Can you hear that? That is the sound of silence. DEAD SILENCE.

Yes, it’s time for us to delve into the latest Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team expansion, and if you didn’t know by now it’s called Dead Silence.

This brand new expansion brings with it new campaign rules and also importantly two brand spanking new Kill Teams to play with. Firstly, we have Wolf Scouts, a much loved unit many Space Wolf fans were devasted to see weren’t in the recently released Codex. Secondly the T’au Empire have again been tinkering and now have some seriously kitted out Stealth Suits.

In this review we’ll be checking out both Kill Teams, as well as the new campaign rules nestled in the included Dossier.

Our thanks to Games Workshop for sending us a copy of Dead Silence to review for you lovely folk. Remember you can help us out and save yourself some cash by using one of our affiliate links and then placing an order with Element Games.

If you haven’t yet checked out our previous Kill Team review, you can do so right here.

Now let’s return… to the Tomb World…

Unboxing Dead Silence

We love a good unboxing video here at Sprues and Brews, and Dead Silence is no exception!

You can watch Matt and I unbox this expansion in the video below:

So, what’s in the box?

Firstly, you get two BRAND NEW Kill Teams. No upgrade sprues here. Speaking of, check out the sprues for both Kill Teams below!

You can view painted models from both Kill Teams shortly in this very article.

You also get the Dossier, the rulebook that contains all the rules and datasheets for both Kill Teams, as well as rules for running your own campaign,

New to Kill Team, this box also contains pads which allow you to track your progress through your campaign on hex-based maps, as well as a second pad which allows you to track your scores, locations, upgrades etc. These are brilliant additions to the game. You also of course get the cards for both Kill Teams and tokens.

The Dossier

Those two new Kill Teams need rules, and they are located within the Dossier.

Opening the book, we are graced with some stunning imagery in the bold palate that we are accustomed to with Kill Team, as well as the usual fancy shots of the Kill Teams decked out in ‘Eavy Metal paint schemes.

The book goes into great detail giving us background on both of the Kill Teams, as well as good overview of the factions they represent. Ideal for if you are new to either or both factions, but enough new content to also keep those who have been playing either army in the full fat version of 40k happy.

We move on to the two Kill Teams, starting with the X26 Stealth Battlesuit Operatives.

Kill Teams

XV26 Stealth Battlesuit Kill team

What Operatives do you require when playing Kill Team? Well…

• 1 x Shas’vre
• 1 x MV75 Marker Drone
• 1 x MV15 Gun Drone
• 4 Operatives drawn from Designator, Infiltrator, Liberator, Lodestar, Neutraliser.

You can only take one of the above, aside from Infiltrators. The only other major limitation is that you can only take up to two fusion blasters. In no shock, the two archetypes for this Kill Team are Recon and Infiltration.

Whilst we are used to each member of a Kill Team having a particular purpose and skillset, I think this particular Kill Team leans into that ethos more than others. Using this Kill Team will require patience, maximising the maeverability of the operatives and then unleashing the firepower of the Tau at the right moments.

To do the above you do have the helping hand of the Faction Rules.

Firstly, your ranged weapons all gain Accurate X, where X changes depending on where the enemy operative is in the game that you are wishing to shoot:

• If they are within 3” of your territory, then X means 1
• If they are within your territory, X becomes 2
• Finally, should the enemy operative be within 3” of your drop zone, then X kicks up to 3.

This makes Stealth Teams really good at defending their own territory.

The best Faction rule, however, is the second faction rule they have access too, and this one is super thematic. Stealth Fields grant two huge bonuses to your operatives. Should your operative be Concealed, then they cannot be seen unless an enemy operative is within 3” (book clearly states that this rule takes precedence over any other rule) and it allows you to fall back for one less APL.  I love this rule.

The Strategy and Firefight Ploys further play into the strengths of the Kill Team, aiding you with movement and shooting. Patient Hunter, for example, grants a Stealth Battlesuit Saturate and Balanced weapon rules should they target a expended enemy operative whilst Ghostshroud allows you to pick a friendly operative with the Engaged counter and change it to Conceal (making them disappear like a spooky ghost).

The datasheets look A LOT of fun, with loads of weapon profiles and very unique abilities.

