Kill Team - More Games

Since KT post one I've played a number of games... more than 6... less than 12... dunno exactly.

My impression on the system is still that is very good. There haven't been too many 'marginal cases' (where I've felt like I've had to house-rule things) or unanswered questions leaving me stumped and requiring a research break mid-game. Fairly happy.

Works great for a narrative game where you're basically just making a story up with some random results thrown in. The fun stuff.

I've played mainly marines vs chaos marines but in the latest session I played a couple of games with marines vs bloodletter demons.

This was an interesting case for two reasons: i) the bloodletters only have melee weapons, meaning that the engaged/concealed order are virtually pointless, ii) the bloodletters are 2AP vs the marines 3AP.

It's interesting getting some different forces in there rather than (more-or-less) same vs same.

From my games so far I noticed that the chaos marines appear to be slightly better than regular marines with slightly better stats and options, however I haven't been using any tactics cards or anything like that so perhaps the factions balance out given those considerations.

The first game I played with the demons was 1 set of bloodletters vs 1 set of marines. The bloodletters were totally overpowered and then I realised they should have had 2 squads. 

So that's what I did next, and it was substantially better.

6 marines on the right.

12 bloodletters on the left.

At the end of the game I think the vp was 8 marine vs 4 bloodletters. The extra activation point seemed to help the marines, providing the ability to snag an object and then also do something meaningful like shoot or move.

The bloodletters on the other hand could only move and grab the objective, or charge and fight. so that felt very limiting.

That said they could be very brutal when they made it into melee, with a couple of marines were taken out in just one fight round.

At the end of the game (end of turn 4) there were only 3 bloodletters left...

...and 2 marines.

Definitely getting familiar with the mechanics and continuing to learn some other (such as shooting to/from elevation, climb, drop). There were also some updates and faq released recently. 

I repeatedly found the chaos heavy bolter guy was a bit of a waste, continually using his AP for grabbing objectives, and he probably fought more close combat than shooting actions (which I think he rarely did). 

Conversely if they climb up and get a good position they are making shots, but only use 1 AP of 3AP available, and the results of shooting were not compensating for it... so, yeah... not super efficient.

Still plenty of things to learn and try. I'm vaguely contemplating trying bloodletters combined with the pink/blue horrors as I think the tzenetch demons have shooting attack available. Alternately I could throw in some cultists (seconded from the Blackstone models)(though that wouldn't be an 'official' faction matchup).

Another observation is that winning the initiative at the start of the turn can really swing the fortunes of the force... which is fairly standard in these types of games. It certainly adds suspense.

I'm also considering getting a couple of 'character' models. For example, when I built the bloodletters and pink horrors I built them all as the basic 'soldier', so no 'icon bearers' or fancy whatnots. These characters might add some flavourful variation to the forces... however, it's possible there will be KT specific releases in the future rendering that moot. If I can pick something up for cheap on ebay etc I might consider it.

Update 2021-10-28

A new expansion box is being released in the immediate future which I'm strongly contemplating getting. It's Tau vs Sisters of Battle, again, not forces I feel strongly towards, but again, more variety.

Point being that they appear to be continuing to release and support the system, so hopefully soon some sets that I actually do like. Wait and see.

Until next time...

Kill Team - Build Progress

Still on a Kill Team kick... more or less.

I assembled all the models in the box. Still haven't got around to painting them, even undercoating. I'll get to it. One day.

I spent a bit of time reading through the alternate loadouts for both factions, as there were some either-either cases based on the models... i.e. you could select only one-or-the-other arm sets to fit on the model bodies.

The terrain, on the other hand...

Done! Yhay!

It got more-or-less the full treatment. I lashed out and ordered a can of spray leadbelcher (eq) undercoat which made that part real easy (and more inspiring). The paintwork is not terrible, generally staying within the lines but I'm sure there are some stray brushstrokes (that I couldn't be bothered with).

Most of the panels got two coats because the metal usually showed through on the first coat, so not a brilliant undercoat if you're planning minimum painting.

Anyway, left some metal showing (anything fiddly) and I barely bothered with the insides of the larger buildings at all.

After that there were copious sploshes of washes to darken and 'instamagic' the pieces. Didn't bother drybrushing the edges, so it then got two coats of ultra-matt sealer, and done.

Happy with the results. As good as I could have hoped for with very little effort.

I deliberately painted no blues in the colour palette. Don't think there's any purple either.   Stuck with warmer red-orange-yellow and some green... cos... well... orks.

This means the board is now completely game-worthy. I like it.

In adjacent news i did some work on the portable game table.  This is just a square mdf slab and uses ikea screw on/off legs. It's stable enough to not scramble model positions given standard use. It is only 90cm (3') square, and it accommodates the KT mat with room to spare for stat cards (KT is remarkable small, but I'm liking that tbh). Not quite enough for the dice container and gubbins as well so I made an extension that screws on easily.

