Kill Team

This is about the Deathwatch Unit, for the game see Kill Team (Specialist Game)

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Kill Team or Kill-Team refers to a singular form of squad organisation, closely related to the universe of Warhammer 40,000. But anyone known to role-playing are familiar with the concept.

In Warhammer 40,000, Kill-teams are squads of specialists, usually employed by the Space Marines of the Deathwatch, used in missions which large forces aren't the smartest idea to deal with them (It doesn't stop certain individuals from trying it anyway), like sabotage, assassination, objective identification, information theft/retrieval, and everything involving enemy territory and not a full-fledged invasion.

There are 3 (or 4) forms of play with Kill-teams: the X-box360/PS3 videogame, the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay books, and a Specialist Game.

It can be argued that the strike forces lead by Hairgel during the events of the 1st and 2nd Aurelian Crusades can be considered Kill-Teams, but the sizes are close.

Induction in a Kill Team

Each Kill Marine is chosen with intense scrutiny from their original parent chapter to see whether they have the grit, rage and xenophobia to nonchalantly butcher a entire planet's worth of filthy aliens in ways that would make the Red Scorpions tell you to calm the fuck down. Once they are chosen, each marine must force to watch hours of Space Marine Snuff films of fellow Battle-Brothers getting raped, killed or shat upon, thereby increasing the marine's rage to a spectrum of hatred which would make the World Eaters proud. Strong metallic braces are strapped on the marine's arms and legs to prevent him from ripping apart the film projector. The archives of the Deathwatch detail every member's history, the oaths he has sworn, his areas of expertise, the alien races he has engaged and any quirks or flaws he may have. The team's leader will delve long into these records before each mission, to ensure the best chances for each marine to become victorious against the xenos scum.

The Battle-Brothers of the Deathwatch are exceptional individuals taken from Chapters across the galaxy. In this diversity and fund of experience lies great strength. Where one member of a Kill Team may not have encountered a specific breed of alien, another will have met that creature in battle and defeated it, or one roughly analogous to it. Once a Kill Team has fought together long enough to share the full extent of this knowledge, it will often be disbanded, its members assembled into different Kill Teams to learn and teach anew. Doing this allows a good degree of tactical flexibility when fighting against the myriad of alien threats facing the Imperium as well as allowing unskilled members of a Kill Team to learn the best ways to fight this particular xenos from their mentors who have previous battle experience. This means that each Kill Marine is as adaptable and pragmatic as an Inquisitor when in the midst of combat. Because of this, in a rare moment of common sense, it is common for a veteran sergeant to seek his men's advice as often as the other way around, and in many cases act more as an arbiter than as a traditional commander.

Deathwatch officers will invariably choose the members of their Kill Team in order to draw on as much relevant experience as possible. With different Chapters having long-standing specializations, it is easy enough to identify who will have the most relevant insights in a given circumstance. In matters of how best to launch a close assault, a Sternguard Veteran of the Imperial Fists will likely yield to the advice of a Vanguard Veteran from the Blood Angels Chapter, whereas in the defense of a bastion complex, it will almost certainly be the other way around. Long-standing rivalries between Chapters do sometimes sour these relationships, at least initially -- headstrong Space Wolves may clash with dour Dark Angels in an echo of their Primarchs' famous rivalry, and a tactician from the Hammers of Dorn may endlessly debate the finer points of the Codex Astartes with his Ultramarines equivalent. Over time, however, these instances of conflict lead to long-standing respect or even firm friendship. Truly in the grimdarkness of the 41st Millennium, friendship truly is magi- *BLAM*

Role

The Kill Team is the primary formation of the Deathwatch, serving as the core group that engages the bulk of their hated xenos foes, and to bring about the achievement of the Deathwatch's objectives. They are in a essence, the Deathwatch's equivalent of the vanilla Space Marine Tactical Squad. Most Battle-Brothers are veterans of a hundred alien wars before being inducted into the Deathwatch, but selection is not made upon length of service alone. In theory, even a Scout Marine who shows exceptional skill at arms against the xenos may be selected to serve, although such an event is extremely rare. In the main, it is those Battle-Brothers who have faced a broad range of alien threats and not only survived, but prevailed, learning and passing on new methods of defeating such foes. A Deathwatch Kill Team consist of no less than 5 Battle-Brothers, but they are no larger than a reinforced squad in size, tasked with carrying out a specific objective, such as the destruction of a particularly dangerous target or strategically important objective.

