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Finally assembled my first Gallowdark terrain set last Sunday, and we had our first Season 2 game yesterday.

We played "3.1 - Service Tunnels" from the Soulshackle book. My Veteran Guardsmen against my mate's Compendium Orks.

It was an exciting game, in the end I lost by one VP (my opponent scored his second VP from Rob & Ransack).

Watching batreps of earlier Season 2 games, I always felt like positioning was too "punishing". One mistake in operative placement could mean you locked yourself out from assisting squadmates on another area of the map, and would be too far to help out your squadmates on time. So, when the breachable walls were shown during Soulshackles reveal event, I was very pleased; perhaps the breachable walls would even out things.. Which they kind of did and didn't, since they also introduced the 4 door jammers..

I did enjoy my first game of Season 2, but had the feeling that I might quickly become bored with S2. Why? Because the game started feeling less like KT21 to me. On Season 2, terrain is almost exclusively obscuring or nonexistent. The strict avenues of attack and static chockepoints make blast/torrent weapons much more effective than on S1, where operatives are typically more spread out. I even managed to hit 5 or 6 models with a Strafing Run asset, unthinkable in S1! I had a hard time finding much reason to ever use Concealed orders during the game. Just feels totally different playing in closed confines somehow. I don't recall feeling such a big difference in KT18 regarding this, Necron tomb missions felt more or less the same as playing on a trad 40K board. This difference is much more pronounced in KT21.

What are your thoughts and experiences regarding this? Have you played a lot of KT21S2? Do you agree/disagree with my experiences?

Looking at batreps from CanYouRollACrit, he is only using the new teams from Season 2 but never plays IttD missions. Is this because he is also bored with them already? Is S2 changing things too much for KT21?

bump

Seriously, I can't be the only KillTeam player on this board who's invested into S2?

I haven't managed to get a single seaon 2 game in, though club members have almost painted a set of terrain to have a go with. Personally I think it looks great and tournies should run with at least 1 ITD mission to force people to think more.

The_Real_Chris wrote:
I haven't managed to get a single seaon 2 game in, though club members have almost painted a set of terrain to have a go with. Personally I think it looks great and tournies should run with at least 1 ITD mission to force people to think more.

I'm nowhere near getting my set painted, only just built my first box and I still have another box to build. What is preventing me from starting painting is the fact that these AoO sets basically only have 2 unique sprues duplicated a bunch of times, making the end result look too uniform and copy/pastey without further modelling work. I intend to add battle damage and some extra details to some of the pieces in order to make the set look more varied, so that ideally no piece will look 100% identical with another piece. I got this same "problem" with my Realm Of Battle sets, they too will need a ton of extra modelling work before painting.. I need to retire from work ASAP

ITD missions are really different from "open world" missions, and require different loadouts/operatives for optimum performance. Would certainly make tourneys challenging if the two mission styles were mixed within a single tournament. Your roster would need even more flexibility!

I've been pondering on our first game some more. Neither of us really leaned into the ITD playstyle, where you probably want to use your own models as "meat shields" to make up for the lack of light terrain. What I mean by this is that with close confines rules in effect, you can have an operative set on engage in front of an operative set on conceal, making the guy in front effectively act as "portable cover".. Of course this means your cover can be eliminated.. which is probably why we have all these models with shields now. The new Arbites team is probably the most interesting one in this regard, as it allows you to field a total of 5 operatives with combat shields.. half-n-half.. This is actually the build I intend on making myself.

 tauist wrote:
bump

Seriously, I can't be the only KillTeam player on this board who's invested into S2?

You aren't, I've got all the three boxes of it as well, it's just that it'll probably take me well into the summer to get working on the terrain precisely due to the reasons you mention as well. Got to personalize everything, even if it means I'm old and dead before all of this stuff actually gets done

Regarding the OP and close confines changing the game... well, yeah? Different environments create different tactical challenges. Count me among those who absolutely love games that allow you to shoot yourself in the knee with bad positioning. If the claustrophobic tunnel rat situation leads to chokepoints and pressure weapons working as intended, great. Admittedly I have a bias towards bunker assaults and tunnel fighting aesthetics, but still. As for the terrain variety, just add more until it feels right for your group? Piles of rubble, storage crates, boxes, trash bags, crew bunks, vending machines thrown on their side, fallen cabling, all that good stuff. KT plays and looks better with plenty of fun terrain on the field anyway, in my opinion.

 Sherrypie wrote:

 tauist wrote:
bump

Seriously, I can't be the only KillTeam player on this board who's invested into S2?

You aren't, I've got all the three boxes of it as well, it's just that it'll probably take me well into the summer to get working on the terrain precisely due to the reasons you mention as well. Got to personalize everything, even if it means I'm old and dead before all of this stuff actually gets done

Regarding the OP and close confines changing the game... well, yeah? Different environments create different tactical challenges. Count me among those who absolutely love games that allow you to shoot yourself in the knee with bad positioning. If the claustrophobic tunnel rat situation leads to chokepoints and pressure weapons working as intended, great. Admittedly I have a bias towards bunker assaults and tunnel fighting aesthetics, but still. As for the terrain variety, just add more until it feels right for your group? Piles of rubble, storage crates, boxes, trash bags, crew bunks, vending machines thrown on their side, fallen cabling, all that good stuff. KT plays and looks better with plenty of fun terrain on the field anyway, in my opinion.

Yeah, maybe we should try adding more scatter terrrain for the next game. Wanted the first game to be as-is, straight from the book, in order to get a feel for how S2 games are meant to be played. Thinking we should probably play a couple more games before adding any extras, just to see how getting familiar with the playstyle will affect the flow of the game? I also want to try playing with at least one ITD-optimized team, Navy Breachers maybe, as they have only one shield operative instead of the potential 5 Arbites get access to. Won't get totally ridiculous against a team with 0 shield operatives.

I got the Shadowvaults book and will get the extra terrain for it soon enough. A custom mission with extra terrain from all 3 boxes could turn out interesting.. I also like the idea of a two-part mission with one part playing in ITD and another in "open world", like a bunker assault or something, bucketloads of narrative potential in combining both seasons!

I think there are some interesting design choices in the ItD sparseness as is, too. There are a lot of corners to take cover behind at the risk of advancing too conservatively and conversely there is the Guard action when you need to step forwards and actively deny easy access for the other guy. Meat-shields that tank for your other guys behind them also become an interesting part of your tactics. Breachers aren't a particularly strong team, but have funky tools for their environment.

Also yeah, mixing scenarios between open and close confines is probably the fairest way to keep optimization at bay while offering a wide variety of narrative fun. Attacking into a more open generator hall from cramped corridors is an evergreen classic before even stepping out of the spacecraft context.

 Sherrypie wrote:
I think there are some interesting design choices in the ItD sparseness as is, too. There are a lot of corners to take cover behind at the risk of advancing too conservatively and conversely there is the Guard action when you need to step forwards and actively deny easy access for the other guy. Meat-shields that tank for your other guys behind them also become an interesting part of your tactics. Breachers aren't a particularly strong team, but have funky tools for their environment.

Also yeah, mixing scenarios between open and close confines is probably the fairest way to keep optimization at bay while offering a wide variety of narrative fun. Attacking into a more open generator hall from cramped corridors is an evergreen classic before even stepping out of the spacecraft context.

There are plenty of corners, but again, with everything divided by doors and enclosed rooms, you really need to be much more "mobile" than you have to with season 1 missions. 4 turning points go by so fast..

I like that idea about moving from a more cramped game into a more open one. I have some Sector mechanicus & Zone Mortalis terrain I could mix for the "generator hall" thing