Spec Ops Killzone: Scenario II: Sentry Grid

A Sneak peak at another member of my Space Wolf team.

The scenario is still a bit rough, but it's enough done to playtest tomorrow.

Scenario II: Sentry Grid

Enemy incursions have damaged the sentry grid in sector 22. Three of the sentry relays have been damaged from recent activity. Your team has been tasked with repairing the grid before any more enemy move through the sector.

Table set up

Sentry Grid is played on a 4ft by 4ft table; at least 50% of the tabletop should be covered in terrain. It is suggested that half of the terrain be of the ‘area’ or ‘LOS blocking’ variety.

Scenario Special Rules

Operational Sentry Relays have the following profile. They are toughness 8 with 6 wounds, they have an armor save of 2+ and are shielded with a 5+ Invulnerable save. If a Relay has taken 4 wounds the armor save drops to 4+ and its shielding fails, so no longer benefits from an Invulnerable save. When a Relay is reduced to 0 wounds it is considered non-operational.

The player who goes first in this scenario is the Attacker; the player who goes second is the defender.

All attacking Infantry models gain a single Promethium Bomb at no cost; these bombs are used to destroy operational Sentry Relays.

Promethium Bombs must be set by hand when the model is in base contact with a Relay; they are Strength 8, AP2, causing D3+3 wounds and ignore invulnerable saves. It hits automatically in the assault phase, roll for damage.

All defending infantry models may repair any non-operational Sentry Relay that they are in base contact with at the Beginning of any of their turns; as long as they are not locked in combat.

Deployments

Place an objective in the center of the table and one in each quarter of the table; so 5 total objectives. The 4 objectives in the quarters must be placed 8 inches from each corner edge of the table.

Players then roll-off using a d6 and the winner chooses to go first or second. The player that goes second then chooses one of the table halves as his deployment area. His opponent will deploy in the opposite table half.

Before deploying any models roll a D6 to determine which two quarters that the defender must repair the non-operational sentry relays in. These are in addition to the non-operational relay at the table center



On a score of 1-3 it is the left objective in the defenders deployment zone and the objective in the opposite quarter on the right side of the attacker’s deployment zone. On a score of 4-6 it is the right objective in the defenders deployment zone and the objective in the opposite quarter on the left side of the attacker’s deployment zone. The attacker’s initial game objectives are the two Operational Relays.

Now starting with the Attacker both sides deploy their teams. No model may be within 10 inches of one of their team’s initial objectives.

Infiltrating models may deploy anywhere on the table as long as they are a minimum of 10 inches away from an enemy model.

Mission Objectives

The Attackers must destroy all operational Sentry Relays. Both of the Operational Sentry Relays are worth 15 Mission Point each once they have been destroyed.

The Defender must get all Sentry Relays Operational. Each of the Initial 3 non-operational Relays are worth 10 Mission points each once repaired.

Each enemy model killed is worth half its value in Mission Points at the end of the game. However if one side ends the game by having all 5 Sentry Relays either Operational or Non-operational they get full value of killed models in Mission Points.

Ending the Game

The game Ends at the beginning of any turn that all 5 Sentry Relays are either Operational or Non-operational.

Once a team is reduced to 25% (rounding up) of its starting model count, it must take a leadership test at the beginning of each of its turns. If this leadership test is passed, then the team continues to function as normal. If a team fails its leadership test, the team is considered routed, it is removed from play and the game ends.

Note: If you are using two teams in the group, then each group tests for leadership independently. In order for the game to end, both teams in the group must fail their leadership test.

Forge World is gonna make me poor!

I am bouncing the scheduled Scenrio post until this evening this stuff is too great to not post!

The upcoming Marine-centric releases makes me very excited! I will be spending lots on this resin Krak!

First up we are getting Power Armor variant packs. The first official one is the Mk III Iron Armor set.



The we have these sneak peaks from last week. The first is definitely Mk V Heresy armor.




Plus they are making Rogue Trader Space Marine Weapons Variants.




Then we get the Caestus Assault Ram new skimmer for non Blood Angels! Yummy, a Soul Reapers assault skimmer!



I can see all of this great stuff Making it into my Soul Reapers Chaos Space Marines and my Space Wolves.

Question time: how many scenarios?

I was initially planning 5 different scenarios to use in your Spec Ops Killzone missions. Then I was thinking 6 or 8 might be better for variety. I really want to offer maximum variety to the players who are not creating their own campaign setting.

I have got the first scenario up, and have three more written. I need to settle on a number of scenarios to include in the initial release for playtesting.

