Shadow War: Imperium (Inquisimunda/Inq28 using the new Kill Team)

[Ioldanach]

A while back I was privileged to work with a group of fellow hobbyists here in the development of rules for using the Inquisition and Rogue Traders in the previous edition of Kill Team. You can see the designer's notes and links to the files here.

 

While I've always wanted to update those rules for the new edition of Kill Team, the old rules were reliant upon the old Commanders or Rogue Traders expansions. With the inclusion of the Elucidian Starstriders in the Kill Team 2022 Annual, we may have a decent precedent for including characters like rogue traders and inquisitors in kill teams, toning things down a bit from the COMMANDER rules.

 

My initial thoughts are:

• This would be a sort of expansion to allow for what we used to be able to do in the Inquisitor game, but updated based on model expansions and the new Kill Team game. While I would strive to balance it for the main game, my primary goal is to get the kill teams for this project balanced against each other for an Inquisimunda type of experience (i.e., without the main factions).
• Things would be toned down quite a bit from the previous effort. I'd still like to give players a lot of freedom, but the shift from points to fixed fire teams changes the dynamic a bit.
• Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, and Sisters of Silence would be excluded.
• Multiple kill teams would be created, allowing for different types of inquisitors, rogue traders, tech-priests, and prelates. So where the previous version of the rules allowed a player to choose an inquisitor's ordo and modify their command roster options accordingly, there would be a kill team specifically for an Ordo Malleus inquisitor, another for an Ordo Hereticus inquisitor, etc. While all of the inquisition kill teams would have broad similarities, each would have unique elements.

 

I've just begun playing around with things, so I'm very interested in any input anyone might have.

[Lord_Ikka]

I would start out with a base team template. Looking at the Starstriders, Vet Guard, and the Blooded, that would mean the something like the following:

 

1 Leader: Either an Interrogator or Inquisitor, probably depends on buffed up you want the base team

4-9 Base Acolytes: Guardsmen/Cultist-equivalent stats, with various options like medic, savant, preacher, etc...

0-4 Combat Experts: Similar to the Blooded, you get options like combat servitors that take up 2 slots, or death cult assassins that take up one slot.

 

This would give you a kill-team that is flexible, but isn't specific to any Ordos. Then tailor specific Ordos kill-teams to their specialty- Xenos have the option to take an Aeldari ranger or Kroot, Hereticus can take a pariah operative, Malleus can take a daemonhost, etc...

[Valkia the Bloody]

I am really excited what you come up with!

Some very good ideas there!

When I have some time and brains to spare, I thought about doing some brain storming about my Inquisition warband and their rules in Kill Team, too.

Pretty sad that they have not made up an Inquisition team, yet. Inquisition would be ideal!

[Lysimachus]

Sounds like a great idea! I'd do similar to what Ikka (edit: sorry bud, typo!) said:

 

I agree that an Inquisitor/Interrogator makes sense as Leader, a couple of different weapons options depending on Ordo would be nice?

 

Team of 9(ish) Operatives, chosen from:

 

Basic Acolyte (Scion/Kasrkin equivalent)

Basic Acolyte Gunner

Servitor (armed for CC or shooting)

Psyker

Death Cult Assassin

Tech-Adept

 

Other Specialist options based on which Ordo you pick:

Xenos:

Deathwatch Marine (takes up 2 or even 3 slots, can't take him if you take either of the other 2 specials!)

Eldar Ranger

Kroot Tracker

 

Hereticus:

Battle Sister (2 slots)

Priest

 

Malleus:

Grey Knight (3 slots)

Daemonhost (again, can't take both!)

 

Obvs, everything except the Basic Acolyte is 0-1.

 

Edit: And other than the Leader, I wouldn't include much in the way of loadout options, to keep things simple. Gunner would have plas/melta/flamer, and servitor could be servo arm or heavy bolter.

Edited October 15, 2022 by Lysimachus

[schoon]

Love the idea, and I think that Ikka has the basic template right.

 

Keeping things in terms of Leader + Basic Troops + Special Troops provides a good framework for balanced teams.

[Ioldanach]

Keeping in mind that this isn't just about the Inquisition (I'm aiming for the basic diversity that the Inquisitor game offered), I'm looking at four baseline kill teams:

• Inquisition
• Rogue Traders
• Adeptus Mechanicus
• Ecclesiarchy

The intent is to have each represent the most common type of kill team that might participate in the shadow wars of the Imperium, each being unique in terms of its members and rules. Each would then offer variations based on subsets. The Inquisition is the best to describe the concept. There are the ordos, each of which would offer a unique variation in terms of members, psychic powers, and weapons/wargear. There is also the radical/puritan option, which would create further variation. The Inquisition probably has the most variety in this, but each of the other factions would similarly have some variant options. For the most part, I'd like to build a consolidated framework for members. For example, a crusader is a crusader is a crusader, so a crusader in an Ordo Hereticus Inquisition kill team would be the same as a crusader in an Ecclesiarchy kill team. There might be differences in terms of how many there might be (I could see an Ecclesiarchy kill team allowing for more crusaders than an Inquisition kill team, for example), but the operatives would follow common rules throughout. In this way, the faction book can be smaller by simply presenting the rules for each operative type once and relying on the kill team rules to identify how they may be used differently in different kill teams.

