Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Kill Team(8E) Chaos (section)

==Servants of the Abyss (Blackstone Fortress)==
''Servants of the Abyss are now officially out of Beta with publication of their official rule set in Kill Team Annual 2019''
===Why Play Servants of the Abyss===
*'''Pros'''
**Beastmen, Dark Mechanicus, and Rogue Psykers
**You might gain a perverse sense of glee in drowning your enemies with MELEE attacks
**Unlike vanilla CSM, your marines can actually buff your mook horde and use them as literal meat shields.
**Servants of the Abyss are an excellent way to represent the Tyrant's Legion or Lost and Damned for some old school [[Badab War]] and [[Vraks|Siege of Vraks]] Kill Team goodness.
**Servants of the Abyss are one of only two factions, the other being Grey Knights, that can bring an entire team of psykers if you so choose.
**Negavolts are surprisingly tough by combining invuilnerables and fanatical devotion.
**Actually got support after release unlike literally every other non-Core faction. Might even get more as new BSF expansions are written and/or converted. Even ESS and GI which came in an honest-to-Emperor Official Manual, and the earliest of all expansions, can't claim the same.
**Finally out of Beta!
*'''Cons'''
**No Chaos marks or icons.
**Obsidius is your only reliable heavy-hitter. the only other option you have is krak grenades to crack harder targets.
**These guys cannot supplement an existing Chaos Marines force. Not even your beastmen and guardsmen have the CSM keywords to be of use.
**With even fewer special and heavy weapon options than vanilla CSM, Servants of the Abyss are sorely lacking in ranged firepower. CQB is where they need to be, what shooting they have is mostly just to keep the enemy's heads down while they get there.
**Servants of the Abyss probably would've been ''far'' better served as an expansion to CSM rather than standing alone as their own faction. Warp knows, the CSM really could've used what the Servants bring to the table.
**One of the "fun" factions, mostly for fluffy and friendly games. Being particularly limited in your choice of units, options, and abilities generally means you're outclassed as soon as any of the main factions get serious and start optimizing, particularly once commanders and elites get involved.

===SotA Special Rules===
*'''Servants of the Abyss:''' If any model with this rule are within 6" of a {{W40kKeyword|HERETIC ASTARTES}} model, they can re-roll nerve tests.

===SotA Ranged Weapons===
*'''Plasma Pistol:''' Exclusive to the Chaos Lord Obsidius Mallex, this is a really good weapon, considering the BS2+ of its owner and its pistol status (so it could be used in melee). Unless it explodes in your hands, this will make a dent on everything. The only limiting factor is range, but considering you want Mallex in CQC always, that's not much of an issue.
*'''Bolt Pistol:''' The pistol version of the boltgun. Not much else to say.
*'''Boltgun:''' A Traitor Astartes Bolter, one of the best ranged weapons of the team, which says a lot about how poorly they perform at shooting distances.
*'''Lasgun:''' Traitor guardsmen love their lasgun as much as their loyalist counterparts. 
*'''Laspistol:''' They're functionally identical to Autopistols. Grab one to make sure your boys can actually shoot something, but don't rely on it to amount to anything.
*'''Autopistol:''' They're functionally identical to laspistols. Grab one to make sure your boys can actually shoot something, but don't rely on it to amount to anything.
*'''Flamer:''' Your typical flamethrower, just like the one the Guard has. The tendency of SotA to go full CQC makes this a decent option, but you have to consider the traitor guardsmen are very squishy, so whether the point investment is worth it or not is up to you.
*'''Frag Grenade:'''
*'''Krak Grenade:'''
*'''Heavy Stubber:''' Might not be great but for 2pts, its a good upgrade over the Autogun for your cultist.
*'''Grenade Launcher:'''  Might not be great but for 2pts, its a good upgrade over the Autogun for your cultist. Long Range Krak Grenades will be much appreciated
*'''Stubcarbine:''' A heavy stubber that trades 1/2 its range to swap Heavy 3 for Pistol 3. A solid addition for your Cult Champ for the low low price of Free. 
*'''Hellfire Torch:''' Picture a heavy flamer. But now its Assault for all your Advancing needs and it does D2 to punch through those Injury rolls. Exclusive to the Cultist Firebrand.

