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The Kill Team Starter Box – Is This The Best Hobby Advert In Years?

Posted by johnnya10 on 22/01/2022
Posted in: Product Reviews. Tagged: . Leave a comment

In today’s article, we’re going to be looking at the brand new Kill Team Starter Set box – the slimmed down version of Kill Team: Octarius – that Games Workshop were kind enough to send over to me for review, and it reminded me of something rather special. And if I’m right, it could be the best advert for the hobby since the 1990s. Let’s discuss.

kill team starter set 2022

Now, that might be a bit of a bold call, but I genuinely think there’s something about this box that could encourage a lot of people to join the hobby. For a start, just look at that box art. That is human soldiers fighting monsters in a very cinematic way. The font is all militaristic, the colours are bright and bold, and it has that ever wonderful name “Warhammer” in the title there. Were I a 9 year old boy again, I’d see that and just think “Wow. I want that” and a lot of credit has to go to the people who laid out that box cover.

Back when I was a 9 year old boy (and this is going to show my age a bit), Christmas wish-listing involved looking through big catalogues that were delivered to our house. I’d flick through the back section where all the kids toys were, and between the Sega Game Gears, Thundercat Playsets, and Lego Pirate stuff, I would see this:

very low res 2nd ed 40k

Now, you might be about to criticise me for the resolution of image I’ve used there, but I’ve done that for a very good reason – that was often what you saw in the catalogue. I didn’t know what it was, but it had loads of toy soldiers, terrain, amazing pictures and bright colours – and loads of cardboard explosions too! For me, it would be a boxed set that would kick off a lifetime obsession, but that was back in the very early 1990s. I genuinely think that this Kill Team box could well perform a similar function in the early 2020s. And boy am I feeling old right now.

The Octarius box that came out recently is big and overwhelming – it’s a hefty hit of the hobby drug that we who are already all in on the plastic crack wagon, love to devour. But it’s hefty and pricy and it requires a fair bit of pre-existing knowledge to be truly exciting. This box is slimmer, and lighter. You don’t feel too precious about the cover of the box because it’s not quite as shiny. This isn’t something to be savoured by well-worn hobbyists, but instead it’s a shiny lure to fresher eyes. This is the box you should put into catalogues today, not that those are really a thing anymore (thanks, internet).

kill team starter box sprues

I spoke about this recently too – have the plastic as the first thing people see when they open the box. It’s the most exciting bit of the product, and I’m glad GW are continuing to do this after those years of extra boxes and cardboard inserts. Get to the good stuff early.

You get a little less terrain in this box, but in terms of actual minis, you still have the Orks and the Guardsmen and they continue to look amazing. These miniatures are some of the best examples of the sculpting craft and they’ll appeal to those new hobbyists who like to play as humans (because they can imagine themselves fighting monsters in the future) and those who like to be aliens (because they like new and interesting things). And the humour of the Orks in particular is a real win in this box – definitely better than 40 monopose boys and gretchin and a cardboard dreadnought for sure! Furthermore, the small numbers of miniatures involved in Kill Team are a lot less intimidating than the vast armies needed to play big 40k.

kill team starter set rules and dice

This makes me very happy too. Once you get past the sprues and a single cardboard insert, this is all that’s left, and while we seasoned gamers demand vast quantities of bits, bells and whistles, if you’re coming into this as a newbie, it’s nicer to have a small set of rules and the basics to get you going. This looks genuinely friendly and hopefully the rules are easy enough for new players to digest. I remain unconvinced about the whole “move two triangles and a hexagon” when you could just say however many inches it is, but that’s a minor gripe really.

But I’m serious about how appealing I think this box will be to new players. It’s a great gateway option, and while of course there are starter sets available for 40k and AoS, I think this Kill Team box presents a better option. The rules are simpler, the models represent complete units, and those colours and that artwork – I really think GW are onto a winner here. Especially if they can get into toy stores and, well, whatever pass for catalogues now in the 2020s. This box gets two thumbs up from me, and I hope it brings lots of new blood into the hobby. Onwards!

Quick and Easy Death Korps of Krieg

Posted by johnnya10 on 09/08/2021
Posted in: Tutorials, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have seen the brand new Death Korps of Krieg miniatures from the upcoming Kill Team release. I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of the new Kill Team box and while a full review will come at some point, it’s important to acknowledge that the miniatures inside got me painting again. The Death Korps have always been a favourite of mine since I first read about them in Warriors of Ultramar many moons ago. I never got round to painting any, but with this box, I was determined to give them a go. What’s more, I wanted to come up with an easy and quick scheme to help you paint yours.

