Warhammer 40K Kill Team: Hivestorm is way more than a starter set

I once joked that Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team was the sick man of the British company’s otherwise thriving family of science fiction wargames. After a high-profile relaunch in 2018, the small unit miniatures skirmish game has grown to become one of the pillars of the entire 40K franchise. With the new Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Hivestorm boxed set, due out later this fall, Kill Team effectively launches into its third edition. But for all its streamlining of the core experience, its two new game modes — solo and cooperative play — feel a bit light.

Kill Team invites players to battle against one another, traditionally 1v1 in a competitive format, with very small collections of miniatures — usually only six to 12 miniatures each. The advantage to the format is that new players don’t need to spend a fortune on figurines to get up and running, and hobby painters can rally an effective fighting force far more quickly. The second edition, which was released in 2021, added light narrative elements to the game, including personalized factions that evolved new capabilities over time. 

Hivestorm is a pretty big boxed set, complete with multi-story plastic terrain pieces and two 10-unit kill teams — the Tau’s Vespid Stingwings and the Imperial Guard’s Tempestus Aquilons. What’s unusual about these two factions is that both of them are airborne with the ability to fly across the map, unlike virtually every other faction yet released for the game. As a result, the entire product feels more like Advanced Kill Team than an introductory starter set. And the marketing push, aimed squarely at existing fans, seems to support that. 

The refinements in this revised ruleset hugely improve quality of life for existing players. The game uses inches now, instead of the awkward geometric symbols that had previously stood in… for inches. I especially enjoy the idea of universal equipment that can be shared between individual units. But I was looking forward to feasting on the solo and cooperative modes. Unfortunately, now that I’ve had some time with them they feel more like an appetizer than a main course.

In the entire 112-page Core Book that comes bundled inside Hivestorm, solo and cooperative play get a grand total of two pages of rules. Those pages more or less boil down to a single strategy: Have the non-player enemies on the table do the meanest thing you can think of, so long as it’s either shooting or engaging in melee combat, and then move on. They represent, quite literally, the most low-effort implementation of solo or cooperative rules that I could possibly imagine.

Kill Team is known for an exotic collection of factions filled with colorful little characters, many of which have bespoke rules inspired by the rich lore of the 40K universe. These new solo and cooperative rules reduce all of that material down to six generic data cards designed to stand in for bog-standard soldiers. That means players aren’t actually going up against another highly skilled Kill Team. Instead, they’re just plowing through a bunch of low-level grunts.

The miniatures, on the other hand, are among Games Workshop’s finest. I’m especially drawn to the Vespid Stingwings, which look completely different than anything else in the 40K universe. I especially love how their tiny third set of arms, so small as to be nearly vestigial, are posed. Some use the li’l appendages to steady their weapons as they aim, while others casually drape them over other limbs in more relaxed stances. But it’s the Aquilons that will probably sell the most Hivestorm boxes, as their grav-chute backpacks — some of the first airborne offerings for the new generation of plastic Guardsmen — will surely be a hit with the kit-bashing scene.

Bottom line is that if you’re already invested in the Kill Team franchise, this box set is a no-brainer. The new rules as well as the scenery will continue to be vital in competitive play for years to come. If you were looking for a rich, narrative-driven solo or cooperative experience, then you’ll probably be disappointed. Meanwhile, if you’re a new player looking to get into the hobby, it’s probably best to start with a smaller box of miniatures. Then all you need to do is wait for the game’s new Core Book to show up in stores as a stand-alone item.