Advanced Kill Team Modifications: Return to Space Hulk

These modifications aren't required to have fun playing Kill Team, and they aren't "official" in any way. We playtested these rules a few times, but you'll probably run into some issues that you'll have to resolve on the fly with your opponent. The moral of the story: these mods are here so you can have even more fun with the cool Kill Team rules, have another way to play with these awesome new plastic models, and have a silly-yet-nostalgic chance to get a taste of the Space Hulk of old.

Note that even though we're trying to get close to Space Hulk, the basics of Kill Team still prevail. These modifications don't change the fact that you're still going to be playing 40K – you'll still have the Movement, Shooting, and Assault Phases...except for a few things.

Ignore Leadership, Morale, and Assault Aftermath. Leadership tests, morale checks, consolidation, sweeping advances, falling back, and the like do not apply under these advanced modifications. A Kill Team game within the confines of a Hulk map would be too complicated with these psychological rules in effect to keep the game moving like the Space Hulk of old. For an added challenge, however, feel free to re-introduce these rules after you've played a few games without them.

Terminator Moving & Shooting. A Terminator Kill Team that has been assigned Space Hulk duty is a fearsome combat force indeed. The Team has trained for decades on the intricacies of fighting in this dangerous environment, especially the value of sustained fire. These highly trained Terminators benefit from a BS of 5. Furthermore, Terminators can fire their storm bolters both during the Movement Phase and during the Shooting Phase at the cost of -1 BS in both Phases.

Heavy Flamer. The Terminators' heavy flamer uses the 40K Flame Template as normal and can only shoot once per turn (unlike the storm bolters above). However, since a Space Hulk is wrought with fuel canisters, power conduits, and other incendiaries, a heavy flamer can cause a fire that remains in play throughout the subsequent turn. The Space Marine player may designate a line across the width of the template (the shorter of the two dimensions of the template) that becomes Impassable Terrain for the next turn. You can represent this line with a pencil or string or some other narrow line.

Genestealer Cover Save. On a Space Hulk, Genestealers can crawl through air ducts, climb on ceilings and walls, and scuttle under deck plates. Because of this three-dimensional agility, Genestealers are assumed to always benefit from a 5+ cover save.

Genestealer Entry Areas. In a normal game of Kill Team, the brute squad player sets up his sentries near the mission objective area. Instead, the Tyranid player places blips on the board edge where the genestealer entry areas are marked on the mission maps. The mission will dictate how many blips you can place on the board and when – just know that you place the blips on these areas at the beginning of the Tyranid player's turn. However, if a Terminator model is within 6" of a Genestealer Entry Area where the Tyranid player wants to deploy, his blip must "lurk" off board beside this Entry Area for a full turn before it can be deployed.

Brute Squad Activation. Your standard Kill Team mission features a group of stealthy special ops troops trying to sneak in and take out an objective. A Kill Team on a Space Hulk is a different beast altogether – their goal is to exterminate, not to sneak. Thus, a Terminator Kill Team sacrifices stealth for armour and fire power. Unfortunately, this lack of stealth means that the Genestealer brute squads are aware of the Terminators the second their armoured boots hit the first deck plate. Consider all brute squads active and aware from the start of each mission.

Unit Coherency. Both the Kill Team and the brute squads must deploy in unit coherency. That means for blips, when they convert into a brute squad (or two), those Genestealers must start out following 2" unit coherency. However, being highly trained Space Hulk veterans, the Terminators are free to break unit coherency after deployment. The Genestealers are also free to break unit coherency, but any Genestealers within 4" of each other are automatically considered a brood for shooting and assault purposes.

Doors. Doors block line-of-sight until opened. To open a door, a model must move into base contact with or through the doorway, though this costs 2" of movement rather than 1" since it takes time to open the door. For example, if a Terminator is 3" from a door, he can move 5" from his current position through the door rather than his normal 6". You can use Fleet of Claw to move through doors, but only if you have enough movement distance available. Once a model moves through the doorway in this fashion, move the door marker to the side to indicate the door is now open. Treat opened doors like normal terrain – you can move through at your normal movement rate. To close the door again, a model must be in base contact with the doorway at the end of that player's Movement Phase, and the player must declare that he is closing the door. That model may not assault that turn while it closes the door, but it can shoot as normal. At the end of that player's turn, replace the door marker in the doorway – it is now closed.

Destroying Doors. A door may be destroyed whether it is closed or opened, at which point it is considered to be opened permanently. A Terminator can destroy a door by shooting at its location on the board during the Shooting Phase, or by attacking the door's location during the Assault Phase (the Terminator hits and destroys the door on a D6 roll of 4 or better and can use multiple shots as described above). Note that flamers cannot damage doors, and they block flamer effects. A Genestealer or blip may attack a door during its Assault Phase only (same D6 roll as the Terminator).

Overwatch. One of the other fun features of the old Space Hulk was the ability of Terminators to go into "overwatch" mode. Overwatch allows Terminators to shoot during the Genestealer Movement Phase, in effect interrupting the Tyranid player's turn. The Space Marine player must declare if a Terminator is entering overwatch at the beginning of its Movement Phase, which means that it cannot shoot or launch an assault for the rest of that turn, and it can move only 3" that turn. Now, if a Genestealer moves at all within the range and line-of-sight of the overwatch Terminator during the subsequent Tyranid turn, the Terminator may shoot at that Genestealer. If you like, place an overwatch marker next to the Terminator model(s) to remember that you can shoot during the Tyranid turn.

To figure how many shots the Terminator gets, move the Genestealer model as normal. Measure the total distance the Genestealer moved within the range and line-of-sight of the Terminator – the Terminator gets one actual shot per 1" of this visible movement. For example, if a Genestealer is 28" away from an overwatch Terminator and moves 6" closer down an open corridor, the Terminator gets two shots at the Genestealer (28" - 6" = 22" away, 2" of that movement were within 24" range). For another example, if a Genestealer moves 6" to cross a 2"-wide corridor that's 10" away from the Terminator, the Terminator gets two shots since it could only see 2" of the 6" movement.

Ignore the Assault 2 specification of the storm bolter while in overwatch – it gets as many single shots as the number of inches of visible movement within its 24" range. Since the Terminator is sweeping the area with fire, it gets a -1 BS penalty. A Terminator is no longer in overwatch when it moves again or participates in an assault. A Terminator cannot fire through other Terminators while on overwatch. A Terminator with a heavy flamer can go on overwatch, but it can only fire once regardless of the visible movement distance.

Since a Terminator on overwatch is cranking out so much fire, even the well-cared-for storm bolter can overheat and jam. Any to-hit roll of a 1 means the weapon has jammed and the Terminator breaks overwatch and spends the rest of the subsequent Space Marine turn clearing the jam – it may move and assault, but that Terminator cannot fire that turn. Roll each overwatch shot separately so you know when the jam occurs.

Optional Special Rules For those of you who are really pining away for the Space Hulk of yore, you can use the optional rule below to really travel back in time. Just make sure you and your opponent are in agreement on these rules before the game starts – no one likes to see a fight where people hurl dice at each other. Timer. The 1st Edition of Space Hulk required the Space Marine player to make all of his command decisions within a short period of time. A lot of things have changed between that game and today's 40K. However, you can still add this suspenseful element to this particular Kill Team rendition. When the Space Marine player's Movement Phase begins, he has 45 seconds to move his forces. When that time expires, the Space Marine player can no longer move his forces...even if he hasn't moved all of his units. Obviously, this limitation does not affect movements made during the Assault Phase. If you and your opponent want more or less of a challenge, feel free to increase or decrease this time limit. Just make sure there is plenty of mocking involved either way.