Games Workshop has previewed the next box set for Warhammer 40k Kill Team, and the contents are so cool that we’re only half-joking when we say that pre-orders risk crashing the official Warhammer webstore. ‘Brutal And Cunning’ was revealed during the Warhammer Day Preview Stream on Saturday, featuring brand new miniatures for Ork Tankbustas and Ratling Snipers, and they’re some of the most characterful models the firm has ever made.
As is often the case with new Kill Team releases, it contains new sculpts for existing units in two Warhammer 40k factions. The current Ratling and Tankbusta models are cast in resin and are showing their age, so there’s going to be demand from Warhammer 40k players who want to upgrade, as well as Kill Team afficionados looking for a new team to play.
That wouldn’t matter if these weren’t good sculpts, but oh boy are they good sculpts. The Ork Tankbustas are a perfect example of why the Warhammer 40k Orks are so fun.
These are the greenskins’ equivalent to anti-tank infantry, but whereas the Space Marines use complicated melta rifles and long range las-fusils for the task, the Orks are fully committed to DIY solutions. Those include single-shot rokkit pistols, squigs strapped with explosives, and hammers with missiles taped to the end of them.
Then there’s the Breaka Boy Krusha, an Ork wearing approximately an entire cast iron stovetop as body-armor, with a pair of pneumatic hammers called “Knuckle Busters” on his hands. How is any self-respecting 40k collector supposed to resist that?
Somehow, the Orks are the more serious of the two squads. Ratlings are abhumans, a shorter and rounder subspecies of humans; think DnD halflings in space. They often serve as dead eye snipers in the Astra Militarum, even though they’d rather be eating lunch than engaged in combat. As the prejudiced Imperium of Man barely tolerates them, they often have to plug gaps in their field equipment with items they ‘liberate’ from other units.
These models are dripping with character, from the squad’s fixer warming his hands on a mug of tea, to the ad-hoc anti-tank rifle jerry-rigged with a stolen lascannon power cell. The ramshackle construction is giving off so much heat that the gunner is using it to keep a grilled cheese sandwich and mug of recaff warm.
The Ratling squad also contains a pug mascot. In game, he’s a good boy who barks his head off whenever enemies draw near, allowing the combat-averse Ratlings to scarper away from danger. A tiny model pug – honestly, however many copies of this boxed set Games Workshop has printed, it’s not going to be enough.
The Brutal and Cunning box set will also contain some bunker terrain, with additional rules for custom defense scenarios. If, like us, you’re an absolute fanatic for Warhammer terrain, this looks great.
The new edition of Kill Team is off to a very strong start indeed. Make sure you check out our Kill Team: Hivestorm review for more detailed thoughts about the new edition, and the quality of product that Games Workshop is now releasing for it.
Source: Wargamer
