Warhammer 40,0000 Kill Team Into The Dark Preview

Kill Team Into The Dark is a new starter set for Kill Team. It follows the same format as the recent expansions but also contains the core rules and accessories needed to start playing Kill Team straight away. Into The Dark introduces 2 brand new kill teams, the Imperial Navy Breachers, who are fighting against the Xenos Kroot Farstalker Kinbands. There are also 2 new kill zones, the close confines of the space hulk Gallowdark and a Killzone supplement, Into The Dark. both use the new rules for close-quarter fighting. In this article, we'll have a look at what's in the box, and talk about the 2 new kill teams and kill zones.

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. You can check out our full guide here if you want to know more about Kill Team. If you want to check out the Kill Team rules before you buy, Games Workshop have made the core rules available to download for free.

What Does Kill Team Into The Dark Contain?

Kill Team Into The Dark contains:

• Kill Team Core Rules
• Kill Team Into The Dark campaign book
• 12 Imperial Navy Breachers
• 12 Kroot Farstalker Kinbands
• Gallowdark space hulk scenery set and double-sided game board
• Kill Team token sheet, dice, measuring sticks, and barricades

Kill Team Into The Dark is a complete starter set for Kill Team, which means that it's playable straight out of the box with everything required for 2 players.

What does the Kill Team Into The Dark Campaign Book Add To Games?

The Into The Dark campaign book is split into several chapters, the first, Into The Dark, details the lore and narrative of space hulks, specifically the Gallowdark. The next chapter contains the background for Imperial Navy Breacher and Kroot Farstalker Kinband 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, the Imperial Navy Breachers, and Kroot Farstalker Kinbands. These are different kill teams from those previously presented in the Kill Team Compendium, and we look at both in detail below.

The book closes with Killzone: Into the Dark and Killzone: Gallowdark and close quarters special rules for all the Gallowdark scenery in the box, rules like the condensed environment which make weapons with the blast, torrent, and splash traits deadly in the cramped corridors. It also has a Critical Operations: Gallowdark Mission Pack, a series of nine matched play missions. It also includes Shadow Operations: Into The Dark, a series of nine narrative missions that makes use of the Killzone: Into The Dark supplement that isn't as fairly balanced for matched play.

There is also a section on using a Campaign Master, a player who rather than take part in the games themselves, they run the narrative campaign like a cross between a Games Master in a roleplaying game and a record keeper, generating the space hulk maps for the players to battle on and keeping track of the ongoing events of the campaign.

What are the Imperial Navy Breacher Kill Team Troop Choices?

The Imperial Navy controls the vast space fleets that defend the Imperium from its enemies. The Navy Armsmen guard the assets of the fleets and the Breachers are an elite, aggressive forward attack force, specialists in boarding actions.

The Breachers have 10 different troop types and can field 11 operatives in games. You can build all of the different troop options out of the box, but as they can field 2 Navis Gunners, you will have to do a little modification of a standard armsman to build your second gunner out of the 3 heavy weapon options. We detail all the options below.

• Navis Sergeant-at-Arms - The Breacher leader has 3 choices of ranged and close combat weapons. Either a Navis shotgun and Navis hatchet, or a Bolt Pistol or Heirloom Autopistol, and Chainsword or Power Weapon. Your choice will be dictated by the opponents you're facing and if you need the optional range of the shotgun or close-range killing options. They can also choose between attack and defense order ploys at the start of the game, and use it for free while they're on the battlefield. These ploys allow operatives to reroll attack or defense dice when nearby a placed token.
• Navis Armsman - The basic Breacher troopers. Even if you take all the specialist options, you will always have at least one of these. Their shotguns are useful in the close confines of the Gallowdark, but they'll struggle in open battlefields.
• Navis Axejack - Close combat Breachers, armed with power axes, they have a unique Wade In action for 2AP that lets them charge then fight, granting their power weapon Reap 2, which can deal mortal wounds to nearby enemies as well as their target. They also have a special rule which gives them a 5+ save for each wound they take for the remainder of the turn after they charge.
• Navis Surveyor - These special operatives control the C.A.T. units detailed below. They can give nearby units an action point for the cost of one of their own and can drop surveillance tokens near C.A.T. units to reveal concealed enemies to the rest of the kill team.
• Navis C.A.T. Unit - These units can't fight or interact, but they are fast, and their purpose is to explore and find hidden enemies.
• Navis Endurant - These huge shield-carrying warriors have the best save and most wounds in the kill team, but they're slower. They can also shield a friendly operative in base contact with them, stopping enemies from targeting them.
• Navis Void-Jammer - These operatives control the Gheistskull units detailed below. They can use them to reduce enemy operatives' action points or detonate them for a blast attack.
• Navis Gheistskull - These units can't fight or interact, but they are fast, and their purpose is to rush forward, which they can do with their unlimited straight line boost action, and hamper the enemy's advance by reducing their action points, or detonating for strategic damage.
• Navis Grenadier - Specialist explosive experts, carrying 3 different types of grenades and demolition charges which can be extremely effective in the close confines of a space hulk.
• Navis Gunner - The gunners have 3 weapon choices and your kill team can have 2 of them. Either the low damage, high attack multi-barreled las-volley, the short range, very high damage Meltagun, or the longer range consistent damage Plasma gun. 
• Navis Hatchcutter - These chainfist-wielding operatives can make holes in the walls of space hulks for friendly operatives to move through, as well as seal hatches close to restrict enemy movement. And if enemies do get too close, the chainfist are pretty devastating in close combat.

