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Wasn't expecting to see this on a friday afternoon. New Kill Team box set featuring Tau Stealth Suits and Wolf Scouts. Tau Team: Wolf Scout team:

Kill Team as a separate "game" was originally part of the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook in the 4th edition of the game, published in 2004. That version was based on a special scenario for the 3rd edition of the game in which Gav Thorpe's Last Chancers were featured. The original (WH40K) Kill Team was somewhat different from what we have had for the last three editions of the game, but the Joint Ops Mission Pack in the current edition of the game evokes some of the same concepts. Switching gears, the Space Hulk boardgame was originally published in 1989, introducing players to the Adeptus Astartes Terminators, Genestealers, and space hulks. The game was fantastic, earning the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame in 1989, with the Deathwing expansion receiving the same award in 1990. A 2nd edition of the game was published in 1996. The game fell into the limbo of being not supported by Game Workshop, though it remained beloved by fans. Cut to 2005 and Games Workshop catered to fans of the Space Hulk game by presenting the Return to Space Hulk rules/guidelines via the web, using the Kill Team rules as a framework. Players were thrilled. And I had the presence of mind to save everything Games Workshop gave us for this offering since I was worried about it later disappearing (spoiler: it did). Of course, Games Workshop later gave us the fantastic 3rd edition of the Space Hulk game in 2009, followed by a 4th edition in 2014 (I consider it edition 3.5, but that's just me being crotchety). The Space Hulk game hasn't received official support from Games Workshop in the time since, however, so it occurred to me that those hobbyists unfortunate enough to not have access to any edition might enjoy using the latest Kill Team rules to sort of play something kind of but not really like it. And then Games Workshop decided to release the Space Marine Heroes Blood Angels [Terminators] as the made to order Heroes of the First Company. While lacking a Terminator Librarian and the appropriate number of Terminators armed solely with power fists and storm bolters, this offering seemed like a great way for hobbyists to get ten Terminators (they would just need a few more power fist/storm bolter Terminators and a box or two of Genestealers). I have the Rise of the Orks game and a few of these Terminator models are in there, and I think they are great as an entry. Naturally, I forked over my hard-earned money for a set. So I've begun yet another project. It's still very much a work in progress, but I figured I'd leave this here as a teaser... No, nothing on that "card" is final. And no, players won't need to buy the Heroes of the First Company to use these rules (if/when I ever get them finished). I figure that anyone that already has the Space Hulk game doesn't need this, so I'm crafting this around players that don't have the Space Hulk game. I expect to use the Gallowdark terrain (I guess it's a good thing I created the Gallowdark Map Workbook ). This is currently envisioned as a Mission Pack for Kill Team - standard Kill Team rules with a few Space Hulkish things added on to evoke the older game. And for those that have their own Terminator models, I'll probably present image-less datacards for the Terminators so you can substitute your own, just for the cool factor. More to come...

Or Strike Force Variel.

So after a delay, the outreach session finally took place today. Despite how much I suck (more on that later), I think it went very well. So how do I suck? The overall summary of my suckiness is that I allowed myself to be distracted by other things. Admittedly, some of those were Real Life things and far more important than the game, but a significant chunk of the time I should have been devoting to preparing for the big day was devoted to some site stuff. I'm kind of excited about that stuff, though, so I'll get over it. The community will be seeing that site stuff SoonTM, too. But a more detailed list of my failings is in order. For starters, I didn't get my Legio kill team finished. I'm a paint snob and, though my skills are mediocre (at best), I won't play with unpainted (or unfinished) miniatures. I allowed myself to be distracted by far too many things to get the Legio models finished to a level with which I was satisfied, so at the last minute I dug out some miniatures that I painted over 20 years ago. They're not great, but they were "finished" to a battle-ready level. I have plans to improve them, but they're serviceable. I also had a bunch of other grandiose ambitions that I failed to achieve. The other big area where I suck is that I totally forgot to take pictures of the game. I didn't quite refresh my understanding of the 2021 edition of the rules to a perfect level, so a couple of things weren't quite up to snuff. It was a friendly game, though, and we realized midway through that we should have been doing a few things a little differently, but those mistakes didn't reduce anyone's fun. Indeed, they probably sped things up a bit, so the small errors may have been beneficial. Things didn't quite go as planned, however. First, it took longer than it should have to get to the game store in which we played (which is a really cool game store, by the way - Hole in the Wall Hobbies in Universal City, TX), partly because of the construction taking place on the freeways (there's always construction taking place somewhere on the freeways here) and partly because my GPS sucks. I got there early, though, since I'm experienced enough to plan for these things. Then one additional player showed up, for a total of five (including me). That would have made things a bit hinky, so the four of them divided into two teams of two and I sat on the side and helped them learn the game. While it was disappointing to not actually play, the whole experience was well worth it and I don't feel that I lost out in the least. While we were playing the 2021 edition of the game, we used a modified version of the Joint Ops rules from the current edition, splitting each player's kill team in half so that we didn't have operatives tripping over each other (and so that the game wouldn't drag out too long). Team Black (based on a coincidence of shirt colors) ended up as a fire team of Necron Warriors and a fire team of Repentia while Team Pink (again, shirt colors) ended up as three Intercessors and two Adeptus Custodes. For terrain, we kept things very simple and used only an old Space Marine statue (from the Cities of Death era), a bunch of barricades (again, from the Cities of Death era), and the actual small barricades for the 2021 edition of the game. They fought out a basic Open Play mission, with a quick movement to contact and deadly scrum. The game ended up being called at the end of turning point three when Team Black had only one Necron Warrior remaining against one Adeptus Custode and one Intercessor. I think everyone was down on wounds, but the writing was definitely on the wall. All in all, it was great fun to introduce fellow hobbyists to a new way to enjoy the hobby. I'm certain that we played a few things incorrectly, but this wasn't a game "to win" - it was a game "to learn." And even though I was on the sidelines, it was great fun to be involved in the game and to watch as their delight in the game grew, cheering on good rolls and groaning at terrible rolls together while encouraging everyone to have fun. It's always great to spend time with good people. Overall, they all said that they had a lot of fun and were very interested in adding Kill Team to their Warhammer 40,000 hobbying, so I'll consider it a mission accomplished.

