Goonhammer Reviews: Tomb World Deathwatch Kill Team

Greetings readers, it is time for another Kill Team review, and I am especially excited for this one. Many of you have probably noticed that when Games Workshop releases a new Kill Team box, the concept for a team or the particular team pairing for that release can feel…forced. Whether it’s Arbites facing off against Dark Eldar or Hearthkyn Yaegirs going up against Brood Brothers, not every matchup is exactly a setting-defining rivalry. At the same time, not every concept for a Kill Team feels like it lives up to the game’s name. 

After nearly three years we finally get a box that feels like it is the embodiment of the game, at least from a thematic perspective: Deathwatch Space Marines infiltrating a Tomb World and battling its defenders. In a way this almost feels like the proper version of the much-loathed Pariah Nexus box that was the final release of Kill Team 2018. After all these years we finally got the original Kill Team!

Before we dive in we’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of the Kill Team Tomb World boxed set and rules for review purposes.

The Video Version

If you’d like to watch this review rather than read it, or if you want another opinion on this team, check out this video from Can You Roll a Crit?, in which he reviews the team:

Faction Abilities

Veteran Astartes

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Deathwatch can Fight and Shoot twice like all their other Marine counterparts, with certain deadlier weapons requiring an additional AP expenditure to be fired twice. What really sets the Deathwatch apart is that they are able to perform TWO DIFFERENT actions when they counteract, an extremely powerful ability that goes a long way to make up for them falling into the new 5 operative category. 

Special Issue Ammunition 

Once per turning point, a Deathwatch Veteran operative may use this ability on a single shooting attack (excluding explosive grenades) granting it one of the following weapon special rules: Blast 1, Devastating 1, Lethal 5+, Piercing 1, Rending, Saturate, and Severe. As a minor balancing effect the Blast rule can’t be given to a weapon with Torrent. From a lore perspective special issue ammunition is for bolt weapons, but interestingly (and perhaps foolishly) this ability has no such restrictions. This ability will most likely find itself being used on overcharged plasma, for when you really want your enemy dead, or regular bolt pistols on melee focused operatives who need to perform some desperate shooting.

Operatives

Deathwatch might be the most customizable team we have seen in a long time, coming with 10 options, NONE of which are required, not even the Sergeant. As Veterans all your Deathwatch operatives enjoy an additional wound over their regular Marine counterparts, meaning all your Mark X Marines are 15 wounds, Phobos 13, and Gravis a chunky 18. The only restriction here is that you may only take a single Gravis operative, who are also stuck with a 5 inch movement to make up for their added durability.

Deathwatch Captain by Craig “MasterSlowPoke” Sniffen

Watch Sergeant

While I just said you are not required to take this guy, you are unlikely to ever leave him on the bench. Armed with a Plasma Pistol and Power Weapon, the Watch Sergeant grants an additional Equipment choice and a free Firefight and Strategic Ploy once per game. With the removal of the Scout Phase from the game and how Command Point hungry this team is going to be, this operative is basically an auto-take. Additionally, his weapon combo makes him both a shooting and combat threat; however, his pistol is on the list of weapons that must expend additional APL to fire a second time, so keep that in mind when maximizing his potential. 

Aegis

Again we have another operative who likely falls into the auto-take category. The Aegis is the team’s tank and has a profile to live up to it. Armed with a Stormshield/Power Maul and Bolt Pistol, the Aegis may block two hits with a single attack die, reduces Piercing by 1, AND has much desired 2+ armor save. On the down side the Bolt Pistol is completely standard, but shooting enemies isn’t really this operative’s job, and with 4/6 damage on the power maul they’re more than capable of going head to head with nearly any other melee specialist. 

CYRAC: Not only will he tank other melee specialists, he’ll also tank entire kill teams. This operative is way too durable for what it does. Melee teams are terrified of him. Shooting teams are too unless they pack 5+ dice weapons. He’ll eat a melta, heal D3 wounds, then punish you for daring to try and shoot him.

Blademaster

Armed with a Special Issue Bolt Pistol and Xenophase Blade, the Blademaster trades the Aegis’s durability for offensive output. The Special Issue Bolt pistol grants Piercing 1, but otherwise is not the main focus here. The Blademaster can pre-fight block, and has two weapon profiles with its Xenophase Blade that are nearly identical at 4/6 damage, 5+ lethal, and Brutal, one having five attacks while the other has four. The reason for this is that the reduced attack version may be performed against EVERY enemy in control range when you perform the fight action. This means technically if your opponent gave you sufficient targets the Blademaster could do this multiple times, and with the ability to pre-fight block this operative is less likely to take hits back in return. This all being said, this kind of thing would require your opponent to make severe tactical blunders, which kind of means the Blademaster is slightly better melee combatant than the Sergeant, but provides none of the support abilities.

