56 CHAPTER APPROVED

KILL-TEAM by Phil Kelly

Greetings citizens and welcome to Chapter Approved. This monthLexmechanic Kelly has devoted his waking hours to theinvestigation of commando tactics in the 41st millennium, and haswrought an experimental simulation of some cunning missionsthat involve just one squad of highly disciplined soldiers againstthe numerous, but often inefficient, soldiers of the enemy. Thismonth the first half of his efforts are exposed to the galaxy, withtheir conclusion to follow. Should you need to destroy an enemycommand cogitator, capture a governess or assassinate an alienleader, this treatise on covert operations should prove invaluable.

Each month, Chapter Approved takes a look at theWarhammer 40,000 game and its rules,introducing new scenarios, weapons, rules andarmy list entries of all types, frequently stolen fromcodexes in progress here at the Studio. It also actsas a forum for dedicated players of Warhammer40,000 who have produced inspired, well thoughtout and just plain brilliant additions to the game(as reviewed and arbitrated by that well-knownmodel of fairness and balance – me). If you’ve gotsomething good for Chapter Approved then writeto me at the address given here. Note: Please don’t include rules queries etc, withyour letters, as the volume of mail means that inmost cases I won’t be able to send individualreplies.

Andy Chambers (Chapter Approved),Games Workshop,

Willow Road, Lenton,Nottingham,NG7 2WS, UK

WHAT’S CHAPTER APPROVED ALL ABOUT?

WHAT IS KILL-TEAM ALL ABOUT?Phil: The notion of this small-scalegame is based on those movies we allknow and love where a crack team ofexperts (or desperadoes trained by asingle-minded double-hard drillinstructor) go in and triumph against allthe odds. We’re all familiar with thisformula due to good old UncleHollywood and the countless films thatcover these themes: The MagnificentSeven, Aliens, The Guns of Navarone,

The Dirty Dozen, Where Eagles Dare,Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars, Returnof the Jedi, Kelly’s Heroes… the listgoes on. The veterans amongst you willhave spotted that this concept borrowsheavily from Gav Thorpe’s LastChancers (the hard-bitten ColonelSchaeffer and his recruits from theImperial Guard Penal Legions – more onthese chaps elsewhere in this issue), butextends it into a games system for allraces rather than just focusing on the

Imperial Guard. In this way Kill-team canfeature a team of Ork Kommandossneaking into a Necron tomb complex, apack of Kroot mercs using cover of nightto ‘liberate’ a priceless Dark Eldarartefact from its twisted shrine, or asquad of Space Marine Scouts avoidingpatrolling gun drones on their mission toassassinate a Tau Ethereal. Odds onyou’ll have enough models in yourcollection to assemble at least one Kill-team, and the necessary forces you’llneed to be the bad guys when it’s youropponent’s turn to be the desperadoes.

Kill-team is best thought of as small-scale, objective-based Warhammer40,000, and is playable in an hour orless. If you’ve had a chance to try the‘40K in 40 minutes’ system publishedback in WD 274, this is about the samelevel of simplicity and is easily playableduring lunch, after hours or over acouple of drinks. You’ll need around tenmodels to play the good guys, althoughthis varies slightly from race to race. Theopponents, being grunts as opposed toelite commandos, will have more: theseare almost always the basic troop typefor that race. So you’ll find that if youregularly play a friend with Tyranids,you’ll likely be infiltrating your waythrough patrols of Gaunts to dump amelta bomb in the central sporechimney, and so on.

Another area of the game that makesKill-team appealing to veteran players isthat it offers the possibility for your Kill-team to advance in skill. UnlikeMordheim, Path to Glory and

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Necromunda this will generally besquad-level rather than individualsgaining experience. In this way Kill-teams evolve and grow as you sendthem on different missions, but youwon’t have to shed any tears if half thesquad gets wiped out during the mission(and they will… ).

Saying that, players should make everyeffort to personalise their Kill-team,converting them to carry trophies orspecial gear and keeping tracks of whokills the most bad guys. A Stetson orcigar (or squig and Iron Gob etc) hereand there can really get across thefeeling of a gang of desperate buthardcore soldiers. You might even wantto give them names, especially your Kill-team’s leader, who will generally bekicking the most alien butt. You cancomplete the missions without Sarge,but it’s an awful lot trickier.

