Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team is without a doubt a trendsetter. The skirmish miniatures game, played with just a handful of thematic figures in a stark landscape no bigger than your kitchen table, has inspired a cavalcade of competitors in recent years. But for the most part, these roughly $200 box sets have remained out of the price range of many potential consumers. That high barrier to entry ends this weekend with some great news Starter set which goes on sale on November 9th. The price? Only $112.
If you’ve been looking for a way to get into the 40K hobby, this is the new best place to start.
The main sights of Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Starter Set are the 14 miniatures that come in the box. These are not vulnerable Imperial Guard, small Tau, or Imperial Navy two-bit fighters. No, in this box you get seven Space Marines and seven Plague Marines, all with different looks. And not just standard Marines, mind you. These are sculptures that were previously only available as collectors’ items abroad.
Best of all, you don’t even need glue or even a craft knife to put them together. Just remove them from the frames by hand, slap them together and get started. It’s about the easiest way I’ve seen yet to get a viable fighting force onto the tabletop.
The box set’s documentation supports that mission as well, with a lengthy tutorial showing people playing with the same unpainted miniatures. It’s not until the very last few pages that the guide delves into painting, and there it’s mostly just a starting point. This box is all about the gameplay, and that is a welcome change.
Even the terrain in this set is impressive. Instead of hard plastic, it’s made from a very sturdy medium-density fiberboard (MDF), a strong, stiff type of wood. It’s not the traditional plastic terrain that usually comes with it Dead team sets, but it’s an excellent compromise that helps keep the price down. While it is slightly more environmentally friendly than plastic, its real value comes from its graphic design. These aren’t artists’ versions of what the Games Workshop terrain should look like, but actual high-resolution photography of professionally painted terrain. As you upgrade your setup over time, these pieces will continue to hold their value and are much less likely to fall apart than cardboard or paper alternatives.
The only downside here is that this set does not come with the full version of the rules. You get all the necessary tokens and counters, plus two fold-out cheat sheets to keep track of your units and their skills as you play, but to enjoy the full version of the game you’ll need a Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team core book. But honestly, between putting it together, learning the basics, and starting to paint your new collection of Space Bois, you’ll get more than enough value right out of the box.
If you’re shopping for the holidays, or want to buy a box with a friend or two, make sure you consider some basic art supplies to boost that value. Basically everything you need is here And A video tutorial straight from Games Workshop itself.