Welcome back Kill Teamers, to the Q&A series! It’s been a minute since we visited a far-flung tournament to catch up with some of the world’s best as they skirmish around the world. We’re visiting Paris this week, where the newly-nerfed Fellgor seem to still be getting up to their old tricks.
The overall layout of the meta in France sees the ever reliable Intercession Squad take up the largest share. Combined with Legionary and Phobos, about a quarter of the player base continues to don power armor to take to the killzones. Overall it’s great to see a decrease in the Ork spam that plagued the last few months, and see 24 of the 27 bespoke teams represented in 40 players.
However the top eight tells a different story, with a large conversion rate of the Fellgor and Heirotek Circle players over the six rounds of gameplay, though there are surprise visits from Farstalker Kinband, a team that many think need more help, and Rapid Durable Intercession Squad showing the Elites can still tango. It’s great to see the Q1 dataslate making some actual changes to the meta, but it does seem that Fellgor are still on the watch list!
François “Linounette” Lesestre is the head TO for this tournament and part of the staff for the upcoming World Team Championship (link). I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with him through our work on the WTC terrain, but today we’re here to catch up on his tournament!
François Lesestre, Tournament Organizer
Goonhammer: Thanks for taking the time to catch up on this tournament! Is there anyone you’d like to thank for getting the tournament up and running?
Linounette: Thank you for inviting us to talk about the Kill Team community in France. I would like to thank my playing partners for the discussions that we regularly have on the pitch, the possibilities of Kill Teams, the expectations of the players, which allows me to build events with the highest quality possible. A special thank you to Uriel, who helped me as a referee during these two days and to Keflox for the logistics.
The French community answered the call, I am very happy to see them appreciate the moments we share. Additionally I would also like to thank the international players who participated in the tournament and who spiced up the games with the French and with whom we had a great time outside of the tournament.
What was the terrain situation like at this tournament? I assume you weren’t using Bheta Decima; we’ve been working on the WTC terrain in the background. Did you get a chance to get any player feedback this weekend?
I decided to put one board of Bheta Decima to get more feedback from the players. I took a layout with the objectives on the ground, which seemed to me the best configuration.
With the tests and the feedback from the players, there are improvements to be made with this terrain so that it is at the level of the others already released. I used official Games WorkShop terrain; indeed, certain layouts were directly tested for the WTC. I collected the feedback which will be useful to us for the weeks to come and build the WTC map pack.
Any future plans you’d like to let the Killteamers of the Internet know about? Last shoutouts?
The WTC is coming soon in August, and with the WTC staff we will be delighted to welcome you in August for the single and Team Event in Belguim. Come represent your country! And of course the Linounette Paris Tournament returns in April 2025 with more players, more space and surprises.
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Coming in third we’ve got Phalangs, one of the two players who selected Fellgor Ravagers, which clearly remains strong. They sport a single loss to the winner of the event in round 5, and mirrors can always be a hard nut to crack. Hopefully they’ve done some thinking and have some tricks for the next time!
Peter “Phalangs” M, Third, Fellgor Ravagers
Goonhammer: Congrats to you for the third place finish! How’s it feel to compete in Paris?
Peter: It was absolutely delightful! Considering this was both my first actual tournament in the EU and my first time in Paris, I initially felt a bit nervous about whether or not I’d be able to perform in this environment. However, the French Killteam family, and especially Linounette, welcomed me with open arms and I was able to get to know so many interesting players!
I even had some time for sightseeing on the days before and after the tournament, but being up on my legs all day, strolling through the city and playing in such a high level tournament, made me glad that I packed some painkillers.
The Fellgor menace remains quite playable it seems! Do you think that Fellgor were nerfed enough? Or do you still think they feel a little strong?
I think they are in an interesting spot… A team that has its identity tied to an incredibly impactful mechanic like this is hard to balance. Problem being: you either nerf down the fundamental ability of the team or tune everything around it, which can either lead to them feeling “bland/same-y” when compared to other bespoke teams or feeling like they just have their one “gimmick” to rely on.
I feel like the way Frenzy works now, still contributing to objective control, while only being 1 Apl, is a nice middle ground that still allows them to retain that design element without being overly oppressive.
In my opinion, there are a couple of reasons why they still perform so well: They are generally easier to learn, meaning people will more quickly find success. With that in mind, they are also usually able to force their own game-plan, meaning it forces the opponent to respect and adapt to them (which is especially new/uncomfy to non-high level players). Another reason is how different all the regional communities are when it comes to terrain and map layout and how that subsequently influences the local meta and perception of a killteam’s strength.
