Kill Team Blood and Zeal

[Rusted Boltgun]

I wasn't sure about these Kill Teams at first glance, I wasn't sure what they would bring to the game but the decks they come with bring a mechanic to make them a bit different from previous Teams such as the Inquisitorial Agents or the Blooded - though the Blooded will be in the first batch to be declassified.

 

I do like the minis in the Sanctifier Team, that cherub has a face that feels familiar but I couldn't say which piece of art it was from.

 

They look like the basis for a great team in a narrative sequence but that's still lacking in this edition (unless I've missed something).

 

I'm not blown away by the Khornate team, especially the ones bouncing off the walls. 

 

So is this the first male Death Cult Assassin? Ensuring the depiction of males isn't ignored in the representation of that Cult and undercutting the prevalent trope of the predatory female in skin tight gear in science fiction?

 

Might swap him out for the one from the Starstriders.

 

 

[Alby the Slayer]

I really don't care if you want to do a male death cult assassin, just put some cool visuals on it!

Do they read their own lore? He is not a mere imperial assassin.

He is so bland it's almost insulting . Make it at least a slender figure, not a heavy buffed moron.

 

And with Kibellah, the death cult assassin character recently released for the game Rogue Trader, it would have been so cool to see a wink from GW if they wanted to create a death cult assassine miniature for this release.

 

The Death Cult assassin we wanted:

 

What GW gave us:

 

 

 

The rest of the release Imperial side is not bad, I like them.

 

For the Goremongers my WE brothers already said it all...

 

 

[WARMASTER_]

4 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

I never said the background was exclusive on them, I have been consistent that the depictions of Death Cult Assassins are female has been a regular narrative in GW and Black Library stories since their promotion in the Inquisitor game and beyond. Rereading my posts in this very topic you can see that I've said as much.

 

By making them male, it is a depiction that is removed. I'd rather the female characters represented in the game aren't removed whimiscally or for unclear reasons personally, since it is a niche they fill quite nicely.

 

Are they removed now? Well yes. What female Death Cult models are sold by GW now then? Without representation by GW they cease to be, since they're not in the official zeitgeist therefore they become relegated to outdated and fan made.

Eh? 
 

 

https://www.warhammer.com/en-GB/shop/imperial-agents-rogue-trader-entourage-and-voidsmen-at-arm-2024?queryID=d5b29158f9d7b52dab7ee966dbf99258

[Captain Idaho]

Keep up mate :

 

3 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

 

Oh found it. Ta very much.

 

Though my point stands on visibility of representation.

 

Though I'm happy people are happy with the release of course. It's a personal view I have and it's not a massively prominent narrative that won't overly affect the IP regardless.

 

[Blindhamster]

I like the death cult assassin, cool to see a male one. The imperial agents one already exists so nice to see variety. I'd absolutely use this one for a character in wrath & glory or something though

 

[WARMASTER_]

@Captain Idaho I replied to a post you directed at me? It Seems like you’re the only one not keeping up with what’s available in the range 

[INKS]

I'll be honest I thought they were all women or like androgynous

[Captain Idaho]

Well they all were until this recent Assassins Creed dude.

 

Ooo I wonder what he'd look like with a Crusader style helm and perhaps some green stuff to fill out his body and make it look armoured.  I'd like that style dual swordsman.

[One Paul Murray]

The inquisitor in the first Grey Knights book has six Death Cult Assassins as her entourage and I am pretty sure that some of them are male.

[TheMawr]

2 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

Well they all were until this recent Assassins Creed dude.

 

Ooo I wonder what he'd look like with a Crusader style helm and perhaps some green stuff to fill out his body and make it look armoured.  I'd like that style dual swordsman.

 

Bottom right.. bit rough, cant get a good one. When reading this I was already digitally answering the question, that if you gonna be inspired by assassins creed for 40k Imperium, then you better be inspired by the cultists, not the heroes. ( top left one and bottom centre one where made for that.)

 

original head

 

Apart from the head (and the weird beard ) though, it remains that the rest of the assassin is designed to fit in with all the other assassins.. but arent the death cult assassins unaffiliated with the assassin temples ?

[DemonGSides]

1 2 and 3 of your versions are all super awesome.

[TheMawr]

18 minutes ago, DemonGSides said:

1 2 and 3 of your versions are all super awesome.

2 and 3 are quite doable ( the heads are extra head options in the inquistion henchmen kit.)

I might be mistaken but the metallic collar over the scarf in the assassin seems to imply the head comes seperate:

 

When you design a hooded miniature its pointless to design it so segmented unless you want to have it be modulable ( pointless.. but there have been weirder GW things ;) )

 

The 2 flame pistols priest also at least has an alt head and alt backpack, so there are at least some modular things ( wich we will probably only discover when people start building the kits, because GW is BAD at advertising their kits.)