===SotA Melee Weapons===
*'''Thunder Hammer:''' Exclusive to the Chaos Lord Obsidius Mallex, the best melee weapon in the SotA arsenal by far, especially considering the WS2+ of its owner. S x2, AP -3 and 3 Damage, it will wreck whatever gets a hit.
*'''Chainsword:''' Your run of the mill chainsword. It would be great on the beastmen, but as it is, is not that special.
*'''Brutal Assault Weapon:''' What could have just been left as a basic CCW was instead made into an equivalent to a chainsword. Thank Chaos for that. 
*'''Electro-goads:'''  The fucking stick of death, now chaosified. Each hit roll of 6 adds 3 extra attacks. Very useful against units with low toughness due to having no AP. For tougher units, you could rely on the voltageist field, but it needs to get a 6 after throwing a D6, and only after charging, so rather risky.
*'''Chaos Stave:''' The weapon of the rogue psyker, has -1 AP and D3 if it hits, but it's only S3 for a WS4+ unit. Very situational, considering you want the psykers far away from melee danger to maximize psybolt damage.
*'''Scavenged Maul:'''
*'''Mutant Claw:'''

===SotA Units===
*'''Traitor Guardsmen (Leader [Sergeant Only], Heavy [Gunner Only], Demolitions, Scout, Sniper, Veteran):''' You have guardsmen. Now give them spikes. They lose out on most special weapons for their heresy, but now each of them can grab melee weapons and pistols. Be sure to have a marine or two tag along to keep them in line.
**'''Traitor Guardsmen Gunner (2):''' This is your lone way of grabbing flamers or krak grenades.
**'''Traitor Guardsman Sergeant (1):''' Has the usual extra attack and better Ld of a sergeant/leader/champion, but costs the same as a regular dude, so there really isn't any reason not to bring him along.
*'''Cultists of the Abyss (Leader [Champion Only], Heavy [Gunner Only], Demolitions [Gunner Only], Combat, Veteran, Zealot):''' Squishier Guardsman with only a 6+ save, but they do offer something much needed by SotA, namely another source of AP offered by the fact that they come standard with Krak Grenades as well as their Autoguns and Frags.
**'''Cultists of the Abyss Gunner (2):''' One gets a grenade launcher, one gets a heavy stubber and they keep their grenades.
**'''Cultists of the Abyss Champion (1):''' Swapping her Autogun for the superior Stubcarbine and Chainsword, this is your Sergeant equivalent Cultist, complete with +1A and +1Ld. If you're not taking her as your Leader or for his Shooting, you're probably better off not taking her at all and taking Chaos Beastmen and their better statline for only 1pt more.
*'''Chaos Beastmen (Leader, Combat, Demolitions, Veteran, Zealot):''' They're 2 points more than a guardsman, and they get quite a bit: +1 S/T and WS 3+. On top of that, they add +1 S/A whenever they charge. They're still strapped with chainswords and pistols, so they're best used as a frontline.
*'''Negavolt Cultists (Leader, Combat, Veteran, Zealot):''' Your not-Electropriests are probably the most expensive chaff you can net. Their lone weapons hit on 3+ on S+2, but scoring a 6+ on the hit makes it 3 hits, which is neat. They have two means of real protection (as in nothing with a 6+) from a 5+ Feel No Pain and a 5+ invul from the Voltagheist field, which can also deal a mortal wound when charging.
*'''Rogue Psykers (Leader, Comms, Veteran, Zealot):''' Having access to a psyker as a basic unit may sound cool, but for what they have and what they do, Rogue Psykers are ridiculously overcosted, especially when compared to Grey Knights, which are ''two points cheaper''. With W4 and a melee weapon at S3 AP-1 Dd3 they can at least stand up to carapace, and their one unique rule lets them re-roll 1's on a psychic test, but they have a guardsmen's toughness and save, and suffer perils on ''any'' doubles. Honestly, a Rogue Psyker's space on a team would probably be better filled with more guardsmen, cultists, beastmen, or space marines.
*'''Black Legionnaire (Leader, Combat, Sniper, Veteran, Zealot):''' Here are your big men. Unfortunately, they lack all the bells and whistles that marines from the core CSM list have, and are the only unit in the faction that ''doesn't'' have access to a melee weapon (ironic considering they can take Combat specialization), which limits their usefulness in combat. Instead, they're used as runtherds for your squishy humie (and abhumie) hordes so that they don't try legging it when shit goes bad. If you take more than just what you need to keep your team covered and controlled, you might as well just play vanilla CSM.
====SotA Elites====
*'''Chaos Ogryn (Combat):''' 50 points for S5/T5/W4, hitting on a 3+ with 1+4 attacks, or 1+5 on the charge. He has a 1/6 chance of healing a wound every round (and if he does, he gets to move another 2"!). When he fights, he has to swing with his S5/AP-2/D2 weapon first. If you hit with it (even if it doesn't wound/do damage), you reroll all hits with his other weapon (S7/AP-1/D2) as long as they target the same model. Effectively, he's the closest thing to a distraction Carnifex in Kill Team, and probably isn't worth it. That said, what are you going to spend the points on anyway? More guardsmen?

