Building display dioramas has been something I’ve enjoyed since my very first Kill Team. I’m not 100% sure why I started doing it but I found that I love adding that extra element that gives the team a bit more life. Plus, there’s nothing like the feeling of setting it on the table and your opponent’s eyes going wide!

When coming up with an idea I tend to shoot for capturing a moment in time that tells a little backstory. Maybe it’s showing their homeland or a dramatic battle that they are in the midst of.

I will admit here that I am not the most knowledgeable when it comes to lore so I often have to Google information about the team so I can learn a bit about their backstory. However, that’s actually part of the fun believe it or not and often has its own rabbit holes.

The Idea

For this diorama based around the Brood Brothers kill team I had the idea of their Tyranid overlords looking down above the troops commanding them to go fight. Which means I needed something with a bit more height and layering to it.

I started playing around with the foam blocks and placing the models until I got something that I was somewhat happy with. After looking at the dry fitting I got another idea for adding a trench which adds another visual layer to the display and helps break up the team a bit since there are so many models.

The Layout

If you’ve ever worked with foam you know it can be a messy endeavor when you start cutting into it or breaking it apart. However, I happened to find a foam cutting tool that really came in handy for cutting parts and pieces out without the hassle.

I measured and marked the area I needed, heated up the tool and began cutting the lines for the trench. I wanted to make sure I didn’t go all the way through so I left some foam to act as a floor. Then I melted away the inside portion and voila a trench was born!

For the walls I wasn’t quite sure at first which direction I wanted to go. I was originally thinking maybe wooden slats bolted together with some reinforcement beams to help keep it together. Ultimately, I ended up settling on metal sheeting as it seemed more feasible and honestly looked pretty good after dry fitting it.

TIP: You can make a pretty easy steel wall by taking a piece of cardboard and removing one side of it to expose the inside.

Now it was time to add a little extra detail. Luckily, I have access to an FDM 3D printer for my hobby which allowed me to print the sandbags, castle walls, a banner, a ladder and a supply trunk.

I will note here that I don’t always print pieces for these. There are some awesome companies who have lots of cool bits and pieces for dioramas such as Gamers Grass. In fact, the other pieces in this diorama came from my Kill Team Equipment pack! So I ended up taking the comms device and two ammo caches to add to my scene.

Now that I had an idea of the entire layout I started thinking about how I’m going to attach my guys to it. With my earlier dioramas I was just pushing holes in the Styrofoam and hot gluing in the magnets (using the colder setting). However, it seemed more of a pain because you’d have to match the polarities and god forbid you line those up wrong and find out after the glue sets...

Luckily I found these Magnetic Sheets which I used on a previous transport case project. My only concern was that I didn’t know if it would work after being primed, painted and coated with effects. So I made a test strip first and wouldn’t you know, it was perfect!

Painting

With everything glued down and fully dried it was time to bring the diorama to life. I started by priming the entire piece in matte gray which was the perfect neutral base for the castle stonework that would come later.

Base Coats

The ground came first. I laid down a generous layer of Warhammer technical paint Stirland Mud across the floor of the trench and surrounding areas. It helped give it that thick textured look that you just can’t get with a regular brown paint. For the castle base coat I used Army Painter’s Ash Grey working towards that concrete stone look.

Since I wanted that murky, waterlogged look for the ground puddles I mixed up some browns and greens on my palette until I found the right color. Then added the secret sauce mixing in AK’s Still Water product!

I highly recommend doing a test strip first so you don’t ruin all the progress you make on your diorama. As you can see in the picture above I used the same test strip from the magnet testing earlier.

Other bits and pieces:

• Sandbags - I used Tomb King Tan to capture that neutral tone.

• Supply Trunk - I wanted that military equipment feel so I used Army Green for that.

• Ladder - Leather Brown on the ladder.

• Castle Windows - I wanted a contrast against the cold stone so I went with a Greedy Gold.

• Steel Walls - Thunderous Blue for a desaturated blue grey feel that honestly reminded me of a prison yard. Fitting!

• Flag - Hand painted using Matt White and Alien Purple. It was pretty easy to get the straight lines on the flag as I had some of AK’s Masking Tape left over from when I painted Tomb World.

Washes

This is where things really started pulling together. I applied a dark tone wash over the castle stonework which deepened all those recesses and gave the walls that concrete feel I was looking for. The gold windows, the ladder and the sandbags got a soft tone wash which added some depth but also made the bags look weathered which made them feel perfectly in place.

Details and Effects

The finishing touches are always my favorite part! I added a few highlights of Ancient Stone to the sandbags, Necrotic Flesh on the trunk edges and a lighter mixed version of the Leather Brown on the ladder to bring those elements forward a bit so they don’t get lost in the wash.

For the final details:

• Razorwire - Army Painter’s Battlefield Razorwire around the perimeter to secure the troops positions.

• Mud Footprints - I put a couple spots of mud on the ladder to look like the troops footprints after they climbed up.

• Rust Weathering - I dabbed Fresh Rust effect paint along the steel walls and supply trunk to give it a bit more weathered feel.

One honest note here: I’m a huge fan of the Army Painter’s new Fanatic line but I haven’t been super impressed with their effect paints. I may end up trying some other brands in the future for these portions.

The Result

As always the challenge for me is making sure it fits in my Warganizer carrying case so I don’t have to lug around an extra display board or anything. Meaning my diorama size is really only 8.5” wide x 5.5” deep x 4” tall.

What’s Next for This Diorama

The project feels complete for now but my brain hasn’t stopped generating ideas. Things like spent bullet shells scattered around the terrain, dings against the steel walls from enemy bullets and maybe even a plume of smoke for a grenade effect.

I wasn’t quite sure how much more I wanted to cram into it at this point though. Either way I’m super happy with how this project turned out and hopefully it was a helpful insight into building a diorama for your next kill team!

Lately I’ve found myself facing a problem with scoring that I didn’t notice last year when I started playing Kill Team. Maybe, as a newer player, I didn’t focus on it as much or perhaps I was playing more care free. Either way I’m noticing that my games lately are consistently falling short coming in around the ten to fourteen point range.

When looking at points it might not be such a big deal if you just win out and go undefeated. However, in reality, what happens when you take that first loss during a tournament is much more devastating. It ends up putting you in such a tough position that you will struggle to catch back up in your bracket or even worse finish on the bubble outside of the top cut.

What I notice from more experienced players is they consistently place into the seventeen to twenty one point range. Even if they end up taking a loss it’s less tragic as their tie breakers end up keeping them at the top of the next bracket. So I wanted to revisit this portion of my gameplay and see what I can do here to fix this issue.

Understanding Kill Team scoring

Kill Team currently has a twenty one point limit for scoring. This is calculated as six points across each three categories (crit, tac and kill) and a primary choice for one of those that will award an additional three points.

Mathematically, if you max out a category and had that as your primary you will bank nine points! However, if we are trying to meet our minimum goal of at least a seventeen points then that also means you will need to score eight more split across the other two categories.

The Goal: Stop landing at 12-14 points. Start consistently hitting 17-21.

Finding the leak

I started logging all the games that I’ve played. I’m making sure to capture which missions were selected, which teams were played and which kill zone map the battle took place on. I added scoring columns to the sheet for each of the point categories (crit, tac, kill and primary) and an extra column to show how many points I left on the table.

So far this has helped me shape some opinions around my gameplay and my current theory is that I’m playing a little too cautious. I have thus added a couple of other columns to this spreadsheet that are dedicated to me trying to figure out what might be happening. Therefore, I added columns to track how many operatives I am using towards scoring vs killing and whether or not I took a greedy turn to dedicate an additional operative or two to go for the extra point(s).

Want to track your games? I’ve made the template available here: Kill Team Scoring Tracker

Fixing Crit Op

Unfortunately crit op is the most swingy category of the three because it’s the one you don’t get a choice of. It also tends to range from easily achievable to nearly impossible depending on your list and the map.

Most crit ops require controlling more objectives than your opponent in order to score maximum value each round. The easiest objective being your natural (meaning the marker in your territory) and one other which is usually the center objective because it tends to be closest. However, I feel like sometimes this is a trap. During gameplay, take a minute to evaluate if the opponent is quietly abandoning their natural and capitalize on that.

Sometimes I also find that the crit op is more difficult because I end up getting out activated. For instance if the crit is something like Orb I have less control if I play the two objective game because the opponent can bounce that back to the center objective and I have no recourse. In situations like this I have to figure out a way to take all three. This means dedicating more troops during deployment to the further objectives for these types of crit ops.

You also get a chance at selecting which side of the board you deploy on which helps as you can leverage the terrain to your advantage. Maybe that is taking a position which gives you lots of cover, slows your enemy down or creates a choke point you can capitalize on.

Key Takeaway: Watch for opponents quietly abandoning their natural objective and always leverage deployment side selection to control terrain from the start.

Fixing Tac Op

Being more thoughtful about tac op choices by studying map layouts more and seeing if those favor certain options is incredibly helpful. From my experiences so far I can usually tell when a map may favor planting a banner or teleporting an envoy. However, decision making on the fly like that has gotten me in a bit of trouble and often I pick something that just doesn’t quite get there. From talking with more experienced players the goal here is to go in knowing which one will guarantee you that full six points.

Try matching the tac op with the crit op. For example, on Tomb World I Envoy so I can teleport an operative to the other room that’s not occupied. Great for scoring the two points per turn but it also leaves me down an operative. Instead maybe I should leverage that Envoy’s position to get on the opponents point as well scoring the two plus the additional.

Lastly, I think it’s important to ask “is this what my team is wanting to do”. Matching it with the team’s play style makes it easier to win and score overall. Am I really wanting to play something that would require me to sit on the point when I have an aggressive team style or if I only have five operatives to start with? However, I do know that goes back to the previous point of matching with the crit but this makes sense to me and seems like a valuable question to at least ask.

Key Takeaway: Go in knowing which tac op guarantees you six points before the game starts.

Fixing Kill Op

The nice part about kill op is that a lot of the time it just comes naturally as you play which pairs naturally with the other ops. However, if I’m not specifically playing for the kill I tend to forget about it.

Keep in mind where you’re at on the kill op chart and what is it going to take to get to the next level. The goal being to make sure to be one level up from the opponent at all times. Reason being is that if you don’t max it at least staying ahead will give you an extra victory point at the end of the game.

