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Pretty hyped for it. Seems a great way to get small, fast games in without too much hassle. The terrain isn't very fiddly so you can store it easily.

Watched the Tabletop Tactics stream about their impressions and they made some good points.

1. It's likely to stick around. Kill Team is a bespoke ruleset, but Boarding Actions very much feels like the 'intro to 40k' that the game needs to gather new players.
2. You don't need much to play it. Heck, just get a whiteboard and dry erase markers and jot down where the walls are, if you want to go real efficient.
3. Yes, you can use other terrain. While the maps use the Boarding Actions terrain, if you've already got stuff like the Necromunda/Zone Mortalis walls or others, you can use those, or make or 3d print others. All you really need are wall sections and door sections.
4. It feels balanced and fun, without some of the larger issues of larger 40k games, like being blown off the table turn 1 by alpha strike shooting.

It may be slow to catch on while people collect the terrain, but I think as we get the next two kill team boxes out and see more of the rules in the future Arks of Omens books in the future, I think it's got a chance to be very popular, especially in hobby stores or clubs that have limited table space, or for people that don't want to invest in a humongous army in order to play.

drbored wrote:
The terrain isn't very fiddly so you can store it easily.

You sure about that? Ash has made it pretty clear on all his videos on the subject that the terrain is kind of a chore to put together and configure.

As a theme and supported format, damn right. Breaching bunkers, boarding ships and all kinds of other tunnel rat actions are just the best. Looking forwards to playing some of that with occasional non-narrative folks as well.

As a product, not so much. It's not a new thing, that stuff has always been an option and having a seal of officialness isn't a necessity for my gaming. It's not like folks haven't had plenty of ZoMo, 3D Space Hulk or Necromunda terrain before.

Any cool rules for fighting in a vacuum, zero gravity, radiation, you know, that sort of thing? Or is just rules for fighting in these close in corridors?


Bah, I'll probably just buy the space hulk expansion for my Wrath and Glory group.

I like the lore though!

 Tokhuah wrote:
Necron player not interested because of overly restrictive troop choices. I will cannibalize anything that looks interesting from this and implement with OPR.

Warriors, Immortals, Flayed ones, lychguards, deathmarks, hexmarks and Skorpeks isn't a terrible roster. Including the HQs as well. Illumanor would be a pain in the arse as well, those buffs being more important in the close confines.

 Dekskull wrote:
Any cool rules for fighting in a vacuum, zero gravity, radiation, you know, that sort of thing?

Buy the extra books!

C O N T E N T

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

drbored wrote:
The terrain isn't very fiddly so you can store it easily.

You sure about that? Ash has made it pretty clear on all his videos on the subject that the terrain is kind of a chore to put together and configure.

Having put together two sets, I can't say it's perfect.

GW had to consider a few basic things and they put weight on more of those things than others...

A. The terrain has to plug together in a variety of configurations
B. The terrain needs to be sturdy enough to not fall over at a glance
C. The terrain needs openable doors without being flimsy
D. The terrain has to have a way to secure sections in place so it doesn't fall apart mid-battle
E. The terrain parts must be easily identifiable for quick construction of battlefields

So they gave us this. If I were to compare it to the Necromunda/Zone Mortalis terrain, I'd say I actually prefer that old terrain better, but it had flaws too.

The Necromunda terrain didn't lock together, so it was very easy to knock things over, especially if it's on a cardboard game board. The doors were MUCH easier to work with, but the door frames were relatively flimsy and could actually break if mishandled. Stuff could stack, but it was also very fiddly, especially if you included rails, stairs, or other bits.

This is basically the other extreme. In order to facilitate A thru E, they created locking mechanisms that are INCREDIBLY SNUG. If you nudge a piece of this, every piece that is connected is going to be ROCK SOLID, with zero wiggle room. You can open the doors without worrying about things being knocked-over mid-game.

The disadvantage is that things are INCREDIBLY SNUG and can actually hurt your hands in putting together and taking apart. Especially the pillar caps, which can be so snug that trying to pull them off, you can break a nail if you're not careful, and you'll damage the paint if you try to use a tool to pull them apart.

The solution? Sanding. Lots of filing and sanding. Sand the sides of the wall pieces so they fit together better and also cover them in masking tape before you prime/paint the wall sections. You can take a little dremel to the inside of the pillar caps and help loosen them up a little. The walls will wiggle, but they wont fall apart, since the caps will still keep everything together even with more wiggle room.

The doors are also a bit of a miss, as the hinges can come apart with repeated opening/closing of the doors, so you have to sand the rods that are part of the doors down a little bit and may need to also cover them for priming/painting too.