I’ve picked out a couple of cool examples below, but remember you can always check out our unboxing video towards the top of the article for a full runthrough of the book:

• XV26 Designator: Has the Markerlight ability, which allows him to mark enemy operatives, granting other friendly operatives the Severe weapon rule.
• XV26 Liberator: Has access to grenades which doesn’t limit the amount of uses you make of grenades. Also has access to an EMP Bomb.
• XV26 Lodestar: This suit gives you a defensive ability with his Electrochaff Launcher (can grant obscured and ignore Piercing).

One key fact, which will come as no surpraise to anyone who has played with / against or even spectated Tau in 40k is that they don’t have a close combat operative, and they really struggle to put up a fight in melee, so in short, keep them out of combat wherever possible.

As mentioned previously, if you want a Kill Team who love being stealthy and popping people off at range, then this could well be the Kill Team for you. They are fairly sturdy too, and in the hands of the right player, these could be quite the potent force. In my opinion I also think these could suit those newer to the game.

Wolf Scouts Kill Team

The second Kill Team in the box are the Wolf Scouts hailing from the Space Wolves.

Codex Space Wolves was one of the last books we got, and it led to a few people speculating on whether or not Wolf Scouts were gone completely, although they do get a shout out in the book.

Those who guessed that we’d likely see them return as a Kill Team were in fact on the money, as here they are!

Leaning into the Phobos look, these Astartes give up a little bit of the sturdiness we’ve seen so far from Adeptus Astartes Kill Teams, such as the Deathwatch, and instead grant more pure combat killing power. Whilst they aren’t the most potent close combat Kill Team, they sure know how to scuffle, and with one or two of the operatives, they have some firepower to back it up at range.

Unlike a number of Kill Teams, you don’t have to take a leader. Yes, there is a Pack Leader operative, so narratively you’d probably want to pick him, however you don’t have too. To further tempt you to skip him it’s well worth pointing out that the model itself can either be built as the Pack Leader or a Frosteye operative, who in my opinion is the better datasheet and pose. This decision alone makes me want to pick up a box when they are released separately so that I have the choice of both.

So what options is there when building your Kill Team? Well:

• You must take a Fenrisian Wolf
• You can then take 5 operatives from the list of operatives in the book. Pack Leader, Fangbearer, Frosteye, Gunner, Trapmaster, Rune Priest and Hunter.

The Hunter operative is the only operative who can be picked multiple times. Again, unsurprisingly they have the Recon and Search & Destroy archetypes.

Hunting Astartes is the name of the first Faction rules, and its super similar to the ‘normal’ Astartes rule. It basically grants you two Shoot or Fight actions, however it does give the caveat that 1 additional APL must be spend if firing a second plasma gun or pistol, and it also states you cannot use 2 Psychic powers.

The second Faction rule is the most important one for the purposes of how this Kill Team gets the job done. It’s called Elemental Storm, and it in effect is a moveable storm maker that grants any of your units within 6” of the marker the STORM keyword. This comes up quite a bit across the datasheets, as your operatives will get some sort of benefit or additional ability when in range of said storm.

Even without the individual rules on the datasheet the storm does grant one very good benefit, in that any Wolf Scout within the storm with the Conceal token can still Charge. Tasty.

Again, we have some good, fluffy and fairly powerful ploys to employ during your games, A couple of examples include Touched by Lokyar which can be used on a Wolf Scout who is fighting more than 5” away from any other Wolf Scout, allowing you to reroll your attack dice. Savage Fighters on the other hand you can use once you have finished fighting, should an enemy operative still be standing you can then inflict an additional D3+1 damage to it, hopefully finishing it off.

You only get 5 operatives in a game of Kill Team, so you need to thing carefully on who you’ll bring to the fight. Every Wolf Scout datasheet has its benefits, including…

• Fangbearer: In essence this guy is your Apothecary, allowing you to patch up your operatives. For 1AP he can restore D3+3 wounds to a wounded compatriot.
• Frosteye: This guy is really cool, and is your best marksmen available. For an AP he can choose to give his Instigator Bolt Rifle either Severe or Saturate.
• Rune Priest: For an AP your Rune Priest can Call the Storm which either allows you to move your Storm marker or you can use it to grant a Wolf Scout obscured (so long as they are within your storm maker)

Campaign Rules | Ctesiphus Expedition

I can’t lie, this next bit is really good. I would go as far as saying what follows is exactly what Kill Team was missing.

The Ctepsiphus Expedition is the name of the campaign you can run with this book. This in short is a hex-based map powered campaign that allows you to play games using both your Volkus and Tomb World scenery.