 

The Elucidian Starstriders and Corsairs are two official kill teams that provide an example for how I think this concept will work (there are others that are similar, but these are the two that I've looked at closely).

[Lysimachus]

That sounds very reasonable, I like the idea of picking a Leader and that tells you what kind of retinue it will be. 

 

5 hours ago, Ioldanach said:

There is also the radical/puritan option, which would create further variation.

 

Derp, that is an obvious and much better way of explaining what I was trying to suggest above regarding fighter choices... so eg; a Puritan Ordo Xenos Inquisition warband could take the Deathwatch Marine, whereas a Radical Ordo Xenos could take Kroot/Eldar?

 

 

[Lord_Ikka]

Hmm- i think the idea of Inquisition, Rogue Trader, and Ecclesiarchy kill-teams is a good one, but adding AdMech to that may be an issue. One, it seems that GW will most likely do that themselves and two, the AdMech don't really overlap a lot with the other three in terms of available operatives. So for the first three here are my initial thoughts on teams-

 

Inquisition 

1 Leader (Interrogator/Inquisitor)

4-9 Basic operatives- Operative A (see below), Operative A variants

0-4 Specialist Operatives: Operative B options

 

Rogue Trader

1 Rogue Trader Leader

4-9 Basic Operatives: Operative A, Operative A variants

0-4 Special Operatives: Operative C options

 

Ecclesiarchy

1 Leader (Ministoris Militant?)

4-9 Basic Operatives: Operative A, Operative A variants

0-4 Special Operatives: Operative D options

 

Operative A/variants

Voidsman/Guardsmen/Scion profile (whichever the consensus deems best)- with the option for either Las-weapon and bayonet or Laspistol and melee weapon (chainsword?)

Variants- Gunners (plasma, flamer, melta, etc...), heavy weapon gunner, medic, zealot-type, tech-operative (Inquisition and Rogue Trader only), dog/canine, preacher/savant/recorder, other minor variant types (insert other minor specializations here)

 

Operative B options

Expert combat operative (costs 1 slot, can take one of each option)- assassin type, either sniper or Crusader

Servitor-style operative (costs 2 slots)- big operative with a special/heavy weapon and/or basty melee, but slow

Ordos operative (costs 1 slot)- based on Ordo/radical/puritan, gives options for extra operative like daemonhost, sanctioned psyker, Xenos merc, etc...

 

Operative C options

Expert combat operative (costs 1 slot, can take one of each option)- assassin type, either sniper or melee

Xenos merc (costs 1 slot)- various Xenos mercs availbe for hire

Special Rogue Trader operative- some sort of unique or interesting guy

 

Operative D options

Crusader (costs 1 slot, may take up to 3)

Arcoflagellant (costs 2)

Redeemer (costs 1)- buffing unit

 

[Brother Tyler]

Realistically, though different factions might share some operatives, each will have some distinctiveness. The largest overlap will be between inquisitors and rogue traders, with both the Ecclesiarchy and Adeptus Mechanicus, especially the latter, being quite distinct. Those are the four main faction types from the Inquisitor game, though it would be fun to add in Chaos cults to the mix. The key difference between factions developed to represent the Inquisitor [game] roots is the leading operatives. The Inquisition, for example, allowed for Inquisitor Lords, [regular] Inquisitors, and Acolytes; the Adeptus Mechanicus, meanwhile, allowed for a Magos or Tech Priest to lead; and the Ecclesiarchy allowed for Cardinals, Drill Abbots, and Preachers. I agree that GW will give us bespoke Adeptus Mechanicus kill team options, but they're likely to be quite different from what we might see developed as a representation of what we could do in the Inquisitor game. The Inquisition and rogue traders are the easy priorities, but the wars fought in the shadows of the Imperium feature diverse players and we shouldn't rule them out prematurely.

[Lord_Ikka]

Oh, I agree. I just ruled out Mechanicus for my post because they don't have any real overlap with the others, in terms of rules and models. My post was also designed as a primer, rather than fully developed set-up. It is a fairly easy plug and play version of the groups to get people's thoughts going and working. Going further into the idea is the goal, with more detail and specific models.

[Ioldanach]

So I've been pondering more on this, especially after seeing this month's White Dwarf and the conversions of the Darktide characters, and I see this project having two outcomes, as before. In fact, I'll probably use the same names as before. The first version will be "basic" and will be limited by the models. The second version will be "unchained" and will aim for a lot more conversion, though it will be limited by what has been allowed in previous editions. The "unchained" version will probably differ from the "standard" version in that it will use points values, after all, it has to allow for a lot more weapon/wargear combinations.