With its fast-paced tactical games, Kill Team makes for exciting competitive play. One decisive move can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat – especially in the tight confines of the Gallowdark. Now that Kill Team: Into the Dark is hitting store shelves, it’s time for a new season of nail-biting door-to-door action.
To prepare for the battles ahead, we sat down with John Rees, the recent NOVA Open 2022 champion – also known as @canyourollacrit – for a tournament-focused chinwag.
John commanded a team of T’au Pathfinders, favouring their long-ranged approach.
“They have the best shooting in Kill Team”, he explains, “along with positional tricks and Markerlight support that set up critical plays for buffing your operatives and punishing the opponent.”
Like any good Fire Caste commander, John was determined to ensure his team had all the tools and tactics they’d require. “I took a full 20-man roster that covered every operative I might need, depending on the mission and opponent, and regularly practised all nine potential missions to ensure I understood them fully.”
Luckily, he managed to avoid his biggest bogeymen – the Sisters Novitiate who butted heads with the T’au in Kill Team: Chalnath. “I was most worried about Novitiates and other Pathfinder teams, although I had to battle the latter three times. Novitiates can be quite a hard matchup for Pathfinders, due to their close combat power.”
Even the best-laid plans can’t keep you out of melee forever, and John’s team rose to the challenge with some daring off-the-cuff improvisation (see: every action movie ever). “My leader personally dispatched a rival Pathfinder with two critical hits* from her bonding knife,” he says, “while the rest of my team joined in with other fistfights around the board!”
Every game was tense – that’s just the way with Kill Team – but the final was especially close.
“I was biting my fingernails almost every game, but especially in my final round. I thought I’d deployed badly and faced being wiped out in the first Turning Point. When I wasn't, I had to play very aggressively to stay in the game – which was partly why I charged so much!”
Close combat skills will be especially vital as the action moves to the new space hulk setting, where long-range firepower is hampered by corners and doors. John is heavily tempted to swap his Pathfinders for the Gellerpox Infected,** or use the free rules for the Intercession Squad, noting that “the T’au are going to find it a bit tough, with only one bonding knife to go around…”
You can get a taste of competitive Kill Team in the new Kill Team Organised Play packs arriving at many hobby shops – including your local Warhammer stores. These sets will support dozens of players, with cool prizes, certificates, and gifts for taking part available.
John’s sage advice for the budding tournament player?
“Stay calm, focus on each game round-by-round, and have fun! It's what I do all the time and it pretty much never fails for me!”
Begin your Kill Team adventure with Kill Team: Into the Dark, which comes with two all-new kill teams – the Imperial Navy Breachers and Kroot Farstalker Kinband – plus loads of atmospheric terrain, and the complete core rules. And get in touch with your local hobby store to see about getting involved in an Organised Play campaign.
* In his words, critical hits and their adrenaline-pumping unpredictability helped endear John to the game.
** Rules are available alongside the Elucidian Starstriders and four other kill teams in Kill Team: Annual 2022.
