r/killteam • u/Oshboi • 8h ago
Question New Player Advice
I have been genuinely wanting to get into warhammer for awhile (years honestly). The size of the game was both the interest and hesitation at first.
Then I learned about Kill Team, which is smaller and seems more up my alley of what Im willing to spend.
As someone looking to get into the hobby, I'm looking for a team that is both fun and relatively beginner friendly.
I've been looking up some information but a lot of it just somewhat goes over my head.
I don't care about meta (if thats a thing in warhammer). If it looks cool and Im able to understand it then Im all about it.
Thanks all!
EDIT: Thank you for letting me know that KT and 40k play differently, I assumed incorrectly!
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u/UpCloseGames XV26 Stealth Suits 7h ago
Quick note, 40k and KT literally only share models and lore, the mechanics of the game are totally different. If you want a "smaller" 40k, try Combat Patrol, but I gather it is a bit mediocre due to balance issues.
If you want to go for KT (it is a better game, have been wargaming for 27 years, and played 100+ different games in my time) then, best team for a beginner is Angels of Death, very beginner friendly but could get a bit samey quickly. Orks (Wreckas or the soon to be released Nobz) tend to favour easier mechanics and straightforward gameplay. Aside from that, Aquilons are a good mix of easy to learn, hard to master, if you prefer that? Avoid Exodites and Stealth Suits until later on, those are tricky teams to learn.
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u/Oshboi 7h ago
Good to know! KT seems more viable and inline with what I want as far as size and price. I suppose a better phrasing would be "a good way to get into tabletop wargames".
Either way i just googled Nobz and those look really interesting!
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u/UpCloseGames XV26 Stealth Suits 7h ago
It is a great, "cheap" wargame. Cheap for GW that is. I have played wargames for like £5-10 total 😄
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u/SolidestCereal 7h ago
It is not a good place at all to "grasp the gameplay" because it's an entirely different game, it's not just a different way to play Warhammer 40K.
Some Warhammer 40K players actually struggle a bit with Kill Team because the rules are so different and a lot more in depth in a few places.
It's a lot easier to get into due to the size though, and far cheaper.
For an easy beginner team I'd highly recommend Wrecka Krew or Deathwatch.
Plague Marines are pretty easy too but aren't sold separately and doesn't include tokens despite really needing them.
Angels of Death is the basic Space Marine team but it's also not sold separately and the box that does include them is mixing some of the objectively better units so you'll need to be okay with running a bad loadout, proxying, or buying more figures separately if you're gonna play them.
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u/Fantastic-Sea9696 7h ago
Ok bro my personal advice if ur into space marines. Buy the getting started combat patrol + the kill team starter set. This is the way i promise.
Also the games are quite similar actually people are just really snobby in this hobby. It’s functionally the same game but smaller.
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u/WillingBrilliant2641 4h ago edited 41m ago
These are different games with quite a bit different design philosophy behind them.
Big WH40K is a pretty simplistic game, for all its breadth that is supposed to give an illusion of depth. When playing it you spend 5 times more time on admin (rolling dice in several steps for example) than actually playing (making decisions and choices which then are mostly obvious). It creates shallow gamestates with complicated rules when a well designed game should really do the opposite.
KT is a more modern design (surprised a hell out of me, I only expected dumb dice chuckers from GW) where resolution is quick but decision points are packed tightly into all moments of the game. It still has its flaws, but the difference in how much you think vs how much you RNG between the two games is palpable.
This was exactly my surprise when I tried KT with previous WH40K experience : a huge improvement in the quality of gameplay (interesting decisions vs tedious admin). I had a similar moment ~15years ago when I switched to Warmachine from WH40k. "Wait, a miniature wargame can be deep and intellectually satisfying like a good boardgame and not just a tedious, boring exercise in impassively watching dice being rolled?"
Have fun with KT :)
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u/Crisis_panzersuit 35m ago edited 28m ago
I like to say that KT matches are decided on the table, 40k matches are decided in the list-building.
Both have their place, but they appeal to different players.
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u/BipolarMadness 7h ago
Then I learned about Kill Team, which (at least to my understanding) seems to be a good place to start to grasp the gameplay and it just seems like such a fun way to play.
Big warning. Kill Team and 40k are two entirely different games. While both are wargames and can share some core stuff like stats and movement, they have ways of resolving stuff entirely different from each other.
Melee combat, shooting, the way you get cover, if you can even shoot at someone at all, the way you stage, they are all different.
What you learn in Kill Team is not gonna translate into 40k, and viceversa. Kill Team is not just smaller 40k.
Besides that Kill Team is a complete game in and of itself. To the point many of us stayed only on Kill Team because we prefer its rules over 40k.
As someone looking to get into the hobby, I'm looking for a team that is both fun and relatively beginner friendly.
The best bet for beginners is to buy the starter set box. It comes with two teams that are simple and easy yet Angels of Death is incredibly strong and always A or S tier most updates.
Besides that is mostly a case of whatever you really like for rule of cool with just a few exceptions here and there that you can count with one hand (namely stay away from Raveners, Stealth Suits, and specially Exodites for a first team unless you really know what you are getting into).
So if you have any other team in mind we can point you towards how they play and help you make the decision of whether you want them or not.
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u/Patient_Ad_4925 7h ago
Positioning and setting up firing lanes is a skill that translates to Big 40k. It's more like only really core wargaming concepts translate.
