Kill Team Blood and Zeal

[ZeroWolf]

Well to be fair, we have had rumours about Tyranid terrain, so that would work there.

[TheMawr]

38 minutes ago, Dalmyth said:

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.

 

Kill team has been loosely tied to the "main story" before..  And although with the first Tyranid kill team terrain rumors I was leaning into a new season that will loosely link the start of edition to the end of edition campaign. This rumor sounds more as if its the next boxset, and thus set on Volkus ( there is however some previous lore implication that volkus will be invaded by tyranids, last page of this PDF : https://warcomprod2024productionstorage.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/rules-downloads/grand-narrative/vox-localum-introduction.pdf

however that is a pdf for last years grand narrative event, I dont think that had any main story or future direction relevance before.)

 

11 minutes ago, sitnam said:

 

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

 

Grey knights  vs Tyranids wouldnt be weirder to you ? Just servitors vs tyranids (wich this rumor likely means) then yes, ratlings vs tankbustas is weirder. But against Grey knights of any form I'd expect the opposition to be chaos or since 9th edition codex lore Ynnari. ( as the 4th brotherhood has them as a primary target, wich I dont weigh as heavy as my theories seem to imply btw.)

 

With the previous rumors, combined with the Blood and Zeal reveal I was speculating Grey knights Techmarine+servitors vs something chaos+tech ( my theory; TS infantry automata to compliment the rumored bigger automata.) that half went under the radar as the last one for the volkus setting.

 

And then Tyranids vs Exodites to kick off the new season, set on an exodite jungle world thats being overrun by tyranids ( to account for the tyranid terrain rumor.)

Then the box thereafter having Catachan jungle fighters  vs a Tau stealth kill team ( not a rumor.) because Jungle world. ( catachans and exodites could switch their matchup.)

 

But if this new rumor represents Admech servitors, and, as it seems.. the next season set on a Tyranid planet.

That would Leave Grey Knights and Exodites as Valraks leftover kill team rumors for the last box of this season, wich is weird for multiple reasons ( I dont see either of them as a kill team release based on what has been released), although the eldar codex did reinforce a link with ynnari and exodites just in time to have it be an Ordo Malleus team ( with A grey knight,  ) vs an Ynnari team ( with only some exodites... dead or alive... maybe firing day shoots an exodite world )

 

wich does remind me of this image again wich flamed my Grey knights techmarine with servitors theory to begin with ( like I said before, I see the image as artistic creativity, kabalites/corsairs on the left.. but the blurry silhouettes on the right, creativity or not, do not remotely represent anything mentioned as present on volkus, I still see a PA guy with a hammer and seemingly a techmarine harnass ) :

 

Arghhh I feel like Im running in circles with my speculation

For all we know we wont even have 4 kill team matchups set on Volkus and with this set, volkus is done, or, like this very topic proofs there have been things flying completely under the rumor radar or are completely misidentified.

 

 

All of this also begs another question

 

What would Tyranids even get as a kill team ? their most kill teamy things have been freshly updated. Warriors is the obvious thought, and it could be a case of a repurposed main release ( like Striking scorpions and Wrecka boyz.)

And also.. is this topic even the right place to really go further into this future speculation or should I make it its own in Amicus Aedes ? ( I dont even know how.)

[Lord Marshal]

If it's Servitors then I assume it'll involve Tech-Priests since AdMech still haven't had any dedicated Kill Team models and Hunter Clade goes Declassified in a few months.

 

Edited March 4 by Lord Marshal

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

It´s a shame that we don´t get a modern version of the Death Cult Assassin anymore:

 

[TheMawr]

1 hour ago, Lord Marshal said:

If it's Servitors then I assume it'll involve Tech-Priests since AdMech still haven't had any dedicated Kill Team models and Hunter Clade goes Declassified in a few months.

 

 

Obviously, hence why it puts a dent in my previous theories.

Servitor kill team = Admech

 

Admech kill team could be a wider scope, and the dented theory Grey knights kill team as well ( wich I explain below.) but if they call it a Servitor kill team in the rumor, its very likely going to be Admech.

 

Grey knight kill team ( older rumor) isnt very likely to be a full team of grey knight marines, the main reason not even being because of the other bespoke created teams having a similar off-core focus as is shown again with Blood and Zeal, or that a PA grey knights team would be more elite than the angels of death one. but because the "grey knights wont be refreshed this edition" from the same source contradicts that by their very minimalistic amount of kits. 

 

a PA kill team would update 4 of the 6 unit datasheets and some characters, wich would be called half a refresh in rumorverse. Its possible/likely that the 4 PA units dont come from one single kit after they update them. But its (imho) very unlikely they first release the lowest level PA unit in a proper updated form while you still have to build the elite PA units from the old kit, for 2 years or more. In the ( unlikely ) case of it being the Terminator kit, wich covers less datasheets and could co-exist with old PA shortly.. the rumormongers had shouted it of the rooftops, because while its a minority of the datasheets.. it is the majority of Grey knights soul.

