Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team Starn’s Disciples

Kill Team is an incredibly successful brand for Games Workshop and the supplements keep coming. So it is time to not just look at the very interesting Kill Zones, like Sector Fronteris or Sector Mechanicus, but one of the actual Kill Teams.

With the re-release of the Genestealer Cult back in 2016, the new Kill Team Starn's Disciples is one of the boxes that really caught my eye. The Kill Teams go hand in hand with a combatant, in this case the Mechanicus warband of Theta 7 Aquisitus and the matching Kill Zone, the mentioned above Sector Fronteris using the Ryza Pattern ruins.

Games Workshop already introduced the Starn's Disciples on the Warhammer Community page, with some info on the rules and the potential setup of the Kill Team incl. named miniatures.

So how do these Kill Teams work? They are like a small starter back for a specific faction, they cover a bit of terrain, a couple of miniatures - enough for a Kill Team - and the matching gaming materials, like rules, cards and tokens for you to directly dive in. And the newer Kill Teams even have a leader included, in this case the Kelermorph.

The earlier Kill Teams cost 40 EUR, the newer ones 55 EUR, but they include the character as mentioned above. In case of Starn's Disciple the Kill Team includes an exclusive Commander, a Kelermorph, along with the sprues for the Genestealer Cult Hybrid Metamorphs / Acolyte Hybrids. The terrain piece in this kit, is one pair of Ryza pattern ruin sprues - that's half the terrain kits content.

But in this box aren't just plastic sprues, but quite a lot of gaming material. I was surprised that they did not only include the rules for the Kill Team but new mission and tactic cards as well. So you'll find an 8-page Starn's Disciple booklet, 18 tactics cards, 6 commander tactics cards, 4 new mission cards, 4 psychic power cards, 2 Kill team token sheets (one for the Kill Team, one for the Commander), 6 data cards and an ability tree for the Kelermorph Ghyrson Starn.

There are a total of 5 sprues included in here. One set of Ryza Pattern ruins that's same style as the Sector Fronteris. The Ryza Pattern ruin kit, which you can buy separately, covers this set of sprues twice. As for the models them self, as mentioned above, there are 5 Hybrid Metamorphs, who can be build as Acolyte Hybrids as well, spread across two medium sized sprues. And a small sprue for the new and exclusive to this set commander, the Kelermorph.

As you will notice, the terrain sprue is the regular grey (which comes a bit as a surprise, as the sprues in the ruin kit and Kill Zone were pre-coloured in a dark red / bone). But the Kill Team comes in a light grey. Many of the Kill Teams have pre-coloured sprues, so that they can be easier identified directly after assembly, prior to painting. The light grey may be an hommage to the old times, as the early plastic sprues by Games Workshop / Citadel Miniatures were in this light grey, as you can see in the third picture with the comparison to sprues from 1990 and 1991.

The terrain sprues aren't casted in the UK, but in China. The details are good, but not as crisp as on the regular range. But for terrain absolutely sufficient. I won't go into detail on the Ryza Pattern sprues here, as I already covered the kit in a separate review a year ago. You can read all about it here - Ryza Pattern Ruins, adding that into this review would just be a redundant repetition.

The Disciples of Starn consist of the Hybrids multi-kit, which covers the parts to build either 5 Acolyte Hybrids or 5 Hybrid Metamorphs. A lot of optional bits, multiple variants for weaponry, heads and such. Clean and sharp details and the sprue is filled to the maximum. The smaller sprue contains the parts of the Kelermorph. As often with the characters, no optional parts, but again very sharp details. Mould lines occur a bit on the Hybrid sprue that might be due the fact that the mould / sprue is already a couple of years old. But nothing too harsh and easy to remove.

I am really excited about the Kelermorph, as the miniature fascinated me, when it was shown last year. It was shown without proper context and long before any connection to the Genestealer Cult army list, so it wasn't clear where it would belong to. It was rumoured that it could be a Necromunda headhunter, and with the three pistols and cloak that sounded rather reasonable. The Kelermorph comes with a 40mm round base.

The build is quickly done and due to the open pose, you can assemble it completely and still reach all parts for painting. I like the aspect that they included a bit of base detail. The only thing I think is kind of sad with the plastic character series that they often miss the opportunity to add small pieces for variation. For example an alternate head or different weapon (arm) would be a great addition, still fit inside the sprue and would be something that would make for "little extra". Other than that, great pose, good composition and proper fit.

It is interesting to see that Games Workshop changed the "official" paint job for the model. When the "Genestealer Gunslinger" was introduced, around late summer last year during one of the events at Warhammer World, it had a much darker, earthy paint job. And now with the official release, it comes with a brighter, less grim one. Maybe they wanted to tie him in with the disciples that got a similar colour range or they wanted to make the paint job easier to reproduce for the (Kill Team) audience. I prefer the older one, and the design of the model somehow reminds me of Soul Reaver.

