Or why I don’t need to discuss the Balance Dataslate of 2026Q3

I’ve enjoyed Kill Team for around 3 years now. Some of it is the game itself, and a lot of it is the playerbase attracted to the game - in particular, the gaming community nurtured by Rob, Chicago’s Kill Team Patriarch.

My attachment to both the game and scene has had some ups and downs - sometimes I can’t really make time to play or hobby, sometimes the game balance favors teams that I dislike.

Written under my interpretation of balance changes as released for Kill Team Q4 2025 at Warhammer community.

I include a brief introduction describing what this tier shenanigan is about.

Quite some time has passed since I last wrote one of these - and although the meta was healthy, Games Workshop were feeling like a shake up was in order! The most notable change were to Seek & Destroy Tac Ops.

Dominate: killing enemies with 12 wounds or more now gives two tokens. This means that Elite vs Elite matchups can now use this and allow a cagier play style; but it also means high-damage hordes get easier dominate play.

Written under my interpretation of balance changes as released during 2026Q1.

Woah, these Wolf Scouts look kinda heretical.

So, I played 2 tournaments piloting Wolf Scouts, amounting to 8 competitive games! That makes me an expert, right? I think I can share the lessons hammered into me by the Chicagoland meta, and maybe make the online rules easier to digest for newcomers.

What are the Wolf Scouts?

This team is mostly a Space Marine team, with a Phobos-like feel mostly geared up for melee. The base operative chassis has 3APL, defends on 3+, with movement 7’’, and 13 wounds. But they also have one explicitly different operative that you must field as one of your 6 choices: a Fenrisian Wolf with 2APL, 9 wounds, defending on 5+, and action restrictions like other animal-like operatives.

Written under my interpretation of balance changes as released for Kill Team Q1 2026 at Warhammer community.

I include a brief introduction describing what this tier shenanigan is about.

For the reader’s convenience, I amalgamated all of the recent changes in a single document that you can find here. Additionally to several factions being affected, the Retrieval and Flank Tac Ops changed.

• Retrieval: each operative can carry up to one marker. Before this team, very few teams could have exploited it - most notably, the Necrons due to their teleportation/movement shenanigans.
• Flank: Harder to score on earlier turns. On TP2 and TP3, you can no longer score 2 points from a single flank by controlling it since the previous turn.

The 2026 Q1 tier list

A note on Season 1 Teams: they are scratched off but stil shown. The “classified” meta (i.e. without them) would be severely different, as the landscape of natural enemies changes. Teams with an asterisk (*) defy classification.

A few months ago, I participated at a Warhammer 40K crusade organized by the Chicago Dice Dojo Community. The Nachmund Gauntlet crusade rules were used, and I think my experience there can serve as a review of the general principles of a 40K Crusade and the Nachmund Gauntlet ruleset in particular.

This article assumes you have a general idea of how 40K plays, but I’ll make my best to avoid the nitty-gritty details.

Written under my interpretation of balance changes as released for Kill Team Q4 2025 at Warhammer community.

I include a brief introduction describing what this tier shenanigan is about.

The 2025 Q4 tier list

A note on Season 1 Teams: they are scratched off but stil shown. They have a heavy presence in the A-tier, where they are evenly matched, with overall advantage over the B tier.

Outliers:

Running a Kill Team Tournament! Or any organized play, if that’s your thing

Or how to survive collective hallucinations and delusional goals

I recently had the honor of running the Dice Dojo Kill Team Summer Open of 2025 tournament for the first time. The Dice Dojo Open tournament series is a revered institution in the Kill Team scene of Chicago, where competitive intent coincides with a friendly atmosphere and an open minded attitude to discover more Kill Team possibilities. The event went well from my somewhat subjective point of view, and after everything was said and done, I suddenly became nostalgic about my journey as a Kill Team player and accidental side quests in community organization. The first Kill Team tournament I attended was a Dojo Open, in Fall 2023, the zenith of the 2nd edition - so we could say this is my alma mater. Which in turn made me think about the many conversations in random Discord servers I’ve heard from people considering organization of events. So, for those thinking about supporting their local scenes, or starting new ones, or bringing communities together, I thought I might dedicate a few words in case my experiences help - either as a helpful observations or thoughts to detract.

I had the privilege to attend the Kill Team Grand Tournament at Saint Louis’ Gateway Open event. Many veterans all around the midwest were there, from Springfield, Urbana-Champaign, Saint Louis, Indiana, Wisconsin, Twin Cities… I swung down the Gateway center with Rob and Michael from the Dice Dojo gang, which made the road trip even better. At around 4 hours, it was a nice stretch to chat about random stuff with them. Thanks Rob for the smooth drive!

Written under my interpretation of balance changes as released for Kill Team Q3 2025 at Warhammer community.

I include a brief introduction describing what this tier shenanigan is about.

The 2025 Q3 tier list

Outliers:

Written under my interpretation of balance changes as released for Kill Team Q2 2025 at Warhammer community.

I include a brief introduction describing what this tier shenanigan is about.

Kill Team Balance and a Tier List

I’d like to share with you some thoughts about Kill Team and its current balance - focusing for now on a competitive mindset, such as playing in a tournament or league. Since this might mean different things to different people, I’ll clarify a bit.