Creating a Kill Team for the 2021 version of the game

 

A while back I told my son about an idea I had for an Imperial Guard regiment based on the British Natal Native Contingent from the Zulu Wars using Praetorian officers and Tallarn troops. I used to have the Praetorian boxed set as a start to making this force, but circumstances forced me to sell it many, many years ago.

Limited edition Praetorian XXIV boxed set from Games Workshop.

My son, Lucas, remembered that and for Christmas this year got me some figures from Victoria Miniatures to make a Kill Team based on that concept. (I cannot tell you how moved I was by his gift - that he would remember something like that and act on it was very thoughtful!) Victoria Miniatures is an Australian company, but they now have a US-based distributor and they make “not” GW Imperial Guard units. Lucas got me a squad of the “Desert Scorpions” (not-Tallarn), and one of their character figures  - a Praetorian officer based on Michael Caine's character from the movie "Zulu."

Since the release of the Octarius boxed set for Kill Team included rules for a Veteran Guardsman team, with more options and detail than a standard Imperial Guard team, I decided to build them as a Veteran Guardsman squad. This meant digging into my bits box and planning out exactly how I was going to assemble the figures, since many of them would need to be non-standard infantrymen.

In the end, I ordered a few more figures from Victoria Miniatures to fill out the roster and have a complete Veteran Guardsman Kill Team with all the options. I ordered the Desert Scorpions Heavy Weapon Crew, as well as the Colonel Ash Ironside character figure.

The Victoria figures are great quality, consisting of resin castings and 3d printed components. Once I had planned out my builds, I was able to assemble them without any issues at all.

My Kill Team consists of:

• Sgt. Mika Bromhead (Sergeant Veteran)

• Cpl. Heydar (Confidant Veteran)

• Lahab (Veteran Gunner with a meltagun)

• Harun (Veteran Gunner with a plasma gun)

• Kanballah (Veteran Gunner with a grenade launcher)

• Nureddin (Veteran Gunner with a flamer)

• Dhamar (Sniper Veteran)

• Asim (Medic Veteran)

• Raja (Comms Veteran)

• Atallah (Spotter Veteran)
  

• Haddim (Demolition Veteran)

• Fathi (Hardened Veteran)

• Al-Qadir (Bruiser Veteran)

• Mustahim (Zealot Veteran)

• Ameen (Trooper Veteran)

• Boutros (Trooper Veteran)

• Zahir (Trooper Veteran)

• Farid (Trooper Veteran)

Sgt. Bromhead was assembled as per the instructions, as were the four trooper veterans and the four gunners.

When looking at the stats for the Confidant Veteran, I could not make up my mind whether to arm him with a pistol and chainsword, or with a boltgun. Fortunately, I did not need to choose. The Desert Scorpions set comes with 10 sets of legs, but 12 torsos. This let me build two torsos for Cpl. Heydar, and magnetize them so I can easily swap him out between both weapons options.

This still left one extra torso, which was very handy since the Heavy Weapons crew set has six torsos and seven sets of legs. Between both sets this let me build an extra figure (in this case, the sniper Dhamar).

I did not use the backpacks that came with the Desert Scorpions, since in my opinion the canteens and daggers are plenty. This left me with many left over, which I used to build my specialists. Since they have a small antenna, I felt the backpack could easily represent a vox-unit, so I used one on Raja (the comms veteran). By removing the antenna, the packs can easily work as medikits, especially if I paint them white and put a red cross on them. This took care of Asim, the medic.

The Heavy Weapons crew comes with a hand holding a detonator, and a hand holding binoculars. This made easy work of the spotter and demolition veterans.

The last three were the most fun, and the required the most thought. I was able to find a hand, and an open book, among my bits and used them to build an arm for Mustahim, the zealot, quoting from holy scripture as he wades into battle. I took the bionic arm from the Ash Ironside figure and gave it to Fathi, the hardened veteran. I used a brutal club that looked like it would work to clear trenches in hand-to-hand combat forAl-Qadir, the bruiser. I also gave him the shotgun arm from Ash Ironside (even though it does not have specific rules in the game, I felt it would be another likely weapon for clearing trenches and made the figure look even more brutal).