The result is a kit that requires a lot of extra work, like putting together a huge Forgeworld Resin kit levels of work. Is it perfect? No way, far from it.

But the boards look good and with that extra work you can make a product that's decent.

I'd MUCH prefer some sort of lego-system, magnets, or bespoke pieces that don't need to be disassembled, you just put them in key points on the board. But, that's not what we got, so here we are.

 Tokhuah wrote:
Necron player not interested because of overly restrictive troop choices. I will cannibalize anything that looks interesting from this and implement with OPR.

I play a lot of Necrons too and it doesn't look too bad to me since you don't HAVE to take any troops if you don't want to. For example, you could go with something like:

Overlord, Lychguardx 5, Flayed Ones x10, Deathmark x5, Warrior x10. Looks both very flighty and able to hold objectives well. Seems like it would be a good balance of objective holder and fighting units.

Another option for a melee Destroyer Theme: Skorpekh Lord, Skorpek Destroyers x6, Flayed Ones x10, Ophidian Destroyers x3. Very Melee flighty, can even go AoR, or I really think that custom dynasty with Rad-Wreathed is going to be nuts.

You could do warrior heavy if you wanted too, I think it could work like this: Royal Warden, Warriors x30, Flayed Ones x10. Yeah, I also think Flayed ones will be really good in boarding action and fit in most lists.

Personally I like the Canoptek AoR and want to try to make that work like this: Plasmancer with Atomizer Stave (I think this amount of mortals will just be busted), Technomancer with Control Node, Cryptothrall x2, Warriors x20, Scarab Swarm x3. The idea is that you have some warriors to guard the Chronomancer while he tosses out mortals, and the Technomancer tries to deathball with the Scarabs and the Cryptothralls. I'm mostly sad that the Wraiths didn't get an exception when the Ophidians did, because they'd be great in this and feel really thematic.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

drbored wrote:
The terrain isn't very fiddly so you can store it easily.

You sure about that? Ash has made it pretty clear on all his videos on the subject that the terrain is kind of a chore to put together and configure.

As someone who owns both sets, it's not all that bad. Some pieces can stick a little here and there (and I haven't painted them yet so that might make it change a bit) but I've found it pretty easy to put together, take aparat and reconfigure. Yeah it takes a bit of time, but the modularity is fantastic. Personally this is my favourite terrain I've ever gotten from GW.

drbored wrote:
Pretty hyped for it. Seems a great way to get small, fast games in without too much hassle. The terrain isn't very fiddly so you can store it easily.

Watched the Tabletop Tactics stream about their impressions and they made some good points.

1. It's likely to stick around. Kill Team is a bespoke ruleset, but Boarding Actions very much feels like the 'intro to 40k' that the game needs to gather new players.

I'd be very, very sceptical about that. GW has released loads of these alternate game modes in the past and they've almost all been abandoned, or at least completely forgotten about within a year - two at the most.

We had things like jungle fighting rules, city fight, Apocalypse, planetfall (something like that, it was so briefly a thing I can't even remember much about it) and every single one just disappeared. If they really want to make it a 40k intro game they need to make it more accessible with a proper boxed set including the terrain, models and full rules all in one place. I won't be holding my breath.

 jaredb wrote:
I think it's really cool, but there is no way i can justify buying the terrain set.

Its easier to justify the Terrain than it is the books/rules. History tells us the books won't pay for themselves as a new edition drops, the books become worthless, and the new edition either doesn't take them into account, or tries to replace them with a new set of books to buy. At least you can use the terrain in other game modes etc.

Slipspace wrote:


We had things like jungle fighting rules, city fight, Apocalypse, planetfall (something like that, it was so briefly a thing I can't even remember much about it) and every single one just disappeared. If they really want to make it a 40k intro game they need to make it more accessible with a proper boxed set including the terrain, models and full rules all in one place. I won't be holding my breath.

I think GW's big issue with many of those rulesets is that they never kept them updated as new editions rolled around (save perhaps apoc, though that was totally redesigned, so... you could argue both ways.) My point is that I think it would stick around if it gets some kind of real support over time. It's tangential association with Kill Team give me hope that it's more likely to stick around than most, but I would agree that it is far from a sure thing.

It's just the flavour de jour of the current running KT21 Season. Once S3 starts this fall, it will be swiped under the rug in short order. However, I can foresee the terrain kits becoming sought after items once the product goes OOP, so if you see em somewhere on the cheap, maybe grab them now?

