Warhammer World Kill Team October 2021 Event Review

I’m back for another Kill Team report from Warhammer World!

Greetings and welcome to my another tournament review! Once again, I’m detailing my experiences at the Warhammer World tournament that just finished this Saturday past in September. I’ll also be briefly going over my tactics and tournament prep too.

If you’re interested, I’ve also done this as a more in-depth YouTube video which you can watch here:

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Safety Precautions

Warhammer World’s event team sent out a precautionary e-mail the Thursday before the event warning about COVID precautions, basically highlighting what precautionary steps they are taking to make things safe and to ensure players are safe too before arriving. It wasn’t necessary and was great to see. Games Workshop aren’t forced to do this so it was just good of them to highlight these measure, even now. As someone who is triple vaccinated and follows safety measure anyway, this was just some good reassuring information.

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Kill Team Selection

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Regular viewers will know I’ve been playing Tyranids for about 6 weeks now for Kill Team. However, after extensive testing I was finding them lacking. Even with the recent FAQ for the game. The Nids were great at killing but lacked the ability to consistently score all 6 Tac Op VPs for me, even when switching up from 10 Genestealers. My mind was set after I did a test game with my friend Charles the Saturday the week before the tournament where we tested my 10 Genestealers against 4 Custodes on Master the Terminals. At the end of turning point 2, he had lost 1 Custodes which needed 5 of my Genestealers to kill. He was on 6 VPs from the primary while I was on 1 from a Tac Op. He had 3 Custodes left, I had 3 Genestealers left.

While my Tyranids could deal with most matchups, Custodes and a few other top-tier teams were still a problem for them. After that game, I knew I couldn’t rely on hoping to dodge the matchup in tournaments. So then I switched to the Ork Kommandos! They were already strong in my book and offered the flexibility I liked to deal with multiple different kill teams. Obviously being beaten by a certain gentlemanly player called Elliot using them also helped sway my mind. So with 8 days before the tournament, I switched to the sneaky Orky specialists.

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Tournament Prep

So for every tournament, I always do prep. This involves reading the tournament pack and going from there. As me and Charles were going, we played a lot of games using the 3 upcoming missions. The mission selection was interesting. Firstly, Master the Terminals is my most disliked mission of Kill Team. It is very imbalanced and strong favours the attacker and elite kill teams. As it lets the attacker to choose the first objective which is turned off in turning point 1 and there are only 4 objectives, you choose your opponent’s and effectively stop them scoring any primary VPs in turning point 1. Domination is good but the 9 inch deep length-ways drop zones results in difficult board setups as vantage points always end up inside because they have no space not to be there. Escalating Hostilities is fine and really fun on the otherhand. With only a 6 inch deep length-ways drop zone and a slow build-up to a clash in the middle.

Next I planned out the maximise my Tac Op scoring. Tac Ops scoring was my main weakness I identified after my 2 Kill Team tournaments and test games. I went over the Seek and Destroy, Infiltration and faction Tac Ops for Kommandos, practicing with each option in my 2 days of practice games to find which ones I could score reliably as well as based on the opponent and mission. After all, in Warhammer World tournaments scoring goes off of total wins then most Tac Ops scored with total VPs being the final tiebreaker. So yeah, scoring all your Tac Ops is hugely important.

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Finally I had my Kommando tech. This was mostly using all their strategic and tactical ploys to their maximum as well as sneaky combos with operatives and equipment. Namely I used dynamite with the Breacha Boy. His special terrain ignoring ability allows him to ignore lots of terrain when moving. As the dynamite has unwieldy it costs +1 AP to fire which is why my Comms Boy and Nob are so important with their ability to hand out +1 AP.

You can also do a sneaky trick with the Dakka Boy. His Dakka Dash ability is 1 AP to shoot and dash in any combination with any shooting action. Combine this with dynamite and you can Dakka Dash for 2 AP to dash then shoot the dynamite. Grant him an extra AP and then he can move, Dakka Dash and book! Another 9 inches of threat range! Combine with the strategic ploy DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA (change 1 miss to a hit if you retain a critical hit) and your dynamite becomes extra accurate as it basically has 51.8% chance to roll a crit with its 4 dice.

The main use of the double dynamite is the threat and board control it offers. Your opponent is only fine when both dynamites have been used or eliminated. Until then they have to space out and play cagey, allowing me to advance up while my Rokkit Boy and Snipa Boy provide covering fire.

Also then there’s the Kommando Grot. He scores me Interloper, faction Tac Ops, denies behind enemy lines, steals objectives and is generally an amazing nuisance. Always take this little git.

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Terrain Boards

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Once again Warhammer World were using their great standard Kill Team terrain. They were using Octarius and Vertigus boards with terrain maps changing after round 1. Just really good terrain, asymmetrical terrain layouts and perfect for Kill Team.