To aid with this campaign the box includes a pad with a number of hex maps (theres a few different ones, with the ones with fewer hexes for smaller campaigns, and ones with more hexes for a longer campaign, or one with more players) for marking territory, etc and another which allows you to track your progress through the campaign.

This is the first time in Kill Team (that I can remember) that we get some physical pads to help run a campaign, and whilst they are very simply designed (they really aren’t that flashy) they do the job they need to do perfectly. It more than makes up for the fact that we don’t get any scenery in this box.

The campaign is made up of a series of rounds, which culminates in the Threat Level of the campaign raising by 1. The book recommends, for a standard size Kill Team campaign, to play until you hit Threat level 7 (so 7 Campaign Rounds). If you feel your campaigns are going too quickly, then just increase the Threat level.

So how is the round made up? I’m glad you asked:

• Movement Phase: The first thing you need to do in the round is move your Kill Team on the hex map. You can move a maximum of 3 hexes HOWEVER for each hex you move you lose a Supply Point. You cannot move across Blocked Hexes. You can also, of course, decide to stay exactly where you are.
• Battle Phase: You and your opponent throw down in a game of Kill Team. If you are battling a Kill Team that you are sharing a hex with, then you must use the hexes rules. If you are battling a Kill Team in a different hex, then you use the hexes rules that the Kill Team who doesn’t have initiative are currently stood in. More on hex rules shortly.
• Action Phase: Following your battle, you then take it in turns (starting with the players who won there games in the Battle phase) to spend Supply Points to do one of a number of actions, including Scout (explore an unexplored hex), Encamp (you set up a base camp, which has its own rules) and Demolish (take out an enemy base camp).
• Threat Phase: During this phase you action any location special rules you’ve unlocked, before finally rounding out the turn by raising the Threat level by 1.

Now, you could just have a winner of the campaign come the end of it, based on points etc, however the book encourages over Objectives that could be achieved come the end of the campaign such as Warlord (scoring the most campaign points), Pioneer (most Supply Points), Explorer (most hexes explored) and Trooper (for most games played).

The book then goes on to explain how to run a solo/cooperative game, as the rules of the campaign adjust slightly to reflect the fact you are placing against NPOs. I personally love the fact they’ve done this, and the fact that they continue to push solo content. I keep saying it, but I am determined to run my own solo campaign one day very very soon (potentially for our YouTube channel).

 I’ve mentioned a few times in the past few paragraphs about hex/location rules. What follows in the book is pages and pages of different effects that could happen on your explored hexes. This is split into two sections. One for hexes that are on the Surface and the second for those hexes underground. These vary a lot, with lots of different abilities. These include:

• Tectonic Fissure: Tile becomes blocked
• Cryovolcanic Edifaces: Allows you to spend 1-2 supply points to search and potentially gain supply or campaign points…or of course…nothing.
• Forsaken Fortress: If you Encamp on this hex then you can make this hex your main base, gaining you a campaign point. It also allows you to search your hex and gain D3 supply points
• Doomsday Vault: Costs D3 supply points, but allows you to do a Demolish campaign action at no cost, which then also makes said hex blocked and you gain a Campaign point.

Finally, the book finishes up with large, coloured hex maps for you to photocopy and print. This is great, just in case you finish the pad that is included in the box, or should you just wish to have a larger hex map.

Summary

When the box was announced, I was a little disappointed that the box contained no new terrain, although the two new Kill Teams, which are completely brand-new kits, are really cool.

It’s great to see Wolf Scouts back, and even better that the older Stealth Suit kit is getting a nice update. The datasheets are fantastic too, and combined with the faction rules, ploys and equipment it grants you a very fun Kill Team that more than suits the factions they come from.

Both Kill Teams, with the accompanying cards and tokens, are probably enough for most people to snap up this box, but don’t be thinking that’s where the box peaks.

Whilst the book does not contain any new missions, you do instead get a really well written and planned out set of campaign rules which takes full advantage of both Kill Zones (Volkus and Tomb World). Add to this the support for solo/coop play, and I think there is a lot of fun to be had here.

But the best bit about the campaign is that they have included the pads to track your progress, both points wise and position wise across the playable map.

All in all, it’s a great expansion to this current edition of Kill Team, and it has me very excited on the future of the expansions as we edge ever closer to the already leaked and now revealed box with the brand new Nightbringer.

Our thanks again to Games Workshop for sending us a copy of Dead Silence to unbox and review.

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