KILL-TEAMS
by Phil Kelly

Greetings citizens and welcome to Chapter Approved. This month Lexmechanic Kelly has devoted his waking hours to the investigation of commando tactics in the 41st millennium, and has wrought an experimental simulation of some cunning missions that involve just one squad of highly disciplined soldiers against the numerous, but often inefficient, soldiers of the enemy. This month the first half of his efforts are exposed to the galaxy, with their conclusion to follow. Should you need to destroy an enemy command cogitator, capture a governess or assassinate an alien leader, this treatise on covert operations should prove invaluable.

Phil: The notion of this small-scale game is based on those movies we all know and love where a crack team of experts (or desperadoes trained by a single-minded double-hard drill instructor) go in and triumph against all the odds. We're all familiar with this formula due to good old Uncle Hollywood and Ihe countless films that cover these themes: The Magnificent Seven, Aliens, The Guns of Navarone, The Dirty Dozen. Where Eagles Dare, Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars, Return of the Jedi, Kelly's Heroes... the lis! goes on. The veterans amongst you will have spotted that this concept borrows heavily from Gav Thorpe's Last Chancers (the hard-bitten Colonel Schaeffer and his recruits from the Imperial Guard Penal Legions - more on these chaps elsewhere in this issue), but extends it into a games system for all races rather than just focusing on the Imperial Guard. In this way Kill-team can feature a team of Ork Kommandos sneaking into a Necron tomb complex, a pack of Kroot meres using cover of night to 'liberate' a priceless Dark Eldar artefact from its twisted shrine, or a squad of Space Marine Scouts avoiding patrolling gun drones on (heir mission to assassinate a Tau Ethereal. Odds on you'll have enough models in your collection to assemble at least one Kill-team, and the necessary forces you'll need to be the bad guys when it's your opponent's turn to be the desperadoes. Kill-team is best thought of as small-scale, objective-based Warhammer 40,000. and is playable in an hour or less. If you've had a chance to try the '40K in 40 minutes' system published back in WD 274, this is about the same level of simplicity and is easily playable during lunch, after hours or over a couple of drinks. You'll need around ten models to play the good guys, although this varies slightly from race to race. The opponents, being grunts as opposed to elite commandos, will have more: these are almost always the basic troop type for that race. So you'll find that if you regularly play a friend with Tyranids, you'll likely be infiltrating your way through patrols of Gaunts to dump a melta bomb in the central spore chimney, and so on. Another area of the game that makes Kill-team appealing to veteran players is that it offers the possibility for your Kill-team to advance in skill. Unlike Mordheim, Path to Glory andNecromunda this will generally be squad-level ralher than individuals gaining experience. In this way Kill-teams evolve and grow as you send them on different missions, but you won`t have to shed any tears if half the squad gets wiped out during the mission (and they will...).

Sayig that, players should make every effort to personalise their Kill-team, converting them to carry trophies or special gear and keeping tracks ol who kills the most bad guys. A Stetson or cigar (or squig and Iron Gob etc) here and there can really get across the feeling of a gang of desperate but hardcore soldiers. You might even want to give them names, especially your Kill-team's leader, who will generally be kicking the most alien butt. You can complete the missions without Sarge, but it`s an awful lot trickier. This month we'll cover the basic rules and throw a few ideas into the pot for creative players to get Started. Next month we'll look at a few advanced missions, elite Kill-teams, some cool wargear (silencers, las-traps and so forth) and rules for Boss Goons. For now, though, let's take a look at the basic rules.

Setup

• The good guys (protagonists) face off against the bad guys (antagonists) on a 4' by 4' table. The antagonist sets up the terrain, it's his territory after all. This should ideally feature a large and impressive scenery piece as the central objective.
• Mark a point (the central objective) that the Kill-team needs to reach in order to fulfil its mission (see 'Objectives', below); this should really be in the cenire of the table or at least nearby, but you'll find the scenery piece will usually dictate this. It should also be elevated if possible so that bad guys can fall to their deaths onto spiked railings, into pools of radioactive waste etc. All good clean fun.
• The protagonist begins the game with one Kill-team (basic or elite, but for this month we'll stick to basic teams), which will usually include a Sergeant of some sort. The number of operatives varies for each race depending on how capable they are; for instance a Kroot Carnivore Kill-team would have 14 members, whereas a Kill-team comprising of Necron Flayed Ones would only number 8.
• The antagonist begins the game with a varying number of models. He may choose which race he fields. See the Kill-team Numbers table later in this article for more details.
• The antagonist sets up his models in groups of 3 anywhere within 12" of the objective. Each of these groups is called a goon squad. No goon squad can be deployed within 6" of any other. All goon squads start the game deactivated (more on this later).

