Hello everyone. Travis here, I got my start in Warhammer in 2006, with 4th edition Tau. At the time of writing this (Jan 22, 2023), I am ranked second in the US and ninth in the world, according to the ITC rankings. I’ve been running monthly events at my LGS, The Brooklyn Strategist, along with a 2-day GT, the New York Open, that hit 58 total attendees!

Do you like the notion of playing as vaguely avian mercenaries, stalking your prey in the jungle and/or gallowdark? Are you one of the sickos who insist that “Tau were better back when they were a ragtag collection of alien races, and not just all about stealth suits?” Do you really like The Predator? Then the Farstalker Kindband may be the team for you!

Team Overview

The Farstalker Kinband are Kroot mercenaries who eschew the gorier end of the faction lore in favor of being space-faring specialists. They’re hard to draw a bead on in a shootout and every operative has a sculpt that tells a story.

Strengths

• Operative Toolbox – Short ranged, long ranged, silent weapons, fast dogs, and the ability to scrap. The Kinband has an operative for every role!
• Shooting First, Melee Second – Post-buffs, this should be treated as a shooting team that can flex models into melee if your opponent doesn’t respect you.
• Strong Defensive Posture – Rogue provides 2 cover saves and can make 4+ BS shooting look ineffectual with ease. Great equipment choices and abilities make the Kinband far stronger than their data sheets’ paltry 5+ saves would suggest.
• Strong Tac Op Combos – Kroot hounds can recover items easily while scoring Balance the Books. The ability to pay for out-of-selection archetypes lets you adjust your tac op scoring based on opponents and maps.

Weaknesses

• Low-ish Synergy – Individual models don’t combine with each other effectively. Each operative has a job it does well, so it’s up to you to line up those strengths. For example, having the Pistolier get charged before they can unleash hell is a disaster!
• So-So Melee – The team’s melee specialists will find it hard to tango with operatives from melee-centric factions. Starting at ¾ damage makes most of the 8+ wound breakpoints very awkward. The Kinband is much better at mopping up after enemy defenses have been punctured.
• Low-ish AP Opportunities – Outside of the heavy gunners and the Long-Sight, the team can struggle to put out high-AP shots. Generally, this can make Space Marine teams a little hard to deal with, as their damage mitigation can give them enough time to close distance before the Kroot can eliminate operatives at range.

Team Structure

A Farstalker Kinband consists of:

• One Kroot Kill-Broker operative with a blade and one of a Kroot Rifle, Pulse Carbine, or Pulse Rifle
• 11 Operatives chosen from the following list:
  • Bow-Hunter
  • Cold-blood
  • Cut-skin
  • Heavy Gunner with a blade and either a Dvorgite skinner or Londaxi tribalest
  • Kroot hound
  • Long-sight
  • Pistolier
  • Stalker
  • Tracker
  • Warrior with a blade and either a rifle or scattergun

A team can have up to two Kroot Hounds and can only include each option once with the exception of Kroot Hounds and Warriors.

So that’s one Shaper and 11 selections from 12 unique kinds of operatives. With two heavy gunners, three kinds of GA2 operatives, and a range of mixed threats, the Kroot have a tool for every situation. The team can flex from anywhere between 6 to 11 activation windows, though passing up specialists to gain extra GA2 units is rarely the right choice.

Abilities

The Farstalker Kinband has access to only a single team-wide rule, with most of the team’s power locked up in specialist rules.

Rogue

• All operatives who can retain a cover save can choose either to retain a critical save OR two normal cover saves. This rule also ignores the No Cover special rule.
• This rule allows the Kinband to shrug off all but the highest AP weaponry in the game. Against AP1, the ability to retain two saves off the bat stops three hits from killing any of their operatives. Take that, krak profile!

Operatives

Kroot Kill-Broker

Your leader comes with 3 different loadouts that mostly center around how accurate you need the leader to be while shooting. Due to Call the Kill requiring visibility, keeping your leader in a good position is key to executing some of the alpha strikes of which your team is capable.

Against some more melee-centric matchups, it’s worth looking into the photon grenade/pulse carbine loadout to make your opponents think twice before moving aggressively.

