7 Kill-Teams That Warhammer 40,000 Needs

If nothing else can be said about this year, the success of Kill-Team needs to be highlighted above all else. While Necromunda remains popular among players, the popularity of Kill-Team remains one of the surprise successes of the past year. It allows players to get into the main setting, offers them a way to play on a budget, has a unique set of rules, and even offsets many of the hero focused Warhammer trends which have become rather irksome. Even players who show little to no interest in the core game have been buying up new sets, with the likes of the Rogue Trader box offering an opportunity to field a number of highly unique models.

At the moment, Games Workshop has largely been experimenting with the possibility of unique kits and new models. So, here's a few possible ideas which might help to have the game stand out a bit more; just a few general units which would be enough to grab the attention of players.

7 - The Fallen Angels

This is the only Adeptus Astartes related squad on this list, as it's the only one we really need. Well, the only one which isn't the Iron Snakes, and they sadly don't have a big enough fandom to justify a full unit. With the ending of the Gathering Storm, the Fallen Angels were brought back into the limelight after being on the fringe of fandom knowledge for a time. While a brilliantly written dataslate about Cypher fleshed out his antics and the odd hint suggested that they were active in the wider galaxy, that was about it. 

The Fallen Angels largely served as an obstacle and objective for the Dark Angels. Whereas the likes of the Thousand Sons or Death Guard were able to field full armies of unique models, the Fallen Angels received little attention. As they had little lore, and their tactics were limited to squad level activities or small-scale operations. This would make them perfect for Kill-Team, as it would open up any number of interesting mission objectives or unique cards to play. After all, these are guys who range from dedicated Chaos cultists to nihilists to vengeful renegades.

The Fallen Angels also benefit from displaying far more individual quirks and personality traits than many other Astartes armies. The Gathering Storm alone proved this, with multiple pages listing off the personality traits of a number of individual marines, and how they each pursued their own agendas. It would be an opportunity to truly flesh out the group as a variety of unique heroes loosely aligned to carry out a single goal over a devoted squad.

6 - The Eyes of the Emperor

The idea of adding in the Adeptus Custodes to Kill-Team has become a running gag for a while, due to their inherently overpowered nature and high price. Most cite that you would probably just end up with one person facing down an entire squad, and that's if you're lucky. However, there is actually some potential in this. Oh, not with the Custodes themselves, certainly, but with a small sect of their order: The Eyes of the Emperor.

This is effectively the Custodes' version of the Inquisition, and it consists of the closest thing they have to retirement. While the Custodes themselves may well be long-lived beyond even the measures of the Astartes, when one is found to be slowing or losing their edge, they often voluntarily retire their equipment and head out into the galaxy. From there they either cultivate a personal network of agents, informants and vigilantes to hunt down Chaos cults, or act alone in their personal war against traitors, xenos and daemons. It's a very Judge Dredd idea, and not overly dissimilar to their take with the Long Walk.

The way this could be played might be akin to how Vampire Counts were utilised in Mordheim. You have one or two unstoppable badasses, each capable of punching the heads off of folks and serving as your hammer, and chaff of various degrees of competence surrounding him. As he wouldn't be wading into battle in full power armour and with a guardian spear, the Custodes would be much more stoppable, and would still have room for growth. Perhaps he could be armed with everything from a lasgun to a storm bolter, and only be able to be clad in up to carapace armour. 

Likewise, the informants and groups surrounding him would likely range from Chaos Cultist to Tempestus Scions levels of capabilities, but be notably much more poorly armed. Their edge might be allowing them to disrupt the start of the game, or weigh the odds in their favour through a mixture of intel, sabotage or establishing pit traps. While it would be another army of the Imperium, it would be a nice mix of models and a good way to introduce a fun new element of the lore onto the tabletop.

5 - The Eldar Exodites

Look, you all know that this was going to be on here somewhere. As a self-confessed fan of the dinosaur riding knights, there's something undeniably amusing about someone facing off against the space Amish, only to discover they're packing anti-matter weapons. If anything the Exodites might be one of the most diverse groups behind the Imperium itself, as they have no fully established tabletop presence. You could end up depicting them as near feral hunters going with the Wood Elves angle, as some books showed, or establish them as a scouting group from Wakanda 40,000. There's certainly enough sprues and extra bits (such as the lovely box of skulls which has been very useful in setting up my own army) to experiment with this.