 

However when you look at off-core options.. Grey knights are fluff locked out of having neophytes/novitates on the field and by their secretive nature dont have a ( potential ) mortal sub unit. They have only one unit currently that fits the bill : Techmarine with servitors... a unit type that doesnt exist for other spacemarines anymore, and for GK would either mean update or removal. And it makes too much sense with the daemonic meeting the machine more and more ( Vashtorr, TS with their psy automata.) to counter that with a more specialised arcane servitors for grey knights, from a miniature design mindset point of view at least.

 

The only other off-core option that ever was part of Grey knights codex is Jokaero, wich was a vague inclusion in the first place but also, beyond maybe one of them, not something I see happening to fill out a solo Grey Knight+chaff kill team I suspect. While visually crusaders look fitting, I dont think crusaders have any relevance to grey knights and are first and foremost an eccliarchical force right ?

 

[Madao]

3 hours ago, Deus_Ex_Machina said:

It´s a shame that we don´t get a modern version of the Death Cult Assassin anymore:

 

What about the one in Elucidan Starstriders?

Edited March 4 by Madao

[ZeroWolf]

6 hours ago, TheMawr said:

 

Kill team has been loosely tied to the "main story" before..  And although with the first Tyranid kill team terrain rumors I was leaning into a new season that will loosely link the start of edition to the end of edition campaign. This rumor sounds more as if its the next boxset, and thus set on Volkus ( there is however some previous lore implication that volkus will be invaded by tyranids, last page of this PDF : https://warcomprod2024productionstorage.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/rules-downloads/grand-narrative/vox-localum-introduction.pdf

however that is a pdf for last years grand narrative event, I dont think that had any main story or future direction relevance before.)

 

 

Grey knights  vs Tyranids wouldnt be weirder to you ? Just servitors vs tyranids (wich this rumor likely means) then yes, ratlings vs tankbustas is weirder. But against Grey knights of any form I'd expect the opposition to be chaos or since 9th edition codex lore Ynnari. ( as the 4th brotherhood has them as a primary target, wich I dont weigh as heavy as my theories seem to imply btw.)

 

With the previous rumors, combined with the Blood and Zeal reveal I was speculating Grey knights Techmarine+servitors vs something chaos+tech ( my theory; TS infantry automata to compliment the rumored bigger automata.) that half went under the radar as the last one for the volkus setting.

 

And then Tyranids vs Exodites to kick off the new season, set on an exodite jungle world thats being overrun by tyranids ( to account for the tyranid terrain rumor.)

Then the box thereafter having Catachan jungle fighters  vs a Tau stealth kill team ( not a rumor.) because Jungle world. ( catachans and exodites could switch their matchup.)

 

But if this new rumor represents Admech servitors, and, as it seems.. the next season set on a Tyranid planet.

That would Leave Grey Knights and Exodites as Valraks leftover kill team rumors for the last box of this season, wich is weird for multiple reasons ( I dont see either of them as a kill team release based on what has been released), although the eldar codex did reinforce a link with ynnari and exodites just in time to have it be an Ordo Malleus team ( with A grey knight,  ) vs an Ynnari team ( with only some exodites... dead or alive... maybe firing day shoots an exodite world )

 

wich does remind me of this image again wich flamed my Grey knights techmarine with servitors theory to begin with ( like I said before, I see the image as artistic creativity, kabalites/corsairs on the left.. but the blurry silhouettes on the right, creativity or not, do not remotely represent anything mentioned as present on volkus, I still see a PA guy with a hammer and seemingly a techmarine harnass ) :

 

Arghhh I feel like Im running in circles with my speculation

For all we know we wont even have 4 kill team matchups set on Volkus and with this set, volkus is done, or, like this very topic proofs there have been things flying completely under the rumor radar or are completely misidentified.

 

 

All of this also begs another question

 

What would Tyranids even get as a kill team ? their most kill teamy things have been freshly updated. Warriors is the obvious thought, and it could be a case of a repurposed main release ( like Striking scorpions and Wrecka boyz.)

And also.. is this topic even the right place to really go further into this future speculation or should I make it its own in Amicus Aedes ? ( I dont even know how.)

Wasn't the last season only 3 boxes or am I forgetting a match up?

[Captain Idaho]

2 hours ago, Madao said:

What about the one in Elucidan Starstriders?

 

It looks nothing like the Blanche style, borderline insane cybernetic theological bent nutcases from original concept art, I'm presuming he meant.

 

Like these:

 

 

 

having said that, I did come across this brilliant interpretation of the Elucidan Starstriders Death Cult Assassin:

 

 

A solid alternative and keeps much more in narrative of the original. Looks cool.