====SotA Commander====
*'''Obsidius Mallex  (Fortitude):''' Your best commander is pretty damn loaded for his lot. W5, a Sigil of Corruption for a 4+ invuln, a plasma pistol, and a thunder hammer makes him your premier assault unit. He's best suited for smashing opposing commanders and other heavy units.
*'''Cultist Firebrand (Ferocity, Strength):''' A Scout Marine statline with W3 and A3 might not seem like much compared to Mallex but he is 55-65pts cheaper and his Hellfire Torch hits like a truck, especially against GEQ. His suicide-bomber like ability on death is probably not something you generally want to exploit, as Commanders tend to be important to Commander Missions and a 5+ to deal 1 mortal wound to everything in 3" is not a reliable source of damage. Keep it in mind when he's near your own models though, as friendly fire does exist. Also with no Melee weapon and only S4 neither Specialism really synergizes.
*'''Chaos Commissar (Ferocity, Fortitude, Leadership, Melee, Strategist, Strength):''' A Lord Commissar of Chaos, armed with Powerfist and Bolt Pistol. Trades away some shooting ability (BS3+, no plasma pistol) for a lesser but permanent, CP-free, version of the Commissar Aura, letting any Traitor Guardsmen within 6" use his Ld9 as their own (but not autopassing Nerve Tests). Additionally, he can +2 to advance and charge rolls for any one Traitor Guardsman within 6". But should you take him? He is 20 points 11 points cheaper than his Loyalist Guard counterpart would be, he represents the cheapest commander SotA can field while also being a solid combatant.

