Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Skitarii(7E)/Kill Team

Why Play as Skitarii

• Some of the best basic infantry in the game. Rangers are made for Kill Teams
• Versatile wargear which lets you prepare to counter any situation
• One of the single-most effective vehicles legal for Kill Teams

Useful Skitarii Rules and Equipment

Doctrina Imperatives are not used in Kill Teams, so alter your strategies accordingly.

Ranged Weapons

• Phospher Blast Pistol: 5 Points for a single heavy bolter shot. Not too bad, you'll be wounding most enemies on 3+ and ignoring the armour saves of several factions. Even better, if the enemy model has more than one wound and you manage to scratch them: they have -1 cover save and charges against them can be re-rolled until your next turn.
• Radium Pistol: One shot of the radium carbine. There's little to no reason to take this over the Phospher Blast Pistol.
• Arc Pistol: For twice the price of the other pistols, you are paying for +1 strength and one worse AP than the PBP. You will find wounding enemies even easier with the trad-eoff that many models will get their armour saves. That said, this does have haywire which gives this weapon some boosted utility.

Melee Weapons

• Taser Goad: The cheapest melee option and one that you can feel safe taking without also taking a pistol. Gives +2 strength as well as having the taser special rule where a successful to hit roll of 6 becomes three hits instead of one. No AP to speak of, but that's why you want the volume of attacks
• Power Sword: More useful on a Vanguard rather than a Ranger due to the Toughness debuff Vanguard have. It straight up ignores all armour saves in Kill Teams. However, you're trading away volume of strength 5 hits from the Taser and the decent strength and AP alongside utility of the Arc Maul
• Arc Maul: Pretty expensive in a 10% of your points kind of way (not including the cost of the character and other possible equipment he will be carrying,) but you are essentially getting a Skitarii that smacks like a heavy bolter and can easily glance a vehicle to death without worries.

Special Weapons

• Arc Rifle: The cheapest of the special weapons and arguably has a place in any list that fits in Skitarii. Decent strength and mediocre AP alongside Haywire makes this incredibly versatile. You will be able to instant death guardsmen, skitarii, basic tau, etc. while also taking down their transports. Better yet, you can take two of these in the same points allotment that will nab you one plasma caliver.
• Transuranic Arquebus: Costs as much as a powerfist, but in this game it's actually worth a lot more than in basic 40k. Whereas a unit with a TA will feel obligated to camp in a corner and forgo their other benefits: in Kill Teams your TA user can camp freely with no effect on the usefulness of your other models. AP3 and sniper means that this weapon has an excellent chance to hurt whatever it targets. Give it the Ignores Cover Weapon Specialist trait to maximize the effectiveness of this weapon to a horrific degree. Furthermore, with its range of 60" you will be hitting anything within line of sight everywhere on the board.
• Plasma Caliver: Beautiful in large games, arguably overkill in Kill Teams. You will be hosing mooks with three shots, ignoring the armour saves of all models, and wounding most on 2+; but at the same time you are paying a premium for a weapon that without specialization will kill the bearer. Potentially useful, but really consider how you are going to use this and keep in mind taking more than one is pretty silly.

Special Issue Wargear

• Refractor Field: A 5+ invulnerable save for a couple of points. This is the bare minimum obligation to your Alpha/Princeps in order to make Slay the Leader that much more difficult.
• Conversion Field: An invulnerable save that is one better than the refractor but for twice the points. Also forces blind tests on nearby units on a success. Can be quite handy in negating enemies trying to krump your leader. Assuming they can fail an initiative test, that is. If you are kitting your Leader for melee, take this definitely. Otherwise, a Refractor Field and decent use of cover can be sufficient.
• Digital Weapons: A Single re-roll to hit in melee for the same cost as a conversion field. Do you plan on being stuck in melee? Consider taking this especially since Rangers and Vangaurds are WS 3. Otherwise save the points and grab something else.

Relics of Mars

• Arkhan's Divinator: Useless in Kill Teams; move on
• The Phase Taser: A taser goad that forces wounded models to take initiative tests or be removed from play. Can be useful on any multi-wound models on the table but due to lack of models with 4+ wounds, you are perhaps better off looking elsewhere due to the decreased effectiveness.
• The Omniscient Mask: Gives your model Zealot. This is kind of a mixed bag. You can give it to your leader and have them auto-pass Break tests, but run the risk of redundancy that comes from the one leader trait you can roll. You can also put this on another model if you need to have a dedicated melee unit guaranteed to stay on the table.
• Pater Radium: Extremely circumstantial but possibly devastating. If the bearer lives long enough to reach the end of the Initiative 1 step, then any enemy models in combat with the bearer must each take a toughness test and take d6 unsavable wounds on failure.
• Phosphoenix: Arguably more useful in the close confines of Kill Teams than in the basic 40k game. The range is a paltry 6" but one shot becomes three on a successful hit. With AP2 and poisoned (3+) alongside the decent 5 strength means you will be hurting anything you hit at worst on a 3+. Also has luminagen and pistol benefits.
• Skull of Elder Nikola: Given that few enemies are going be fielding vehicles in any great number, this might be better off left at home. Though given the smaller confines of the table does give you a greater chance of hitting what vehicles are in play. Ultimately, this is a mixed-bag tool that you are better off leaving at home unless you know for sure that there will be vehicles aplenty.