The event also updated the player lanyard. On the reverse, it showed round timings throughout the day. It was minor but allowed ease of reference when around Warhammer World. Another neat addition.

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Tournament Games

Now I’ll briefly go over the games. If you want more in-depth coverage, check out my podcast episode or YouTube video instead. There were only 3 rounds this time instead of 4 as it was a Sunday not a Saturday event. A minor shame, especially as the price was still £35. I would have liked a 4th round or a slightly cheaper ticket but yeah.

Round 1 – Domination

Round 1 was against Grey Knights. My roster was as follows: Kommando Nob with big choppa, Dakka Boy, Comms Boy, Breacha Boy, Snipa Boy, Rokkit Boy, Burna Boy, Slasha Boy, Kommando Boy (x2), Bomb Squig, Kommando Grot. For the entire tournament I basically took all the specialist Boyz, a normal Kommando Boy and then the Kommando Grot. I went with big choppa on the Nob just because it’s more consistent with dynamites on the Breacha Boy and Dakka Boy and a choppa on my Burna Boy. My opponent went with 5 Grey Knights with force weapons.

My opponent was the attacker and went first as we both chose infiltrate for scouting. He moved up to the middle then I noticed his Grey Knight behind the barricade was just over an inch from his red barricade in the bottom right. Measuring, I found out it was almost 2 inches out and basically not concealed. So I flipped my Rokkit boy from conceal to engage, and thanks to Dakka Dakka Dakka and not moving, rolled 3 crits and 2 hits. The Grey Knight exploded and I moved him up behind the terrain. Near the end of turning point 1, 2 Grey Knights were in the middle. My Breach (with +1 AP), moved up and blew up the leader and heavily wounded the Grey Knight within white of the target.

Turning point 2 started with my opponent having priority. He ended his first activation with his 3 remaining Grey Knights in the center of the board. My Dakka Boy, who had moved up to the 1st floor of the bottom left terrain piece, was in Dakka Dash range. So he dashed blue, then fired his dynamite, killing the activated Grey Knight and leaving the other 2 on 2 wounds each. By the end of turning point 2, the Grey Knights were dead and I quickly played out the game to max out primary and Tac Ops on 18/1.

For Tac Ops, following standard generation as per the rules, I had: Interloper (Grot), Shokk Taktiks, Upload Viral Code (very easy due to it being scoreable from halfway up the board.

Round 2 – Master the Terminals

Game 2 had me face-off against a faction I did not want to play against; Warpcoven! I knew a little bit about them but my opponent was very helpful in telling me what everything did. Not only that, he was currently ranked 2nd too! My loadout was the same but he surprised me by going with 2 Sorcerers then the rest were Tzaangors. My Tac Ops were: Interloper (Grot), Shokk Taktiks, Blow it Up (bottom left heavy terrain piece).

As I was the attacker, I made his closest objective turn off first and deployed a Kommando Boy in the top left and my Slasha Boy next to 4. This was done via the Sneaky Git strategem. It doesn’t follow the normal rules for stratagem limit as it happens outside the turning point and during deployment when you only have 2 CP. Some more sneaky tech I had prepared specifically for this mission thanks to Charles.

Going first, as we both picked infiltrate for scouting, my Boy moved up and claimed 3. He was charged by a Tzaangor who rolled a success and 2 crits, I rolled a crit and 2 hits. He hit me for 5, I hit him for 5. He hit me with another crit which I ignored with Just a Scratch and killed him with a strike to score my first part of Shokk Taktiks. I claimed 2 with the Slasha Boy who was then charged by another Tzaangor. This one horribly fluffed its rolls and was killed by the Slasha Boy.

For turning point 2, my opponent claimed 3 and effectively moved away from it. He claimed 2 as well but I claimed 4. I was losing in the top right/mid but had secured the bottom right and was in progress to clear up the bottom left. Because my opponent scored the points and moved off of them (namely objective 3), I moved onto 2 to control that and 4 while my opponent only controlled 2 to let me max out Shokk Taktiks.

Turning Point 3 had me win priority and I killed the 1 wound Taangor on 2 with the thanks of a lucky CP re-roll. 2 Was contested but I claimed 4 and 2. Turning point 4 I claimed 2 thanks to the Burna Boy with Just a Scratch. The Dakka Boy blew up my Blow Up Target and the Grot Interloped, leaving me with max Tac Ops and 7 on the primary to just finish within time on a 13/7 win. It was a super tight win and my opponent had almost wiped me out in doing so (although we both had about 4 operatives left each.

Round 3 – Escalating Hostilities

It was final round. I was top of the tournament still with max Tac Ops and highest VPs scored. Once again I was against Warpcoven. Yet this time he went with 3 Sorcerers, 1 normal Rubric, a gunner with Soulreaper and Icon Bearer. Basically a completely different way to play. I stuck with the same loadouts and Tac Ops were: Interloper, Shokk Taktiks, Sabotage.