Playing Kill-team

• The protagonist may choose which table edge his Kill-team deploy from. They enter play from that table edge.
• The protagonist gets first turn and may act as normal, retaining unit coherency.
• The protagonist must reach the objective by any means necessary and fulfil a criteria determined by mission to achieve a victory (a Kill-team playing a Sabotage mission, for instance, is automatically equipped with melta bombs and must successfully destroy an AV14 objective). These criteria can be taken from 'objectives' below or be agreed upon between the players. The antagonist must destroy the entire Kill-team to achieve a victory. All olher considerations are irrelevant.
• The antagonist may activate or deactivate up to D6 goon squads at the beginning of each turn. Only activated goon squads can move (you might wanl to place a coloured dice or token by activated goon squads). Bear in mind that although activated goon squads can move, they won't necessarily move in the direction the antagonist wants. It is often advisable to leave the goon squads nearest the objective deactivated (and therefore static) for the first few turns so they don't wander off and leave the Kill-team a clear run at their objective. Deactivated squads remain in place, no doubt swapping stories about the girls/she-fungi/tenladed brood-beasts back home.
• In the Movement phase of the antagonist's turn, each activated goon squad moves as if it were a single sentry. That means that during the antagonist's Movement phase, each player rolls a dice (the control roll) for each goon squad in turn: the player that scores highest moves the members of the goon squad that many inches in the direction of his choice. This dice roll is modified by the number of klaxon counters the antagonist has accrued (see below). Goon squads can never move more than 6" regardless of their special rules (fleet of foot for example) due to the fact they are moving with caution, and may never move off the table. See Diagram 1 for an example.
• If the result of the control roll is a draw (taking into account any modifiers for klaxon counters etc) the antagonist player moves the squad that number of inches, as even the thickest henchman has a brain and will act sensibly more often than not.
• Each time a goon squad (activated or deactivated) comes within spotting range (its Initiative value plus the number of klaxon counters accrued) of the Kill-team for any reason (even enemy assaults) it has spotted the intruders and becomes aware, and may act as normal: moving, shooting, and assaulting under the antagonist's control for the rest of the game. Whenever a goon squad becomes aware, for whatever reason, add a klaxon counter lo the antagonist's store. They may not accrue further counters. It really doesn't matter what you use for klaxon counters, but keep those you have accrued in a separate pile. Note that you get one klaxon counter per squad, not per model. Also add a klaxon counter whenever the Kill-team shoots.


• Each klaxon counter accrued in this way adds +1 to the dice roll for controlling each goon squad and +1 to the basic spotting distance value determined by the goon squad's Initiative (note that it is the number of klaxon counters accrued at the beginning of that turn that is taken into account). In this way, as the alarm is raised, goon squads will quickly move to reinforce their brethren. A goon squad cannot accrue more than one klaxon counter per phase.

Example: The protagonist has his Kroot Kill-team near their goal, an unexploded bomb, but has had to stealthily dispatch an Imperial Guard goon squad on his way. The players roll to see who controls each activated goon squad. For the goon squad nearest the Kill-team, both players get lucky and roll a 6, and because the antagonist has a klaxon counter his total is raised to 7. The antagonist wins control and moves the goons 6" (the maximum) directly toward the Kill-team. Members of the goon squad are now 4" away (the Guardsman goon's Initiative of 3 plus one (or a klaxon counter accrued earlier in the game) and have therefore spotted the Kill-team. Ahoya! Another klaxon counter is added to the antagonist's store, and although he will only have his +1 to his control rolls and spotting range until the beginning of next turn, he will have +2 next turn and can now shoot and assault with Ihe goon squad in spotting range, because it has become aware. Who knows, he may even kill a couple of the protagonist's precious operatives or delay them until next turn when the rest of the goons, adding +2 to their control rolls and therefore travelling faster, race towards the scene...

