REVIEW: A look at Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40k Kill Team

Well, after a bit of wondering whether you should or not, you finally take the plunge and buy yourself the brand new Kill Team game from Games Workshop. So what do you get??

Kill Team is set in the Warhammer 40K universe, where in the future there is only war. Grim, dark war where horrible and terrible aliens lurk round the corner ready to devour you, chaos is corrupting you and the saviour of mankind is a mostly dead superhuman confined to his golden throne on Terra consuming 1,000 psykers everyday to just about stay in the mortal realms.

The Warhammer 40k setting is beautifully Gothic. Dark, foreboding and full of death, betrayal and heroism. The wargame is normally a large affair covering a six foot by four foot area.  Kill Team reduces that way down to 30″ by 22″ and the need for troops down to a handful. A perfect way to start of in the universe for anyone who just wants to dabble, or not have to collect too many models. a perfect pick up and play game. You can find out more at https://warhammer40000.com/kill-team/

In the box, which is huge!, you get so much stuff it will make your eyes boggle a bit. First off you will get your hands on the sprues for the two opposing factions you get to start you off. The legions of Mars and of the Adeptus Mechanious are represented with the Skitarii with a mixture of rangers and vanguard. There are enough to make ten models. Then there is the insidious cult of the Genestealer, again with enough on the sprues to make ten models. Both sides are fairly well balanced and should make for a few good introductory games as you get to grips with the game itself.

There is a beautiful double-sided folding game board (30″ by 22″) to play across. Its made of good thick material so it really should take a lot of gaming. On top of that board you get plenty of Imperial Ruins scenery to provide plenty of cover for your teams.

There is a whooping 208 page Kill Team core manual, but don’t be too put off. The core rules only take up 21 pages. The rest sets out scenarios to play through in the Missions section and how to make your kill team from the 16 factions included in the book. It is an absolutely beautifully laid out book with darkly evocative pictures spread throughout the book that really give you the right atmosphere.

There are 2 eight page booklets that give you background on the two kill teams included. They don’t add anything to the actual rules but as ever part of the fun of this game is the rich Gothic background that pervades throughout.

There are 36 Universal Tactics cards along with 10 Adeptus Mechanicous Tactics cards and 12 Genestealer Cult Tactics cards to add a little bit more flavour. The cards are well made, sturdy and again stylistically they fit right into the whole grim, dark dystopian future. You also get six 6-sided dice and two 10-sided dice, a dinky range ruler that they seem to have thought about, and lots of counters to keep you reminded of different effects in play.