Whether you’re playing a quick and competitive matched play game or furthering the story of your own bespoke band of heroes in a Spec Ops narrative campaign, the basic structure of a battle remains largely the same. You may have seen a few tidbits like alternate activations mentioned in our quick look at the new Kill Team, but now we’re lifting the lid on how exactly a turn will play out.
Turns, or Turning Points as they’re now known, are comprised of three phases, during which you’ll seize the initiative, enact strategic decisions, send your operatives into combat, and more. Each game is made up of just four Turning Points, so you’ll need to make good use of each phase to one-up your opponent and clinch victory.
As we saw during our look at five of the biggest changes to Kill Team, players will take it in turns to activate one* operative at a time. Even so, the crucial first move falls to the player who wins a roll-off at the start of each Turning Point – each player rolls one six-sided die with the highest result winning, and ties go to whichever player did not have the initiative last.
Having the initiative comes with other benefits too, such as deciding the order when effects and special abilities happen at the same time (such as at the end of a Turning Point). While holding the initiative will in no way guarantee a victory, canny commanders will be sure to get the most out of acting before the opponent has a chance to respond.
Much like in Warhammer 40,000, commanders will generate Command Points over the course of the game to spend on all manner of useful abilities. In Kill Team, these are divided into two categories – Strategic Ploys and Tactical Ploys. While the latter can be used at almost any time, depending on the Ploy activated, Strategic Ploys are invoked solely in the Strategic phase and have effects that can last for the entire Turning Point.
For example, if the Veteran Guardsmen of the Death Korps of Krieg think they’ll need a little extra oomph behind their lasguns – with a characteristic lack of concern for their safety – their commander can have them overcharge their energy packs to dangerous levels.
Every faction has their own suite of Strategic Ploys to use during this phase, giving them a range of characterful abilities to unleash and turn the tide of battle. As they’re used before the fighting begins in each Turning Point, commanders will be able to build a strategy for the coming combat and try to anticipate their opponents moves based on what ploys they have activated.
The Firefight phase is where your operatives really get down to business, activating one by one and spending their action points to move, shoot, fight, and more. There’s a lot to do in this phase, and too much to cover here, so make sure you have a look at our previous articles on the types of actions available to your operatives, the brutal world of Kill Team close combat, and how ranged combat works in such close confines.
If you want to see how the Firefight phase will play out in greater detail, stay tuned to Warhammer Community for our upcoming Learn to Play videos, and be on the lookout for more Kill Team articles as we steadily approach the new edition’s pre-orders in just a few weeks’ time.
* Or more, in the case of operatives with a higher GA (Group Activation) characteristic on their revamped datacards.