• Kill-teams are fearless and hence will automatically pass their Ld tests, whilst goon squads test on their unmodified Leadership for all Morale tests, including regrouping. All other considerations for such tests are ignored (All On Your Own tests, enemy within 6", Drone leadership etc).
• Kill-teams roll for Difficult Terrain as normal, whereas goon squads ignore difficult terrain altogether: it's their territory and they know their way around pretty well.
• Kill-teams may only consolidate after combat; their mission is too important for them to go haring off after bad guys.
• Goon squads will fall back toward the nearest table edge or toward the objective, depending on which is nearest. They will automatically rally if they reach the objective and may act as normal from their next turn. Fleeing goon squads cannot accrue klaxon counters.
• There is no turn length, play until the Kill-team is dead or the objective is met. Then swap sides and let the other guy play the Kill-team- he can choose a different race if desired.

To play a game of Kill-team, follow these simple steps:

The first step is to choose your forces. Use the tables below to find out how many models you will need for the protagonist and antagonist to play the missions. For instance, if you play Tau and your buddy plays Tyranids, you will need a Kill-team of 14 Kroot and your friend will need 9 3-strong goon squads of Termagants. Of course, you might end up using different models to represent the goon squads, but seeing as all goons are identical you don't need to worry too much. Kill-teams will have a single special weapon, or none at all. There are some other guidelines to bear in mind when using a Kill-team:

• Each Kill-team is equipped with frag grenade equivalents (even Kroot, Flayed Ones and Genestealers -they are infiltrating defended positions after all). This is above and beyond the normal rules for that troop type. One more time: all Kill-teams count as having frag grenades.
• Kill-teams without special weapons or Sergeants are more numerous to make up for the deficit in funky wargear. All basic Kill-teams are roughly the same points cost.
• Elite Kill-teams (for instance, 5 Tau XV Stealth Suits instead of 14 Kroot warriors) can be personalised, but we'll talk more about that next month.

The next step is to choose a basic mission, either mutually agreed upon or randomly determined, from the list below. Alternatively, make your own up and go for it. Some are more difficult to win than others, so you might want to start with a simple Sabotage mission and work up to the trickier ones.

Mission 1
SABOTAGE

The Kill-team must infiltrate the enemy position and destroy an object of utmost importance to their overall battle plan.

Sabotaging Kill-teams count as being equipped with melta bombs in addition to their usual equipment. The central objective, which can be represented by a pile of crates, a cogitator bank and so forth, must be destroyed in order for the Kill-team to win. The central objective counts as an immobile AV 14 vehicle that ignores glancing hits but is destroyed by any penetrating hits. You might like to increase the difficulty of the Sabotage mission by incorporating more than one objective that must be destroyed for the Kill-team to succeed.

Mission 2
ASSASSINATE

The Kill-team must find an individual key to the enemy's strategy and ensure his death in any way they can. The central objective is an individual of utmost importance to the enemy's strategies. They must be killed quickly and cleanly. You will need an appropriate miniature. For game purposes this model will have the following profile:

They may not move but will act as normal if attacked in any way. The Kill-team must kill this individual to achieve a victory.

Mission 3
ESCAPE

The Kill-team have fulfilled their objective, and must get the hell out of Dodge with as many of their number alive as possible... There is no central objective in the Escape mission. Instead, the Kill-team must cross to the opposite side of the board from which they entered. If any remaining members of the Kill-team manage to move oft that board edge for any reason, they have won.

Mission 4
LAST STAND

Though the Kill-team has fulfilled its mission, the alarm has been raised. Stealth has had to be replaced by brute force if the Kill-team are to survive.