One of the most important things is making sure the value is there. For instance, if I’m an elite player going against a horde team I really want to make sure I’m getting that two or three operatives for my one. Often times you can fall into the trap of getting the “easy kill” and come to find out it’s a misposition into losing your operative. While kill points are nice you don’t want to give up anything if you don’t have to. You need to stay ahead of your opponent.

Key Takeaway: Stay one level ahead of your opponent on kill op at all times. Chasing the “easy kill” at the cost of your own operative is never worth it.

The Real Fix: Play the Combo, Not the Category

Here’s the mistake underneath all three sections above. Treating crit, tac, and kill as three separate mini games instead of one plan. That’s the actual habit I had to break.

The better approach is to pick one style (aggressive or defensive) and pull all three categories toward it. If your crit op rewards pushing onto contested ground, your tac op should put an operative in a position that supports that same push and the kill op should come from the pressure of that advance.

This is really what separates the twelve point ceiling from the seventeen to twenty one point range. It’s not that stronger players score higher in any one category it’s that their categories aren’t fighting each other for the same operatives and the same turns.

I’m still working on making this second nature. But understanding the combo approach has already changed how I think about deployment, tac op selection and operative positioning. More tournament results to come. Let’s see if the scores back it up!

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending Titan Game’s first two day open Kill Team event in Champaign, IL. Although I thought I wasn’t going to make it due to some unexpected car issues but the dealership got everything fixed in time and a couple of us from the local shop hit the road!

Overall: 12th Place
Record: 2-2-1
Team: Angels of Death (Hardy, Resolute)

Another twelfth place finish on a two day event but what happened to cause me to miss out on the top ranks again. Let’s take a look.

Day One

Round 1: vs Fellgor Ravagers [Tomb World #4, Download, L 13/18]

Equipment: Purity Seals, Chapter Reliquaries, Stun Grenades, Razor Wire
Tac Op: Dominate

I’ll be honest, when I saw this match up for game one I was a little bit excited. Not only did I get a couple of practice games in since our last matchup but I got a bit lucky with Map selection.

Unfortunately, without even putting a model on the table I already made my first mistake. On this specific Tomb World layout you have a fantastic chance to place a razor wire directly in the middle to slow down advancing operatives AND still leave your shooting open. However, I won the initiative and without even thinking about it (because all I could focus on was the re-roll card) I gave away the first placement of equipment. That’s right, he put the light barricade there instead. Not a great start!

I did have a fantastic plan though on how I was going to get this done. I saw that the bulk of his operatives were split heavily in the middle and right flank. With that I made sure to try and create a funnel with little charge opportunities in such a way that no matter what came forward I was prepared.

My second mistake came later in the round where I was able to successfully sneak up the left flank with a grenadier. On turn three I got bit by the greed bug and decided to chase down a lone operative instead of being patient and waiting to download the objective on turn four. Meaning that when I went to go kill the operative I left myself open to a nasty charge from the mangler. Unfortunately that was GG!

Round 2: vs Angels of Death [Loot, Gallowdark, Tie 13/13]

Equipment: Purity Seals, Auspex, Light Barricades, Smokes
Tac Op: Dominate

Nothing like a classic mirror match! First off loot seemed like a good one and I won the initiative again but was not going to give it away this time losing out on a favorable position.

I found a fun little route on the right hand flank where I could get a bit cheeky with my Grenadier into his heavy gunner. Unfortunately, after a terrible grenade shot and a nasty crackback the dice told me that was a bad idea. I ran for the hills to live another day.

Meanwhile, I did have coverage on two objectives. Holding that left flank down momentarily. He had his sniper position mirroring mine and was trying to see through my smoke and light to get me away from the mid zone. It was at this point my brain told me it was a good idea to try and pressure the sniper so I ran mine up mid board. Terrible mistake and for no reason whatsoever! He countered with his gunner and absolutely nuked my position there!

Luckily I was able to escape with a Tie but that should have been a much better game for me! If it wasn’t for my ability to take him off the dominate tokens I would have just flushed this one right down the toilet.

Round 3: vs Raveners [WTC Map, Energy Cells, L 7/8]

Equipment: Purity Seals, Tilting Shields, Auspex, Krak Grenades
Tac Op: Plant Banner

At this point I was trying to stay positive. I decided to try to split forces here because Raveners don’t seem to really do well with that especially if they have to come off the tunnel to get you. This also makes it a bit confusing for him to place the tunnel markers and figure out a direction to go.

I started this game off very strong! I was able to get a great kill from the roof top on his ranged unit with the distended sack. Then I got a surprise kill on him from the right flank through a window that he didn’t happen to see. It was fantastic!

However, in order to try and collect max tac op points I tried to plant banner on a side I had more operatives and support. Unfortunately, that did not go well and he completely shut me out on tac op. What a heart crusher!

After that he was able to clean up and pick up. I had one prayer left but I left his operative with one point remaining and he was able to slither away to the tunnels. Completely stunned and shocked as I thought to myself how could I lose that after such a great start. I did not have a great day and boy was I bummed.

Record for the day: 0-2-1

Day Two

Round 4: vs Murderwing [Transmission, Tomb World #4, W - 18/7]

Equipment: Purity Seals, Tilting Shields, Krak Grenades, Smokes
Tac Op: Envoy

Starting fresh for day two after a great night with the guys I wasn’t expecting much so I was just here to learn more and have some fun. The hard part is that did happen but it started with a really feels bad match.

I had great position and coverage on all three sides. I decided to take Envoy on this map because I like to teleport to the empty room and just score max. I supposed this could also be a fantastic place for a plant banner but you don’t really know that until after deployment.

The match started with them getting a fantastic position with the melta! However, their dice just absolutely fail in the worst way possible leaving the operative to get obliterated. Then they get another fantastic position on the left flank threatening two operatives. One went down but left the grenadier envoy there to krack, shoot and disappear for a great turn.

After what seemed like a decent trade session I was able to clean up the rest from there taking nearly all their options away, killing every single operative they had left and wrapping up with each envoy score. It was a really feels bad.

Round 5: vs Battleclade [Volkus, Stake Claim, W 21/6]

I’m probably most proud of this round and my opponent was a great sport about everything. Throughout the match I was able to practice smart aggression by pushing forward but not being overly exposed.

There were a couple of opportunities in this match where I was able to set up charges for double kills. The highlight came mid-game when I positioned my Assault Intercessor on the opposite side of a Battleclade operative cluster. I charged in first and cleaned up both targets backed by a hidden gunner. When he came to retaliate I shot another one and had a nice three to one exchange. Textbook aggression - exactly what I’d been struggling with all weekend!

From there I was able to capture all the points, push to his castle and overrun the entire team. Pretty much a flawless execution and it couldn’t have ended Day Two on a better note!

Record for day two: 2-0
Overall Record: 2-2-1

Final Thoughts

I’m proud of the fact that I picked some decent tac ops this time however the plant banner one still stings honestly. That probably was my worst selection of the day OR maybe I could have exercised some patience and been happy with the placement on turn 3 after seeing where he was committing.

My stupid mistakes during day one really cost me this tournament and I’m still kicking myself over them. The round one match loss honestly didn’t bother me because I fought hard. It was the other two that I made two critical errors and almost without thinking. Earning zero points for a tac and primary is an absolute gut punch.

Not all bad news though as I did end up getting a hobby award from the tournament which honestly meant a lot. It’s great to be recognized for the hours of painting and modeling work that goes into this hobby alongside the competitive play.

I do have another tournament coming up soon and the lessons from this one are to slow down and ask myself ‘what happens if I do X’ before committing. Sometimes I need to trust my positioning instead of chasing kills. Day Two really showed what I’m capable of when I stay disciplined. Time to bring that version of my game to the next tournament!

It has been a while since my last GT and I’ve been waffling between several game systems in between. Needless to say I let myself get a bit rusty at Kill Team. However, when my LGS announced they were having a local tournament I was ecstatic!

The result: 3-2-1 and 12th place with Angels of Death (Hardy, Resolute). Here’s how it went down and what I learned.

Pre-tournament I found myself in a couple of test games using Plague Marines and trying to see how viable they were for this meta. Since last update they did happen to get more bolt guns on the team which for me was a welcomed addition.

During my tests I couldn’t help but notice that everywhere around me people were playing Angels of Death at a successful rate. Heck, they even recently won the Warhammer Open: Maastricht and so I just couldn’t let myself play anything else this time around. Shocker I know!

Day One

Round 1: vs Deathwatch [Orb, Tomb World #1, Win -13/9]

Equipment - Purity Seals, Tilting Shields, Auspex, Heavy Barricade
Tac Op - Sweep & Clear

After rolling for choice of sides I was happy to take the choice and deploy. I’m pretty familiar with this map and already had a plan in my head as soon as I setup. I wanted to control the large hallway by threatening multiple angles. Since he’s down an operative compared to my team I also wanted to apply pressure on his home objective causing him to split focus.

The key to this match was having that hallway on lock down with my sniper and heavy gunner. His disruptor did happen to put some delays on my guys though but I made sure to pair them together in case I needed the extra backup. Thankfully I did because he caught my assault intercessor behind the column and tried to sneak up against the wall to chop him down.

Unfortunately for my opponent most of his dice went sour and Deathwatch do not have many opportunities for re-rolls without dipping into those command points. I was able to clean up the hallway on both the right and left side leaving him with practically nothing.

My biggest regret for this match however was having such a poor tac op choice. I hardly scored any points on tac which really hurt BUT I was able to make up a few with both the Crit and Kill which did help some. Either way we’ll take the W.

Round 2: vs Legionary [Data, Volkus #1, Win - 9/7]

Equipment - Purity Seals, Tilting Shields, Smokes, Ladders
Tac Op - Dominate

Starting the second round I again won the roll for sides and picked what I thought to be the much more advantaged side. I will be honest here this was my first time playing against this team and I had to keep asking what the different loyalist abilities do for each operative. However, as I played it felt like more of a mirror match in many ways except they have a better weapon set.

Things started out quite well I was able to secure a nice position using the surroundings of the building. I had planned on using my captain in the match as he was my best chance at taking down operatives. Luckily for me the captain was able to successfully flank around the side board and destroy the melta gunner before that had any chance to go off and grab my first two dominate tokens.

In a moment of overconfidence I decided to use that captain again to try and take out the Acolyte since I felt I had a pretty decent hit and run opportunity. I ended up whiffing pretty hard and got killed on the return. Losing my captain and my dominate tokens.

