Personally I would have preferred 6th Ed Psyker rules to 7th ed style but we may adjust that in our games.

I don't remember the old rules, and I personally think these work better, but then again, I've never played with a psyker. Maybe I'll use a Weirdboy once in a blue moon, but, as I stated, it's fething expensive.

6th Ed was simply a LD test to see if the power worked in the appropriate part of the turn, there were a few problem powers but it didn't mean an whole subsection of the Turn dedicated to their usage.......

however Its only a minor thing at this stage.

So a guardsman costs 10pts and you need 10 to get a special weapon and the space marine scout costs 11 gets a launcher or heavy bolter for 5 models and gets infiltrate,scout , ATKNF, str 4/t4 , +4 sv and their chapter tactics.

I have some experience with this, but have only really played with/against the Ork, Dark Eldar, and Tau lists.

I've said before, and I'll say it again, this game is really REALLY well suited for Campaign play (seriously, it's an absolute blast), but it's exceptionally ill suited to TAC lists for pick up games.

As for the cost difference between the Boss Nob and Big Mek, it has more to do with the options he can take (Bouncy Shields, More Dakka!, and Killsaws being absolute game changers, but like all things in this game, very very circumstantial).

Makumba wrote:
So a guardsman costs 10pts and you need 10 to get a special weapon and the space marine scout costs 11 gets a launcher or heavy bolter for 5 models and gets infiltrate,scout , ATKNF, str 4/t4 , +4 sv and their chapter tactics.

Eeem, what guardsman costs 10 points?

A vet squad is 30 points for 5 guys, so its 6 points each.

And you can get a special for every squad of 5.