Kill Team Rules For 6th Edition

[Darth Meer]

EDIT:



Kill Team is a fan-made unofficial expansion to Warhammer 40,000 that allows you to fight more intimate, more narrative driven games of Warhammer 40,000. Instead of fighting across vast battlefields controlling armies of hundreds of troops, you take control of a small task force with a handful of men.

You can find the Kill Team core rules, campaign rules, kill team lists, and other materials at:
http://heralds-of-ruin.blogspot.co.u...eam-rules.html

We now have a Facebook group! You can join it, and join in the discussion, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/481345801919687/

- Darth Meer

[Darth Meer]

I've created an Imperial Guard army list as well now, and updated the SM list to v1.1.

You can find the new files here: http://heralds-of-ruin.blogspot.co.u...eam-rules.html

Although I had a little trouble with Guard, as I didnt want millions of individual bog-standard troopers running around on their own - it just didn't seem right. So I've come up with a work around using the 'Squad' rule. At the moment only the 'Infantry Squad' has it, but I expect at least Nids will get a few of them too.

Squad
Some models in Kill Team act within regular units, rather than individually – such as swarms of Tyranids or squads of Guardsmen. This is done in order to stop the slowdown of playing with massive amounts of individual models. Where this is in effect ‘Squad’ will be noted in the unit’s Special Rules and will state how many models form the unit. Simply treat the unit as normal, using the Warhammer 40,000 rules.

Models in the squad do not use the ‘A Team of Heroes’ rule, do not have to test for ‘Nerve’ and may only Counter-charge if all members of the squad are in range to do so into the same combat. If there is only one model left in a squad at any point, he immediately reverts to having the ‘A Team of Heroes’ rule. Note that individual models will still count toward the maximum Model Availability of the Kill Team.

Working on Kill Team Rules v1.1 at the moment, I want to head more towards creating Kill Team lists for every codex so I will be putting the 'Building a Team from Codices' in a separate document. This is so, eventually, once all the lists are done we'll have a solid balanced game. Also drafting up some simple Campaign XP rules too.

[Darth Meer]

Sorry for multiple posting, but I've just uploaded Rules v1.1 with loads of changes, including Flaming weapons, Running Away, a new basic mission (with multiple objectives). Also some clarifications on characters etc. Ive separated the Building a Team rules into a different document as well.

[yabbadabba]

The suppressing fire is a little too good. I'd suggest models get +1 cover save, meaning they will always get a 6+ save vs suppressing fire.

I'd also suggest in the assault results I'd go for adding a wound if any side has remaining models that have charged or counter attacked.

I'd be tempted to go for a save test vs burning, after all a Marine should be far more resistant to persist ant burning than someone in flak armour

Looks really tasty mate, good effort.

[Darth Meer]

Thanks for your comments. Yeh I was thinking about an armour save instead of an I test for Burning, but do you think it'll be a bit redundant as you take the armour save against the S3 AP- wound anyway? Just thinnking about the flow of the game - "So i take an armour save, and then roll to wound, then another save...". Will playtest it both ways and get back to you!

Suppressing fire seems ok in playtesting (most weapons that use it only have 2-3 shots and hit with 1/2), but i can see marines rapid firing guard being a problem with all that AP5. Hmm, will have a think. Maybe make it -1 BS for the inaccuracy?

[Darth Meer]

Hey guys, I know its been a while but I've just uploaded the new Campaign rules, as well a load more Team Lists. If you can take a look at them and let me know your thoughts!

[Hedgehobbit]

Printed out the new campaign rules to read through. With your new Squads, it looks like we are doing the same thing but from opposite directions. I'm adding small units to regular 40k while your adding larger units to Kill Team. One thing I just noticed while reading 6th edition was the new Disorganized Charge rule on page 27. You might want to consider dropping that rule if you intent to allow your squad type units the ability to charge groups of one-man units without penalty. Frankly I don't see the point of the rule in regular 40k to begin with.

