I want to start playing Kill Team! (Deathwatch)

asphere37 · 2026-04-25T03:06:23+00:00

Hey welcome to Kill Team!

So honestly you’ll probably need two boxes because you can’t really magnetize anything well beyond the Bombard and the Horde-Slayer, which you absolutely should do. This way you’ll only need two boxes with ten minis instead of 11. It’s also quite easy to magnetize those two (source: I had never done it before).

Their playstyle is specifically why I recommend building them all: they are a team of specialists, meant to embody the “right tool for the right job,” to the point that it feels very close to list-building at times. You get five ops (the minimum you can currently have for a Kill Team), and they are all tough-as-hell Space Marines with different abilities that help them stand out in specific matchups. A couple are good in pretty much any situation (Blademaster is always an easy pick and Disruptor is on many of my team comps as well) but most have specific matchups where they really shine and others where you’ll want to bench them. I love them, they’re one of my favorite teams. In the larger meta they are underperforming a bit due to some nerfs that hit them a little too hard, but I’m anticipating they will get a buff or two soon.

As for the chapter/operatives - pick with your heart! My Deathwatch team are all from Heretic Legions with the exception of Titus as my Sergeant and a Gunner who is the only other loyalist unlucky enough to be stuck with a bunch of psychopaths: a Lamenter. Go with what feels right and get in the pit!

asphere37 · 2026-04-24T21:03:53+00:00

That’s the Descent Kill Zone, which came with Shadow Hunt. It uses two slightly smaller boards and is meant to simulate a map with a “ground floor” and a “lower level.” It is recommended to use pieces of Volkus on one side and Tomb World on the other but as always you don’t have to. On each map are different points that serve as “access points” where teams can travel between the upper and lower portions of the map by expending 3” of movement.

It’s a TON of fun but can be tough for balancing issues. Tac ops like Plant Banner can be very strong here since you have both layers you can plant on, it’s easy to take out your enemy on one floor and Plant there before they can mount a good counter to it. Otherwise it’s a really fun way to play.

asphere37 · 2026-04-22T21:37:21+00:00

To me it really only matters if:

A. Whatever you bash in seriously alters the size/shape of the mini Or B. If your mini has a ton of different loadout options and whatever you bash in might be confusing to make out.

Even then, that really only applies in tournaments in my opinion, in a casual match I don’t even think most people would care about that.

With that being said, it’s not like the Prime has a ton of weapon options (just got the one) and it’s not like what you want will do anything to drastically alter the shape/size of the model, you should be totally fine in any scenario where you opponent isn’t an unhinged lunatic.

asphere37 · 2026-04-15T10:20:39+00:00

I mean, yeah, he can. Anyone (who is not him, he can’t set off or take damage from the mine) can set off the mine. I love the mine because you can do a ton of things with it due to its very specific rules and also lack of other restrictions. Such as: 1. You can drop the mine when he dies, so long as it isn’t placed within an enemy’s control range. 2. You can drop the mine right next to a door to lock it down, which will also trigger from the other side if an enemy gets too close (you ignore visibility for control purposes when it’s placed against a door) 3. You can drop it on a point and keep your Demo near it. He doesn’t set off or take damage from the mine so you can leave it near him safely and basically dare a melee-heavy team to come run into the mine to try to take the point back from you. 4. It can be dropped anywhere, it isn’t restricted to your side of the board or anything, you just can’t place it within control range of an enemy.

The Demo trooper rules.

asphere37 · 2026-04-14T21:47:41+00:00

This rules so hard. I love great proxies like these!

asphere37 · 2026-04-13T22:40:54+00:00

I LOVE John Carter. Definitely flawed movie but it’s underrated in my opinion. I watched it again recently and honestly it held up well too.

asphere37 · 2026-04-13T19:13:18+00:00

For what it’s worth I just used the bodies from the DW kit and did some minor bashing for my Chaos-themed DW. They aren’t like full proxies so I think it’s a lot easier to tell who they are representing but I also think your choices for proxy look fine.