The idea behind this thread is to highlight modeling and painting efforts put into producing a Kill Team. Not that extra effort is required, but if you put some thought into the story of your team, feel free to share those thoughts along with your painted models. +++ So to set the stage, I present The Scar Crusade, which is based on a small crusade (seven figures) accompanying a Mechanicus Explorator fleet, as depicted in the McNeill "Lords or Mars" trilogy. Two of the figures I did not model as one Kul Gilad, Reclusiarch is in Terminator armor and the other Auiden is an Apothecary. The five models I started out with represent the crusade after a specific point in the story line. Given that it would be a small number of figures, I also decided to true scale them using the Doghouse technique of adapting Cataphractii terminators and converting them to Mk. III armor equivalents. I am a big fan of the Mk. III set of armor. The Scar Crusade Brother Sergeant Tanna - He is described as having a beard and a widow's peak, which I thought interesting enough to model. He is the only member without a helmet on. Yael - Described as the newest member of the crusade, recently promoted to initiate, favored by the Marshal, seems to desire to prove his worth to his more experienced brethren. So I tried to give him a slightly different pose, be it impractical or not, as a way to convey his individuality and style. Also, when he sparred with Magos Dahan, he fought with his chainsword and a combat knife. Issur - If I am remembering him correctly, is a recognized bladesman, but did not receive the Emperor's vision and therefore did not get to become the Crusade's champion. There is a certain level of resentment in him about that. I opted to give him a fairly standard pose to represent his "I don't like what happened, but I am still a Templar" attitude. Bracha - I made Bracha the comms guy because I was running out of names and slots for story/game roles. Zion - Not in the story, it seems from battle reports I've seen, this additional firepower would be helpful. Aetius - Another non-story character added to potentially provide tactical options to the team. Besides, it's hard to burn witches if you don't have a lighter. Atticus Varda (Emperor's Champion) - Oddly, he is not the best bladesman in the crusade, Issur is. Yet he received the vision. He is described as wearing more ornate armor than his brethren and a laurel on his helm made out of ivory. He is the only member of the team without battle damage. It was observed by Tanna after a big fight, that although he was in the thick of huge battle they were leaving, he did not have a mark on him. I thought that comment interesting enough to want to model it. Cheers,

Hadn't seen this posted here yet; accidentally(?) leaked from the German retailer Elbenwald. Keen eyes have noticed that compared to the existing starter set Marines appear to lose the Eliminator and Smoke-Grenade-Thrower, meanwhile the Plague Marines lose the Bombardier and Bolter-Dude. It is however 49 Euros vs the 87 of the current starter set and I've read speculation it's another one of those boxes they only sell in certain major bookstores/merch shops rather than something which is meant to direct replace the existing one:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/12/13/mix-and-match-aspect-warriors-to-create-the-deadliest-blades-of-khaine-kill-team/ This is one of the Asuryani kill teams that I've been waiting for. Short description (for those that haven't read the Warhammer Community article - link above) - you can mix and match Dire Avengers, Howling Banshees, and Striking Scorpions, with one Exarch from one of those shrines, into a single kill team. This is the Craftworlders' "veteran" kill team (I don't count the Anhrathe/Corsairs as "Craftworlders"). All I need now is a Black Guardians kill team and I'll have my Aeldari trifecta.