It's intended use is KT and maybe Necromunda... so all 'small board format'. 

Update 2021-10-28

The Octarius models are now based coated black. Yet to take the enthusiasm beyond that.

I did manage to get the measuring tools finished off. Just Leadbelcher (eq) base, then washes of null oil, colour on the pips, and clear coat to finish.

Until next time...

Kill Team 2021

It feels like a long damn time since I've had any positive vibe for anything hobby. 

Working on Zona Alfa was a great project that lasted several months but I'd achieved what I was hoping to achieve in terms of the hobby, and with no games being played anywhere that seems to have reached something of a nebulous conclusion.

I've probably mentioned several times on here that Betrayal at Calth is/was one of my favourite games, or more specifically I really enjoyed the simplicity of the rule set. It was of course only a method of GW introducing the plastic lines of 30k marines, so the 'game' itself was always destined for obscure oblivion.

Necromunda was the closest thing I'd found in recent times to a comparable/decent ruleset for skirmish level games (i.e. not massed armies). I still like munda, but again, no games, so not much to be inspired for.

A couple of months ago an updated version of Kill Team was released. I'd been tempted by the previous version but never pulled the trigger. The latest incarnation however boasted alternating activations which is a must have for any system I'll bother with. And so I got the starter set.

I'm not a huge fan of kreig/guard and am generally ambivalent about orks, but never mind the concept of having some alternative forces to be moving around the board. I finished assembly all the krieg today and the orks are still on sprue.  But all the terrain is done. and tbh, it's quite substantial.

I'd been watching 'how to play' videos while waiting for the set to arrive (and it took it's damn time. gw delivery is really terrible compared to other online hobby suppliers i've used). Anyway, I moved some models around and threw a small number of dice the other day in an abstract learning session, and the rules seemed to make sense.

So today I assembled the board and played my first 'real' game. There was plenty of stuff I left out, like strategic and tactical plots (is there any point using hidden 'tricks' if you're just playing yourself anyway), and I used mainly basic weapon varieties and no special tricks or loadouts: regular tactical marines vs chaos marines. 

Not entirely surprisingly - it was very good. BaCalth was largely an opportunity to get out my regular 40k 28mm models and I think Kill Team will be taking over that role.

Some pictures...

Just about to start turn 2. The small size of the board keeps thing immediate and relevant.

This is something we discussed in the munda crew; that generally the small board keep things upbeat and interesting, at least with our small-board preferences, time constraints and expertise levels etc.

Conversely, and through no fault of the game, I found Zona Alfa to be something of a slog when playing with 'full sized' tables. I was using 6x4' (later 4x4') by default to inspire an 'exploration' feel to the game experience, but it felt like it diluting the action a little too much; 2/3rds of the game turns were just moving across the board to points of interest - the movement was a relevant aspect, but didn't fit a tight, round-limiting mechanics imo. Anyway...

With new Kill Team the smaller board made for more intense action.

Anywho... turn one both sides secured two objectives and moved up the board. This was 'the simplest mission possible in the book' while still having some objectives other than 'kill everyone'. Objects are emphasised fairly heavily in the stuff i've read.

I didn't have to refer to the rules tooooo often. Though I did review the cover/LoS aspects.

Here we're at the top of turn 4. The game was fairly narrative, with each model kind of playing out the most interesting move at the time rather than playing out a grand strategy. I think the game might lend itself to 'competitive play' if that's your thing but it will definitely allow for fun 'narrative' style sessions. 

By turn 4 both sides had lost... 2 models each.

The Chaos Aspiring Champion (sword dude) charged the marine, sword chopped him (only 1 Hit Point remaining), secured the objective, then shot the other marine with his plasma pistol... which now occurs to me is wrong because charge and fight are separate actions... so he did 4 things instead of 3... oh well. wasn't the first mistake of the game. 

This is the final state of the board. Chaos win 8 to 7.  Though it should have been 5 to 7 the other way, as I had one chaos guy secure 2 objectives in turn 2 (cheeky). A model can usually only perform an action (type) once per turn, this should have included securing objectives (so I stuffed that up too - oh well).

Here's the last standing tactical marine.

And the last standing chaos marine.

And that will do me for today. All up, about an hour of dice rolling. 20 minutes on either end for set up/pack up.

Without rulebook reads I reckon 30-60 minutes would get you though a quick game. Nice and quick. 

The terrain all fits into the start box - neat. The teams are small and compact, and the measurers and tokens quite manageable. Again, comparable to munda.

Anyway, that kept me entertained for a while.

Until next time...