Spanish Domination of Kill Team at LVO: An Interview with the Top 8

In addition to the 40k and AoS events, the 2022 Las Vegas Open was also host to a 7-round, 65-player Kill Team event, with four 4 rounds followed by a cut to a top 8 bracket. We’ve previously talked about the fact that Spain is the undisputed home of the Kill Team meta right now and at LVO they did not disappoint, sending some of their best players to dominate the scene. In particular Fernando Marcos, Adrián Martin Garcia, and David Carpaccio were on hand and all three finished in the top 8, with Fernando beating out Garcia for the top spot.

We sat down to speak with all three about their lists, how they constructed them, their strategies for playing them, and what’s next for them in 2022.

Fernando Marcos (Ace) – Veteran Guardsmen

Fernando went 6-1-0 with his Veteran Guardsmen roster. 

”Fernando’s

Why did you choose Veteran Guardsmen? What do they offer as a faction in Kill Team?

Veteran Guardsmen have been my favorite faction so far, and they allow me to won a lot of tournaments in Spain. On friday I played the pods with the [Adepta Sororitas] Novitiates and I think the terrain may have been more beneficial for them but at the last second I felt like I’d be betraying myself and I decided to trust in the good ol’ guard. I’m glad I did.

What do your Fire Teams typically look like when building a team for a game? Which Ancillary Support options are you taking?

I never use Ancillary Support; I always take troopers (which I usually equip with grenades). I always include a Sniper, Plasma, Grenade Launcher, Comms, and Leader in my fire team. After that I try to adapt to the matchup, for example against harlequins the flamer gave me the game in the finals. Against more melee-oriented teams I take the Hardened operative and the Veteran to try to set up some counter-charges. If I play against elite teams I put in the Zealot (to buff the Sniper) and a melta gunner. Spotters always make the cut as well, except against Harlequins or Genestealer Cults, where it’s useless. The Medic is good against shooty teams, and I never take the bruiser.

What’s your toughest matchup? How do you overcome that?

There are no easy matchups in a tournament like this, especially when you face players like Adrian, Emmanuel, Chris or Timothy. But if I can only choose one, I would pick the matchup against Mr. Wilfong and his Warpcoven. 

I came escaped that round, getting a draw that was decided on the very last activation of the game. It was such an amazing and interesting game with a nailbiter ending – so much so that people started to applaud when we finished (that was exciting)! The quick summary version is that I started to fall behind on turn 3 and turn 4 was almost the nail in my coffin – that is, until my Sniper got 2 lucky shots and some magic with the Comms specialist allowed me to contest a point thanks to the +1 APL, letting me take the draw away.

How do you feel about competitive Kill Team right now? Is it in a good place or does the meta need adjustments? 

That’s a hard question. I think at the moment, we have two very well differentiated tiers, the non-compendium teams, plus Harlequins and Custodes, and behind them all the other compendium factions that are starting to fall behind. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing when you consider that the new content is pretty competitive and balanced with the other non-Compendium teams, which some glaring exceptions (I´m looking at you, pathfinders). But we need some more variety on the top tier factions – a good elite faction is the thing that the game really needs right now.

What’s next for you in 2022? Are you sticking with Guardsmen or planning to change it up?

Well, I’m a mercenary and because of that I´m not sticking to any faction at all. Back in Madrid in Kingdom Wargames we have a lot of tournaments so I will be playing as many factions as I can so I can get enough experience to know what the threats and  weaknesses are for each team. However this new season I’m going to give the Veterans a rest and start Novitiates, although If the rumors are right and there is a new CSM Kill team incoming, I will surely take a look at them.

Adrián Martin – Harlequin Troupes

Martin’s list is the only one of the three drawn from the Compendium – based around Harlequins.

”Adrián’s

Why did you choose Harlequins? What do they offer as a faction in Kill Team?

I wanted to use a competitive faction for this tournament. I used Warpcoven for months but I had my doubts about bringing them to LVO. I decided to ask for advice from Spain’s Kill Team Guru, Jon Sao. He runs the Kill Team Granada YouTube channel, one of the most popular Spanish-speaking channels. My dilemma was between Warpcoven, Harlequins, or Kommandos. And he convinced me to use Harlequins.

What do your Fire Teams typically look like when building a team for a game?  How do you choose between fusion pistols and neuro disruptors?

This depends on the number of wounds possessed by the opponent’s operatives. Everyone knows that fusion pistols are unstoppable, but their range is very short. There are pairings where it is worth sacrificing that power to have a little more range. My limit for using neuro disruptors is 9 wounds.

This applies to all other melee weapons. I am a big fan of blades (because of the Balanced special rule) against low wound-count operatives, and I like to use caresses against operatives with 10 or more wounds.

What’s your toughest matchup? How do you overcome that?

There were many! This was a difficult tournament. I had two easy matchups against Dark Eldar – Harlequins have very good tools against them. But all the other games were very tough.