The rest of the team was able to trade kills pretty efficiently but it was still a very close race. We ended up tying on kill and tac op. The only saving grace was I actually played the crit op while advancing which scored me a couple of additional points and won me the game!

Round 3: vs XV26 Stealth Battlesuits [Loot, New England Bheta Decima, Loss - 12/13]

Equipment - Purity Seals, Chapter Reliquaries, Ladders, Smokes
Tac Op - Plant Banner

Going into the third round I was geeked to be 2-0 already. Things were going pretty smooth and I have played this matchup before. Also, I have to say I do enjoy the Bheta Decima maps as it adds variety to the mix at tournaments.

After things began I had a sneaky feeling I mis-deployed on this map. I loaded up the left side a bit heavy and there was not a lot of movement to be had on that side as he staged two melta guns over there with ladder. With that setup I had to switch plans and have my operatives try to plant banner in the mid board.

Throughout the match my opponent was pretty sneaky getting some chip shots in and using threatening positions to capture his retrieval tokens. For the most part I was able to chase down the operatives and make him drop the tokens which was good play. However, while I did get in there for some kills my mistake was not playing aggressive enough to command board position.

Unfortunately, I left too many opportunities for him to score crit and threaten my banner holder. Turning point 4 he did just that as he took a drone from vantage and fired an Accurate 3 blast at my banner holder. Obliterated my guy and completely cutting out 3VP from under my feet (2 for the banner and 1 extra from primary).

After looking at what I thought was going to be a tie he out scored me by 1 point as I couldn’t get that last retrieval token from his carrier. Big bummer!

This was my spoiler game as I needed the 3-0 to get into top 8. The 2-1 bracket was filled with players and I was on the bubble due to my low scoring matches.

Day Two

With day one of the GT in the books and me not being able to go any higher than 9th place I still decided to show up and play some good games. My goal was to try and improve on my scoring so I could get some practice at upping those points.

Round 4: vs Nemesis Claw [ Secure, Volkus #1, Win - 17/15]

Equipment - Purity Seals, Tilting Shields, Auspex, Kraks
Tac Op - Plant Banner

I ended up pairing into AoD’s worst matchup for the start of day two. However, I was excited to play my opponent as we previously played before when he was first getting into Killteam and I was curious to see how his skills have evolved.

For this particular matchup I like to avoid combat when I can or at least make it on my terms so I took a bit more of a shooting setup. My plan was to apply some early pressure, chip them down and then engage for the clean up.

I had taken plant banner for my Tac choice but in hindsight that is not something that meshes that plan. Furthermore, I had to apologize to my opponent because I completely forgot about the 5” board edge rule here and neither of us caught it until late turn 3. I did end up moving it to a legal spot but not going to lie it was a feel bad moment.

Even though I started this day off on the total wrong foot but we still ended up having a great match. He came back with a sweet double kill using his leader. Totally caught me off guard by activating a move in the strategy phase in order to get that position. Fun game and I definitely owe him a rematch in the future!

Round 5: vs Canoptek Circle [Download, Volkus #1, Tie 16/16]

Equipment - Purity Seals, Chapter Reliquaries, Ladders, Smokes
Tac Op - Envoy

Much to my surprise I got paired into a rematch that I’ve been looking forward to since the last tournament. After many of the nerfs I don’t see many Canoptek players anymore but I think it’s a fun challenge. Not to mention my opponent has a smart play style with them which makes it more of a puzzle to solve.

I ended up being the aggressor here so I thought it was fitting to take envoy since I was naturally pushing forward anyway. My plan was to try and sneak up the sides of the board to quickly hit the back line taking out the healer as soon as possible. The problem being that it was easier said than done.

Quickly I found myself gummed up with operatives while he was retrieving from the points. On a positive note I did manage to take out the big guns early thanks to my captain being able to just power fist their face.

However, it wasn’t until turning point 4 that I made it through to the back line which is way too late. Which also meant I couldn’t get him to drop the retrieval tokens.

Looking at the final score we ended up tying this one keeping it close the whole way. Guess we’ll have to do a third rematch in the future lol.

Round 6: vs Angels of Death [Transmission, Volkus #4, Loss - 12/9]

Equipment - Purity Seals, Ladders, Heavy Barricade, Smokes
Tac Op - Plant Banner

This game was such a blur and happened so fast. A stellar run and gun mirror match that turned into an absolute blood bath! There were maybe two operatives left from each side after turning point 2!

During deployment I saw that my opponent was wanting to take the middle tower with his sniper for vantage. He ended up clumping a few guys mid field behind the castle wall to support that decision. To counteract I split my guys on outer flanks and took an operative in the middle to keep him busy and focused there.

The downside to my plan as I found out later was that the center board actually gives you a lot of flexibility in your tactics. Not only did he create a nice stronghold for his plant banner but he decimated one of my flanks. I didn’t happen to have enough operatives left to respond and he ended up running away with points uncontested.

Day Two Record: 1-1-1
Overall Final Placement 3-2-1

Final Thoughts

While it wasn’t my best performance I did have a legitimate shot on day one which I’m proud of. The big take away from this tournament for me is that I need to work on my scoring. Poor tac op choices really set me behind! I also need to play more aggressively in matchups. Allowing teams to setup and build advantage such as the XV26 match really ended up working against me.

Over the past two months my local game store hosted a Journeyman league for Warmachine. For those that aren’t familiar it’s essentially a league to help introduce game concepts and allows you to grow your army overtime as you learn.

Two months ago I knew nothing about Warmachine. Since then, I’ve played in my first tournament and here’s how a Journeyman League bridged that gap.

The Beginning

So how did it start and why did I choose Warmachine? Well, for most of the game systems that I currently play I found myself traveling quite a ways to different stores to play. The hour plus ride there, game time and hour plus ride back to most of these became daunting.

I thought to myself I could literally get a game in just from the drive time alone! That’s when I began exploring the options that my nearest game shop had to offer.

I walked into my LGS and asked what tabletop games were being played regularly at the shop making sure to ask what the groups were like as well. Turns out, at the moment, most games are just pickup games that you schedule on Discord. However, they told me that players have been regularly showing up on Wednesdays for Warmachine and that they also had a small group of Old World players on Sunday.

I’ll admit that second option really piqued my interest because Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Ultimately though timing couldn’t be better because literally next week the Warmachine group was starting a new Journeyman league. What are the chances of that!?

Army Choice

Looking around the products available for purchase I’ll admit I was a bit lost. As a new player entering I didn’t really know any of the terminology such as a “Cadre” or “Auxiliary” or anything about the armies in general. All I knew is that I had to have something picked and put together by Wednesday. So I went with the “rule of cool”!

I ended up getting the Frozen & Forgotten box which actually had two starter armies in it. I was instantly drawn to the awesome green flames and skulls of the “Forgotten” side because it reminded me of the burning legion I faced back in World of Warcraft. However, after I got home I found out there were some caveats to this box that I was unaware of. An unfortunate surprise if you will!

Turns out that both armies in the box don’t actually have other models out yet to go with them. In fact, the “Forgotten” half of the box a.k.a the cool guys I liked aren’t even on the timeline yet for getting anything new. The elves on the other hand did have some new models coming in the summer so I made the decision to take the journey with them. My wife was happy since she really liked the battle cats so I decided to go with a purple theme in her honor.

Starting Out

The way the league was structured there were two week increments of growth 30 points, 50 points, 75 points and finally100. The “Frozen” elves in my starter box just happened to be a perfect 30 point start! I quickly put them together, primed everything and got ready for my first Wednesday night.

Now, I will mention here that when I took a demo for this game I learned a bit about war casters and how they used focus to control their war jacks. This army uses a warlock and beasts which are on a whole different plan since they utilize Fury.

I decided to use this first game as a stepping stone to learning the fury system and how to manage that. Honestly, even though it was a different train of thought it wasn’t as bad as I thought and got the hang of it pretty quickly.

When the second week rolled around I was all painted up. I decided to use this to learn more fundamentals around movement, how scoring works, and win conditions. This was the week I actually found myself investing heavier into the game by taking time to really read and digest the core rule book. Which, as a side note, is completely free! I love when game companies do that although later on I did purchase a physical copy because I wanted to and not because I was forced to.

Expanding

Because the elves of the frozen north didn’t happen to have an army of their own yet I had to expand into the Dusk House Kallyss faction of Warmachine. An undead vampiric variety of elves that had risen from the loss of their gods. Here’s where things got interesting: in Warmachine, your war caster or warlock determines which army you can build. Since my starter Warlock wasn’t a valid leader for Dusk House Kallyss, I needed to pick up a new one. I went with the Dusk battlegroup box which came with a war caster and a pair of war jacks. The good news is that now at 50 points I get the best of both worlds focus and fury!

Managing a new playstyle from what I was used to at the previous points level was a bit challenging. The new caster was more of a ranged assassin which I found to be super cool and I really enjoyed the game play of it. Since she was more of a ranged attacker I focused on learning positioning for the first week. Utilizing terrain for cover and working on my distancing but maintaining line of sight. This was really helpful when getting into position to win by assassination.

The following week I had set a goal of learning power attacks that beasts and jacks can do such as Slam or Headbutt. It was actually cool seeing this aspect of things because you can actually knock back an enemy, damage multiple models and leave them knocked down so you can shoot over them or even attack with ease. It’s worth noting that I wasn’t really focused on my win loss rate during this league as I wanted to utilize it more for figuring out how things worked. It’s the best practice you can get, especially at the lower point levels like 30 or 50 because you can get multiple games within a short period of time!

At the 75 point level however I had a good chunk of models to get through. I knew that ahead of time and actually started putting them together earlier during the previous week. This is where I added the core army expansion which includes all of the soulless models such as warriors, guardians, hunters, adepts and more. I also had to add a Void Engine model which allows for what Dusk players call the “soulless” engine meaning that when one soulless model dies it can get replaced with a Wight which is an undead spirit. It’s great for adding attrition to your army!

With this I was able to practice and utilize some core wargaming concepts such as screening. The guardians also allow me to utilize shield guard mechanics meaning if someone is trying to shoot at my caster or a model near those guardians I can redirect that damage to them instead. I think the most challenging part about having all of these models on the board now is it actually matters where you place things because you cannot move through other models. That was a tough lesson but also I still run into this from time to time.