In terms of rules, the main issue would be working around the fact these guys probably wouldn't show up riding velociraptors on steroids. Instead what we would have might be a mixture of Royal Household Guard on foot with a single Baron, Noble or even just a Chief leading them. These could better emphasise hit and fade style attacks than what the Dire Avengers offer with some more durability than Dark Eldar units, filling the gap in between them. Alternatively, if you wanted to go in the direction seen with the first novel of the Dark Eldar trilogy, these could be closer to savage hunters. A more extreme version of the Ranger, with less armour, but effects like poison weapons at range or using local animals to their benefit. Hell, perhaps have a few come with them. You could have attack hounds to harry enemy units, or hawks being used as scouts to improve their accuracy by highlighting enemy targets.

If you're about to complain that they don't have starships like everyone else, well, the old lore said that groups used the Webway to get around just like the rest of their kind. As for their personal abilities, you still have a lot to work with due to their backgrounds. They could have skills which better emphasise their ability to rapidly withdraw from combat while still fighting, or even perhaps to have a number of advantages relating to the nearby terrain.

Also, as an aside, apologies for the quality of the painting in the photograph. That was my personal unit, and was close to being finished before my house was turned into a building site, and everyone else here decided that privacy was a luxury I didn't need. Now, let's move on before this turns into a rant.

4 - The Cadian Kasrkin

While it was sorely tempting to put down Kasrkin/Stormtroopers here, the truth is that the Kasrkin have more material to work with. Despite having been usurped by the Tempestus Scions, the models are still popular, and fetch a high price on eBay. It's with good reason as well, as they were among the best looking "future soldier" models produced for the Imperial Guard. With Cadia gone, there's little opportunity for them to be brought back in force, but they would be perfect for a kill-team. After all, the world broke before they did, and it's only in death that duty ends.

The Kasrkin here could be made up as survivors, perhaps even elite specialists which cannot be afforded to be placed on the frontlines. Given their unwavering resolve and sheer skill, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise if one group of Inquisitors or another tried to integrate them into their personal armies. Or, if someone didn't like that, perhaps Guilliman's reforms might have seen them utilised as a special forces unit for missions where they needed quick results without deploying a full army.

The obvious element which helps to characterise them more is their long history guarding against Chaos, and also the fact Cadia itself is gone. The destruction of a planet can heavily influence the depiction of an army, or even serve as a new direction behind them given their dwindling numbers. The Tanith First and Only is the classic example of this, but you also have the likes of the Star Phantoms, or even the entire Craftworld Eldar race. This can be taken in any number of directions, from self-reliance to having a much stronger core of veterans. It's definitely a varied example which can be built upon for any number of takes depending on how a player wishes to show them having evolved, and Games Workshop already has a solid design to work with.

3 - The Abhumans

So, this isn't entirely an Imperium related one. It instead relates to something which has always been an odd undercurrent within the setting: Humanity has a lot of sub-species. You have the Ogryns, and also the Ratlings, but also a multitude of other species. These are generally tolerated by the Inquisition and wider Imperium for their use, but are certainly not on the same level as the "pure" general species. This has led to their use as slave armies, cultists and even allies of other powers. The most obvious among these fits in with the classic depiction of the Imperial Guard, as groups of cannon fodder being (often literally) whipped into battle by a Commissar, or sent on suicide missions. Many of these would be to accomplish objectives or fight enemies with no chance of survival, and given the variety of foes in Kill-Team, that would fit in perfectly. Let's face it, if you end up with unenhanced humans fighting Thousand Sons, then you're going to take casualties.

The big benefit of this kind of force would obviously be customisation and opportunities to integrate existing models. Ogryns may or may not be possible depending on how they are written into the rules of Kill-Team, while Ratlings are an obvious addition thanks to their abilities as snipers. Then you have the likes of Beastmen who, in the era of Rogue Trader, did serve as serf soldiers who were loyal to the Emperor. There are varied groups and units atop of this, but the point is that you can have an extremely varied force of body sizes and physical builds to make up the overall team. It may even be an opportunity to have a much more fodder related force built around melee if the aforementioned Beastmen were used, or even to experiment with new takes on typical Imperial Guard weaponry. Just think of how one of these creatures might try to rework a basic lasgun, for example, perhaps cracking the focusing lens to turn it into an unstable shotgun weapon or the like.