===SotA Tactics===
*'''[BSF/Annual2019] Veterans of the Long War (2CP):''' Use this Tactic when a {{W40kKeyword|HERETIC ASTARTES}} model from your kill team is chosen to attack in the Shooting or Fight phase. You can add 1 to wound rolls for the model’s attacks that target {{W40kKeyword|IMPERIUM}} models, until the end of the phase. 
**Would be really good if not for the fact that it comes at 2CP, plus you have other ways of getting +1 wound, mostly via the Demolition specialism
*'''[BSF/Annual2019] Expendable Minions (1CP):''' Use this Tactic when a {{W40kKeyword|HERETIC ASTARTES}} model from your kill team is picked as the target of a shooting attack. Pick a {{W40kKeyword|SERVANTS OF THE ABYSS}} model (excluding {{W40kKeyword|HERETIC ASTARTES}} models) from your kill team that is within 1" of that model – these attacks are resolved against that model instead.
*'''[BSF/Annual2019] Blackstone Trinket (2CP):''' Use this Tactic when an enemy {{W40kKeyword|PSYKER}} successfully manifests a psychic power within 6" of a {{W40kKeyword|SERVANTS OF THE ABYSS}} model from your kill team. Roll a D6. On a 4+ that psychic power has no effect.
**Since only the Thousand Sons and Grey Knights would have more than a single psyker to worry about, this is best used when you don't bring the psykers or you've got a lot of psykers to worry about.
*'''[BSF/Annual2019] Fully Charged (1CP):''' Use this Tactic at the start of the Shooting phase. Pick two {{W40kKeyword|NEGAVOLT CULTIST}} models from your kill team that are within 1" of each other. Add 1 to invulnerable saves made for these models, until the end of this battle round.
**Sadly, you can't go on and daisy-chain the Voltagheist fields together for a wall of 4++/5+++.

===SotA Commander Tactics===
*'''[Annual2019] Into Them You Dogs! (2CP):''' Use this Tactic at the start of the Morale phase. Pick one {{W40kKeyword|TRAITOR GUARDSMAN}} or {{W40kKeyword|CULTIST OF THE ABYSS}} model from your kill team that is within 6" of a {{W40kKeyword|TRAITOR COMMISSAR}} model from your kill team. That model is taken out of action. You can re-roll any tests to see if your kill team is broken until the end of the phase. In addition, until the end of the phase, models from your kill team automatically pass any Nerve tests they are required to make.

===SotA Strategies===
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'''SotA Strategies:'''
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The Servants of the Abyss are one of the unorthodox teams in Kill Team, alongside the Gellerpox Infected, the Elucidian Starstriders and the Kroot. This means they will have access to way less units than the rest of the teams, considering they can drink from a massive pool of models and you have only exclusive boxed ones (and few kroot boxes). This will be especially bad in Commanders and Elite battles, where you will be outmanouvered to hell and back with little to no efford. That and they will have more stratagems and faction atributes, whereas you are still waiting for an update. So we're going to focus on vanilla first, and then a quick view of the commander.

First off, we have the Black Legionnaire, a fancier way to say Chaos Space Marine. It's the basic marine in everything, with the exact same stats the vanilla marines get, Death to the False Emperor, and that's it. The Black Legionnaire has an ummovable weapon loadout, boltgun, boltpistol and grenades. This immediately makes it the worst marines in the whole game, considering we don't have Legionnaire Gunners or access to dark relics. No invuilnerable saves, no extra wounds, no alternatives for weaponry... The bare bones is what you get. Their strenghts come from the bonuses they offer and gain from the grunts they have around them. All non-astartes units in this team gets the Servants of the Abyss ability, re-rolling morale if they are at 6" from a marine. You also have the Expendable Minions stratagem, making you use a meatshield at 1" of the marine to take a wound for him, perfect for that plasma that would cripple and/or kill the marine. With that said, SotA units are not gretchins, they are considerably more expensive. The best units to do this are the regular traitor guardsmen at 5p each, but with negavolt cultists and especially the psykers it won't be worth it. To be fair, this is pretty there to save the leader from an early death, and from avoiding massive panics and morale fails during the latter parts of the game. 

