Kill Team ressurgance?

Remember Kill Team? I do. Well, I remember it having two different incarnations: the original followed by the Battle Missions supplement. It's a pretty cool idea, a small team of specialists trying to outmanoeuvre their opponent, kind of the plot of a lot of films.

outmanoeuvre in the loosest sense

Is Kill Team any good now?

I hadn't had much to do with Kill Team really. I never owned the Battle Missions book so was never sure enough on the rules to give it a shot. Of course, the original rules were accessible so there was always that possibility. Usually, it's easier to set up a standard battle, at least in the case of the amount of terrain you need.

I used to hear a lot about how much Kill Team was loved. This was pre battle missions, I remember that book dropping and there being a great cry of how the mission was ruined. Forever.

But why...?

And that's the question I'd like to pitch. But Why?

Why did this ruin Kill Team?

Did this ruin Kill Team?

Well, it changed the mission. There's no doubt about that. This time no-one plays the patrols of enemy troops. There's no activation risk, no need to be quiet for risk of drawing down the horde of enemies. No special bonus upgrades to add flavour to your team. Instead, you pitch your own special team against an opponents. This way both people get to bring their own characters, their own personal hit squad. No nameless grunts this time. It's a different game. It's a different kettle of fish.

So why am I thinking about this? Well GW has been pretty excited about their new tournaments recently. Particularly their Kill Team ones. This tournament pack details the rules of Kill Team along with a mission (an objective based one). So I've given it a try. It's pretty fun. The half an hour limit is a good way of adding urgency to your turns and keeps the games short and sweet, you can pack a lot of them in. So with 200pts of 0-1 elites/fast attack/heavy support and 0-2 troops to play with there's a fair amount of choice. It's also very easy to set up and get going. You need few models, and not too much time to draw up multiple teams. What with the specialists rule giving squad members special rules to use there's also a lot of options contained there as well. It's fast, it's easy, it's varied. I've enjoyed it. How about you? Have you given it a shot?

Why has this popped up in tournaments if it's so much 'disliked'? Is it in fact more popular than I've been led to believe? I'd hope so. I bet with little thought you could adapt it to be similar to what it was. Could this lead to the rise of Kill Team?