CYRAC: This dude is wild. Ignores to hit modifiers, blocks first and can double block if attacking, while also having the best horde swirl in the game. For comparison, the Bloatspawn from Gellerpox is 6 attacks hitting on 4s at 3/4 while also having a swirl attack that has the same profile at 3 dice instead. With 4 dice and a Brutal power weapon, you’ll just murder any group of operatives you’ll charge into reliably. While it can be hard to set up, 32mm bases still have a wide range which can be hard to space out from. Even ignoring the group attack, his base profile is enough to shut down other melee operatives with ease. An absolute monster.

Bombard

One of three Gravis operatives who are essentially Gunners in everything but name. The Bombard has no datacard abilities; however, he does grant you access to the Frag Cannon, which has two powerful shooting profiles: 4 attacks, 5/7 dmg, and Piercing 1 option, and a 5 attacks, 4/5 dmg, and Torrent 2 option. While one is clearly meant for taking down large targets and the other for multiple weaker ones, either is a legitimate threat to most enemy operatives. This weapon is not Heavy, and thus can be fired even after performing a Move and Dash giving it significant threat range, something that is shared by all Gravis operatives.

Breacher

Our second Gravis operative, The Breacher comes armed with a Hellstorm Bolt Rifle, which is a boltgun with 4/5 dmg and Torrent 1, and is not on the list of weapons that requires an additional APL to fire a second time. Additionally, he has an auxiliary grenade launcher and melta bomb (Heavy Reposition), essentially making him the team’s grenadier. While not as hard hitting as the Gunner or other Gravis operatives, the Breacher is the most versatile out of the four of them.

CYRAC: This is probably the Gravis operative you take all the time. Very flexible and can offset the weakness-ish of its 4/5 torrent 1 rifle with special ammunition. Can adapt to maximise shooting against a wide number of opponents and has a melta bomb too!

Demolisher

Armed with a Super Heavy Thunder Hammer, the Demolisher is the melee version of the Frag Cannon: +4 Hit, 5 Atks, 6/7 Dmg, Shock, and Stun. Somewhat similar to the Legionnaires Butcher the Demolisher gains Ceaseless whenever it initiates the Fight Action, and Brutal in an activation in which it charges. Perhaps most importantly it takes reduced damage on all melee attacks to a minimum of 2, making it a nasty combo with the Aegis when up against melee teams. 

Disruptor

A Infiltrator that grants the team access to the Phobos Strike Team Omni-Scrambler ability, along with the Advanced Auspex Scan firefight ploy for 0 CP. Outside of these two abilities the operative is armed only with its fists and a Marksman Bolt Carbine, which definitely puts it on the weaker side offensively; however, Omni-Scramble is such a powerful ability it is immediately a top contender against many teams.

CYRAC: Due to super omniscramble being D6 delay instead of D3 or D3+1, you can easily shutdown other 5 to 8 operative sized kill teams. Not only that but it grants you a free ploy to ignore obscuring. While slightly weaker on Gallowdark-like killzones, this operative is still amazing into elites and hordes alike. Its boltgun is still 3/4 lethal 5+ so it can put in a lot of work when shooting, especially if you use special issue ammunition with it as well.

Gunner

Perhaps the most unimpressive operative of the lot. Armed with a Heavy Plasma Incinerator, which is effectively just a five attack Plasma Gun. Surprisingly this weapon doesn’t have Blast, and given the lethality of this team it’s hard to imagine taking this operative over any of the Gravis options. 

Headtaker

The second Phobos option, but melee oriented, the Headtaker is surprisingly not a Reiver operative. Right behind the Gunner, this is the most lackluster of the melee specialists, armed with Combat Knives (five attacks and 4/5 dmg) and a Special Issue Bolt Pistol. The Headtaker treats all climbs and drops as a maximum of 2″ penalty, and has the ability to Charge from Conceal, and strike with two successes in a row if it was not Visible to the target of the Fight Action. Frankly, it could have this ability with no restrictions and it would still fall well below the Aegis and Demolisher on the priority chart. This operative’s offensive abilities simply don’t make up for how much less durable it is than other melee specialists.

CYRAC: The Headtaker is an amazing operative. This guy murders 8 wound teams instantly with no damage in return. Start outside of visibility, charge two operatives at 8 wounds each, and then instantly kill both of them with two fight actions. Even elites have to respect him as he can quickly finish off wounded operatives or take huge chunks out of them immediately. Can charge on conceal, is fast, super climbs and drops, only downside is no Terror Helm but at least the devs showed restraint somewhere.

Horde-Slayer

The last of the Gravis options, armed with an Infernus Heavy Bolter, which is simply a Heavy Bolter that also has a five attack flamer option. While this is hardly a bad option, the lack of any special abilities puts this operative rather low on priority, especially as it is in contention with the Gunner and Bombard for your designated heavy gun option. 

Marksman

Armed with a Stalker Heavy Bolt Rifle this is your designated sniper, which might be odd to hear since it lacks the Silent weapon trait. Like most snipers its weapon has both a mobile and heavy profile, the mobile variant is the standard boltgun profile, while the heavy is an impressive +2 Hit, four attacks, 3/5 Dmg, Lethal 5+, Piercing Crits, and Heavy (Dash). In place of having a Silent weapon, the Marksman has the ability to perform the Guard Action on ANY Kill Zone, and after it performs the Shoot Action from Guard it can then perform the Guard Action again (only in Gallowdark/Tomb World killzones). This is a wildly powerful ability that will no doubt stress out opponents to no end). 

