Kill Team Salvation Review - Striking Scorpion, Hidden Space Marine

Kill Team Salvation is the first expansion for the next Kill Team season, set in the world of Bheta-Decima. It breaks from the format of previous Kill Team seasons and while still introducing 2 brand new kill teams, the Salvation box doesn't include the wealth of scenery that all previous big boxes have had. In this article, we'll have a look at what's in the Salvation box, talk in-depth about the 2 new kill teams and kill zone, and explain why this box is different from previous seasons, and if you're a new player, what you need to use it.

Kill Team is a skirmish wargame, set in Games Workshop's larger Warhammer 40,000 setting. As a skirmish game, Kill Team features a small number of elite troops, fighting special operations battles, rather than huge battles fought with entire armies. If you want to check out the Kill Team rules before you buy, Games Workshop has made the core rules available to download for free. We've covered Kill Team in depth since the last edition, and you can read our guide to all the current Kill Team products, or check back to where the Gallowdark started in our Kill Team Into the Dark preview. 

What Does Kill Team Salvation Contain?

Kill Team Salvation contains:

• Kill Team Salvation campaign book
• 10x Space Marine Scouts for the Scout Squad kill team
• 10x Aledari Striking Scorpions for the Blades of Khaine kill team
• Datacards for all operatives from both kill teams
• A token set for both kill teams
• A card set including equipment, abilities, tac ops, ploys, and token guide for both kill teams
• 5 pieces of Salvation Rig Apparatus scenery pieces

What Do I Need To Use The Kill Team Salvation Box?

Kill Team Salvation is an expansion pack for Kill Team, so it doesn't require everything needed to play.

To use Kill Team Salvation you will also need the Kill Team Essentials:

• Kill Team Core Rulebook
• 6-sided dice and measuring tools
• Kill Team Token Set
• Kill Team Critical Operations cards (not essential for Open Play, but required for Matched Play and are great for easing setup)
• A game board and scenery set (you can use anything you want, including your existing scenery, or the new official set for this season, the Killzone: Bheta-Decima scenery box)

What Does the Kill Team Salvation Campaign Book Add To Games?

The Salvation campaign book is split into several chapters, the first, Salvation, details the end of the Gallowfall and the world of Bheta-Decima, which the 2 factions of this expansion are fighting on. The next chapter contains the background for Space Marine Scouts and the Aledari Blades of Khaine kill teams, along with narrative ideas and hooks to flesh them out.

The core of the book is the datacards, abilities, special rules, ploys, and spec ops details for the 2 new kill teams included in the set, and we look at both new kill teams in detail below.

The book closes with Killzone: Bheta-Decima, Killzone: Salvation, and the hazardous areas rules that the Killzones are based on. The oceans of Bheta-Decima block line of sight because of the surging waves and can't be moved across without fly due to the strong currents, toxic waters, and underwater predators. It also includes the rules for Bheta-Decima Infiltration, a map-based campaign game using the Killzones, and rules in the Salvation book. The book closes with Critical Operations: Salvation Mission Pack, a series of 9 matched play missions, using the Salvation and Bheta-Decima Killzones.

What are the Space Marine Scout Squad Kill Team Troop Choices?

The Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, the Emperor's Angels of Death, the genetically modified defenders of humanity, standing 8 feet tall is hulking power armor. But before they get there, there's a period of training while their bodies undergo the genetic mutations. These warriors in training carry out missions to prove their worth and learn the skills that will serve them someday as full Space Marines of their chapters. These warriors are known as Scouts and wear a lighter version of the armor they will eventually wear should they prove worthy. These Scouts are led and trained by a full Space Marine, armed and armored as they are, leading them in combat, training them, and eventually judging if they are worthy or not.

The Space Marine Scouts have 7 different troop types and can field 9 operatives in games, and all options can be built out of a single box.