What are the Kroot Farstalker Kinband Kill Team Troop Choices?

The Kroot are an alien race of warriors, famous for their hunting and tracking skills. Their abilities are so widely known, that other races seek them out and hire them as mercenaries. Kinband are small social groups of Kroot and the Farstalker Kindband are one such group, left onboard the Gallowdark when their home ship fled the arrival of the Imperial Navy.

Some choices will have to be made when building out of the box, mainly between the Tracker and Stalker, but with some modification, you can convert a Warrior to the option you don't build using the instructions. There is also a choice between 2 heavy weapon options. So plan your build carefully using the construction booklet, or pick up another sprue-set in order to fill out your roster with all options.

• Kroot Kill-Broker - The Kinband's leader, comes with 3 ranged weapon options. The Kroot rifle has a better hit chance, but lower damage, and the Pulse rifle has a lower hit chance, but higher damage. There's an option for a Pulse carbine, but it has the same hit chance as the rifle, but less damage and no special rules so there's no reason to take it over the rifle. They also have a couple of special rules, Call the Kill lets you allocate a visible enemy as the target, and your kill team can keep one hit whenever they attack that enemy, and Photon Grenade can reduce enemy operatives' movement.
• Kroot Warrior - The basic Kroot warrior has two weapon options. Either the longer-range Kroot rifle, or the shorter-range, but more accurate scattergun.
• Kroot Bow-Hunter - Armed with an Accelerator bow, these operatives have different arrows for different jobs. A fused arrow for armor piercing, a glide arrow for being stealthy, and the voltaic arrow for splashing mortal wounds on additional targets. They can also spend an action point to increase the critical hit chance of their arrows.
• Kroot Cold-Blood - These veteran Kroot have seen some wars, and have the scars to show for it. Armed with a Kroot rifle, they get piercing and toxin shots for free and also reduce all critical hits against them to normal hits
• Kroot Cut-Skin - These close combat specialists can fight twice against the same operative with their Savage Assault special rule with their balanced and lethal Cut-skins blades. They also deal mortal wounds for any dice rolled against them that don't hit, so keeping your opponent locked in combat for multiple rounds will usually go in the Cut-skin's favor eventually, even if you're not attacking them.
• Kroot Heavy Gunner - The Heavy Gunner has two weapon choices, the Dvorgite Skinner, which has a short range, but high accuracy and attacks, which can spread to other enemies nearby to the initial target, and the Londaxi Tribalest, which has slightly lower attacks and isn't as accurate, but has a higher damage output.
• Kroot Long-Sight - This sniper's hunting rifle has a low damage output but can dish out 3 mortal wounds on each crit. For an action point, they can also ignore terrain features for line of sight, increase their critical hit chance, and also remain hidden when they shoot.
• Kroot Pistolier - This gunslinger is armed with short-ranged dual pistols, and can shoot first if they are targeted by a ranged attack. And with the Gunslinger Salvo special rule, it can perform 2 shooting attacks with 1 action using its dual pistols.
• Kroot Stalker - These operatives specialize in remaining hidden until they attack. They can charge from concealment, and with their stealth attack unique action, can charge from cover, attack, and resolve 2 hits before your opponent can resolve any of theirs.
• Kroot Tracker -  The Tracker and their faithful Pech'ra flying companion can seek out enemies and stop their use of light cover. They can also give nearby friendly units an action point at the cost of their own, and hunt enemies with their own Kroot rifle.
• Kroot Hound - These fast beasts can't perform mission actions, but they can pick items up and also charge enemies who end charges nearby to them for free. So they're handy to keep beside operatives you want to protect.

What Gallowdark Space Hulk Scenery does Kill Team Into The Dark Contain?

The Gallowdark space hulk scenery set allows you to build 54 pieces of scenery, including walls, pipes, power panels, and dynamos. It also has a lot of pillars which the walls slot into, meaning you can fit the pieces together to create unique space hulks every game. Games Workshop has also stated that when the next box arrives in 3 months, the next scenery set will be fully interchangeable with this one and the Kill Team roadmap suggests that the next three expansions will all be based around the Gallowdark, which could mean 4 boxes of compatible space hulk scenery.

All of the included scenery is used in the Shadow Operations: Gallowdark and Into the Dark Mission Packs missions detailed in the Into the Dark campaign book.

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