The one thing I'm not sure about is your Suppression Fire rule. I don't agree that it was too powerful to begin with but, now that you're adding multi-model units, it's getting cumbersome. I'm of the opinion that it should be just the regular part of hit allocation that happens anytime the firer gets more than one hit (which will be weapons with high rates of fire most of the time). The old RPG Champions did a thing with it's autofire rules for units that were spread far apart. When allocating hits to a normal multiman unit, each model will be 1" or less from the other. Thus you'll have a chain of targets to allocate hits. When allocating hits to units that are spread apart further, you allocate one hit for each 1" of empty space between the models (ie they are lost). So, if you models are 3" apart, you would lost 2 hits (at 1" and 2") to spread the fire among both targets (thus you'd need 4 hits to spread it out that far). So the more spread out the models are, the less effective automatic fire will be. Does that make any sense?

[Darth Meer]

Thanks for your comment! In regards to the Squads rule, there are only 2 squads so far: guardsmen and gretchin. So it shouldnt play too much of a role, it was mostly trying to not bog the game down with lots of cheap troops. And you cant even spam squads as you still need to keep to the maximum team size.

Your idea about Disorganised Charges is a good catch though! Will implement that in the next update. In real 40k I think the rule is a balancing mechanic to try and stop a single squad munching through a gun line in a single turn.

In regards to Suppression Fire, I assume you're talking about the Infantry Squad special rule Blanket Fire? The regular rule for Suppressing Fire is fairly balanced as it stands in playtesting. The reduction in BS works in kind of the same way as your idea with reducing shots (less BS = less hits). Your idea is very interesting, but as guns in 40k usually only have 1-4 shots, the enemy models would have to be standing pretty close together to actually hit more than a single guy. The only situation where this could work is with Squads as they have to keep within coherency (and are rare).

The Blanket Fire rule for guard squads does need a bit more playtesting I agree, i was trying to speed up gameplay so the squad could shoot all at once, but could have ended up over-complicating things.

I would love to hear your opinions on the campaign rules once you have read them!

[Hedgehobbit]

Been reading over the campaign rules. A few things first ... on the last page, it says that legendary heroes lose all EXP when they leave but later is says that legendary heroes do not earn EXP. Also, you have two different point totals, Total Points and Point Store. I'm afraid these two names are too similar and often in the rules it just refers to "points" without specifying which is which. While I can piece it together, it would be better is the Point Store had a dissimilar name like Requisition Points (or RP).

The rest of my comments are totally subjective opinions ...

-First, I don't really like the idea of Space Marines selling their bolters to buy combi-weapons. I'd prefer just having a normal point limit that is raised after each battle and lowered after troops get killed. Changing equipment would then be just like pointing out your troops for a normal non-campaign game. Buying legendary heroes is really costly under the RAW since no other unit requires upkeep. Instead of spending 30 points on a hero, I can spend 30 points on troops that will stay with me from battle to battle and not cost me a huger percentage of my future earnings. The average requisition roll is 17 points for losing and 23 for winning. 15 points of upkeep is almost all of that.

-Space Marines and other costly troops should already start with some XP (as in Necromunda) so they don't advance as fast.

-The rules for squads in campaigns should be in the campaign section not the rules section.

-It's a pet peeve of mine having Special Rules that just grand the model another Special Rule. Guerrilla should just be called Hit and Run! Also, many of the skills are just to fiddly; granting special rules in limited cases such as when close to an objective. Removing the limitations (Acrobat rerolls all the Initiative test) will make it harder to forget to apply the skill. Finally, there are many special rules (Stealth, Relentless, etc) that you can't get. I don't see any reason why not.

-I'd like two different Unique Weapon charts for ranged and melee weapons with more possible outcomes (such as raising I for melee weapons or increasing range of ranged weapons). There are lots of new weapon special rules in 6th.

-I would also like multiple advancement charts for HQ, Troops/Elite, Fast Attack and Heavy Support where the possible advancements are weighted to the type of troops rolling. I know you remove these classifications in your army lists which is another thing entirely.

Anyway, I don't mean to sound to negative. There's lots of coolness potential here that can be expanded upon.

[Darth Meer]

Thanks again for your reply. Sorry I havnt posted sooner, been on hols!

Most of your comments are on the Campaign system, which I understand as its only the first draft :-D.