I am being indecisive and need your help. How many scenarios/missions would you like to see in the initial Killzone Supplement?

I have also decided to hold off on Scenario II: Sentry Grid until tomorrow as there has been little feedback on Scenario I.

Spec Ops Killzone: Scenario I: Encounter

So I got all excited and decided to post the first scenario tonight.

Scenario I: Encounter

After spending the last few months on the front lines, you and your unit have been tasked with patrolling a quiet sector far from the main battle. While you have been given information that the area could possibly be an infiltration point for enemy forces; you are expecting this to be a routine scouting mission. However, it appears that the enemy had the same idea and your forces blunder into each other in the middle of no man’s land.

Table set up

Encounter is played on a 4ft by 4ft table; at least 50% of the tabletop should be covered in terrain. It is suggested that half of the terrain be of the ‘area’ or ‘LOS blocking’ variety.

Scenario Special Rules

All models on both sides are considered to have moved in the first turn of the game. Models belonging to the vanguard section [see deployment] forfeit their movement phase in the first turn.

Models in the rearguard section may choose to move or run in the first turn. Heavy weapons carried by models that are not “Relentless” or “Slow and Purposeful” may not shoot in the first turn.

Deployments

You must divide your group into two halves that are roughly equal; then assign one half to be your vanguard section and one to be the rearguard section.

Divide the table into four quarters.

Players then roll-off using a d6 and the winner chooses to go first or second. The player that goes second then chooses one of the table quarters as his deployment area. His opponent will deploy in the table quarter that is diagonally opposite of his table quarter.

Deploy your vanguard section no closer than 6 inches from the center of the table and no further than 9 inches from the center of the table.

No model in the rearguard section may deploy closer than 6 inches to a model in the vanguard section. If you are using two teams in the group then one group is vanguard and the other is rearguard.

Infiltrating models may deploy anywhere on the table as long as they are a minimum of 10 inches away from an enemy model.

Mission Objectives

Each player places one objective in the table quarter adjacent to your opponent’s deployment zone. It must be placed 8 inches from each edge of the back corner of the table quarter. If you can get at least one of your models to reach the objective you gain 25 Mission Points.

Each enemy model killed is worth half its value in Mission Points at the end of the game. However, if your enemy fails its route test before the beginning of round 5, then every enemy model killed is worth their full value in Mission points

Ending the Game

Once a team is reduced to 25% (rounding up) of its starting model count, it must take a leadership test at the beginning of each of its turns. If this leadership test is passed, then the team continues to function as normal. If a team fails its leadership test, the team is considered routed, it is removed from play and the game ends.

Note: If you are using two teams in the group, then each group tests for leadership independently. In order for the game to end, both teams in the group must fail their leadership test.

Special Operations Killzone: Playing a game

Here are the basics for all Tabletop play. The actual playing a game section is vague as the real meat of gameplay comes from the scenario being used.

Pick a game size:

You should prearrange the size and scope of the game being played. How many Teams are you going to use in your Special Operations Group and what is the point limit?

Random Mission or Campaign game:

Determine which Mission is being played and whether it is going to be a one off game or part of a larger campaign storyline.

Missions can be determined by random dice rolls, using the 'special' mission cards from the final PDF, or by mutual agreement.

Secondary Objectives:

You must decide if you are going to use the secondary objectives in your game.

A the secret objective card is drawn to determine what the bonus mission is for each team in your Spec Ops Group. These cards are kept secret and are only revealed at the end of the game.

Strategy/Wargear cards:

You must decide if you are going to use the Strategy/Wargear bonus cards in your game.

Shuffle the deck then draw a card; the card is kept secret until it is used.

Play the game:

After all the above is worked out play your mission to it's conclusion.

Ending the Game:

Although there will be other things that can trigger a game to end in some of the Scenarios being played. The following will always end the game.

Once a team is reduced to 25% (rounding up) of its starting model count it must take a leadership test at the beginning of each of its turns, if it passes it continues to function as normal. The test is taken on the team leaders LD stat, if he is dead it is on the highest LD left in the team. If the team fails its leadership test the team routes and the game ends.(Even teams comprised completely of Fearless models will route, so must take the break tests when reduced to 25%)

Note: If you are using two teams in the group, then each group tests for leadership independently. In order for the game to end, both teams in the group must fail their leadership test.

Determining a Winner:

Killzone uses what are called Mission Points to determine which side wins. Just forcing your opponent to break and rout off the battlefield does not mean that you won. These can be gained by completing objectives, and killing your opponents models.