Your one loss of the weekend was in the mirror match, are there any tricks you’ve come up with since the loss that may have made the difference? I’ve personally thought that pelting firepower would be an interesting way to swing the match up.
Peter: Well, Serkan apparently thought the same thing! His approach included giving his operatives a bunch of the rending autopistols and trying to spam Pelting Firepower. Personally, I think it can work, but specifically on the map we played (ITD long deployment, capture) I was able to out-maneuver him a bit during deployment and during the match, meaning I kept mostly on conceal, only getting shot after my operatives already did their job. That was the plan at least, until I made a huge gamble and, like the incredibly experienced player he is, Serkan was able to profit off of that and carry that advantage to victory.
Generally, the shooty Fellgor strat can definitely work in the mirror match, but it needs a lot of investment and adjustment to their general playstyle and I think it’ll be up to each player to decide if they are comfortable with that.
What are you looking forward to for the competitive season? France has its top 8 tournament later this year; are you planning to try to attend that?
Hah! I’m not sure if I’d be able to qualify, but I’d love to! We don’t really have a big community in Austria, which is something I’ve been working on ever since I got seriously into the game around summer last year. So right now, I’m both working on growing the scene in Austria and attending international tournaments to form connections and improve myself. Besides France, I’m currently looking at the UK and Spain for potential events and am currently eyeing the Goonhammer Open (link June 22-23) and the London GT!
Any shout outs to the reader of Goonhammer?
Well, besides Linounette, I definitely want to thank Augustin, the 2nd place, and all the other players I got to meet in France for giving me a lot of advice and insight and just in general sharing their understanding of the game. I definitely feel like I leveled up during every round of the event and without them I wouldn’t have been able to climb this high.
Huge thanks also to one particular friend in the UK, who painted my Fellgors and some other teams in exchange for like… a couple of kilograms of spare bits I had lying around at home.
Last but not least, big shout-out to my whole local Warhammer community, specifically the one who gave me the initial kick-in-the-butt to start this Killteam journey, and the couple of idiots who have joined me along the way.
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Augustin B grabbed the second-place spot with the Blooded, a team that has drifted to the back of many players minds but still remains a strong late game pick, with a loss to the top 8’s Intercession player Jean-Christophe — and a close one at that. Augustin has a few tips to share from his experience.
Augustin B, Second, Blooded
Goonhammer: Congratulations Augustin on the second place finish! How are you finding the Blooded in the post-dataslate world?
Augustin: I find the Blooded very strong, though not a top team as the Kommandos matchup is very hard. The dataslate brought down a lot of the problematic teams for Blooded and has made the Kommandos matchup technically winnable.
What sorts of tricks or plays did you find value with over your 5-1 run at the tournament? Or was the looming threat of the Gaze of the Gods in the end game enough to give you enough punch to win the late game?
Recon dashing the Flenser to threaten a charge on TP1 worked well if my opponents misplaced barricades and the layout allowed it.
The other funny thing with the Blooded is the Dark Favor ploy; basically a, “Get down, Mister President!” My opponent in the last game forgot about the ploy and the grenadier ended that game at the start of TP2 without me getting initiative by getting his friend shot in his place.
Gaze of the Gods is strong because you can give the operative that has it +1 Apl through a ploy, this changes threat ranges by a lot and the auto crit is just a bonus. I did win some games through attrition but the Gaze was not a decider on whether I won or not.
Have you been piloting the Blooded for a long time? If you have what sorts of tips do you have for other players looking to pick up the team?
I have about 35 tournament games on the Blooded in less than six months.
First tip: Do not play the Enforcer; he takes up the space of two troopers that can score objectives or be used for a “Get down, Mister President!” He is 2 Apl a 4+ save and 8 wounds.
Second tip: The Ogryn is a beautiful operative to put into teams that aren’t Vetguard or Pathfinders. But if you bring the Ogryn you have to bring the Corpseman to give him relentless. The pregame Corpseman buff goes on the Butcher for me because I deploy the Corpseman next to the Ogryn so that I might heal him after buffing him. Spreading out the threats whether they are ranged or melee is very important because you have so many.
How were the players and the vibe at the tournament? Any particularly noteworthy people who made the game a joy to play?
