40k: Unified Skirmish Terrain Theory

I've been playing a fair bit of Kill Team recently. Everyone has opinions on strategy and tactics but nobody really seems to know what to do with terrain. I've seen all kinds of setups. Some worked, some produced very short or extremely one-sided games.

Objectives
-Produce interesting, dynamic games.
-Force players to make meaningful choices.

This article isn't about positioning terrain to guarantee a win. It's all about setting up a board to produce a fun game for everyone involved.

Guidelines

1. Don't put terrain on the outer edge of the board.

Not sure where I got this image. It's a nice board overall but the stuff around the edges is just decoration.

Not sure where I got this one either. The buildings in red are in deployment areas. The models in them will just sit there all game sniping away.

You want to encourage movement. Putting terrain in a ring around the edge of the board and then leaving the middle empty makes for short and boring games. Teams deploy in the best buildings available and blast each other to bits. Anything foolish enough to wander into the empty middle can be targeted by anyone.

Tall terrain on the outer edge of the board also means you'll spend all game leaning over and trying not to snag a sleeve on a parapet. The official GamesWorkshop boards can trick you into putting buildings along "roads". Not the best plan.

2. The best positions require movement to reach.

Image provided by Ramanan S. The red soup can tower has two snipers on it. The poor models in white can hide in the green areas, but the snipers can hit any other part of the board.

If you can deploy a sniper (any model with a long-ranged high-powered weapon) in a spot where they can see the entire board, they can very easily control the entire game. It should take a turn or two of movement (and not shooting) to reach a position where the model can fire at two or more quarters of the board.

3. Place objectives carefully.

It's surprisingly hard to find images of objective placement, so here's an example of good placement I set up. There are multiple ways to get to the objective.

Objective markers are ubiquitous in skirmish games. Try to put them in locations that will drive conflict. Objectives in the open are difficult to hold; no cover means no protection. Objectives protected by walls on 3 sides are too easy to hold; all attacks will come from one direction. I like putting objectives on the second level of buildings or in areas with two different approach lanes.

I recommend using the objectives rules from the 2018 Nova tournament (PDF) for Kill Team. They create much more dynamic and close games.

Terrain Plan

Ok, this might be a bit difficult to follow but bear with me.

Top left: It's a skirmish board. The white areas have no line-of-sight-blocking terrain in them. The mid grey areas are places where one-story terrain should go. The dark grey square in the middle is for two-story terrain or higher.

Top right: Here's a potential layout. The light grey areas represent the back side of buildings.
Bottom left. The board divided into quadrants. In most games you'd deploy either in opposite quadrants or opposite board edges.

Bottom right: The board with examples of good objective placement. Corners are good. Objective  1 is out in the open, but there are no better locations in that quadrant. It's OK to have one or two objectives out in the open, just not all of them.

Guideline: Gap -> Ring of Buildings -> Gap -> Taller Central Building

Example Board

I set this up a earlier today. The outer edges of the board are empty. All the two-story terrain (and all the best firing positions) are near the middle of the board. The objectives are accessible in several different ways. One objective marker is on the upper level; I could put marker (1) up there too to drive a bit more conflict, but it's already a fairly powerful position to hold. Moving models in the centre of the board will be tricky but not impossible. There's a completely open side to the catwalks.

40k: Kill Team Update 2 + Inquisimunda

Gee, it's been a while. It's hard to type when your fingers are covered in superglue and your keyboard is covered in tiny plastic shavings. Don't worry, I'll be back soon enough.

The augmented warriors of the Adeptus Mechanicus look down upon their enemies and/or try to count the number of visible skulls on nearby buildings.

The Perfidious Eldar fight the Even More Perfidious Eldar.

The full terrain collection at the moment. The 1'x1' modular board segments very useful.

Kill Team (2018) is, essentially, a randomness-minimization game. You want to take as many good chances as possible and make your opponent take as many risky chances as possible. It's like chess.... except that a captured piece has a 50% chance to not be captured and you need to roll to see how many squares a Bishop, Knights, or Queen can move in a turn. And sometimes someone booby-traps your Rooks.

It's fun but it's not terribly deep. Some people on G+ were rumbling about using it as an RPG. I don't think it really works. Random chance is such a large component of the game that it's next to impossible to generate a narrative. The design space also feels very cramped. Everything is high-powered, slick, and superficial.

So while a Kill Team game is a fun way to burn an hour, I'd like to try to find a more interesting rules set. The rules used by the Inquisimunda/Pilgrym bloggers seem to very appealing rules set, given that it produces games like this. The rules are GLOG-like, in a way; cobbled together, highly adaptable, not really a system so much as a series of hints and hand gestures.

Vehicles from WarGameExclusive

Proposed Game

I haven't playtested this combo but I intend to give it a try.