Unit Analysis

A kill team detachment allows for:

• Troops: 0-2
• Elite: 0-1
• Fast Attack: 0-1

Troops

• Rangers: Relentless and Feel No Pain (6+)but otherwise Storm Troopers in hoods and robes. They come stock with AP 4 Bolters with 30" range as well as Move Through Cover and the useless-in-kill-teams Precision Shots. Probably your best bet in terms of basic infantry in Kill Teams. Their superior weapon range and AP tends to do better than Radium Carbines in the smaller scale of this game type. Also, Move Through Cover is quite a valuable asset to have. If you are running guns, use Rangers. They can take 2 Special Weapons at base unit size, but three at a full unit of 10. You are better off taking two units for the spare alpha and the ability to take 4 special weapons. See the Special Weapons table for general analysis.
• Vanguard: Cheapest infantry unit you can field, so take them if quantity is more important than quality. They have the same shtick as Rangers but swap out Precision Shots and Move Through Cover USRs for giving enemies in combat -1 Toughness, so if you want a melee Alpha your best bet is the Vanguard Alpha. All that said, Vanguard are still astoundingly points-effective for their cost. See the Rangers for Special Weapons

Elite

• Infiltrators: Paradoxically tough and weak, these spindly assassins come with a 4+/6++ save with vanilla Feel No Pain and two wounds a piece. However, they have three toughness. They are fast, boasting the same Dunestrider rule as Dragoons and Ruststalkers in which they move, run, and charge an additional 3 inches. In addition, Infiltrators uniquely have Infiltrate and Stealth which allows you to place them strategically sooner. This in turn couples with perhaps their key feature: the Neurostatic Aura. This aura forces all enemy models within 6" to subtract 1 from their WS, BS, I, and Ld. They come in two configurations:
  • Power Sword and Stubcarbine: The stubcarbine is essentially a 3 shot ork shoota with even worse AP and the power sword is a power sword. Stubcarbine notably does not give you +1 attack for being a pistol because it is not a pistol. This load out has its uses but usually pales in comparison to the other.
  • Taser Goad and Flechette Blaster: The Taser Goad effectively makes your model strength 6 but lacks any AP. The upside is that 6s to hit generate 3 hits instead of 1. Even better, the Flechette Blaster is a pistol which means that on the charge you are smacking the enemy 4 times with the spread meaning you can generate anywhere between 0-12 hits per model. At strength 6, you will generally be wounding the enemy on 2/3+. Not too shabby. The flechette blaster is also not as bad as it seems. It may be strength 2, but you get five shots and it has shred.
  • Congratulations on purchasing a five model kill team. At 185 points for the starting 5 models, you do not have no real room for options. You are limited to purchasing for your Princeps either a refractor or conversion field, digital weapons, the infoslave skull, or the phase taser. That's it.
• Ruststalkers: Take the Infililtrators and replace Infilitrate, Stealth, and that snazzy aura with Furious Charge and you get your basic Ruststalker. They're moderately cheaper which allows you to field five like the Infiltrators but splurge on some fancy gear for your Princeps or field 6 with enough points left over for a conversion field. Like the Infiltrators, they come in two weapon configurations:
  • Transonic Razor with Chordclaw and Mindscrambler Grenades: Transonic razors are ap5 melee weapons with the transonic special rule. These nifty little knives allow to-wound rolls of 6 to always wound regardless of your enemy's toughness. Also, in the first round of combat, to-wound rolls of 6 additionally wound with AP2 instead of 5. In additional rounds of combat, transonic weapons are considered to be AP2. What this means is that Ruststalkers get better the longer they are in combat. Chordclaws let you take a single attack and give it fleshbane. This does not generate an additional attack, mind you, although you do get one for wielding two weapons. Mindscrambler grenades are neat because they are like poison in which they wound on 4+ regardless of the opponent's toughness but are not indeed poison. They are also AP4. In addition, they have Haywire which makes transonic razor wielding Ruststalkers incredibly versatile
  • Two Transonic Blades: You are trading your only real option for anti-vehicle and your only ranged weapons in exchange for +1 strength. Ruststalkers are already strength 4 with 5 on the charge. It comes down to you deciding whether or not you want that versatility. Since they will be strength 5/6, you can possibly pop enemy vehicles in melee, but grenades are arguably more reliable. The choice is yours.
• Secutarii Hoplites: Take your basic Skitarii statline and rules set (FNP 6+ and relentless,) give them a shield and a stick, and you get a Hoplite. The shield gives them a 5+ invulnerable save and defensive grenades against chargers. The stick gives them a haywire bolt pistol in terms of shooting and an arc maul that only gives +1 strength in melee. All around, they make a decent unit whose only weakness is range. You can equip the Alpha like any other Skitarii Alpha which might be useful to boost their resilience. Otherwise, you have enough points over for a basic vanguard squad and a refractor field.
• Secutarii Peltasts: These are to Skitarii as Sternguard are to tactical marines. They trade away the shield and stick for a gun with three pretty spiffy shooting modes as well as a snazzy rule called Blind Barrage. You can fire the weapon in any single mode as per your desire. Since each model counts as a separate unit, you can mix and match firing modes on a per-model basis.
  • Flachette Burster: Range of 24" at strength 3 and AP -, salvo 2/4 so you will always be firing 4 shots at full range. Oh, it also has shred.
  • Ignis Blaze: Range of 18" but fires as a small blast with strength 3 and AP5. Hits with the Blind USR and as long as neither the firer or the target is in an "enclosed place" does not require Line of Sight.
  • Kinetic Hammershot: One shot at 30" hits like a bolter but has AP 3 and rending.
  • Finally, there is Blind Barrage. Each model once per game may give a friendly model within line of sight and 18" shrouded. Circumstantial but incredibly useful in certain situations, like tossing that on a dragoon to give it a 3+ cover save in the open.