Kroot Bow-Hunter

Hawkeye, is that you? We’ve got the first of our must-take 3+ BS shooters in the operatives list, armed with three different arrow tips. When shooting we can choose between krak grenade (D 4/5, ap1), silent bolter (D 3/4), and a splash bolter (D 3/2 splash 2). Additionally, as an action, the bow-hunter can energize her shot to gain lethal 5+, adding a nice punch when you want to pour the pressure onto a target.

One important reminder: On ITD boards, the splash arrow already gains lethal 5+ due to having the splash special rule.

 

Kroot Cold-Blood

The old grizzled veteran with his own stash of equipment. Another must-take, the Cold-Blood comes loaded out with two of each special ammunition type, meaning, in addition to his usual kroot rifle profile,  he can hit on 3+ with D3/4 and AP1, or inflict D2/2, Lethal 5+, and Stun.

Since he’s so grizzled, he also comes with an extra wound and the Hardy ability. This allows him to knock ALL critical hit damage down to normal hit damage, taking some of the sting off of critical hits.

Kroot Cut-Skin

The first of our melee specialists, with 4 attacks on 3+, D3/4, lethal 5+, and Balanced. You’re generally looking to land 3 of 4 hits, and chomp down on models. In a pinch, you can use Savage Assault to try and take down a model with two sequential fight actions! However, at only 8 wounds, it can be hard for you to make it to the second fight.

Vicious Duellist means this model scores 1 MW for each of your opponent’s missed melee attacks. The cut-skin shines when fighting middling weapon skills, as you can often score enough mortal wounds to incapacitate 7 wound models on your first hit.

Kroot Heavy Gunner

The big boy damage-dealer of the team. You’ve got two options here: The short-ranged and reliable Dvorgite Skinner, and the less reliable, long-ranged Londaxi Tribalest. Both weapons are Cumbersome, meaning the gunner can only move 6” in an activation where it fires a weapon. If you can use one of the Kinband options to gain +1 APL and the Bound tactical ploy, a heavy gunner can dash on top a vantage, fire a shot, and then drop down if the vantage point is 3” high.

With 6 attacks which hit on a 2+, 2/3 damage, and AP2, the Skinner will usually kill anything it can shoot, unless its target has a strong invulnerable save. Keep in mind that with only a 6” range for movement, you’ll need to manage opposing charge ranges well, lest you lose your gunner before they have a chance to do anything.

On the other hand, the Tribalest hits on 4+ with 5 attacks on AP1 and Rending for 4/4 damage. While it can easily whiff a shooting step against any target, you can still get a retained hit, balanced, or relentless from ploys. This means you can set up shots on Open terrain where your gunner isn’t at risk, even if they fail the first shot.

Kroot Hound

• Our boys! Boasting an incredible 8” move and 10” charge, these bad boys basically fly the turn you activate the Bound strategic ploy! With 4 attacks on 3+ hit, 3/4 damage, and Rending, they’ll put the hurt on most 7 wound operatives with ease. They are GA2, which is a blessing and a curse; sometimes you’d really prefer to wait and determine the best places to land a charge. Other times, you can clamp your jaws tight on the jugular and decisively end an opponent’s momentum.
• Additionally, the Kroot Hounds are Bad-Tempered, meaning they can counter-charge if an opponent charges a model within 3”of one of them. Keep in mind that a hound must be on an Engage order for this to trigger this ability. Kroot Hounds are ideal for screening other units from charge attacks, since you can also use bad-tempered to force charging opponents to fight the dogs rather than their intended target, as long as the dogs are a valid target for fight actions.
• Finally, dogs can Retrieve, which allows them to do a free Pick-up action during a normal move, dash, or fall back action. This effectively transforms Kroot Hounds into 3 APL models when grabbing tokens, something that will prove to be useful when we go over tac ops.
• Unfortunately, all these great stats come with an inability to do mission actions or hold equipment, so you can’t have your dogs running around with meat equipment.

