Intro
A bit of a spending spree recently meant I ended up with Kill Team Arena. Now the appeal of this was mostly that it seemed to make it easier to set up a table to play with the terrain packing up into a small area. Plus there is the nostalgia factor of boards that look like Space Hulk.
For its first outing to the local club I played against a very sporting and enthusiastic player who had Adeptus Mechanicus. With hindsight his Kill Team wasn’t optimised for Arena as he had no Vanguard and had the Arquebus which benefits from longer sight lines.
My kill team was my first game with Heretic Astartes; the Warp Wardens. This wasn’t the cultist spam – in fact I only had 3 to act as door openers for their masters. Instead most of the list was Marines.
The mission we went for was Forgotten Data and I picked Domination and Attrition. My opponent went for Domination and Bounty Hunters.
Turn 1
Turn 1 I lost initiative which I was happy with as I could react to his opening moves. The cultists opened the doors and stepped aside for the marines to push out as far as they could.
At the end of Turn 1 the board was as below. As a bit of a digression but the rectangle shape of Kill Team really lends itself to being able to get a photo that clearly shows the entire game in reasonable detail. I think it’s fair to say I was a bit more bold with my opening moves but most of models had the Mark of Khorne so this was to be expected. Really my game plan was charge and get the flamer into action.
At the end of the Turn my opponent scored 2 VP (one for domination and one for an objective.) I only got 1 VP as I couldn’t get domination due to the closed door. I should have advanced someone to contest this.
Turn 2
Turn 2 again I lost initiative but this was ideal as I wanted to be able to react again. The movement phase was interesting as we got into reach of each other. In the top of the map my Veteran with chainsword managed to charge into a group of Rangers. I should have been a little bit more cautious as he actually stood in the doorway; meaning the door could have been closed in him. Luckily neither of us realised this in the game.
The other interesting bit was how far the flamer marine could get into the enemy lines with an advance and an assault weapon meant he could still fire. In the shooting phase essentially all the AM opened fire on him inflicting 2 flesh wounds. In return he only caused 1 flesh wound on the Plasma Caliver gunner.
The fight phase ended up with no injury leaving the table as below. Although the firefight wasn’t in my favour earlier I had managed to dislodge the enemy from getting Domination so he only scored 1 VP for an objective. Meanwhile I got 3 VP from objectives as I held more plus I now had Domination.
- Adeptus Mechanicus: 3 VP (2 from objectives and 1 from secondary)
- Heretic Astartes: 5 VP (4 from objectives and 1 from secondary)
Turn 3
Annoyingly my leader failed his charge leaving him posturing at the back and bodies started to drop as my flamer took out the Plasma Caliver before himself getting filled with shots and dropping to the ground. At the bottom of the map I moved into position to secure the other objective.
The fight phase ended up a stalemate again; the famed fighters of Khorne were not having an impact.
Scoring wise neither of us got any secondary objectives but I did get another 3 VP from the primary and my opponent got 1 VP
- Adeptus Mechanicus: 4 VP (3 from objectives and 1 from secondary)
- Heretic Astartes: 8 VP (7 from objectives and 1 from secondary)
Turn 4
Turn 4 was over very quickly with more casualties on both sides including my heavy bolter. One fact of import was that the Adeptus Mechanics ended up failing their break test. This left their heavy shaken and so he couldn’t claim the objective along with the bonus 3 VP for holding it all game. I would have scored another 3 VP for objectives but this was capped at 9 but I did get Attrition, Domination and Data Recovery this turn leaving the scores as
- Adeptus Mechanicus: 4 VP (3 from objectives and 1 from secondary)
- Heretic Astartes: 15 VP (9 from objectives and 6 from secondary)
So end game I think it is fair to say that I had a list better suited for seizing objectives and my rapid advance helped keep hold of the objectives. I made a few mistakes such as my Veteran standing in a doorway for 3 turns; this could have ended up losing me him if the door had been closed on him. Also I still have to get better at thinking of when to use tactics rather than just for rerolls.
Most importantly I actually prefer the closed board Space Hulk feel to a normal map. I suspect this isn’t for everyone but I find it easier to treat the battle as a puzzle to solve on an Arena board. However my cunning plan at the moment is to try and alternate between Arena and “normal” Kill Team to keep some variety.
DiceDebris 