The 2024 Edition of Kill Team has overhauled the game, changing rules, datasheets, and bringing with it an updated set of rules for every team in the game. In this series we’re taking a look at each team, how they’ve changed, and what it means for how they play in the new edition. Before we dive in, we’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing a preview copy of these rules for review purposes.
Oh hey! Didn’t we just do this team? It’s only been, checks notes, four months since this team was released! Okay, so in case you’re totally new to Kill Team, the Brood Brothers are basically Imperial Guard but they are loyal to a Genestealer Cult. The four months they have been out have not been uneventful as they have found themselves in the Top 3 position of many of the largest competitive events since then. This being said they were far from an automatic win as teams such as Chaos Cultists had been in previous seasons. Will Kill Team 2024 see them remain at the top, or will the overall changes see their revolution snuffed out?
Team Overview
Brood Brothers are another all-rounder Horde Team similar to The Blooded in that they have a strong mix of melee threats and ranged specialists that give them an answer to most problems. They uniquely have the option of choosing between three different leader options, each of which is very different from the other in what buffs it provides to the team, making Brood Brothers one of the most adaptive teams in the game.
Special Rule: Crossfire
This special allows operatives to generate Crossfire tokens on enemies they target with Fight or Shoot Actions. These tokens can in turn be spent by other operatives to gain re-rolls on their attacks. It is a straight forward and far from the most powerful team rule, but it is useful and utterly unchanged in this new edition.
Team Composition
Brood Brothers come in at slightly under the current max team size at 13 operatives. This is largely meant to account for how strong some of their abilities are and their unique leader options. That being said, the average operative is 7 wounds, 5+ save, and hits on a +4, with certain specialists being slight modifications of this. While 10 of your operative choices must come from these (mostly) human selections you may spend up to three of them to select from Broodcoven operatives. These operatives consist of: The Patriarch (three Selections) a massive melee powerhouse with the ability to mind control, The Magos (two Selections) a psyker who grants multiple team-wide buffs and potent psychic attacks, or The Primus (two Selections) a vicious swordsman/gunslinger who grants bonus Command Points and modifies initiative rolls.
Playing This Team
If you’re all about pulling off the “big-brain” play this is the team for you. It has several operatives who can act offensively from Conceal, and strong ploys that allow it to hit its opponents before they can strike back. Additionally, many of the operatives have buffing mechanics that can be hard to juggle when it comes to deciding which are the most important, this means figuring out who you want to sacrifice first will become one of your main decisions. In this way the team remains analogous to The Blooded despite having very different mechanics. In almost all cases a Broodcoven operative will be your team’s leader, and your strategy will focus entirely around maximizing their potential and keeping them alive.
What’s Changed?
As a team that was recently released it should be no surprise that it has not received a huge number of changes. With the general reduction in Piercing effects the Overcharge Lasgun ploy has been replaced with the superior Cult Devotion that gives operatives a chance to land a hit on death. The Patriarch and Primus now hits on +3 instead of +2 along with Lethal 5+ dropping the long range Needle Pistol profile. The Sniper now has a mobile profile in line with most other sniper operatives and changes to grenades now means the Grenadier’s explosives ability is more likely to find use.
The closest thing to a buff is that the team has been given a strong selection of equipment, all of which are worth taking now. Cult Knives make all operatives 3/4 damage at a minimum (which combines well with Cult Devotion), while Cult Talisman grants a once per TP turn a save into a crit save. Additionally, Covert Guises allows D3 operatives to Reposition as long as they remain wholly within 3 inches of your Drop Zone and no longer have the requirement to remain concealed. Perhaps the weakest option is Lookout allows for you to place a Crossfire token in Strategic Phase on any operative visible to your own. This combined with the Commander means you will reliably get 2 per turn in addition to whatever your team generates.
Three Cool Things About This Team:
- The Patriarch. The biggest model in the game, the king murder machine. Don’t get too overconfident in their 21 wounds, they die just like anything else, but if you use them properly they can make life very difficult for your opponent.
- The Magus. Ignore Piercing, Ignore Injuries, Ignore APL modifications? I’ll have one of those please. Also, she can also cook the enemy’s brains in their skulls, and isn’t helpless in close combat.
- The Primus. Formidable in combat, and will undoubtedly frustrate your opponent by winning you initiative along with generating extra Command Points. And now even if he fails to get you initiative, you get an extra command point! 3 per turn? Not bad.
Final Thoughts
It is unclear where one of the previous top Meta picks will find itself with so many changes to the other teams, this being said Brood Brothers received no direct nerfs, and even a few small buffs. With grenades losing Seek the number of “alpha-strike” style abilities has dropped off making Ruthless Coordination even stronger than it was before.
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