Kroot Long-sight

The standard sniper variant found amongst the stars, the Long-Sight’s gun is Heavy, 4 attacks, hits on 2+ with 3/3 damage and inflicting 2 mortal wounds on critical hits. To compare to our peer factions, we need to perform the Long-Sight (1 AP) action to get Silent but we ignore obscurity, and get Lethal 5+.

Often this means the long-sight is carrying a trophy on open maps, allowing you to dash up a vantage point using the bound strategic ploy to set up shop. Alternatively, you can sometimes take a recon dash to find your way up into a sniper nest and get a shot off T1.

Don’t forget that on ITD boards you can use a normal move + guard to gain access to 3+ BS Guard shots, as long as they have an Engage order.

Kroot Pistolier

A quick-firing, double pistol-wielding Kroot cowboy. The Pistolier is another must-take in the list as they hit like a truck at targets within 6”, making with 4 attacks at 3+ BS, 3/4 damage, with Balanced and Lethal 5+. With the Gunslinger Salvo, the Pistolier can fire his guns twice, so long as he has only dashed during his activation. 

The second, coolest part of the kit is the pistolier’s Quick Draw ability. As long as this operative hasn’t been activated in a given turning point, when an opponent attempts to shoot the Pistolier, you can fire first! To use Quick Draw, the Pistolier needs to be ready, within 6” of the shooter, and on an Engage order. Note that you stop being ready when all your action points have been used and you have no other actions to perform, so on Close Quarters you can use Quick Draw in the middle of an activation when the Pistolier triggers an opponent’s Guard action!

A great way to turn the Pistolier into an area-denial threat is to use the Farstalk strategic ploy at the open of a turning point to turn the area around it into a dangerous shooting zone. If you’re lucky enough to have a Bad-Tempered Kroot hound nearby, it can be rough going to hit a Pistolier before it shoots!

Kroot Stalker

A sneaky Kroot who can charge from Conceal and is equipped with a Scattergun. The stalker is a jack-of-all-trades, with a neat double hit effect from Stealth Attack. While none of the stats on the stalker stand out, it has access to many effects and applies them well from Conceal. Against 7W models, the Stalker is a good candidate for +1 APL as it can generally incapacitate a target in melee and then shoot another.

Kroot Tracker

The Farstalkers’ Comms variant is another must-take for their ability to perform APL shenanigans. The tracker comes with Pech’ra, a bird which in game rules acts as a token which can strip light cover from opposing models. Outside of our bird token, the tracker’s stats are those of a bog-standard warrior, so it’ll be our primary support piece for taking out visible models within 6”.

To give a friendly operative +1 APL, the tracker invokes its From the Eye Above ability.  Costing 1 APL, the buffed unit must be within 6” and visible of the tracker, and the tracker must be more than 6” away from any enemy operatives.  Remember that +1 APL buffs carry over into a subsequent turning point and can be used when calculating control of objective; careful positioning of a tracker can help the Farstalker Kinband stand up to 3APL teams and steal objectives from their 2 APL peers.The first time we activate the tracker, we place a Pech’ra token on the board 6” away from the tracker (remember that all tokens are “always measured from their center”). Luckily, Pecha’ra doesn’t care about vertical distances as it’s flying overhead. 

To use the token, we have the tracker declare any opposing operative Marked for the Hunt for 1 AP, which means if that opposing operative and a friendly operative are within 6” of the Pech’ra token, the opposing operative cannot be in Cover from light terrain.

Kroot Warrior

Our mook operatives come in two varieties:

1. Full-range, 4 attack, 4+ hit, 3/4 damage “bolters”
2. Short-range, 4 attack, 3+hit, 3/3 damage shotguns

Since they’re GA2, you can use these guys to jump ahead on Loot missions or do any of the other things mooks are good for. 

With the change to 12 total operatives, you’ll be taking either a pair of warriors or a pair of hounds. If you drop a specialist, you can even take four GA2 warriors and mix-and-match where your pairs will activate on a turn. This  is especially useful in the tight Close Quarters maps, where opening doors and moving in to take points can allow GA2 to shine.