"Form up!" barked Veteran Sergeant Heisen is the list of the Harakoni Warhawk`s Kill-team hit the ground, rolling and detaching their grav-gliders in one practiced movement. Around him, his squid took position in the wooded clearing, reporting their status in clear. clipped voices as they activated their weapons. The night air filled with a thin, keening chord as Trooper Van Stoken charged his plasma gun. Heisen thumbed his visor to thermomagnocular setting and zoomed in on the enemy's position. Three massive Hydra flak tanks, captured by the Orks, squatted in formation on the ridge. The artillery cover they afforded was allowing the Orks to establish a perimeter practically unmolested, as their comrades in the Marauder bomber squadrons had already taken heavy losses testing the Ork defenses. He could see the crude glyph-plates and grisly trophies that adorned their rusting chassis, and small figures picked out in red swarming around the tracks. "Kill-team Delta, advance. Dallere on point." ordered Heisen. "lets make this clean and quick" The Harakoni Warhawks ghosted through the forest, moving silently and quickly up to the forest edge, each of them flattening their back against the thick trunk of a tree. Behind them, small teams of green-skinned slave-runts swarmed over the anti-aircraft tanks. Heisen flicked open his comm-bead and took a deep breath. "GO!" shouted Heisen, and as one his squad swung around from behind the cover of the trees. Van Stoken discharged his plasma gun at the rear of the first Hydra, blowing it apart in a rain of molten metal. The other Harakonis opened fire with their hellguns, explosions of blood and flesh marking where teams of slave-runts had been a moment before. Green limbs were flung high into the air as the Harakonis aimed and fired again and again. Van Stoken, aiming his plasma gun like a rifle, took a bead on the second Hydra, a bright bolt of superheated energy impacting with the tank's fuel compartment. The screams of burning slave-runts filled the air, merging into a cacophony as shouts and squeals of alarm began to echo round the clearing. Dallere was pulled down by the sheer number of the scratching, biting runts, his visor ripped off and his scream silenced by a well-aimed spanner blow. Heisen heard a bellowing roar and span on his heel to see a bulky, scarred Ork dive toward him. He raised his weapon a split second too late, and the beast smashed him to the ground, knocking his antique shotgun out of his hands. His thick carapace armour absorbed the impact. Heisen rolled with the blow, coming up in a crouch and drawing his combat knife in one fluid motion. The Ork barrelled forward but Heisen was ready for it, and slashed the serrated blade of his knife across the Ork's eyes as he dived to one side. All around him, the percussive force of hellgun blasts blew the milling slave-runts apart, but from the corner of his eye Heisen saw the last of the remaining Hydra turrets was being brought to bear on his squad. Worse still, the alien brute was coming for him again: the damned thing wouldn't stay down. He flicked his shotgun up from the ground with his foot, caught it and racked the slide with one hand before smoothly whipping it round into the gaping maw of the charging Ork. It flew back six feet, a smoking stump where its head should be. "Neutralise that tank! DO IT!" shouted Heisen at the plasma gunner, his uniforms slick with gore, kneeling as his weapon recharged with a rising whine. The four autocannons of the Hydra clacked slowly toward him as the turret rotated. Orks were famously inaccurate, but with this amount of firepower accuracy was not an issue. The rising pitch of the plasma weapons seemed unbearably slow as the massive cannon took a bead on Van Stoken's position. Heisen got a look straight down one of the barrels before the tank was blown apart in an earth-shaking explosion that would have blinded anyone without a photochromatic visor. Heisen finally breathed out: the clearing was silent but for the bubbling hiss of molten metal. "Heisen to Drako squadron, commence bombardment when ready. Heisen out'. The Veteran Sergeant clipped his custom shotgun back into place and motioned for his squad to move out. As the Kill-team slipped silently away from the wrecked Hydras, the Ork camps behind them began to erupt in a string of incandescent explosions.

In the Last Stand mission, the roles are reversed. The Kill-team starts on the central objective, and the goon squads start no further than 12" away from any table edge. The antagonist starts the game with one klaxon counter. The Kill-team must kill all of the antagonist's goon squads or die in the attempt. It's going to be bloody... This mission can also follow on from the Sabotage and Assassinate missions.

Mission 5
HIT AND RUN

The Kill-team must reach a predetermined point on the battlefield and achieve a set objective before getting back to base. The central objective in this mission must be reached by the Kill-team (touched by a! least one model) and have a model in contact with it for a full turn. It can be assaulted. The Kill-team succeed in their mission if they subsequently manage to move at least one member of the team off the table.

Mission 6
RECONNOITRE

The Kill-team must thoroughly assess the enemy's capabilities and military capacity without alerting the enemy to their presence.

There is no central objective in a Reconnoitre The Kill-team must cover the board, determining information. They achieve their objective if they manage to traverse a circuit around the central point whilst coming no closer than 6" to it, and have at least one model return to the board edge that they started from. This is one to play really stealthily...

Below are some ideas for the narrative behind your Kill-team game. Naturally, these are not to be strictly adhered to. they are merely suggestions that you might like to adapt depending on what you have in your model and scenery collection.

Mission 1
SABOTAGE

The Kill-team must...

• Trigger the eruption of a volcano.
• Destroy a vital datacube at the centre of a complex electronic array.
• Cripple a spaceship's warp drive so that the enemy cannot escape.
• Disable a force field generator on a forest moon.
• Destroy a blasphemous shrine to Chaos in mid-ritual.
• Take out an enemy artillery position.
• Detonate the power conduit at the heart of a Necron tomb complex.
• Blow a hole in the side of a spaceship during warp travel.