This month we’ll cover the basic rulesand throw a few ideas into the pot forcreative players to get started. Nextmonth we’ll look at a few advancedmissions, elite Kill-teams, some coolwargear (silencers, las-traps and soforth) and rules for Boss Goons. Fornow, though, let’s take a look at thebasic rules.

KILL-TEAM BASIC RULES

Setup● The good guys (protagonists) face

off against the bad guys(antagonists) on a 4' by 4' table. Theantagonist sets up the terrain, it’s histerritory after all. This should ideallyfeature a large and impressivescenery piece as the centralobjective.

● Mark a point (the central objective)that the Kill-team needs to reach inorder to fulfil its mission (see‘Objectives’, below); this should reallybe in the centre of the table or atleast nearby, but you’ll find thescenery piece will usually dictate this.It should also be elevated if possibleso that bad guys can fall to theirdeaths onto spiked railings, into poolsof radioactive waste etc. All goodclean fun.

● The protagonist begins the game withone Kill-team (basic or elite, but forthis month we’ll stick to basic teams),which will usually include a Sergeantof some sort. The number ofoperatives varies for each racedepending on how capable they are;for instance a Kroot Carnivore Kill-team would have 14 members,whereas a Kill-team comprising ofNecron Flayed Ones would onlynumber 8.

● The antagonist begins the game witha varying number of models. He maychoose which race he fields. See theKill-team Numbers table later in thisarticle for more details.

● The antagonist sets up his models ingroups of 3 anywhere within 12" ofthe objective. Each of these groups iscalled a goon squad. No goon squadcan be deployed within 6" of anyother. All goon squads start the gamedeactivated (more on this later).

Playing Kill-team● The protagonist may choose which

table edge his Kill-team deploy from.They enter play from that table edge.

● The protagonist gets first turn andmay act as normal, retaining unitcoherency.

● The protagonist must reach theobjective by any means necessaryand fulfil a criteria determined bymission to achieve a victory (a Kill-team playing a Sabotage mission, forinstance, is automatically equippedwith melta bombs and mustsuccessfully destroy an AV14objective). These criteria can betaken from ‘objectives’ below or beagreed upon between the players.The antagonist must destroy theentire Kill-team to achieve a victory.All other considerations are irrelevant.

● The antagonist may activate ordeactivate up to D6 goon squads atthe beginning of each turn. Onlyactivated goon squads can move(you might want to place a coloureddice or token by activated goonsquads). Bear in mind that althoughactivated goon squads can move,they won’t necessarily move in thedirection the antagonist wants. It isoften advisable to leave the goonsquads nearest the objectivedeactivated (and therefore static) forthe first few turns so they don’twander off and leave the Kill-team aclear run at their objective.Deactivated squads remain in place,no doubt swapping stories about thegirls/she-fungi/tentacled brood-beastsback home.

● In the Movement phase of theantagonist’s turn, each activatedgoon squad moves as if it were asingle sentry. That means that duringthe antagonist’s Movement phase,

Imperial Guard Storm Troopers undertake a daring raid against a Tau landing pad.

56 CHAPTER APPROVED

each player rolls a dice (the controlroll) for each goon squad in turn: theplayer that scores highest moves themembers of the goon squad thatmany inches in the direction of hischoice. This dice roll is modified bythe number of klaxon counters theantagonist has accrued (see below).Goon squads can never move morethan 6" regardless of their specialrules (fleet of foot for example) due tothe fact they are moving with caution,and may never move off the table.See Diagram 1 for an example.

● If the result of the control roll is adraw (taking into account anymodifiers for klaxon counters etc) theantagonist player moves the squadthat number of inches, as even thethickest henchman has a brain andwill act sensibly more often than not.

● Each time a goon squad (activated ordeactivated) comes within spotting range(its Initiative value plus the number of

klaxon counters accrued) of the Kill-teamfor any reason (even enemy assaults) ithas spotted the intruders and becomesaware, and may act as normal; moving,shooting, and assaulting under theantagonist’s control for the rest of thegame. Whenever a goon squadbecomes aware, for whatever reason,add a klaxon counter to the antagonist’sstore. They may not accrue furthercounters. It really doesn’t matter whatyou use for klaxon counters, but keepthose you have accrued in a separatepile. Note that you get one klaxoncounter per squad, not per model. Alsoadd a klaxon counter whenever the Kill-team shoots.

