Breaking Down Warhammer Kill Team 2024: A Full Review

Guns are blazing amid the shadows of towering cities while warriors from all over the galaxy run through hails of crossfire determined to take down all opponents in their way. Is this a new action packed movie or a crazy video-game? No, this is Kill Team, the amazing skirmish game released by Game Workshop in 2021 that just received a full new version of the game.

The new Warhammer Kill Team 2024, “Hivestorm”, will come with a lot of updates to the game aimed to streamline the rules and solve a number of ambiguities that built-up in the game since its original release. The new version will also come with a shiny new boxed set, and two new teams to enjoy. While all the fans of this beautiful game will love the new teams and the new components released with the box, some of them may wonder how the new rules will play and may question if Warhammer Kill Team 2024 will be a better game. In this review we will try to provide an overview of the main changes for everyone already acquainted with this game together with a general intro to the game for anyone curious to get into it. So whether you’re completely new to Kill Team or a veteran of the prior edition, take your place in the trench and let's that Bolt-gun loaded.

First things first: What Is Kill Team?

As mentioned, Warhammer Kill Team is a skirmish miniature tabletop wargame set in the dark future created by Games Workshop for their Warhammer 40,000 game. However, Kill Team focuses on a single squad of characters instead of allowing the players leading the full armies of models typical of a Warhammer 40,000 match. Kill Team also has a strong objective focus as each game only lasts four turns (called Turning Points) and Victory is achieved by accomplishing all the targets set by the chosen scenario. These two characteristics make Kill Team a very fast-paced game with strong tactical and narrative aspects. With respect to Warhammer 40k, each game feels much more cinematic and the smaller game board together with the reduced number of models needed make this game a much cheaper option for new players.

Warhammer Kill Team: main changes in the New Edition

If you played/have been playing the original Kill Team, the new 2024 edition will feel almost the same, but with a lot of changes that streamline the game. Among the most notable ones we would like to flag:

1) Missions

There are now three different mission types (Crit Ops, Kill Ops, and Tac Ops) with multiple options to choose from. Each type of mission will have a number of possible options specific to that type of mission. Some of these options will include a specific action to interact with objective markers placed on the battlefield while other will require to incapacitate a number of opponent's models and some other will be kept secret almost until the end of the game.

2) Terrain and Vantage

The new Kill Team edition provides a few updated rules on terrain, in particular to better define how to treat opening and gaps on larger terrains. Among them, the “Door Fight” rule that allows a model to attack another one within 2” from a door will prove quite interesting in dense industrial or city terrain boards.  

The rule related to firing from a “Vantage” point has also been changed by granting Vantage terrain the ability to provide cover. At the same time an operative in Light Cover that has been shot from a Vantage point can either retain an additional cover save, or a single critical save making easier for them to survive. The new weapon rules also synergize with these changes making Vantage a much more strategic rule than it was previously.

Finally, the new rules see an operative losing “Obscuring” when they are within one inch of terrain removing the risk of any model finding themselves out of cover and obscuring at the same time even closer to heavy terrain.

3) Actions and Weapons

The most critical change to action is the possibility for any operative with an Engage Order to perform any 1 AP action as long as they do not move more than 2”. This rule applies only when the player activates their last operative but it is expected to have massive impact on the game play. Moreover, friendly models no longer block each other’s movement, which is another big change for horde-type teams.

Finally, there is a significant refresh of the weapon special rules with some new rules added, some other renamed, and a few of them combined or reworked. The changes aim to improve the overall gameplay by aligning the way weapons work to all the other changes made to terrain, movement and cover. However, the result is also a general improvement to the way weapons feel in the game that is great for the cinematic aspects of Kill Team.

What about the teams?

As expected in a new edition, all of the Kill Teams from the prior edition are returning, although they will all receive new rules, stats, equipment, and, of course, a new universal special rules. All these changes are needed to align the teams to the new rules but this is also a chance to re-balance all the different factions to one another. Of course, it also offer the opportunity to add two more teams to the game.

The first of the two new teams are the Vespid Stingwings, a type T’au subject species designed to resemble humanoid wasps. The key strength of this faction is the ability to Fly through the killzone moving horizontally within their Move or Dash distance. Flying not only allow Stingwings to get on Vantage easier but also improve the efficiency of their weapons, the Neutron Blasters, by adding Piecing 1 that can stack with other bonuses and Strategy Ploys.

The insectoid nature of this Kill Team, however, can also affect negatively their strategy for example by forcing them to spend a “Communion” to shoot or charge a target that isn’t the closest, or more than 8” away. Considering that the amount of Communion points available each turn is very limited, this faction has a lot of potential but will require some strategic thinking to be exploited to the maximum.

The second new team added in the 2024 Kill Team edition are the Tempestus Aquilons, a group of highly trained human operatives from the Astra Militarum. The Aquilons special rule “Drop Insertion” allows the player to keep two-thirds of their Kill Team in reserve and deploy them in Turning Point 1 or 2 within 3” of two markers. This ability allows the new team to easily secure strategic position on the Killzone while keeping pressure on their opponent's. The Strategic Ploy and the operative/weapons combinations available for the Aquilons allow players to create a very flexible team that can hit very fast and hard. However, the Tempestus Aquilons are more suited for a Hit-and-Run strategy and they will struggle when put under pressure by the opponent.

Battle aftermaths - Final Thoughts

Personally, I am very happy with the new edition of Kill Team and with all the changes to the rules of the game. Of course, it will take sometime to grasp the impact of all the changes and to assess how well all teams are balanced to each other but all the new and interesting options bought to our table by the new Core rulebook will likely please most of the Kill Team players. In particular, I think all players will recognize that most of the core rules and the overall gameplay of Kill Tram have not been changed and it still has all the aspects that make this game one of the most enjoyable independent product designed by Games Workshop.

Another big positive aspect of the new edition is the possibility for new players to jump into the game by purchasing a great starting player box set. Since its release in September, “Hivestorm” has been in fact a big hit in shops and across all online retailers. Not only it comes with sample teams of the new new factions but it also provide two players with everything they need in order to start playing including some beautiful new terrain pieces.

The new box offers an impressive value for its price, in particular if you source it at a discounted price on Magic Madhouse as it also qualifies for free shipment within UK. The same actually applies to the large range of Kill Team products available on Magic Madhouse online shop that is a great opportunity to source new operatives for your existing teams or to start a few new ones. The new rules will likely change the balance of the game thus having a few more options will be great for both casual and competitive players. In addition, it is almost Christmas meaning you can have a few new models under your tree AND have some time off to paint them during the holiday season.