The Scouts are masters of stealth and infiltration, and at the start of the game, they get to carry out a Forward Scouting ability. They can choose from 8 options, and complete a mix of options 5 times. Some of their options are to plant booby traps, gain extra CP or redeploy some of their operatives.

The Space Marine Scout troop choices are:

• Scout Sergeant - The Sergeant comes with 3 armament options, a short-ranged balanced shotgun, a longer-range boltgun that does slightly less damage, or a bolt pistol and chainsword combination. The choice will depend on what range you want your leader to operate in. They also come with 1 more action point than the other scouts, and when they're activated they can increase the APL of a Scout visible to them by 1.
• Scout Heavy Gunner (Heavy Bolter) - The 5-attack Heavy Bolter gains piecing on a crit, reducing the target's defense by 1, which can overwhelm enemies through volume of shots. The weapon is Heavy, and the Scout comes armed with a Bolt Pistol for those turns you need to move further and still shoot.
• Scout Heavy Gunner (Missile Launcher) - The missile launcher has 2 fire options. Either the explosive frag missile or the high damage armor piercing 1 krak missile. As with the heavy bolter, the weapon is Heavy, and the Scout comes armed with a Bolt Pistol for those turns you need to move further and still shoot.
• Scout Sniper - The snipers excel at hitting enemies, and not being hit in return. Their sniper rifle can be fired from a conceal order, with 4 attacks hitting on 2+. It only does 3 damage, normal and crit, but a crit also causes 3 mortal wounds.  They can take a special Advanced Scope action, which means enemies aren't obscured, and their Camo Cloak lets them retain an additional cover save to protect them from possible return fire.
• Scout Hunter - The Hunter comes equipped with climbing gear that makes traversing levels and descending easier and a special Grapnel Assault charge that gives their combat blade lethal 3+, which means is very easy to score critical hits if they climb or drop during the charge. A Grapnel Assault charge can do 20 damage on 4 successful 3+ attacks.
• Scout Tracker - The Tracker has a couple of unique actions that can be used to allow the other scouts to target an enemy with a conceal order, or to stop them from being obscured and automatically keeping dice from cover. They're armed with a bolter, but one of their abilities requires them to be within 6 inches, so while the range is useful, the bolt pistol combat blade might have been better because they're usually in the thick of things.
• Scout Warrior - The Warriors come with the same 3 armament options that the leader does, a short-ranged balanced shotgun, a longer-range boltgun that does slightly less damage, or a bolt pistol and chainsword combination. The choice will depend on what range you want your scouts to operate in, but as you'll be taking at least 3 of them, you can mix it up.

What are the Aeldari Blades of Khaine Kill Team Troop Choices?

The Aeldari are an ancient race who before their fall had no rivals. Their Blades of Khaine kill teams are specially selected to ensure fates predicted by their Farseers don't come to pass. They are made up of 3 different types of warriors from Shrines that focus on different types of warfare.

The Salvation sprue for the Blades of Khaine focuses on 1 shrine, the Striking Scorpions. You can build 1 Exarch and 9 Warriors, all of which are armed the same. If you want variety in your kill team, you'll need to pick up the Dire Avengers and Howling Banshees from the Warhammer 40,000 range.

The Blades of Khaine all get access to special Aspect Techniques, depending on which shrines they come from. Each shrine has 5 techniques, and you can only use one technique per activation, and each technique only one per turn, unless all of your warriors are from the same shrine, you can use each technique twice per turn. The Striking Scorpions have the Patient Stalk, Sudden Blow technique, which allows them to deal mortal wounds if they move past an enemy whilst under a conceal order.