Negavolt Cultist are traitor electropriests. Melee only, this is the best melee unit in your team, and pretty much the best in the whole list (Chaos Lord notwithstanding). A constant 5++ will cover a decent amount of damage, and acces to 3A with the electrogoads (S+2, each 6+ hit roll gets two extra attacks) could hurt even heavily armoured units due to sheer amount of attacks, especially with the zealot/combat especiality, and with the possibility of a mortal wound after charging with the Voltageist Field, you want this guys to charge as much as possible. With that said, you have to keep them alive before that. 5++ aside, they are not particularly tough, T3 W1 is not particularly impressive. Using the Fully Charged stratagem will improve their invuilnerable saves in one, so moving them in groups is a good idea. Spam attacks are dangerous for them, so try to choose wisely their objectives and movement patterns. Also, try to not throw them at units that can tank a lot of wounds, because they will pretty much be able to hit back hard (unless you get really lucky and manage to make 4-5 wounds in one attack. As of the KT Annual 2019, [[fail|there is a limit of four negavolts per team]]. 

Rogue Psykers are the more expensive units of the bunch. A strong unit overall, a SotA list should have one and no more, considering a single Rogue Psyker will take 20/100 points on a vanilla list. Once again, one single loadout, the chaos stave and a laspistol. The laspistol is an afterthought, so let's focus on the stave. Two base attacks of S3 AP-1 D3 damage, if it hits, it will be rather strong. Even considering how squishy it is, W4 means it could actually do an emergency charge if it needs to, and have a decent chance of killing something big. But where you want this guy is at a distance, throwing psybolts to units with high armour saves. Now, this psyker works differently than regular psykers. This suffers perils of the warp at doubles, so instead of risking head explosion at 2D6 rolls of 2 or 12, it has much bigger chances of hurting itself, around 6/21 times (2/7 times). You can always re-roll ones, so at least you'll have a decent chance of always reaching the 5+ needed for the psybolt. A specialist rogue psyker should be veteran, so it never gets affected by either wounds or leadership tests (because really, what else? Zealot is too risky for it, considering the enemy will shoot at it frequently, and there are no really poweful shooting weapons at all that needs the Communications speciality). Keep Jimmy Neutron protected and in a cover position that allows it to see one or two big priority targers, but hidden from most spam units. 

Now with the regular humans. Traitor guardsmen are pretty much what you expect from regular GEQ, minus loadout variety. Much better at melee and close range than long distances, they have little to no answer to weapons like the AdMech's Galvanic Rifle or something with more than 30" range. The best gun with +20" they have is the '''[[lasgun]]''', and everyone knows that shooting them at the longest possible setting is inviting trouble. Seriously, at Rapid Fire 1, BS4+ of the guardsmen, and -1 penalties for distance and another posssible -1 for cover, and you pretty much fail every time. And considering it's a single S3 AP0 shot, there will be times when all the lasguns in the world do nothing. So put them to run, preferibly close to the Black Legionnaires in case of them needing a quick meatshield. The Traitor Sargent gets extra leadership and a chainsword, but what you really want in melee are the goats. Chaos Beastman are frightening against GEQ in melee due to their sheer amount of attacks. On charge, they make 3 attacks of S5, though no AP due to them having just a regular chainsword. Still, in terms of melee potential, this takes backstage to the negavolt guys, considering they have by default 3 Attacks, plus the other effects (5/4++, extra attacks with hit roll of 6+, 1/6 mortal wound after charging...). Only there if you can't fit anything else in your team. Lastly, the guardsmen gunners are there for the flamers. That's it. The other option is lasgun + grenades, and if you're close enough for the grenades, you are close enough to use the flamer. Regular flamer, D6 attacks, 4S AP0, you know what it does. Only there to support melee units in case they are charged first or they charge at the flamers as the tiniest distraction carnifex ever. 