Been reading over the campaign rules. A few things first ... on the last page, it says that legendary heroes lose all EXP when they leave but later is says that legendary heroes do not earn EXP. Also, you have two different point totals, Total Points and Point Store. I'm afraid these two names are too similar and often in the rules it just refers to "points" without specifying which is which. While I can piece it together, it would be better is the Point Store had a dissimilar name like Requisition Points (or RP).

Yeh, thats me not proof reading stuff... I like the sound of Requisition Points, but IMO i would save thats more similar to total points than Points Store. Points Store is pretty much self-explanatory, its your store of points! Either that or something like 'Points Balance' or 'Points Pool'. Maybe change 'Total Points' to Team Points to distinguish it?

First, I don't really like the idea of Space Marines selling their bolters to buy combi-weapons. I'd prefer just having a normal point limit that is raised after each battle and lowered after troops get killed. Changing equipment would then be just like pointing out your troops for a normal non-campaign game.

You cant sell default weapons (like boltguns). I was back and forth about including the option to sell weapons for a while, originally i had planned for it so the model just looses the points any weapon they had bought, and replaced it with their new one. E.g. a sergeant would still have to pay 25pts if he wanted to replace his power weapon with a power fist. Im going to have to do a bit of thinking on this. I really want the option to improve your individual team models as your progress through the campaign.

Buying legendary heroes is really costly under the RAW since no other unit requires upkeep. Instead of spending 30 points on a hero, I can spend 30 points on troops that will stay with me from battle to battle and not cost me a huger percentage of my future earnings. The average requisition roll is 17 points for losing and 23 for winning. 15 points of upkeep is almost all of that.

Ah, you see thats OK. Dont want the heroes to be overpowered! Just a cool addition for anyone who wants them (not game changing). May reduce upkeep cost though...

Space Marines and other costly troops should already start with some XP (as in Necromunda) so they don't advance as fast.

That would mean listing a starting XP for every model basically, maybe once all the Kill Team Lists are complete.

The rules for squads in campaigns should be in the campaign section not the rules section.

Hmmmm i dont know. I like the entire 'Squad' rule to be together, easier reference. It would have to be pasted over a few sections in the campaign document making it less easy to find.

It's a pet peeve of mine having Special Rules that just grand the model another Special Rule. Guerrilla should just be called Hit and Run! Also, many of the skills are just to fiddly; granting special rules in limited cases such as when close to an objective. Removing the limitations (Acrobat rerolls all the Initiative test) will make it harder to forget to apply the skill. Finally, there are many special rules (Stealth, Relentless, etc) that you can't get. I don't see any reason why not.

First draft, needs playtesting.

I'd like two different Unique Weapon charts for ranged and melee weapons with more possible outcomes (such as raising I for melee weapons or increasing range of ranged weapons). There are lots of new weapon special rules in 6th.

Be my guest if you fancy writing up some examples for me! I always welcome ideas, especially those I dont have to right myself. Its a cool idea, I combined them just for ease and simplicity mostly.

I would also like multiple advancement charts for HQ, Troops/Elite, Fast Attack and Heavy Support where the possible advancements are weighted to the type of troops rolling. I know you remove these classifications in your army lists which is another thing entirely.

Really? I don't know how you would make the generic advancement table more specific to be honest. Can you give an example?

Anyway, I don't mean to sound to negative. There's lots of coolness potential here that can be expanded upon.

Thanks again for your comments, negative criticism can be constructive too!

[Darth Meer]

Lots of cool additions in v1.2 of the Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team ruleset, thanks in part to the feedback we have received from our readers and at various forums. Lots of tweaks, and a redesigned Kill Team Mission: Download here.

Over the last month I've added a few more Kill Team army lists to the blog page as well, including Orks and Tyranids. My next stop is Dark Eldar, but I'm struggling on how to handle pain tokens and combat drugs. If anyone has any ideas please drop me an email or leave a comment!

I also need to go back and do the next version of the campaign rules, including feedback from Hedgehobbit.

[Rion]

Hey Darth,

Some friends and I stumbled upon this looking for smaller-type games, and given that we were already interested in Necromunda this seemed right up our alley! So first off, thanks for all the hard work you've put into this!

