The Kill Team 2024 Starter Set

Yesterday's announcement of the starter set for the new edition of Kill Team was a bit of a surprise. It's a big break from GW's tradition of making starter sets a cut-down version of the launch box. Instead of Bug Men and Paratroopers we're getting Space Marines and Plague Marines and instead of some plastic city terrain, we're getting MDF ruins.

That said, it is a smart move on their part.

Space Marines are GW's bread and butter — they always sell well — and these Space Marines are releases of ones that were previously only available through obscure channels. It's going to appeal to new players and plenty of existing ones (including some who have already bought the Hivestorm launch box).

I'm not one of them; being sold in blind boxes only through third-party retailers didn't stop me getting my hands on both set of models! It does give me motivation to push the Plague Marines up my project queue as I can now play them in a game. I don't need to buy more plastic to bulk out my nascent 40K Chaos force just to get the Plague Marines on the table.

This also addresses the enormous amount of complaining on social media about how many different boxes of Space Marines one had to buy to get all the options for the Angels of Death kill team as it puts most of them in a single box.

The terrain is also a good move — it will go together easily and without glue, doesn't need any painting, and keeps the costs down. It's not for me — I'm far too far along the hobby trumpet — but it is ideal starter set fodder.