Welcome back Kill Teamers, to the QnA series! The weekend saw 27 players come out to Baltimore to battle it out for $300, a Golden Ticket, and the vaunted Goonhammer Belt! With last year’s winner in attendance in the attempt to grab the double belt. Lets scope out the shape of the competition!
It seems North Easterly players continue the trend of playing the competitive meta. With almost 25% of the meta being taken up by Mandrakes and Scouts! The Scouts are the newly boosted team sporting an extra operative, and wielding 4/6 combat blades that put their fully Marine equivalent battle brothers to shame. Along with Mandrakes, a team that much of the competitive online conversation believes to be overpowered. The big takeaway is that most of the meta was taken up by newer teams this year, it seems the new nerfs are giving players excuses to play some new teams.
In a fairly large surprise, the top 8 features a full 8 factions! Really showing that win rate is only one part of the conversation, especially in a game with such tactical complexity. I really do think that it might be the best time to play the game, as nothing is truly set in stone as far as the meta goes. With the top three being Gellerpox, Scouts, and Kommandos, a good pilot really does set the stage.
Sean L snagged third place with a solid climb through the weekend after taking a round 1 loss. With Kommandos being nerfed multiple times and in big ways Sean has still been delivering results. Whether by Choppa or Sledgehammer the boys remain in town!
Sean L, Third, Kommandos, Kill Team Jawn
Goonhammr: Great job on the third place finish! With newly nerfed Kommandos no less. How are you feeling about your weekend performance?
Sean L: GHO was a shark tank, with some real big names at the event. Definitely one of the sweatiest events (in more ways than one). Ranking third there is way better than I reasonably expected, and it’s awesome to see my name among those top players.
GH: What sorts of adaptations have you been forced to make throughout the nerfs? Are there any notable plays or tactics that you use more often?
SL: Short answer – More Skulk About, Less Just a Scratch.
Long answer- Kommandos players have to be a lot more thoughtful about when and how to use JAS now. Sometimes you need to use it aggressively to keep a model out of 1-shot range from a subsequent critical hit. Sometimes you need to just hold it to make your opponent afraid of its potential to flip a combat. Sometimes you end up not using it at all, and you get more CP to use on Skulk or Dakka Dakka Dakka.
GH: How was playing on the Bandua terrain? GHO was primarily run on the WTC/UTC map packs and we’re curious how you enjoyed the layouts?
SL: I really enjoy the Bandua terrain. It has most of the positives of the Octarius terrain, but with more flexible layouts and some added visibility through the windows. Some of the layouts probably could use continued refinement, but that’s true of almost any map pack (especially as new kill teams are released with new ways to abuse terrain). The heavy wall segments also give a good reason to still use Climbing Equipment after the GW “nerfs”/clarifications. Overall, it’s a really positive experience playing on that terrain.
GH: What other big events or teams you’re looking to pick up?
SL: Next big event for me will be the NOVA Open, where I’ll be playing in the compendium tournament and GT. As for new teams, I have plenty on my pile of shame that I still need to finish, maybe you’ll see my Blades of Khaine, Fellgor, or Corsairs at a future event.
GH: Any shout outs to the reader of Goonhammer?
SL: Shout outs to my teammates on Kill Team Jawn and my friends with Plastic Crack Anonymous! And of course to the folks from Goonhammer for putting together a great event.
Scouts, the new stat check boogeymen of Kill Team! Kevin is no stranger to the team having had experience with both the compendium versions and the release team. He’s even been spotted on Just Another Kill Team Podcast talking about the team near release (Just Another Killteam Episode Link). However the winds of change have come for the humble Astartes in training, and Kevin used these new buffs well!
Kevin S, Second, Scouts
Goonhammer: Congratulations on second place, and the Golden ticket to the Atlanta World Championships! How’s it feel to punch your ticket into the world champs?
Kevin S: It felt amazing. I had all sorts of messages from our local club, Victory Gamers, getting all hyped up going into day 2 and being able to live up to those expectations was great. This was a murderer’s row of East Coast talent, from New York to North Carolina and filled with nothing but the best of sportsmanship and camaraderie which made being able to place all the more worthwhile.
GH: Scouts have received what many players perceive as too large of a buff. Do you think the team would still have been good enough to take 2nd place at the GHO without that extra damage?
KS: I think Adrian B would have probably have trounced me; he played such a tight game that I was barely able to scratch out a tie even in what I’d say is a very Scout favored matchup. The buff was just so much; you hit harder than Assault Intercessors with Combat Blades while also packing what is probably the single most effective generic gun in Astartes Shotguns all across your team. I played against three out of the four Mandrakes at the event and the fact that birdshot two-taps their brittle little elf bones just meant I could constantly punish any undue aggression.
GH: You’ve been on scouts as far back as the compendium. Are there any general tips for players looking to pick up the faction?
KS: So I’ve loved Scouts since they came out; my first 40k miniatures ever were the old metal Space Wolf Scouts in blister packs and I painted up my current ones as an ode to those third edition little men. For how to play them, I’d say that your goal as Scouts is to break a flank and rack up free secondary VPs. I ran Gather Reconnaissance, Courier, and Recover Item every single match and the only secondary VPs I dropped were two points on Courier all tournament, both of which were probably gainable if I had played it a little more aggressively. Smoke grenades are also your friend, as you can ignore Smoke on the Sniper or use them after doing a Charge Fight with your Sgt.
I used my offensive grenades largely as bait and bad decision makers; put a Knife Scout in a position with a Frag or a Krak that your opponent must answer such that they charge and even if they kill them in melee still takes a decent amount of damage on the way down. I think I threw two krak grenades all event despite taking them every time.