Now let's head over to the disciples. It has been ages since I've reviewed the last troop boxed set, so I am really looking forward to this. I have already build a couple of miniatures from the Genestealer Cult range, back in 2016/17, when they were introduced with the Deathwatch Overkill boxed set.

We have five different pair of legs, one with robes for the leader of the pack. The hybrids come with 32mm round bases.

Let's start with the leader of the Metamorphs. I like the configuration of the one in the instructions, so decided to build that one and not use the optional parts. You can build the leader of both variants of troops based upon the legs and torso. As you can see there is a bonesword and lashwhip available as well.

For the remaining four pairs of legs, we have 5 complete torsi, along with an alternate backplate for the heavy weapon guy, who has a slot for the backpack on his back.

In this kit are three different kind of heavy weapons included. As the Genestealer Cult is build around a workforce, these are weaponized mining tools. So we have a heavy rock drill, a heavy rock saw and a heavy rock cutter available. This weaponry theme continues through the whole range, as you can see for example with the Goliath Rockgrinder and the new terrain piece Fragdrill.

Then there are special options, you can for example give one of the models a cult icon, and / or demolition / blasting charges. As I want to convert the cult icon bearer based upon a Cawdor gang member, I went with the demolition charge. This always fits pretty well with the miner background of the cult, as you would use explosives for raw terra forming.

As I've already build a couple of Acolytes with the Overkill box, I went with the remaining two miniatures with Metamorph Hybrids. You can see, the box keeps a lot of options for you. Left and right arm weapon options, with the double arm close combat weapon and claw combination, auto pistols and hand flamers, as well as some gnarly mutations, like rending claws and talons.

Now the only thing missing from the Genestealer hybrids are the heads, as you can see for the remaining four miniatures we have a very generous pool of 20 heads to choose from, including different smaller mutations and face masks. As most of the Overkill models look their left, I went with a bit of variation with this kit.

The sprue although contains a bit of base details, the skull of an Imperial Guard soldier with his helmet, as well as three hybrid skulls. In the second picture you can see all of the bits that are spare parts. You can use these to convert other models, mix them with the Neophyte Hybrids or to kitbash some xenos hybrids. And in the third picture you see all of the plastic content of this box, assembled in one picture.

A brief comparison of the Kill Team Hybrid next to one from a "regular" box in the darker plastic. I have some of the old Genestealer Cult miniatures around, so there you see the growth in size from the early 90s to almost 30 years later. In the third picture the comparison between a multi-part Hybrid, old Hybrids and an "easy-to-build" one from the Overkill box.

And to sort the Hybrids with the other stages / generations of Genestealers, from left to right, the Aberrant, the Hybrid, the 3rd and 4th generation Hybrids, as well as the Kelermorph.

To sum the review up, of course the assembled miniatures from different angles. I'm still very satisfied with Genestealer "Gunslinger".

Conclusion
So this is the first Kill Team that I unboxed and reviewed, and the first time in a long time that I covered a multi-part Regiment / squad box. Something that I really enjoyed back in the day and still do. These sprues that cover multiple variants of a unit and different gear options show the whole strength and talent of the company. You have just so many options and variants, and how they work with each other as well as the amount of spare parts and bits you get from those boxes is quite amazing. I have the Neophyte Hybrids here as well, but haven't had the time to build them yet and they cover a similar amount of options. It is kind of the peak of the plastic production and something that can be missed by some, if you're looking at the newer models that partly only cover one pose or one load-out.

Games Workshop charges 55 EUR for this Kill Team, what does that mean for the value of the content? The Hybrid Metamorphs / Acolyte Hybrids are 33 EUR on their own, the Kill Team Commanders are set at 25 EUR, so these two already add up to more than the RRP price of the box. Add half of the Ryza Pattern Ruin Set (22,50 -> 11,25 EUR), along with the card decks, token etc. and you end up with a saving of around 30% compared to buying the items individually. Very reasonable price tag, and beginner's friendly, as you have a small warband, you have the tokens and a bit of terrain. So this fortifies Kill Team as an entry level range.

I am very pleased with the range of Kill Team and the items around it. It is compact and fast paced as a system itself, and very well supported. That I am a fan of the Kill Zones is no secret, I've covered multiple of them on the blog and own all of them beside the Wall of Martyrs. Along with the duo Kill Team boxes that accompany these Zones, it is very moderate way to start. With having the Disciples and the Fronteris set here, I can easily imagine to convince or get someone interested to get the matching Mechanicus warband to join me in such a project. It is easy to get started, it is well supported and available, along with a very reasonable price tag. What else could you wish for?

Warhammer 40,000 is a brand by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.