If a mission requires an unusually large number of Deathwatch Astartes to participate, the Inquisition may assemble several Kill Teams, though such instances are rare because of the elite status and potent combat ability of even a single Deathwatch Kill Team. The term Kill Team can also refer to larger, more ad hoc assemblies of Space Marines drawn from the companies of the standard Space Marine Chapters. These types of Kill Teams often consist of 3-5 squads within a standard Astartes company, or about 30-50 Space Marines. These Kill Teams are lightly armed and are intended to make use of speed and relative stealth to destroy selected, highly important strategic targets. These targets are primarily the enemy's most important command-and-control units, such as an enemy commander and his bodyguard. Additionally, standard Space Marine Chapters also make use of Kill Teams to mop up any remaining enemy troops after the primary combat has ended in an Astartes victory.

Being Supersoldier Spec-Ops, Kill Teams get all the Awesome shit. They are usually armed with a Special Issue Boltgun chambered to fire specialized rounds like Hellfire or Dragonfire rounds, Infernus Heavy Bolter, Mark IX Sniper Rifle, an assortment of Combi-weapons such as a Combi-Flamer, Combi-Melta, Combi-Grenade Launcher, Combi-Plasma, Combi-Grav and even the elusive Disintegration Combi-Gun, the rare Egerian Geode, as well as a Power Maul, Xenophase Blades and a motherfucking Heavy Thunder Hammer. Oh yeah, and all of them wear the elusive Mark VIII: Errant Armour.

Types of Kill Teams

Although Kill Teams are broad, there are several types of distinct Kill Teams that are specialised in murderfucking xenos ten ways to hell. These are:

• Aquila Kill Team - The 'vanilla' Kill Team, the Deathwatch Tactical Marines that are meant to handle any eventuality. The team's Battle-Brothers keep in constant communication, evolving their battle plan with each new twist of fate. They assess the strengths and weaknesses of the foe with the penetrating gaze of a hunting eagle, devising the optimum courses of action before swooping in for the kill.
• Dominatus Kill Team - Kill Teams that comprised mainly of Assault Marines. Should the enemy rely on specialist forces of its own, the Dominatus Kill Team will make their destruction a priority in order to secure dominion over the field. The team's Vanguard would launch their alpha strike as the Veteran marksmen that form the rest of their Kill Team pin the enemy in place with disciplined firepower. It is a tactic that has been employed to great effect against the most marshalled xenos armies.
• Fortis Kill Team - A Kill Team comprised of Primaris Marines. Due to their more fixed roles, it becomes more important that the various varieties of shiny new space marines find ways to support themselves. This leads to a Fortis team becoming more akin to a micro Kill-Team when they aren't supporting their elder brethren.
• Furor Kill Team - A Kill Team comprised entirely of Terminators. Where the enemy still threatens the Imperial lines through sheer weight of numbers, the team’s close combat specialists will charge in at the last moment. The Furor's would teleport in the middle of enemy encampment and proceed to RIP AND TEAR survivors with powered blades, Chainswords and lightning claws. The forward elements of the Furor team drive onward with each new charge, breaking enemy offensives one after another.
• Purgatus Kill Team - Purgatus Kill Team specifically targets the leadership of enemy squads. Essentially a Kill Team with a Librarian. These squads hunt down and slay those dominant creatures that hold xenos forces together, whether through conventional command structures or through psychic means. When the Purgatus team is in position it will burst from concealment in a storm of Hellfire shells and purifying lightnings, destroying enemy leadership and causing Squad Broken.
• Venator Kill Team - A Venator team is assembled when the Deathwatch face a foe too agile or manoeuvrable for a conventional strike force to contain it. Essentially the Deathwatch's Bike Squad. Where such a xenos army could run rings around an armoured division or Gladius demi-company, the Venator team turns the enemy assault on its head, its bike-mounted warriors hurtling in wide sweeps to encircle the foe in their turn.
• Malleus Kill Team - Close combat force equipped with Thunder Hammers, Power Weapons, and Storm Shields. The force of the Malleus is meant to deal with xenos that likes to charge in vicious close quarters combat. The Storm Shields and power weapons wielded by the Malleus team acts as a living bulwark of ceramite-coated, 9-foot tall walls that can slow down and even stop an entire charge of xenos hordes.