Weekly Waffle #430 – Putting the Kill in Kill Team
8th August 2026
The Mojo
For this week’s weekly waffle I’m back on the apology road. It’s been a very odd week for me this week with time once again being tight but I’ve had lots of hobby mojo. And I hope you like what i’v been up to. But the mojo for actually typing up the update has deserted me completely this week. I normally write the update during the week when I get snippets of time but i’v just done noticing this week.
I’ve then had a few things on today that have stopped me getting anything written up but I was adamant that I couldn’t miss another week. I really don’t want to start down that route or before you know I’m missing weeks. So it’s time to get something cranked out so I can get the post out. Which I hope you like.
On The Work Bench
On the workbench I didn’t have the mojo to even think about the archers so it’s been space wolves all the way this week. I wanted to try and knock out one miniature as a test piece for my Kill Team.
I knew I wanted to do something that was darker than a standard space wolf and whilst I’ve done that. It’s not as dark as I was originally intending. Things just developed in an organic way but I like what I’ve done and importantly I’m reasonably confident that I can replicate it going forward for the rest of the squad.
A couple of pops of colour in the form of some red and yellow accents and I think it works really well. When the colour is coupled with the part that I’ve swapped out I feel that it gives the miniature something a little different. Which is how I feel the 13th great company should be. Without straying too far from what space wolves actually are. You look at them and know exactly what they are , even if they look a little bit different.
No whilst I’m saying this is a finished mini there is one obvious bit missing that really makes this still a work in progress. He doesn’t have a head. It’s not that I forgot to paint it. I haven’t got one I like yet. I have an order in for a whole mix of heads and once they turn up I’ll pick one that I like. But until then this what I have hove and what I’m sticking with.
But what do you think.
(Pictures here)
Tactical deep dive
Right, let’s talk about the lad who turns “sneaking about in a storm” into “sneaking about in a storm and then setting someone on fire with star-matter.” The Wolf Scout Gunner is the beating, slightly-too-hot heart of the Space Wolves’ Kill Team roster from Dead Silence, and if you’ve ever wanted a Phobos-armoured Space Marine who can genuinely delete things at range, this is your operative.
The Lore Bit
Wolf Scouts aren’t your average Great Company muscle. These are the ones sent out alone, or in tiny packs, deep behind enemy lines, no back-up, no reinforcements, just cunning, a combat blade, and whatever the Fenrisian weather decides to throw at everyone that day. They’re saboteurs and assassins as much as soldiers, and the Gunner’s job within that pack is refreshingly uncomplicated: carry the plasma gun, and use it to solve problems that combat knives and grim resolve can’t.
Fluff-wise, the Gunner is the weapons specialist of the pack, the one trusted to lug the heavy ordnance through hostile territory and unload it on whatever’s proving too resilient for the rest of the squad to handle. Space Wolves being Space Wolves, there’s also a certain amount of enjoyment taken in “burning through the foe’s defences” with a single well-placed plasma burst, because subtlety was never really the point once the shooting starts.
The Stat Line
Like the rest of the Wolf Scout roster, the Gunner runs APL 3, Move 7″, Save 3+, Wounds 13, solid, mobile, properly armoured Phobos-pattern stats that let it keep pace with the pack while still being able to shrug off a hit or two.
Weapon-wise, this is where it gets interesting:
- Plasma gun (standard): Atk 4, Hit 3+, Dmg 4/6, Piercing 1
- Plasma gun (supercharge): Atk 4, Hit 3+, Dmg 5/6, Hot, Lethal 5+, Piercing 1
- Combat blade: Atk 4, Hit 3+, Dmg 4/5
Supercharging is the obvious temptation, Lethal 5+ turns your crits into a genuinely nasty proposition, and Piercing 1 means your opponent’s already down a save die before they even roll. The catch, as ever with plasma, is the Hot rule: fluff it and you’re rolling to see how much you’ve just cooked your own Gunner. (As always, treat exact numbers as a snapshot , always double-check current points and rules against the app or your box’s dossier before you build a list around them, as GW does love a mid-edition tweak.)
Where the Storm Comes In
This is the bit that actually makes the Gunner sing, rather than just being “a marine with a gun.” The Space Wolves’ faction rule, Elemental Storm, places a marker in the killzone that grants a genuine tactical bubble to anyone within 6″ of it, and the Gunner has its own bespoke reason to want to be standing in it.
Tempest’s Fury kicks in whenever the Gunner is inside the Storm:
- All profiles of the plasma gun gain the Punishing weapon rule, meaning a crit lets you retain a fail as a normal success instead of binning it. That’s a meaningfully more reliable weapon.
- The supercharge profile loses the Hot rule entirely.
Read that last one again. Inside the Storm, the Gunner can supercharge its plasma gun with zero risk of blowing its own head off. That’s the entire reason to build your turning points around getting this operative into position, a Lethal 5+, Piercing 1 shot with no downside is exactly the kind of thing that ruins an opposing Elite’s day.
Add in the wider Hunting Astartes faction rule, letting Wolf Scouts take two Shoot actions in an activation (at the cost of 1 extra AP if both are plasma weapons),and the Gunner becomes capable of a genuinely filthy double-tap turn: reposition into the Storm, then unload twice.
Tactics Corner
The Gunner isn’t a glass cannon in the traditional sense, 13 wounds and a 3+ save give it enough durability to actually stick around, but it wants your Rune Priest Skjald (or whoever’s calling the Storm) working in lockstep with it. Left out in the open without the Storm’s protection, you’re gambling on Hot every time you supercharge, and that gets old fast when your opponent’s shooting back.
The combat blade also shouldn’t be ignored. At Atk 4 / Dmg 4/5 it’s a perfectly serviceable fallback, and thanks to Hunting Astartes the Gunner can just as easily go two Fight actions in a pinch , genuinely handy for a Gunner that’s been caught out of position and needs to scrap its way clear rather than eating an overwatch shot on the way out.
The Verdict
The Wolf Scout Gunner is the payoff for playing the Storm correctly. Ignore the faction mechanics and it’s just a decent plasma-toting Marine. Play it properly, keeping it inside that 6″ bubble, timing your Storm placement around its activations , and it becomes a genuinely safe, reliable, high-damage centrepiece for the whole kill team.
Have you had the Gunner cook itself on a bad Hot roll yet? Or has the Storm kept it safe all game? Let us know your worst (or best) plasma moments in the comments below.
The Wrap Up
That’s all I have for you this week. I have lots to be working on this week and I’m really going to try and get my act together so that I can be on time next week. Until then I hope you all have a great week and will see you all back here again next Saturday.
