Kill Team 2024 Review: Legionaries

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.

Welcome to the Altar of Delicious Pain! Today we will be sampling the chosen of the Dark Gods, Legionaries. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Legionaries are simply the team for generic Chaos Space Marines. They have proved an exceedingly popular team since their release for KT21, and for a period had a strong competitive place until a combination of nerfs to their more powerful abilities, and the introduction of new teams that were more than capable of handling beleaguered elite teams. Now that we are in KT24 and a wave of changes is set to raise all boats, how did Legionaries come out? 

Before we dive in, we’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing a preview copy of these rules for Review purposes.

The Video Version of the Review

We have a video version of this review courtesy of Can You Roll a Crit?

Team Overview

Legionaries, like almost every team, remain largely unchanged, in their playstyle, from what was introduced as in KT21. Once the nerfs hit they found themselves on the more fragile side of elites, while still having some of the most lethal operatives in the game. Now this weakness is gone while still maintaining their high lethality and having all the tricks at the disposal of their Loyalist kin, AND MORE. They are now the true swiss army team they were always meant to be, able to tailor themselves through a combination of operative selection and buffs to combat any situation. Do you want a mobile hard-to-hit team? Call upon Slaanesh. Greater durability and resistance to enemy guns? Nurgle!

Special Rule: Marks of Chaos

When you select your operatives you may choose one of five Marks of Chaos, one for each Chaos God, and Undivided for those who like unity tickets. Veterans of this team are going to notice A LOT of changes, the biggest being that there are no longer any restrictions on what Marks can be taken. It seems that Nurgle and Tzeentch have decided to put aside their rivalries. Khorne and Slaanesh remain unchanged granting Severe in combat and adding +1 to movement respectively. Tzeentch sees a slight buff now also gaining Severe but on ranged attacks, while Nurgle now reduces damage from normal attacks of 3 or more by 1 on 5+, significant reduction from even its post-nerf status. Lastly, Undivided gains Ceaseless on all attacks that are taken within 6 inches of the enemy. 

Lastly, Marks of Chaos still tie in closely with what ploys the team can use, more on that later. 

Team Composition

While this team has seen significant changes, its composition is entirely unchanged, still remaining at the six operatives who all have the same weapon options they had in Kill Team 2021. 

Playing This Team

Legionaries more than ever feel like what an Elite team should be. All your operatives are more than capable of handling enemies from more numerous teams in 1 on 1 combat, and your specialists are more than happy to engage with multiple foes with only the deadliest of opposing specialists being a match. This being said, a single bad role still means you can find yourself down a significant portion of your force, or left with an objective left entirely undefended. This means that while you may feel the need to be aggressive as quickly as you can, it is often in your best interest to hold back and try to position yourself to deliver as vicious of a blow with as many operatives as you can. Many opposing teams will require specialist weapons to deal with your operatives, and even if you suffer losses to eliminate them, you will often find what remains far less capable of threatening your survivors. 

What’s Changed?

As mentioned the composition of this team has not changed at all, and if you had everything you needed to play them in KT21 then you’re ready to go. In addition, fans of The Butcher are in for a pleasant surprise. 

Like many early KT21 teams, Legionaries ploys have received thorough changes. The number of Strategic Ploys has been reduced from a staggering 10 to 4 with each now having two effects, one that works on all operatives regardless of Mark, and a second that specifically buffs operatives with the associated mark. Implacable now prevents penalties from being injured, BUT no longer prevents negative APL modification, while reducing the value of Piercing weapons on operatives with the Mark of Nurgle. Quicksilver Speed has replaced our Slannesh ploys and puts all enemies at -1 in combat against your operatives, while those with the appropriate Mark are also at -1 when shot at IF they have moved during that Turning Point. This can be absolutely cruel against near pure melee teams such as Gellerpox, Chaos Cultists, or Felgor. Fickle Fates acts as your shooting buff granting Punishing to all weapons, and Relentless to any weapon that already has it. Tzeentch operatives gain the same buff that was granted by Protected by Fate in KT21, allowing for a failed save to be retained as a normal success if any critical successes were rolled. This ploy falls on the weaker side of those available to them, especially with its secondary boon having formerly been one of the weaker ploys available to the team. Khorne receives a significant improvement as Blood for the Blood God retains its original but for ALL NON-KHORNE operatives, while bearers of the Mark simply gain plus 1 damage to both profiles making even your weakest operative 4/5 with their fists. 