Typically a model is worth half its value rounding up in Mission Points. Some scenarios change these parameters and any changes will be outlined in the mission briefing.

Starting tomorrow I will be posting twice a day as I work my way through the Scenarios. The fist post should go up around 9 AM PST and the second around 5 PM PST. Make sure to check them out and give your feedback!

Special Operations Killzone: Skirmish 40: Team Building

Here is the Leader of my Space Wolves Spec Ops Team. I reworked an old Wolf Guard conversion. Expect to see him and the rest of the Team on the Space Wolves blog in the near future.

These are the rules that we have been using to build our Spec Ops Teams. It has been working out really good so far. Later in the week I will give some specifics for the different races in 40k. For example Necrons ignore Phase out in Spec ops games.

Building a list

Both players build a special operations group using the codex for his/her army of choice.

A special operation group contains between one to two special operations teams. The exact number of teams will be determined by the players prior to the game.

Each team has a 175-250 point limit and can contain anywhere between 6 to 18 models in total. Teams purchase individual models from the Elite, Troops, Fast Attack and Heavy Support unit selections in their codex. A little basic math skill will be required to figure out some individual points costs.

For example a Marine Tactical squad sergeants cost is determined by subtracting the cost of the 4 standard marines from the squads base cost. So the cost for the Marine sergeant is 26 points. (90-64=26)

You may only take one squad leader upgrade for each unit choice taken and only after you take one member from the squad entry. You may not take a second squad leader choice for a unit type more than once.

So for example you take one tactical and one assault marine, you could then take an assault sgt and a tactical sgt; once these are chosen you may take no further tactical or assault sgt’s in your team.

A team may contain no more than 4 special ranged weapons upgrades; only two may be a heavy weapon upgrade. (Special Ranged weapons upgrades are the ones that can only be taken in a limited number. Ranged weapons upgrades that all models in a squad may take do not count toward this limit. For example Marine Scouts can upgrade every model to carry a sniper rifle or shotgun; these upgrades are not limited by this rule. Pistol upgrades do not fall under these restrictions.)

No vehicles are allowed with the exception of a single Walker per team and only if they have an armor rating of 33 or less. Armor rating is determined by adding the 3 armor values (FA/SA/RA) for your vehicle together.

A team member may not have more than 3 wounds.

A team may contain no more than two models with 2+ armor saves.

A team may contain no more than two models with 3+ invulnerable saves.

A team may contain no more than two models with Jump Packs.

A team may contain no more than two bike, jetbike or cavalry models.

A team member may not have a toughness statistic greater than five.

The following upgrades are optional, but I would suggest using them as they add tons of flavor and add greatly to the uniqueness of the teams. Also note non of these are set in stone yet as there have not been many playtests with them; there may end up being less or more of them when the project is done.

Some upgrades are listed with two points values, the points are determined according to the base statistic being enhanced. The first value is for any stat that is 3 or less, the second is for stats of 4 or greater. For example lets look at the Targeter it has a 3/5 points value, so a Guardsman with a BS 3 will pay 3 points for the upgrade and a Space Marine will pay 5 points.

Special Issue Wargear Upgrades

One of each of the following options may be taken by each team.

Refractor Field 15 points
A team leader may take a refractor field and gain a 5+ invulnerable save.

Suspensors 15 points
A team member with a Heavy Weapon fitted with suspensors gains the Relentless USR, but may only fire up to half the weapons maximum range if they move. Missile Launchers may not use suspensors.

Medipack 8/10 points
A team member with a medipack gains the feel no pain USR; in addition once per player turn one friendly model within 6 inches may gain a feel no pain roll.

Auspex 10 points
A team member with an Auspex ignores cover saves when shooting or may forfeit it’s own shooting to guide the shots of another team member within 2 inches, in this case the guided model ignores cover saves. The team member may not be carrying a special ranged weapon and have an Auspex.


Any team member may take any of the following upgrades:

Targeter 3/5 points
A team member with a targeter adds +1 to all of it’s shooting to hit rolls if the team member doesn’t move.

Assault Grenades 1 point
Team members armed with assault grenades count as being armed with Frag grenades. These can take many forms depending on your chosen force. We call them Biomass spike projectiles for Tyranids. Models in Terminator armor may not purchase assault grenades.

Close combat accessories 1/4 points
These can take the form of bayonets, knives, short swords and sometimes even sharpened entrenching tools. A team member armed with close combat accessories gains a second attack in the assault phase. They may not be taken by models that already possess 2 close combat weapons.

