Warhammer 40K: Kill Team – Space Marine Kill Teams Rules Preview
It’s finally time to see what the Power Armor wearing Space Marines will bring to Kill Team. It’s Loyalist vs Heretics time!
It’s been quite the Kill Team focused week from GW. We’ve had the Imperials, Aeldari, Chaos Cults, and the Xenos Kill Teams. Now it’s time to finally see what the Space Marines (of both sides of the Power Armor coin) are going to do. This time around we’ll be seeing the Angels of Death, the Phobos Strike Team, and Scout Squad for the Loyalist. On the Heretic side it’s the Legionaries and Nemesis Claw Kill Teams.
Once again, because were dabbling in so many Kill Teams, we’re just going to drop in their representative Operative and their main Faction rules. The WarCom article linked below will have even more info on the respective Kill Team.
Space Marines are born for these kinds of special operations, boasting strength, durability, and self-sufficiency far beyond the scope of mortal means. Even a handful of heavily armed and armoured operatives are enough to swing the course of entire wars, and most enemies can’t hope to go toe to toe with these genewrought super-soldiers.
Every faction has a unique Faction Rule, specialised Equipment, and Ploys giving each one its own identity and playstyle.
Angels of Death
You’d think bringing a Space Marine Captain to the tabletop would be plenty of “special” for their rules. But that’s just the start. The Angels of Death also have access to various Chapter Tactics as their Faction rule. As you customize your list, you’ll be able to choose two options for your Kill Team. This is just a small sample of their rules as well — there’s even more on the way.
Furthermore, being Astartes, the Space Marines are also able to retain their ability to Shoot or Fight twice in the same turn. There’s some restrictions in play but getting to effectively attack twice is pretty spicy! Does that make up for the fact that they are likely out numbered? Take’em to the tabletop to find out!
Phobos Strike Team
The Phobos Strike team are a bit sneakier than their battle brothers. That’s why they come with fun tricks like the Multi-Spectrum Array and the Omni-Scrambler. The first rule prevents enemies from being obscured while being shot at. That’s pretty nasty as cover now won’t save them! The Omni-Scrambler is a bit more nuanced. It effectively denies the enemy the option to activate an operative when they want to. This could be a critical activation that has now been delayed.
Scout Squad
Scouts are also sneaky and they get a bit of a head start vs the opponent. Their Forward Scouting allows them to choose five selections worth of these options to use. This is just a short list as well but you get the general idea.
I think the Scouts are a really interesting Kill Team to learn to use correctly. If a player really understands the mission and how to play them, choosing the “correct” options can greatly enhance this Kill Team’s effectiveness on the battlefield.
Legionaries
It wouldn’t truly be a Chaos Space Marine Kill Team without some Marks of Chaos. Not only do they still get some of the same Astartes rules but they also get to pick their Chaos Mark. These have immediate effects but also can influence how certain ploys work out for them as well.
Additionally it worth noting that your Kill Team doesn’t all have to have the same mark. You can really mix-and-match. But you can’t have a Balefire Acolyte with the Khorne Mark for obvious reasons…
Nemesis Claw
In Midnight Clad basically gives these Operatives obscured in a ridiculously easy to do manner. Either be more than 6″ away from enemy operatives OR just be near Heavy Terrain OR have any part of it’s base under Vantage terrain. With how densely packed Kill Team tables are with Terrain this shouldn’t be that hard.
This is certainly one Kill Team that’s going to be difficult to engage at range. Unfortunately for them the Phobos Kill Team does seem like it’s a hard counter to them. But these warriors are still Chaos Marines at their core…I wouldn’t underestimate them just yet.
That’s it for all the Kill Team Previews from GW for now. There’s going to be even more news next week as the new edition gets closer. It’s time to gather your Kill Teams and do some last minute wargear checks to ensure they are ready for the tabletop!
Astartes all the way!