Finally at 100 points I added in another battle group box which gave me more war jacks to control. The whole goal for this round was just making sure I’m utilizing all the abilities and not missing any triggers or effects. A full scale game at this points level really puts you in the tank because there is so much to manage. I also decided I like practicing this “on the clock” meaning that I want to start speeding up my decision process and use a chess clock between turns. It’s really important at this level too because you can lose a tournament game to running out of time or the “Deathclock”.

Final Thoughts

Looking back I feel like the Journeyman league was the perfect way to get introduced to the game. It allowed me to take things a step at a time, kept me on track with getting models tabletop ready and taught me core mechanics that I might otherwise not have experienced trying to pick it up with a friend.

I’m incredibly lucky as well because the gaming group was very welcoming and a blast to play against. They constantly provide great insight on how to improve and helped me build up enough confidence to play in my first steam roller tournament!

Warmachine overall turned out to be a fun game to play and honestly a nice change of pace from other game systems. It was also very cool to see colossal models which look amazing on the tabletop! My next step will be working on a second list for Dusk since most tournaments require two. I’m also looking forward to learning the game at a deeper level and can’t wait to keep throwing my hat in the ring!

Introduction

Over the weekend I traveled out to Cherokee, NC to compete in my first Golden Ticket event of 2026. This was a 2 day event consisting of 3 rounds each day and some great opponents. Even better were the random screams of “WAAAAGH!” that would ring out through the convention center!

My scouting wasn’t as terrible this time but there were a couple of surprises that I didn’t see coming. There were quite a few Raveners players that showed up, a Corsair Voidscarred (which I got paired against), two Kasrkin, and even some Elucidian Starstriders. Of course a special appearance by a World’s player, Landon “Bappo” Erwin, who I didn’t happen to see on the registration at the time of scouting. I will also say the sub title of this article definitely hits different writing those scores down below.

• Final record: 3-3 (9/14/17/15/14/7)

• Final placement: 18th overall

• Team: Angels of Death (Hardy, Resolute)

Day One

Round 1: vs Wolf Scouts [Secure, Gallowdark Map #1, Loss 9/18]

Equipment - Purity Seals, Tiliting Shields, Auspex, Krak Grenades

Setting up for the match and after initial moves I felt great about my plan and my deployment. Looking at the board I saw a three vs two matchup in the rooms that I wanted to start with and figured I would take those rooms, secure and then move onward.

During tac op selection it made sense to me that I would be able to get rout while moving in to that upper middle area advancing upper left square. I doubled down on the crit with my primary selection though because the plan was to secure all three and I was more sold on that than rout.

Turns out my opponent exposed a HUGE gap (erm.. non-gap) with my placement and caught me not actually spacing 2” apart and moved in for an epic blast. This thing literally almost toasted three Marines! I had to burn so much CP and pop Iron Halo on my Captain just to survive.

He then followed that up with a charge and double fight with his leader to clear out the right side. Both positioning mistakes on my part and the lack of CP to do anything effective afterward left me stranded badly here.

I did end up making a couple of kills and then a third blunder in this match. I went to shoot twice on his expended character carrying his retrieval marker, didn’t get the kill and left him at 1 life. I was so frustrated I forgot to use my third action to charge. If I would have done that I could have counteracted, got the kill, prevented mine from getting killed, secured the point and get him to drop the retrieval token.

BOY, did I end up messing up this match. Starting the day off with a loss was not in the plans. Not only just a loss but a pretty brutal one at that which really put me behind on scoring with only 9 points! I’d say it was nerves but in reality it was just not smart playing. I beat myself here.

Round 2: vs Nemesis Claw [Download, Tomb World Map #1, Win 14/10]

Equipment: Purity Seals, Tilting Shields, Auspex, Light Barricades

Traditionally on this map I have played plant banner. That narrow corridor is such a good little spot for it because you can easily put it across the half way point and they have to figure out breach before getting to you. However, I had to switch game plans because he overloaded the side I normally banner with. So I transitioned to the other side of the map and planted banner there.

He had little going on from the left side he stacked up on as I kept some intercessors back just out of range to keep the point protected. All the while I was scoring tac each turn not giving him much to work with. I just ended up taking the points that the opponent was willing to give me. I gave up the kill op being cagey but was going for max tac op anyway.

I will say though tilting shields was fantastic in this matchup for when action did happen. Barricades worked out well too as it kept my guys protected and doubled as a movement reduction for his operatives. I did not end up using Auspex though since I couldn’t seem to get a shot angle on the map.

Round 3: vs Kasrikin [Data, Gallowdark Map #3, Win 17/16]

Equipment: Purity Seals, Chapter Reliquaries, Frag Grenades, Light Barricades

This was my first time playing against Kasrkin and I didn’t have much intel to work with. I tried doing a quick read over the app during break between rounds predicting the matchup but it wasn’t a lot.

This was an extremely tight match and I ended up getting a really tough side of the board to work with. He had a fantastic position for his melta bomb placement keeping me locked out from a straight charge in so I had to take the hallway of death.

In order to perform the data hit for crit op I had made a really risky play with my Assault Sargeant by running in his territory for the tap and I’m not 100% sure if it was a great move. I thought I had him covered with my gunner on guard but he came in with his leader to kill the sargeant. I Made the shot but left him at 1, he got the double kill! Yes, my Sargeant and the gunner... dead! Yikes!

At the end I did steal the data maxing out the crit op (which I took as primary) and almost maxed dominate as well. Still luck had me a bit here and I ended up surviving with three guys meaning we stayed tied on kill op which was the decision point in this match. Close but hey we’ll take those!

Day Two

Round 4: vs Goremongers [Loot, Tomb World Map #4, Win 15/12]

Equipment: Purity Seals, Tilting Shields, Frag Grenades, Stun Grenades

Fresh new day and I felt good going in at 2-1. Went to bed early, had a great breakfast and of course coffee coursing through my veins. I went in with a game plan on how to best maximize my points given the crit ops for the day. My first opponent was Goremongers!

I decided to get aggressive on this match and begin pushing forward to control loot-able points. Watching my opponent deploy he grouped most of his army on the left hand side. It looks like he wanted to try to avoid breaching and just swarm through the door. I took a three and three split putting my sniper at the door entrance of the right room who had visibility to the opponents door. This ended up being a nice advantage as I did end up getting a few early dominate points with him.

Starting round three I seized initiative and had a perfect position with an assault intercessor who moved in to toss a frag grenade at a group in front. He was able to kill one and weaken two out of the group and then attempt a shot at the leader. Unfortunately, the shot didn’t succeed as the dice didn’t cooperate.

It was a bloody battle for the middle after that losing me a captain, a grenadier and an assault intercessor all stepping in to capture the mid point. After the bolt pistol smoke cleared and the dust settled I was able to successfully capture both loot points, winning dominate and denying a good portion of flank. I was unable to max out on kill op however as the last three Goremongers avoided any further confrontation.

Round 5: vs Corsair Voidscarred [Stake Claim, Volkus map #5, Loss 14/15]

Equipment: Purity Seals, Tilting Shields, Auspex, Smoke Grenades

Round five I was paired against a team that I’ve not seen before. However, after last rounds win, I was in the Top 8 and had to win this for a shot at the upper levels. Luckily for me it was lunch break and I did some pre-match research on the team to get a quick run down of operatives and abilities. My opponent also did a great job of explaining as well which was helpful.

The match started and positioning on my part wasn’t great. I though I would put my gunner on on of the roof tops for vantage position but it ended up being a compromising spot. My opponent has a teleport ability that would allow him access to that roof top for a quick kill.

However he did not attempt the kill and put an interrupt token down instead and hid behind the castle wall. I declared my intention to activate and move, jumped down between all three operatives with the gunner (who we will now call *Rambo*). He survives, fires to kill the operative behind the wall (+1 dominate token). The opponent charges into the gunner with a new operative equipped with power knives but *Rambo* kills him with fists (+1 dominate token). The Sargent eventually covers him in smoke, the gunner lives and returns to the castle point with three dominate tokens after counteracting! Epic!

My plan was to claim the castle objective which went well but I was behind on points because the opponent was able to rout one of my soldiers and capture two points on crit. Turning point 3 I decide to go for the middle and I got it! Keeping both points, my claim coming true, denying my opponents claim and moving forward successfully tying the crit op. However, his rout was still strong gaining him another two on tac.

Now at this point in order to cover the middle the best I could I did have a heavy gunner block ladder access to a key roof top point and sneak closer to their heavy gunner. My opponent did see this and attempt to take out my operative but he ended up living! Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of this upcoming part but I believe this next move is what cost me the match (you’re going to have to use your imagination).

Turning point 4, I seize initiative with a great roll! My mid point is in trouble as he had previously moved a melta into range. This is important because it gave my heavy gunner a chance at a critical double kill that would have allowed my operatives to push forward and seize the third point. My heavy gunner repositions to get shooting angle on the melta, fires and puts him face first into the snow! Turns to the heavy gunner just inches away, who was left on only 4 health, and fires. Devastatingly whiffs the roll...

So where was the mistake you might ask and yes this kept me up all night. Well, instead of shooting I should have charged and fought their heavy gunner. Guaranteed melee hits are always worth more than a chance to block shot. Especially if they already get a cover save! Then after combat he could have shot the melta as usual.

That was it, my tournament run in NC, done over this one decision. I ended up losing this match as soon as his operative lived. He took the final shot with that heavy gunner maxing out his tac op rout. Which was also his primary. This was absolutely a heart breaking loss!

Round 6: vs Wolf Scouts [Energy Cells, Tomb World Map #5, Loss 7/19]

Equipment: Purity Seals, Tilting Shields, Auspex, Krak Grenades

I entered this match scrambled and completely tilted. My last round went to time and unfortunately I had zero time to cool down and collect myself. I will say though that my opponent was great and did help talk me off the ledge a bit so to speak.

With that, I formulated a game plan in my head which seemed ok. I was going to take the center objective and fake rush the left side in an attempt to get some cheeky shots on the right via teleport pad to capture that side as it had a light amount of coverage from the opponent. It actually started out great and I was ahead on board going into turn three thanks to envoy! I was even able to get his leader down to just six health with almost no reciprocal damage.

That is until I got greedy with it, which spoiler, didn’t work out well for me. In fact, it ended up costing me my captain, grenadier, sniper and an assault intercessor. It was a series of misplays and I had completely flubbed.

