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

Warhammer 40,000 Assassin Squad: Octarius is an extraordinary reboot for miniature skirmish game fighter. Once the sick man in the Games Workshop catalog, this luxurious new boxed set could catapult the niche title into the mainstream. octarius, and the Basic book the one it comes with, it manages to completely rebuild the game’s notoriously unstable set of rules. It also adds far more opportunities for storytelling than almost any other title in the company’s catalog.

If you were looking for a reason to step into the sinister darkness of the far future, octarius it is the perfect place to start.

Kill team is a derivative of whole fat Warhammer 40,000 miniatures war game. Instead of fielding armies with dozens of miniatures on either side of the table, Kill team it only requires a handful of figures and settings to get started. Players sit with a relatively small battlefield between them – just 22 inches by 30 inches on each side – and games can take as little as 45 minutes to play.

The Kill Team franchise first launched in 2004, then was first rebooted in 2018. That newer version of the game went to great lengths to use the same type of unit stats and game turn structure as the main version of the game. table warfare. That ultimately proved difficult to handle, especially with each player moving and firing before their opponent had a chance to respond. Compared to more agile systems like Corvus Belli infinite and the next Cyberpunk Red: Battle Zone from Monster Fight Club, Kill team it felt heavy and slow.

octarius’ new Basic book throws those inherited decorations out the window, introducing players to a whole new way of fighting. Now each individual model, not each player, takes their turn before moving on to the next. This results in much more fluid matchups, with back-and-forth battles that are much more cinematic in execution.

Another key change comes to the economics of action. Each unit on the map has a set action point limit, abbreviated APL on its stat card. An action can be moving, firing a weapon, or helping another unit on the board to perform a kind of combo, which can include handing out more action points. Units also have unique actions that only certain people can perform, such as Medics, Explosives Experts, and Hand-to-Hand Combat Specialists. The result is something much closer to the elaborate tactical combat created for the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, or something like the Firaxis XCOM franchise, than anything else in the Games Workshop catalog.

The Basic book includes rules for three different game modes, including the traditional open (casual) and matched (competitive) format. But the real treat here is a recently revitalized campaign mode called Spec Ops Narrative Play. This expanded mode encourages players to name their kill team and individual members, developing a bond and improving their skills over time.

Units will gain experience every time they take the field, even while playing open and combo games. That experience can be used to add feats to a unit’s skill set that will make them even more capable and valuable. Players also have an off-map base of operations (read: invisible), and can add its capabilities over time. It’s catnip for dedicated hobbyists who will be eager to create custom terrain and miniatures based on their exploits on the battlefield.

The boxed set itself is much better value than the old one (Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Pariah Nexus). While the final price has yet to be announced, we expect it to be around $ 150. Consumers will get two sets of models: the Death Korps of Krieg (vaguely German-looking troops with a futuristic pickelhaube and sporting long guns) and the huge Ork Kommandos (looking like green weightlifters that just came out of a junkyard). There’s also a ton of thick, all-plastic terrain, as well as cardboard dice, rulers, and tokens. This time around, Games Workshop even packed the included card decks inside collapsible boxes, which will greatly improve their survivability in shipping. The gutter for printed brochures is also much wider, which means you won’t have to cut your books in half to read them.

As for the miniatures themselves, they are all excellent sculptures, but I have some reservations about how they have been designed. While modders will have a field day with the Krieg, whose arms, hands, and heads will be easy to cut and replace with the correct parts, the Kommandos are a bit less complicated. They are fairly easy to put together, but their poses and ornamentation will make it more difficult to transform them into unique silhouettes. Additionally, the new rules allow up to 20 models on each Assassin Team unit list. That means octarius it only comes with half the number of models you’ll need for a combo game or an extended narrative campaign.

The real innovation here is the independent octarius book that is included in the box. While my copy appeared faulty, with wrinkled and wrinkled pages everywhere, it is nevertheless a new and novel item. Like a campaign module in D&D, it contains all the rules necessary for these two factions to fight in a specific war scenario, as well as a connected series of unique missions.

It also includes detailed rules for each and every unit in the box, as well as for each terrain. It’s the kind of clarity and precision that has simply been lacking in the past. Kill zone ground pitches.

In my opinion, the only thing missing from the box, other than the helpful packages to keep all the components neat and accessible, are blank drive lists. It’s frustrating that in addition to spending hours painting and assembling the miniatures, I also have to create my own player aids on an inkjet printer.

Overall, though, this is one of the best rule sets Games Workshop has ever produced. He feels 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 friendly local game store and on the Games Workshop website, with the games expected to start shipping in August.

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

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