Specialized Team Member

Up to four members of a team my purchase a single upgrade from the following list. Each upgrade is purchased out of the teams 175-225 point limit and may only be purchased once per team.

Crack Shot 5 points
A team member with this ability may re-roll any failed to hit or to wound rolls. The player must choose which will be re-rolled at the beginning of the shooting phase.

Penetrator Rounds 10 points
A team member armed with Penetrators forces his opponent to re-roll all successful armor saves from shooting attacks made by the model. May not be taken by a team member with a special ranged or heavy weapon

Lightning Reflexes 25 points
A team member with this ability gains a 4+ dodge save from all shooting and close combat attacks. The dodge save is taken before his normal save; the model may use both saves to avoid damage from any attack.

Brawler 3/5 points
A team member with this ability gains +1 to all his to wound rolls in close combat.

Blade Master 6/8 points
A team member with this ability gains +1 attack and all the models attacks become rending. The model may not be armed with a special close combat weapon.

Commando 15 points
Any infantry classed team member may take the Commando upgrade. The model gains the stealth, scout and move through cover USR’s. The model may not have a Jump Pack, Bike, Jetbike, or a 2+ armor save.

Hard to kill 4/6 points
The team member gains the Feel No Pain USR.

Resilient 3/5 points
The team member gains +1 to its toughness.

Feel free to give your thoughts, concerns or suggestions.

Special Operations Killzone: Skirmish 40k: basic rules changes

Here is the first official entry for Spec Ops week here on Galaxy in Flames. These are the standard rules tweaks to the normal 5th edition 40k rules. We have brought back the dreaded Overwatch, in a limited way, so everyone please stay clam until you try it.

Basic rules additions and changes for Special Operations Killzone games

The Turn

Priority: Each player rolls a D6 at the beginning of each turn to see who has Priority for that turn. The winner of the die roll may choose to go first or second in the current game turn. If the die roll is a tie Priority goes to the person who went second in the previous turn.

Movement Phase

Moving in terrain: To simplify things and help keep the game flowing disregard the 5th edition rules for moving through difficult terrain and replace them with the following; any model that wishes to move in difficult terrain moves at a reduced rate of 4 inches.

Running: Disregard the 5th edition rules for running and replace them with the following. Any model may choose to make a run move in its movement phase; the model doubles its movement rate for a run move. A model that runs may not shoot, in addition it may not assault unless it has the Fleet USR.

Shooting Phase

Killzone: Any time a weapon fires more than one shot, the shooting player picks a primary target and may choose to have the hits allocated to other enemy models within its Killzone. All models within 2 inches of the primary target model are in the Killzone and are eligible as secondary targets. The shooting player must announce if he is going to implement a Killzone before any dice are rolled. The first hit is always against the primary target, any subsequent hits are allocated by the owning player to the secondary targets within the Killzone.

Overwatch: Any model that is armed with a weapon that is listed in its type as ‘Heavy’ may choose to go into overwatch in its movement phase; this will be the only action the model may do in its turn. You should mark the model to remind you that it is in “overwatch”. Any enemy model that moves and is visible to a model on overwatch may be shot at. The model on overwatch may make a normal shooting attack with a -1 to all its to hit rolls. Once the model on overwatch has shot remove the marker it my take no further actions this turn.

Grenades: Any model armed with grenades may throw them with a range in inches that is double their strength statistic.

Frag grenades have a small blast template and may be thrown at anything.

Krak grenades may be thrown at Vehicles, Monstrous Creatures and Fortifications, they have no blast.

Grenades that are classified as defensive operate similar to frag grenades; they have a small blast but do not do physical damage, instead any model hit by a thrown defensive grenade may not shoot unless it rolls a 4+ on a D6. This effect last until the defensive grenade players next turn.

In addition to these new rules, all grenades function in assault the exact same way as they do in the normal 5th edition rules.

Assault Phase

Reactive Assault: When a model is assaulted any friendly models withing 3 inches may choose to counter assault to aid their comrade. To do this they must pass a leadership test, if they succeed they charge into combat, They do not gain the +1 attack for assaulting unless they have the Counter Attack USR.

Break Away: Any model locked in combat from a previous turn may attempt to break away from combat at the beginning of its movement phase; if the model passes a leadership test it immediately makes a full move or run away from the combat it was just in. The model may shoot as normal but may not assault this turn. If the test is failed the model loses one of its attacks in this round of combat, if the models attack statistic is reduced to zero it may not strike back in combat.