I did a teleport, moved the captain in for a sweet hot plasma shot against the sorcerer. Failed that and got killed on the hit back. I used my grenadier to open a door and take out the plasma gunner. Mind you from a room where my envoy was completely safe. Ended up getting both the grenadier killed and allowed the plasma into the room with an open door for coverage against my envoy. Three different shot attempts to remove the plasma (who was at 2 health) and nothing.

I folded, lost everything and got crushed.

Ending Thoughts

What worked:

• Angels of Death are a great flexible team and have shown they can get the job done

• Tilting shields was by far an all star in this series, hands down!

• I’ve been working on ways to pair tac ops with crit ops and for the most part the strategies I did have seemed to pay off.

What didn’t work:

• I absolutely have to fix my positioning and remember spacing against Blast!

• I need to figure out how to score more VP in tournaments and also how not to lose with so few.

• Still need to brush up on some mental resilience to not let things frustrate me or get tilted.

• Equipment was fine for the most part but I’ll have to evaluate Auspex. It was nice to have just in case but I never used it. Could this equipment slot been better used with something else?

While I’m still proud of going 3-3, this was not the way I wanted to end the tournament. As the title stated it was such an emotional roller coaster with some crazy good highs and very low lows. Even writing this and reliving the moments brought back all the feels.

The good news is I now have a better understanding of what a bigger multi-day tournament setting is and how tough it can be. From the energy drain at the end of the day to having plenty of mental fortitude to stay clear and focused. This was a really good learning experience overall.

Also, I’d like to give a big shout out to the tournament organizers and my opponents. The event was a blast overall. I’m both fortunate and glad to have this opportunity and look forward to improving as a player. Finally, congrats to Joe Gallo who ended up taking down the tournament with Angels of Death! Kudos man and enjoy Worlds!

Forty players. Six rounds. Two days. My first Golden Ticket qualifying event of 2026.

I’ve started this year off so far focusing hard on strategy and tactics when it comes to the game of Kill Team. While I don’t have the widest selection of teams in my arsenal yet I am still trying to utilize what I have in order to see some success. In fact, it’s a whole other level of learning from what I was doing just a few months ago which was getting the basics of the game down.

Honestly, the best part about tournaments is that you get to put all that learning, practice and theorizing to the test. You get to face a much wider variety of opponents than your local gaming group and really challenge yourself.

While preparing for this event, I discovered something that simultaneously boosted my confidence and spiked my anxiety. I’m currently ranked 3rd overall in the United States for Angels of Death on Best Coast Pairings. For someone who’s been playing just over eight months, this ranking feels surreal. It’s been a great way to measure my progress and show that the work is paying off.

Tournament Preparation

Since the last tournament a couple of weeks ago I’ve been testing mainly with Canoptek Circle. I played against Tony Do from the St. Louis crew, The Archmages, and he really intrigued me with the team’s play. For the most part, I was curious to see if it still had some mojo after these latest rounds of balance changes released in January. I also thought that they seemed like they were decently positioned in the meta as they are still a menace and just hard for some teams to beat.

Before I dig in here I will state for the record I’m not a complete stranger to the team. I was able to pilot it successfully to a first place finish at a local event here in the Chicago area. However, it had been a bit since then and it took me a few to get back into the swing of things. That being said I made all kinds of mistakes in my test games and it really showed!

• I kept forgetting to take my Accurate 1. You just can’t afford to do that with a team that hits on 4+

• My positioning for operatives and matrix nodes was often not good and I found myself in really bad spots

• A couple of the balance changes did end up really bothering me. First, having the healer and its target get -1 APL. Not being able to counter act control with the Geomancer was also a bummer.

• The team overall is a lot less forgiving on mistakes than it used to be

Overall the games I played strongly suggested that I was not ready to field this team. I didn’t do too badly but I personally would not be comfortable piloting this team at a larger tournament right now.

Once again Angels of Death had performed well for me in practice and since I do have familiarity with the team having recently piloted them to 4th place at the C.U.L.T February Open, I will be choosing them for this tournament!

Field Analysis

The Cherokee Open tournament was quite a bit different to scout than the last. First off this is the first tournament for me where the new Kill Team: Shadowhunt is legal. So I definitely expect to see a lot of Murderwing and Celestian Insidiants running around!

Secondly after taking a look at some of the BCP data that I found there looks like a big potential for a good dose of Wolf Scouts, Fellgor and Wrecka Krew. Some surprise ones for me that I don’t really see in my normal meta also popped up such as Nemesis Claw, Legionaries and Phobos (Yes, the player packet stated this is a declassified event!)

Lastly, I do expect some amount of Deathwatch, AoD, Mandrakes and maybe even a Canoptek player or two.

Top Players

Since this is a bigger tournament for me I decided to take a look at the BCP global standings for Kill Team and see who the top 5 players were going into this event.

• 148 - Joseph Gallo - Vox Scream

• 383 - Mark French - Citizens of the Empire

• 420 - Aaron Mayland - Florida United Kill Team

• 484 - Mark Meyer - Vox Scream

• 485 - David Heatwole - Gate City Gitz

Crit Ops

The player packet provided the Crit Ops selection in round order:

1. Secure

2. Download

3. Data

4. Loot

5. Stake Claim

6. Energy Cells

This is a really good mix. 3APL based teams will get a bit of an advantage on some of these. Interestingly, one of the most popular missions (Orb) is missing from the rotation.

Team Specific Analysis

Celestian Insidiants:

• The Abjuror is a legit operative. She has the ability to lock down and beat down. She can even protect others. You have to respect her!

• The stake throwers put in a good amount of chip damage and the Superior’s Relic condemnor stakethrower is very dangerous. Don’t get hit by that!

Wrecka Krew:

• It’s imperative to spread out. If a rocket hits it can devastate you!

• Stay away from the boss knob’s double rocket pistols. Those are no fun, even when obscured.

• If you get attacked and locked into combat with a squig DO NOT fight back at close range

Fellgor:

• The Deathknell must die!

• Keep eye on Mangler at all times! You don’t necessarily have to kill him but always know where he is. He has the ability to wreck any model in the game

• Shaman on Tomb World becomes a priority as he shuts off seek weapons giving people super conceal via Mantle of Darkness (1AP)

• Fellgor is a 10 wound team for the most part. We can help crack breakpoints using shock assault! This helps the standard Chainsword which is 4/5 get crits much easier with 1 less defense dice.

General Key Points to Remember:

• Utilize the stronghold door more on some Volkus based maps when you can. You can easily threaten the areas outside of the door with charge distance. However, the real spice is you fight first when retaliating!

• Try to utilize threat range more to control general areas

• DON’T Forget about Mobile as a chapter tactic! Fallback for 1AP is great when operatives try to lock you up!

Predictions & Goals

This is going to be a larger tournament than I’m used to playing. It’s not like the 100+ person ones you hear about but it still hit over 40+ players, 2 days and 6 full rounds of play! Unfortunately, I don’t have enough experience against some of the top meta teams I’m expecting to see here so this one is going to be a bit rough. My last golden ticket event in Minnesota I felt the same way and ended up going .500 with a record of 3-3.

However, I have improved a bit since then and I want to go into this with a positive attitude so we are going to shoot for a 4-2 record to overcome our last GT result!

Wish me luck and follow along for the tournament report to come! Take it easy!

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The Talons of Grievous have received reports from salvagers claiming to have found Republic intelligence located at the crash site of an LAAT/i transport ship. The ship had gone down in a battle during the Clone Wars and has been sitting on Toshara ever since.

The reports identified that this data could expose early Imperial operations and the Empire is looking to destroy the evidence. Commander Varnis, who took a minute to digest the information, thought if the Empire is moving to destroy this data, it might be exactly what we’ve been looking for.

Mission Briefing

Main Mission: Out flank

Secondary Mission: Surface Scan

Bonus: Cunning Deployment

Agenda: Show of Strength

The Talons of Grievous (Separatist Alliance - 900 points):

• Commander Varnis equipped with ElectroStaff

• Overseer Malvek equipped with Heavy Arm Cannon

• Droidekas

• 2x B1 Battle Droid Squads

• B2 Super Battle Droid Squads with Heavy Arm Cannon

• B2 Super Battle Droid Squad (NEW!)

• 2x LM-432 Crab Droids equipped with Heavy lasers (NEW!)

341st Imperial Army Regiment (Galactic Empire - 900 points):

• Lieutenant Colonel Trigger Chandler (Officer)

• Imperial Security Bureau Agent Tiberon Kest (Agent)

• Anvil Company (Stormtroopers) (Red Pauldron)

• Ashfall Company (Stormtroopers) (Blue Pauldron)

• Deadlock Company (Stormtroopers) (Green Pauldron)

• Breaker Company (Riot Troopers) (No Helmets and Kest’s Personal Retinue)

• Rampart Company (Riot Troopers) (With Helmets)

• Gundark Company (Gav Occupier Tank)

• Rancor Company (Gav Occupier Tank)

As the droid forces deployed at their destination in Toshara it was just as the reports had stated. The transport ship in the distance and an Imperial force approaching. Each army began taking a flank trying to outmaneuver each other in order to control the crash site and surrounding area.

The orders from Commander Varnis were to secure the left flank and push forward towards the ship while keeping the enemy forces at bay with heavy suppression. Figuring that would give them time to secure the intelligence and escape. However the Imperial troops had a different idea entirely.

The Empire immediately swarmed the far left objective sending in their best agent, Tiberon Kest, escorted by his Breaker Company of Riot Troopers. They took position on top of the building and launched a surprise drop assault on the unit of B2 troopers guarding the point. Blow by blow the agent struck, the fight was on! The B2 Unit steadfast held its position and sent wrist rockets in fierce retaliation holding the point as instructed.

Meanwhile, In order to subdue the oncoming rush of droid troopers up the middle the Imperial forces launched a round of heavy tank fire supported by Lieutenant Colonel Trigger Chandler. Upon first launch they decimated a chunk of B1 troopers leaving little left of that unit. Still the droids pressed forward! The second B2 unit returned fire with its heavy arms cannon piercing into the tank. Floods of B1s still pouring in keeping the unit of Storm Troopers at bay. Round after round the tank stood taking no further damage but dishing out plenty!

From his peripheral, Overseer Malvek had noticed a group of Storm Troopers rushing towards the flank point. He turned his attention to the exposed unit, took aim and fired his cannons. Mass panic ensued throughout the Storm Troopers and they began to flee. They tried taking cover upon the roof top but in a show of strength Malvek pushed forward, released his second assault and smeared the building with their remains.