The Aeldari Blades of Khaine have 3 leader choices, who can all perform 2 fight or shoot actions each turn. Their leader choices are:

• Dire Avengers Exarch - The Dire Avengers leader has several weapon options, either ranged or close combat. The twin shuriken catapults are less accurate than the single, but relentless allows you to reroll the attack dice (I do feel like the twin catapults should have more attacks). Or they can take a Dire Sword or Power weapon and either a shuriken pistol or Shimmershild, which gives all friendly operatives within 2 inches a 4+ invulnerable save. They can also perform overwatch actions without losing accuracy on their ballistic skill.
• Howling Banshee Exarch - The Howling Banshee leader comes with a variety of close combat weapon options. My personal favorite is the high-rolling Executioner, which has 5 attacks and does 7 damage on a 5+ critical hit. The Triskele and Power Weapon combination is also very handy, offering multiple attack options in close combat and a short-range option. Their Banshee Mask also reduces the weapon skill of their opponents in close combat, making it harder for them to be hit.
• Striking Scorpions Exarch - The Striking Scorpions leader comes with 3 weapon options. Either the high-damage Biting Blade and shuriken pistol, or the Scorpions Claw and Chainsword, which can only be parried with critical hits, or twin shuriken pistols and twin chainswords which both have relentless for close range accuracy. They also come equipped with Mandiblasters, which deal 2 mortal wounds after the target is selected in close combat.

The Aeldari Blades of Khaine troop choices are:

• Dire Avengers Warrior - The Dire Avengers come armed with Shuriken Catapults, which have 4 attacks, gaining rending on a critical hit which adds more critical hits. The Dire Avengers are the ranged option for the Blades of Khaine and also have the same overwatch ability as the Exarch, keeping them accurate in overwatch.
• Howling Banshee Warrior - The Howling Banshees come armed with Power Weapons, which critical hit on a 5+, doing 6 damage per critical hit. Their Banshee Mask also makes it harder for your opponents to hit.
• Striking Scorpions Warrior - The Striking Scorpions come armed with Chainswords and Shuriken Pistols, which both have rending on a critical hit, allowing you to add more critical hits. Their close combat ability is also boosted by their Mandiblasters, which deal 2 mortal wounds after the target is selected in close combat.

What Scenery Does Kill Team Salvation Box Contain?

Kill Team Salvation comes with 5 pieces of Killzone: Salvation scenery which are used for the missions in the back of the campaign book. If you want the official scenery for Killzone: Bheta-Decima you'll need to pick up that set separately. 

My guess is that the Killzone: Bheta-Decima set will be used for this entire season, and each expansion will add the specific scenery pieces for the Killzone in that campaign book. This will keep the costs down for each set, as players won't have to buy duplicate copies of the same scenery. This remains to be confirmed though, and we'll know when they announce the next set.

What Are Our Final Thoughts On Kill Team Salvation?

I'm a huge fan of both the Scouts and the Striking Scorpions. The fact that the Salvation lore has the Scouts as the Raven Guard, my chapter of Space Marines, fighting the Striking Scorpions is incredible. Both are masters of stealth in their own right, trying to outmaneuver the other. The Scouts win out over variety. The Blades of Khaine variety comes from the 3 different shrine options, blending them into a kill team dependent on the opponent they're facing, but the Scouts get options straight out of the box. The included printed data cards, tokens and card sets for the included kill teams are a great touch and very handy. Hopefully, they release them for all previous kill teams too.

I like the direction this season of Kill Team is going. I do prefer a full starter set to kick off the season for new players, but for existing players this is ideal. I really hope it goes the way of a single terrain set for the season, rather than a different set for each expansion, especially as I do like the Bheta-Decima Killzone, close combat, and some open corridors for kill zones, like an open-air Gallowdark.

Should I Buy Kill Team Salvation?

If you want either of the kill teams in this set, then this will probably be the only way to get them for a couple of months before their individual release. Both new sets of miniatures are fantastic, and the new setting is interesting but requires picking up alongside this for full immersion. If you don't want either kill team, then the only part of the expansion that you will use is the new killzones, missions, and the Bheta-Decima Infiltration campaign. These will almost certainly be available in the Annual at the end of the season, and previous seasons have seen books released separately alongside the individual kill team releases if you're happy to wait.

The copy of Kill Team Salvation used to produce this preview was provided by Games Workshop.