Kill Team October 2021 FAQ and Errata

Rules updates and clarifications for Kill Team!

Games Workshop have just dropped new FAQs and erratas for Kill Team on Warhammer Community! You can check them out first by following the link here. Now, this is great to hear as many amazing content creators have already covered a lot of issues raised with Kill Team and I’m happy to say that the majority of questions and interactions have been answered. Read on today as I cover the main changes from today’s updates.

If you’re interested I’ve done this as a video on YouTube which goes into more depth that you can watch here:

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Compendium

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First up we have the Compendium errata. These have HUGE changes to kill teams and their rules. Notably Custodes have gone from 4 APL to 3 APL and Brotherhood of Demigods is changed from being played basically at any time and allowing free actions to instead only allowing 1 free fight or overwatch action at the end of the firefight phase. Custodes have been toned down heavily, and rightly so with a win rate of basically 80% at tournaments. I would have liked Aegis changed too as currently I can’t see a reason for them to not pop it every turn. Still, this is an amazing change to the main problem kill team of the game.

For Space Marines and Grey Knights, Only in Death Does Duty End was changed and clarified. Your operative is removed at the end of your next activation or end of the battle. The biggest change is covered in the Core Rules section.

Imperial Guard have their gunner go down to a +5 save from a +3 with the big change being Guardsman Orders now affecting all Temperstor Scion and Guardsman operatives within red and visible of a Imperial Guard leader. So basically Imperial Guard orders now actually work as intended.

The rest of the erratas are slight changes and clarifications, mainly operatives that did not have defined weapon loadouts now have fixed weapon loadouts.

The Compendium designer’s commentary just has clarifications for the Eldar kill teams as well as the Hunter Cadre. The key note here is with Prismatic Blur and being forced to parry ignoring Brutal.

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Core Rules

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For the Core Rules errata, obscured operatives don’t provide cover for operatives within black, so just an important change to note for fellow daisy-chainers out there.

Scalable is the biggest change as it opens up basically all Warhammer 40,000 terrain to Kill Team. I was expecting this to drop with Chalnath but the fact we get this now is amazing. It automatically applies to any building taller than 2 white and ignores the final white of movement. So yeah, we can use 40k terrain now properly so thanks Games Workshop!

Drop also mirrors climbing in that you can now combine a dash with a drop action like a climb. Just making moving around terrain a lot easier.

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Here are the Core Rules FAQ. This is actually pretty deep with very clear diagrams to show off obscuring more. These are excellent and a welcome surprise to see. Full marks to Games Workshop.

Next we have characteristic modifiers clarified. Such as APL modifiers and how they interact with Dash,

The rule for vantage points and allowing bases to overhang is something I’m not totally happy with. It is a lose/lose situation allowing for vantage points to be blocked off for charging more as well as also allowing potentially more charges.

Stormshields can now parry via using a crit to stop: 2 normal hits, 2 crit hits or 1 crit and 1 normal hit. Making them even better!

Operatives without melee weapons just cannot strike or parry in combat. Poor double Shuriken Catapult Dire Avenger Exarch… (unless it takes the melee weapon equipment)

Only in Death Does Duty End (and similar ploys) do not let you strike in combat during your activation (or the opponents). You can still charge operatives to contest and capture points but you can’t do any damage or parry. Really good change and clarification.

6+ saves retained as cover do not count as crits, sadly haha.

Rules that trigger off of critical hit rolls with the same timing trigger in the order of the controlling player’s choice, which is a change from how it normally works.

Limited trait weapons can still be used to twice in a single activation. Interesting if a little surprising to see.

Outside of this, you have some more general coverage including clarifying how APL modifying works for the Consecrate mission.

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Kommando

For the Kommando Errata, the biggest change and winner here is the Breacher Boy! Not only does he just gain Brutal but when charging, he gains the Stun special rule from crits too!

The Kommando Nob gains the leader keyword and smoke grenades work like they do for Space Marines.

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Veteran Guardsman

The Veteran Guardsman Errata clarifies Guardsman Orders as well as their OiDDDE strat like Space Marines. Characteristics are modified but notable the detonate rule from the Demolition Veteran now works on obscured targets and the Medic Veteran cannot save himself from death. Even it was a hilarious image to save himself from a headshot.

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Closing Crit

So that’s pretty much it! A nice surprise to have on a Friday but Games Workshop have done an excellent job. Most questions have been addressed and certain stuff toned down. Notably, Custodes. While I feel Aegis of the Emperor should have been hit too, I’m really happy with the changes overall. The addition of diagrams for shooting too is an excellent touch and a great starting point for the game’s balance, showing the Games Workshop do care and plan to continue supporting the game competitively.

The only thing I would have like clarified in the designer’s commentary is just you always measure from the center of objectives markers as it says so on their page (because it does not on the missions etc), it’s just a minor niggle. The fact we got the scalable trait early too is just another awesome addition.

But that’s pretty much it from me. Until next time, keep rolling crits with the help of competitive balance!