Ploys

Along with top tier operative choices, the Deathwatch have a slew of fantastic ploys, which as a five man team they very much need. 

Firefight Ploys

• Suffer Not The Alien: Full re-rolls on any attack against a Non-Imperium and Non-Chaos operative. Fantastic A+ ploy against teams that aren’t Imperium or Chaos; useless otherwise. Relentless, even situationally, is very good. 
• Auspicator Tracking: Allows you to change your order before performing a counteract. Incredibly strong since operatives can perform two actions during a counteract.
• Advanced Auspex Scan: During a single shoot action the weapon gains Saturate and ignores Obscuring. Pairs up with Special Issue Ammunition to change even a standard bolt pistol into a deadly attack.
• Transhuman Physiology: Same as from Angels of Death; always a strong ploy. 

Strategic Ploys

• Mission Tactics: Select either Conceal or Engage Order, your operatives attacks gain Balance against enemy operatives with the selected order. Pretty straight forward, and rather important as only a few of your operatives have built-in re-rolls. 
• The Long Vigil: Friendly operatives in your territory can re-roll a single defense die. Again straight forward, but very useful on a team with 3+ or better saves. 
• The Shield that Slays: Friendly operatives in your opponent’s territory reduce damage of 4 or more by 1. As we all know, damage reduction is incredibly strong, and is especially important for such a small team. This stacks with the damage reduction of the Demolisher, which is rather wild. 
• And They Shall Know No Fear: As you remember from Angels of Death. 

Equipment

Ammunition Reserve: Allows for another use of the Special Issue Ammo ability once per battle. A bit limited for an entire equipment choice, however if it was once per Turning Point it would probably be too good. More likely to be taken in match ups vs other elites where it can swing an interaction.

Sanctus-V Bioscryer Cuffs: During each operatives activation, before or after an action, if they aren’t in control range they may do one of the following: gain d3 wounds, remove negative APL modifiers, or remove Terrorchem, Poison, or Neutron Fragment tokens. Basically an auto-take, and effectively makes stun ineffective against this team. The choices for token removal are rather odd since it’s possible a similar ability may be introduced to the game after this team is released. 

CYRAC: This is a ridiculous piece of equipment that should at least be once per operative per TP. Such a crazy item that is hard to deny as it can trigger at any point during a DW activation. Removes almost all status effects or heals. Absolutely wild this got through testing as is.

Digital Weapons: Once per Turning Point when a friendly operative performs a Fight Action it may deal one damage to the target at the beginning of the fight sequence. Pretty weak when you consider how nasty some of these operatives are. It does allow operatives with power weapons to one shot weaker enemies, but thanks to the cuffs that damage could just as easily be healed. You’re better off saving your equipment slots for something else.

Scrutavore Servo-Thrall: Once per Turning Point allows an operative to perform a Mission Action for 1 less APL, WHILE within control range on enemy operative. If it is performed in control you lose this equipment if you fail a roll-off with that opponent. Wildly Strong! Another auto-take.  

Final Thoughts

JD: Ok, I dropped the ball of the last review by a bit, not thinking Ravenors had the juice to be top tier, and I still think that is true given certain boards and how they interact with the tunnel mechanic. The same can not be said for Deathwatch. While five operative teams will likely always be at risk, this is one of the most powerful elite teams we have seen, especially since Warpcoven and Legionnaires have seen a wide range of nerfs. I don’t know if Deathwatch meet the same level of broke that we saw from these teams at edition release, but they’re in the ballpark. We have a strong list of operatives to match most threats combined with ploys that provide enough offensive and defensive buffs to increase their reliability and survivability. 

CYRAC: The Movie Marines are here. While this is a 5 operative kill team, GW has hugely overcompensated for this fact and made the team fairly crazy. They even take operatives from other kill teams (Phobos Strike Team) and make these operatives better than in the original versions. Crazily strong equipment choices too also leave me in bewilderment. Those damn braces are insane, along with digital lasers that help you one-shot Aeldari teams and a consistent servo skill to let you do mission actions at -1AP and even in control range too (with a gambling downside). 

I’m just disappointed – this isn’t fun or balanced, sure it’s thematic but if I wanted to play into Movie Marines I’d be playing something else. The kill team is very forgivable and has some of the most powerful operatives in the game. While they do lack some re-rolls and have no purity seals, they’re still just so consistent. Not to mention how their faction special-issue ammunition somehow works on non-bolt weapons too.

There is a lot to love here. You get tons of operative flexibility that really rewards you for teching in different operatives for different opponents. You can counter melee teams or build to counter shooting teams. That’s all really good and what I love to see. It’s just a shame GW had no restraint and then went further to push this team over the edge.

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