Our Firefight ploys remain mostly unchanged with the biggest loss being the removal of Veteran’s of the Long War meaning Undivided operatives now have access to zero ploy support during the Firefight Phase. This change, and these ploys still being entirely locked to their appropriate mark unfortunately means that, while Undivided operatives are improved, they’re still the worst choice you can make in most situations. 

On the operative front, it’s buffs across the board thanks to the Astartes rule. The Aspiring Champion and Chosen both see small buffs to their abilities with the Chosen now healing D3+3, and preventing enemies from Fall Back on a 3+, while the Aspiring Champion now gains an APL as opposed to performing a free action on a kill. Additionally, thanks to the reduction in Plasma Pistol damage, Tainted Bolt Pistols are a much more flexible option and can often be superior if being used in conjunction with the correct blessing. The Butcher now has the ability to perform a follow-on charge built into his datasheet, and has had his attacks raised to 5, but has lost Relentless and the ability to do damage to multiple enemies in a single swing. Overall, this is still an improvement, but the lack of any built-in re-rolls means a single bad roll can leave this guy in the lurch. The Anointed and Shrivetalon remain largely unchanged with the former’s Feel No Pain being replaced with a standard damage reduction ability, and he can now fire his pistol in Sicko-mode.

The Balefire Acolyte has had his abilities condensed and as a result is massively improved in his utility and survivability. The Life Siphon ability is no longer an independent power, but instead a trait built into his dagger and one of his shooting profiles. Each normal success that inflicts damage from either of them will regenerate a single wound, while critical successes D3. In addition, Balefire and Life Siphon are no longer psychic actions meaning as standard shooting actions he can perform them in conjunction with firing his Bolt Pistol. Of course something had to be sacrificed for all this, and as a result fans of Fel Energies will be disappointed to know it has been replaced. Gunners remain unchanged, although once again the Astartes rule means they can often fire their bolt pistol in conjunction with their main gun, however the Heavy can no longer fire his Heavy Bolter twice. The Heavy Gunner no longer needs a suspensor system, with all his options gaining Heavy (Reposition) and the Chaincannon losing 1 attack and 1 on its critical damage. Lastly, the Icon Bearer now generates an extra CP every Strategic Phase making him a near autotake. 

The team’s equipment has mostly been improved with the loss of the Grisly Trophy being the biggest hit. In exchange, Malefic Blades are a team-wide buff that grants all operatives a 5 attack melee profile, but dropping to 4 damage on a critical success.  This is likely worth taking if you have 2-3 operatives stuck using only their fists, and when combined with a Mark of Khorne can be downright terrifying making your ranged operatives deadlier than most team’s melee specialists. Warded Armor is now a once per Turning Point buff to a 2+ save that no longer disappears after a single failure making it absolutely fantastic in an edition that generally sees less Piercing.  Tainted Rounds also return in the same way allowing boltguns and bolt pistols to gain Rending for a single Shoot Action, which pairs extremely well with Tzeentch granting Severe. Lastly, Chaos Sigils allow operatives with two or more failures to hit to discard one and retain the other as a normal success but take D3 damage in return. A nice little item to keep in your back pocket for when you are particularly desperate to finish an enemy off. 

 Three Cool Things About This Team:

• Raw Power – Oh Boy! If you finally want a chance to feel like your operatives are the lethal champions of the Dark Gods they were meant to be, now is your chance. 

• Flexibility – KT24 even more than KT21 has done a lot to remove player choice from list building, and often for the best. The Legionaries core rule is the perfect balance as it offsets the team’s rather limited operative selection with the ability to push their stats in whatever direction you feel is best against a certain team. Up against Kasrkin or another team with lots of Piercing? Go Nurgle. Up against an all melee team like Felgor or Chaos Cultists, run Khorne and beat them at their own game. Or go Tzeentch to maximize your firepower against horde shooting teams that have a tendency to spread out. 

• Cool Models – The Legionaries upgrade kit perfectly modifies the most recent box release for Chaos Space Marines granting each specialist just enough personality for their assigned role. 

Final Thoughts

As mentioned before, it is hard to say just how badly Elites might be terrorizing the future meta. But if you are looking for the team to beat then Legionaries have one of the strongest claims to the throne. Almost all their abilities range from Good to Great with very few weaknesses, and ways to lessen what ones they do have with the appropriate Mark. 

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