Before we dive in, I just want to say that the miniatures and scenery are worth buying this box for alone. Even if the game’s a lot of fun, the minis are fantastic. You get loads of options with the Death Korps and my bits box has swelled with spares after this, but the level of detail is exceptional. I would caution you that they could be very fiddly, but they don’t need to be – you get needle thin bayonets and a tiny rack of medals, but you don’t need to include those if you don’t want to. Can’t wait to see what can be done with the orks!

On to the tutorial. Like I said, this is meant to be quick and simple scheme but we want them to look decent too. And there is that odd thing about the Death Korps that they draw us to paint them like they’ve been transplanted from the early 20th century and placed in the 41st Millennium. My advice is to just lean into that because it’s pretty hard to do otherwise – why fight it, but maybe use the good guys as your source of inspiration.

Green Coat

We’re starting with the green coat here. When trying to do something quickly and simply, working from larger areas to smaller areas helps a lot, and this is quite fun because you don’t need to worry too much about staying within the lines. I didn’t. But I did use a couple of thin coats of Waaagh! Flesh to get a solid green base all over the coat. I then used Militarum Green contrast paint to cover the whole thing. Once that was dry, I took very, very thin (like super watery) Straken Green to highlight the higher areas. And that’s that done. Pretty simple so far, right?

Green Trousers

Super easy this, but you do have to be neater with this step. Just paint the trousers. A couple of thin coats of Straken green were applied, then covered with Athonian Camoshade. Once that shade paint was dry, I touched up the higher areas with Straken Green and then used a blend of Straken Green with a little Flash Gitz Yellow in it to hit the very highest areas with a spot highlight. Why use yellow instead of white to lighten the green? It just looks a bit more military-y to me and white in green invariable ends up looking like a type of toothpaste.

The Leathers

Next up, the leather areas. There’s a lot of them, with pouches, coat flaps, boots, belts… so be sure to hit them all. Base with a couple of thin coats of Rhinox Hide, then drybrush lightly with XV88 before covering them with an undiluted wash of Seraphim Sepia. And you’re done.

The Metals

Ok, this isn’t super quick and simple but once you get into the swing of things, it gets a lot easier. Base coat everything with Leadbelcher. Then you’re going to want to do a sort of TMM thing here but in a kind of quick and slightly sloppy way. Rather than explain that, I’m just going to link to this video from Ben Komets and Painting Buddha that shows you far better than I how to do it but you do not need to be anywhere near as neat as a Slayer Sword winner. The paints I used to help me were Iron Warriors, an Iron Warriors/Abaddon Black 50/50 mix, and then an Abaddon Black pinwash followed by a highlight of Ironbreaker.

Next, I covered most areas with a 50/50 mix of Skeleton Horde and Contrast Medium to make it look grimy. But a few areas (buttons, aquilas, etc) I used some Nazdreg Yellow straight out of the pot. And that’s all the metallics.

death korps of krieg

Finishing Up

Yep, we’re nearly done. There’s a few little bits to do and then the basing. Paint the gas mask tube black and give it some grey highlights. Paint the eye lenses black and then cover them in Ardcoat. The wooden stock on the gun is Rhinox Hide with streaks of some other browns and beiges (your choice) covered in a thin coat of Agrax Earthshade. And that’s it for the finer details.

For the base, I used a basecoat of Dawnstone, with a few larger rocks picked out in Eshen Grey before washing it all with some Athonian Camoshade. When this was dry, I highlighted with Dawnstone and then Administratum Grey. The barbed wire was painted with Iron Warriors, then areas were covered with Typhus Corrosion before dabbing those still wet areas with Fire Dragon Bright. Ironbreaker was used to highlight the barbs.

Quick and Easy

What do you reckon? It genuinely didn’t take me long to do this, and if you’re batch painting the 10 of them in this box, this could be a very quick way to get them all done. Hopefully, at least one of these quick and easy techniques can be of some use to you.

The metallic step is a wee bit faffy but once you get into the swing of things, it really goes by fast. I’ve already started the batch painting process and as I’m usually incapable of painting 10 of anything, and I don’t want to just give up on them straight away, it must be decent enough, right?

I hope that is in some way useful and as mentioned I look forward to writing a larger review of this in the future. As ever, stay excellent. Onwards.

The Release Dump – New Things From GAMA!

