As the holidays near and the year comes to a close Games Workshop has presented Kill Team players with a new round of FAQs, presumably in preparation for an upcoming Balance Dataslate.

The first thing people will notice is that EVERY team received an update, however a majority of this simply comes down to Games Workshop finally deciding to consolidate Errata and Designer’s Commentary into a single file. This will at least make tracking future updates less tedious for us, if nothing else. Once this has been taken into account it becomes clear there isn’t nearly that much here than in previous updates, and one could consider that a sign of good health for the game as the designer’s have less and less issues to address.

Core Rules

First we have a couple clarifications pertaining to Medic operatives.

Q: How does a MEDIC operative’s abilities that take effect when another friendly operative is incapacitated (e.g. Reanimation Beam HIEROTEK CIRCLE , Medic! KASRKIN , etc.) interact with ranged weapons that make subsequent shooting attacks (i.e. Blast

and Torrent)?

A: Resolve all of the required shooting attacks, then if the MEDIC operative is not incapacitated, use that ability at the start of the Remove Incapacitated Operatives step.

An important ruling that is in line with previous rulings on how multiple attacks from a single Shoot Action have been handled. It is not completely unreasonable that some players may have based the order of attacks of the initial target of the Shoot Action, and this clarifies that they basically all happen simultaneously.

Q: Many MEDIC operatives have an ability that says ‘Once per Turning Point, the first time a friendly X operative would be incapacitated…’, (X being the required keyword of the friendly operative). What does ‘the first time’ mean?

A: It means the first friendly X operative incapacitated that fulfils the rule’s criteria during the Turning Point. If you do not use it for the first operative, you cannot use it for a different operative later in the Turning Point.

A VERY important ruling that emphasizes operative placement as the key to using their abilities properly. This rule was clear via the letter of the rules, but perhaps felt out of line with what a Medic should be able to do, this ruling removes any doubt. 

Next we have a pair of rulings that pertain to mines and other weapons that are essentially placed via a token.

Q: Some shooting attacks occur when an enemy operative moves within a specified distance of a token (e.g. the Proximity special rule, KASRKIN DEMO-TROOPER’s Melta Mine, INCURSOR MINELAYER’s Haywire Mine). Is this shooting attack made against the enemy operative as soon as it’s within the specified distance (interrupting its move), or at the final location of its move?

A: The former – as soon as it’s within the specified distance.

Not a lot of things in Kill Team actually interrupt operatives in the middle of an Action, but this ruling is important for the simple reason that it prevents models that cause damage on death from potentially blowing up targets that the mine would’ve prevented them from reaching.

Q: With the Proximity special rule still in mind, what happens in the unlikely event that an active operative performs a Charge action, triggers the Proximity shooting attack, survives, but can no longer finish that action within Engagement Range of an enemy operative (e.g. the intended enemy operative was incapacitated by the Proximity shooting attack, or moved away as a result of Medic! ability)?

A: If there are no enemy operatives it can finish that action within Engagement Range of, then it does not need to (any remaining increments of movement can still be used as the player chooses).

In most cases when an operative can’t complete an action the APL is refunded, and the controlling player is allowed to make a different action, however this ruling is required if the Proximity special rule is to perform properly. At the same time the player who made the charge is not cheated out of their movement, but isn’t allowed to essentially declare a new Charge Action at a different enemy operative. Currently, the Melta Mine is the only situation in which this interaction may occur, however this is good for any future examples of this type of weapon being introduced.

Next we have a ruling that applies to situations where certain operatives may resolve hits before Attackers.

Q: If my operative has a rule that allows me to resolve a hit before the attacker (e.g. Bladed Stance ability, VOIDSCARRED KURNATHI), can I use that rule when I’m the attacker?

A: Yes. In such instances, the VOIDSCARRED KURNATHI could parry, then you (as the attacker) would resolve the first hit in the normal order of dice resolution.

Another one that seemed pretty clear via the rules, and is also applicable to the Wyrmblade’s Locus operative. It is also worth noting that we will see this again in the Legionnaires errata where it confirms that this even applies when you are fighting the Shrive Talon who is always the Attacker.

General Team Changes

A number of teams essentially received rulings for identical questions, and thus we have conveniently put them here to cut down on redundancy.

Operatives that incapacitate themselves such as the Bomb Squig and Gheistskull still count towards Tac Ops such as Perfect Ambush or Calculated Eradication.

This change is a bit of a mix since how happy you will be with it really comes down to whether or not it helps or harms you. From the Breacher or Kommando perspective the entire point of these operatives is to die, so being punished for using them appropriately may feel unfair.

In the same vein it is clarified that excess wounds caused to operatives do not apply to either of these Tac Ops, but oddly do count towards the Starstrider Tac Op, Reputation To Maintain.

Vantage applies to attacks being made with abilities such as Tactical Assets, Privateer Support Assets, and Magnification Conduit if the operative that is being used to determine line of sight is on a vantage point. 

A good clarification that makes positioning for these weapons all the more important, and kills any further arguments on how they are employed.

Wyrmblade

Cult Ambush does not affect shooting attacks performed via the Guard Action. This seems like a rather silly “ask” considering there is nothing in the wording of Cult Ambush that would imply this, but if you’re playing Wyrmblade odds are you’re not really making much use of Guard to begin with, and now you have even less reason to do so.

Kasrkin

The Demo-Trooper Melta token has to be placed in a location visible to the operative. Prevents the Kasrkin player from placing the Mine through thin walls such as ruins you might find on open boards, a reasonable change in line with every mine in the game.  

Heirotek Circle

The Apprentek can use a Cryptek’s abilities via Apprentek Assistance even if the Cryptek is no longer in the Kill Zone (I.E. Incapacitated). An interesting ruling, while it might not follow logically, but I doubt anyone will complain, this team needs all the help it can get. 

Novitiates

The Exactor’s Whip Into Frenzy ability no longer stacks Movement on the Penitent. Depending on the order in which you activated these operatives it was possible to give your Penitent a 10 inch movement (and a 12” charge!).  

Navy Breachers

Clarified that the Blitz Ploy affects all attacks generated off of a Shoot Action, such as with Blast or Torrent. This stays in line with previous decisions of the same nature, such as Cult Ambush.

What’s Next: The Dataslate

That wraps up our look at the FAQ updates but rest assured that as soon as that next balance dataslate drops we’ll be ready to go over it and release a similar analysis. There are a few adjustments we’re expecting to see based on how good some factions have become, and those are the kinds of adjustments that don’t happen as much in FAQs. See you then!

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