Kill Team Starter Set or a team box: which should you buy first?

If you are new to Kill Team, the first purchase usually comes down to two options: the Kill Team: Starter Set, or a single kill team box on its own. They are not two sizes of the same thing. The Starter Set is a way for two people to learn the game from nothing. A team box is a squad of models for someone who already has a game to join.

This guide sets out what each one contains, what neither contains, and which to buy first given who you will play with and what you already own. Contents and rules were checked against Games Workshop's own listings and downloads on 12 November 2026. Everything here is for the current edition of Kill Team, which launched in October 2024. We have left prices out because they change; every product link shows the current one.

The short answer

What is in the Starter Set

Games Workshop lists these contents for the Kill Team: Starter Set:

• 14 push-fit miniatures: seven Angels of Death (Space Marines) in blue plastic and seven Plague Marines in green plastic
• A 64-page Starter Handbook
• A sheet of 92 tokens and two reference sheets
• Ten six-sided dice
• A double-sided game board
• Three sheets of printed MDF terrain that slot together into two larger structures and eight smaller ones

The models push off their frames without clippers and fit together without glue. The terrain slides together without glue or paint and comes apart again for storage. Games Workshop says the whole box can be built and ready to play in as little as 30 minutes. The models are unpainted and no paints are included.

What the Starter Set leaves for later

The handbook is a tutorial, not the full rulebook. It teaches the game one idea at a time through a series of missions for two players, and Games Workshop describes it as finishing with "a few advanced rules and extra mission conditions". Regular games use fuller rules, and those live elsewhere:

• Team rules are free. Games Workshop publishes the rules for each kill team as a free download on its Warhammer Community Kill Team page. On 12 November 2026 that page listed 48 teams, including both Starter Set teams: Angels of Death and Plague Marines.
• The Lite Rules are free. The same page has a three-page Lite Rules download. Games Workshop says these are simplified from the Core Book and meant for introductory, fast or easy play.
• The app is free. Games Workshop describes its Kill Team app as carrying the rules, the lite rules, mission packs and updates.
• The Core Book is the full printed rulebook. It is a 112-page hardback with missions for matched, co-op, solo and multiplayer games, plus its own set of 92 tokens. Mighty Melee Games does not currently list it.

What is in a team box

A team box holds the models for one kill team. What else is inside varies from kit to kit, so read the listing for the team you want. Take Kill Team: Ratlings as an example. Games Workshop lists:

• 11 plastic miniatures: ten Ratlings and a Battlemutt, with parts to build different specialists
• A sheet of 39 double-sided Ratlings tokens, for that team's own equipment and effects

The Ratlings listing has no rules, board, terrain or dice. The kit is multipart, needs assembly, and Games Workshop recommends plastic glue for it. Its 39 tokens are the Ratlings' own; the general set of 92 comes in the Starter Set and in the Core Book.

For comparison, Games Workshop's Lite Rules list what a game needs: each player's operatives and their team rules, a 30" x 22" game board with terrain, a measuring device in inches, ten six-sided dice, and tokens and markers.

The Ratlings rules are a free download. Printed Ratlings datacards are sold separately and Games Workshop describes datacard packs as optional.

Worked example: two people learning together

Two of you want to try Kill Team, neither owns anything, and you are both happy to play Space Marines against Plague Marines.

• Buy: the Kill Team: Starter Set. It covers both players.
• Borrow: nothing. The board, terrain, dice and tokens are in the box.
• Skip for now: glue and clippers, which this box does not need; datacards; the Core Book; extra terrain. None of them is needed for the handbook's missions.

The alternative is a team box each. That gets you the two armies you would rather have, but you would still need a board, terrain, dice, a measuring device, general tokens and something to teach you the game. Team boxes are priced individually, so compare the two you want with the Starter Set on the day. What the Starter Set costs you is choice of army.

Worked example: joining someone who already plays

A friend has the game, or you have found a club. You want to play Ratlings.