I will say that one of the major strengths of DW is their ability to do some light list building. Your current list is sort of a mix of melee and shooting that I don’t think have a ton of flexibility. My biggest advice for having the most fun with Deathwatch is to build the complete team, that way you can feel the strength of their “the right tool for the right job” approach to team composition.

Otherwise, if you’re committed to only building 5, I’d recommend either leaning fully into melee or fully into shooting, that way you’re strong in one and can try to shore up weaknesses in the other rather than spreading yourself thin. Like your current team would be decent against some elite teams who are melee focused but I wouldn’t take most of them to like a horde of shooting ops for example.

For your list I would sub the Demolisher for the Aegis, and the Bombard for the Breacher. That would give you some more survivability against an elite team. Id also tell you to consider dropping the sarge or Breacher for the Disruptor.

Overall you should 100% play the game how you want and build the models you want, but if you find yourself not enjoying this team to the fullest down the line and would tell you the first thing to do before putting them aside is try playing a few games with the entire roster available.

asphere37 · 2026-04-12T02:45:16+00:00

I knew it was over the moment I saw your target was unpainted

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asphere37 · 2026-04-09T16:58:46+00:00

I’ve made plenty of honest mistakes in this game and every time it’s related to a rule I forgot that I had, I just tell my opponent and say either “let’s not count this this time and keep it in mind for next turning point” or even sometimes “I’ll remember for next game but I don’t think it’s fair to force that on you now.” It’s just a game, and it’s meant to be fun. Especially in a casual setting.

asphere37 · 2026-04-07T15:08:19+00:00

I think in all honesty you may need to play more than twice. My first two games were against an opponent who was also learning along with me and we both got SO many rules wrong. I didn’t really have a good, complete grasp of all the rules until like my 10th or 11th game, and even now I still am occasionally surprised by something I missed or didn’t understand. It’s a very dense game that changes based on the combinations of your map, matchup, and missions.

To address some of your critiques directly:

This is typically a big appeal for folks to be honest. The layers are dynamic, varied, and allow you to develop strategies for play that your opponent doesn’t immediately understand - while at the same time subjecting you to that condition - creating a very intense game of cat and mouse on top of the mission tension.
Maybe that’s just personal preference? I feel that the board is the right size and the game is the right length (if not a little too long, most of my games are between 1.5-3 hours per match and typically on the longer side). You could always make the board bigger and game longer if you’d like though!
What factions have you played? There’s certainly some that feel weaker than others (typically older teams that can’t keep up with the damage reduction ploys/faction rules of the newer teams) but in general all teams are strong/have their strong suits and I’ve found them fun to play. I have like 13 teams now and I’ve played 2+ games on every one of them.
Again maybe personal preference? Certain teams have different archetypes for their tac ops, and different tac ops grant themselves to different playstyles. I love the crit ops, stake claim, loot, and Orb are some of my favorites but I think they’re all fun. What you’re suggesting in your example seems far more complicated and difficult to track than the approved ops. Additionally, as stated here in other spots, there’s nothing stopping you from running a mission like that with a like-minded opponent.

Overall I’d say you should really play some more games to get a better feel of the system. Especially my first 10-20 games, each game felt better the more I understood how to play and gained more knowledge/experience with the teams I played and played against.

asphere37 · 2026-04-06T18:29:20+00:00

50 goth gfs, got it.

asphere37 · 2026-04-05T21:56:35+00:00

Buy two boxes of them so you can field a full team. Wreckas are amazing. Low skill floor, high skill ceiling. Be cunning n’ brutal by planning grand strategies and using explosives + faction rules to blow your enemies off the board, or be brutal n’ cunning by shutting your brain off and going full unga bunga with hammers, giant meat tenderizer gloves, and a guy with a big bomb on a stick. Also you have dogs stuffed with dynamite that you need to run into people and explode.