Muster wise I’m generally running two heavy guns max, with the Heavy Bolter flexing out into 8W teams where Shotguns will suffice and maybe running all three into some elites. My Sniper and Heavy Bolter do tend to get Climbing Equipment however if I can’t recon dash them into a strong position on turn 1, as do some of the Knife Warriors so they can functionally traverse heavy terrain. The Tracker tends to only come out when I seriously activate the opponent so I can threaten much of the board t1 with a flip or when I’m worried about Obscuring from Smoke.
The biggest thing to watch out for is that your Sergeant needs visibility to hand out APL, so be very careful where you position him, especially on turn 1 when you’re doing recon dashes forward. I’m almost always taking two recon dashes in my Forward Scouting and then often Booby Trap, +1CP, and an Infiltrate just to put the pressure on.
GH: What was the lowest moment you climbed back up from during the tournament? Take us through the line you found to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!
KS: I managed to lose two Scouts early on against Adrian and let him jump away with his Recover Item despite having a clear shot. I ended up playing from behind much of that match and had to make some big gambles, such as having my Tracker charge around his leader to punch his big sword guy to death with his mighty ¾ muscles!
GH: Did you enjoy the map packs and the terrain used at the GHO?
KS: I really liked the terrain’s design; having half inch “nubs” coming out of the buildings for cover meant that you can easily do cover lines where you just know that the center of the base is covered without having to deal with the oddities that many plastic sets have. I’d probably rather do less of the diagonal deployments, although I think they favor Scouts due to how easy it is to push through the short edge flank with them.
GH: What else would you like to say to Goonhammer’s readers?
KS: I’d like to thank everyone at Victory Gamers, especially those who sent messages of support. Also the Random Number Generator that decided I’d pair down for the last round instead of fighting the single scariest Gellerpox player on the face of this green Earth. As for the general readership, come, give Kill Team a try! It really scratches that gameplay itch for a game where you’re just constantly making decisions that feel like they matter and that if you just really think about it you can figure out a way to win. Or you can play Scouts and just make 2+s with rerolls all day.
In first place we have regional giant Orion piloting his beloved Gellerpox. However they’ve taken a moister form flopping onto land and all over opposing battlelines. Take a gander at his Dredge-pox Infected, as he talks us through his tactics.
Orion W, First, Gellerpox Infected, Plasma Spam
Goonhammer: Congratulations on taking the win at Goonhammer Open, and snagging the second Kill Team belt for Plasma Spam! How’s it feel?
Orion W: I was quite elated to win this event, I didn’t really expect to do well amongst the wave of brand new teams and buffs that I had little experience against. But as my teammate Liam won the previous event, it’s a fun challenge now to keep the wrestling belt under Plasma Spam’s control. More importantly I was excited to see Kevin pick up the golden ticket, well deserved for his efforts!
GH: There have been rumblings on the internet that Gellerpox may still remain a touch too strong. What sorts of plays do you think players are missing against Nurgle’s strongest hulks?
OW: This is a team that, at least on the east coast, rarely sees play, and as such many people don’t get consistent reps against the team. This makes it easy to forget all their little rules that bring your team down and often fall into a bad play because some interaction was not foreseen. The Pox gameplay is so uniquely different from others I think players can have a hard time shifting their play style to ease off the gas and really take their time breaking apart the team, instead of just shooting the hulks with everything you’ve got.
GH: With a clean 5-0 record, did you feel the pressure of the new meta hotness, or did the legendary bulk of the hulks keep those teams off your back?
OW: I won’t lie, I was considerably worried that the event would be all Brood Brothers and I’d have to play with -2 apl all over the place, BUT fortunately that wasn’t the case. I did have to take on Yaegers on loot, which was one of my toughest fights despite how the score might’ve ended.
GH: Bandua’s new terrain offers teams many more ways to find angles to take shots. Did you find any struggle on the terrain? Do you prefer the traditional ITD or Octarius boards?
OW: I hadn’t played on these new maps before and was rather hesitant on how it would work, but I was delighted to see they seemed perfectly fine, at least for my purposes. Now there were some maps where if I were given the other side of deployment I likely would have struggled a lot more, however, all my opponents made me defender and I could pick the side I wanted. I will say I can see melee teams without super conceal struggling on objective control. I did like how clean the LOS was on these boards though, there were no real debates on who had cover or not, unlike octarius where there are many little angles to measure out.
GH: What was your tightest bind of the tournament, and how did you leverage your ploys, abilities, and operatives to find a line out?
OW: I played Ryan Burton round 2, and he put me in a disastrously bad spot at the start of TP2. He navigated a way to brutally execute Thrice Cursed first activation with some fancy group activating, without the poor hulk getting in for any damage at all. So I played that match essentially with three big boys and had to come up with a way to make a trade match my loss. I found a hole on the right side of the map with my Screamer getting a double charge to kill 2 yagers which cut off his right side loots entirely. From there it was using bugs and glitching shooting to turn off tough survivalists, then one shot yaeger’s with the remaining hulks melee.
GH: Any other large tournaments you’re planning on attending?
OW: NOVA is the next big one in my sights, but beyond that nothing is on the books for me. Possibly All Valley Team Tournament, but I don’t have anything planned for that yet.
GH: What else would you like to say to Goonhammer’s readers?
OW: Thanks for the Wonderful event, and shout outs to Travis for doing a fantastic job as TO. (Writers note: Hey that’s me!)
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