The fact that they have such a diverse number of physical builds and can show up with everything from Chaos cults to the Tau Empire would also help with player creativity. If you leave enough opportunities for people to dig into their bits box to customise armies, they almost always will.

2 - Tanith First and Only

This might seem like a cheap option, but it did need to be added onto here for several key reasons. The big one is simply that, while they were available for a time, we have not had Gaunt's Ghost models in years. While they sadly weren't too popular thanks to the expense needed to build squads, the regiment is perfect for a Kill-Team style campaign with limited numbers. After all, they're a light infantry regiment with a heavy emphasis on stealth, limited engagements and acting as scouts. Multiple stories feature units acting independently of other armies, and we had an entire book devoted to Gaunt himself leading a squad to assassinate a traitor general. You might remember it, that story was titled Traitor General.

However, this isn't to say that the unit itself needs to focus on including the likes of Corbec, Gaunt, Larkin or Criid. Instead, it's a chance to use the army's background and more general tactics to help promote them. While the regiment might have followed a number of distinct figures, a great deal of time was spent highlighting the histories and quirks of its supporting characters. This ranged from noting their past professions to how certain personality traits affected their roles in the army. This would make them perfect for this type of squad level engagement, and permit countless opportunities for players to uniquely customise them to their own tastes.

Finally, and most prominently, you also have their variety of roles and weapons. While the army emphasized light infantry tactics, they did not simply limit themselves to long-las weapons. Instead, their soldiers were armed with everything from flamers, to lasguns, to bolters, to man-portable autocannons and the ever wonderfully named tread fethers. This would give them a versatility which many other scout or ranger style armies lack with their armories.

1 - The Kroot Mercenaries

Above all others, the Kroot had to take the number one slot on this list. Why? Because they're the perfect option for Kill-Team. You don't need to add in a single new unit with them, as everything from the Kroot hounds to the Krootox serves as perfect units to augment the basic squads. Furthermore, their basic troops exist as a perfect blend of melee and ranged glass cannons, as they can dish out a decent number of attacks despite notwithstanding returning attacks. This has typically made them serve as little more than a basic speed-bump to attacking units in many 40,000 games (and occasional area denial sniper mobs) but this wouldn't quite the case in Kill-Team. As the game limits the type of units they usually struggle against, they wouldn't be fodder so much as you might expect. Furthermore, the multitude of ability cards would help to offset their typical fragility.

Without the rules angle, you also have the benefit of their role within the galaxy. The Kroot are mercenaries before all else, and despite their standing alliance with the T'au Empire, they will happily fight for the highest bidder. This means that they can have any number of pillaged weapons, trophies or elements to help make their members uniquely stand out from the crowd. The standard Kroot box already has a vast number of customization in terms of arms, bandoleers and weapons, but there is every opportunity to build on this. Imagine if they had a specific prey they favoured above all others, for example, like the Astartes, and how you could build up their models to reflect this.

Finally, there is also the subject of their genetics. Kroot kindred adapt and evolve depending upon what they consume, often taking the most beneficial traits for themselves. Over time their genetic makeup alters if they keep consuming enough of a certain prey, until members gradually manifest those qualities over generations. This can lead to evolutionary dead ends - like the Krootox - but also varied sub-species of family groups. An old Chapter Approved article highlighted this, with groups like the Headhunter Kindred developing poisoned glands to spit venom at their enemies, or the Stalker Kindred, who had multiple genetic enhancements to benefit stealth. It wouldn't take too much to re-introduce these ideas via Kill-Team with a few upgrade kits.


So, that's the main list here. While I was sorely tempted to throw out the suggestion of the Ordo Chronos, it seemed best to try and emphasise a broad mixture of varied units. There are more Imperial ones than I would like on here already, and while they might have shown up with the Last Chancers if this list was longer, it seemed best to stick with the essentials.

If you have a few ideas of your own, please feel free to list them out below here. There are many more concepts which can be thought up, after all, and you could probably find a reason to justify everything from more Tau Auxiliaries to Thunder Warriors in one way or another.