RPGaDay 2021 - Day Twenty-Five

 

DAY 25 - WELCOME - TRADITION - FRESH - BOX

All I can think of is BOX… the new Warhammer 40K Kill Team: Octarius Box that is to be release this weekend, which I am SUPER excited about… I know, it isn’t a “Role-Playing Game”, per se but I’d argue there is SOME element of role-playing in miniature wargames. You are, essentially, taking on the ROLE of a battlefield commander, ordering troops into combat, here and there. 

The above image is ©2021 Games Workshop and used here without their permission for review purposes only.

With a small skirmish game, like Kill Team, this is even more pronounced, as you take on the role of a commander of a small team of fighters - where individual actions matter - and those individuals are often named. It really reminds me of my early days of playing D&D - where we all playing with more than one character in those first dungeon crawls. 

Skirmish games with campaign systems - where experience and injuries are tracked from game to game and individual members of the team can improve through play - especially lend themselves towards more role-playing. The members of a squad/gang/team can end up developing their own “personalities” and a team dynamic can begin to unfold and a narrative develop. What is a role-playing games beyond cooperatively building a narrative about a group of characters? 

Who can forget everyone’s frustration with Pavel - the sniper in my Mutants and Death-Ray Guns team - whose rifle was constantly jamming - always when the team REALLY NEEDED him to suppress a team or take out a particularly terrifying opponent that was keeping them from fulfilling an objective… and… nothing… and everyone started shouting “GODDAMMIT, PAVEL, CLEAN YOUR FUCKING RIFLE!” That all developed because of a couple of really unlucky rolls that ended up with a weapon jamming… for the sniper… the one guy everyone would think would have a well maintained precision weapon in the team. 

Some Skirmish games even PROMOTE role-playing more than the original D&D did. The previous edition of Kill Team had tables of Demeanours you could roll on for the individual members of your team. 

What is Frostgrave besides a competitive game of role-playing a Wizard - with an apprentice and a bunch of hirelings - exploring a frozen city full of magical artifacts to be collected and monsters to be slain. Again, playing that brought me right back to those initial days of playing D&D! 

Back to Kill Team, though… I didn’t want to get so excited about the new Kill Team. When they first announced it, I thought “Ugh, hard pass”. I has been so excited about the previous edition - and did play a LOT of games of it (33 recorded on BGG) - but ultimately it was a big disappointment. I figured I would just carry on this fall with my original plans of building Age of Sigmar armies and playing that - ideally as part of a Paths to Glory campaign!) and maybe some Warcry (Age of Sigmar skirmish game - also building a campaign) and some Warhammer Underworlds (also set in world of Age of Sigmar) and revive/reboot my Age of Sigmar: Soulbound Role-playing game… basically keeping focuses on Age of Sigmar (with maybe a few games of Necromunda with Orion on the side… maybe even start a CAMPAIGN of THAT!?)… 

And then I started reading and watching reviews of the new Kill Team…

The new rules look really great. Basically, this new version of Kill Team is looking like it might be everything I’d really HOPED the previous version would be! Possibly more!? Alternating, individual activations with action points, a solid-looking campaign system, tracking experience for everyone. 

Oh, and the toys… Death Corps of Kreig? SIGN ME UP!!! (Because, apparently, I just don’t have ENOUGH Imperial Guard forces already). Ork Kommandoes!? (Another one of my first loves and first 40K forces - that box of metal Space Ork Raiders, which was eventually reinforced with a very heavy Attack Buggy and a halftrack flamer bike thing…). Orks were Finnegan’s first 40K force as well, so HE’s pretty excited about them too (though, not so excited as to want to paint them himself!) AND all that terrain - which could double as necromunda terrain or any sort of post-apocalyptic terrain (Mutants and Death-Ray Guns!) 

Yeah… SUPER EXCITED… I know what I’ll be doing all weekend! Madly assembling and prepping all the new toys - and maybe even trying to cajole Amanda or Finnegan into trying out the new rules with some of the Kill Teams we can cobble together with the models we already have.