Posted by johnnya10 on 15/03/2018
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment. Tagged: , , . 3 Comments
Well, we’re used to getting the occasional snippet from GW when it comes to new releases, but we’ve had an avalanche of information come through from Nottingham in the last 24 hours (and who knows if we’ll be getting even more soon). This is all down to GW’s appearance at GAMA, the big board games trade show, and it’s damn sporting of the company to share the official vids and photos with us, rather than having us all squinting at leaked, grainy bits and pieces. So, while I may go into a bit more detail in the future on all of these things (or at least some of them), let’s take a quick look at the massive dump of new delights that has graced us this week.
Chaos Blood Bowl Team
It’s great to see something new coming out for Blood Bowl. It feels like it’s been a little while since everyone’s favourite fantastical football game got something new, but that’s not actually true. It’s just that we’ve seen so much of everything being released lately, our brains are no longer capable of grasping the basic concept of time.
chaos blood bowl team chosen
chaos blood bowl team beastman
This looks like a team for brutal players who like an elite group of monsters who are seriously capable of stomping down the opposition. I don’t think Doom Lords players will be worrying too much about the actual ball in their games. I’m even tempted to pick them up and create a new incarnation of the legendary Chaos All Stars.
blood bowl chaos all stars
I’m liking the mix of Chosen and Beastmen in here. I dare say there’ll be some different roles involved, but combined with a Minotaur (or some sort of terrifying Warrior/Daemon special character maybe?), they’re going to be hard to knock over.
Kill Team
This is one of my favourites. I’ve always liked the Kill Team format because it’s so quick and intimate. It really feels like GW have been listening to the fanbase here. Blood Bowl, Shadow War and Necromunda have all performed so amazingly over recent months, that it makes sense for the folks in Nottingham to revive the long-running 40K skirmish game now.
Kill team is so quick and easy to play. It’s yet another great gateway game to get new people into the main game and its bigger battles, but its also great for us veterans too. If you’ve had a long game, but you’re still in the mood for more dice rolling, but the store is closing soon, Kill Team provides a great opportunity to get your gaming fix in.
And with 8th Edition rules, I dare say it’ll be even faster and more flexible. It’s a great game for learning the fundamentals of your favourite squads, and getting some insight into familiar and unusual opponents alike. I can’t wait to pick up this update.
Van Saar
van saar badge
Now, you know I’ll be talking more about this in a later post. Don’t worry, the name generators are being planned as we speak, and when I get some more images and insight into their background, I’ll put a full post together.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying the professional and polished weapons, sombre expressions, and fantastically manga-sci-fi-inspired armour of those survival suits. I love the multi-eyed helmet, and whatever that heavy weapon is… well, this has got me very excited. Regardless, this represents an amazing update on possibly the ugliest gang from the last iteration of the game. Frankly, they now look like one of the fanciest in the new game. Excellent stuff!
And There’s More…
tell me more gif
But I won’t cover any more of it in this post. If you want to read and see more about GW’s GAMA wares, and get the more official details, I’d suggest checking out the community website. You’ll find many fun things to ogle at. Add Forgebane to all of this, and we’ve got plenty to be excited about. I hope you are as giddy and gleeful as I am. And now that I’ve given you three posts in three days (possibly a record on H&H), I shall leave you to enjoy your toy soldiers in peace.

 

Kill Team List Building: Part Deux!

Posted by johnnya10 on 30/12/2013
Posted in: Lists and Tactics. Tagged: . Leave a comment

kill team

After a Christmas break spent eating my own weight in chocolate, meat and roast potatoes (no mean feat), I returned from the rural, family homestead and have been reunited with my codices. As soon as I had unpacked my loot, I grabbed the books not covered in the last Kill Team list-building article and started coming up with some fun things to use – and remember, I’m thinking more about fun than power-gaming. Check them out, and let me know what you think.

raven guard

Space Marines: Bets on the Vets 

5x Vanguard Vets with Jump Packs made up of:

Gunslingers: 2x marines with plasma pistols and bolt pistols

Musketeers: 2x marines with power swords and bolt pistols

Vet Sgt: Power weapon, storm shield and melta bombs

You’ve got the fire power, a wealth of blades and plenty of speed here. These guys don’t get a huge amount of table time in larger games, but I think they might do quite well in Kill Team Games. With this five man team, you can lay down plenty of shots, fear no one in close combat, and you get hammer of wrath attacks too. The melta bombs were a bit of a ‘had a few points left and not much to use them on’ sort of thing, but they’ll be useful if this team runs into any rare armour that might make it into a Kill Team list.

nurgle symbol

Chaos Space Marines: Slimy So-and-Sos

5x Plague Marines including a flamer and the champion takes a power sword.