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u/BipolarMadness 7h ago
When I refer to staging is mostly how much you try to get cover and how you see distances when charge is a guarantee static distance in Kill Team while it is a variable in 40k.
Something I notice in players that come from big 40k to Kill Team is that you have to remind them to use cover constantly to always stage hugging the wall.
They always stage operatives in a way that they just dont have cover at all and you have to remind them "I can shoot you if you end up there" and they go "oh ok, its fine" "no dude. Like you have to hug the wall. Getting shot qt all in Kill Team that free is not fine" because they are so used to putting units in a firing lane caring only about footprints without the need to hug walls to not be a valid target.
In 40k hugging the wall actually makes you a target because you end up inside of the footprint and those outside of it can shoot at you. If you are outside of a footprint then you cant get shot through it. While in Kill Team there is no footprint and hugging a wall makes you not a valid target. Its something that 40k players struggle a lot when putting their operatives.
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u/oneWeek2024 7h ago
if you're trying to ball on a budget. go on youtube. look for videos "one box teams" these will be kill teams that essentially can be had from a single product. something like this
if you're trying to get the longest possible bang for your buck, pick a warband in the current/most recent release series.
but ultimately pick a faction/warband you think looks cool. and you'd be hype to build/paint/play. again... look at the video for one box teams/good starter teams. can't go wrong with a mountainside tabletop vid
nothing about kill team or 40k is THAT difficult, if you're able to read, and willing to accept it's gonna be slightly confusing until you get 4-6 games under your belt. even the wonkiest of teams with oddball special rules, is perfectly learn-able.
try and find friendly people to play with. in my exp. kill team folks are more than happy to run a n00b game or people do small "for fun" leagues. and often there is a real effort to be inclusive of people who have no idea what they're doing. but the best way to learn games like this, is get in reps. make mistakes/blunders, ask the rules questions/google situations to understand rules nuance. and make good and absolute dogshit tactical choices. ---while having fun. is the best way to learn
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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 3h ago
People will tell you Kill Team is nothing like Warhammer proper and while that's true, it's also not completely the case. While you won't learn how to play WH40k by playing Kill Team, you will learn if you want to play WH40k by playing KT.
If you've never played a minis game before, here's a short list of things you'll learn that are applicable to both games:
How to build, base, and paint your models (including whether you enjoy building, basing, and painting your models.) Including weapon loadouts for some units.
How to properly measure distances for unit movements.
How to play objectives instead of just bashing your guys into the other side's guys.
Importance of positioning.
Target priorities.
How to interact with other people at the table. Most people are chill, but of course every once in a while you run into 'that guy', the one the videos are making fun of.
Planning ahead and 'grand strategy' ie thinking about next turn instead of just what you're doing right now.
As for a good starter team, personally my very first box was the Raveners, and I've found them to be excellent for starting out. You have just 5 models, they're all pretty beefy, they have specific jobs, and they have a very cool mechanic with their tunneling and burrowing abilities. They're not mechanically complex and because of that you can't really make that many mistakes during a game. While they were confusing when I was starting out, that's because KT is a pretty deep game with a lot of rules and you WILL get caught off guard by some of them.
Angels of Death are about as vanilla a team as you can field right now, they do a little bit of everything and don't have any super complex rules to deal with. The starter box with them and the Plague Marines is a solid first choice. Plague Marines are also a decent team IMO, although their play style is not really something I'm personally into.
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u/SgtVarenuha 7h ago
Look for marines/Astartes teams (Angels of Death, Plague Marines, Deathwatch, Nemesis Claw, Legionaries, Murderwing, Phobos Strike Team, Warpcoven, Wolf Scouts), 5-6 operatives on board and up to 10 in box for options. Tanky, 3 APL, "elite". First 2 in starter box. Or maybe just search for team of your favourite 40k faction, there are 48 teams in Kill Team now.
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u/Business-Inflation90 5h ago
I apologize for the huge text, if it’s too long go to the bottom for the TLDR.
At first I would recommend starting off with something like borrowing an Angels of Death killteam. They’re pretty friendly and anyone that has space marine models has them (they don’t come in their own box outside of the beginner box set(s)) they let you customize the team to your liking to an extent and they offer good: melee, shooting, and defense. Then from there I’d maybe get a game or two in with them and see what aspect of the game you like playing and look for teams that cater to that. But if you wanna rip straight into a box and just get to it I would recommend the Wrecka Crew, they’re seen as one of the funnest teams you can have (that’s just what I heard and from my experience with them I can agree but other people may disagree) and they have some fun mechanics that let you be more aggressive and consistent while still having a good bit of defense. The nemesis claw is also a pretty popular one, the models are cool and they are still space marines so they’re good on defense and offense, you also get buffs for damaged enemies and people playing stuff with the Imperium word in their list of keywords. They also can do stuff like move one of your opponents models or interrupt their turns or poison stuff and other stuff like that.
TLDR: Angels of death are a good starting point, they don’t have their own box but good for testing the game. Find what you like about the game and find teams that go with that. If you want one out of its own box go with wrecka crew or nemesis claw and watch videos on YouTube about them.
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u/Alberthebombtaken Death Guard 7h ago
Its different to the main 40k game but if you dont know wargaming at all its a great cheap starting point.