Commander Varnis, accompanied by the newly added units of LM-432 Crab Droids, advanced towards the ship. He was determined to capture the transport’s data! He reached the ship, but was cut off when charged by a unit of deadly Riot Troopers, the Rampart Company. The sounds of metal clangs rang out as their weapons struck the Commander! Wounded but not downed he retaliated with a large counter assault sweeping his glowing Electro-Staff through the unit leaving only one trooper standing.

Immediately, the Commander called for the rest of the troops to hurry towards the ship - but it was already too late. He saw the Lieutenant finishing off the last of the surrounding droids and escaping with the ship’s intelligence. The battle was lost and so was the data.

Campaign Consequences

Casualties & Setbacks

Destroyed: 1 LM-432 Crab Droid Unit was destroyed and removed from roster

Escaped: B2 Unit 1 (holding the flank) and the unit of Droidekas managed to escape any real setback but learned from their battle (+1 experience)

Experience Gained

Surviving units gained (+1 experience) from the battle.

1 LM-432 Crab Droid Unit, Commander Varnis, and Overseer Malvek contested or held objectives at the end of the game (+1 additional experience)

Commander Varnis was named as the Most Feared Rival (+3 additional experience)

Special Recognition

Campaign “medals” earned this game:

• One for posting the narrative story

• One for fighting the battle

• x2 Paint a new unit and bring it to battle

Lessons Learned

Droidekas are tough to use! This is now the third battle in which I had the Droidekas on the field and failed to produce any results. They have died quickly, caused no casualties and have failed to hold any objectives. In my eyes I’m probably overexposing them and utilizing them incorrectly. I think at this point I need more research on what role this unit fills and how to use them or swap for something else. Honestly, in this battle it probably would have been more value to trade their points for more upgrades on the advancing droids!

Crab droids are awesome! I will say having these guys on the field was phenomenal. They dish out damage, have decent armor protection and even have some good mobility. I would absolutely recommend these to any droid player and in fact, wouldn’t mind having a third unit!

Make Haste! Unfortunately, I learned that my army is a bit slow. While the new scouting and scouting party for the droids helped I still feel like I couldn’t reach my objectives in time and honestly apart from Overseer Malvek I also wasn’t taking things down as fast as I would have liked either. I’ll have to do more research on this as well.

Looking Ahead

I ended up getting a nice chunk of experience for my units in this match. Thanks to some of them finishing near objectives and the Commander being the largest threat we have some level ups coming our way. Which I’m really excited about.

Unfortunately, I have yet to actually win a game but I’m being patient and learning. I think a good chunk of it is from my deployment mistakes and using units incorrectly. I feel like maybe the B1s instead of shooting should be scouring the board for objectives instead since they aren’t really great in combat. I may try a couple new maneuvers in the next mission and see if it pays off!

Campaign Record: 0-2-1

Supply Points: 8 remaining

Next Battle: Coming Soon...

Expanding their search into the Outer Rim Territories, Commander Varnis and his army of droid soldiers found themselves picking up a strange transmission from the Arkanis sector. The signal was weak with faded, scrambled words—most likely encrypted to hinder the broadcast from unintended parties. However, with the volume of encrypted traffic flowing between locations, the Commander's interest piqued. Could this be from the source of corruption he had been sent to find?

Upon further investigation, the droid forces were able to trace the messages. They identified them as coming from a Rebel force broadcasting from the planet of Tatooine. Once informed, the Commander ordered the ship to land on the planet and his forces to Intercept Signals. “This is a recon mission,” he stated. “All forces are to be on high alert!”

Mission Briefing

The Campaign: Root Out the Corruption
Mission Type: Recon (600 points)
Agenda: Show of Strength
Location: Tatooine - the Outer Rim

The Talons of Grievous (Separatist Alliance - 600pts):

• Commander Varnis (Paragon) with ElectroStaff

• Overseer Malvek (Operative)

• 2x B1 Battle Droid Squads

• B2 Super Battle Droid Squad

• Droidekas

The Opposition (Rebel Alliance- 600pts):

• Rebel Officer

• 2x Rebel Troopers

• Rebel Commandos

• Wookie Warriors

• A-A5 Speeder Truck

As the force exited the ship, Overseer Malvek, equipped with an advanced scanner, began leading the battalions forward. Advancement was slow and visibility was poor due to variable waves of sandstorms that kept kicking up clouds of dust and debris. However, his scanner identified two separate comm towers located in the distance. With this intel, he gave each of his B1 units specific instructions to intercept signals as commanded.

Each droid unit successfully reached their destination and began performing their mission while the Overseer continued forward, scanner humming as he moved through the shifting sands. Suddenly, over the comms, B1 units reported shots fired as Rebel specialist troops began their attack. The sound of blaster rifles and pistols firing at a high rate cut through the howling wind, bolts slamming into the droids and dropping them one by one.

Then another comm transmission came from the other tower—an A-A5 Speeder Truck roaring forward at full speed, loaded with a unit of Wookie warriors. The droids opened fire, red blaster bolts streaking across the desert!

At this moment, Commander Varnis ordered everyone to hold their ground and maintain position. With orders given, the B1s continued the intercept plan while Droidekas rolled forward, their shields flaring as they pinned down the Wookies with withering suppressive fire.

The B2 super battle droid unit turned their attention to the heavily armored transport, rocket launchers taking aim. “It’s time to show our strength!” shouted the Commander.

First, a unit of standard Rebel troopers fell, then the transport collapsed in a fireball under concentrated B2 rocket fire! Things appeared to be going very well for the counterassault.

However, the Rebel forces kept the pressure coming. Heavy sniper fire began picking off key targets with deadly precision. Soldiers and specialists alike continued decimating the B1 units on the right flank. The comm tower position began to crumble as the last of the B1s sparked and collapsed into the sand.

Then disaster struck—a well-placed sniper shot found Overseer Malvek. The tactical droid staggered, his scanner sparking and dying as he fell. Without his scanner, the separatists could no longer complete their recon objectives and without droids holding the right tower, those intercept signals went dark.

The separatists decided enough was enough, and the remaining forces fell back to their ship under covering fire. While the showdown ended in a stalemate, they had escaped with valuable intel and hard-won experience. The mission may have ended in a draw, but the hunt for corruption would continue.

Campaign Consequences

Casualties & Setbacks

Battle-Shaken: Due to the well-placed sniper shot that caused Overseer Malvek to shut down. He became battle-shaken and required medical supplies (-1 supply point).

Escaped: A unit of B1’s escaped any real setback but learned a valuable lesson (+1 Experience)

Experience Gained

Surviving units gained +1 experience from the battle. I was also able to advance my Show of Strength agenda.

Special Recognition

Campaign “medals” earned this game:

• One for posting the narrative story

• One for fighting the battle

Lessons Learned

What I Discovered:

B2 Cannon Fire is Awesome! After my last match, I learned quite a bit about Armor and how to utilize Impact. I was much more prepared this time to face Armor issues. Lucky for me, as soon as I saw the A-A5 Speeder Truck I knew exactly what to do.

Suppression is actually pretty cool. My Commander for this match had Slicing Coms as an upgrade which allows me to add 2 suppression to a unit per turn (untap and reuse combo) thanks to his other upgrade Tyrannical Taskmaster. Also the Droideka unit has suppressive fire. Those two combined kept the Wookies out of the fight for quite some time.

Go with what works. Both my opponent and I were a bit new and unfortunately this match was not on a league night. We had a couple moments where we didn’t know the exact rules on things. It was ok though, we talked through what made sense and rolled with it. It made for a really fun experience anyway.

Looking Ahead

After my second game I was starting to build a little bit of confidence. Hey, I may not have won but I also didn’t lose. On top of that, I was understanding more of the game, my units and how things worked in general. I didn’t really feel so lost anymore and that was a great feeling.

Next mission: Take the experience that my troops have and level them up a bit. We’ve done a couple of Recon games now which has been fantastic. However, I may have gotten a hold of a new model or two and I’m excited to expand a bit!

Campaign Record: 0-1-1
Supply Points: 8 remaining
Next Battle: Coming soon...

Introduction

Fourth place out of 27 players. Three wins, one devastating loss. Five points shy of the podium!

This past Saturday I competed in the C.U.L.T February Open at Titan Games in Champaign, Illinois - a major preparation event before my Golden Ticket hunt starting at the Cherokee Open on February 21st in North Carolina. The field was stacked with some of the best players from across the Midwest: Indianapolis, St. Louis, Chicago, and Central Illinois.

Going in, I felt prepared. My initial scouting report broke down the expected meta, my practice sessions, and my game plan with Angels of Death. However, as Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Or in my case, until Fellgor starts swinging their brutal weapons.

• Final record: 3-1 (21/5/17/15)

• Final placement: 4th overall

• Team: Angels of Death

The Day Unfolds

Round 1: vs Goremongers [Reboot, Tomb World Map #6, 21/4]

Going into game 1 I felt confident with the map layout and strategy I had in mind. The map itself is not well suited for my Goremongers opponent due to the amount of breaching that needs to be done to access certain rooms from their side.

Not to mention that Marines having a 3APL means the crit op is also more favorable as I can still act and reboot which is bit harder to do for my opponent.

Lastly, it might be a hot take, but I have played this matchup several times and personally I feel like Goremongers have an uphill battle against Angels of Death.

My first priority was to quickly secure the room on the left side of the map which is well protected from the Enemy based on their deployment.

I had a key charge from an Assault Intercessor who fought the first enemy, killing them, then turned around and shot the second. The rest of the Marines swooped in to secure the room and finally planted the banner down giving a chance for max tac op!

The opponent did manage to breach into one of the rooms with a pair of Goremongers but failed the attempt. My Grenadier (who is also an Assault Intercessor) held strong and ended up clearing the room reducing the threat.

Unfortunately for my opponent, between both engagements it left them with little to no force to operate with. This allowed me to sweep the rest of the map clean which I needed to fulfill for my primary Kill Op objective.

Round 2: vs Fellgor Ravagers [Secure, Volkus Map #2, 5/21]

This was quite the gut punch.

Dylan Gill is one of the best Fellgor players in the world - he just took 4th at the World Championships with this exact team. I knew going in that this would be tough. Not to mention that I had zero practical experience against this team and it showed!

In deployment I setup to where I could secure my home objective and race to lockdown the middle with roof top gunner support. On the far right side I was going to sneak two Assault intercessors up to try and take out the Ironhorn (leader) and Deathknell (gong ringer).

