The Astro Mag

The Kill Teams of 40k back in 4^th edition were fun little skirmishes that added a neat dimension to the game.  They allowed a player to have a small little army that, while almost certainly not legal in a normal game, were fun to paint and collect.  It was far more conducive to personalizing a model (such as giving him trophies, painting him differently than the rest of an army, etc) and made the game seem just a little more personal as it is easier to project yourself onto one or two models rather than a whole army.

A few years ago, shortly after 5^th edition was released in fact, I decided, along with my longtime friend and fellow blogger Alex (he goes by Dictator), that we were going to revamp the Kill Team rules.  Thus began a fun little project.  I wrote a basic set of rules up, we played them, liked them and then published them in the first issue of The Astro Mag.  I didn’t receive much response from them so I let them sit for awhile before, out of the blue, receiving a bunch of emails asking if I was planning on revamping the rules at all.  This newfound interest got me excited so I set out to redo them and turned to my Wargaming group at my college.  We play tested them a few times, found holes and patched them right up, and then published the new set in Issue 3 of The Astro Mag which received a lot more positive feedback.  Fast forward over one year later and here I am, again, looking to improve upon this little project I undertook.  This time, however, I want to go big.  I want to make a comprehensive rule-set (not too complicated though, I want a new player to be able to come by, read through the rules and get playing immediately with very few questions).  However, there is a huge part that needs looking at and they’re the potential loop-holes or problems with the rules.  This is why I am turning to you, From the Warp blogging community!  All I am asking is if you could take the time to read over the rules, offer suggestions, improvements, possibly playtest them with a buddy (the games are quite short, but are very enjoyable!) and then email me at terranforge@gmail.com.  As I said, I’m looking for suggestions and improvements or, if you think you have a good idea that could be included, shoot it by me as I’m all ears!

Now, why would you want to play Kill Team let alone help out somebody you’ve never met revise them?  Well, for one, I know many of us have friends who have looked at getting into the hobby but find it too cost or time prohibitive to play.  These Kill Team rules are a perfect remedy.  You don’t need many points for them at all (directly resulting in saved money) and the games are quick.  Alex and I have packed ten or so games into an hour, for example.  The games require little space and just a basic understating of the 40k rules but are guaranteed to be fun.  Not only that, but I have found myself wanting to paint up a mini especially for these Kill Team rules just so I could have a cool, fun looking force to play with when I’m hanging out with friends on the weekend.  And that’s the other kicker, you need little to no planning for these games whatsoever.  With a regular 40k game you need to set aside at least two hours to play, plus you need to pack up your entire army and create a list which can be an absolute pain.  With Kill Team, all you really need are a handful of models and maybe 10-20 minutes of free-time and you got yourself a fun little game to play.

Of course, as most of you probably know, Games Workshop released a great supplemental book called “Battle Missions” where rules for a Kill Team are already outlined.  However, they are much different in their play style than the rules I have created (and, as I’ve already mentioned, intend to improve upon).  The Battle Mission rules allow for a similar style of game (few units, quick gameplay) however the situations do not vary.  As you will see, the rules published in The Astro Mag have great variations on what can happen in the game and the environment plays a pretty big role.  This idea, that of bringing environmental effects into gameplay, is a very interesting one for me and is why I included them in the rules to begin with.  Instead of only having to worry whether or not your enemy can see you, you will also have to position yourself so the world you are in does not inflict any casualties on your army.  I feel it brings a new level of tactical gameplay onto the battlefield and is just one small reason my Kill Team rules differ from the ones laid out in the Battle Missions book.

That said, I would like to let you know that I will also be changing the name from “Kill Team” to something else and am entirely up for suggestions!  Two that have come up already are “Fire Team” “Strike Force” so feel free to shoot me an email with suggestions on that as well!

The benefit Kill Team has to 5^th edition, too, is that (at least here in the US) we’re all so used to playing at high points levels.  We are forced to think about the synergetic effects of one unit with another and never get to think about the awesomeness of a single marine storming a bunker with nothing but a bolter and a grenade.  We never get to think about the heroic acts we so frequently read about in the compelling (though sometimes terrible) Black Library novels.  Kill Team addresses this.  You get to have your heroes.  You get to have your impossible situations that your small little squad is forced to overcome.  It’s a farcry from what we’re all used to and is most definitely a nice relief from the constant thought of lists and unit synergy and what have you.  Not to mention that this type of stuff, while written for the purpose of fun, can be a cool thing to have a tourney over.  Because of the short (in time) nature of this game you can have many rounds and many scenarios where you will never face the same thing twice even if the armies are exactly the same.  It’s almost RPGish, when it comes down to it.  A beautiful little sub-ruleset that adds to allure of 40k.

Now, it may not be much but it’s something, I will put the names and blog links (if applicable) to anyone who submits any suggestions or what have you in the Kill Team Rules.  This will be posted as a standalone release and it will be published in a future Issue of The Astro Mag which sees about 8000-11000 downloads an issue so you’ll get a decent amount of exposure for your blog.  Also, if you’re interested in sending in pictures of your models or artwork just send me an email so when I start the rewrite I can email you back letting you know what I’ll need.  Again, everything would be appropriately accredited.  My email is terranforge@gmail.com and I hope I can get a few of you wonderful bloggers out there to help make this little project into a great, fun set of rules for all to enjoy!  You can also follow the progress of this project at my blog, http://terranforge.blogspot.com or on my twitter account at http://twitter.com/KevinMCTF.

The current set of rules can be downloaded from this link http://www.box.net/shared/fgx77x8af7

-Kevin aka “Arkaedin”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010, 9:24 PM and is filed under 40K. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.