 

Edited March 3 by TheMawr

[WrathOfTheLion]

The death cult assassin has some Dark Brotherhood vibes from the ES series, which I kind of like. Need to start a Morrowind playthrough again sometime...

Edited March 3 by WrathOfTheLion

[ZeroWolf]

9 hours ago, DemonGSides said:

1 2 and 3 of your versions are all super awesome.

Agreed that first one is really good.

[Xenith]

All I see is a cheap adamus assassin. Liking that beaked version, very Blanchian. 

[Blindhamster]

On 3/2/2025 at 10:00 PM, INKS said:

I'll be honest I thought they were all women or like androgynous

 

On 3/2/2025 at 10:17 PM, Captain Idaho said:

Well they all were until this recent Assassins Creed dude.

not according to Inquisitor, dark heresy or more recently wrath & glory, from a rules perspective, The RPGs call out gendered concepts in the setting (sisters of battle & space marines primarily). Lore wise death cults take many forms, and can appear among various types of worlds, there isn't some mystical consistent structure to them. If you can point me to a specific resource that actively says "always female" I'll happily stand corrected.

 

ART & model wise, they mostly women, presumably because people enjoy drawing form fitting latex wearing women with scary swords and a bit of a BDSM vibe...

As a little extra check, I looked at the 40k wiki (not as a good a source as the rulebooks I also looked at, but still) and found this:
"It is rumoured that some cults abduct would-be assassins at a young age, stealing babes away in the dead of night to be raised by hooded strangers until inducted into the cult. Some cults employ only men, others only women, citing a myriad of theological reasons as varied as the cults themselves. "

Which is the only reference to gender/sex at all.

Edited March 4 by Blindhamster

[Commissar Greif]

I quite like the new sanctifier team. Especially love the missionary models. The one with the plasma gun is a sort-of modern rendition of one of the old metal missionaries, which just so happens to be one of my favorite older models.

 

 

 

The assassin is definitely one of the weaker models in the team. Lacks a lot of the flare the other death cultists have had and, personally, seems a little too broad-shouldered for an assassin if you ask me. Also not fond of the cherub having a soul patch, but I can probably just trim that off.

Edited March 4 by Commissar Greif

[INKS]

Yeah I don't care what gender or sex the assassin is, the model just looks boring. i think the boots and latex bother me more than they should but the pose is boring to me, the swords are too short... it's just a meh model. It's not bad, but it doesn't blow my hair back.

 

I actually like the head on the old missionary over the new one, but neither are bad. There are much much worse heads in that set. lol

[Nephaston]

17 minutes ago, INKS said:

the swords are too short...

I think they're sufficient. Above average even. Quite large I would say. Massive in some ways!

 

Or they're daggers.

[Borbarad]

4 hours ago, INKS said:

the swords are too short...

It’s not about the size, it’s about how you use them 

[Old-Four-Arms]

Meanwhile, over at TGA, a rumour about what's next:

 

https://www.tga.community/forums/topic/22826-the-rumour-thread/?page=6570#comment-710189

 

For those not inclined to click:

 

I’d prefer Tyranids VS Servitors on a Tyranid planet. 
 

That would be cool right? 

 

TGA's Whitefang back me up has a solid reputation, so here's hoping...

[lhg033]

I am not overly bothered by either of these teams personally and the terrain piece, whilst nice, is a bit random for the rest of my collection so I will likely give this a miss.

I do like some of the models individually, particularly the priests. I do like some of the throw backs to older models.

 

[TheMawr]

5 hours ago, Old-Four-Arms said:

Meanwhile, over at TGA, a rumour about what's next:

 

https://www.tga.community/forums/topic/22826-the-rumour-thread/?page=6570#comment-710189

 

For those not inclined to click:

 

I’d prefer Tyranids VS Servitors on a Tyranid planet. 
 

That would be cool right? 

 

TGA's Whitefang back me up has a solid reputation, so here's hoping...

 

Hmm that kind of puts a dent in my theory that the grey knights kill team is a GK techmarine with servitors.

 

Or we are in for Kill teams weirdest matchup ever    

[Dalmyth]

6 hours ago, Old-Four-Arms said:

Meanwhile, over at TGA, a rumour about what's next:

 

https://www.tga.community/forums/topic/22826-the-rumour-thread/?page=6570#comment-710189

 

For those not inclined to click:

 

I’d prefer Tyranids VS Servitors on a Tyranid planet. 
 

That would be cool right? 

 

TGA's Whitefang back me up has a solid reputation, so here's hoping...

Something like that would be a fun way to tie it into the Tyrannic War. Kill Team would be such a great way to fill out narratives during their "off seasons" between campaign books.

[sitnam]

51 minutes ago, TheMawr said:

 

Hmm that kind of puts a dent in my theory that the grey knights kill team is a GK techmarine with servitors.

 

Or we are in for Kill teams weirdest matchup ever    

 

Idk, Ratlings vs Tankbustas kind of takes the cake for me