I have written up a bit of background for them which I will share in a future post. All that is left to do now is paint them, which for me is always a challenge...

'Til next time!

It's back from the dead! Again!

Wow! Nearly four year since I last posted on my blog...

I bet you thought the blog was dead and buried, or maybe I was. Well, the past four years have been quite difficult, but I am still here and looking to get back to some of the things I love, such as gaming and talking about gaming.

Since the last post there has been a lot that happened, globally (the pandemic, of course) and in my personal life. Lots of ups and many downs, financially and emotionally. I was able to do some gaming and quite a bit of photographic train chasing, but that detracted from my search for work and caused me greater difficulties. After getting my priorities back in order, I am again gainfully employed. I started just over three years ago unloading trucks and stocking shelves and was quickly promoted to supervisor and then assistant manager. The long hours and hard physical work of my current management position at the world's largest retailer takes almost all the energy and enthusiasm I have. That leaves very little for my limited spare time. However, it is that very situation that I think makes it such a priority for me to use that spare time to its fullest!

The stress and anxiety of my job, especially during the past three to four months of the world's second Covid-Christmas season, has caused me much emotional, mental and physical stress. I have lost over 50 pounds in the last three years - 15 of those coming in the past three months. I now weigh what I weighed in college - 36 years ago! But, enough about my problems - this is not that type of blog. Maybe one day I will explore those issues, but for now, let's talk gaming!

Besides my need for a creative outlet in my time off work and my love of gaming and modeling in general, what has spurred this resurrection of Plastic Pirates? Well, in August of last year Games Workshop released a new version of Kill Team - their skirmish combat game set in the universe of Warhammer 40,000. If you have followed this blog and/or know me, you know that I am a sucker for skirmish games. With my anemic painting output, completing a large army for a game is something I am very seldom able to accomplish. But, if you only need five to fifteen models for a complete force, that should be doable, right? (We shall see, that may be too ambitious for me!)

The first release was the Octarius boxed set. This included the rules, the terrain and two sets of brand new plastic miniatures - the Death Korps of Krieg (a human Imperial Guard unit with design features reminiscent of World War I German and French troops) and the Ork Kommandos (a funky unit of greenskins borrowing inspiration from many sources as to what special forces look like).

Octarius Boxed Set

Death Korps of Krieg

Ork Kommandos

I didn't immediately get the box, due to budget considerations at the time, and because I wanted to see how well Games Workshop would support the game going forward. Despite grand announcements of a bright future for the game, GW has a somewhat spotty track record when it comes to abandoning games they no longer wish to support.

Well, in September the second boxed set was released, this one called Chalnath. It featured two sets of figures as well as some more terrific terrain. This time it was the Tau (basically alien Socialists) and a squad of Sisters of Battle Novitiates. Sisters of Battle (known as the Adepta Sororitas in the false Latin called High Gothic) are basically nuns in battle armor with big guns and swords. The Novitiates are the nuns in training.

Chalnath Boxed Set

Sisters of Battle Novitiates

Tau Pathfinders

My son Lucas and I decided that it would be a good time to get into this game, due mainly to two reasons:

The first is, again, the scale of the game (small forces playing on a smaller board - 22" x 30" - so no need for a huge armies and a massive 4' x 6' board filled with terrain).

The second, and most important in my mind, is the opportunity the game gives to create unique squads with interesting backgrounds, histories and narratives set in the wider Warhammer 40,000 universe. I enjoy converting and building, whether it is terrain or figures. The small squad size of the Kill Team units makes it possible for me to be creative without needing to convert huge armies.

So we took the plunge and got Chalnath between the two of us. Lucas would take the Sisters, and I would sell the Tau and start on a different Kill Team for myself. Going forward I intend to share my progress (I already have ideas for five or six, at least, different Kill Teams I want to build) more regularly, but we all know about intentions paving a road that leads to a hot place. We'll see what the future holds, but I am hopeful that this new year will bring blessings and good things - and more opportunities for time spent with family, gaming and friends.

God bless you all.

'Til next time! (Hopefully less than four years!)