● Each klaxon counter accrued in thisway adds +1 to the dice roll forcontrolling each goon squad and +1 tothe basic spotting distance valuedetermined by the goon squad’sInitiative (note that it is the number ofklaxon counters accrued at the

beginning of that turn that is taken intoaccount). In this way, as the alarm israised, goon squads will quickly moveto reinforce their brethren. A goonsquad cannot accrue more than oneklaxon counter per phase.

● Kill-teams are fearless and hence willautomatically pass their Ld tests, whilstgoon squads test on their unmodifiedLeadership for all Morale tests,including regrouping. All otherconsiderations for such tests areignored (All On Your Own tests, enemywithin 6", Drone leadership etc).

● Kill-teams roll for Difficult Terrain asnormal, whereas goon squads ignoredifficult terrain altogether: it’s theirterritory and they know their wayaround pretty well.

● Kill-teams may only consolidate aftercombat; their mission is tooimportant for them to go haring offafter bad guys.

● Goon squads will fall back toward thenearest table edge or toward theobjective, depending on which isnearest. They will automatically rallyif they reach the objective and mayact as normal from their next turn.Fleeing goon squads cannot accrueklaxon counters.

● There is no turn length, play until theKill-team is dead or the objective ismet. Then swap sides and let the otherguy play the Kill-team– he can choosea different race if desired.

Kill-team

Kill -team

SpottingRange

Protagonistwins roll witha 5, andmoves goonsquad awayfrom Kill-team.

Antagonistwins rollwith a 3.

Activated Goon SquadDeactivated Goon Squad

Antagonistwins rollwith a 6.

The antagonist has 1 klaxon accrued.

The protagonist rolls a 4.

The antagonist alsorolls a 4 but gets +1for the klaxon counterfor a total of 5.

The goon squadtherefore moves 5",and because they arewithin spotting range(Initiative + number ofklaxon counters)accrue a furtherklaxon counter.

Objective

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

5"

3"

6"

5"

Example: The protagonist has hisKroot Kill-team near their goal, anunexploded bomb, but has had tostealthily dispatch an Imperial Guardgoon squad on his way. The players rollto see who controls each activatedgoon squad. For the goon squadnearest the Kill-team, both players getlucky and roll a 6, and because theantagonist has a klaxon counter histotal is raised to 7. The antagonist winscontrol and moves the goons 6" (themaximum) directly toward the Kill-team.Members of the goon squad are now 4"away (the Guardsman goon’s Initiativeof 3 plus one for a klaxon counteraccrued earlier in the game) and havetherefore spotted the Kill-team.

Awooga! Another klaxon counter isadded to the antagonist’s store, andalthough he will only have his +1 to hiscontrol rolls and spotting range until thebeginning of next turn, he will have +2next turn and can now shoot andassault with the goon squad in spottingrange, because it has become aware.Who knows, he may even kill a coupleof the protagonist’s precious operativesor delay them until next turn when therest of the goons, adding +2 to theircontrol rolls and therefore travellingfaster, race towards the scene…

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“Form up!” barked VeteranSergeant Heisen as the lastof the Harakoni Warhawk’s

Kill-team hit the ground, rolling anddetaching their grav-gliders in onepracticed movement. Around him, hissquad took position in the woodedclearing, reporting their status in clear,clipped voices as they activated theirweapons. The night air filled with athin, keening chord as Trooper VanStoken charged his plasma gun.

Heisen thumbed his visor tothermomagnocular setting and zoomedin on the enemy’s position. Threemassive Hydra flak tanks, captured bythe Orks, squatted in formation on theridge. The artillery cover they affordedwas allowing the Orks to establish aperimeter practically unmolested, astheir comrades in the Marauder bombersquadrons had already taken heavylosses testing the Ork defenses. Hecould see the crude glyph-plates andgrisly trophies that adorned theirrusting chassis, and small figures pickedout in red swarming around the tracks.

“Kill-team Delta, advance. Dallere onpoint,” ordered Heisen, “let’s make thisclean and quick.” The HarakoniWarhawks ghosted through the forest,moving silently and quickly up to theforest edge, each of them flatteningtheir back against the thick trunk of atree. Behind them, small teams ofgreen-skinned slave-runts swarmed overthe anti-aircraft tanks. Heisen flickedopen his comm-bead and took a deepbreath.