[ThePenitentOne]

Yes, by all means, let's talk about Death Cult Assassins, shall we?

Narrative, Lore, Rules and Models.

 

To the best of my knowledge, they were introduced in 3rd edition, at a time when Sisters were transitioned from exclusively representing the Ecclesiarchy to also serving as the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus. This was the Witch Hunters dex- a solid book that would be reinterpretted again and again as edition churn continued, though always remaining at least somewhat faithful to both the 3rd ed Witch Hunter book and the Sisters of Battle dex that preceded it in 2nd edition.

 

The Lore in the Witch Hunter book was this, and nothing more or less:

 

Death Cults can be found on many Imperial worlds; some are Chaos spawned and lend servitude only to Khorne, the Blood God, while others are religiously, fanatically dedicated to the Imperial Creed, offering those they slay to the Emperor, a payment of the blood-debt all mankind owes Him. An Inquisitor can make use of such devotees, their skill and prowess in the arts of death making them excellent executioners and infiltrators. Death cultists employ exotic ritual weapons for their work- a dizzying array of stilettos, whip-scythes and blades backed by augmentative digi-wepons and needlers.

 

They came in units of 1-3, but were not required to maintain coherency, and they could be used ONLY if an Inquisitor Lord or Inquisitor was present in the army. Like the other dexes of the era, the Witch Hunters book was lean, containing no story excerpts like later dexes, meaning the quoted passage above is the ONLY source of Lore/ Narrative of the era, and notably, it says NOTHING about DCA's being exclusively female, nor being associated with Sister of Battle, other than as fellow potential servants of the Inquisitors of the Hereticus.

 

However, at the time the 54 mm Inquisitor game also made its debut, and much of the 40k Inquisition content was based on that book. It said basically the same things about DCA's as the Witch Hunters dex, but it did some details about ritual murder, cannibalism, and blood drinking, and mentioned that SOME DCA's even receive training in the temples of the Officio Assassinorum. But significantly, this lore too contained not a single word that would imply exclusively female membership. However...

 

The 54 mm models for two characters named Sevora and Severina Devout were the sole representatives of DCA's. Their character backgrounds would constitute Narrative (as opposed to Lore), and it named the Cult from which these twins were taken (the Emperor's Blades). It mentioned that these women were skilled in the use of blades, but that the could neither speak nor read and communicated with a sign language developed by their Cult. And again, not one word suggested exclusively female membership- in fact it includes specific refferences to the "Masters and Mistresses" of the Cult.

 

So when models were needed in 40k scale, GW chose to duplicate Sevora and Severina, who were very popular in the Inquisitor game in order to save on additional design time. One could be forgiven for ASSUMING female exclusivity based on the choices GW made when releasing the models... But never once was their a single word about female exclusivity for Death Cults in general, and in fact there was an explicit reference to male members in the particular Death Cult from Sevora and Severina were taken.

 

Over the years and churning editions, DCA's changed, becoming units of 2-5 at one point, being one option in a Battle Conclave unit that could also include Arcos and Crusaders, and at times losing their explicit connection to the Inquisition in favour of a greater connection with the Ecclesiarchy. And then, during the 8th edition, the Rogue Trader expansion for Kill team introduced a Death Cult Assassin named Knosso Prond, who was affiliated with NEITHER the Inquisition, NOR the Ecclesiarchy, rather a servant of Rogue Trader Elucia Vhane and her Euclidian Starstriders. The Lore for Death Cults is much the same as what appears in the Witch Hunter Book and Inquisitor. However...

 

Knosso also has a background, which once again would constitute a "Narrative" - her Cult is the Winged Skull. She has been put on a quest to slay at least one of no fewer than 1000 species of Xenos species before returning to her Temple. This quest was assigned by a Priestess. There is no mention in either the Lore or this narrative of exclusive female membership, however there is also no explicit reference to male members as there is in the Narrative of the Emperor's Blades.

 

In time, the Knosso model became a generic DCA model that could only be field with a generic Rogue Trader unit. So all three models that can represent DCA's began their lives as characters, which eventually became generic; none of the Lore associated with Death Cults in general, and neither of the narratives associated with the two specific cults for the characters says anything about female exclusivity, and ONE of those narratives explicitly references male members...

 

But again, the casual player can be forgiven for assumptions about female exclusivity based on the decision GW has made with the model range- both the decision to sculpt only female characters and to then convert those characters to generic representations of Death Cult Assassins in general. And so, as bland or derivative of Assassin's Creed as the new model may be, it actually corrects a terrible mistake that GW has been making for two and a half decades and inviting hundreds of players over the years to make the same mistake.

 

Viva Le Knife-Boi.

[Ripper.McGuirl]

Thank you for writing all this out for me so I didnt have to! I was very confused by all of the talk of the Death Cult being only ladies. It’s not a situation like, say, the Incubi which used to have both male and female and now no longer do.

