Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Organised Play Rules 2019

Before the event, each player must create a command roster consisting of between 3 and 20 models, all of which must share a Faction keyword and at least one of which must be a Leader.

Players must share a copy of their command roster with their opponent before mustering for each mission (see below).

Mustering

Once the mission has been determined, players will muster their kill teams and choose their secondary objectives.

Players have a maximum of five minutes to select datacards for models from their command roster, following all the normal restrictions for Battle-forged kill teams as found on page 62 of the Kill Team Core Manual. Once a player has selected a datacard, it must be placed face down in a stack, which should be concealed from their opponent. Players may need to add or remove datacards from their stack during this mustering period in order to not exceed the 100-point limit. When a player has finished selecting datacards, they must declare to their opponent that their muster is complete. If all players declare that their muster is complete before the time limit is reached, the datacard stacks are revealed simultaneously.

Each player checks their opponent’s datacards to ensure that they have a Battle-forged kill team, and then the players collect the models for the datacards in their stack and proceed to the next mission step. If the time limit is reached and not all players have declared that their muster is complete, players who have not completed their mustering can only use datacards that are already in their stack at the point the time expires.

If the datacards in their stack break any of the Battle-forged kill team restrictions, their opponent must carry out the following steps:

1. If more than one Leader is in the stack, or if there are no Leaders in the stack, choose which of the player’s Leaders is included in the stack, removing or adding datacards as necessary.

2. If the stack contains more than 3 specialists (excluding the Leader), remove specialists until the specialist limit is reached.

3. If the stack includes more than the maximum of any particular model, as detailed on its datasheet, remove datacards for that model until the limit is reached.

4. If, after carrying out the necessary steps above, the Force of the datacards in the stack exceeds 100 points, remove one datacard at a time from the stack, excluding the Leader and prioritising non-specialists, until the Force is less than or equal to 100 points.

If the time limit is reached before any players have declared their muster is complete, the muster continues until one player declares their muster complete, at which point the other player can only use datacards that are already in their stack.

If the datacards in a player’s stack breaks any of the Battle-forged kill team restrictions, their opponent must carry out the steps above.

The battlefield maps in this tournament have been designed to ensure that no player has an advantage based on the availability of cover, the location of objectives, and so on.

Secondary objectives provide a variety of challenging mission parameters for you to complete. Players choose which secondary objectives they have – and therefore which feats they must accomplish – in each mission.

Each secondary objective explains how it is scored, and in each mission, a player can only score a maximum of 3 victory points for each of their secondary objectives – even if a player could score more than 3 victory points
by fulfilling the requirements of the secondary objective, they cannot score more than this maximum.

Each mission in this pack lists the secondary objectives that can be used in that mission. When a player musters their kill team (see page 2) they also choose three secondary objectives from those listed in that mission.

Some missions include a bespoke secondary objective – a player can always choose this as one of their three secondary objectives when playing that mission. Once they have chosen their secondary objectives, the players
record their choices on their score sheets.

If the time limit for mustering is reached and not all players have chosen three secondary objectives eligible for the mission being played, each of those players must randomly determine all of their secondary objectives by
numbering each of the secondary objectives available in that mission, rolling a D6 three times and taking the corresponding secondary objectives (re-rolling in the event of a duplicate result or any result that does not
have a corresponding objective marker).

A player’s secondary objectives are kept secret from their opponent (unless they are randomly determined as described above).

When a player first scores a secondary objective, they must reveal that they have that secondary objective.

TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE

Registration and Command Roster Check

Upon arrival at the event, all players must register with an official appointed by the tournament organiser. When they do so they give their name, the Faction keyword shared by all models on their command roster and a copy of their roster, which must be clearly legible.

The roster will be checked by the tournament officials, but that doesn’t remove the responsibility of players to ensure that it follows all the rules on page 62 of the Kill Team Core Manual.

Once a command roster has been submitted, it may not be altered in any way, except to correct any errors. The organiser may penalise players who submit invalid command rosters. Note that the Resources column of the command roster is not used for tournament play, and should be ignored.

Players can fill out the Mission, Background and Squad Quirk sections if they wish, but they will not have any effect in the games that follow.

Once all players are registered, players will be organised into pods of eight players each, and pairings for the first round will be randomly allocated.

Rounds and Pairing

The first stage of the tournament is played in a series of three rounds, with 75 minutes afforded for each (this includes the five-minute kill team mustering period before the start of each mission).

After these three rounds, the top 16 players from across all of the pods will qualify for the second stage of the tournament, which is played in a further three rounds to determine the victor. For round 1, pairings within a pod are randomly generated. If there are an odd number of players, one player (determined randomly) will play against a spare player.

A spare player is one of the tournament officials or a spectator who is available to play a game should there be an odd number of players. If there is no spare player available, the randomly determined player will receive a bye. They are treated as winning the game and as having scored 13 victory points in that game.

For subsequent rounds, pairings are allocated randomly within brackets of players with the same tournament score (so after the first match, all players with 3 points will be paired randomly with each other). If there are an odd number of players in a bracket, one player randomly selected from the bracket below will be included in the higher bracket’s pairings.

If there are an odd number of players, the lowest-ranked player overall will play the spare player or receive a bye, as described previously. No player can play against the spare player more than once in a tournament, and if they would, the next lowest-ranked player will play against the spare player instead.

Players will also not be paired with an opponent they have already faced; if necessary, a player will be paired with a randomly determined player from the bracket below to avoid this.

In the final stage of the tournament, player pairings will be seeded based on their total tournament score (including tiebreakers) as detailed below.