“GO!” shouted Heisen, and as one hissquad swung around from behind thecover of the trees. Van Stokendischarged his plasma gun at the rearof the first Hydra, blowing it apart ina rain of molten metal. The otherHarakonis opened fire with theirhellguns, explosions of blood and fleshmarking where teams of slave-runts hadbeen a moment before. Green limbswere flung high into the air as theHarakonis aimed and fired again andagain. Van Stoken, aiming his plasmagun like a rifle, took a bead on thesecond Hydra, a bright bolt ofsuperheated energy impacting with thetank’s fuel compartment. The screamsof burning slave-runts filled the air,

merging into a cacophony as shoutsand squeals of alarm began to echoround the clearing. Dallere was pulleddown by the sheer number of thescratching, biting runts, his visor rippedoff and his scream silenced by a well-aimed spanner blow.

Heisen heard a bellowing roar and spanon his heel to see a bulky, scarredOrk dive toward him. He raised hisweapon a split second too late, and thebeast smashed him to the ground,knocking his antique shotgun out ofhis hands. His thick carapace armourabsorbed the impact. Heisen rolledwith the blow, coming up in a crouchand drawing his combat knife in onefluid motion. The Ork barrelledforward but Heisen was ready for it,and slashed the serrated blade of hisknife across the Ork’s eyes as he divedto one side. All around him, thepercussive force of hellgun blasts blewthe milling slave-runts apart, but fromthe corner of his eye Heisen saw thelast of the remaining Hydra turrets wasbeing brought to bear on his squad.Worse still, the alien brute was comingfor him again; the damned thingwouldn’t stay down. He flicked hisshotgun up from the ground with hisfoot, caught it and racked the slidewith one hand before smoothlywhipping it round into the gaping maw

of the charging Ork. It flew back sixfeet, a smoking stump where its headshould be.

“Neutralise that tank! DO IT!” shoutedHeisen at the plasma gunner, hisuniforms slick with gore, kneeling ashis weapon recharged with a risingwhine. The four autocannons of theHydra clacked slowly toward him asthe turret rotated. Orks were famouslyinaccurate, but with this amount offirepower accuracy was not an issue.The rising pitch of the plasma weaponsseemed unbearably slow as the massivecannon took a bead on Van Stoken’sposition. Heisen got a look straightdown one of the barrels before thetank was blown apart in an earth-shaking explosion that would haveblinded anyone without aphotochromatic visor. Heisen finallybreathed out; the clearing was silentbut for the bubbling hiss of moltenmetal.

“Heisen to Drako squadron, commencebombardment when ready. Heisen out”.The Veteran Sergeant clipped hiscustom shotgun back into place andmotioned for his squad to move out.

As the Kill-team slipped silently awayfrom the wrecked Hydras, the Orkcamps behind them began to erupt in astring of incandescent explosions.

56 CHAPTER APPROVED

To play a game of Kill-team, follow thesesimple steps:

1. CHOOSE FORCESThe first step is to choose your forces.Use the tables below to find out howmany models you will need for theprotagonist and antagonist to play themissions. For instance, if you play Tauand your buddy plays Tyranids, you willneed a Kill-team of 14 Kroot and yourfriend will need 9 3-strong goon squadsof Termagants. Of course, you might endup using different models to representthe goon squads, but seeing as allgoons are identical you don’t need toworry too much. Kill-teams will have asingle special weapon, or none at all.

There are some other guidelines to bearin mind when using a Kill-team:

● Each Kill-team is equipped with fraggrenade equivalents (even Kroot,Flayed Ones and Genestealers –they are infiltrating defendedpositions after all). This is above andbeyond the normal rules for that trooptype. One more time: all Kill-teamscount as having frag grenades.

● Kill-teams without special weapons orSergeants are more numerous tomake up for the deficit in funkywargear. All basic Kill-teams areroughly the same points cost.

● Elite Kill-teams (for instance, 5 TauXV Stealth Suits instead of 14 Krootwarriors) can be personalised, butwe’ll talk more about that next month.

