Review: Kill Team reboot brings D&D style storytelling to Warhammer 40K

[ad_1]

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Octarius is an amazing reboot for the struggling miniatures skirmish game. Once the sick man of the Games Workshop catalog, this lavish new box set could catapult the niche title into the mainstream. octary, and the Basic book that comes with it, succeeds in completely rebuilding the game’s notoriously flawed rule set. It also adds far more storytelling opportunities than almost any other title in the company’s catalog.

If you were looking for a reason to wade through the dark darkness of the far future, octary is the perfect place to start.

Kill the team is a fallout of full fat Warhammer 40,000 miniatures wargame. Instead of deploying armies with dozens of miniatures on either side of the table, Kill the team only requires a handful of characters and landscapes to start. Players sit down with a relatively small battlefield between them – just 22 inches by 30 inches on either side – and games can take as little as 45 minutes to play.

The Kill Team franchise was first launched in 2004 and then rebooted for the first time in 2018. This most recent version of the game tried very hard to use the same kind of unit stats and tower structure. as the main version of the tabletop war game. This ultimately proved to be unwieldy, especially with each player moving and firing before their opponent had a chance to respond. Compared to more agile systems like that of Corvus Belli Infinite and the next one Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone of the Monster Fight Club, Kill the team felt heavy and slow.

A line of Krieg's rifle in green holds back a group of Orks rushing past a barricade. They brought an explosive animal with them.

octarius’ New Basic book throws these legacy traps right out the window, offering players a whole new way to fight. Now each individual model – not each player – takes their turn before moving on to the next. This translates into much smoother engagements, with round-trip battles that are much more cinematic in their execution.

Another key change concerns the economics of action. Each unit on the map has a defined action point limit, abbreviated as APL on its stat card. An action can be to move around, fire a weapon, or help another unit on the board perform some sort of combo – up to and including distributing more action points. Units also have unique actions that can only be performed by certain people, such as Medics, Explosives Experts, and Melee Specialists. The result is something much closer to the elaborate tactical combat created for the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, or something like Firaxis’ XCOM franchise, than anything else in the Games Workshop catalog.

the Basic book includes rules for three distinct game modes, including the traditional open (casual) and paired (competitive) formats. But the real treat here is a newly reinvigorated campaign mode called Spec Ops Narrative Play. This expanded mode encourages players to name their kill team and individual members, thus developing an attachment and improving their skills over time.

All models included in the Octarius set, professionally painted and set up to play.

Units will gain experience each time they enter the field, even when playing open and matched games. This experience can be used to add feats to a unit’s skills, which will make it even more competent and valuable. Players also have an off-map base of operations (read: invisible) and can add to his capacities over time. It’s catnip for dedicated hobbyists, who will be eager to create custom miniatures and terrains based on their exploits on the battlefield.

The box itself is much better value than the previous one (Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Pariah Nexus). While the final price has yet to be announced, we expect it to hit around $ 150. Consumers will receive two model sets: the Death Korps of Krieg (vaguely German-looking troops wearing futuristic Pickelhaube and long guns) and the towering Ork Kommandos (which look like green powerlifters that just made their way through. outside a dump). There are also a ton of big all-plastic pitches as well as dice, rulers, and cardboard tokens. This time around, Games Workshop even packed the included card sets in storage boxes, which will dramatically improve their survivability when shipping. The gutter on printed booklets is also much wider, which means you won’t have to tear the books in half to read them.

Two different options for the same Ork torso, one with a multi-barrel bolter and the other with a single point pistol.

Another example of the same torso used for two different figures. On the left, a sniper. On the right, a demolition unit with its piston.

As for the miniatures themselves, they are all excellent sculptures, but I have a few reservations about how they were designed. While modders will have a field day with the Krieg, whose arms, hands, and head are easy to cut and replace with the right pieces, the Kommandos are a little less complicated. They are quite easy to put together, but their poses and ornamentation will make them more difficult to transform into unique silhouettes. Additionally, the new rules allow up to 20 models in each list of kill team units. That means octary only ships with half the number of models you’ll need for a matched play or extended story campaign.

Two gray plastic figurines on wooden background. — An example of some of the unpainted Krieg miniatures. The medals, along with the pewter bed sheet and tumbler, are additional items that can be freely added to your designs anywhere you like.

The real innovation here is the stand-alone octary book supplied with the box. Although my copy was found to be faulty, with wrinkled and wrinkled pages, it is nonetheless a new and original item. Much like a Campaign mod in D&D, it contains all the rules necessary for these two factions to fight in a specific theater of war, as well as a series of unique connected missions.

A graphic showing in detail the three different portions of a land and the rules that apply to them.

It also includes detailed rules for each unit in the set, as well as for each piece of land. It’s the kind of clarity and precision that was simply lacking in previous versions of the Kill Zone terrain.

The only thing missing from the box, in my opinion – other than some useful packs to keep all the components sorted and accessible – are blank unit lists. It’s frustrating that in addition to spending hours painting and assembling the figures, I also have to create my own game aids on an inkjet printer.

Overall, however, this is one of the best rule sets Games Workshop has ever produced. It sounds bold and confident, and it could lead to a very bright future for the franchise as a whole. Pre-orders can be placed soon through your local game store and on the Games Workshop website, and sets are expected to start shipping in August.

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Octarius has been reviewed using a commercial copy provided by Games Workshop. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find more information on Polygon’s ethics policy here.

Deathwatch Kill Team Cassius

Price taken at time of publication.

The Deathwatch has featured prominently in recent Warhammer community articles. Expect them to be included in the fun with the release of Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Octarius.

[ad_2]

Source link