Revamped Warhammer 40K Chaos Space Marine Raptors have been sighted, and they’re locked in combat with the Battle Sisters of the Adepta Sororitas in a new Kill Team expansion. I wouldn’t say that’s the most interesting thing about the box set, though; it introduces an entirely new mechanic that sees you hop between the surface and underground levels for multi-tier battles.
Dubbed ‘Shadowhunt,’ this Kill Team box set features two new squads going up against each other as per usual: the Chaos Space Marine Murderwing (a combination of the old Warhammer 40K Raptors with Havok Claws) and the Celestian Insidiants witch-hunters. In lieu of the usual terrain, it also combines two half-boards from different Kill Zones (AKA terrain sets) to form an above-ground section and below-ground area. Operatives can go between these in their efforts to secure your objective.
Lock and load
Already sold on the new teams? Although we don’t have a release date for Kill Team: Shadowhunt yet, you can get a feel for its factions by grabbing the Night Lord Nemesis Claw squad for $71.95 at Amazon (£36.80 at Wayland Games in the UK). The holier-than-thou Adepta Sororitas Novitiates are hard to find in the US (though they’re £37.39 at Magic Madhouse for UK fans), so the similarly zealous Sanctifiers are a good alternative for $55.25 at Amazon.
Although the two squads look very cool at first glance (Warhammer Community revealed that the Battle Sisters will be armed with pistols that fire “anointed silver stakes,” while the Murderwing can scoop up foes as they fly past), I’m most interested in the twist Shadowhunt puts on the existing Kill Team formula. Opting for two separate Kill Zones rather than one board radically shakes things up, because now you’ve got to split your attention between a couple of arenas at once. It’s probably the biggest change we’ve had since the introduction of a non-player faction to competitive matches (which I still think might be a game-changer).
Speaking of which, Shadowhunt is where you’ll be able to use a previously-revealed iconic 40K foe as a final boss – the C’tan Shard of the Nightbringer, a Necron hero who I’m already dreading having to fight. More specifically, we now know that Shadowhunt’s Joint Ops missions will have you trying to reach “a radiant power source” (the C’tan), while competitive matches challenge you to free this enemy from his prison. Can he then be used as an added threat to weaponize against your opponent? That’s unclear. It’s bloody exciting, though.
No matter what, I’m already imagining ways of positioning one mini-board above the other, providing you with an actual tiered battlefield to play on…
There’s no word yet on when Kill Team: Shadowhunt will launch, but considering how the C’tan mini isn’t due until 2026, I imagine we’ll be waiting a while. In addition, we’ve got another, unrevealed Kill Team expansion to go before then. Judging by the wording of the WarCom post and talk of discussing the set more when we get closer to “its intended reveal date,” it feels as if Shadowhunt had to be wheeled out early due to leaks. I wouldn’t count on more concrete info for a while as a result.
Starting Kill Team
If you’re hoping to try something new for game night, why not take a look at the best board games or the best tabletop RPGs?