Last week saw the incredible revelation of a new edition Kill Team launching this August. Games Workshop has given us some previews of the Veteran Guardsmen and how game mechanics will operate. Let’s dig into the new rules of engagement coming skirmishes in the year 40,000.
But first this message from our sponsors! As should be abundantly clear, Kill Team Octarius is a completely new edition with inspiration drawing heavily from Warcry. Consequently, previously published Kill Team books, character boxes, and accessories will be discontinued by Games Workshop. If you intend to keep playing the older edition grab what you need now!
New Stats
That looks nothing like a 40K stat line. Let’s talk about what we know and don’t!
M = Movement
Rated in the number of units from the combat gauge.
APL = Action Point Limit
This figure may conduct 2 actions a turn.
DF = Defense
The number of dice rolled when hit in ranged combat.
SV = Save
The target number for your Defense roll.
W = Wounds
Many more than you would expect!
GA has been left undefines at this point.
The circle in the Movement stat represents 2 inches. Games Workshop has decided not go with standard units. In the crowded grounds of a Kill Team engagement, tape measures had a tendency to knock operatives and terrain around. Hopefully, this gauge will fit better into narrow spaces. Here’s the other symbols being used.
So, we can see that our Guardsman may move 6 inches, has 2 actions, rolls 3 Defense dice, needs 5+ to make that save, and 7 Wounds.
While actions haven’t been fully defined yet, we can expect the standard move, shoot, and close combat. Other actions will come from operative specializations, like the comms operative below. And, as we’vve seen from 9th edition, actions may be required to complete goals and win your game.
The Defense and Save go together. When hit in ranged combat, roll your Defense with a target equal to your Save. Our Guardsman has 3 dice at 5+, so, expect 1 success with each roll.
Finally, Wounds. These Guardsmen have a lot more than 1 (7 freakin’ Wounds!). This strongly reflects Warcry where even your weakest members had a good pile of Wounds. Tougher units, like Orks and SPace Marines should have a much greater number of Wounds.
Failure, Success, and Criticals
Just like 40K, each die is read separately, however, they go beyond success and failure. Kill Team Octarius introduces Criticals.
Basically, a 6 is a critical success and does more or is harder to counter as we’ll see in ranged combat.
Ready, Aim, Fire!
The humble lasgun. For Kill Team, it breaks down into 5 stats; Attack, Ballistic Skill, Damage, Special Rules, and Critical Hit Rules. You’ll roll 4 dice per attack needing a 4+ to succeed. Each success scores 2 Damage. A roll of 6, a critical, scores 3 Damage. It has no special rules or other effects on a critical.
Strangely, it does not have a range listed. Given the tight confines of Kill Team games, many small arms will not have a range! They may fire across the entire board. Weapons with a short range list it in their special rule. Such as this laspistol, the stats are the same, but it has a 6 inch range.
Your target gets to roll their Defense dice with a target number equal to their save. They can spend successes on this roll to cancel out Attack dice. A success on Defense may cancel 1 success on Attack. Criticals, however, need 2 Defense success or a critical Defense success. Knowing your opponents weapons will give you an edge in quickly knowing how to spend Defense dice.
Special Rules Everywhere!
Many other weapons have special rules. Two examples at the time of this writing were the flamer and long-las. They both give you an idea of how much the rules of engagement have changed from 40k.
Flamers throw 5 Attack dice, but they only need 2+ to hit and do 2 Damage regardless of the level of success. They are short ranged, but have a new special rule, Torrent. In addition to the main target, flamers are allowed to attack all models within 2 inches of it. Put a flamer out to cover a chokepoint and that could be a large number of models effected.
Also, even though a critical hit does no additional damage, it still takes 2 regular success or a critical save to cancel. Rolling high makes damage stick.
The long-las slings 4 Attack dice and succeeds on a 2+ as well. Damage is 3 regardless of the level of success. However, check out the MW3 under the exclamation point. A critical success inflicts 3 Mortal Wounds before the target gets a chance to save.
Close Combat
The new rules of engagement have turned Warhammer 40K melee combat on its head! Close combat is now a set of contested rolls between the two fighters. Starting with the attacker, successful rolls are spent, alternating one at a time, to either deal damage or cancel an attack die. After all dice have been allocated, damage is dealt. There are no Defense rolls and saves!
Games workshop has explained that in the deadly melee, all it takes is one well aimed strike to slip right through an armor seam or slap upside an unarmored head. Melee will be a high risk, high reward proposition! Two combatants may even end up killing each other in the same attack sequence.
Just look at how dangerous a power weapon is in the hands of a Veteran Guardsman. Four dice hitting on 3+ doing 4 Damage per success and 6 on a critical. The new special rule, Lethal 5+, turns every roll of 5 or 6 into a critical hit.
Even the ordinary bayonet can deal massive damage when the dice come up 6’s!
Wrapping It Up
So far Games Workshop has only shown us Guardsmen and their kit. While it seems they deal massive damage and the close combat rules make even Space Marine armor useless, we haven’t seen any of their opposition. We know from Warcry that more powerful fighters have more Wounds and deal more Damage. We’ll likely see a variation on this across the armies of Warhammer 40,000.
We already know that Space Marines will have more than a 2 Action Point Limit. Likewise, higher 40K wounds will translate into more Kill Team Wounds. Maybe not double on a 2W 40k model, but close. Also, I wouldn’t be shocked to see higher Toughness models being granted more Wounds. We’ll have a better idea once we have the Ork stat lines.
That’s it for today’s Rules of Engagement. Join us after Warhammer Community drops another dose of teasers on us.
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