A nerd’s journey

Welcome! I’m Alvaro. I share things I consider interesting here.

Mostly Boardgames, fiction, but anything might go.

I have a cozy Discord server here. All respectful people are invited.

A gentle introduction to Wolf Scouts

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

Woah, these Wolf Scouts look kinda heretical. Warp Scouts

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.

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Q1 2026 Kill Team Balance as of 2025-01-28 and Tier List!

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 factiosn 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.

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Playing a 40K Crusade

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.

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Q4 2025 Kill Team Balance as of 2025-11-08 and Tier List!

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.

Category Teams
S Deathwatch, Canoptek Circle, Felgor, Wolf Scouts (*), Mandrakes, Phobos
A Blades of Khaine, Battleclade, Angels of Death (*), Stealth Battlesuit (*), Raveners, Aquilons, Brood Brothers, Hunter Clade, Void-Dancers, Wyrmblade, Death Korps, Blooded, Voidscarred
B Nemesis Claw, Goremongers, Breachers, Exaction Squad, Wreka Krew, Farstalkers, Inquisition, Chaos cults, Ratlings, Plague Marines, Vespid, Hierotek, Salvagers, Hand of the Archon (*), Yaegirs (*), Sanctifiers, Novitiates, Legionaries, Elucidian Starstriders
C Pathfinders, Scout Squad, Kasrkin, Gellerpox, Kommandos, Warpcoven

Outliers:

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Running Kill Team tournaments

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.

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I went to Gateway Open 2025!

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!

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Q3 2025 Kill Team Balance as of 2025-07-23 and Tier List!

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

Category Teams
S Phobos, Felgor, Void-Dancers, Sanctifiers, Battleclade
A Warpcoven, Goremongers, Elucidian Starstriders, Wyrmblade, Legionaries, Death Korps, Blooded, Voidscarred, Blades of Khaine
B Nemesis Claw, Angels of Death (*), Raveners, Breachers, Novitiates, Exaction Squad, Wreka Krew, Mandrakes, Farstalkers, Inquisition, Chaos cults, Ratlings, Plague Marines, Vespid, Hierotek, Kommandos, Aquilons, Salvagers, Hand of the Archon (*), Yaegirs (*), Hunter Clade
C Pathfinders, Scout Squad, Kasrkin, Gellerpox, Brood Brothers

Outliers:

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Q2 2025 Kill Team Balance as of 2025-04-30 and Tier List!

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.

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Adepticon 2025 Grand Tournament!

This part of a brief, personal series on my experiences at Adepticon 2025.

The big day had finally come! The Adepticon Kill Team Grand Tournament had about 90 players signed up, and many veterans from the Worlds tournaments and many GTs as well were in attendance. I really wanted to get into the top 8 and experience that side of the competitive scene.

Day 1

I wasn’t feeling as confident about my competence as I had a mere week ago, though. Keeping a clear head would be key through the 4 rounds. I wanted to be in the zone! I would strive to keep my cool!

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Adepticon 2025 Doubles!

This part of a brief, personal series on my experiences at Adepticon 2025.

Doubles of what?

The Adepticon Kill Team Doubles tournament is a fun 2v2 format, using one Volkus map adjacent to a Gallowdark one. Every player deploys on one of these maps, but during TP1, they can cross into the other half. Pairs share a Tac Op, selected from the union of choices across them.

I like doubles because it presents more complex games, as a pair of players might collaborate in the center, while presenting higher strategic complexity to navigate.

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