The last update for the SotA list is the Cultist of the Abyss. And they are terrible. Almost 100% redundant, they have almost the exact same stats as the traitor guardsmen and cost the same, but with 6+ save instead of 5+. They have access to krak grenades, <s>sure, but with such low saves and mediocre BS, you will be better off with regular frag grenades</s> <span style='color:red>Krak grenades are still better unless you're splitting shots</span>. And if you want meatshields, the traitor guardsmen might survive the odd 0-1 AP shot. At least the CotA Gunner has access to the grenade launcher, which gives the team some needed long range firepower, so that's the one you might pick up. The Cultist Champion has access to krak grenades over the traitor sergeant, but with its slightly higher cost and a worse save, why bother? If you want cultist melee power, why not choose the beastmen instead, or even better, the negavolts? <span style='color:red> Why take him over a Guard Sarge or Beastman? Because he carries 12" heavy stubber equivalent and you shouldn't be charging any of those models, into combat if they're your leader as its a sure way to quickly lose your CP generation. </span>  

Finally, we reach the commander: Obsidius Mallex, the Chaos Lord. By far the tankiest, strongest unit in the whole army, this won't be able to be played outside of Elites/Commanders games, costing around 125p. This is a monster in both short range combat and CQC, with BS2+ and WS2+. The plasma pistol alone will do a lot of damage without overcharging (be ABSOLUTELY CAREFUL with the overcharge, you don't want a 125p unit to kill itself!!) but the real beauty is the thunder hammer. 4 attacks plus the extra ones from Death to the False Emperor of BS3+ (BS2-1) Sx2 AP-3 and 3D per hit, this fucker was made to kill other commanders, especially considering it can reroll failed hits when targetting a commander. Combine that with 3+/4++ and hardy constitutions (if it gets a wound, rolla D6, and ignores the wound when 6+), and ignoring the first flesh wound thanks to it being an astartes. Seriously, this guy could give CUSTODES a run for their money. In fact, let's do a quick comparison: Obsidius Mallex vs Shield Captain with Melee-focused Storm Shield and Guardian Spear!

*If Mallex attacks first:
**Using the hammer, 4 attacks of BS3+, rerolling the failures. Only 2/6 chances of missing, and out of them, you repeat them, so pretty much you have 3 attacks guaranteed. Also, Death to the false emperor offers extra attacks at 6+, so chances of getting at least one 6+ are 4/6. 
**The attacks that enter are S8 (S4x2), so the attacks will enter at 3+ (2+ if you use the veterans of the long war stratagem). Wounding at 2+ to a Custodes is really freaking good.
**After that, the Custodes will always ignore AP-3 due to its own invuilnerable of 3+ with the shield. So with a bit of luck, at least one attack enters.
**With two that enter, automatic 3 wounds per hit is amazing, killing it instantly (if it doesn't get a lucky flesh wound roll).
*** A Shield Captain with Fortitude will save successful wounds with 6+, so that might make it extra chuncky. Still, Leaving the Captain with 1-2 wounds after a single attack is amazing. 

*If the melee Custodes attacks first:
**6 attacks of WS2+ means that there is 5/6 chances of all dice getting in. 
**S5 vs T4 means that the attacks will wound at 3/6. 
**The AP-3 will be ignoured in favour of the 4++ of Mallex, giving each attack 1/2 chances of wounding. Considering all that, an attack will have a 10/36 chances of getting in, so a bit less than 1/3. So let's say 2/3 will surely get in.
**After that, each wound will do a D3 damage. If you're lucky, you won't have to deal with more than 4 wounds.
**After that, the toughness specialism means that it will ignore a wound on a 6+, giving it plenty of chances of actually surviving a fighting round with a Custodes. 

For a random Chaos Lord, the match is pretty good, and if it is that good against Custodes, imagine how it will be against lesser units. This also means that any other army will focus on it. Badly. Which turns him into an excellent distraction carnifex, that could strike fear into the enemy by stomping one terminator or two on the way. While most of them are shooting at the monster with the hammer, the rest can just run and reach melee in a turn or two. However, considering how squishy the rest are, they might just try to kill everyone else to leave the commander alone and win by occupying more space in the map.