General Game Changes

3 Wound Models: No model may have more than 3 wounds in Killzone.

Unique Models: Models listed as Unique in their unit composition may not be used.

Team Leader: Pick one model from your team to be the team leader, preferably the model with the highest leadership. All models within 6 inches may test on his leadership. This model gains +1 wound if he only has one in his base stats; if the model has more than one wound already it gains +1 attack instead.

Area Effect: There are many items in 40k that are carried by one model and effect the whole unit that they are part of or attached to. These items don't work properly in Killzone without some tweaking. These items will have an area effect in games of Killzone. Any friendly model within 6 inches of a model carrying one of these items gains the benefits from the item.

No Reserves: All of the models in your team must be deployed on the table at the start of the game. This means no model may teleport, deepstrike or be left off the tabletop, unless the scenario specifically allows it.

We have run these rules through six games and it was awesome, the changes really give that skirmish game feel to 40k. Both armies used were almost identical Imperial Guard including a Sentinel; we did this so that the forces would be more or less equal, giving us a good idea about the balance of what we have added here. My team included many of the Last Chancers, that's why I picked the photo. We plan on running some more games on Tuesday night.

One last thing you may notice is that we changed the name, replacing Battles with Killzone, at the behest of my buddy Joe who is deployed in Afghanistan. He thinks adding Killzone to the title makes it sound more Spec Ops. So I said what the Hell.

Special Operations Battles: the ideas

I have decided to create a new set of house rules for skirmishes in 40k rather than going through the headache of melding two incompatible versions of Kill Team together.

Special Operations Battles will be a set of fan created rules for running skirmish games within the Warhammer 40,000 universe. (These rules will be very similar in nature to the original Kill Team rules from fourth edition.)

The rules when finished will be as extensive and as mutable as anyone wants to make them. There will be basic and optional advanced rules to use in your battles.

Special rules will include a rule similar to every man for himself, as that makes for great skirmish gaming. The following three rules will make the cut with only the first guaranteed to be a Basic special rule.

Team Leader: Pick one model from your army to be the team leader, preferably an appropriate model; if available a squad leader would be perfect. This model gains +1 wound and all models within 12 inches may test on his leadership.

Grenades: Any model armed with grenades may throw them with a range in inches that is double their strength statistic. Frag grenades have a small blast template and may be thrown at anything. Krak grenades and Melta Bombs may be thrown at vehicles and fortifications, they have no blast.

Priority: Each player rolls a D6 at the beginning of each turn to see who goes first for that turn.

Players will pit their Special Operations Groups (SOG) against one another as they attempt to complete missions vital to overall victory, in a way that you just could not replicate in a normal game of 40K. The members of these groups are the unsung heroes of every war.

Playing a Special Operations Battle

There will be two ways to play a special operations battle game.

The first is in a narrative campaign setting, with predetermined missions and objectives driving the games along the course of the story.

The second is through the use of random missions and objectives, which will create a story of its own as you play the game. The Missions and objectives will be chosen by using two specially crafted decks of mission and objective cards.

Building a list

Both players build a special operations group using the codex for his/her army of choice.

A special operation group contains between one to two special operations teams. The exact number of teams will be determined by the players prior to the game.

Each team has a 175-225 point limit and can contain anywhere between 5 to 15 models in total. Teams purchase individual models from the Elite, Troops, Fast Attack and Heavy Support unit selections in their codex. A little basic math skill will be required to figure out some individual points costs.

For example a Marine Tactical squad sergeants cost is determined by subtracting the cost of the 4 standard marines from the squads base cost. So the cost for the Marine sergeant is 26 points. (90-64=26)

A team may contain no more than 4 ranged weapons upgrades; only two may be a heavy weapon upgrade.

No vehicles are allowed with the exception of Walkers and only if they have an armor rating of 33 or less. Armor rating is determined by adding the 3 armor values (FA/SA/RA) for your vehicle together.

A team may contain no more than two 2+ armor saves and/or two 3+ invulnerable saves.

No more than two bike, jetbike or cavalry models may be included in a team.

No model may have a toughness statistic greater the five.

There will also be purchasable "Team Member Upgrades", that up to four members of a team may purchase a single upgrade.. Each upgrade is purchased out of the teams 175-225 point limit and may only be purchased once per team.

So these are the unrefined rough ideas, that I have as it stands now. I figure that giving the team some structure during the building phase is a good thing. Allowing Jetbikes was purely for any Necron players out there, in the spirit of fairness I allowed for regular bikes as well.