Mission 2
ASSASSINATE

The Kill-team must...

• Kill an enemy commander on his way to the front lines in his personal transport.
• Kill a double agent of the same race as the Kill-team before he imparts vital information.
• Take out a Tyranid node-beast to collapse the nearby hive mind synapse web.
• Put a bullet in the skull of a corrupt governor during a grand address from his balcony.
• Destroy a revered prophet, crippling the enemy morale.
• Put a doomed companion out of the misery inflicted by his torturers, taking as many bad guys down as possible on the way.

Mission 3
ESCAPE

The Kill-team must...

• Reach the edge of a cliff and activate their grav-chutes, flying to freedom.
• Stay one step ahead of the alien tide or face a gribbly death.
• Get inside the basement vault before the demolition charges take out the building.
• Climb out of an alien-infested trash compactor before the Kill-team becomes wafer thin.
• Reach their ship and get into space before the Exterminatus begins.

Mission 4
LAST STAND

The Kill-team must...

• Face the consequences of destroying a massive Tyranid brood-beast.
• Rampage through an infested hive city killing everything they find.
• Cleanse and burn an enemy headquarters to cripple the enemy command structure.
• Take down as many of the enemy as possible before the plague finishes them off.
• Fight for their lives after a teleporter malfunction drops them into the heart of the enemy lines.
• Revenge their fallen brethren whilst preventing their bodies from being defiled.
• Take as many of the enemy with them as possible as the Space Hulk's denizens realise their presence on the ship.

Mission 5
HIT AND RUN

The Kill-team must...

• Place a teleport homer in the middle of an enemy encampment so the reinforcements can arrive.
• Start a landslide that buries an enemy column and gel out before it takes the Kill-team out too.
• Access data from an enemy command cogitator and get it back to base.
• Place a chronodetonator on the foundation pillar of an enemy temple.
• Kickstart a doomsday device that the enemy were planning to deploy in battle.
• Poison the enemy's water supply.
• Place a beacon so that the ensuing orbital strike is as accurate as it is lethal.

Mission 6
RECONNOITRE

The Kill-team must...

• Escort a data-drone around a precious facility currently in enemy hands.
• Cleanse the area around a warp gate of any enemy sentries.
• Complete a dark ritual that comes to fruition only once they have sewn the soil with a circle of blood.
• Plot a route for the main advance through enemy territory.

Right, that's it for this month, next month I'll conclude the Kill-team game with plenty more, including rules for protagonist and antagonist specialist equipment. Now, to take down that bridge...

Phil: Hello and welcome back to the small-scale commando raiding game of Kill-team. Last month we looked at what different races use for their Kill-teams, basic rules, a set of six mission types and narrative gaming ideas for each of those missions. If you've played through a few of them and are hungry for another level of detail to go with your newly-forged Kill-team, then look no further. The next few pages are specifically tailored to bolster the simple mechanics of the Kill-team game into a more complex and involving narrative. The main rules and narratives remain the same, but the methods of achieving them will have lo change if you're to fulfil your mission.

Each race has types ot unit that specialise in stealth and infiltration. Despite this, some of the Kill-teams introduced in last month's article were not specialists at all. no doubt raising a couple of eyebrows; where were the Eldar Pathfinders, the Tau Stealth Suits, Mandrakes, even the Lictors? Well, we saved the best for last.

Basic Kill-teams are more numerous and therefore more forgiving, allowing beginners to make mistakes and still have a good chance of achieving their objectives. The Elite Kill-teams are for the more experienced player, and are extremely specialised. There are correspondingly far fewer operatives in an Elite Kill-team, so it's a lot more tricky to win with them; one lucky Goon can cripple your chances ot achieving the objectives. You'll pack one hell of a punch, but specialists are only called in when the odds are high, and you're likely to be seriously outnumbered by a whole ton of bad guys... make no mistake, this ain't gonna be easy.

Each Elite Kill-team has a number of points to spend on their operatives, listed in their entry on the table below. You may choose any number of operatives within the points allowed, upgrades, wargear and options from the appropriate entry in that race's Codex, just as if you were choosing a squad for a normal game of 40K. In this respecl you have far more tactical flexibility. The normal rules for Kill-team are superceded by the following rules when using Elite Kill-teams:

• Any and all special rules that affect an Elite Kill-team are in effect, with the only exceptions listed below. This means the Kill-team can use special movement modes, abilities, and any other dirty trick it has available to it. The Kill-team still counts as being fearless and so will automatically pass all Morale and Pinning tests they are called upon to make.
• Units have no minimum squad size for the purposes of designing your Elite Kill-team.
• Goon squads may be deployed within 4" of each other rather than 6".
• Any unit with a jump pack (or equivalent) may move 12" as normal, but may not jump over enemy models. They may elect to move on foot instead of using their jump packs.

