Our explosive Warhammer Day previews showed off the awesome operatives battling in Kill Team: Shadowvaults – the Kasrkin and the Hierotek Circle – and with pre-orders starting tomorrow we thought it was high time for a look at their rules. Do you hate rolling badly and losing your favourite operatives? These are the kill teams for you.
Chosen from the cream of Cadia’s crop, Kasrkin personify the word ‘elite’. Their martial excellence translates directly into Kill Team, where the Elite special rule gives them a pool of 10 points to spend fudging dice rolls in their favour. Who needs luck when you’re this good?
This ability gives your Kasrkin unprecedented reliability at critical moments, as you can save your Elite points for decisive engagements and last-gasp interceptions. Alternatively, you can spend them liberally in the early game to establish dominance, keeping the pressure on with a barrage of pinpoint shooting.
With plenty of powerful weapons at your disposal – from a hall-clearing flamer and grenade launcher to a precise and deadly hot-shot marksman rifle – you’ll want to keep a few Elite points in your back pocket to get the most out of your Gunners every turn.
Good news – Kasrkin Sergeants provide a steady stream with their Leadership ability, giving you a total of 16 over the course of a game… providing they don’t meet a sticky end.*
The Hierotek Circle have two skills for which Necrons are particularly (in)famous. Existing Tomb World players will be familiar with Living Metal, which regenerates two lost wounds on each damaged operative during the Initiative phase, keeping your deadly Immortals and Deathmarks in tip-top condition all game long.
Reanimation Protocols are also making a reappearance, allowing your incapacitated operatives to roll a dice in each Ready Operatives step – and rise to their feet on a roll of 3+.** Unlike their Compendium counterparts, the Hierotek Circle aren’t limited to a single Tactical Ploy. They have several sources of reanimation – such as the Plasmacyte Reanimator.
These cuddlebug constructs give their comrades another shot at life with a high-energy Reanimation Beam. Though beware – if they’re incapacitated a second time, it’s curtains for your metallic minions.
Crypteks come in many shapes and sizes – the Hierotek Circle can choose from a Chronomancer, a Psychomancer, or a Technomancer to lead them. Each of the ancient artisans on your roster can then choose Cryptek Actions from a list of three, representing their eldritch scientific skills.
The result is a versatile, support-focused lynchpin – will your Chronomancer create a Timesplinter to protect their technological troops, or slow down scrambling rivals with a Countertemporal Nanomine? More than almost any other kill team, the Hierotek Circle depends on the safety of its leader, but reaps tremendous rewards should you position carefully and keep your regenerating bodyguards close by.
Kill Team: Shadowvaults is available to pre-order tomorrow. It’s a must-have for fans of Necrons, Cadians, and Kill Team players old and new – as an added bonus, if you already have Kill Team: Into the Dark, adding the Shadowvaults terrain will set you up perfectly for new Boarding Action games of Warhammer 40,000 when the Arks of Omen series launches later this year.
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* The Kasrkin have a few other tricks to save up Elite points – but you’ll have to check out Shadowvaults for the details.
** If you’re playing a Spec Ops campaign, fallen operatives won’t even count as injured if they reanimate before the game’s over.