Next week will be Special Operations week here on Galaxy in Flames as I outline the idea adding more of the meat and potatoes for the project.

More on Kill team: looking at the original version

This post was spawned from the responses of my Previous post Horde Armies and their effect on kill team. I understand some will not agree with my assessment and that is cool too, but I am trying to explain why I feel the way I do.

While I agree that it is epic to have marines facing a horde and overcoming the odds, which is great from a story perspective. The Mechanics of the Battle missions version of Kill Team will make this nigh impossible.

As I said previously the horde teams don’t break the game but they certainly skew it. Horde teams also get the advantage of an extremely high break point.

The bottom line is that I am not found of the idea of a horde kill team; it has to do with expectations and past experiences.

Let’s take a look at the original 4th ed kill team rules.

Kill Teams were only allotted 160 points to build upon
Kill team members were chosen individually not as squad choices.
Kill Teams were a single unit that had to maintain coherency.
Kill teams could not have more than 12 models total
Kill teams could not contain vehicles or multi-wound models
No 2+ saves
Only one model may have a heavy or template weapon
No weapons over strength 7 or with more than two shots a turn. (I totally forgot about the 2 shots rule)

The enemy was not a kill team but too the form of a certain number of 3 man Brute squads; with the most numerous being the IG with 10 three man brute squads.

There were six different mission types and objectives, plus a veritable ton of purchasable special rules.

So that was how the original Kill team was done.

Now we have the Battle Missions “all bets are off” version kill team. While I like the every man fore himself rule, the increased points, the lightened restrictions in team building and the USR specialists.

Things I am not fond of:

The “bottle test” mechanic if you are under half strength, especially if horde teams are allowed.

I dislike that the teams are purchased as squad selections, not individual models.

The only mission presented is a kill your opponent no objective format.

Final thoughts:

The more I look at the two versions of Kill Team; I am starting to think I am going to need to combine and run a modified version of both, only picking the best parts. The 4th ed version has character, the Battle missions one is a soulless slug fest.

On Friday I will look to tackle this problem head on.

Horde Armies and their effect on Kill Team

While horde type armies are legal forces in kill team, I think it goes against the spirit of what a Kill Team game is meant to be. In my eyes, Kill Teams are all about an elite type force (not necessarily elite FO selections) sent on some important secret mission, slipping through the enemy lines to accomplish their goals. I totally see this type of game being completely themed and story driven.

We had two horde examples brought to us yesterday, of themed horde style Kill Teams by Sons of Taurus and Da Masta Cheef.

28 Kroot with bells and whistles and 20 Penal Legion backed up by a Sentinel. I could totally see both these units sent on a special mission.

Oddly I have never seen the situation come up where someone wanted to run a horde team as my gaming group thinks the same way I do. So since it has been brought up I have taken a few hours to think about it and here are my thoughts.

The real problem with Hordes and Kill Team is that because of the Every Man for Himself (EMfH) rule these types of forces unbalance the game if they come up against a non horde team.

Now before anyone overreacts, I am not saying they break the game or that a well played Marine list with 6-10 models played well couldn’t beat them.

Now I realize that the Horde teams are generally squishy (have low armor saves) so they tend to die in droves, but with the EMfH rule being in effect, benefits the Horde team greatly. This combined with the cover saves (which will be abundantly available in KT) completely vaporizes the actual killing power of all shooting in Kill Team games. Which as a side effect makes the horde army even stronger, more shots = more save attempts. That’s not even taking into account weight of numbers in the assault phase.

This is something I had never considered before in Kill Team. I think I found the inherent flaw in the system here. I’m not quite sure how I am going to balance the shooting back out, but I will post up a few ideas for house rules tomorrow.

I know that some will not agree with my assessment, which is fine. All I ask is to please keep you comments constructive.

Kill Team list ideas

A word of advice about building a Kill Team, your team needs as much killyness as possible, so there is no reason to take most troops choices unless you really want to. Kill Teams are elite units (not necessarily elite FO choices) sent on a special missions, with this in mind, make sure that you focus on the elite feel that the team should have.

Take units that have maximum access to special and heavy weaponry.

Here are a few Teams that I have used in the past:

Imperial Guard

10 Veterans
Sgt with bolt pistol and power weapon - Fearless
1 Sniper rifle - Relentless
1 Heavy Flamer
1 Plasma gun -Feel No Pain
Heavy Bolter team
Upgrade the squad to forward sentries (Camo-cloaks and defensive grenades)

1 Sentinel with a Multi-laser

total points 197

That's 10 dudes and a Walker!