However, after reading the rules and campaign rules listed, as well as the army lists so far, a few questions arose:
- Do you have any type of sheet to keep track of a player's Team? Something like a character sheet, a la D&D? If not, is this something you'd consider adding?

- The army lists talk about "rare" and "core models, and rules for establishing these aren't covered in the general rules for setting up a team. For someone like me (a Chaos player), we're uncertain as to how to proceed. Do we just follow the rules as set in "Building Your Team"?

- And in addition to this, our Blood Angels and Ork players were wondering why there are eligible codex models that just aren't listed in their respective army lists. Are these models just not eligible, or should they too follow the "Building Your Team" rules?

And finally, a mechanics question:
- Some models are given Frak/Krak grenades. Does this mean that each model with these is eligible to throw them in the shooting phase?

Cheers, and thanks again for all the work you've put in!

[Darth Meer]

Thanks for your comment Rion,

Do you have any type of sheet to keep track of a player's Team? Something like a character sheet, a la D&D? If not, is this something you'd consider adding?

Can do! Will have a look at this over the weekend. It would also need to include bits for campaigns as well. Maybe something like the Mordheim roster? It would need to have space for a few more models though. Will have a think. Good idea.

The army lists talk about "rare" and "core models, and rules for establishing these aren't covered in the general rules for setting up a team. For someone like me (a Chaos player), we're uncertain as to how to proceed. Do we just follow the rules as set in "Building Your Team"?

Rare and Core models are only used when building your team from the Kill Team Lists documents and dictate how many of each you can have, they have no other effect (codex players just use the rules in the 'codex teams' document). At the start of every Kill Team List document there is a 'Model Availability' table that lists how many of each type you can take. I though it was pretty self-explanatory by having 'You must follow the following model requirements:', but if you feel it needs further explanation i'll have a look at adding it to v1.3 of the rules (there's a big list of changes already!).

And in addition to this, our Blood Angels and Ork players were wondering why there are eligible codex models that just aren't listed in their respective army lists. Are these models just not eligible, or should they too follow the "Building Your Team" rules?

The Kill Team Lists are supposed to be relatively balanced for the size of the game, and adjust units that are cool but would otherwise be too expensive (i.e. the Watcher instead of Chaplain). I also used these lists to add some more flavour to the team. Is there anything specific you wanted the see in either list? You can build your list either from the Kill Team List or the codex (using the codex team building rules), not a combination of both.

Some models are given Frak/Krak grenades. Does this mean that each model with these is eligible to throw them in the shooting phase?

Yup! Remember you can only fire one weapon per turn. This still needs playtesting though, we are thinking of reducing your BS by 1 if you throw a grenade (due to the reduced accuracy of throwing) if people were just spamming krak grenades before they assault. Either that are make grenades a one-shot weapon. What do you think?

Cheers, and thanks again for all the work you've put in!

No problem! Let me know if you have any other ideas! Ive had a few other people help our group already and all the input we get is great. Just as an insight, we were thinking of adding a Diving/Climbing charge mechanic in v1.3 - if you charge from a position more than 3" above your opponents base you gain the Hammer of Wrath special rule, but require a successful jump test. What do you think?

[Rion]

Thanks for the quick reply Darth!

The Mordheim roster looks pretty good, actually! There's obviously a bit of stuff that's not required, but that'll work for our first weekend of gaming!

As far as the missing BA models, our guy just likes his Death Company and BA, and was sad that he couldn't field Dreads at all, and an extremely limited amount of Death Company, with the ability to not count-as Troops as they can in regular 40k.

We keep going back and forth talking about grenades. They'll probably be too strong against armies like Orks and IG, who have actual squads, but if you put them at -1 or one use only, you risk them becoming close to worthless. So we're not sold either way. It's something we'll look out for when playing this weekend!

We'll be able to provide you a ton of playtesting this weekend If you'd like I'll send along battle reps, and let you know what we think.

Have a good weekend!

[Darth Meer]

How did your games go Rion? Are you related in any way to the playtesters over at DakkaDakka as they had a game last weekend too? Some really good feedback from them as well, including a load of rules changes i would love to hear your views on! Mostly campaign stuff, but some integral rules such as assault and overwatch.

