Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Astra Militarum/Kill Team

Why Play Imperi-... Astra Militarum

Because you want to prove that mankind can stand up to the horrors of the galaxy even without a fancy tank and artillery support. Because you want to rush enemies that would mow you down in a heartbeat in normal play and cudgel them to death with your heavy brazen balls. Because customization options are so spread to individual troopers you can swap together a kill team from your regular troops. This is the AM's kill team. Last one alive, lock the door.

Unit Analysis

A kill team detachment allows 0-2 troop 0-1 fast 0-2 elite

0 HQ

Eh, you didn't need them breathing down your neck anyhow.

0-2 Troops

Troops make up the variety of the AM's options despite only having 2 choices.

• Infantry Platoon - What's that everyone? Modified FOC messing up your plans? AM literally brings it's own mini-FOC! The Infantry platoon is the go-to KT option for drowning your foe in BS2-3 shots. 1 command squad mandatory, 2 infantry squads mandatory. 3 more infantry, 5 heavy weapon, 3 special weapon and 1 conscript squads optional.
  • Command Squad- 30 pts. Mandatory. Comes with a 2A commander that can be kitted out for different roles. The other 4 have a range of options: two can be paired with a purchased heavy weapon and another can snag a special. If you don't want to commit the points to Heavy Weapons or Special Weapons Squads and just want one, don't forget this.
  • Infantry Squad- 50pts. You need 2 of these still so get your mileage. At 9 men and a sergeant, they bring a reasonable amount of bodies. A single pair can team up for a heavy weapon (that, again, you must by) and another can grab a special.
  • Special Weapons Squad- 30pts. For 30 you get 6 bodies, half of which can grab a special weapon from a cheap flamer or grenade launcher up to a 15 point plasma gun. Worth considering if you really want a lot of specials but always use your infantry squad and command squad's special weapon allotment first. Remember that the rules say 3 troops MUST replace their weapons with a special. So this squad will always be some measure more expensive than the base 30.
  • Heavy weapons Squad- 45pts. 3 heavy weapons teams. You must purchase their weapons separately meaning at the cheapest this squad will actually run you 60 pts (the least expensive option is a 5pt mortar). In all reality, the odds of you being able to afford to use these guys instead of the heavy weapon allotments of your command and infantry squads is low.
  • Conscript Squad- 60pts nets you 20 man-grots. It's a lot of bodies. Shame they're not good for much else.

While the infantry platoon may seem like a plethora of choices, your point restrictions are going to start rubbing against the squads mandatory mini-FOC. Meeting the requirements for this unit is 130 points before any upgrades, special weapons or heavy teams. Still the sheer weight of average shots and inexpensive special weapons is a quality all its own and the minimums still give you a platoon commander and 2 sergeants. And in case you're wondering, the largest mass of bodies you'll be able to field in KT is 48 (5 command squad, 20 from 2 infantry squads, 23 from a conscript squad with 3 purchased extras) for an 199pts. Give your platoon commander a bolter for 1 point calm your OCD and reach 200. They'll all be waving flashlights and CCWs except for him but think of all the grenades!

• Veteran Squad- 60pts gets you 9 vets and a sergeant and an extra +1BS over those newbies above. You're not going to drown enemy in corpses like using an infantry platoon but your going to get things done better on a per model basis. You can still trade 2 vet for a heavy weapon's team that keeps your better BS. You also can bring 2-3 special weapons to the party, making the veteran squad a lot more densely packed with toys than infantry platoons. Vets can still grab combat doctrines and these can be a pretty significant force multiplier. Forward Sentries in particular gives you camo gear that's much welcomed in the cover-heavy gameplay of KT for a reasonable price of 10 and the snare mines might find a use.

0-1 Fast

Hellhound variants are not available in KT because their total armor is 34. Valkyries are also out due to fliers being banned (and they would have lost out due to being 34 armor as well even if they weren't). So it's time for some of the overlooked options to shine.

• Roughriders:- A cheap 44pts nets you 4 crazy horse(or whatever you kitbash on there) riders and their crazy boss. While something of a joke in proper games, the low cost means these guys can often fit into your lists when nothing else decent will. Don't make the mistake of thinking of them purely as assault cavalry! Besides their pistols, 2 of the 4 can swap out for a special weapon and their leader can grab some goodies too. Mix this with cavalry speed in a mostly footslogging format and they can get surprising results.
• Scout Sentinel:- 35pts. The oft-maligned sentinel. Too little armor, too tall, too not-a-Leman-Russ. Well guess whose laughing now?! Punchy and fast, the sentinel gets a new lease on life in KT, where masses of firepower become rarer. Quite worth it but remember it's vulnerable to being swamped in bodies. Has some fairly inexpensive alternatives to its default multi-laser with a delightful heavy flamer being free to boot.
• Armored Sentinel:- 40pts. 5 points more straps an additional 2 front armor and removes the scout and move through cover rules. Considering the dense clutter of many KT boards, those loss of MtC might be worse than the frontal armor can make up for. Still if you can keep it facing forward and away from melee, 12 is pretty thick for KT.

