Hot on the heels of the brand new edition of Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team and the arrival of the Hivestorm box, comes a brand new Starter Set for those new to the game.

Our thanks to Games Workshop for sending us this box over to review and unbox for you folks! It is up for preorder right now, and you can save pennies VS RRP by preordering through our affiliates at Element Games (which gives us a little kick back too!).

Why Release a Starter Box?

Their is no doubt that the Hivestorm box is fantastic value. Two brand new Kill Teams, some amazing scenery and the full Core Rulebook.

However, whilst the Core Rulebook shows you how to play, it doesn’t really hold your hand and take you through the rules step by step. To help with this, GW are releasing this Starter Set, which is designed specifically for those that want to be taken through the rules and taught Kill Team step-by-step.

Unboxing and Contents

I’ve done a full unboxing of the Kill Team Starter Set, which can be watched below:

Contained within the box is the following:

• Space Marines / Angels of Death Kill Team (aka Strike Force Justerin, the blind box Space Marines which I actually had the pleasure of reviewing previously).
• Death Guard / Plague Marine Kill Team (Again, another original blind box release. Important to note that we never had the Plaguecaster mini in the blind boxes over here in the UK)
• Two Reference Sheets, one per Kill Team
• MDF Scenery (Yes, MDF scenery!)
• Rulebook
• Tokens (inc measurement ‘tokens’)
• Double-Side Game Board
• Dice

In short, everything you and your opponent needs to play a game of Kill Team, even down to the dice. This already is great, as sometimes you get Starter Sets which are so close to being completed all encompassing releases, aside from you may need to buy dice…or a tape measure, for example.

The Kill Teams

Their is no denying, the two Kill Teams in this box are made up of amazing, dynamic models, in particular the Death Guard marines.

Placing them both in this Starter Set is a great way of giving gamers a second chance of picking up the complete set of models. They are all push fit and really easy to assemble, and feature nice sculpted bases.

You can check out the sprues below:

I always liked the Plaguecaster model, so I’m really pleased we finally have it in the UK! (even if it’s in a starter box!).

MDF Scenery & Tokens

Before we take a closer look at what I would say is the most important part of the box, the rulebook, we need to have a closer look at the included scenery and tokens.

When I heard we were getting MDF scenery, I thought I’d stepped back in time. It has been an awfully long time since we have had any scenery from GW that wasn’t in plastic. I was a little sceptical, but I needn’t have been.

The scenery pushes out of a larger piece of MDF and slot together perfectly to create some ruins. They are high quality, printed with imagery to make them look like the plastic current ruins. Whilst they are clearly made from MDF, they work perfectly with the rules in the box and give you a great understanding of how buildings work within Kill Team. I would have probably like a two level piece of ruins, but appreciate that could be hard to do in MDF and would have added to the cost.

All the basic tokens you need to play Kill Team are included on the token sheet, and are the same design as those in Hivestorm. If you pick up both boxes you’ll have plenty of tokens for all scenarios, including 3-4 player games.

You do also get some paper wound tokens which you need to cut out. These can be used with something we are talking about next, two ‘booklets’, one for each Kill Team. Not a fan of paper tokens, especially ones as small as this, so would probably give these a miss.

Kill Team Reference Sheets

This is really boring…but I actually think the next bits I’m going to review are actually one of the best things in the box.

This Starter Set includes two booklets, one for each included Kill Team. These are really high quality, 4 page long books, that include all the datasheets for each member of your Kill Team. It also includes on the back page a quick reference for all the different available generic actions within game (AP) such as shooting, moving and charging.

I’m going to be bold here, and say I would much prefer these to the individual cards we currently get per Kill Team. They are really well presented, include all the information you need at a glance, and don’t need to flick through multiple cards or through pages of lore and other rules to get to the datacards. I’d take one of these along to a tournament in a heartbeat.

I will say that, as awesome as these reference sheets are, it does point out that the datacards for each Kill Team are different than the individual releases, so they are only useful for the purposes of playing through the Rulebook within this box, which is a massive shame, as I’d be tempted to take either of these to an event and bring along the pamphlet.

The Rulebook

The main component really in box is the Starter Rulebook.

This, in short, is the most comprehensive learn to play rulebook I’ve ever read. Honestly, the manner in which it is formatted and written is brilliant. Even though I have played Kill Team (albeit not as much as I would have liked) I’m going to run through this rulebook to ensure I’m not missing a trick and to ensure that I fully understand the rules.

For every mechanic that the book teaches you, this is then followed up by a scenario you can play with a friend, allowing you to test out what you have learnt so far. The book also contains clear instructions on how to build your marines, as well as the next steps for when you are ready to play ‘full’ games of Kill Team.

There isn’t a ton I can really add. Of course, once you have read and learnt the book, you won’t be needing to pick it back up again, but for those that want an easy to follow way of learning to play Kill Team then this is fantastic.

Summary

This box hits its brief perfectly. It is perfect for those wanting to learn how to play Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team.

It features EVERYTHING you need to learn to play Kill Team, even down to including dice and measurement tokens. All you need is a friend or family member to learn along with.

It had two fantastic, previously unavailable Kill Teams, a nice double sided game board and a full comprehensive rulebook, not to mention two incredibly handy reference sheets. Finally it has MDF scenery to keep the cost down, yet help you to understand the scenery rules.

The negative point is lifespan. Once you have learnt how to play Kill Team most of this box becomes redundant. You won’t need the book and you’ll probably not be wanting to mix the MDF scenery in with your normal scenery. However you do get two unique Kill Teams, an alternative game board and more tokens.

That being said, if you want to learn how to play Kill Team, then you cannot go wrong with this box really. It’s brilliant value (even more so if you manage to go halves with someone). As I put at the start of the summary, it hits its brief perfectly. If you already play Kill Team and are not bothered by the Marines or Death Guard, then give this a solid nod and walk away.

Our thanks to Games Workshop for sending us this box to unbox and review for you folks. Fancy one? Why not preorder through this link to Element Games, save yourself some money AND help us out!

Published by David Jennings

Born and raised in Crewe in Cheshire, Dave is a geek through and through. Enjoys designing and managing websites. View all posts by David Jennings