Ploys

Leader

Call the Kill – the Kill Broker knows best. Each turn, it can designate for elimination an enemy operative it can see . After the Kill has been Called, all attacks in melee or shooting against that operative can retain one normal hit for free. Used in tandem with Prey, you can elevate even BS 4+ operatives to new heights of lethality.

Strategic

Cut-Throats [1 CP], C – All operatives gain 1 extra attack in melee, making even your shooting operatives respectable in a fight. I’m not often using this, but it’s certainly a welcome tool in the arsenal. Kroot are mainly meant to shoot your opponent full of holes before you wade into melee. When opponents are already wounded, the 3 attacks can generally finish off 7 wound models.

Farstalk [1 CP], B – Up to 3 operatives more than 3” away from enemy units can change their orders. Useful when setting up the Pistolier or sending Engaged models who took attacks of opportunity on TP1 back into the shadows. This is also a good ploy to use in TP 3 or 4 when you’ve lost the initiative, as it lets your shooters move back into concealed positions.

Prey [1 CP], B – In the turning point when this ploy is invoked, all operatives can elect to Prey upon activation, giving their ranged weapons the Heavy and Balanced special rules. This lets all of your gunners hit much harder at the cost of some mobility.

Bound [1 CP], A – While playing open maps, this is the ploy I use the most. Gaining 2” off of EACH climb, drop, or traverse tax is huge. Since a dash now covers 4” vertically and 1” horizontally, when Bound is used in conjunction with Prey, you can easily get operatives onto vantage points to shoot with Balanced.

Tactical

Mercenary Contract [1 CP], B – When selecting Tac Ops, you may select any Tac Ops from the general tac op archetypes. Being in Recon or Seek and Destroy, but taking Implant, Subversive Control, or Seize Defenses really opens up more scoring opportunities. You should always be on the lookout for map configurations where an unexpected tac op choice will let you score Tac Ops more easily.

Slip Away [1 CP], D – Reduces the cost of a Fallback Action by 1 AP, generally making it 1 AP. This can be useful when an opponent tries to lock your models up in combat, but it lacks much utility beyond this case.

Poach [1 CP], B+ – During an operative’s activation, the requirements for interacting with a mission action or pick up action are reduced. The acting operative only needs to be within range of an objective. This is probably one of the most powerful tactical ploys on missions like Loot, where stealing an opposing objective leads to a 2 point swing in primary mission points.

Vengeance for the Kinband [1 CP], B – Use when a friendly operative in incapacitated; the offending operative now has a bounty on its head. Until that opposing operative is incapacitated all friendly attacks against it are Relentless! You can only exact vengeance on one enemy at a time, so before you put out the hit, make sure you really want the offender down or that you have the capability to kill them quickly.

Equipment

Quill Grenade [2 EP], C – A frag grenade by any other name. Take it on a rifle warrior to use against hordes. Beyond this case,  we’ve got better things to spend equipment points on.

Piercing Shot [2 EP], B – An AP1, 3/4 damage shot at your operative’s ballistic skill. This can only be taken by operatives with Kroot rifles, pistols or dual pistols, not by Long-Sight or shotgun operatives. This is generally a useful choice against 4+ or better armor saves.

Toxin Shot [2 EP], C – This equipment has the same restrictions as the piercing shot, but now your bullet comes with lethal 5+ 2/2 damage, and stun. This is useful against teams like Gellerpox, where a 1APL hulk is much less scary than a 2APL hulk. I’ve generally just used the shots on the cold-blood  and haven’t seen much use for these otherwise.

Meat [1 EP], C – Medkits for the Kroot. Upon activation, a model with meat can consume this toheal 2-4 wounds. Taken across the whole team, you can pretend like you have stims. Generally, the cold blooded can make good use of a meat, since he’s Hardy. Otherwise, this equipment choice is often wasted on 8 wound models that struggle to survive an attack.

Trophy [3 EP], A – Once each turning point, a different operative can consume a trophy, giving it +1 APL for the turn. This equipment is just amazing, and allows for some of the fancier plays on ITD. You are generally looking to take 2 of these nowadays.