0-1 Elite

• Militarum Tempestus Platoon: Stormtroopers come with a mini-FOC of sorts, though it lacks the minimums of an infantry platoon. You must take one Scions squad but can take up to 3. There's also a command squad option but it is not mandatory like in an infantry platoon. Note that when these guys take special weapons, they have a couple of extra options, such as the hot-shot volley gun. Stormtroopers also get Move through Cover (and deep strike but that isn't relevant here). They can grab the shooty Taurox Prime as a ride if they can afford it.
  • Militarum Tempestus Scions: 70pts gets you 4 scions and their tempestor and the option to grab more for 12 a pop. 2 can swap their HS lasguns for special weapons and the tempestor has the usual collection of pistol and melee upgrades.
  • Miltarum Tempestus Command Squad- 85pts gets you essentially a scions squad with an improved manager. All four of the squadies can grab special weapons and the Tempestor Prime is no slouch with a 4 WS/BS, making this group a versatile addition. Remember you must grab one squad of normal scions to be take this pack along. The wording of Clarion Vox Net protects its usefulness in KT, making it one of the few functional leadership bubbles.

The math-inclined will notice that a 60pt squad of Veterans over in the troops list can take carapace armor for 15, meaning they're only +5 cost to your scions, equal armor and statline and bring twice as many friends, leading you to ask why with the Tempestus. The main difference is the gun and the vox: stormtroopers HS lasguns are short ranged (by 6") but AP3. If this is worthwhile depends heavily on how you plan on playing. The addition of the command squad means bringing along an 18" LD9 bubble as well. When list-building with stormtroopers is always a good idea to do a comparative design using veterans instead. It's 200pts, it won't take long.

• Wyrdvane Psykers: Pretty darn pointless since there's no Brotherhood in KT. Skip.
• Ratlings: 30pts gets you 3 gun-hobbits with the option to get more. Ratlings are a bit hampered by their weapons being heavy, meaning they aren't going to be covering much ground. Alternatively they're the single cheapest option on the entire list so if you don't want to add models to an existing squad and you're not using your Elites slot, send Bilbo, Pippin and Merry into good position and let them try to pick off some folks. They sport some of the Guard's best BS and can bolt after making a shot. If the map permits them to use their range, even a 30pt trio can earn back their points very very quickly. Still, they compete in the Elites slot so consider pairing them with guardsmen or veterans.
• Bullgryn: It's all ogre now. Bullgryn clock in at a minimum of 145pts for 2 bulls and their Bon'ead with the option to buy more for 45pts (so you can only grab one more tops). These guys can be pretty funny in KT: their dense on wounds (3), their slabshields and normal 4+ make them pretty hard to kill and they come stock with a blast weapon which can help with crowds a little. They also get stubborn and HoW. All in all a very versatile package if not for the price. Remember you NEED 4 non-vehicle models for a valid kill team. This means you must purchase another bull and forgo all upgrades or purchase stock roughriders from Fast Attack (literally the only option inexpensive enough and not competing in the elites category). Still a lot of potential fun; saddle them with your specialist rules to make them more durable or more killy and bring Ogre Kingdoms into the grim darkness.
• Ogryn: You wanted Bulls but didn't want the cost. For 15pts less you get the same numbers of models and same statline, lose your carapace armor for a t-shirt and your grenade launcher for a ripper. Ripper guns are hardly a bad choice but remember you're going to be hilariously, hilariously outnumbered and every ounce of durability is going to count. That being said, you have a much more flexible 70pts to work with on another squad if you'd like, meaning ogryn far less dominate your list than bulls and ogryn are still pretty darn terrifying in an assault.

Dedicated Transports

• Chimera: 65pts. The classic guard metal box still benefits from it's large amount of firing ports, capacity and solid frontal armor. Can still mount weapons but being nearly the cost of a vet squad by itself means that you'll start having to give up squads-worth of models for it. Never thought you'd see the day a Chimera was prohibitively expensive, did you? Welcome to kill team.
• Taurox: 50pts. Comes with a pretty nasty TL autocannon making it a bit more of a fire support option. It's a point squishier up front than the Chimera though and its higher profile might come back to bite you in the butt in a dense, city/ruins style board.
• Taurox Prime: 80pts. The most expensive transport and exclusive to stormies. Identical armor but since its being driven by those fancy, prep school kids it's got BS4. Which brings us to its weapons. In addition to a TL volley gun and the Taurox battle cannon, which is basically a baby Leman Russ gun. It also has the option to toy around with these, swapping the volley gun for the autocannon from the filthy public school Taurox if that's more your style as well as trading the cannon for a TL gatling gun if you're truly terrified of the laws of probability or a missile system for 20. In short, a lot of firepower and the closest thing the AM can schlep to KT resembling a killy vehicle. Just remember that any vehicle gets a huge target painted on it in KT and this thing can be glanced to death fairly easily.