10x cultists including a flamer and shotgun for the bossman.

We CSM devotees can be a little cynical about cultists. They may have other uses, but we like using them almost exclusively as meat shields. Well, that’s kind of their role here too, though I expect them to do more than they would in a full-sized game. They’re job is to soak up as much firepower as possible, allowing my Plague Marines to get into good firing positions and to take down all standing in their way. Their higher toughness should make them doubly hard to deal with in a game that won’t have any big guns trying to knock them out.

emperors children

Chaos Space Marines: The Choir Invincible

7x Noise Marines made up of:

Noise Champ with power weapon, doom siren, plasma pistol and melta bombs.

3x marines rocking sonic blasters.

3x marines taking the additional CCW.

(and you can take VotLW if you think you’ll be taking on loyalist marines)

One of my favourite lists from 5th used Noise Marines and I’m happy to say, I’ve built another one, again packing plenty of shots and making the most of their increased initiative with some stabby-stabbies. What’s more, the Noise Champ is like a mini-Death-Star and, given a suitable USR to protect him, will be able to deal with a lot of the shots that are bound to head his way.

Eldar symbol

Eldar: Got Wind?

10x Windrider Guardians, including three with shuri cannons.

Possibly the simplest list and, though it has some downsides (no big guns, has to keep moving to survive), it’s got a hell of a lot of ups too. Speed of course, and the fringe benefits that brings are the easiest to spot, but it’s a damn good sized Kill Team too. Use what USRs you want to, and watch your opponents try to deal with the fastest team on the table.

 

striking scorpions symbol

Eldar: Flexible Arachnids

5x Striking Scorpions

5x Warp Spiders

Then the choice: Scorpion Exarch Upgrade with Biting Blade OR Spider Exarch Upgrade with TL Deathspinner.

Another 10 man Eldar Team with a lot of speed, this time using Elites and Fast Attack choices. Depending on whether you’re going to want your super-fast S6 guns or your melee masters to get a buff, you make the choice in terms of which Exarch to take. Either way, staring down the barrel of 10 Aspect Warriors isn’t going to be that much fun for your opponent, but it’ll be a laugh-n-a-half for you.

And I’m spent. Got any ideas of your own that you’d like to share? Or think there’s a way to get more fun out of my lists? Pop a comment below. Onwards!

Kill Team List Building

Posted by johnnya10 on 24/12/2013
Posted in: Lists and Tactics. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

kill team die hard

Having got the new Kill Team supplement (as reviewed yesterday), I was itching to get home last night and start trawling through my codices to start coming up with some lists. Well, I only got to go through three (out of five) of them as I may have ended up in the pub and then watching Die Hard (best Christmas film ever!) while eating pizza. But I have got three teams that I want to try out from Daemons, Grey Knights and Space Marines. They’re not necessarily the best, but I reckon I could have some fun with them. Here are my ideas…

Chaos daemon star

Chaos Daemons: Slaaneshi Barmy Army

10x Daemonettes (including one Aluress with 10 points of lesser gifts)

3x Fiends of Slaanesh

In the immortal words of Blackadder’s foolish yet charming sidekick Baldrick, I have a cunning plan which will probably end up being a little foolish too. Daemons will have to have a lot of work to do in Kill Team, no longer being able to pop into existence due to reserves not being a part of the game. That means they’ll have plenty of ground to cover with just their 5+ Invun save to keep them safe (using cover intelligently will be key too). So, assign three USRs to the fiends and make your opponent more concerned about them than the Daemonettes. Fiends don’t get much love these days so there may be an air of unfamiliarity from your opponent and they’re still big scary beasts and should attract the majority of any fire coming your way. And then (sneaky sneaky) your daemonettes get in charge range and destroy the enemy in close combat with their flurry of attacks. Interesting?

Inquisition seal

Grey Knights: Pure Gold

6x Purifiers (including Justicar)

Purifiers suited and booted with: 1x Incinerator, 2x sets of falchions, 2x Daemon Hammers

Justicar rocking: mastercrafted stormbolter, helbard, digital weapons

And everybody gets Psybolt ammo!

