Kill Team Thoughts on Factions

 

What makes a good Kill Team? At a very basic level a good kill team can generate Victory Points (VPs) faster than its opponents, over the four turning points of the game. Typically VPs are gained through taking actions, and taking actions is directly related to the Action Point Limit of the team (Team APL or TAPL). But this is not the end of the story, some action are better in some situation and some special rules and raw stats allow actions for one faction to be more powerful than the same action for another faction. 

Considering this, I think there are five main factors when comparing kill teams. TAPL and Model (but also wound) count determines how much of the board you can occupy and also allows you to spend proportionally less actions on getting VPs than maneuvering. Next are the Ploys.  Ploys are the soul of the Kill Team.  They give the Kill Team flavor and also, with consideration, can dramatically increase the power level of the Team. Finally there is maneuver, which has three elements; the ability to move, to shoot and to fight in close combat. A Kill Teams ability to maneuver is what allows it space to gain victory points and limit an enemies options.

One thing I like about the kill teams, in the compendium, is that they all have tradeoffs among these five attributes and while not balance none seem broken.  With this in mind let’s looks at the compendium teams we have been playing with.  

In our group these guys have the most winning record.  I would not suggest they are intrinsically better but they are a well-balanced team. In our group the build is always the same; 3 Warriors and 5 Genestealers.  This Kill team has a good TAPL and Model Count. The free dash action is okay, and can help if you need an activation to secure a victory point, but since the stealers don’t shoot what were they going to use that second action for anyway.

Ploys. Lurk is awesome, and combined with the Genestealers hidden horror rule really boost their durability until it is time to strike.

Maneuverer. If they lack somewhere it is in their shooting. They have some great weapons but with a 4+ to hit their effectiveness is noticeably less than other shooting teams, also with only three operatives caring weapons it is easier for your opponent to focus their shooting and incapacitate them early.  Keeping the Tyranid bio swarms firing thought the game is their key to success. 

The Emperors finest… (This comment is specifically for Intercessors but is generally true for all Primaris) It is quite ironic that they are currently an absolutely lousy Kill Team. While they do look good on raw stats their TAPL is 15 and their ploys are good, even if a bit boring. Where they fall down is in model count. Custodes are 50 % better (approximately) and marines only get 25% more fighters… They also lack in diversity, while the auxiliary grenade launcher is cool it is no substitute for a proper gunner.  Finally they are simply not good at close combat, with the exception of the sergeant.  The best type of Primaris are (IMO) the Incursers, just because they can shoot the full range and have better close combat to normal Intercessors.

Possible Fixes. Lots of idea here, you could make their Kill Team 6 operatives, but this would really not fit with the history of the 5 marine squad, you could mix types of Primaris marines, this would not really work with the fluff either and might not be enough, it would give a bit of diversity to the list though.  Personally I think the best thing to do is give the kill team 30 experience points (6 abilities) to spread amongst the team.  I think this would work with the fluff and bump the power to the right level.

Orks are very cool.  They have decent ploys (dakka dakka dakka is something I do almost every turn) and a good TAPL (around 19) as well as being quite tough.  They are very strong in close combat and average in movement.  They loose on armour and shooting.  Armour can be mitigated by being sneaky with the terrain and weak shooting mainly means if you take Lootas you should take Targetin’Fing with them.  I have mixed feelings about the shoota boyz, and think the choppa slugga boyz are more often the better choice. I have played them a few times and I think the stand out is the Nob.  Nobz are proportionally better than other kill team leaders compared to the average operative, and the Boss Pole for an extra APL is an auto include.  While you could make the leader a spanner I don’t know if being accurate when you shoot is all that orky. Gretchins have their place as mobile (short lived) barricades or as a helping hand in combat or seizing objectives. Generally they are fun thematic and not bad compared to other compendium teams.

Chaos has good balance when you take eight cultists and three marines. For the cultists I think focusing on close combat is better than shooting but two autogun operatives can be effective snipers and a safe early activation. Their ploys are a bit disappointing as they often only effect the marines.  I have found that “Letting the Galaxy” burn is your best choice 9 turning points about of 10 and then warp infused is also handy when your plasma gun gets injured.  I love the double activation of the cultists and do think that the flamer gunner is the best choice. You do need to be careful the way your models are grouped during the game, the autogun guys should be placed up high and then group your other cultists together.  You priority target is any enemy with torrent or blast special rule.

I haven’t played these guys yet.  We have only played compendium teams so far and Harlequins seem like they would not be fun for a beginner to play against.  But, as soon as my friend finishes his Custodes Kill Team these guys will meet them on the table.  They seem to only lack ranged weapons but due to the abilities bestowed by their flip belts and seemingly powerful ploys I think they will both be thematic and fun.

Balance.  On one hand it seems like the highly prescribed Kill Team lists means that the factions should be balanced.  On the other hand it does seem that even within the compendium there are three tires. The top tier is Harlequin and Custodes, then the rest are quite similar but as with any distribution there is a top and a bottom.  As mentioned with the marines, experience points is a built in way making any game fair and I bet they could even compete with the new designer lists.  Assuming designer lists, Custodies and Harlequins are fine the way they are then something in the realm of 4 random skills (20 xp) to an above average compendium list and 8 random (40 xp) to a below average list would likely make everything competitive.