Kill Team - Blooded vs. Vespid Stingwings
Intro; Antoni Pastuović
This Friday, Luka and I had the opportunity to try out the third edition of the famous Warhammer skirmish game Kill Team, and along the way demonstrate the basics that have remained unchanged. Luka played a team of Vespid Stingwings, a highly mobile T'au unit, and I played the Blooded, a traitor squad that used to belong to the Astra Militarum (in my case they were named Glanton's Gang). The map, measuring 30x22 inches, was organized so that all terrain was outside of our deployment zones, which were 6 inches from the shorter edges. In the middle of the map, in a slight diagonal, 3 points of interest (objectives) are placed. All this resulted in a very symmetrical setup of operatives – all Vespids and the entire Blooded gang at the beginning of the game were mirrored hidden behind large pieces of terrain. All buildings with doors were 3 inches high, offering the operatives a Vantage point - the ability to keep one hit die as a success, and the well in the very center, 4 inches high, offers an even better Vantage point, where the operatives keep 2 dice.
Turn 1
Antoni Pastuović
Before the start of the game itself, we set up 2 barricades and everyone had to choose one of the three so-called Scouting options: Luka chose another piece of equipment, and I chose a free Strategic ploy, giving Luka the first initiative. At the beginning, all the operatives had a Conceal order, which means that it is almost impossible to select them as targets, but that is why they can neither shoot nor attack. Because of this, the first round was uneventful, i.e. it came down to positioning: Glanton's gang used Enforce actions and Commsman's addition of APL to get as close as possible to points of interest, and the Vespids used their flying ability to jump over any possible obstacles. The treacherous Sharpshooter and T'au Oversight each climb their respective structures and prepare to engage in the next round. My melta Gunner does the biggest lunge and runs straight between the 3 Vespids, hoping for the initiative.
Turn 2
Antoni Pastuović
The forces of Chaos don't care whose blood is spilled - the Blooded team gets tokens every time they kill an enemy operative for the first time in a round, or when they fall in battle close enough to an enemy (6 inches) to be considered token-worthy. These Blooded tokens are awarded to the operatives at the start of each round, granting them an automatic hit, and if there are 4 such operatives, one of them is under the divine gaze, granting him an automatic critical hit. I got the initiative, the melta missed. It doesn't matter: the Gunner falls immediately afterwards, giving me a token to award in the next round. The Sharpshooter lightly wounds the Vespid Drone at the far end of the map, which didn't result in a Blooded token, but the Traitor Enforcer from ground level orders him to shoot again, which manages to finish him off. At this point, the Blooded team has two points of interest in their control, all but the central one. At the very end of the round, the flying Vespid Warrior jumps to the highest point on the map (which gives him Vantage point bonuses), where all members of Glanton's gang are in his sight, ready to return fire in the third round.
Turn 3
Antoni Pastuović
Luka and his Vespids gain the initiative, which gives me an extra command point, which will be crucial for many re-rolls in the third round. At the beginning I see that I have exactly 4 tokens, so I decide that Traitor Thug will be under my god's eye this round (his last). The third round was the most fatal for me, shots from the bolt pistol, laspistol and lasgun do not take down the Vespid Warrior at the top of the map, who easily kills Glanton, the leader of my gang. Vespid Skyblast simultaneously litters the middle of the battlefield with Neutron Fallout, destroying any hope of the gang making a successful counterattack deeper into Vespid territory. Even when Traitor Ogryn ventured to do so, he was met by Vespid Longsting and his rail rifle, costing him his remaining 13 wounds. Luke's Neutron Fallout was so successful that I almost forgot to activate Enforcer and Thug on turn three, because subconsciously I didn't want the activation itself to take away their D3 wound. Thug rushes in to finish Ogyrn's job, and after killing Skyblast with one blow, the next closest Vespid returns the favor.
Turn 4
Antoni Pastuović
In the last lap, the situation is clear to me: I have to maintain the status quo. I must continue to control the points of interest, even if they all end up like Glanton. Sharpshooter gets a god's eye so that from his position he can bring order where he needs to. Traitor Corpseman stays away from the front lines and dispenses his doses to the wounded to keep them on the battlefield. In the last lap, Luka gets rid of the Enforcer and two others - it doesn't matter, they did their job. The last skirmish takes place at the first point, where two of the four operatives lose their lives and two are seriously wounded. Despite this latest battle, the point of interest remains under my control. The final score is 9:3 for the Blooded team. Although the kill rate was the same, what prevailed was the number of Blooded that could trade off each other to maintain control of points 1 and 2. I want to give my deepest thanks to Luka for a fun game and hours of navigating the new edition despite all the obstacles.
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