Ritual Blade+ [2 EP], B – Increases the damage of the leader’s melee weapon by 1, to 4/5. This is great against operatives with 8 or fewer wounds as your leader can now 2-shot them. In practice, however, your leader is often better off spotting models for Call the Kill and these 2 ep can be better used elsewhere. On ITD, where the leader will get less use out of Call the Kill, this equipment is more useful.

Kroot Pistol [1 EP], F – A 4+ BS bolt pistol? Nah. There are no models where you should waste time on this…

Faction Tac Ops

Tac Op 1: Butcher, C – All opposing operatives drop meat upon incapacitation, and you need to score a quarter for 1 or half for 2 points. Solid against 4 or 6 man teams, where you have the action economy to pick up a few more times. Terrible against anything else, as you’ll run out of actions in most cases.

Tac Op 2: Balance the Books, B+ – When maxing out another tac op, if you have half or more operative alive, score this. You can score  this twice. Amazing when used in tandem with early scoring tac ops like Recover Item, Seize Defenses, and Secure Vantage/Rooms. Forces the Kroot to play defensively and draw enemies into their engagement zones. Being able to score 6 Tac Op points has become incredibly important so getting 2 VP without spending extra action points is tantalizing.

Tac Op 3: Bounty Hunter, D – Your opponent chooses a model that will drop a bounty on kill, which scores you the first point. A friendly operative needs to be within 3” to Confirm Hit, to score the 2nd point. Generally, giving your opponent control over 2 VP is very dangerous with the newer tac ops unless you can guarantee that all opposing operatives need to come towards you somehow. I would not take this.

Notable Generic Tac Ops

Recon: Recover Item, A+ – Kroot hounds can generally make it to the midline to retrieve the item without too many issues. Currently very easy and feels like it might eat a nerf at some point. Great synergy with Balance the Books.

Recon: Secure Room/Vantage, B – Depending on the map, this can be scored relatively easily. Always be on the lookout for chances to save the CP for a mercenary contract by doing one of these instead.

Seek and Destroy: Eliminate Guards B- – Incapacitate a selected opposing model that ended the target reveal step within 2” of an objective. So long as players keep their models near objectives this will continue to be reasonably scorable. If players start playing around guards more this rating may go down.

Seek and Destroy: Rob and Ransack, B+ – Incapacitate an enemy operative in combat, and live to tell the tale for 2 VP. One of the best Tac Ops in seek and destroy with so much melee potential we score it easily. This does have some anti-synergy with Balance the books, since this Tac Op scores at the end of the game and it can be hard to keep 6 wound models around for that long. I generally don’t take balance and rob together for that reason.

Seek and Destroy: Rout, B – Incapacitate an enemy operative while within 6” of their deployment zone. Against horde teams you can easily send Kroot hounds into enemy territory to score this over 2 turning points. With their movement, hounds can quickly traverse the majority of the mapWorks well with balance if you play defensively with everyone else, so be on the lookout!

Seek and Destroy: Assassinate Target, C – Being able to score 2 VP for 1 kill is juicy, especially with Balance around. Kroot hounds make good assassins, depending on the melee profiles your opponent has laying around. The Rout, Balance the Books, andAssassinate Target combo can score you a quick 6 VP against squishy horde teams like Veteran Guard. 

Infiltration: Implant, B – Have 3 melee attacks do no damage against 3 distinct enemy operatives. This can be used in conjunction with balance the books to rush 2 VP at the risk of those 3 melee operatives.

Infiltration: Seize Defenses, B – On ITD, most conflict points will have a barricade nearby, and turning your opponent’s barricades into scoring opportunities is very powerful. Can be used reasonably well in conjunction with Balance the Books, so it might be worth Mercenary Contracting.

Example Roster

1 Kill-Broker, w/ Kroot Rifle

1 Kill-Broker, w/ Pulse Carbine

1 Kill-Broker, w/ Pulse Rifle

3 Warriors w/ Kroot Rifles

3 Warriors w/ Scattergun

2 Kroot Hounds

1 Kroot Bow-Hunter

1 Kroot Cold-blooded

1 Kroot Cut-skin

1 Kroot Heavy Gunner w/Skinner

1 Kroot Heavy Gunner w/Tribalest

1 Kroot Long-sight

1 Kroot Pistolier

1 Kroot Stalker

1 Kroot Tracker

This roster takes one of every specialist and gunner option and a spread of warriors for mixing and matching GA2. The Kill Brokers with kroot rifle and pulse carbine can be dropped in favor of a  full set of 4 of each warrior type, giving you all the GA2 spreads you could want.