The Elite Kill-teams and the number of Goons they face are as follows:

There are a few adjustments and reminders for each Kill-team that should be borne in mind when using Elite teams. These are as follows.

Space Marine Assault Squads: Firing up such a heavy-duty piece of kit as a jump pack makes a hell of a lot of noise. Whenever a Space Marine Assault squad moves using its jump pack the enemy gains a klaxon counter.

Chaos Space Marine Raptors: As with Space Marines, Raptors make a terrible howling shriek when in flight and will therefore contribute a klaxon counter to the enemy's store whenever they use their jump packs. A unit with Furious Charge will also contribute a klaxon counter whenever it charges as its bloodthirsty howls give away their position.

Eldar Warp Spiders: Warp Spiders may not use their jump generators to make a jump in the Assault phase; the risks inherent in such a desperate manoeuvre are too high for such a small task force to realistically undertake. They may move through enemy models, however.

Ork Stormboyz: The primitive jump packs used by Stormboyz are loud, smoke-belching affairs that will contribute a klaxon counter to the enemy's store whenever they are used.

Dark Eldar Mandrakes: Mandrakes use their Hidden Deployment rule as usual, bearing in mind their true location must be revealed by the end of the protagonist's third turn.

Tyranid Lictors: Lictors may use their Secret Deployment rule, but such is the concentration of enemy that they may only choose to hide in cover that is more than 18" away from the central objective.

Tau XV15 Stealth Suits: Tau Stealth Suit leaders and Shas'vre may take Drones in their Kill-teams, although these Drones can never complete objectives (other than during the Assassinate mission) as their programming just isn't sophisticated enough. The spotting distance for a Goon squad attempting to detect a Stealth Suit model is always treated as one less than it would actually be.

Necron Wraiths: Necron Wraiths must deploy in pairs. These units may act independently despite the usual Kill-team rules.

Last Chancers: Schaeffer's Last Chancers may deploy as independent mini-units as described in their Codex entry, despite the usual Kill-team rules.

In any movie including numerous low-quality bad guys there is invariably a boss goon, the guy with the cheap suit, shades and pony tail, the captain of the enemy soldiery, or the immensely strong henchman earlier shown crushing dice or some such meaningless feat of bravado. It can really add to a game of Kill-team to have a large and self-important badass at the centre of things, especially if he meets an appropriately grisly end...

• The Boss Goon will differ depending on race. Use the table below to determine the appropriate bad guy.
• The antagonist in a game of Kill-team that uses Elite teams automatically has 15 points to spend on his Boss Goon. This will usually only be enough to cover the cost of the upgrade to Veteran Sergeant status (or equivalent).
• However many points the protagonist spends on specialist kit (see later) can be added to the points spent on the Boss Goon, or spent on defensive equipment. This can mean the antagonist's head honcho can be anything from a simple squad upgrade to a fully-kitted out killing machine. Simply choose the Boss Goon's options, wargear and weaponry as usual.

It is typical for the members of a commando team to have specialist gear with them to successfully accomplish their mission. This might vary from simple silencers to holograms and blind grenades. Likewise, it's not unheard of for enterprising bad guys to fortify their strongholds with all manner of traps and alarm systems.

• A Kill-team can choose one of the following upgrades per Experience Point it has accrued: for each of the successful missions it has played in its career, the Kill-team will have one Experience Point.
• If the Kill-team is wiped out to a man, they lose all of the Experience Points gained so far and must begin accruing them all over again.
• Keep a record of what specialist kit your Kill-team has accrued over the course of its career, along with a total of how many points it has spent on its kit.
• No upgrade can be taken more than once unless specifically noted.
• Any points spent on upgrades are automatically allocated to the amount of points the antagonist can spend on defensive equipment and/or his Boss Goon. In this way, no matter who is playing the antagonist, you should never have an easy fight on your hands...

The specialist pieces of kit you can field as the protagonist or antagonist are as follows:

Silencers 10 pts

The Kill-team have had their ranged weapons specially modified so that the first salvo they launch makes little or no noise. This enables them to take out a full team of sentries without alerting their fellows to the incursion.

