Kill Team - Death Korps assembly

Not so long ago I put together a Veteran Guardsmen Kill Team, I had a lot of fun doing the trench bases and they turned out great in drab and muted colours. As the team, now renamed Death Korps, has the option to take up to fourteen models in a game I was always tempted to pick up a second box to fill out the roster. And with the team shortly becoming Declassified as part of Kill Team’s new release/support schedule I felt that now was the time.

The first step was to establish what I already had in terms of team composition and what gaps I needed to fill. At the time of writing the Operative Selection rules for Death Korps are loosely as follows: one Watchmaster (aka Sergeant), nine specialists and up to four troopers. To further complicate thigs some of the specialists, particularly Gunners, have multiple wargear options and some specialists, like the Confidant and Watchmaster, share wargear options.  After carefully looking through the instruction booklet, I realised the task wasn’t quite as daunting as I have envisioned. From my first box I had built eight of the thirteen available specialists. All I really needed to build was a Sapper, a Confidant, the three remaining Gunner options and three basic Troopers to fill out my roster.

Confidant - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops

First up was the Confidant as he is an alternate build option for the Watchmaster. Which in hindsight is probably why they share some wargear options. The only difference being that a Watchmaster can take a power weapon and plasma pistol where the Confidant cannot. I decided to give my Confidant a boltgun.

Sapper - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops

Next up was the option for a Sapper, a Sniper or a Trooper. I already had a Sniper and there would be other options for the basic Troopers, so that made things fairly easy. Model number three had the options to be built as either a Spotter or a Medic, I had both so I skipped over this one for the time being.

Trooper - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops

Number four was either to be a Gunner with Flamer or a Trooper. I already had the former from the first box so he became the first Trooper of my second box.

Trooper - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops

The next model had similar options: either a Trooper or a Medic. Another easy choice as I put together the second of the three Troopers that I needed.

Gunner with plasmagun - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops

Model number six is where things start to get complicated. You see Games Workshop are sneaky gits, the right arm of the Gunner with a plasma gun (part A73) is the same bit as is used for the Confidant if you give him a boltgun. There is only one A73 in the box and I had already used it. Fortunately, I hadn’t used it in my first box so after a quick trip to the loft I was back in business.

Gunner with grenade launcher - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops

Things remained on track for the next model; I had all the bits I needed to make the Gunner with grenade launcher.

Gunner with meltagun - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops

The next model was the real test, if I wanted to build the Gunner with meltagun then I was going to need to get my thinking cap on because I was plum out of A73 parts. And by thinking cap, I meant dive into Google because I certainly wasn’t the only person that would run into this issue. It didn’t take long to find a Reddit thread with a guide for building a team from two boxes. Buried within was the solution to my problem. The advice was to carefully separate the lasgun from arm A44 and use that to hold the meltagun. The result isn’t terrible but definitely takes a bit of fiddling to get right. And even then, the left wrist is a little crooked.

Trooper - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops

From there I skipped the next model as I didn’t need either of the options and went straight to the last model in the box. They can only be assembled as a Trooper, which is fine as that’s exactly what I needed him to be.

Watchmaster - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops

At this point I had built everything that I needed do; I have one of each specialist and enough troopers to fill out the ranks. Which lead to the question of what to do with the two models that I didn’t build? I was tempted to leave them in the box and use them for some conversions or kitbashes down the line but in the end, I felt that I’d rather fill out the squad. With that in mind I built one of the remaining two with a las pistol and chainsword, that way I’d have an alternative loadout option for the Watchmaster and Confidant. And for the final guy I just gave him a lasgun and an arm throwing a grenade.

Trooper - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops

With the assembly done it was time to get them painted up. The paint scheme is more or less the same as before, with the caveat that as my pot of Rhinox Hide has died I used Two Thin Coats Cuirass Leather instead. Additionally I used Army Painter Buffed Hide to highlight the leather rather than using the same mix I had before. The bases were also done in the same way, using the resin bits, some bits of wood and a lot of Vallejo Thick Brown mud to build them up. I did however use the opportunity to put a bit of extra detail on both sets of models. I dabbed a bit of Scale75 Thrash Metal on the lenses of the binoculars and sniper rifle, then painted them and the lenses on the gasmasks with Army Painter Speedpaint Royal Robes. I then added some scribbles of writing to parchment on the Comms and Zealot models. Lastly I heavily thinned some Army Painter Matt White and ran into the base of the plasma coils.