Example Plays

1. Divebomb: Call the Kill, Pech’ra, Prey; Gives the firing models 1 retained hit, no cover, and balanced special rules, letting almost any big gun punch a hole in the toughest targets in the game.
2. Lock it Down: Trophy or +1APL, Skinner, and a Door; Set up a skinner behind a door on Guard so it can keep almost any small room locked down on Into the Dark.
3. Vantage Dashing: Bound, Long-sight, 4 inch or lower vantage point; Dash up the vantage with the 2”discount so that you can still fire your rifle. Works especially nicely with a +1APL to surprise an opponent with lethal 5+ and silent!
4. John Wick: Kroot Hound within 3”of a VIP model, Vengeance for the Kinband: Opponent charges to kill VIP model, hound uses Bad-Tempered and takes the hit, then uses Vengeance for the Kinband to gain Relentless on the melee opponent. Particularly good against Marines who want to kill Pistoliers and Heavy Gunners in melee.

Gameplans

Loot

Use your GA 2 operatives to find spots to steal opposing loots away from opponents while playing keep-away with everyone else. Use Poach liberally to make the scoring differential impossible to manage for your opponent!

Secure

Play around setting up your first 3 secures on turning point 1 and set up for defensive shooting for turning point 2. If you can push up to break the scoring differential towards the end of the second turning point, it can be hard for opponents to catch up again. 

Capture

Poach once again rears its head. You can jump on objectives opponents think are safe to recapture them at any turning point in the game. If an opponent has finished activations on the map in some sections, you can send any operative up to flip control, which can be disastrous!

Tac Op gameplan

Always have a gameplan for getting all 6 points from tac ops asap. If you can set up a Balance the Books Tac Op combo, you’re suddenly playing a defensive game in which the Pistolier, Skinner, and Pech’ra can turn the field into a living hell for opponents. A basic combo would be 1 Kroot hound for Recover Item, when a map has a reasonably easy first vantage on TP 2 and a second one for TP 3, netting you 6 VP by the end of TP 3. Against Veteran Guard, you can play defensively while 2 Kroot hounds score Assassinate Target and Rout over TP 2 and 3, while all other models camp on objectives.

Matchups

Veteran Guard, A: Seek and Destroy with Hounds really makes the game about scoring secondaries while your gunners set up to defend primary objectives. If you line it up well, you can shoot defensively and chip away at throwaway models while depending on Rogue to keep you healthy. Mass meat sounds good in this match-up, since once the Vet Guard’s plasma goes down, Rogue keeps you eating well.

Kommandos, B-: 10 wounds with the possibility of 7 Just a Scratch damage reductions makes melee and shooting rough,especially when the basic Choppa can take out almost all our operatives with two shots. This is definitely one of the match-ups where you’ll need to lean on your activation advantage for the first couple of turns.

Hunter Clade, C: One of the scarier matchups:their guns line up well against our guns and their melee boys are just built better. Depend on overwhelming targets and using Rogue to keep yourself ready for the following turns. On ITD, set up a Skinner with a Trophy to light up a room and break opposing lines.

Warpcoven, B+: Losing Dash distance due to Ephemeral Instability hurts, but we have the activation game in our favor and plenty of good guns to chip away. Unfortunately, Rubrics can soak up the heat with 2+ saves, but just aim for recon points and play keep-away to score up on tac ops.

Pathfinders, A: Similar to the veteran guard, a pair of Kroot hounds can make scoring 6 points on secondaries relatively straightforward over TP 3 and 4. You can always threaten to jump into melee to shred all their operatives. Trophies on the Cold-Blood and Stalker can allow you to set up surprise 3 APL Charge, Fight, and Shoot activations that break down your opponent’s will to fight.