Finally, there's the Cultist Firebrand, the Commander of the Cultists of the Abyss. For 70p, it's quite overcosted, considering it's just a somewhat tough flamethrower user. Its hellfire flamethrower is 8", Assault D6, S5 -1 AP 2D. That D6 attacks and 2D per hit might seem fine, but you have to get close to the enemy to use it. And considering the enemy will know exactly what you want to do and probably be able to counter it quite well, it's not going to last on the tabletop. No invul save and being basically harmless from more than 8", it is going to die sooner than later. And with only 3W... And to top it all, it has worse morale than the traitor guardsmen, so it is very susceptive to panic. The only good thing for this model is as a charge repellent, because of its ability of dealing mortal wounds on a 5+ after its death. That will certainly make enemy units not to charge it, but if its closer to your own dudes, its' you the one who'll be eating warp fire.
<span style='color:red>Counter point to the above - SotA have no shortage of bodies to use Look Out Sir! with, and the Hellfire Torch kills MEQs almost as well as a supercharged plasma gun at BS2+ and averages more damage per shot than a meltagun at 6" in a gamemode where you're guaranteed to run into multiwound models. Still overpriced compared to other factions, but at least its cheaper than Mallex which means you can fit more negavolts in missions with mandatory commanders.</span>

Overall, the list is not designed for competitive play. Outside of the monster that is the Chaos Lord, the units are simply too weak and inflexible to be reliable. They work better in tight and close spaces, which makes sense seeing that they are meant to be in a Blackstone Fortress. Still, as an alternative to the CSM team, I feel this should be better. I understand the list has to adapt to the Blackstone Fortress box, but now that most of those units are being released separately, GW should re-work this. Also, i haven't tried them on Arena, but they are probably slightly better there. 
Finally, Traitor commissars. 
The cheapest commander we can get at 26pts. A decent force multiplier for toyr traitor guard by giving a traitor guardsman +2 advance and charge rolls a d they get to use his leadership. Being so cheap means more beastmen and negavolts while he synergizes well with having a ogyrn to take the hits for him. This guy is made for front line work woth his fist and bolt pistol and is flexible with the command traits he can take. 
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'''Counterplay:'''
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Honestly, the best way to deal with them is to just spam from a distance. Most armies have enough long range weaponry to deal with them, and considering the overal low toughness of the team, it's not difficult to wipe them out. Dark Legionnaires are just basic marines, so everyone will have had developed a way to deal with them, either in melee or at a distance. Teams like AdMech, Imperial Guard, Space Marines, DeathWatch, Grey Knights, Necrons... Pretty much all of them have enough firepower to deal with the marines first and just shoot at the rest until they fall back. Units like the negavolts and the psyker are priority targets. If you see a line of cultists charging at you, shoot as many spam as possible to break it before it reaches you. That is dangerous if it ever reaches melee. Everything that has at least 3-5 attacks should at least wound them. After that, take into account that their melee is mostly high attacks with low AP, so sturdier units can take the damage and fight back. Also, against a smart Tau player, they pretty much won't ever EVER win. Unless it gets really lucky with the invul saves. 

In Commanders/Elites, though, the strategy changes. Mortal wounds should focus on Malleux as soon as possible, so first send the snipers to deal with the psyker covering it, then full focus on malleux. maybe leave one or two heavies to distract the big guy, while everyone else deals with the rest of the mob. Don't fall for the carnifex in the room. Keep the commander away from melee against it, use to clean the rest of the team first and take it out through demoralizing everyone. Again, pretty much everyone can do this effectively now, but some teams will have harder times than others. Admech and IG will need to spam tons of plasma against it, whereas everyone else will have bigger and tougher units to keep Malleux distracted long enough. In an ironic twist, Tau can find themselves steamrolled by one of the weakest teams in the game if they forget to bring enough rail rifles. And if those fail...
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===SotA Example Teams===
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'''Standard Kill Teams'''
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"Electric Spam", 10 units, 100p
**''Leader:'' Negavolt Custist
**''Comms:'' Rogue Psyker
**''Combat:'' Negavolt Custist
**''Zealot:'' Negavolt Custist
**''Regulars:'' 2x Negavolt Custist, 2x Traitor Guardsmen and 2 Black Legionnaires