In the first match, the player ranked at number 1 will play the player ranked at number 8, the player ranked at number 2 will play the player ranked at number 7, and so on. In subsequent rounds, players will be paired according to their tournament points (those who won their first match will play opponents who won their first match).

Killzones and Missions

Which of the missions found in this pack is played in each round is decided by the tournament organiser, and will be announced before the beginning of each round.

Scoring

When a game ends, the players record the result – including if a game ends in a draw – on their results sheets. If time runs out before the game ends, players should finish that battle round and then record the result as it stands at that point, using the same victory conditions stated in the mission and their secondary objectives.

Both players must also record their victory points scored after each game, as well as the number of secondary objectives for which they scored the full 3 victory points – these are used as tiebreakers after each round when determining which player plays the spare player or receives a bye (if necessary), and (if necessary) for determining the top 16 and the final results (see opposite).

After filling in their results sheets together, players should hand them in to an appointed official, who will record the results.

Games played in the final stage of the tournament will not end in a draw. If they would, whichever player scored the full 3 victory points for the greatest number of secondary objectives in that game wins. If the players are still tied, compare the total victory points that players have scored from their secondary objectives in that game.

Whichever player has scored higher from their secondary objectives in that game wins. If the players are still tied, whichever player has a greater proportion of their Force still on the battlefield at the end of the game wins. In the unlikely event that the game is still a draw, a final tiebreaker, described by the tournament organiser, will be used.

Ranking

Three points are scored for a match win, 1 for a match draw and 0 for a match loss. The higher a player’s score, the higher they are in the rankings. If there is a tie, highest total victory points is used as a tiebreaker; if there is still a tie, the number of secondary objectives for which a player scored the full 3 victory points should be used.

For the purposes of final rankings, in the unlikely event that there is still a tie, a final tiebreaker, described by the tournament organiser, will be used.

Breaks and Results

Players will have a short break between rounds while scores and the next round of matches are calculated. The pairings for the next round are then announced, and another round begins. After a pod’s final round has been played, the scores for that pod will be calculated and the results from that pod will be announced.

Once all pods have played, the top 16 players will be announced. They will return later in the event to play the final three rounds in the same way described above.

After the final three rounds of the tournament have been played, the final scores will be calculated and the results announced.

TOURNAMENT RULES

Miniatures Each model must completely and accurately represent its entry on your army roster (including all wargear). Conversions are acceptable, but must still represent what the model is armed with. If a conversion is deemed to be misleading by the organiser, or if a miniature is damaged or assembled in such a way that it cannot easily be identified, the player will not be allowed to use that miniature.

If the player is unable to field a legal Battle-forged kill team as a result (e.g. the damaged model is that player’s only Leader), then that player must forfeit any games until they can provide a suitable alternative.

Players cannot handle their opponent’s miniatures. A player can waive this rule for their own miniatures if they wish, and should indicate to their opponent where this is the case.

Datacards

Players should have a completed datacard for each model on their command roster that clearly shows equipment, abilities and any specialism that model has. Players are permitted to write only the name of an ability on the datacard, rather than the full text, but must ensure they are familiar with the ability and how it works, as well as having a copy of the Kill Team product containing that ability to hand should an opponent ask to read the ability.

Tactics Players can use any of the Tactics available to their kill team from the Kill Team Core Manual. To do so they must bring the relevant Tactic card or the Core Manual to the tournament, and must allow their opponent to read the Tactic if they ask to.

A player cannot use Tactics from other Kill Team publications, and cannot use a Tactic that they have not brought or cannot show to an opponent.

Tokens

Players should strive to bring sufficient Kill Team tokens, including objective markers, to their games. If a player does not have sufficient tokens to clearly display effects (Readying a model, Advancing etc.), that player should make it clear to their opponent what effect is in place.

In such an event, their opponent is permitted to place a token of their own next to the player’s model. Battlefields Battlefields must be set up exactly as shown for the mission being played, and players cannot move terrain features unless a mission rule specifies they should.

Dice

When a player makes a dice roll, they must roll the dice in such a manner as to generate a completely random result. They may use a dice tower to do so if they wish. Dice that are rolled off the table, out of sight of the player’s opponent or that do not land flat (‘cocked’ dice) must be re-rolled.

Cheating

This tournament should be held in the spirit of friendly competition. All participants, whatever their role, are expected to show good conduct throughout the tournament.

They are expected to treat each other with respect and behave in a mature and considerate manner, including during disputes, and should behave in accordance with the following guidelines:

Advice

Players are not permitted to seek advice from any other person during a round. They can, however, seek rules clarifications from an official.

Timeliness

Players are expected to register promptly, and to find their opponent in a timely fashion when each pairing is announced. Players who fail to do so may have to forfeit the game in question at the discretion of a judge, or be expelled from the tournament at the discretion of the organiser.

Players must not stall or deliberately play slowly so as to lengthen a game. If a player suspects that their opponent is deliberately slowing the game down, they can ask an available judge to observe their game.

Playing Area

Each player is responsible for ensuring that the playing area is clear of any clutter, and that the state of the game is clear to their opponent and to a judge. Players suspected of deliberately obscuring datacards, Tactics cards or tokens that should be visible to both players, or otherwise obfuscating the state of the game, may be penalised.

Spectating

Players can be spectators when they are not playing a match. Spectators are not permitted to interfere in any match that is being played, including by giving any information to either of the players. They may, however, inform a judge if they suspect a player of cheating.

Cheating

Players are expected to know the rules of the game, and cannot, through either action or inaction, create a situation that is against the rules. If a player suspects that their opponent is cheating, they must inform a judge. A player found to be cheating may have to forfeit the game at the discretion of the judge, or be expelled from the tournament at the discretion of the organiser.