Combat Rules: YakTribe's Necromunda Community Edition
I'm tempted to try out X-wing style alternative activations and see how badly it messes with the rules.

E.g. In the Movement phase, all models move in order of Initiative, lowest to highest, passing between players in the event of a tie. In the Shooting phase, all models shoot in order of Initiative, highest to lowest. So models with high initiative have a decent advantage; they get to react to other models' moves and get the first shots off. This should make the game feel a little more tactical and limit the dreadful waiting-around time that infests Gamesworkshop products, but it'll probably play merry hell with Overwatch and all that. We'll see.

Character Creation Rules: Iron Sleet's Rule of 12 (as summarized below)

Step 1. Take the basic Necromunda profile but with zero Wounds:

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
4	3	3	3	3	[0]	3	1	7

Distribute the following:

• 12 Wounds (so 12x 1 wound models, 4x 3 wound models, etc)
• 12 x +1 to any characteristic (max of
• 12 skills from Necromunda (PDF pg. 69 - 91)
• 12 pieces of equipment, armour, or weapons that aren't standard. All models come with a lasgun and a knife by default. (PDF pg. 33-57)

E.g.

I'd like to build a team with a Space Marine at its core. How much would a single Astartes cost?

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
4+1	3+1	3+1	3+1	3+1	6	3+1	1+1	7+2

Skills: Dodge (6+ save against all attacks), Combat Master (gains bonuses when outnumbered), Killer Reputation (causes fear), True Grit (reduces injury rolls), Juggernaut (can shrug off impacts), Hip Shooting (can fire pistol or basic while moving)

Equipment: Power Armour (3+ save, includes photo visor and infra-red goggles, 4 items), Boltgun (1 item), Combat Knife (0 items), Frag Grenades (1 items), One-in-a-Million Weapon (1 item)

12-6 wounds: 8 wounds remaining
12-9 characteristic upgrades: 2 upgrades remaining
12-6 skills: 6 skills remaining
12-7 items: 5 items remaining

Just one Astartes (properly kitted out) eats most of my points. The rest of the team might be chapter serfs, servo-skulls, recruited guardsmen, Alpha Legion cultists, etc.

Compare this to Kill Team, where a single team might have 5 fairly unimpressive Deathwatch marines, each with a single wound and a less-than-spectacular impact. A Space Marine should feel like an ancient unstoppable god-warrior wearing a personal tank.

40k: Kill Team Scenarios

The new Kill Team game has quite a few interesting scenarios. Here are a few more unofficial but interesting ideas. Playtesting is ongoing; numbers might be adjusted. 

1. Quoth the Raven, Eversor

Official GW Image

Kill Teams
This is a mission for 2 players. One player uses a normal Kill Team. The other uses an Eversor Assassin (Index Imperium 2, pg. 115, or the old 3E Imperial Assassins book).

The Battlefield
Set up lots and lots of terrain. As much terrain as you can.

Scouting Phase
Skip the scouting phase for this mission.

Deployment
The Kill Team player can deploys first. They can deploy anywhere in the red areas shown on map below. Their Kill Team must be split as evenly as possible between the two zones. The Eversor Assassin player then places the Eversor Assassin anywhere on the board more than 6" from an enemy model.

Battle Length
Normal.

Victory Conditions
The Kill Team player automatically wins if:
1. their leader is alive at the end of the battle
2. the Eversor assassin is dead.
The Eversor Assassin player wins automatically wins if:
1. the Kill Team leader is dead
2. the Kill Team is broken
Otherwise, the Eversor Assassin player gains 2 VP for each dead enemy model and 1 VP for each enemy model with a Flesh Wound. The Kill Team player gains 2 VP for each surviving model with no Flesh Wounds and 2 VP for each wound taken off the Eversor Assassin.

Special Rules
Lone Operative: The Eversor Assassin generates 2 Command Points at the start of each battle round.

Unstoppable Killing Machine: In the Fight phase, any wounds inflicted by the Eversor Assassin using its Neuro Gauntlet or Power Sword add the Eversor Assassin's remaining wounds to the Injury Roll.

E.g. an Eversor Assassin with 3 wounds remaining removes the last wound from another model. The injury roll is made with a +3 bonus.

Battering Ram: the Eversor Assassin ignores thin walls, railings, windows, etc. when moving or charging.

Special Tactics
Predatory Leap: 1 CP
Use this Tactic before making a charge roll for the Eversor assassin. Treat the model as if it could FLY when making its charge move.

Burst of Speed: 3 CP
Use this Tactic once per battle round, after your opponent moves a model, resolves a charge, resolves a shooting attack, resolves a psychic power, or resolves a model in a fight. You may immediately perform one of the following phases: Move, Shoot, or Fight. Act out the step normally. Your opponent may then continue their turn normally. This tactic essentially gives you an "interupt" phase. You can use it to fight twice, sprint around the board, get a second charge, etc.