It’s just a random weirdo.

[WARMASTER_]

On 3/4/2025 at 11:25 PM, Captain Idaho said:

 

It looks nothing like the Blanche style, borderline insane cybernetic theological bent nutcases from original concept art, I'm presuming he meant.

 

Like these:

 

 

 

having said that, I did come across this brilliant interpretation of the Elucidan Starstriders Death Cult Assassin:

 

 

A solid alternative and keeps much more in narrative of the original. Looks cool.

O come on how isn’t the star striders  assassin not all if the above she’s a samurai sword wielding, gas masked tight leather clad psycho with a severed head in hand, she’s fantastic 

 

wish GW would give us more like that model 

 

 

 

Edited March 6 by WARMASTER_

[Captain Idaho]

On 3/4/2025 at 11:25 PM, Captain Idaho said:

 

It looks nothing like the Blanche style, borderline insane cybernetic theological bent nutcases from original concept art, I'm presuming he meant.

 

Like these:

 

 

 

having said that, I did come across this brilliant interpretation of the Elucidan Starstriders Death Cult Assassin:

 

 

A solid alternative and keeps much more in narrative of the original. Looks cool.

 

Again, here is my post you missed 

[WARMASTER_]

1 hour ago, Captain Idaho said:

 

Again, here is my post you missed 

Nope if you look I quoted that exact post? 

[Captain Idaho]

I was being facetious because I suspect you didn't read my post you quoted, so I repeated it because it directly contradicts what you were contesting me of saying.

 

Bit of humour to keep it casual.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

On 3/4/2025 at 9:54 PM, Madao said:

What about the one in Elucidan Starstriders?

So I have to buy a box of minis which I don´t like to get a single DC Assassin? Back in the day two of them were sold in blisters with no baggage attached to them. 

[Robbienw]

That's because they were single metal casts.  Times have moved on.  

 

You would have been able to pick up the assassin as a single model from a bits shop though.

[ZeroWolf]

1 hour ago, Robbienw said:

That's because they were single metal casts.  Times have moved on.  

 

You would have been able to pick up the assassin as a single model from a bits shop though.

Or ebay most likely

[WARMASTER_]

On 3/6/2025 at 1:04 PM, Captain Idaho said:

I was being facetious because I suspect you didn't read my post you quoted, so I repeated it because it directly contradicts what you were contesting me of saying.

 

Bit of humour to keep it casual.

I read it and replied to this part of your response 

 

On 3/6/2025 at 10:20 AM, Captain Idaho said:

It looks nothing like the Blanche style, borderline insane cybernetic theological bent nutcases from original concept art, I'm presuming he meant.

My point was, it does a great job at representing that, so I’m not sure where you’re getting confused at my response?

 

As you say though we don’t appear to be moving forward with the discussion so probably best we leave it 

[Halandaar]

On 3/4/2025 at 1:44 AM, Commissar Greif said:

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.

 

Plasma Gun is a callback to this variant, looks like you can build a few different ways to approximate a few of the old Missionaries 

Edited Friday at 05:21 PM by Halandaar

[Madao]

Do you think there will be any reasonable assembly options? Or everything is monopose?

Edited Friday at 07:56 PM by Madao

[Tastyfish]

1 hour ago, Madao said:

Do you think there will be any reasonable assembly options? Or everything is monopose?

 

There seems to be a few headswaps and alternative backpacks in the video.

The Conflagrator in the picture of the bottom has a book strapped to his back rather than some sort of relic and a bald head with goggles rather than crazy hair.

[INKS]

I am trying to figure out proxies. but I think I can do a this team - priests to Ad mech - tech priests.

[Borbarad]

Dang, World Easter is just shy of a month away and we have heard nothing and seen nothing beyond this Kill Team. 
 

Doesn’t raise my hope that there will be anything more than the odd Character relese 

 

[Mandragola]

18 hours ago, INKS said:

I am trying to figure out proxies. but I think I can do a this team - priests to Ad mech - tech priests.

I dug through the bits box and found a few priest and receptionist bodies. These ought to help fill out a roster I think. 
 

[Magos Takatus]

On 3/7/2025 at 5:16 PM, Halandaar said:

 

Plasma Gun is a callback to this variant, looks like you can build a few different ways to approximate a few of the old Missionaries 

I love this guy, I'd forgotten about him. Look how crude that bionic arm is! That speaks volumes to his standing in Imperial Society and his relationship to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Not everyone has access to top-of-the-range augmetics and this chap represents that perfectly. That's why I was so surprised at the legs that the Khorne guys have. The Dark Mechanicum must share their tech with the most downtrodden of Chaos worshippers. How very kind of them. 

Edited Monday at 08:41 AM by Magos Takatus
Mechanicus, Mechanicum. Me being a pedant with myself.