We love terrain, but do you know what we love more? Terrain that does stuff. Take Kill Team: Nachmund, coming to pre-orders this Saturday, for example – sure, it’s fun to fight around crusty old machinery, but wouldn’t it be more fun if you could use it to belch toxic smog into your opponent’s face?
In fact, this is one of the most interactive killzones we’ve ever seen. Pieces like the Smog Stack* can turn safe areas into risky obstacles at the worst possible time, forcing commanders to decide whether they need to push ahead and prioritise the mission, or spend precious time shutting off an environmental hazard.
Want to get one over on the Ruinous Powers? Try baiting the murderous, axe-swinging Butcher into a smog cloud with a weaker operative – then shred him with shurikens once the fumes have stripped away a critical Defence point. Or if melee’s your preference, a teleporting Corsair Shaderunner can slice him up without lingering in the smog.
Not every industrial cloud is a choking hazard – Exhaust Vents pump out harmless** fumes. Not only is charging through a plume of smoke extremely cool and dramatic, it’s an easy way to grant Cover to vulnerable operatives. Standing right in the cloud offers protection without compromising mobility, letting canny commanders use Exhaust Vents to sneak their close combat troops up close in (relative) safety.
Some of the opportunities afforded by terrain don’t involve blasting shots across the killzone – Hatches are treasure troves of loot and intel in narrative play, for instance. Having an operative duck underground in the heat of battle might lose you a little firepower, but the prizes they find can pay off in the long term – as much as the mission itself! Corsairs can even use their free Dash to skedaddle with the loot.
Several of the nine new missions in Kill Team: Nachmund add even more ways to use this terrain. Destroy the Substation challenges an attacking team of operatives to use the Energy Overload action on the Power Relay Substation at any cost. We wonder if their commanders have told them it’ll blow up in their faces?
If keeping your opponents from charging their Aeldari smartphones isn’t your cup of tea, valuable power cores can be extracted in any game mode, and used to barter for extra support from high command. Get a good roll and they’ll recharge you with a free Command Point, just in time to praise the Dark Gods with a late-game Ploy when other options have run dry.
We want to see your coolest action movie moments from the new killzone, so pre-order Kill Team: Nachmund this Saturday and cook up some awesome missions for your operatives. Don’t forget to post them on the Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages so we can have a good ogle.
* Even the gas masks worn by Krieg’s Veteran Guardsmen can’t help them here. We blame the manufacturers.
** Probably. Mostly?