Now this is my kind of list! I’m more a fan of really small, elite kill teams and these guys will be joyous to fight with. Lots of attacks, lots of pretty strong shots, a template weapon and a couple of hammers. I can’t find anything I don’t like about this one. I even had a handful of points left over to give the Justicar digital weapons! Boom.

Ultramarines symbol

Space Marines: Scout Manoeuvred

5x Scouts (including a Sgt)

Wielding: Camo cloaks, sniper rifles, missile launcher and the Sarge gets a power weapon too.

5x Scouts (including a Sgt)

Wielding: Camo cloaks, sniper rifles, missile launcher and the Sarge gets a power weapon too.

No, I didn’t mistakenly type that twice. This ten man wall of pain will be great, especially against armies relying on their hand to hand abilities. These guys already come with a whole mess of USRs that are great for Kill Team games anyway (Stealth and Move Through Cover being two of them that might be particularly useful) and in this collection, you’ve got a bit of everything. A whole mess of gunfire, the versatile hull cracking or blast marker placing missiles and a little additional close combat strength for the sergeants. Should make for a bit of fun if nothing else.

What are your thoughts on the above lists? Love them or hate them? Stick a comment below either way, and feel free to pop in your own ideas too!

Product Review: Kill Team

Posted by johnnya10 on 23/12/2013
Posted in: Product Reviews. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

warhammer 40000 kill team

 

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the Games Workshop/Black Library Advent Calendar this year. For a company often derided for the way it treats its fans, this was a lovely surprise that’s had people taking all December (especially about a certain Dark Angel who may or may not appear in the next couple of days, so the rumours say). I’ve read a couple of the short stories now (Typhus and Abaddon) and they’re nice little pieces which are well worth the £0.99 price tag if you’re a fan of those particular heroes. But the big winner, for me, has to be Kill Team. Best. Advent. Calendar. Ever.

For those unfamiliar with Kill Team, this is pretty much the smallest 40k you can play. I’ve occasionally indulged in a lunch hour, and I know many others who do the same. 200pts of minis from either troops, elites or fast attack. It’s a really fun little game that first appeared at the back of the Battle Missions book many years ago now, and it made the money back from the price of the book in enjoyment alone.

Well, for less than a fiver, you can get the brand new incarnation of Kill Team for your mobile/tablet device and enjoy an excellently updated version. Let’s dive in and I’ll reveal what I can about the booklet.

As soon as you hit the introduction page, you can see that this has moved far beyond the one-pager that used to set down the rules for a kill team game. As well as the points limitations, there are some special sets of rules for Dark Eldar, Daemons, CSM and Necrons that make them a little more suitable for the game. Speaking as someone that plays CSM, the slight rule adjustment for them is brilliant as my champions will no longer have to challenge everyone. That makes me very happy.

The game is designed for a 4’x4’ table making it easier to set up. Most kitchen tables can be set up with coke cans and milk bottles for terrain if you just need any old space to play, which is another reason why Kill Team is great.

We also get Universal Warlord Traits, called ‘Leader Traits’ for the purposes of Kill Team. There are six and all of them look pretty useful so no disappointment really. And another great move has been to stop people spamming the same sort of special rules for their ‘specialists’. For those who don’t know, you’re allowed to pick three members of your Kill Team (excluding your Leader) and assign them a USR. The USRs have now been split into five sections that range from Combat Specialist to Dirty Fighter. None of your three specialists can have USRs from the same section meaning that we should see a lot more interesting combos in each game. I’ve taken a long look at the table and if I’m honest, there are plenty of tough decisions to make here, but tough for good reasons.

As well as a small host of other rules that help to make Kill Team games a little more sensible, there are six new Missions for this game type. These look really fun and I could happily spend an afternoon trying out each one with various teams.

All in all, this is a great little book and I can see no problems for any force really (though pop a comment down if you’ve got any worries). I was worried that by adding to the small ruleset, GW would overcomplicate the easiest type of game we have, but they haven’t. For those who decry the company for its perceived lack of playtesting (which I really don’t adhere to), this will be a refreshing little clutch of missions and rules that can lead to some real fun. I highly recommend picking up this mini-tome.

In a year that has seen the mega battles of Apocalypse, enormous points-heavy miniatures and the new Escalation expansion, it’s really refreshing to see Kill Team make a comeback too. If you treat yourself to one little thing from the Advent Calendar this year, make it this – it’s half hours of fun!

p.s. I’m going to go through the codices I own a little later and try to build some hypothetical teams and I’ll post up my results here. Onwards!