Thoughts on Kill Team Please

[ulverston]

Hi

I am looking around for a sci fi skirmish game and Kill Team seems the forerunner. I will be mostly playing solo (7 year old daughter dice monkey may help) so I need something pretty simple. Has anyone else solo gamed Kill Team? What do you chaps think of it? I already have a figure collection built up over a decade or more but have never had a game!

Thanks for any pointers its much appreciated.

[Dentatus]

Not to turn you off KT, but a lot of people seem to enjoy OnePageRules. They have a reputation for being simple, streamlined, and accessible.
https://www.onepagerules.com/resources

Someone else here recently mentioned another KT/Inquisitor game. As a big fan of the Eisenhorn novels, it looked very interesting.
https://www.reddit.com/r/killteam/comments/10gtgfo/acolyte_a_kill_team_adventure_game/

Sorry if that was a distraction. Good luck with your gaming.

[Hobgoblin]

I played Kill Team a couple of times a few years ago and found it very clunky and stilted. There were a lot of dice rolls for very few outcomes in combat. And it wasn't simple at all. Both times we played it, we followed it up with a game of Mutants and Death Ray Guns (sci-fi Song of Blades and Heroes), which was much quicker and gave much more variable combat outcomes from a single opposed die roll.

That said, I think there's been a new edition of Kill Team since, so it may have evolved to some degree.

For solo sci-fi gaming with "kill-team"-sized forces, I'd look at Pulp Alley. It has the advantage of being designed (in part) as a solo game. And when playing with a young dice enthusiast, there's fun to be had in matching dice (if attacking or dodging, you can negate the opponent's successes with an equal or higher dice roll). It's a very flexible and fun system, and it works for all kinds of genres.

[ced1106]

I'd be interested, too. Although I haven't even separated my KT models from their sprues yet!

BGG thread: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2234249/solo-kill-team
Dropbox via a Reddit thread: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5demcnmndyf9onj/Kill%20Team%202021%20AI%20Rules.pdf?e=1&dl=0

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

All I know about Kill Team is that, like most ongoing GW games, it has a three-year lifespan and, as recently discussed on the Tabletop Minions YT channel, is likely to get a new edition this year. It may be advisable to start out with the OPR game (Grimdark Future Firefight) for the time being, until you decide that you really must have KT and then get the maximum use out of it. On the other hand, if you’re strong enough to ignore the GW hype machine, there is absolutely nothing to stop you playing the current - or even previous - edition for as long as you like.

[fred]

I’m not a GW gamer - but I enjoy KT (both v1 and v2) v2 is a better game.

If you already have GW models and like the lore then I’d go for it. I’ve got Tau and Harlequins (old skool metal ones).

I’m not sure how solo friendly it is, but I can’t think of anything that would make it solo unfriendly.

One other thing with KT you have lots of figure options, and upgrades right there that match the GW figures. Personally I find this useful - with the more open games you need to put effort into building the profiles for the various figures. Sometimes I like this but sometimes it can be good to have had someone else do all the work for you!

[Easy E]

I play KT v2 pretty regularly.  It is somewhat modular in that the basics are pretty easy, and then there is a LOT of stuff you can layer on top of it. However, the basics are solid and can cover a lot of old minis. 

If you have old minis it can be pretty fun and easy to get into.  The new sets are also nice and pretty quick to paint up.       

However, as a solo game I am not sure it is a good fit.  You may want to look at some other options such as:

- Zona Alfa
- 5 Parsecs from Home
- Planet28
- Restless Sun
- One Page Rules     
- Station Zero
- Space Wierdos

There are many more out there with relatively cheap/free rules and a lot of room to bring the grimdark.

[blacksoilbill]

Similar to Hobgoblin, I found that Kill Team had too many dice roles to get a result. I'm also a massive fan of Pulp Alley (which also has a dedicated solo mode that works well). Here's some reports from games I've played. https://preacherbyday.blogspot.com/search/label/Pulp%20Alley

One Page Rules are free and play quite well. Fistful of Lead is also popular here on LAF, but I've never played them.

[ithoriel]

I'd echo much of what Easy E said.

As a solo player I love 5 Parsecs and it can be played co-op if your daughter wants to play. The action stuff is pretty simple and the ongoing story I find very engaging.

I use One Page Rules with my chibi ninja, they are easy to learn, very adaptable and lots of fun to play.

Played Station Zero but it didn't grab me - each to their own though.

I'd like to chuck Enderain into the mix - again easy to run solo but also to play co-op or pvp. The random movement of enemies works really well, IMHO.

[Daeothar]

Another advocate of Grimdark Future Firefight (by OnepageRules). It's, as we tend to call it here, 40K, but better.

Firefight is the killteam variant of the standard Grimdark Future rules, which on their own are a direct alternative (but better) for 40K.

Mind; you tend to lose some of the specific flavour of the different factions, in return for smoother and faster gameplay. But that's nothing insurmountable; they're the perfect excuse to finally put those 40K models to use again

Also; while the core rules are free, they do offer a paid for version ($4,99) at DrivethroughRPG.com which offers some interesting advanced rules and scenarios to the base game. I find it well worth it, if you like the system. In fact, we decided to splurge on their entire catalogue, as they have alternatives for 40K, Killteam, Necromunda, WHFB, Mordheim, BFG en several other GW games. All using the same core rules, which are (as mentioned) really solid...

[Hobgoblin]

Similar to Hobgoblin, I found that Kill Team had too many dice roles to get a result. I'm also a massive fan of Pulp Alley (which also has a dedicated solo mode that works well). Here's some reports from games I've played. https://preacherbyday.blogspot.com/search/label/Pulp%20Alley

That's a fantastic-looking series of games!

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

Planet28 has already been mentioned but not one of its main selling points: the 2nd edition is free to download from DriveThru RPG and Wargames Vault. The print edition is available from the publisher, Mammoth Miniatures, for £16 plus postage.

[Darkson71]

Stargrave has a solo expansion out already, and a further one due out later this year (Dead or Alive).

Haven't looked at the latest version of KT (v4? v5?), but the one before that didn't have any solo rules.

[Elk101]

Not necessarily a solo game, but Fistful of Lead Galactic Heroes is a great sci-fi skirmish game that kids can pick up pretty well.

[Mammoth miniatures]

Planet28 has already been mentioned but not one of its main selling points: the 2nd edition is free to download from DriveThru RPG and Wargames Vault. The print edition is available from the publisher, Mammoth Miniatures, for £16 plus postage.

I always hesitate about promoting my own games but I'll also say one of it's features is that it's designed to be a modular rule set - That means it's very easy to add or remove things if a 7 year old is your main gaming partner.  If you're playing with a young child you could easily just use the basic rules and ignore vehicles., squads, GMs and ongoing campaigns. you can ignore ammo counting and even drop morale if you need too. The solo rules follow a pretty simple flowchart of enemy action but even that could be stripped back if needed.