The Kill-team is not nearly as likely to trigger the alarm with the silencers fitted. When the Kill-team opens fire for the first time, roll a D6; on a 1, a klaxon counter is added to the antagonist's store as usual. On any other result no klaxon counter is added.

Distraction 15 pts

The Kill-team have spent considerable resources ensuring that a loud and startling event takes place on the other side of the enemy compound, drawing enemy forces away from their posts at the critical time and allowing the Kill-team entry into the enemy grounds.

The distraction can be played at any time in the antagonist's Movement phase, provided he has less than 3 klaxon counters in his store. Roll a D6. The protagonist may move that many Goon squads 6" in the direction of his choice, regardless of whether they were activated or not. However, the antagonist gets to choose which squads are affected in this manner. This counts as their movement for that turn, so do not roll for control afterward.

Change of Guard 10 pts

Having staked out the enemy territory for some time the Kill-team have ascertained exactly when the sentries go off their shift and change guard, striking at just the right moment to benefit from the resultant confusion.

Play the change of guard at any time when the antagonist has no klaxon counters in his store. All activated Goon squads become deactivated, and vice versa. Continue the turn as normal.

Scrambler 40 pts

The Kill-team have with them a powerful scrambling device that disrupts enemy communications and temporarily disables their alarms.

The Kill-team may use the scrambler at any time. The antagonist must immediately discard D3 klaxon counters.

Spanner in the Works 5 pts each

As the enemy sentry approaches, one member of the Kill-team picks up a discarded tool, rock or other hard object and hurls it into a nearby cluster of machinery, barrels etc, momentarily distracting the patrol whilst they slink away.

Declare when a spanner is being used before control for a Goon squad is determined. The protagonists may add +2 to their result for this roll only.

Smoke and blind grenades 10 pts

The Kill-team can use this equipment to mask their approach, making it extremely difficult far enemy squads to pinpoint them in the artificially generated haze.

Once per game, after either Movement phase, the Kill-team can declare that it is using the smoke and blind grenades. They count as being in cover in all respects until the beginning of their next turn.

Gung-ho 10 pts

There comes a time in many covert operations when stealth goes out the window, and the only option is to go hell-for-leather for the objective. Needless to say this invariably leads to the enemy swarming to their position like flies around grox dung...

The Kill-team may assault 6+D6" rather than the usual 6" in the turn this is used, and will strike first in close combat regardless of other factors. The enemy automatically gains an additional klaxon counter when this effect is played.

Camo Gear 10 pts

The Kill-team has refined their camo tactics to the point that they can hunker down and become almost unseen even when in the open. Combined with the patience of the hunter, this can considerably enhance the Kill-team's stealth capabilities.

In any turn in which the Kill-team does not move, shoot or assault, the antagonist must discard a klaxon counter at the beginning of his turn.

Wirecutters 5 pts

The Kill-team have come well prepared for penetrating the thickest defensive terrain, toting wirecutters and electrocharges that can disable or cut through light obstacles.

The Kill-team rolls 3D6 for determining the distance it can move through difficult terrain, picking the highest result.

Stummers 10 pts

Stummers, devices designed specifically to deaden noise and make detection that much more difficult, can cut out one of the sentry's main tools of the trade; a sharp pair of ears...

The Kill-team can employ the Stummers once per game, declaring their use after the antagonist has determined which squads are activated or deactivated for that turn. For the rest of thai turn only, all the protagonist's rolls for control of Goon squads count as being a 6.

Scaling Ladders and Grapnels 10 pts

The Kill-team have coiled ropes, telescopic ladders and grapnels with them, enabling them to make their way up the outside of buildings, cross digestion pools and negotiate other hazardous obstacles.

The Kill-team may treat Impassable Terrain as Difficult Ground.

Backstabbers 10 ts

One or more of the Kill-team's operatives excel at the art of the silent kill, their blades cutting off the enemy's screams before they can alert their comrades.

Whenever the Kill-team assaults a Goon squad and kills them all in that single round, then roll a D6: on a 1. a klaxon counter is added to the antagonist's store as usual. On any other resurt, no klaxon counter is added.

Redshirt 5 pts

The Kill-team has been lumbered with an extra member against their wishes. and it's entirely possible that this inexperienced rookie will get himself killed in a gory and spectacular way at the first opportunity...

The Kill-team has with it an additional model with the profile below:

He has no equipment. In the unlikely event he survives the game the Kill-team will gain an extra Experience Point.

