Warhammer 40K: Kill Team – ‘Brutal And Cunning’ Here Come The Ratlings
Man, I don’t know what to think about Ratling Snipers vs Orks. But I guess this is really happening in Kill Team.
From my experience in Kill Team Snipers can be a bit of a pain to deal with. A lot of that depends on where they are positioned and how the player is using them. But most of the time it’s only a one or two to deal with. But soon we’ll have a whole Kill Team of them in Ratling form.
Now, I don’t have their rules in front of me but just based on the miniatures I’m counting at least 6 snipers. The others are holding other equipment or a cup of tea. Still, I’m betting that even those characters are going to be able to some sniping of their own. I’m pretty sure these Ratlings are the “Cunning” part of the up coming Kill Team Box.
But I guess that depends on which end of the sniper’s scope you’re looking down. Headshots can be pretty brutal after all.
Anyhow, you don’t have to be an expert Astra Militarum player to know that a Ratling in a melee scrap doesn’t do well. This set is clearly pitting these two forces against each other to showcase the dynamics between the two Kill Teams. While it’s going to be painful for the Orks to close the gap, once they do, the Ratlings are going to have a pretty bad time. At least, that’s the theory anyhow.
I’m genuinely curious what’s going to happen with this unit post-Kill Team release. Eventually, we should see rules for these miniatures for 40k proper, right? Are we going to see an entire unit of Ratling Snipers? Are we about to have access to a bunch of Ratling Sniper teams? How do the Vindicare Assassin feel about all this new competition?
To be fair, I’m also wondering what their rules are going to be like in Kill Team. As mentioned I know what typical snipers do and how much of a problem one or two can cause. But an entire team of them? If you’re up against them you better hope your armor holds up or they miss. Otherwise, you better plan on taking some losses at range.
One saving grace is that the terrain doesn’t appear to be TOO vertical. I think a lot of the “pain” snipers can cause is directly correlated to how you load up the terrain on your board. But that’s also true in 40k…unless you’re playing as Imperial/Chaos Knights. In which case you don’t really care about those pesky snipers, do you?
Snipers? Let’s see how they like my return fire.
“Back In My Day” Ratling Snipers were kind of a rarity to see on the tabletop. They were terror on your characters and could even pop most infantry but they didn’t ever have enough firepower to be that scary. Nevertheless, I did give them a healthy dose of respect when they were on the field. And that was typically followed-up by an overwhelming response of aggression to remove them from the tabletop.
Now we’re getting a whole sniper unit and I really want to see what GW has cooked up for them. Heck, there’s a new Astra Militarum Codex on the way soon, too. Who knows what these Ratlings have been cooking up…
Food. The answer is always food.
I’m both intrigued and a little nervous about Ratling Snipers returning to the spotlight. What sort of an impact do you think they will have on 40k and Kill Team?
