Goonhammer Reviews: Kill Team Shadowhunt Murderwing

Greetings readers, TheArmorOfContempt here to give you another rundown on the latest for Kill Team. Today I’ll be going over the Chaos half of the new ShadowHunt box set, The Murderwing!

We'd like to extend a thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of the rules for review purposes.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, it's worth giving a quick heads up on what to expect from this team. The Murderwing are your standard six Marine elite team, this time in the form of Chaos Raptors. Much like their Nemesis Claw cousins there is a focus on being tricky over raw power, ala Deathwatch, or survivability like with Plague Marines.

If you prefer a video review, John from Can You Roll a Crit? has one for you!

Faction Abilities

Jump Pack and Boost Actions

Nearly every ploy and datacard ability revolves around these two core rules. First, Jump Pack allows Murderwing operatives to perform a Boost as part of a Reposition, Charge, or Fall Back action. What is a Boost? Essentially, Murderwing operatives have the Fly ability that Vespid do, but with a few restrictions. When they are to be removed from the board and set back up as part of a Boost, they may not start or end that movement with any part of their base underneath Vantage Terrain, and the part of the movement that counts as a Boost must be in a straight line increment. Additionally, they may not go through Access Points on Close Quarters maps, HOWEVER they do not suffer the penalty to charge that their Vespid counterparts do. It is important to point out that a Boost does not need to be the entirety of an operative’s action. For example, an operative could move 1 inch out from underneath a vantage point, Boost 4 inches over terrain, and then continue to move an additional inch underneath another vantage. In short, Murderwing ignore terrain when moving, but with certain limitations. Even with limitations this is an EXTREMELY powerful core rule as it largely negates a common tactic of using terrain equipment to funnel and block off elite teams.

Second, we have Boost Actions, which are distinct from a Boost that is performed while moving. As you might have guessed these are actions that may only be performed when an operative performs a Boost or within its Boost Zone (the area the model traversed when it performed the Boost). Operatives are limited to a single Boost Action per activation or counteraction.

Astartes

Fight Twice and Shoot Twice as long as the second weapon being fired is a bolt pistol. Here we can note that the only bolt weapon the team has access to are pistols.

Operatives

I am happy to report that the team comes with enough specialist options that are real choices to make on who gets to come on a mission and who has to stay home, although like nearly every Kill Team there are winners and losers. You have to take the Chaos Lord, which is fine because he is easily the best operative, and also you can not take more than a total of two piercing weapons. Stat wise the only surprise is that operatives have a 6 inch movement like standard Space Marines since many had expected them to move 7 due previous examples of Jump Infantry. Fortunately the game designers knew this would be super busted and stopped short.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Chaos Lord

Your nastiest operative. Can be taken as a purely melee option with Relic Lightning Claws that come with a nasty five attacks, 4/6 dmg, Ceaseless, Lethal 5+, AND Rending. If you want to keep your options open he can take the standard Marine pistol/melee combo options of plasma and bolt along with a power weapon, power fist, or lightning claw with the only noticeable change being the Powerfist has four attacks and Shock instead of hitting on a +4 that may be indicative of future changes to this weapon type.

Additionally to being very mean in combat the Chaos Lord has an ability called Path of Damnation, which may be used once per action (either yours or an opponent’s). The Lord starts the game with a single damnation point, and can choose to either reduce the damage of a single incoming attack by its current damnation point total, or increase a single melee attack by that amount. When a player chooses to use either of these abilities they roll a D6 to see if it takes effect. If the roll is greater than their current damnation point total, it takes effect and their total increase by 1. If it is equal, nothing happens, and if it is lower the Lord takes damage equivalent to the current total and the ability fails. If the Lord manages to acquire 6 points they no longer have to roll for the ability and it automatically takes effect. This is nowhere near as powerful as the Lord’s Nemesis Claw counterpart, but it is still very good as it can allow the Lord to kill enemies in a single hit that may normally require two, or negate chip damage. However, performing this more than twice quickly becomes highly risky since this team has no method of healing, nor does it have many of the other durability focused ploys that are common to marines.

CYRAC: My reading of Boons of Damnation is a little different. This works on EVERY strike and when an attack dice inflicts damage. Ideally you want 3 Damnation points, but risking for 4 is incredibly powerful too. Not only does it mean your leader would be ignoring 3-4 damage from every attack dice but it also makes his Relic Lightning Claws minimum 7/9 damage!