Chaos Marine Kill Team 1

7 Chosen Marines
2 Melta guns
Champ with Power weapon - Furious Charge
Autocannon - Relentless
Flamer - Move Through Cover
2 standard Chosen

total points 196

That's also seven infiltrating models.

Chaos Marine Kill Team 2

5 Chaos Terminators
1 Reaper Autocannon - Feel no Pain
1 Combi-flamer
1 Combi-melta - Furious Charge
1 Combi-plasma
1 TL bolter and Powerfist - Preferred Enemy

total points 200

Space Marine Kill Team

6 Sternguard

Sgt with lightning claw - Feel No Pain or Furious Charge
1 Heavy Flamer - Infiltrate
1 Heavy Bolter -Relentless
2 Combi-melta
1 Combi-flamer

total points 195

Lots of killyness in there!

Space Wolf Kill Team (I have not used this one yet, but am dieing to try it out!)

6 Wolf Scouts
1 Plasma Pistol - Feel No Pain
1 Melta Gun
1 Mark of the Wulfen - Furious Charge
1 Sniper Rifle

1 Thunder Wolf with Power weapon - Stealth

Total points 198

6 infiltrating, scouting moving through cover dudes plus the Killyness of a stealthy Thunderwolf, what's not to love!

The possibilities are endless, but the best kill teams use the elite units from each dex. IMHO

PS: I will get the combat patrol rules up later this week as I am feeling a bit under the weather.

Kill Team games and why they are perfect for house rules

As every Warhammer 40k player knows Kill Team is the only skirmish version of 40k we currently have. There have been plenty of posts about it recently in the 40k Bloggosphere. Magilla Gurilla and Snake Eyes from Tabletop War are gearing up for Kill Teams to help motivate them to paint! Then the man, myth and someone who inspires me greatly B.smoove from A Gentleman’s Ones has been sharing his painting and house rules for Kill Teams with us!

First thing to mention is that Kill Team is a great way to get a few games in when you have not got a lot of time.

The current Kill Team rules are found in the Battle Missions book. It is meant for specialized forces to be sneaking around the tabletop completing certain objectives. Each player builds a 200 point Kill Team from their codex, with the following restrictions:

Elite 0-1
Troops 0-2
Fast Attack 0-1

There are a few special rules:

No Reserves: all models including Chaos daemons must be deployed on the table.

Every Man for Himself: Each model in you army acts as a unit of one, so totally independent from the squad that was purchased.

Specialists: This is an optional rule, but it allows you to give three models in your army a Universal Special Rule from the MRB. Each USR may only be used once per kill team.

So that is the general gist of the “Official” Kill Team rules.

With that out of the way, I think Kill team is the perfect vehicle for Story driven play and creating unique flavorful house rules.

Here are a few House Rules that my group has used in the past.

Grenades: Any model armed with grenades may throw them with a range in inches that is double their strength statistic. Frag grenades have a small blast template and may be thrown at anything. Krak grenades and Melta Bombs may be thrown at vehicles and fortifications, they have no blast.

Priority: Each player rolls a D6 at the beginning of each turn to see who goes first for that turn. (This is similar to the LotR SBG)

Rock and Roll: Any model with a Rapid fire weapon that does not move may Rapid fire their weapons out to their weapons maximum range.

Light Armor only: no vehicles are allowed to have an armor rating over 33. Armor rating is determined by adding the 3 armor values (FA/SA/RA) for your vehicle together.

Team Leader: Pick one model from your army to be the team leader, preferably an appropriate model; if available a squad leader would be perfect. This model gains +1 attack and all models within 12 inches may test on his leadership.

We also use these kill team rules for all games less than 500 points. It works fantastic and gives some really flavorful games!

The Choice is yours

In my many years of wargaming I have seen many trends in the way that gamers participate in the hobby. I've been thinking about this a lot since I was on the Gamers Lounge this week so I figured I'd post about it.

For the past ten years I see more and more differences in how gamers do things. There seems to be a few serious divides in the 40k gaming community.

1) When it comes to the Rules: are you regimented by a strict form of officialdom, or are you a free form gamer who is only limited by your imagination?

2) Are you going to lavishly paint your miniatures or are you only gonna build them so you can play the game?

3) Are you going to build a mathematically points efficient list or are you going to build and army based on what miniatures you think are kool?

4) Is the background/fluff important to you in your tabletop experiences, or is it just some silly story line that has no place in the actual game on the tabletop?