Players were super nice at the tournament in general. The Austrian player that came in third was a particular joy to speak to. The organizers were also extremely friendly and helpful.
Is there any desire to take your Blooded elsewhere internationally? Perhaps the UTC or other upcoming tournaments?
I might not sadly bring them back for another large tournament until Kommandos stop seeing as much play because they are an awful matchup for blooded. But I will be heading to the Goonhammer Open in Leicester this year with four other French players.
What else would you like to say to Goonhammer’s readers?
The Blooded are a great team if you wanna push yourself to be better at the game. They shoot and they fight well but you need the right operative in the right place at the right time and they are a 12-14 operatives team.
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First place was claimed by a Londoner! It seems that the Beastmen of the Old World can continue their rampage in the real world. With Serkan’s invasion into Paris to claim first place, sporting a clean 6-0 finish!
Serkan A, First, Fellgor Ravagers, The Old Ones
Goonhammer: Congratulations on the win in Paris Serkan! How’s it feel to take the win in France?
Serkan: Thank you very much! It feels amazing, to be honest. I have to say though, it is less about the win and more about all the nice people I have met throughout the weekend. I was worried that the language barrier could be a thing, but in the end, it turned out that it wasn’t. Thank you very much for your hospitality.
With the dataslate changes to the Fellgor Ravagers, you’ve probably had to change your gameplay somewhat to account for that. Can you talk us through how those changes impacted the beastmen’s play?
You are completely right. The dataslate impacted the team’s power level but the overall game style stayed the same. You are still playing angry, oppressive 10 goats which your opponent has to kill twice. Warpaint costing double makes you think more about how to approach certain matchups and not being able to shoot Krak into melee is just ridiculous. Where is the realism in Kill Team, one wonders.
Are there any particular plays that you are proud of that you care to share? Any players that you had a great game with?
All my games were memorable and I will carry them with me this season. To be honest, I was lucky a couple of times where my opponents failed their rolls. I remember Asier’s Dynamite not doing any damage, or Guy’s Apprentek not reviving on TP4, [both of which] put me where I am. There were some macro choices I am happy with. Two examples were me tying up Thibaud’s orks in melee, blocking the door and making him miss some key activations. The other one is how I managed to spread out my goats more than two inches from each other on TP1 and how I managed to use my leader’s ability to position the key operatives at the beginning of TP2 and 3.
How did the competition compare to your homebase in London? Were there play style differences you noticed?
We play a much more precise game style in London. Every inch, every move could be the losing one for you. Also, I have to say we don’t play 90-minute rounds so we have 15-20 more minutes to think through our moves. That being said, I believe 90-minute rounds did not impact my games as much as I imagined. I used my chess clock once and when the game finished, we still had more than 20 minutes combined between me and my opponent. The French scene has great players, they have great knowledge of the game, and make the right decisions but maybe need more active players to gain more experience. People travel far to have the games and this is amazing. I already knew some of your players who visited the UK (like Remy) last year and this year I hope you can travel to our tournaments so we can play again.
Was there a moment in the tournament where you were really biting your nails? How did you manage to get out of the situation and into a winning position?
I was biting my nails all weekend! This is the beauty of Kill Team. I think the beginning of the game is the hardest where you have to protect your goats, thinking about how many should go on engage, what is the threat range, can your opponent push for a blast, what are the chances of you taking down that ork, etcetera. I am not a player who plans before the game; I adapt to each move my opponent makes and try to make the best decision in the moment. I think there were a couple of moments during the tournament I capitalized on my action order to take the upper hand but cannot recall a single moment I was thinking “oh no!” There were no Hail Mary moments where I took a risk and it paid off. I tried to gain more advantage with each activation, making the right decision every single time. I failed a couple — I’m not very smart — but dice helped me in moments like these.
This tournament didn’t score you a golden ticket, but there’s plenty of other tournaments this year. Are you planning to travel even more this year to compete?
Actually, me and my team (The Old Ones) have a pretty packed schedule this summer; we will travel across the UK for some bigger tournaments and I’m looking forward to attending Ryan’s (Turning Point Tactics) 128 person event, LGT, and obviously, I am planning to attend the Atlanta event this November. I think that will be the final big event of this edition of Kill Team and I cannot wait to play with the best players in the world.
What else would you like to say to Goonhammer’s readers?
Thank you so much for this opportunity. I would like to thank once again, François and the team for accommodating us in Paris. I would love to go there again (even if there are no golden tickets).
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