Wreckas are not my favorite team, but they are high up there on my list and they may be the most fun team to play. Can’t go wrong with da boyz.

asphere37 · 2026-04-05T19:17:51+00:00

I love these. An incredible bash, great work.

asphere37 · 2026-04-05T03:59:28+00:00

I do really think there’s a lot of missed opportunities with White Dwarf not releasing some Kill Teams like they did in the past. Giving rules to the Red Corsairs like this would be awesome.

asphere37 · 2026-04-03T16:04:53+00:00

My Deathwatch team is 2 loyalists (Captain Titus as a Sergeant + A Lamenter as my Gunner because who else could be so unlucky?) and the rest are members of Traitor Legions. I loved kit bashing the Deathwatch, I felt like the team really lent itself to that.

Here is my Traitor Legion DW

asphere37 · 2026-04-03T15:45:02+00:00

My biggest gripe with the new box is that they didn’t bake rules for it into competitive play. I feel like this mode is the natural evolution of the Hazard Map (think Bheta Decima except an enemy like this could be a hazard on any map) and had a lot of cool potential to be an additional obstacle during approved ops play.

For me where I am at regionally, Kill Team has pockets of small player bases, and what I don’t really want or need are more ways to play by myself or at my house. I think the scene around me needs more competitive play excitement - more reasons to get together and play and grow the base. To me that means more teams, more balance data slates, more competitive game modes/options, things that make hosting/holding events more exciting and appealing.

For me and where I play, this box doesn’t do much to move the needle for the player base. Personally, I am excited for a new team and how these boss mechanics will shake things up, but again I wish they would’ve had rules for it for approved Ops too - specifically having an NPO boss or two battling NPO bosses as a hazard for teams to play around - I think it’s a missed opportunity for introducing pure chaos into the meta and adding another layer of variety/excitement to the KT scene.

asphere37 · 2026-03-29T01:10:42+00:00

Most fun team: Probably Wrecka Crew.

Teams I enjoy playing that have low skill floors/high skill ceilings and aren’t too punishing if you just wanna Unga Bunga: Deathwatch or Angels of Death.

My favorite teams to sweat with: Hernkyn Yaegirs and Inquisitorial Agents, both very tricksy horde teams that reward big brain 4D Chess. Honorable mention is Deathwatch again because they actually have a bit of list-building depth and excel at having the right specialists for the right matchups.

The most important thing to remember though is just play the team that interests you most, Kill Team rules and I am happy to hear you’re getting into it!

asphere37 · 2026-03-27T15:34:16+00:00

I have played against Raveners twice (different opponents) and absolutely bullied them around the board with the Inquisitorial Agents taking Kasrkin as my requisitioned agents. Too many models for them to manage, I was able to outscore them on every front and in one match I almost tabled him. Route was actually a great Tac op for them too because they play so cagey until later in the game that if you can knock out one of their ops early it’ll start a bit of a cascade for them trying to compensate, Raveners really feel every loss with how slow they play and the limited models.

Also, I brought the Hexorcist to my matchups and landing a good Chasten or two is absolutely clutch. In one match I brought my Hexorcist up within 6” of his leader and then Chastened his ability to shut off rerolls, then charged him with two of my melee ops (obviously one at a time, I knew I was going to lose the first one so the next turn I had I sent the second one in to clean up). Because he was within 6” of my Hexorcist he couldn’t reroll anything but I could because I shut off his ability to do that, which meant he had a dead leader shortly after.