When you get to 6 Damnation Points, as unlikely as that is, you auto pass and keep stacking points which...basically turns you into an unkillable Daemon Prince. Unlikely but still kinda crazy you can potentially do that.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Champion

A slightly weaker variant of the Lord with the same pistol options, but only with access to the Powerfist and Power Weapon on the melee end. This is your source of additional CP as the Champion may choose a target to challenge as a Strategic Gambit, they gain your choice of Punishing, Balance, Brutal, Shock, or Severe against that operative. Should they kill their target you gain 1 CP. It is nice to see a CP generation mechanic that is simultaneously not automatic, but also not idiotically hard to perform such as the one Stealth Suits must suffer under. This operative is likely to find himself being taken in nearly all games.

CYRAC: Agreed, I think you always take the Champion. I'm really a fan of the Power Fist loadout but regardless, he's a great way to generate command points.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Curseclaw

The Murderwing’s Possessed. Unfortunately, this guy is less of a beat stick than the Legionnaire Anointed armed with a Bolt Pistol and the equivalent of a Chainsword with Rending. Additionally, this operative may do a single strike on death should they have any successes remaining when they’re incapacitated.

This operative’s true utility comes in the form of the Snatch (1 AP) Boost action that allows it to move enemy operatives further along its Boost Zone if you win a roll off against the opposing player. This is decided by rolling a D6 and adding each operative’s respective wound stat. Essentially this is a strong take into any GEQ teams that the Curseclaw will be able to move around at its will, while being much more of an unknown against other elites. Its worth noting this ability can be used while concealed, effectively allowing you to charge from Conceal as enemies moved by Snatch can be placed in your control range.

CYRAC: The Curseclaw is probably the most fun/hated operative in the game. Fun for the Murderwing play, hated by the opponent. You effectively auto-pass the Snatch roll vs 8 wounds or less opponents. Control where enemy operatives go is super strong and you can use him to clear body-blocking operatives as well as to clear objectives so they're easier to control.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Depredator

The Murderwing’s Butcher. Comes with a hard hitting five attacks, 5/7 dmg, and Brutal BUT hits on a +4. To compound his issues this operative has no in-built re-roll mechanic like his Demolisher or Butcher counterparts. However, he does have the Shrivetalons ability to put an APL penalty on enemies within three inches of him when he incapacitates an enemy. Perhaps most importantly the Depredator has the Carving Blow (1 AP) datacard ability that does 2d3 damage to all operatives (including friendly) within 2 inches of him. This counts as a fight action meaning the Depredator can charge and perform up to 6 damage before blows start getting traded, or move and dash into the midst of wounded enemies and finish them off.

CYRAC: Carving Blow is the Depredators real de-strength. Being able to do it twice to a single or group of enemy operatives is a great way to put out a ton of safe damage without taking any in return. His main attack is pretty...unreliable but he's great for that ping damage role.

Huntmaster

Armed with a power weapon and bolt pistol the Huntermaster is automatically a solid pick. This operative forces enemy operatives to roll to see if they can fall back from, however if they lose the roll the APL is not spent. Additionally, he has the Strike From Above (1 AP) Boost Action that deals 2d3+1 dmg to one enemy operative within his Boost Zone during a Reposition or Fall Back.

CYRAC: Another auto-take but mainly for the power weapon. The fall back prevention can be negated by being having more than one enemy operative in your control range, so don't be too fool-hardy with this guy. The Reposition/Fall Back damage is also very nice too.

Raptor

The Raptor is essentially the Warrior option for the team, being the only operative type not restricted to a single choice. Raptors come equipped with a bolt pistol and standard chainsword (no rending), and have the option of taking a plasma pistol if you still haven’t reached your Piercing weapon limit. Raptors can ignore APL and Injury penalties, the only source of such abilities to be found on this team. It is hard to say how often people will take these operatives, while ignoring stat penalties is very powerful; they have no other utility abilities, and are the weakest operatives in melee. It is hard to see a reason to take them against any team that has greater than 8 wounds on an operative.

CYRAC: Basic Raptors have a nice ability but unfortunately they just can't compete with the other specialists, even though they can be equiped with Plasma Pistols (but then that's your two special guns for the entire kill team).

Shrieker

Equipped identically to a Raptor, but has modified Vox-Casters that reduce the objective APL of enemy operatives within 3 inches by 1. Perhaps unsurprisingly the Shrieker has the Shriek (1 AP) ability that can be used on a visible enemy operative or within its Boost Zone. This deals D3 damage to that operative and reduces their APL by 1. This ability can be performed while within control range of an enemy operative, but must be used on that operative, and requires the Engage Order.