One of the first early interactions, which was completely unexpected, included a warrior who performed a “jump charge” from the roof of the adjacent building. This blind sided my gunner who was left fighting for his life. Unfortunately, he did not fare well and ended up becoming the first casualty!

My opponent captures great position, takes me down an operative and goes on conceal so I cannot retaliate.

I tried pressing forward to neutralize threats so I could setup for planting my banner against the castle wall. I started with my Captain who is my best melee operative. In hindsight, I should have just stopped instead of frenzying the Mangler because I now know he gets his most potent attack on the counter swing. My opponent then rolls THREE CRITS obliterating my Captain with no chance to Iron Halo save (Just a Scratch).

From there I continued taking a beating as my plans start unraveling. I could not keep up as my operative count dwindled. All I could do was try to score the extra point or two before calling the game.

Walking away with only 5 points felt devastating. This was the game that ultimately cost me the podium - I finished just 5 points behind 3rd place. But losing to a world-class pilot taught me more than any practice game could have.

Round 3: vs Mandrakes [Energy Cells, Tomb World Map #2, 17/9]

I’ll be honest here, pairing into a Mandrakes match after a loss was not something I was excited about. I’ve had a rough history against this team not to mention they can hit hard and be very tricksy.

Approaching the table I greeted my opponent and tried to gather my thoughts to focus on the task at hand. I had noticed the map layout had some great positioning elements for me to take advantage of. I had a nice hallway on each side with little access for enemies to disrupt objectives which was awesome.

With that in mind I ended up playing primarily for crit op. I figured if I had the advantage on two of three he would be forced to expose his operatives to try and make some moves. The plan worked perfectly!

Being a 3APL model makes a big difference in these type of Crit Ops as I can just pick up the objective and make them come and get it. Which also plays very well with tac ops like Dominate!

Once most of the elves had been slain or critically injured I pulled back from one hallway and ended up breaching to another denying any further Crit for the opponent.

Round 4: vs Canoptek Circle [Orb, Tomb World Map #2, 15/11]

With two wins down I had met my expectations for this event. However, after looking at the placings it was still a pretty close race so I wanted to give this my best shot. Lucky for me I got paired onto the same map I just played on! This layout was great for me and I already had a plan. Let’s re-run it!

The execution was great and I think my opponent was caught a little off guard here. I was using the sides to add pressure and then when they tried to move mid to flip the orb I could attack from multiple angles.

Once stationed, I planted my banner and stayed put. He did eventually get a few marines with the spiders but by then I already scored heavily for a couple rounds. It was too late!

What worked:

• Angels of Death proved they can compete at this level

• Using map layout to your advantage works wonders

• Remembered most of my ploys and re-roll mechanics!

• Bouncing back after the Fellgor loss showed mental resilience

What didn’t work:

• Scouting prep didn’t match reality - I practiced against teams that I didn’t actually play.

• Still had situations where I exposed operatives unnecessarily.

• Limited Fellgor experience was exposed badly

Prep vs Reality: My field analysis was mostly accurate - I correctly predicted Ratlings, Tempestus Aquilons (2nd and 3rd place), Fellgor (1st place), Mandrakes, and Wolf Scouts would show up. What I didn’t see: Stealth Suits, Blades of Khaine, or Kasrkin. But more importantly, I didn’t practice against any of the teams I actually faced, and none of my games were on the maps I studied.

This is the reality of competitive play - you can’t prepare for everything.

Looking Ahead: Cherokee Open (February 21st)

The real test comes in two weeks at the Cherokee Open in North Carolina. This tournament at Titan Games showed me I can compete at a high level, but it also exposed specific gaps I need to address.

Mainly:

• Getting more practice against unfamiliar teams

• Be more disciplined about unnecessary operative exposure

I’m incredibly proud of my finish at this tournament but fourth place stings a little still. I was so close to the podium! However, walking away with a 3-1 record against strong Midwest competition gives me confidence heading into the Golden Ticket hunt.

The Cherokee Open is in 13 days. Time to get back to work.

The holidays are long gone and war gaming is in full swing. There are quite a few big Kill Team events coming up for me this first quarter of the year and it all starts here in February.

Over the past month my local leagues and practice groups have been helpful in getting back to the swing of things and shaking off the rust. My first local tournament went well as I made the top 8 out of 27 players which felt pretty good.

This next event is going to be hosted here in Illinois, at Titan Games in Champaign, which just so happens to be centrally located for quite a few gaming groups here in the Midwest.

It will be a very good primer for more competitive players as they gear up for higher level competition at Adepticon. Unfortunately, I cannot make it this year but I do have quite a few other large events I’ll be playing in so this will be a great place to test my mettle and learn.

For those who do not know, I along with many others around the US will be going hunting for the coveted Games Workshop Golden Ticket for a chance to make it to the World Championships later in the year.

Which, I admit is a tall order for a newer player like myself. I’ve been playing for roughly eight months now but I’ve done well locally and feel like I can at least bring some decent competition.

Team Selection and Core Plan

I currently have four teams put together here at home and of those I’m most familiar with two of them:

The Angels of Death and Plague Marines from the starter box I first purchased getting into this game.

This past week I’ve done a flurry of testing with both teams to really digest their strengths and weaknesses and see how they stack up against what I feel the meta is going to be.

After extensive testing, I’m taking Angels of Death because they offer the flexibility I need against the expected field.

Tournament Preparation

I ran four intensive practice games this week testing both Plague Marines and Angels of Death against expected meta threats:

Plague Marines showed their limitations quickly. Testing against Deathwatch and Blades of Khaine revealed that while Contagion can be really strong defensively, there are too many meta teams that have access to ignore APL modifiers (Wolf Scouts, Stealth Suits, Angels of Death) mitigating their best defensive ploy.

There is also quite a bit of ignore obscuring and cover in the meta right now as well which also negates Cloud of Flies.

Lastly, the team’s slow speed is a vulnerability as it doesn’t allow you to maneuver effectively against most of these teams who all out position you.

Angels of Death performed much better in practice. Like Wolf Scouts they do have access to ignore APL stat changes and they have access to seek light with silent. They feel like a good stat check team against players and in the right hands can put up a decent fight against all of the upper tier teams.

Field Analysis

Overall, based on my local meta here in the Mid West, I’m expecting to see Wolf Scouts, Stealth Suits, Deathwatch, Mandrakes, Felgor Ravagers, Blades of Khaine, Multiple Ratlings players and Tempestus Aquilons. A few of the wildcards being Chaos Cult, Exaction Squad, Vespid and possibly even Kasrkin.

Map Analysis During Testing:

Tomb World map #1 - The objective on the open right side can be quite a death trap. Getting to the other one on the left is also tricky. You really have to fight and push for this one! Positioning can be tough. Take angles and cover where you can.

Bonus: The sealed off row like area with the teleporter is great for Planting Banner

Tomb World Map #4 - Personally, I really like this map. It’s good for flexible options on tac op specifically Plant Banner or Envoy. The teleport pads in this setup make it pretty easy to go unchecked if your opponent ignores the empty room.

Volkus map #2 - Volkus is a bit tougher. When you play against a team like BoK be careful because they have access to acrobatics and can move around the terrain freely. It’s also a 6” deploy zone making it easier for teams to get early charges off and route you!

Volkus map #6 - This map has a lot of nice open shooting lanes with good vantage spots. It’s also easy to maneuver around the edges of the board if your opponent gives you the opportunity.

Tac Op Analysis During Testing:

• Dominate really requires good positioning. If you position yourself poorly often you’ll lose those tokens as fast as you can earn them.

• Sometimes Envoy puts you in precarious spots.

• DO NOT Hot plasma shot with your Envoy! (yes, sadly I did this during testing)

• Always remember your tac op and the trigger to reveal it!

Team Specific Analysis During Testing:

• Don’t take smokes against teams like Deathwatch, Stealth Suits or Ratlings that have access to ignore obscuring and cover.

• Ratlings do not like to be pressured

• Ratlings have access to silent BUT if shooting a close target have to engage

• Do not let yourself get caught by Wrecka Krew. The extra points push hard and survivability chances lower immensely.

• BoK mask -1 to hit penalty applies only when they charge you

• BoK “hit and run” only applies if they crit

General Key Points to Remember:

• Stun effect happens when “retaining” a crit. No actually hit is necessary.

• Pre-parry, Just a scratch and Fight first are powerful! Be mindful of operative abilities!

• It’s ok to be the aggressor but it’s also ok to be patient

Predictions & Goals

This is going to be a really good group of players and I’m hoping to place within the top 8 again. A 3-1 win rate would feel like a huge win here especially with AoD but realistically I could see it being more like a 2-2 event. I’m only saying this because the matchups I’m anticipating are still tough for AoD to handle. What’s really going to make a difference is slowing down and remembering balance rolls, good purity seal usage and maintain good positioning.

Closing

Trying to study the meta against what I actually have access to at the moment has been interesting to say the least. I was talking to a friend of mine a few weeks ago and happened to mention that I feel it’s in a pretty good place. I also will have a quick hot take here saying I believe you could absolutely still take down a tournament with any b+ tier team. Especially if you are well versed with it!

Wish me luck and follow along for the tournament report to come! Take it easy!

Mission Briefing

The Campaign: Root Out the Corruption
Mission Type: Recon (600 points)
Agenda: Investigate Corruption
Location: Jakku - Remote Desert Outpost

Word has spread across the galaxy that corruption is growing among the Republic systems. The Separatist Alliance has been called upon to begin an investigation, starting with the remote desert planet of Jakku. General Grievous swiftly assembled a battalion of droid units led by Super Tactical Command Droid Commander Varnis and his second-in-command, Overseer Malvek.

The Talons of Grievous (Separatist Alliance - 600pts):

• Commander Varnis (Paragon) with ElectroStaff

• Overseer Malvek (Operative)

• 2x B1 Battle Droid Squads

• B2 Super Battle Droid Squad

• Droidekas

The Opposition (Galactic Empire - 600pts):

• Imperial Lieutenant

• 2x Stormtrooper Squad

• Dark Troopers (Elite)

• Riot Control Squad

• AT-ST Walker

Deployment & Early Moves

Transport ships landed upon the sandy plains of Jakku, and swaths of freshly assembled troops flooded toward two main points of interest. Commander Varnis divided his forces: three full units (B1s, B2s, and Droidekas) pushed the right flank, while he led Overseer Malvek and a B1 squad to secure the left objective.

