Kill Team got a revamp in the second half of 2021 and from the changes I was hearing, GW got my attention again. I did not have a good go at Kill Team 2018 as the rules just didn’t seem like something I’d like when I demoed it at a Warhammer store and then the terrible demo job I experienced at Gen Con a few months later nailed the coffin tight. But that is all in the past. Let’s see what got me back on the Kill Train.
To sum up, I find that I want simple interactions. One shot, one kill. Kill Team 2018 seemed to want a test step for every moment of the attack, from firing the weapon, to checking to hit, to seeing if the hit penetrated armor, to seeing if that penetrated shot struck anything vital. It became a lot of rolling for rolling’s sake and it sounded like it was taken from 40k in most part. This and I just wasn’t feeling the “game” when I gave it multiple shots so I bailed.
A year later, Warcry came out and it was exactly the level of detail I wanted. The game was fun, it was quick, light and didn’t take itself too seriously. Kill Team 2021 seemed to admit that while 2018 was popular with the 40k crowd, it was not appealing outside of that set like Warcry was. I have zero evidence to back it up but it is the feeling I get. KT 2021 took the necessary step (for me) to divorce itself from the source game and become its own beast.
The main highlights for me from the hype and marketing pieces were:
- Warcry-like attack and damage system (one roll to attack, one roll to defend = results)
- Alternating activations. Again, like Warcry (and a lot of skirmish games). The meat of the game is in the ebb and flow of alternating figures like a chess match. Punch and counter-punch.
- Figure individuality. While it might be easy buying a 40k unit box and making up ten samey figures, KT 2021 pushes into individual specialists and provides new sculpts for each, helping to identify them and make each figure unique.
- Rules unique to the game and not based on 40k. I find that I really don’t care for the 40k rules so this was a great way forward for me.
Kill Team 2021 came out first with Octarius, which featured Orks and Veteran Guardsmen. While GW did a good job with the Orks, I’ve never been too big of a fan of the silly dakka phrases and ork-speak. The Vet Guards looked cool though. The big thing for me was I wanted an excuse to play T’au.
I don’t care if that isn’t in Kill Team, T’au are just cool. I always got suckered into checking out T’au wondering… oh! what is that… It takes me a minute to realize that it is in the land of skulls and money, ie. 40k. GW knew how to get me in as it released its second box set featuring T’au and Sisters of Battle.
Not only did this set give me some little T’au guys to play with but it ditched the silly Ork scenery and gave me the gothic cathedral ruins similar to the 2018 KT box set. That terrain almost had me buying the 2018 set despite the game mechanics. As a bonus, Friend Colton was already running the 40k fools-errand and collecting Sisters of Battle. The set seemed to be made with us in mind. With all that going for it, I bit and picked up the set.
GW being what it is, the risk to not buy was almost greater than sitting on the sidelines. I still hadn’t had a chance to see if it was worth getting into but retail of these sets mean I could risk it sitting on the shelf as I determine whether it was good enough to cut the plastic wrap off or not. These sets usually go out of print as soon as the next wave comes in and I could flip it for very little loss. I actually did this with the Octarius set to get the rulebook and other components.
I finally did get a chance to learn the game locally and what I saw convinced me to open these guys up and set them free. The local demo was adequate. It taught the game and I was able to confirm some rules questions on how to muster a team and other items that I wasn’t totally sure about. However, it was at a game store and I find that very hit or miss. I didn’t actually get the chance to play the game, only watch and be that annoying sideliner constantly asking questions. The timing of arriving at the moment when the tables haven’t been paired off is always rough and I missed my first window. I was there to learn so that wasn’t terrible. Missing the second window because the demoer was bad and just wanted to play the game themselves was annoying enough to make sure I find a different store to play at.
Colton took pity on my lack of game experience and we tried Kill Team on Tabletop Simulator. Unfortunately, our connection was terrible with both audio trouble and TTS booting us as well. Despite all of this, I am excited to get into the game. I look forward to little T’au-ians shooting big hulking power armor dudes off the table and scurrying around trying to avoid touching people while still accomplishing objectives.
I’ve since watched more games on Youtube and feel like I’m getting a good understanding of the game. Nothing I’ve seen has sent me running and I’m more and more intrigued. The game is definitely more complex than Warcry but not in a bad way. Complexity is never bad if it is done simply and with brevity. Infinity’s N3 edition had almost 30 different hacking programs in the game, most of which were duplicates with slightly better bonuses in one edge case over another. In a system that uses d20s to resolve these rolls, that was just complexity for complexity’s sake. Infinity N4 ditched that and simplified the hacking options to bring the game into a better state. Kill Team seems to add complexity where it is needed and not just to try to simulate some real-world effect. I’m only at the beginning so I’m sure I’m missing things but I’m definitely getting the excited vibes the more I dig in, much like I got with Warcry.
I spent the weekend working up my T’au team. Since Colton and I both went in on the set, we swapped out our counterpart sprues to give us double the sprues to work with coming up with our teams. Turns out, that is all T’au needs and after a grueling 10 hours putting these guys together, I have a complete team.
What is interesting is, this is complete. I have one of each specialist and one of each gun option and drone. Since I can only ever deploy one of each specialist (ok, 2 weapon experts in two gun variations) and one of each drone… I don’t need any more figures for the Pathfinder Kill Team squad. This seems like a mistake, like I’m doing it wrong. This is GW right? I should need two, three, or four more of these sprues to make every conceivable combination, right? But nope. 20 models and done.
Until Kill Team releases some kind of update that adds commanders or some additional units to my force, T’au Pathfinders are complete as is. This is oddly satisfying to know that after I get these suckers painted, I can just throw down on Kill Team anytime I want and have no need to chase another figure. Which is also a relief. I don’t know if that is typical of 40k models but eesh. 10 hours for these little guys was a slog. I’m used to Age of Sigmar or Warcy models needing much less time. But they are all done. Time to paint. And I have no idea what color scheme to choose. Problems for another day.
