Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Kinda newish to Warhammer. I've tried and failed a couple times over the past 20 years to start up but I got some friends starting kill team. I've got but have not yet assembled a fairly solid start (I think) of an AdMech kill team. I'm thinking mars aligned but I may go for some unused color scheme. At this point I have a Skitarii box and a Theta 7 box with the idea being this will be a seed to grow a larger force. My point for mentioning this is I'm not sure the most practical way to assemble these boxes for kill team pieces (assuming no mods or other bits). Any suggestions?

I'd go power sword/stubcarbine Infiltrators over any other loadout for Sicarans in Kill-Team, the extra range and the flexibility to shoot or fight will prove invaluable. Though as you have five you might go three Infiltrators/two Ruststalkers just so you've got them for campaign flex-roster games where you know you're going to need the extra attacks, the Ruststalkers should go for blades over razor/chordclaw for reliability.

The difference between Skitarii Vanguard and Rangers is guns and Rad-Saturation; Rad-Saturation is a trap, Skitarii should never be in melee, especially if you've got Sicarans to play interference. I tend to prefer the extra 6" of close range on Rangers over the three shots and the chance of extra damage on Vanguard, but as with the Sicarans you have the extra bodies to build a couple of Vanguard in case it turns out you do need them.

There's no good reason not to build all the Skitarii upgrade guns, especially if you're planning on expanding to full-size 40k at some point. Skitarii are all right by themselves but the guns can make them really shine. I tend to field arc rifles/plasma calivers in Vanguard units since their short range lends itself to wandering forward while I run the arquebus with Rangers in backfield objective-holding squads; I wouldn't put an arquebus in a Vanguard unit under any circumstances but there's no reason you couldn't make the arc rifle/plasma caliver a Ranger. They're pretty identical in Kill-Team, though.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
The difference between Skitarii Vanguard and Rangers is guns and Rad-Saturation; Rad-Saturation is a trap, Skitarii should never be in melee, especially if you've got Sicarans to play interference. I tend to prefer the extra 6" of close range on Rangers over the three shots and the chance of extra damage on Vanguard, but as with the Sicarans you have the extra bodies to build a couple of Vanguard in case it turns out you do need them.

What do you mean that Rad Saturation is a trap?

Thanks

SG

 ServiceGames wrote:
What do you mean that Rad Saturation is a trap?

I think that the idea is that it is a bonus to melee, so you may be fooled into thinking that you should get into melee. It could be considered a "trap", beccause you really don't want to be charging into melee, even though it may seem like you should.

I don't really know if melee is a good idea or not, as I'm not an Admech player. I have been thinking of a few allies though, maybe a load of Kataphrons and servitors in the Vigilus formation, backing up my Guard and giving me some repair HQs.

 Trickstick wrote:

 ServiceGames wrote:
What do you mean that Rad Saturation is a trap?

I think that the idea is that it is a bonus to melee, so you may be fooled into thinking that you should get into melee. It could be considered a "trap", beccause you really don't want to be charging into melee, even though it may seem like you should.

I don't really know if melee is a good idea or not, as I'm not an Admech player. I have been thinking of a few allies though, maybe a load of Kataphrons and servitors in the Vigilus formation, backing up my Guard and giving me some repair HQs.

Exactly. A bonus for getting Skitarii Vanguard into melee is completely unhelpful because they die like flies if they don't stay as far away from melee as their weapon range allows, and thinking "Maybe I should get them in melee and use this Rad Saturation bonus!" is just going to bait you into feeding your opponent dead Skitarii without really doing anything.

In theory you can make it do something for you by tag-teaming Vanguard with Sicarans in Kill-Team, where it probably does the most for you with power-sword Infiltrators against T4 armies (S5 blade Ruststalkers and S6 taser goad Infiltrators don't need the Strength bump), and getting the charge, swinging with the Sicaran first and praying the other guy dies; it's just a really expensive and hard to use to-wound bump. It's a little more valuable in full-size games because the Toughness range you're dealing with is larger, but it's also even harder to actually do as it requires your Vanguard not get shot on the way in and it requires you to get the charge so you can attack with the killy unit first, otherwise the enemy throws a quarter of their melee attacks at your Vanguard and drops them before your scary unit gets to attack.

TL;DR: Rad-Saturation exists, but it's incredibly unreliable, difficult, and inefficient to actually try and leverage it to do something, so you might as well ignore it.

Thanks. I got my options worked out with what I've got. Working on turning some piles of bits into a force. I'm not sure of how long of a time frame I'm looking at for getting anything done but It's not an overwhelming task.

Sorry to Necro this thread, but I'm also starting a Mechanicus Kill Team. Currently, it's just 10 Skitarii rangers.

Is there anything that is a "must have"? I'm trying to limit my purchases; I only want a Kill Team, not an entire Ad Mech army.