I think the Tabletop Tactics comment was comical and was proof of those guys absolutely knowing where their bread is buttered. The massive, massive preponderance of evidence (both in the days of old GDubs and nu) is that the Boarding Actions ruleset will not get long term support. Apoc/KT are not counterexamples to this (same models but different game - plus, GW have in no way supported Apocalypse long-term lol), neither are KT/Necromunda/Bloodbowl (different models, different game).

cody.d. wrote:

 Tokhuah wrote:
Necron player not interested because of overly restrictive troop choices. I will cannibalize anything that looks interesting from this and implement with OPR.

Warriors, Immortals, Flayed ones, lychguards, deathmarks, hexmarks and Skorpeks isn't a terrible roster. Including the HQs as well. Illumanor would be a pain in the arse as well, those buffs being more important in the close confines.

No bugs means no sale for me when I can use the models with OPR rules and configure the same game. Hope others have fun with it.

 Tawnis wrote:

As someone who owns both sets, it's not all that bad. Some pieces can stick a little here and there (and I haven't painted them yet so that might make it change a bit) but I've found it pretty easy to put together, take aparat and reconfigure. Yeah it takes a bit of time, but the modularity is fantastic. Personally this is my favourite terrain I've ever gotten from GW.

Also worth understanding that "Ash" is not at all the type of person willing to put any kind of effort like that into a optimizing a product. His entire approach to building and painting is defined and limited by his requirement to get something good-enough-to-go in the time between he receives the product and the time he's allowed to post a video featuring it. A normal customer who isn't trying to film content in a short window can do more with the product.

 Altruizine wrote:

 Tawnis wrote:

As someone who owns both sets, it's not all that bad. Some pieces can stick a little here and there (and I haven't painted them yet so that might make it change a bit) but I've found it pretty easy to put together, take aparat and reconfigure. Yeah it takes a bit of time, but the modularity is fantastic. Personally this is my favourite terrain I've ever gotten from GW.

Also worth understanding that "Ash" is not at all the type of person willing to put any kind of effort like that into a optimizing a product. His entire approach to building and painting is defined and limited by his requirement to get something good-enough-to-go in the time between he receives the product and the time he's allowed to post a video featuring it. A normal customer who isn't trying to film content in a short window can do more with the product.

"You can invest an exceptional level of effort to fix the design mistakes" is not a compelling sales pitch for a product.

So you leave your mold lines alone and don't drill out your barrels?

Nice to see you back, btw.

 Altruizine wrote:
So you leave your mold lines alone and don't drill out your barrels?

Nice to see you back, btw.

Mold lines and un-drilled barrels are an inevitable result of injection molding technology. It's annoying to deal with but there's nothing the manufacturer can do to eliminate the problem. Screwing up the fit tolerances by making the parts the wrong size is not inevitable, it's a clear error by the part designer.

tneva82 wrote:

 tauist wrote:
I'm kind of thinking this terrain will go OOP after Season 2 for KT21 finishes, so getting two KT21 boxes worth will be in my long term plan no doubt. They're spamming the kit too hard, as if they're sitting on a significant stock of these sprues and just need to flush it all quick, in order to make room for new things

Eh. They made how many they make long time ago. These are cast specfically for these boxes.

Sort of true. But boxes that don't sell will be cannibalized for different kids and boxes. I'm not exactly sure they would have made so many new sets of Reivers given how unpopular they are.

Breton wrote:

tneva82 wrote:

 tauist wrote:
I'm kind of thinking this terrain will go OOP after Season 2 for KT21 finishes, so getting two KT21 boxes worth will be in my long term plan no doubt. They're spamming the kit too hard, as if they're sitting on a significant stock of these sprues and just need to flush it all quick, in order to make room for new things

Eh. They made how many they make long time ago. These are cast specfically for these boxes.

Sort of true. But boxes that don't sell will be cannibalized for different kids and boxes. I'm not exactly sure they would have made so many new sets of Reivers given how unpopular they are.

Apparently they flew off shelves on release, most popular of initial Primaris wave

Breton wrote:

tneva82 wrote:

 tauist wrote:
I'm kind of thinking this terrain will go OOP after Season 2 for KT21 finishes, so getting two KT21 boxes worth will be in my long term plan no doubt. They're spamming the kit too hard, as if they're sitting on a significant stock of these sprues and just need to flush it all quick, in order to make room for new things

Eh. They made how many they make long time ago. These are cast specfically for these boxes.

Sort of true. But boxes that don't sell will be cannibalized for different kids and boxes. I'm not exactly sure they would have made so many new sets of Reivers given how unpopular they are.

Thats not at all how that works. The labor involved with "cannibalizing" unsold stock into new bundles like that is excessive and prone to all sorts of potential quality issues, it wouldn't be financially worthwhile for GW to do it that way and they would probably lose money on it rather than make money. GW also doesn't really warehouse unsold product like that. They produce what they produce and send it out to distribution at independent retailers, distributors, and their own shops. They don't warehouse unsold inventory at the factory, that all goes to their e-com warehouse which is just a big shipping center, they don't have product assemblers and production staff there to repackage products for them.

