Kill Team is Games Workshop’s secret weapon when it comes to the ever expanding market of fast play miniatures based games. This rules set allows for those with small collections and limited time to play short fun battles in the grimdark future that is Warhammer 40,000. The latest expansion for this game, Kill Team Arena, takes that set and turns into a tighter, easier to run game suitable for tournaments.
The box comes with two double sided map boards and a lot of terrain. These are doors, ammo boxes, crates, pipes and so on. These are of the high quality we expect from Games Workshop. They’re designed to slot together in a specific way so they work in set scenarios and will be familiar to anyone who’d picked up the Kill Team: Rogue Trader expansion.
The four maps have specific rules; each is its own special rules, so the power-plant has things that explode whereas the armoury has special weapons hidden about the place. (They all have special 40K names to add to the flavour, of course.) The additional rules for the game focus on rapid deployment of models, close quarters fighting and the ability to adapt to a changing scenario. Matches last four turns, have specific goals and reward active play. It’s all jam and practically no grind.
The rules contain specific guidelines on how to run your own tournament and what tournament play should look like. This essentially expands a two-player game into something that a small group of gamers can get in to. Each arena match takes less than 40 minutes and set up is very quick. The board are small enough that you can host a tournament in a large front room. So you can get four games in within three hours with a bunch of friends. (Or go to a store and play if that’s better for you.)
Kill Team Arena is easily the future of miniatures wargaming. Quick, fun, full of atmosphere and easy to pick up. Though not essential, it’s a great set with some very useful pieces and firmly recommended for Kill Team players.
WARHAMMER 40,000 – KILL TEAM ARENA / PUBLISHER: GAMES WORKSHOP / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