[Darth Meer]

A lot of additions in Rules v1.3

So many in fact, I've written a change log:

Changes in Kill Team Rules v1.3
- Changed wording for climbing and jumping, added 1" and unit type exceptions.
- Added 'Hiding' rule to enable hidden models. This is converted from the old Mordheim rule that we though was great.
- Combined the Run and Fleet rules.
- Added Grenade rule - all shooting grenades have One Use Only rule.
- Added charge sub-phase ‘order of operations'
- Added Supporting Charges
- Added Diving Charges
- Added Climbing Charges
- Added Overwatch
- Added Quick-rolling
- Added Supporting Attacks
- Removed 'outnumbering' from Assault results
- Amended Squad rule to include rules for hiding and jumping/climbing.
- Changed Destructible Markers wording.
- Added Optional Rule – Destructible Terrain

This isn't quite public yet, so if you have anyone has any quick changes they think needs to be done - let me know!

[Darth Meer]

Had a big chat with my group the other day, and sat down to rewrite the new campaign rules. Take a look and let me know what you think

LOTS of changes!

I've also updated the 'Official Codex' document with notes on how to use them in campaigns.

And in case anyone gets confused, i've changed 'Rare' to 'Special' in all rules, simply because we thought it sounded more representative - and worked in the campaign rules better.

I'll try and get the Roster Sheet done ASAP.

[Darth Meer]

New Kill Team Rules v1.4 update is now available.

First of all, yes, plasma EXPLODES! We all thought plasma was a bit overpowered in Kill Team currently (hence, everyone was taking as much as they could), especially with Suppressing Fire. Making Gets Hot weaponry explode gives it a little bit of a drawback. Plus its cool.

Also in this update is the addition of new Difficult Terrain rules, stolen shamelessly from the LotR game. Its a bit more time consuming to work out than the normal 2d6 rules, but we think its a lot more immersive (and makes more sense to be honest). Plus it evens out the impact of our running rules.

The other big change is the Mission rules. I know there was a lot done in v1.3, but v1.4 really shakes them up. Gone are the random secret missions - they just didn't seem to be popular, especially as un-trustworthy people tended to just make up their secret missions... The new system is very tradition, with 5 big missions/scenarios (I couldn't make up a 6th, that will be a future update) that you simply roll a d6 for at the start of the game. The new missions are Skirmish, Relic Hunt, Last Stand, Hostage, and Sabotage.

In other Kill Team news, the Chaos Space Marines and Space Wolves team lists are live, as well as a fillable version of the updated roster sheet (download to fill and save) and the updated Legendary Heroes document for your campaigns - including a very familiar dreadnought!

Get the new Kill Team Rules here!

[Darth Meer]

Update v1.5 is out for the core Kill Team rules. In this one we have focussed on emphasising 'cinematic' terrain, adjusting some of our existing rules to match this, and changing some of the more 'abstract' rules of 40k to be more 'real'. There is now a sixth mission (missed from the last update), and a general tidying up of rules (especially grenades, and the other missions).

Get the new Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team rules here.

Also in v1.5 are optional rules for Injury. Now we originally didn't want to add these, but we've had demand for it from a few people now. It is important to note that these are additional rules, and are NOT the 'official' Kill Team rules. Our game will not be balanced to take into account these optional rules. The rules are basically taken from Mordheim, with a few tweaks to make them work in 40k. They haven't really been play-tested, so if you're brave enough to try them, any feedback would be invaluable.

You can now download the first 'mission' document, called The Raid. Its basically an attacker/defender mission using sentries - hearkening back to the old Kill Team rules from white dwarf! It even includes mission wargear such as wirecutters, grapnels, las-traps (laser beams), etc.

On the KT lists front, I'm still working on the Tau list ready to be play-tested by the group. But I have been through the current lists and added tweaks, new wargear, etc. So it's worth seeing if your list has been updated.

[Jaycen]

My group and I love your kill team rules, so much so that we haven't managed a game of full 40k in over a month now. One thing to note is that the Tau are overpowered in missions such as relic hunt, where they are able to move in both the movement, and the assault phases. This allows them to cover enough ground that they can claim most objectives in the first turn and have them back to the deployment zone in the second. Also their abundance of infiltrating troops allows them to start nearly on top of the objectives.