CYRAC: The Shrieker is an amazing operative, powerful into both elites and hordes alike. It gets more powerful on action point intensive Crit Ops. Damage output is fine but you take it for the objective control abilities, which will help you reliably win games.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Skysear

The Gunner...has the gunner guns.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Warp Talon

Our final operative and perhaps the nastiest melee specialist next to the Chaos Lord. Armed with Lightning Claws that provide a vicious five attacks, ⅘ dmg, Ceaseless, Rending, and Lethal 5+ profile, the Warp Talon has a single ability called Slice The Veil. When placing operatives prior to the start of the game the Warp Talon can be set up off the board. When he is activated in the first Turning Point, place a Warp Marker anywhere wholly within your territory. In the next Turning Point when you activate the Warp Talon you may either set it up wholly within your Drop Zone or wholly within your territory and within control range of the Warp Marker. The Warp Talon can then perform two actions, but can’t move more than 4 inches, AND is obscured until the ending the Turning Point. Lastly, the Warp Talon can not be the target of the Malicious Narcissism ploy when it is off the table.

This operative is a nasty piece of work and is a great way to zone certain areas of the board, and is likely to be chosen in most matches. It is worth pointing out that it does not have any ranged weapons.

CYRAC: The Warp Talon is another auto-take, even if you don't trigger the TP2 teleport attack. Offers great board presence and has amazing melee damage output plus reliability without needing command points.

Ploys

This team comes with some very thematic ploys, many of which rely on their Boost faction ability. Most of these are average, however they are a few standouts that are in competition for the strongest ones in the game.

Firefight Ploys

Malicious Narcissism: Right off the bat we have a crazy one. When the Murderwing player gets to their final activation they can use this ploy to force their opponent to use the remainder of their activations, essentially ALWAYS giving the Murderwing player the final activation if they want it. It's crazy they gave them this ability when you consider how strong forcing your opponent to skip even a single activation often is. In my opinion this ploy alone brings the team up an entire tier giving them a massive advantage over horde teams that might otherwise dominate them via action economy. It is also worth pointing out that the Murderwing player doesn't have to wait until their opponent performs all their activations and can choose to activate their final operative at any point.

CYRAC: Yeah...this ploy is not really balanced. Can make you auto win/tie Crit Ops you'd normally lose. Plus your flying melta will now always go last vs other 6 operative teams.

Murderous Descent: Allows a Murderwing operative to interrupt an enemy operative with a free charge if that enemy ends a Reposition, Fallback, Charge, or Dash within three inches of them or 2 inches on Close Quarters if that enemy has moved from one room to another. Important to note that you still need to have the Engage Order up to use this, and it does not allow you to interrupt the opponent’s ability to fight, nor does it force them to fight the interrupter. Still, this is a solid ploy that will force your opponent to keep an eye on where they choose to attack.

Long Forgotten Honour: When fighting or retaliating when you resolve a critical success, instead of striking or blocking you may immediately perform a free Fall Back up to three inches. A fantastic ploy, either when you’re on the attack and simply roll poorly, or when your opponent charges you and you’re looking to get away. It's important to note that this doesn’t have to be done immediately. For instance if you have two critical successes you may decide to strike with one, and then use the other to Fall Back and shoot your opponent.

Wings of Darkness: When performing a Reposition or Fall Back and Boost you may add an additional 3 inches to that movement, however you can’t perform the Fight, Shoot, or Carving Blow actions. Additionally, this ploy can’t be used during the first Turning Point. While not the kind of ploy you will likely use every game this is still a fantastic utility piece that allows an operative to get to a critical objective or enemy operative that would normally be beyond its reach for a Boost Action. This move can be used in combination with the Curseclaw's Snatch to effectively fly over a Volkus stronghold and grab an opponent out of it and end with them in your control range. While you can't fight them during that activation nothing is stopping you from doing it via a counteract.

Strategic Ploys

Predators Above: Murderwing operatives that are either two inches above the Kill Zone floor or have performed a Boost during an action in which they’ve moved have balanced on their weapon profiles.

Cull The Weak: Murderwing operatives gain Punishing against enemy operatives who meet any of the following: Are 2 inches lower than that friendly operative, have APL lower than their starting value, or are wounded.

