Kill Team Typhon Review - Purge The Infestation

The current season of Kill Team continues with the release of its third expansion set, Kill Team Typhon. Following a slightly different format to previous expansions, we're still treated to 2 brand new kill teams, along with the inclusion of a force of non-player operatives (NPOs) for you to battle solo. In this article, we'll take a look at both kill teams and what Typhon adds to your games.

Kill Team is a skirmish wargame set in Games Workshop's larger Warhammer 40,000 setting. As a skirmish game, Kill Team features a small number of elite troops, fighting special operations battles, rather than huge battles fought with entire armies. We've covered Kill Team in depth since the first edition, and you can read our review of the current Starter Set here.

A New Infestation

Kill Team Typhon, as with previous expansions, adds 2 brand new kill teams and some scenery that builds on that from the Hivestorm box. It also includes a set of player-versus-player missions, some non-player operative miniatures, and a mission pack for cooperative and solo play. The full box contents is:

• Kill Team Typhon Dossier
• 10x Adeptus Mechanicus Battleclade miniatures
• 5x Tyranid Raveners miniatures
• 11x Tyranid Hormagaunts and Ripper Swarm NPO miniatures
• Datacards for both kill teams
• Tokens for both kill teams
• 15x Tyranid Infestation scenery pieces

Suffer Not The Xenos To Live

Kill Team Typhon moves back into the standard Kill Team expansion format with 2 new kill teams, some new scenery, and a mission pack that uses the scenery for you to battle in. It also includes a set of dedicated non-player operatives (NPOs) and a mission pack for cooperative or solo play. The Joint Ops: Typhon Mission Pack sees players battling these AI-controlled Tyranids.

2 types of Tyranid NPOs are included in Typhon, Hormagaunts and Ripper Swarms, but the rules for 6 Tyranid NPOs are included in the Joint Ops pack, should you wish to expand your Joint Ops games with miniatures from the Warhammer 40,000 range. The mission pack has 6 missions that can be played individually or as a branching campaign. The missions all use the Tyranid Infestation scenery included in Typhon, and scenery from Kill Team Hivestorm, which is also available separately as Kill Zone Volkus.

The Omnissiah's Will

Technology under the Imperium's rule is manically controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus. Part of their remit is to seek out lost technology, to stop it from getting into the wrong hands, which includes Imperial forces, and sometimes other members of the Adeptus Mechanicus. These searches are led by the Technoarcheologists, and their lobotomized, mechanically augmented servitor warriors/slaves in forces known as Battleclades.

The Battleclade kill team is made up of 10 operators, the Technoarcheologist, armed with the powerful Eradication Pistol and Omniscaner ability, which lets you put a token on an enemy within 8 inches, or visible to the Technoarcheologist, and then any friendly attacks against that operative can reroll 1s. The Technoacheologist is supported by another junior Tech-Priest, a Servitor Underseer. The Battleclade has a special rule where, during an operative's activation, they can subtract one from their action points and immediately take a free action (except move) with another servitor after their action ends. The Underseer can do that with a nearby Servitor without ending their turn, and they can spend one of their action points to make a dash move with a nearby Servitor, to position then better for their activation, or to get them into cover (or out of if you need some bait).

The rest of the kill team is made up of 8 servitor operatives, 3 specialists, 2 heavy weapon servitors, and 3 combat servitors with a variety of armaments. You can take additional combat servitors, swapping out specialists and heavy weapons, but they're pretty good, so you're going to want to take them. One of the specialists is the Auto-Proxy Servitor, through whom the Underseer can channel their abilities, and has their own ability to make targeting enemies in cover easier.

The 2 heavy weapon armed servitors come with either a heavy bolter or a heavy arc rifle (you can take 1 of each), and you can take one combat servitor with a melta gun, up to 3 with Incendine Igniters, a short range torrent weapon, or a Phosphor Blaster, which always gets at least 1 crit, even if you don't roll one.

Thoughts Of A Hive Mind

The Raveners are a snake-like bioform that the Tyranid Hive Mind uses to burrow beneath the defenses of its targets in its unrelenting quest to devour all biomass. The Raveners are an elite kill team, comprising of 5 operatives, led by a Ravener Prime, who can gain an extra CP each turn if they roll higher than the turn number, and can really hamper your opponent's objective capturing abilities through tier Neuropredatory Crest, which reduces the APL stat for contesting objeives of all enemy operatives when determining control of a marker by 1. It also increases the AP for any nearby enemy operatives using the Pick Up Marker action, and stops them from rerolling attack and defence dice.

All of the Ravener's are fast, with 3 action points and a move of 7. They all also have the Burrow action, which removes them from the Killzone, or if out of the Killzone, allows them to be set up anywhere in your Tunnel, which you develop as the game progresses.

There are 4 types of Ravener specialists, and the basic Ravener Warrior. The Felltalon has the option for a poison attack, the Tremorscythe has a reaction to attack any operative moving near your tunnel network, the Venomspitter has a powerful Venom Bolt attack, and the Wrecker is tougher, and when attacking enemies, can roll off against them for additional damage. As you can only take 4 operatives, you will usually take 1 of each specialist over the basic Warrior, who, while deadly, doesn't have any special abilities other than getting the lethal 5+ against wounded enemy operatives.

Kill Team Typhon Final Thoughts?

Kill Team Typhon means that players finally get a dedicated Tyranid kill team outside of the original compendium, and the Raveners don't disappoint. They're fast and deadly, and their tunnel ability is incredibly thematic, and nerve-wracking for your opponent, who has no idea where they will come out. The Battlclade kill team is, as you would expect, devoid of emotion and entirely goal-oriented. It feels very much like a fantasy Undead kill team, in that you have to protect the Tech Priests, because while the Servitors are tough, they're really boosted by their overseers.

The inclusion of the NPOs and scenery makes Typhon a very exciting pack. Plug this into the Kill Team core rulebook and the Kill Zone Volkus set, and you've got a great experience for players, with player vs player, solo, and cooperative options (which can use either force in the set). The included kill teams are thematic and fun, and it all fits together to feel like more than a box with 2 new kill teams, but a solid gaming set.

The copy of Kill Team Typhon used to produce this review was provided by Games Workshop.