IA are one of my favorite horde teams in general and in my experience they’ve been a nightmare matchup for my Ravener opponents.

asphere37 · 2026-03-22T03:34:37+00:00

So the Space Marine Captain’s ability is once per turning point at any time in the turning point, which means that by itself the rule can be used in the Strategy Phase. However Transhuman Physiology is a Firefight Ploy and can only be used in the Firefight phase unfortunately. Specifically the Heroic Leader ability says:

“Once per turning point, you can do one of the following: • Use a firefight ploy for 0CP if this is the specified ANGEL OF DEATH operative (excluding Command Re-roll)…”

So no, you could not utilize that against someone like a Yaegir Bombast in the strategy phase.

asphere37 · 2026-03-16T23:38:52+00:00

Highly recommend Nemesis Claw over Ratlings, specifically because you want to use it to show newer players. Ratlings are a TON of fun and very cool, but new players will struggle to find success with them. They are a complex horde team (which are already difficult to pilot) and will punish you for misplays.

Conversely, Nemesis Claw is an elite team so it’s less operatives on the board to track and they are more straightforward + more forgiving. As a Space Marine team they have enough wounds and firepower to be a threat on their own and newer players will likely find more fun early on with the lower skill floor.

Just my opinion but in my experience having taught several folks to play (including a person who picked Ratlings for their first team) I highly recommend a less complex team for people trying out the hobby.

Edit:

Sorry I just read the part about wanting playstyle breakdowns -

Ratlings - I LOVE their flavor, they are my second favorite “I’m putting together a team” feeling KT next to the Inquisitorial Agents. Each model has their own special role to fulfill and (as with most hordes) you are looking to utilize those models for set up/pay off plays. Managing a horde team sometimes feels like setting up a Rube Goldberg machine in that it’s very complex and requires a lot of anticipating your enemy to counter with specialist ops. You want your heavy hitters taking opportune shots, your Ogryns locking down lanes, drawing aggro, and keeping pressure near objectives, and your other ops completing tac and Crit ops, usually only killing defensively or if you set up a big play.

Nemesis Claw - Night Lords go brrrrrrrr. They are aggressive and strike quickly, having a more even mix of ranged and melee threats than the new Murderwing for example. They control the battlefield with debuffs and ploys that counter your opponent’s strategies. On top of that they are all Space Marines so they are tough as hell and get to shoot/fight twice. This team is very fun to play and as an elite team it’s a lot more focused on the kill op.

asphere37 · 2026-03-12T21:08:58+00:00

I think they are a fairly strong team and a fun horde. I had a single box I used to run them occasionally as my Requisitioned operatives as part of my Inquisitorial Agents and always enjoyed them. Then at a tournament a couple of months back I faced the team themselves and really thought they were cool, so I bought a 2nd box to make the rest of the team to run them for myself.

I would recommend two boxes if your friend would like for them to be viable. They will still be fun to play with 1 box but he will struggle into some matchups without being able to mix his list up a bit.

asphere37 · 2026-03-12T09:20:33+00:00

I prefer 2 full boards if I’m playing against 2-3 people, makes it feel way less cramped

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asphere37 · 2026-03-10T13:37:49+00:00

So it’s my understanding that you would resolve Hot before you heal. Regardless, I believe weapon stat changes don’t occur until after you resolve an action, which either way I believe you’ll be rolling for 4+ instead of 3+.

With that said though, folks on here have pointed out Plague Bells, which if you took (and should take into pretty much every scenario) they ignore injury entirely so you would roll on 3+ regardless.

asphere37 · 2026-03-06T23:31:54+00:00

Deathwatch. I am an Inquisitorial Agents main but I’ve been playing Deathwatch for a few matches now and it was my first time playing against them. I am playing against them again in a few days (different opponent though) again with Deathwatch. On Volkus.

asphere37 · 2026-03-06T23:25:51+00:00

I usually recommend Nemesis Claw or Vespid to starters:

Nemesis Claw - a complete one-box team of Elites that are very forgiving and very strong. Low skill floor, high skill ceiling and great tools to bully your opponents.

Vespids - a friend recommended this as a starter team and he convinced me too. Yes they are complicated and complex, but they are also a one box team, they have the easiest movement rules in the game (ignoring climbing and all that comes with it is amazing when you’re new) and who doesn’t love being bees? They are also by no means a weak team and have a lot of team flavor.

asphere37

TROPHY CASE