Kill Team

We tried something a little different this week.  We played a quick Kill Team game from the Battle Missions book.  This is a 200 point game with models taken from the troops, elite and fast attack sections only.  We chose not to use any of the Special Rules options for this game.

Making a 200 point list is a challenge in itself.  I wanted to get a little diversity on the table, but a base unit of Battle Sisters is well over half the points available.  This lead me to find some other options that allowed me take fewer models in the base squad.

Seraphim are always a strong choice.  The cost per model is much higher than a Battle Sister, but the mobility afforded by the jump infantry is hard to pass up. They were easily my first pick to build a Kill Team around.

My second choice was originally to add a Dominion squad for scouting and the two special weapons (flamers) I could take with the base size of 5 models.  Unfortunately they are also Fast Attack and for the Kill Team mission there is only one Force Organization slot for a Fast Attack squad.  With the that slot already taken with Seraphim and the only Troop choice being 10 Battle Sisters, I would have to turn to the Elite section for the rest of my team.  While I am fond of my Repentia, I also remembered that I have yet to take a Celestian Squad in any game since the White Dwarf codex was released.  I had to at least give them their chance.  The final build selection gave me 6 Seraphim and 6 Celestian models.

We broke out some of the old (old!) Necromunda terrain for this.  I am surprised the cardstock pieces have survived these years in as good a shape as they have.  We laid out an industrail ruins in the center of the table with multiple levels.  This is actually a little sparse.  There are enough terrain features, but not enough of the smaller bits like crates, barrels, sludge pits and all the other giblets we generally clutter the field with in a Necromunda game.  This being our first Kill Team match I did not want for it to seem like I was creating difficult terrain all over just to hold my opponent at shooting range longer.  In any case, the table was ready for a more skirmish level of fighting than typical in 40K.

My opponent brought on the bugs; 18 of them.  There were 5 gene stealers and 13 hormogants.  If they got into hand to hand (and of course they will) the gants would be bad enough but those gene stealers are nasty!  They were the ones I was worried about.

The Sisters won the right to go first and did so.  Using the mobility afforded the Seraphim, they quickly took the high ground and found the first two gants in range of their bolt pistols and killed them both.  The Tyranids responded by charging forward and with their Fleet movement making it all the way into assault with the two Seraphim that fired on their fellow bugs.  Two Seraphim Sisters died to the assaulting hormogants one of which was the Seraphim Superior.  Both sides were bloodied, but with 2 kills each, the Sisters needed to step up the pace or loos in an attrition war.

Turn 2 saw the fighters in deadly range of one another.  The Sisters manuvered mostly where they were but getting their bolters in line of their targets.  The Seraphim used their mobility to position themselves in a way as to prevent cover saves from their shots.    The shooting was devastating, killing 2 gene stealers and 6  gants!  This also meant the Tyrinids had to start rolling leadership each turn to continue fighting.

The reciprocal assault from the Tyranids was viscous, yet not as heavy as it could have been thanks to the reduced ranks.  The Celestian Superior was lost along with one other Celestian member.  Also in my opponent's favor, two Seraphim and a Celestian were locked in combat and would be able to fire on their next turn.

For the next few rounds, it was a steady fighting withdrawal by the Sororitas.  I fully expected those models locked in combat to fall and wanted to be in a position to fire on the attackers once they were in the open.  I was not expecting what happened.  The Celestian won her combat against a gene stealer!  One Seraphim was lost and the other stayed locked in combat.   The Sisters locked in close combat fared better than expected and followed up with more bolter fire.  They were now taking Leadership tests to stay in combat, but the 'nids were two points farther down that they were.

After a few more rounds of combat and falling back, the game ended with the Tyranids failing their leadership test at a -4.  There were 5 Sisters still holding the board and only 3 hormogants remaining.  It was a victory for the Emperor no matter how you looked at it.

What Worked:
Seraphim yet again.  The mobility afforded jump infantry over a crowded board is almost cheating.

Celestians did better than expected.  With a Weapon Skill of 4, 2 attacks and a Strength of 4 on an Act of Faith, they can compete in close combat.  I know they are not going to replace a Death Cult Assassin team but they are a solid choice with rapid firing weapons for self support as well.

What Didn't:
Assault troops from the tyranids had a hard time in Kill Team.  With no mandatory pile in move, the close combat only units could not lock down full squads but only individual models.  Also, with no shooting or ranged attacks of any kind, the tyranids were basically going without using half of their offensive phase.  This makes me feel like my decision to take Celestians over Repentia was the best choice I could have made.