There is no right or wrong way of playing Warhammer 40k, there is only the choice in how you are going to participate.

As for my own answers, most of you will already know them.

1) In most situations like 90%, I am all about not limiting myself; the rules to me are only a guideline.

2) I am all about the visual eye candy of any wargame so painting is very important to me.

3) If it looks kool I will probably have it in my army, no matter what the general opinion of a unit it.

4) The background/fluff is the main reason I am still playing 40k, it sure as heck ain’t the rules, that have holes you can drive trucks through.

Now I realize that many gamers are limited in scope and imagination dictated by their own gaming group or club. I am just curious how you feel inside, not counting what is done by your gaming group/club.

So what’s your take, where do you fall?

Soul Reapers Errata 7-15-10 and PDF update

A few things have been brought to my attention from the astute reading of the Playtesters. These were mostly oversights due to having two working docs for the mini-dex.

1) Xusia is wearing Chaos Armor; it was listed correctly in the army list section but not in the Warriors section. Xusia should also be listed as having access to all the Soul Reapers psychic powers.

2) Eris the Seeker is wearing Chaos Armor and is carrying a Chaos Rune Weapon.

3) The Cohort Tactics rule for Eris grants all Biker squads the Scout and Skilled rider USR’s for 10 points. Bike squads with Infernal Assault bikes may not make scout moves, but may still outflank. (Was missing the scout rule)

4) Added the heavy bolter upgrade option for tanks back to page 31. (Was forgotten)

5) Changed the options in the Chaos Speeders entry on page 33 to the following:

Options:

· Replace Heavy Bolter with:

• Heavy Flamer for Free

· One may replace the Heavy Bolter with:

• Multi-melta……………….10pts

· May upgrade to a Tornado pattern:

• Heavy Flamer…………….10pts
• Heavy Bolter………………10pts
• Reaper Autocannon………20pts

6) Titus the Butcher is wearing Chaos Armor

7) The Reaver Marine entry has been changed. The unit no longer comes with Melta bombs as standard wargear, they are now an upgrade option. (this has been suggested over and over again by the playtesters)

I have also updated the PDF to show these fixes. So you can either print the errata out or download the new PDF.

Thank you for your continued support.

Jim

1st Chaos Speeder ready for airbrushing!

Other than filling in the gap at the end of the trophy rack, this speeder is ready for paint.

I will be doing painting for this like the other Soul Reapers vehicles with the airbrush.

I tried not to go overboard with the Chaos bling as this sucka still gots to fly! The air ram tail thingy is not going to be on the other two speeders, they are going to have a proper tail so as to look a little more different from the Imp version.

For those who haven't checked out the Soul Reapers mini-dex, let me explain how the speeders are included in an army.

The Chaos Speeder squadron is only accessible if you are using either of two different special characters. Either of these characters grant access to a single squadron of up to three speeders. These ancient speeders come with drawbacks though, only one may be armed with a Multi-melta, and if they move flat out they may stall out and lose a speeder.

New Chaos Daemon Prince and daemons up for Pre-order

Gw have finally put this bad boy up for Pre-order! Including pics of the sprues, he's got tons of options! I will be using this set to create Vorenus the Raptor and a Generic Greater Daemon. (with the aid of my extensive bitz box for the GD's legs.)




Not shown in the Pre-order on the GW site are the now confirmed plastic Bloodcrushers. Pic pilfered from Adam on the Space Wolves Blog.



These plastics for the Daemons are so nice I may have to start a Daemons army, to compliment the Soul Reapers!

Jim

On the airwaves with Bob and George! Gamers Lounge episode 11

I highly recommend that you check out the latest episode of the Gamers Lounge, there is a great segment on fan made content in 40k. Plus I am on the entire episode, talking about everything from blogging, to hobby and fan created projects.

I really did enjoy recording the show with Bill and Jay, they are great guys giving shout outs to the GW Blogging community one blog at a time!

So go have a listen and let me know what you think, cause I don't think I could listen to myself on a recording.

Gamers Lounge episode 11

Eris the Seeker modeling finished

I have finally fished modeling Eris, it took so long as I just couldn't find a pose that I liked. I really like the cruelly casual pose I finally came up with.

His holster was made as a homage to the original plastic beakie marines from the RTB 001; oh yeah and I needed a left hand holster.

If life slows down enough this week I will be attempting to paint him and finish the Defiler.

I apologize for the lack of posting in the last week. My Mother was back in the hospital for a spell. She is home now and recovering well.

Cheers for now,
Jim