• Buy: Kill Team: Ratlings, and plastic glue if you have none.
• Download free: the Ratlings team rules, before your first game.
• Borrow: the board, terrain, dice, measuring device and general tokens. Ask your host first that they are happy to share them.
• Skip: the Starter Set, and the datacards unless you want the rules on cards.

You buy one box and play the army you chose. What you give up is the tutorial handbook, so you learn from your opponent instead.

If you have not found an opponent yet

Hold off buying until you know what you are joining. The Starter Set's missions are written for two players, and a team box needs a table to play on. Ask a friend who plays, or a local club or shop group, two questions: can you try a game with a borrowed team, and what would you need to bring after that?

• If the answer is "just your own team", you are in the second worked example. Buy one team box.
• If you end up recruiting someone to learn with, and you both like the two teams in the box, you are in the first. Buy the Starter Set.

If you specifically want to play solo

We could verify two official solo routes. Games Workshop's Core Book listing includes solo and co-op missions. It also publishes free mission packs called Joint Ops, where your kill team fights non-player operatives that follow written behaviours, on the Kill Team downloads page.

We read one of them, Joint Ops: Terror on Devlan, on 12 November 2026. It asks for more than a first purchase covers:

• One kill team, selected as normal
• Something to represent the enemy: a Red Terror, Termagants and Ripper Swarms, whose datacards are in the pack
• Terrain: it is written for Killzone: Volkus, points to the Core Book for that terrain's rules, and says you can substitute another killzone "with some creative thinking"
• A deck of cards numbered 1 to 13

We have not established the full requirements of every solo mission, including those in the Core Book. Read the mission pack you intend to play before you order anything for it.

If you already own Warhammer 40,000 models

Check them against the team's official roster before you order. Each team's free rules include a list headed "Operatives" that says how many models the team fields, which operatives you may choose and which weapons each may carry. It names operatives, not box names, so compare it with what is modelled on your miniatures.

Here is the check for Space Marines, using Games Workshop's Angels of Death team rules as they stood on 12 November 2026 (last updated 26 August 2026). Suppose you own five Intercessors: a Sergeant and four with bolt rifles.

1. Count the team. An Angels of Death kill team is six operatives: one leader and five others.
2. Check the leader. The leader is an Assault Intercessor Sergeant, an Intercessor Sergeant or a Space Marine Captain. Your Sergeant qualifies as an Intercessor Sergeant, who carries an auto bolt rifle, bolt rifle or stalker bolt rifle, plus one close-combat option that can simply be fists.
3. Check the rest. An Intercessor Warrior carries an auto bolt rifle, bolt rifle or stalker bolt rifle, so your four fit. Warrior operatives are the only ones the team may include more than once.
4. Find the gap. That is five of six. The sixth can be another Warrior or one of the other operatives on the list: an Assault Intercessor Warrior, Assault Intercessor Grenadier, Eliminator Sniper, Heavy Intercessor Gunner, or an Intercessor Gunner, who must have an auxiliary grenade launcher.

The result is a short, specific shopping list: one more model, not a whole team. Rosters are updated from time to time, so read the current one on the downloads page on the day.

Two more things that change the answer

• It is a present for someone who has never built a model. The Starter Set is the easier build: no clippers, no glue, and terrain that needs no painting.
• You have finished the handbook and want more. The Kill Team: Equipment Pack is 30 plastic accessories such as barricades, ladders and range markers, for the equipment any kill team can take. It is an extra for regular games, not something a first game needs.

What to do next

If you are learning as a pair, start with the Kill Team: Starter Set. If you have a table to join, choose a team you like the look of from our Kill Team range and download its rules. Product pages show today's price and availability.

If you're local to Market Drayton, you can book a table at Mighty Melee Games and arrange a game with a friend.

Contents and rules were checked on warhammer.com and Warhammer Community on 12 November 2026.