Nightmare On High: Murderwing operatives who are two inches higher than the Kill Zone floor, or have performed a Boost during their activation can re-roll a single defense die.

Instill Fear: When a Murderwing operative is fighting their opponent’s attack damage is reduced by 1 to a minimum of 3. Aside from the Lord’s Path of Damnation this is the only source of damage reduction on the team.

CYRAC: I'm unsure why this team has a damage-negation ability but this is becoming a growing problem for the game (see Celestian Insidiants too). Sure, it only works on normal damage AND when fighting only but it's still amazing.

As you can see we have a very strong set of firefight ploys along with more average strategic ploys that are meant to give your operatives slightly more reliability on the offense, or the occasional re-roll or reduction on defense. While none of their requirements are difficult to meet, many of them require the operative to have already performed an action to benefit from if they don’t already meet the prior positional requirement. Astute players have likely already noticed that this team is stronger on Volkus than it is on Tomb World.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Equipment

Bladefins - Grant your entire team the Slice from Above (1 AP) Boost Action which is essentially a lesser version of the Huntermaster’s ability, dealing 1d3+1. This can not be combined with the Depredator’s Carving Blow, which is good because that would make him one of the nastiest one-on -one combatants in the game.

Clawed Armor - Murdering operatives gain the Clawed Charge (0 AP) Boost Action, which deals 1 damage to their charge target if they were set up via a Boost. Likely a common pick for this team as it allows Power Weapon operatives to kill GEQ equivalent in a single hit, or get a leg up when dueling their elite counterparts.

Warp Fuel - Once per Turning Point if an enemy operative performs a Fall Back action the operative it is falling back from may either perform a three inch charge or reposition. This ability seems cool, but the distance restriction means your opponent can very easily fall back out of range of your charge. That being said, it does mean in situations where your operatives are contesting an objective your opponent would have to entirely give up the point to still shoot you.

Vox-Casters - Once per Turning Point operatives can perform the Vox-Cry (1 AP) action, which is essentially a lesser version of the Shrieker’s ability, reducing the APL of all enemy operatives within 3 inches. The operative in question must have the engage order to perform this ability. The Shrieker is not restricted from using this ability or doing it in the same activation it performed its own shriek ability making him an incredible source of stun.

Final Thoughts

This team is going to be very popular, immediately finding itself in the A tier, even perhaps S tier mainly due to Malicious Narcissism and Boost. With how many nerfs Vox Scream received you think they would have learned their lesson with how powerful activation manipulation mechanics can be. On its own this ploy isn’t broken, but The Murderwing are BY FAR the most mobile elite team in the game with the ability to essentially ignore terrain during most forms of movement. In many ways this is superior to having a 7 inch movement as many players use terrain equipment to slow down and funnel elites, something The Murderwing has little about. Couple this with the ability to always have the final activation and this team is going to be immensely frustrating to play against. In addition, this team has MANY abilities that allow it to do damage to its opponents prior to engaging in a direct fight, or add to its initial strikes. For example the Lord can combine its Damnation ability with Clawed Armor to hit its opponents for 8 damage on its first swing, which can easily be higher allowing him to two shot opposing elites.

What are the weaknesses? Well there are some major ones and it really comes down to reliability and survivability. This team does not have many ways to re-roll a bad attack, and outside of your gunner you have ZERO ranged options beyond 8 inches. Now that Phobos are out of the lineup, this may be the most fragile elite team. We have one of the more lackluster damage reduction ploys in the form of Instill Fear followed by none of the usual ploys that Loyalist Marines get, such as, And They Shall Know No Fear or Transhuman Physiology. Smokes will be a requirement for this team. In short, they play exactly how you'd expect a Night Lords team to play.

CYRAC: Murderwing are probably the best elite kill team in the game, especially if Wolf Scouts get nerfed in the upcoming January Balance Dataslate. Sure, you can hide from them under vantage points but then they'll just charge you on foot. They have minimal defensive tools but they have so much aggro it doesn't matter. While Murderwing does suffer from a lack of re-rolls, they also pump out a lot of static damage and have two operatives with built-in Ceaseless (Chaos Lord and Warp Talon).

Murderwing also get around all blocking terrain (Razor Wire) and can hide on vantage points in positions where they can charge you but not vice-versa. Especially with the Chaos Lord, I don't think there are many (or even any?) teams that can reliably beat Murderwing. They also have a great pool of operatives to select from so that the Murderwing can pick apart different opponents as needed.

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