Cunning Disguises 20 pts

The Kill-team has disguised itself in some manner, whether by donning enemy uniforms, covering themselves with the pheromonal signature of the foe, using sophisticated holographic technology or some other means. In theory, with a little luck and a lot of nerve, they can simply walk past the enemy soldiers and onto the central objective. In theory...

There is a chance that enemy Goon squads will mistake a Kill-team with this upgrade for one of their own units. Every time a Goon squad earns a klaxon counter by spotting the Kill-team, roll a D6. If the result is higher than the Goon squad's highest Initiative value, then no klaxon counter is added to the antagonist's store, and the Goon squad does not count as having spotted the Kill-team. Of course, the antagonist can have another go next turn if he is still within spotting distance, and the longer the Kill-team has to bluff it out, the less chance of success there is...

Las-traps 10 pts

The antagonists have rigged the area surrounding the central objective with a series of sophisticated traps and alarms.

When setting up the scenery, the antagonist may place D6 pieces of 6" long red cord or thin strips of card anywhere on the table. If any member of the Kill-team touches one of these markers, a klaxon counter is added to the antagonist's store. This deactivates the las-trap.

All Points Bulletin 10 pts

The bad guys have been alerted to the fact that there are enemies in the perimeter, and appraised of their rough location. This can only be bad news for their prey.

Only usable once per game. Once the antagonist has determined how many squads are activated for that turn, he may use the All Points Bulletin. He may re-roll the control rolls for his Goons for the remainder of that turn. He must abide by the result of the second roll.

Still Not Dead 10 pts

Despite the fact that he has been gutted, burnt, mangled and crushed, the Boss Goon somehow manages to surge to his feet and go for a last ditch kill. No doubt this will be short lived, but he might take a couple of the good guys with him screaming to hell...

This upgrade may only be chosen by an antagonist who has taken a Boss Goon. Should the Boss Goon die, leave him on his side at the place of his death. He may be resurrected and stood back up at the beginning of the next antagonist turn and may act as normal during that turn, at the end o! which he is removed as a casualty.

Reinforcements 40 pts

The alarm is up, and those Goons just keep on coming! The Kill-team will have to be either very lucky or very capable to get out of this one alive...

When the antagonist has accrued three klaxon counters, he will gain a fresh Goon squad each turn. This squad appears on the table edge of the antagonists' choice at the beginning of his turn, and will move in the same way as a normal Goon squad.

Get'em Lads! 15 pts

The antagonists have finally located the interlopers and, their morale bolstered by the presence of their comrades, charge in with every intention of ripping the Kill-team to pieces.

This upgrade may be used whenever more than one Goon squad spots the Kill-team in one Movement phase. Provided more than one Goon squad charges the Kill-team in the subsequent Assault phase, all Goons gain +1 attack for the duration of that Assault phase in addition to other modifiers.

Extra Goons x pts

Having been forewarned of an enemy attack, there are more bad guys than normal around the central objective. This is going to be a tricky one...

Buying this upgrade entitles the antagonist to field an extra Goon squad. This upgrade may be taken multiple times The price of this upgrade varies on race. The prices are as follows:

One of the Goon squads which has been trained extensively until they are masters of close quarters warfare, is usually entrusted with the security of the central objective.

Nominate a Goon squad as the Death squad after set-up. That Goon squad has a spotting distance one higher than normal, and will have +1 Strength, Initiative and Attacks on any turn it charges. This also applies to any Boss Goon that joins the Death squad.

Doomsday Device 30 pts

With the alarms raging, the Boss Goon knows that it is only a matter of time before the Kill-team succeed in their mission and escape. Determined to prevent this from happening, he triggers an explosive mechanism that will take down the entire complex, killing everyone nearby. If you gotta go...

If at any point there are more Kill-team operatives than Goons left on the table and the Boss Goon is still alive, the Doomsday Device will automatically be triggered. At the beginning of every subsequent antagonist turn (even if all Goons have been killed but the mission still remains to be completed) roll a dice: on a 1 the game is ended as everything on the board is vaporised in a cataclysmic explosion.

Well, in conjunction with all the rules from last month, the narrative scenario ideas and the specialist kit/experience system, that should keep your Kill-team raiding and sabotaging for a long time to come. And remember, even if the bad guys get lucky and end up with the Kill-team's heads on the trophy wall, it'll be your turn to play the antagonist next, and revenge is a dish best served cold...