2. Civilian Rescue

 Not mine! Wilhelminiatures.blogspot.com Go check them out.

Kill Teams
This is a mission for 2 or 4 players. Kill Teams choose to either Defend or Capture the Civilians. Equal numbers must choose each option. It's designed for Dark Eldar vs. Imperium games, but most other Kill Teams work too.

The Battlefield
Set up lots and lots of terrain. As much terrain as you can.

Scouting Phase
Normal.

Deployment
Before deploying normally, set up 9 civilian models as per the chart below.

Battle Length
Normal.

Victory Conditions
Civilians have T3, Ld 5, 1 Wound, and a 6+ armour save.
Civilians move after all Kill Teams have moved. They move as follows, in order of priority:
1. If they can see a model from a Capturing Kill Team, they move up to 6" to get out of line of sight.
2. If they can see a model from a Defending Kill Team, they move up to 6" towards the nearest Defending model.
3. If neither applies, they stay in position.

Civilians can be targeted by charges, shooting attacks, etc. normally.

If something distressing happens within 6" and line of sight of a civilian, they must test Leadership or move 2d6" in a random direction. Distressing things include: models dying, grenades being used, psychic mishaps, etc. Test liberally.

Model from a Kill Team can move within 1" of a Civilian without charging. If they do, they can choose to have the Civilian follow them (willingly or not). The Civilian moves with the Kill Team model for the rest of the game. If the model charges or is charged, it counts as a distressing event (see above).

Capture:
2 VP for each civilian within 1" of a model from this Kill Team.
1 VP for each civilian with a Flesh Wound.

Defend:
2 VP for each civilian within 1" of a model from this Kill Team.
1 VP for each unwounded civilian not within 1" of a model from this Kill Team or an enemy model.

3. Additional Vehicles

Add these into any standard Kill Team Mission.

Mine. Models by WargameExclusive

Flammable Groundcar
T: 5
W: 4
Save: 5+
Explodes: If this model is reduced to 0 wounds, roll a D6 before removing it from the battlefield. On a 3+ it explodes, and each unit within 3" suffers a mortal wound.
If a shooting attack aimed at a model using a groundcar as cover misses, resolve the attack against the groundcar.

I've got 4 groundcars to scatter around the board.

Mine. Custom made from a big pile of parts.

Re-purposed Ministorum Dirigible
T: 6
W: 6
Save: 6+
Fly
Moves 8" per turn, generally in a loop around buildings. Define the loop before the game starts. Rather than acting as a vehicle, the Dirigible is moving terrain. Move it at the start of the Battle Round, before the other Kill Teams move. Models can move on and off normally. If they move with the platform, they don't count as moving for the purposes of firing weapons, etc.

40k: Kill Team Update 1

I've caught the Kill Team bug. It's too late for me. Get out while you still can! Save yourselves and your wallets!

Since this is mostly an RPG blog, here's a brief introduction to a few terms and concepts.

Blanchitsu

John Blanche is an iconic artist. His work more-or-less defines Warhammer and Warhammer 40k for some people. Messy, detailed, medieval, incongruous

There's a group of bloggers, modelers, and painters who build Warhammer models in this style. It's like nothing you've seen before. If conventional Warhammer is 5E, these folks are the OSR. Their stuff is absolutely mental.

Not mine!
Secrets of the Void

Blogs To Check Out
Ex Profundis
Echoes of the Imperium
Gardens of Hecate
Iron Sleet
Secrets of the Void
They're even working on a magazine.

Kill Team

Is a skirmish wargame. 3-20 models, ~45 minute games. It's not quite a campaign-type game like Mordheim or Necromunda (or the popular homebrewed Inquisimunda / Inq28), but it does have long-term play elements.

Skirmish games work best when there's lots of terrain. Here's what I'm working on.

Each segment is a 1'x1' MDF board covered in plasticard tiles, sand, and some moulded terrain. All of the buildings are removable. The "bridge" is glued to the tiles, but since each tile lines up with all the others I've got tons of options for how to assemble the board. Only 6 the tiles are shown in the photo.

Kits Used

• Sector Imperialis Sanctum
• The spare Sector Imperialis terrain that comes in the Kill Team box (and there's a lot of it).
• Sigmarite Mausoleum
• A groundcar from Wargame Exclusive
• Misc. dollar store statues.

About 1/3rd of the terrain is painted. Buildings and walls will eventually be the tan colour seen in the upper half of the photo.

I'm also working on some industrial terrain to add to the mix (in case there wasn't enough terrain on the board).

See no evil, speak no evil, refine no evil.

Adeptus Mechanicus Extermination Detachment Kappa Nine

Sorry for the quality. I'm hoping to get a better lightbox set up soon. Not pictured: several plasma drones and servo-hunters.

I've tried to create a proper mix of horrible mechanical creatures.