Novitiates, A: Relatively straightforward pairing where you abuse your melee and Bound to get into the novitiates’ line. The Sister Superior needs to be dealt with asap, but once she goes down, the match-up should be in your favor. Make sure to use the 2 model differential to your advantage, as the Purgatus models present a serious threat.

Voidancer Troupe, B: The new Tac Ops make this match up one all about the secondaries and breaking an opponent’s scoring opportunities. Honestly, we’re pretty happy with our melee against the clowns and can even get some defense against the incoming shuriken pistol fire from Rogue. 

Legionaries/Intercession, B: Both Space Marine matchups force us to focus on our Tac Ops and activation economy to keep ahead of the enemy. If our opponent is aware of our plan, they may rush up to make their superior stats an early problem, but that’s where the Skinner and Vengeance for the Kinband come in.

Voidscarred Corsairs, A: We’ve got enough guys and mobility to give the Corsairs a run for their money. Both teams are looking to score tac ops safely, but we’ve got a couple extra activations to react to the opposing team. Unfortunately, Coordinated Strike can allow for Shredder blasts, so watch your spacing.

Blooded Traitors, A: We’re more accurate than they are, we’re just as murderous, and we have easier tac op scoring options. Ideally, we’d use Recon to drag opponents into awkward formations where we could send the Stalker in to stealth-kill opposing models. Additionally, the Kill Broker with a Ritual Blade makes mincemeat of all non-ogryn models.

Phobos, S: Similar to the chonky marines, except now all the phobos are in danger from small arms fire. As long as you don’t get caught by a Track Target, you should have the run of it.

Elucidian Starstriders, B: The 2 melee models are all quite threatening, but our melee lines up fairly well against their avg 7 wounds. This matchup revolves around exploiting the limitations of the Privateer Support Assets. Don’t ever let your models get caught by a laser without a model around to counter punch, and get into combat early. Kroot Hounds and the Skinner all make short work of opposing models, but your opponent can hit back just as hard. 

Gellerpox, B-: Who knew Nightmare Hulks could be poisoned with toxic shots? Might not make sense in the lore, but stunning the hulks consistently keeps them from scoring. Since all your operatives can get into a scrap, kill the Mutants and Glitchling with Cut-Throats up, and get to work on the secondaries.

Imperial Navy Breachers, C+: Iffy matchup: be careful with their GA2, as the Grenadier Blitz can easily kill your clumps. Place your gunners well and be ready to shoot at the first chance you get. This is a match-up where some extra GA2 can allow you to react to the Breach and Clear setups on TP 2. Additionally, since breachers mostly have shotguns, you can elect to get into melee with Cut-Throats, which should make mincemeat of the opponent.

Farstalker Kinband, B: The mirror matchup is always rough. Good use of Pech’ra, and shapers with Ritual Blades to break the stat mirrors is probably going to be critical. Might also be a good match up to take mass meat, as just being up 20-40 wounds makes it easier for you to keep going.

Kasrkin, S: Apply your melee to crush the Kasrkin. With 2 Kroot hounds able to dissolve opposing flanks, it’ll be rough going for your opponent to get anything set up.

Hierotek Circle, S: An easy match up due to the activation differential. However, be wary of letting too many operatives get shot at, as the AP1 across the board will make swiss cheese of your models if you let it.

Wrymblade, B+: The cultists come in with similar stat distributions but far more tricks than the average team. However, this match up only remains good if you know all those tricks. You can shoot better than them on average and your melee means the Locus is never all that safe. Overall I expect tac op combos to be straightforward and defensible.

Painting Kroot

You can find more on how to paint Farstalker Kinband teams and their Kroot operatives in our How to Paint Everything: T’au Empirearticle.

Final Thoughts

Post December balance data slates, the Kinband have emerged as one of the top end teams of the Kill Team! While all the match ups are winnable, you’ll need to execute tac op focused gameplans, while using your toolbox to keep your opponent frazzled. May all your operatives get a chance to eat some meat, and if you’re ever in the Brooklyn area, feel free to come to the Brooklyn Strategist! We’ve got monthly tournaments on the first Saturday of each month!

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.