2. CHOOSE OBJECTIVEThe next step is to choose a basicmission, either mutually agreed uponor randomly determined, from the listbelow. Alternatively, make your own upand go for it. Some are more difficult towin than others, so you might want tostart with a simple Sabotage missionand work up to the trickier ones.

Mission 1 – SABOTAGEThe Kill-team must infiltrate the enemyposition and destroy an object ofutmost importance to their overallbattle plan.

Sabotaging Kill-teams count as beingequipped with melta bombs in additionto their usual equipment. The centralobjective, which can be represented bya pile of crates, a cogitator bank andso forth, must be destroyed in order forthe Kill-team to win. The centralobjective counts as an immobile AV 14vehicle that ignores glancing hits but isdestroyed by any penetrating hits.

You might like to increase the difficultyof the Sabotage mission byincorporating more than one objectivethat must be destroyed for the Kill-team to succeed.

Mission 2 – ASSASSINATEThe Kill-team must find an individualkey to the enemy’s strategy andensure his death in any way they can.

The central objective is an individual ofutmost importance to the enemy’sstrategies. They must be killed quicklyand cleanly. You will need anappropriate miniature. For gamepurposes this model will have thefollowing profile:

WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv

3 3 3 4 2 3 1 10 6+

They may not move but will act asnormal if attacked in any way. The Kill-team must kill this individual to achievea victory.

Mission 3 – ESCAPEThe Kill-team have fulfilled theirobjective, and must get the hell out ofDodge with as many of their numberalive as possible…

There is no central objective in theEscape mission. Instead, the Kill-teammust cross to the opposite side of theboard from which they entered. If anyremaining members of the Kill-teammanage to move off that board edgefor any reason, they have won.

Mission 4 – LAST STANDThough the Kill-team has fulfilled itsmission, the alarm has been raised.Stealth has had to be replaced bybrute force if the Kill-team are tosurvive.

KILL-TEAM CONTENTS TABLE

Kill-team No. Special Weapon Sergeant

Space Marine Scouts 9 Sniper rifle1 Veteran Sergeant with power weapon & bolt pistol

Chaos Space Marines 8 Flamer Aspiring Champion with power weapon & bolt pistol

Eldar Striking Scorpions 7 None Exarch with power claw

Ork Kommandos2 11 Burna Nob with power claw

Dark Eldar Wyches 12 Shredder Succubus with splinter pistol & Agoniser

Tyranid Genestealers 9 None None

Kroot Carnivores 14 None Shaper with Kroot rifle

Necron Flayed Ones 8 None None

Storm Troopers 13 Plasma gun Veteran Sergeant with power weapon & plasma pistol

1 Sniper rifles, when fired at a lone goon, do not add a klaxon counter to theantagonist’s store if the goon is killed.2 Ork Kommandos can be armed with slugga+choppa or shootas but may not mix.

Basic Kill-team No of opposing 3-man goon squads

Space Marine Scouts 5 5 8 8 8 9 6 5 10 6

Chaos Space Marines 5 5 8 8 8 9 6 5 10 6

Eldar Striking Scorpions 5 5 8 8 8 9 6 5 10 6

Ork Kommandos 5 5 8 8 8 9 6 5 10 6

Dark Eldar Wyches 5 5 8 8 8 9 6 5 10 6

Tyranid Genestealers 5 5 8 8 8 9 6 5 10 6

Kroot Carnivores 5 5 8 8 8 9 6 5 10 6

Necron Flayed Ones 5 5 8 8 8 9 6 5 10 6

Storm Troopers1 5 5 8 8 8 9 6 5 10 6

1 Note that Daemonhunters and Imperial Guard both use Storm Troopers as their Kill-team.

KILL-TEAMNUMBERS

TABLE

Spa

ce M

arin

es

Cha

os M

arin

es

Eld

ar G

uard

ians

Ork

Boy

z

Dar

k E

ldar

Term

agan

ts

Tau

Gun

Dro

nes

Nec

ron

War

riors

Impe

rial G

uard

Sto

rm T

roop

ers

(one per team)

In the Last Stand mission, the roles arereversed. The Kill-team starts on thecentral objective, and the goon squadsstart no further than 12" away from anytable edge. The antagonist starts thegame with one klaxon counter. The Kill-team must kill all of the antagonist’sgoon squads or die in the attempt. It’sgoing to be bloody…

This mission can also follow on from theSabotage and Assassinate missions.