In my second game, against Carlos Duran (another Spanish player), I had a lot of good luck with the dice. I wouldn’t have beaten him without that. He is a great Harlequins player and very experienced. He deserved to be in the top 8.

Both of my games after that- one against Emmanuel Mitsinikos (Kommandos) and the other against Orion Wilfong (Warpcoven) were incredibly challenging. They are both excellent players.

I think one of the keys is the type of scenery used in LVO games. It really favors the Harlequins and their Fly special rule. Together with Domino Field it allows you to advance and be able to create many threats from safe positions.

But the final round against Ace was devastating. He is just too good. He doesn’t make mistakes. And if you make one… he destroys you!

What’s your general strategy with Harlequins during a game?

My strategy has been based on getting as many points as possible in each game. Getting 6 points in the secondary missions helps a lot. For that you have to choose the best option. Killing opponents is important but it doesn’t give the victory.

Also, to win with Harlequins you have to try to do this sequence: Charge+Fight+Shoot, and kill two operatives in that activation. 

What’s next for you in 2022? Are you sticking with Troupes or planning to change it up?

One of my goals for 2022 is to boost Kill Team in my area. I’ve lived in Washington DC for four years and I usually play with the guys from The 13th Legion (DC) or the Victory Gamers group (North Virginia). One of our projects is to organize tournaments there. So if you live in this area or you are visiting you can follow our events on Instagram @victory_gamers_club or @the_pipe_factory.

I also plan to participate in other big events like Adepticon and NOVA.

2022 looks like a year full of exciting challenges.

David Karpaccio – Warpcovens (Thousand Sons)

David’s list is drawn from the Warpcoven Kill Team in white Dwarf, which gives Thousand Sons powerful new options by letting them take a trio of sorcerers, each with different powers.

”David’s

Why did you choose Warpcovens? What do they offer as a faction in Kill Team?

The first thing I liked was the aesthetic. After playing them, I fell in love with the amount of things they can do, the versatility they have and making Warpcovens rosters is just terribly fun.

What do your Fire Teams typically look like when building a team for a game?  How do you choose which boon to bring? How often do you take multiple rubrics, and when do you go heavy on Tzaangors?

Warpcoven is a very personal faction, as it has so many good options, there is no fixed way to play it.

I personally always use the 3 sorcerers, also in most pairings I usually use at least one rubric marine (I like security a lot) and fill out the rest with Tzaangors. Depending on the number of these and the opponent, I choose the most optimal configuration of horn, icon, champion and combat tzaangors.

In most of the tournaments I use the same boons. Making a roster without repeating boons is difficult; the same boon can match with more than one psychic discipline or equipment in a very optimal way. My favorites are Fly, doing missions with -1AP, +1″ Mov and +1A, no cover and lethal 5+, plus the more circumstantial ones, of +1 SV and +1 INV.

The Soulreaper Cannon and Icon are 2 wonderful rubrics to play defensively with Warpcoven, either by the threat the Soulreaper generates from a vantage point or being able to throw 1 free Psychic power with the Icon. I almost always try to get one of these two in the roster, sometimes I even play both against elite kill teams.

Tzaangors are always going to be in the fireteam, just for the sake of adding operatives, the Champion and Tzaangor Fighter are always a must. And in games where you can’t take advantage of rubrics or security missions (e.g. against harlequins, Tyranids, etc.) using 6 Tzaangors with all the special options is usually quite useful.

What’s your general strategy with Warpcoven during a game?

I always try to start by punishing the opponent using psychic powers and threatening transit zones with rubrics to get a better position than them in the first turns of the game, scoring as much as possible in primary and secondary missions.

From the second turn, I start attacking more offensively to try to stop him from scoring.

Obviously this can vary a lot depending on the opponent and the mission, but normally I always try to play to score mission objectives first.

What’s your toughest matchup? How do you overcome that?

Fast kill teams or those that have the ability to override Psychic powers are always the most difficult, especially those that have the ability to kill a sorcerer in one hit. Harlequins, Veteran Guardsmen, Astra Militarum, Talons of the emperor, and Tyranids are the ones that make things hardest for me, and I have yet to test them against Wyrmblade teams.

I usually overcome them with a beer (or many), and playing defensively while focusing all my efforts on killing enemy operatives one by one from a distance.

What’s next for you in 2022? Are you sticking with Thousand Sons or planning to change it up?

Well, now that the season is starting, it’s time to enjoy all the tournaments in Spain and who knows, maybe we’ll visit the US again… hehehe

In 2022 I have to defend the Warpcoven title… xD, They will always be in my heart, although I will surely try the new Eldar Corsairs and Chaos Space Marine kill teams.

That wraps up our interviews but we’d like to thank Fernando, Adrián, and David again for speaking with us and giving us insight into their play, and we’d like to congratulate them on their success at LVO. We expect we’ll be writing about them again before too long as we write more Kill Team coverage in the future. 

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.