Fast Attack

• Sydonian Dragoon:Simply one of the best vehicles you can field in Kill Teams. Normally you can take these in units up to six, but in Kill Teams you can take at most three and still have enough points to meet the minimal requirements. It just matches the maximum total armour value a single vehicle can be allowed to have; it carries a native 5+ cover save that stacks with night fighting all of which makes it surprisingly resilient for an open-topped vehicle against non-dedicated anti-vehicle weaponry. It moves with the Crusader USR and the Skitarii-unique Dunestrider which gives it +3" to its movement, runs, and charges. It has a searchlight for what it is worth. Weapons-wise, it starts with a taser lance but that can be swapped out for a Radium Jezzail.
  • Taser Lance: For when you want to experience the bliss of drowning your opponent in high-strength attacks. It's special rules means it strikes at double the Dragoon's base initiative on the charge as well as adding +3 to the strength of the attacks instead of the usual +2. So when charging, besides the obligatory Hammer of Wrath hit, you will be seeing 4 strength 8 iniative 6 attacks. Due to the weapon being a taser, any to-hits of 6 add an additional 2 hits. This weapon lacks AP, however, but with high-strength and volume of attacks, you'll usually be waiting for just one failed save.
  • Radium Jezzail: An interesting weapon. It's an AP 5 two-shot sniper with the radium special rule which means that a to-wound of 6 is automatically two AP 2 wounds. You can replace the taser lance with this for free. However, with the amount of shooting Skitarii can casually bring, do you really need more?

Building Your Army

At the core of a general Skitarii Kill Team is a unit of Vanguard or Rangers, so grab one or two first. Dragoons are pretty useful due to their speed and quality of melee attacks.

If you want to play Kill Teams for cheap, nab a box of Ruststalkers/Infiltrators. There, your team is assembled. Unless, you really want that sixth Ruststalker: then you need to find that elsewhere or buy another box.

Tactics

Recommended Specialist Combos:

In a Skitarii Kill Team, the big choice is what Weapon Specialist trait to pick, since as a whole you want to stay out of melee, and can only get one or two ranged traits.

Sniper on an Infiltrator, or failing that, a Peltast or Vanguard, is amazing. 4 or 5 Rending Shredding shots that wound on a 4+ will take down pretty much anything with a T value in Kill Team, and on a Vanguard Rending hits twice on 6s To Wound, ripping through Marines like butter.

Ignore Cover on a Transuranic Arquebus is capable of removing every possible save apart from Invulnerables that is legal in Kill Team, with insane range. Hop in a high building and enjoy having a flat 33% chance to wound literally anything you shoot at.

The obvious Preferred Enemy and Master-crafted on plasma weapons, to keep your face unmelted with the lack of Doctrinas.

Tossing Reaping Volley on plasma can also be nice, downing multiple MEQs per turn.

Exploit Weakness (Rending CC) on a Tazer Goad Infiltrator is also handy for denying your opponent any chance at a save.

Machine Saboteur on an Infiltrator or Pistol/CCW Alpha will melt vehicles handily with storms of haywire, if you didn't bring along special weapons in your 5 Infil Kill Team.

Eternal Warrior can save your Sicarians from Instant Death missiles or plasma, but there tends to be less of that in KT. Consider if you run into elite teams often.

A Deathblow Sicarian is the definitive answer to Ogryns, Bullgyns and other high Wound, high T models (looking at you, Chaos Spawn).