Mission 5 – HIT AND RUNThe Kill-team must reach apredetermined point on the battlefieldand achieve a set objective beforegetting back to base.

The central objective in this missionmust be reached by the Kill-team(touched by at least one model) andhave a model in contact with it for a fullturn. It can be assaulted. The Kill-teamsucceed in their mission if theysubsequently manage to move at leastone member of the team off the table.

Mission 6 – RECONNOITREThe Kill-team must thoroughly assessthe enemy’s capabilities and militarycapacity without alerting the enemy totheir presence.

There is no central objective in aReconnoitre. The Kill-team must coverthe board, determining information. Theyachieve their objective if they manage totraverse a circuit around the centralpoint whilst coming no closer than 6" toit, and have at least one model return tothe board edge that they started from.This is one to play really stealthily…

3. CHOOSE STORYLINEBelow are some ideas for the narrativebehind your Kill-team game. Naturally,these are not to be strictly adhered to,they are merely suggestions that youmight like to adapt depending on whatyou have in your model and scenerycollection.

Mission 1 – SABOTAGEThe Kill-team must…

● Trigger the eruption of a volcano.

● Destroy a vital datacube at the centreof a complex electronic array.

● Cripple a spaceship’s warp drive sothat the enemy cannot escape.

● Disable a force field generator on aforest moon.

● Destroy a blasphemous shrine toChaos in mid-ritual.

● Take out an enemy artillery position.

● Detonate the power conduit at theheart of a Necron tomb complex.

● Blow a hole in the side of aspaceship during warp travel.

Mission 2 – ASSASSINATEThe Kill-team must…

● Kill an enemy commander on his wayto the front lines in his personaltransport.

● Kill a double agent of the same raceas the Kill-team before he impartsvital information.

● Take out a Tyranid node-beast tocollapse the nearby hive mind synapseweb.

● Put a bullet in the skull of a corruptgovernor during a grand addressfrom his balcony.

● Destroy a revered prophet, cripplingthe enemy morale.

● Put a doomed companion out of themisery inflicted by his torturers, takingas many bad guys down as possibleon the way.

Mission 3 – ESCAPEThe Kill-team must…

● Reach the edge of a cliff and activatetheir grav-chutes, flying to freedom.

● Stay one step ahead of the alien tideor face a gribbly death.

● Get inside the basement vault beforethe demolition charges take out thebuilding.

● Climb out of an alien-infested trashcompactor before the Kill-teambecomes wafer thin.

● Reach their ship and get into spacebefore the Exterminatus begins.

Mission 4 – LAST STANDThe Kill-team must…

● Face the consequences of destroyinga massive Tyranid brood-beast.

● Rampage through an infested hivecity killing everything they find.

● Cleanse and burn an enemyheadquarters to cripple the enemycommand structure.

● Take down as many of the enemy aspossible before the plague finishes themoff.

● Fight for their lives after a teleportermalfunction drops them into the heartof the enemy lines.

● Revenge their fallen brethren whilstpreventing their bodies from beingdefiled.

● Take as many of the enemy withthem as possible as the Space Hulk’sdenizens realise their presence onthe ship.

Mission 5 – HIT AND RUNThe Kill-team must…

● Place a teleport homer in the middleof an enemy encampment so thereinforcements can arrive.

● Start a landslide that buries anenemy column and get out before ittakes the Kill-team out too.

● Access data from an enemycommand cogitator and get it back tobase.

● Place a chronodetonator on thefoundation pillar of an enemy temple.

● Kickstart a doomsday device that theenemy were planning to deploy inbattle.

● Poison the enemy’s water supply.

● Place a beacon so that the ensuingorbital strike is as accurate as it islethal.

Mission 6 – RECONNOITREThe Kill-team must…

● Escort a data-drone around aprecious facility currently in enemyhands.

● Cleanse the area around a warp gateof any enemy sentries.

● Complete a dark ritual that comes tofruition only once they have sewn thesoil with a circle of blood.

● Plot a route for the main advancethrough enemy territory.

Right, that’s it for this month, next monthI’ll conclude the Kill-team game withplenty more, including rules for protagonistand antagonist specialist equipment. Now,to take down that bridge…

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With the alarm raised the Striking Scorpions must battle through a horde of Termagants.