Turning point 1 was a fairly tense affair. My opponent had chosen to be the defender so had a commanding position. We both secured our 2 objectives each but after he had moved up his leader and a Rubric into the middle, I did a Dakka Dash bomb powered by Dakka Dakka Dakka, leaving the leader on 4 wounds and the Rubric on 7. My Dakka Boy shot after an overwatched rolling 4 crits and doing 8 mortal wounds, immediately and fulfilling part 1 of Shokk Taktiks.

Turning Point 2 had us remove objectives 3 and 2 each (top objectives). Then I gunned down the Soulreaper cannon via my Rokkit Boy and Snipa boy after he shot my Nob behind the scramble terrain leaving him on 1 wound. His bottom Sorcerer charged my baited Burna Boy. He charged and rolled 5 crits! I rolled 1 crit and 3 hits. He hit me for 6, I hit him for 5, he hit me for 6 which I ignored with Just a Scratch, hit him for 4 damage then was killed. With only 5 wounds left, my Slasha boy charged back and rolled 2 crits, instantly killing the 2nd sorcerer. At the end of the turning point, my opponent was in the middle for central control but only had his bottom right objective. I moved and dashed to claim 1 with the Comms boy then scrambled my Nob over onto 2, maxing Shokk Taktiks.

Turning Point 3 had my opponent win priority and kill the Nob. I immediately activated my Boy who was near the Nob. Before my Nob died, he had previously given the activated Boy +1 APL so when I activated him now, he had 3 APL. He was within red of the top terrain piece, moved for 1 AP and blew it up. After psychic powers, my Rokkit Boy killed the final Sorcerer then moved off terrain. I charged into the middle and effectively wiped out the remaining Rubrics. My Comms boy gave the Grot +1 AP who then Hookshot to the bottom-right heavy terrrain piece and also blew it up to max-out Sabotage (as it can be maxed out in a single turn as long as you have AP and reach). Turning Point 4 was just claiming all the objectives and Interloping with the Grot to finish on a 17/6 win.

While the scores don’t truly reflect it, the game was super tough. Thanks to a few minor mistakes during Turning Point 2 by the Warpcoven (and obviously the DYNAMITE) I was able to do a big push and gain control of the board. However it was my best game of the tournament because my opponent and his wife were just so friendly and fun, while still pushing me to the limit tactically. They even had some mascots staring me down from across the board.

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Event Overview

After all scores were collated, we had 4 undefeated players. All Ork Kommandos! However, on tiebreakers I was first via scoring all 18 Tac Op points as well as having the most VPs overall (48).

I was…shocked to say the least. After being constantly being unable to win anything at Warhammer World (outside of the pub quizzes) and even with my Warhammer Underworlds exploits, it was super emotional to win. I had amazing games against great opponents and completed my goal of scoring all my Tac Ops. Winning was just the icing on the cake. Not bad after only 8 days playing the Kommandos aha.

On the question of balance, while Kommandos did dominate this 36 player event, for the sake of fairness, the week before Spain had a 28 player tournament with Custodes in 1st and 2nd, Socal Open had Ad Mech come first and another American tournament was topped by Harlequins. While I’m not trying to undersell Kommands (they are REALLY good thanks to the flexibility they off), overall the spread of winners 2 weeks post FAQ seems to be really even after the Custodes domination. Although probably that Dakka Dash dynamite interaction is not an intentional thing…

Closing Crit

So that’s it. I have another Kill Team tournament booked for Bad Moon Cafe in November but I may not attend that if infection rates get worse. Otherwise, super shocked and happy. Thanks goes to my friends who put up with playing me, especially to Charles and our endless theory crafting/practice (plus he came 5th with Ad Mech, beating out his 6th place finish last time). Plus everyone who helped me refine my rules knowledge via my battle reports.

Warhammer World was once again amazing. Still the gold-standard for Kill Team events. Smoothly run, amazing terrain, great setups. The new timing call-outs were super useful too and even helped me in my games for speeding up deployment. An excellent solution and fix to any potential slow play. As I said, the only downside was less rounds for the same cost but it was still really enjoyable overall.

For what I’ll take next, I’m looking at Veteran Guardsmen or the new Pathfinders from Chalnath. They seem strong and will be an interesting change from the Kommandos. But only time will tell.

Finally, MVP goes to the damn Kommando Grot who was the nuisance that ensured victory via “wasting” activations to my opponent, stealing objectives and scoring Tac Ops. Next would be my AP boosting Nob and Comms.

But yeah that is it for now. I hope you enjoyed this tournament review, showing you how you can improve and learn from your previous tournaments/games as well as a mini-tactica. Until next time remember you can always roll crits, even in the mysterious region of Chalnath!