The plan was sound. The execution... less so.

As soon as the right flank units had reached their destination they were ambushed by Imperial troops. Shots rained down upon them from Storm troopers, an AT-ST vehicle and a specialist unit of Dark troopers.

Right Flank: Disaster Strikes

Commander Varnis ordered the Droidekas forward to begin the counter-assault. They positioned too aggressively and were instantly vaporized by concentrated fire.

With the Droidekas gone, the AT-ST lumbered forward. Thinking quickly, my B1 unit blocked the pathway, preventing the vehicle’s advance while my B2 Super Battle Droids exchanged fire with the approaching Dark Troopers.

It wasn’t enough. The Separatist troops found themselves overwhelmed. One by one, units were wiped out holding the objective. My B2 Super Battle Droids were completely destroyed.

The right flank had collapsed.

Left Flank: The Commander’s Last Stand

On the other flank the Commander and his Overseer reached their destination and began advancing the Separatist agenda. While the Empire was planting beacons across the battlefield they spotted the Commander and charged him with a riot control squad, their finest melee fighters.

Commander Varnis took a couple hits from their weapons but stood fast. Raising his electro staff in retaliation he swung through the armor of the unit killing multiple troops leaving little left.

In the distance, Overseer Malvek saw the enemy leader beginning to move in to assist the troopers. He fired shot after shot at the Lieutenant but could not slow him down. It was too late! The Lieutenant, at full speed, charged weapon first into Commander Varnis severing him into a pile of robotic parts.

He had fallen!

Malvek’s Revenge

Overseer Malvek, now in command, processed what his optical sensors had just witnessed. Overcoming his standard programming, something unexpected occurred - a revenge protocol activated.

He released a precise, devastating blow that pierced the heart of the Lieutenant before ordering the retreat.

The Overseer returned back to headquarters with only a fraction of his forces and suffered a tremendous set back during the battle. It wasn’t all bad news though as the mission provided vital intel helping the Separatist Alliance grow closer to rooting out the source of corruption and restore balance to the Republic systems.

Campaign Consequences

Casualties & Setbacks

Destroyed: B2 Super Battle Droid Squad - completely removed from the register! All experience and potential, vaporized in one disastrous flank collapse.

Scrambled: Commander Varnis took major damage that required medical supplies to repair (-1 supply point).

Escaped: A unit of B1’s and a unit of Droidekas escaped any real setback but learned a valuable lesson (+1 Experience)

Experience Gained

Surviving units gained +1 experience from the battle. I also advanced my Investigate Corruption agenda twice during the game - though I didn’t realize at the time that this came with rewards I completely missed out on. Live and learn. Overseer Malvek was named as the most feared garnering +3 extra experience.

Special Recognition

My local store awards “medals” for campaign participation. I earned two this game:

• One for posting the narrative story

• One for fighting the battle

Small victories when your army got crushed.

Lessons Learned

What I Discovered:

Dark Troopers are terrifying. Armor makes them incredibly difficult to deal with, especially when you don’t understand the keywords and abilities available to counter them. After this game, I immediately went home and did research. Suddenly, abilities I’d read about before made sense in context.

Positioning matters more than I thought. Those Droidekas died because I pushed too aggressively without understanding their role, threat ranges and cover mechanics.

Tour of Duty makes losses hurt. In a pickup game, losing units is whatever. In a campaign? Watching my B2s get removed from the register entirely stung. Now I actually care about keeping units alive to gain experience.

I need to read the agenda rewards. Advancing the corruption investigation twice should have earned me something. Next time, I’ll actually know what I’m working toward.

Looking Ahead

One game down, and “The Talons of Grievous” are already bloodied. Overseer Malvek proved he’s more than just a command droid and I learned more in this single game than hours of reading rules could have taught me.

Next mission: Leverage what I learned about armor, positioning, unit abilities, and actually remember to claim my agenda rewards.

The campaign continues. The corruption investigation has only just begun.

Campaign Record: 0-1
Supply Points: 6 remaining
Next Battle: Coming soon...

First off I’d like to state for the record that I’m new to the Star Wars Legion universe. In fact, it was quite a nice surprise to open up a Separatist Starter Set from my secret Santa during my local gaming store’s Christmas party!

After marveling at the gift for a few minutes it was mentioned to me that the store was having an upcoming Tour of Duty league and entry was free because I have a newly acquired starter set. Of course, me being the table top plastic addict I am, immediately began to assemble, paint and research this newly found world!

What is Tour of Duty?

Star Wars Legion has actually been around for a while however the Tour of Duty portion is a fairly recent addition to this universe. It’s a fun twist on the game which allows you to take your army on a narrative story arc so you can take part in the growth of your characters and units as they live out these experiences. Essentially, much like a D&D character, your units gain experience to level up, earn new ranks with rewards and can even suffer setbacks along the way.

In the current edition of the handbook, there are a few different stories you can enact with each having it’s own set of agendas that you accomplish during the game. These are the side quests you are trying to complete during a game that plays into the main story.

The best part being you can grow at your own pace! Meaning you can play games at the points level you desire, upgrade by adding new models when you’re ready and can face off against any other Legion player not just another Tour of Duty opponent. You can even play through multiple story arcs if you wish! It’s also worth mentioning that all the rules and game necessities are available for FREE on the publisher’s website.

Gather the Force

Now that you have a quick low down on what Tour of Duty is let’s take a look at the structure and how to get started. First off, get yourself a team! I know that was probably pretty obvious but honestly the new starter boxes are a great affordable way to start. They come with literally everything you need to play a game of Legion. Dice, measurement tools, characters, cards and more.

One thing to look out for when it comes to Tour of Duty is that you aren’t allowed to run unique named characters (at least not initially). These includes models like Luke, Darth Vader, General Grievous, etc... Just keep that in mind when shopping so you can pick up a non-unique character such as a Rebel Officer or Jedi Knight General. You can find a full list of options via a quick Google AI search. These serve as your Commander or the “Paragon” for your new force and are the main character of your story!

For the Separatist army I ended up going with a Super Tactical Droid box which conveniently came with TWO models so I had gotten a Commander and an Operative (another special character) in one. Very convenient!

If you are not familiar with Star Wars Legion it’s ok. Similar to other table top games it has a points based list building aspect and there are some simple rules to follow when it comes to this.

Recon games are played at 600 points or less. Which is perfect for one of those starter boxes I mentioned earlier since most starters clock in around 500-600 points. Note that they are lower point games and as such have a bit of scaled down rules and play area (3’ x 3’ battlefield instead of 3’ x 6’). Standard play is 1,000 and can even go up to 2,000!

Use the points to add a mix of units and give them cool upgrades. Note that you have a limit on the types of units you can have meaning an “oops all tanks” list won’t be an option. For a list of unit types and caps you can take a look at the Recon rule book Points and Ranks section on page 3 or Ranks and Requirements section of the main rule book on page 16 for larger point games. Again available for free on the publisher’s website. These will be added to the “register” which we will cover next.

Bonus tip: List building tools like Table Top Admiral can help immensely. They also have a section specifically for tracking your Tour of Duty campaign.

Building the story

This is the secret sauce portion of the Tour of Duty campaign. It’s the point in which you can be a bit creative and begin your deep dive into the narrative.

Your Register: What Goes On It

When you create your register, you’ll:

• Choose a thematic name for your force (mine is “The Talons of Grievous”)

• Pick one of four cool story arcs to follow

• Track your units and their identities

• Record supply points earned from battles

As of this writing, there are four story arcs to choose from: “Bring Peace to the Galaxy”, “Liberate the System”, “Peacekeeping Mission”, and “Root Out the Corruption”.

You’ll find these in the Tour of Duty Cards document on the publisher’s website, complete with backstories, special in-game effects, the agendas for the different stories (with their rewards for each progression) and most importantly - the end game scenario for that story arc. The final mission, the big one, the pivotal moment you’ve been working towards!

Supply Points: Your Campaign Currency

Every battle earns you 2 supply points, with bonus points available if you win. You can spend these supply points on:

• Aid Requests - Unlock new upgrade slots on existing units

• Active Recruiting - Increase your points total to add new units

• Medical Supplies - Help recover from setbacks

• Strategic Assets - One-time special actions to get an upper hand on the battlefield.

Experience and Rank: Leveling Up Your Units

Your units also gain experience for their time spent in combat. New units start at 0 but they earn 1 each time they find themselves in the trenches. Then based on the events in the game and the outcome you have a chance at much more. For instance, at the end of the game if they were valiant at holding or contesting an objective they will earn 1 extra, if your opponent thought you had a tough unit that was still standing they can name a Feared Rival which will earn that specific unit 3 more experience.

As the experience levels up so does your units rank! Of course there is no greater honor than earning yourself a special commendation for doing so. These are much like upgrades except you don’t have to use your points. It’s incredibly satisfying watching basic units become hardened veterans.

Casualties and Setbacks: The Dark Side

Much like life there is always a yin and yang. In Star Wars Legion Tour of Duty these are called casualties and setbacks. Each time a unit is defeated and wiped off the battlefield you will have to roll dice to determine their fate.

Sometimes these can be minimal having you roll against the setback chart listed on page 8 of the Tour of Duty rulebook where you can be battle fatigued or shaken. However, there is a chance your unit gets destroyed completely becoming wiped off the register entirely! Yes, that means they lose all the experience, commendations, everything!

Note, if your general or “Paragon” eats dust he can never be officially removed which is cool BUT they do earn Defining Traits and even have a chance to earn narrative setbacks and traits which are listed near your story arc.

The good news is this will make you think a bit more before going rogue hero into a band of blade-toting Wookies!

Summary

If you’ve stuck with me this far I’m going to assume you found this pretty interesting and I’m not going to lie, it really is! I’m actually quite surprised at how fun this has been so far especially compared to a one and done game of Star Wars Legion.

It really promotes discovering cool new upgrades and abilities (finding that sweet combo), getting a feeling for your units as you put additions on, and celebrating those victories a bit more. I even find myself excited to come back and update my register sheets! My recommendation is to definitely give it a go. The investment of even just a starter box is pretty reasonable compared to other table top games as well.

Also, while you’re here take a minute to subscribe and follow along as I follow my story arc and “Root out the Corruption”! I’ll be posting all kinds of fun content from my battles with my army “The Talons of Grievous” which include battle reports, tactics, thoughts I had and reflections as to what I could have done better. Hey, I’ll even splash in a some narrative for the plot!