Breton wrote:

tneva82 wrote:

 tauist wrote:
I'm kind of thinking this terrain will go OOP after Season 2 for KT21 finishes, so getting two KT21 boxes worth will be in my long term plan no doubt. They're spamming the kit too hard, as if they're sitting on a significant stock of these sprues and just need to flush it all quick, in order to make room for new things

Eh. They made how many they make long time ago. These are cast specfically for these boxes.

Sort of true. But boxes that don't sell will be cannibalized for different kids and boxes. I'm not exactly sure they would have made so many new sets of Reivers given how unpopular they are.

Ah yes that urban myth again...

Why people keep repeating that myth...

Nope. Flat out no.

no, this is just basically just an expansion of the current KT season.

i'm not against playing smaller games but since it seems most people choose to play 2k point games, and most dont seem interested in smaller games i doubt many will be interested in this.

chaos0xomega wrote:

Breton wrote:

tneva82 wrote:

 tauist wrote:
I'm kind of thinking this terrain will go OOP after Season 2 for KT21 finishes, so getting two KT21 boxes worth will be in my long term plan no doubt. They're spamming the kit too hard, as if they're sitting on a significant stock of these sprues and just need to flush it all quick, in order to make room for new things

Eh. They made how many they make long time ago. These are cast specfically for these boxes.

Sort of true. But boxes that don't sell will be cannibalized for different kids and boxes. I'm not exactly sure they would have made so many new sets of Reivers given how unpopular they are.

Thats not at all how that works. The labor involved with "cannibalizing" unsold stock into new bundles like that is excessive and prone to all sorts of potential quality issues, it wouldn't be financially worthwhile for GW to do it that way and they would probably lose money on it rather than make money. GW also doesn't really warehouse unsold product like that. They produce what they produce and send it out to distribution at independent retailers, distributors, and their own shops. They don't warehouse unsold inventory at the factory, that all goes to their e-com warehouse which is just a big shipping center, they don't have product assemblers and production staff there to repackage products for them.

Then how do they get the new Instruction/datasheet into the box so fast?

Why do the GW locations pack up and ship boxes of stuff back to GW every so often?

It may not extend to the independent retailers but GW does refresh their own store shelves. They don't throw that stuff away when it gets shipped back.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And to get back on topic - It just occured to me - after seeing that "Break immersion" thread that's an issue I've got with Arks of Omen too. Sure not all Arks Of Omen will be built on Heresy Era SM Legion craft, but even the transports and supply ships would have large corridors and rooms for moving pallets of supplies and such. The ones built on Heresy Era Battle Barges and such would have been built with Dreadnaughts and Thunderhawk Landing Bays and such in mind. Yet all of the corridors and rooms are pretty much too small for even a 10 man Marine squad. You see any rooms big enough to be a martial training center for Marines in their downtime? Or to pit two slaves against each other while a bunch of marines gather round and cheer/bet?

It builds like legos, surely the map layouts being the way they are is the handiwork of the mission designers? As an example, the recent WH+ batrep with Goff rocker vs Noise Marine, that board had a large open area as "the stage" - nothing prevents such layouts

 tauist wrote:
It builds like legos, surely the map layouts being the way they are is the handiwork of the mission designers? As an example, the recent WH+ batrep with Goff rocker vs Noise Marine, that board had a large open area as "the stage" - nothing prevents such layouts

GW makes the boards. And the rules themselves prevent things like Dreads on a spaceship filled with Space Marines. That's the immersion breaker.

GW has a combo box of the terrain and rules up. The GW description says:

Boarding Actions Terrain Set - a battlefield in a box, including two double-sided gaming boards depicting the interior deck of a space craft, plus a massive 68 pieces of modular spaceship themed terrain. These include loads of detailed walls, bulkheads and hatches, with pillars to tie them all together. This terrain is fully compatible with the pieces found in the Kill Team: Into the Dark and Kill Team: Shadowvaults boxed sets.

Does that mean "It's the same terrain sprues"? I'm just trying to see if there's anything new in the box...

from what I gathered its the same sprues that were found in the previous boxes. As I have 3 copies of Into the Dark and 2 copies of Shadowvaults... I think I'm good to go.

There's nothing new in the box. You don't even get any of the accessory sprues; it's just walls and hatches.

So essentially they're saying a kit is fully compatible with itself?! The intercessors in the battleforce are fully compatible with the intercessor box! Whoo!