The idea is simple. Make a straight line with everyone: negavolts at the front, legionnaires, rogue pkyker and traitor guardsmen behind to use the leadership and meatshield bonuses). Use the stratagem to increase the invuilnerable save of the negavolts. Run towards the enemy team to reach melee as fast as possible, psyker keeping the other psykers and annoying to hit units at bay. Their invuilnerable save boosted with the stratagem will make a team of thunder heretics surprisingly tough. Once in melee, you can pilerush 2-3 negavolt cultists against heavier units with tougher saves to try and fry it trough electric attacks and mortal wounds, while the psyker keep other heavies at bay. Their invuilnerable save boosted with the stratagem will make a team of thunder heretics surprisingly tough.

"Outtadabox", 13 models, 97 points
**''Leader:'' Black Legionnaire
**''Comms:'' Rogue Psyker
**''Veteran:'' Traitor Sergeant
**''Combat:'' Chaos Beastman
**''Regulars:'' 1x Guardsman Gunner w/Flamer, 2x Guardsman w/Lasgun, 2x Guardsman w/Laspistol, Brutal Assault Weapon, 2x Negavolt Cultist, 1x Traitor Beastman

It's a fluffy Kill Team based on the Servants of the Abyss box that's out right now. It uses every model in the kit but one Guardsman, the Spindle Drones and the Ur-Ghuls. It's fluffy, one-purchase and probably fun. It represents the idea of a Chaos Marine running his own little warband pretty well, I think.

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'''Commanders Kill Teams'''
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''For When Commanders Cost Points''

"Electric Spam 2. Electric Boogaloo", 9 units, 200p
**''Commander:'' Obsidius Mallex
**''Leader:'' Negavolt Custist
**''Comms:'' Rogue Psyker
**''Combat:'' Negavolt Custist
**''Zealot:'' Negavolt Custist
**''Regulars:'' 2x Negavolt Custist and 2x Traitor Guardsmen

Once again, make a straight line with everyone: negavolts and Malleux at the front, cultist and traitor guardsmen behind Malleux to use the leadership and meatshield bonuses). Use the stratagem to increase the invuilnerable save of the negavolts. Run towards the enemy team to reach melee as fast as possible, psyker keeping the other psykers and annoying to hit units at bay. Once you reach melee, send Malleux against the Commander, and the negavolt cultists against the ones protecting it. If you can, once Malleux is in melee and you still have the guardsmen, use them to occupy space and take objectives. If not, just focus on wiping most of the enemy team in one swipe. Keep in mind that the stratagem that increases the invulnerables costs 2p, so you have to keep an eye on their consumption, use it when you are at a close striking force of the enemy.
  
''For When Commanders Cost Nothing''
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=== SotA Modelling/Kitbashing ===

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Don't they come in a box?
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Yes, the Servants of the Abyss Kill Team is designed to be made with the units from the Blackstone Fortress Box Set, and with one of them you can pretty much have enough. However, sometimes it's not going to be enough. Maybe you want to play an Elite match and you don't have enough minis, maybe you want to focus on spamming a particular unit, maybe you don't have the box and don't want to go through online sellers to get the stuff. Either way, here are a few suggestions to get the team up and running. 

Also, this is taking into account that most of the units listed here have not been released separately as of yet. Units like Malleux is now on sale separately as a generic chaos lord, big hammer and all, and the Black Legionnaires are out in the latest update of the Chaos Marines. 

The easiest to kitbash are the traitor guardsmen. Using the basic cadian units, you could add more chaotic elements to them following the many examples of Lost and the Damned out there (spikes in the back, a cut head on their belt, skulls and bones attached to them, bandanas and masks, evil looking scars...). You could even take some of the basic chaos cultists and just use them. After all, their stats are the same and noone is going to bat an eye for seeing cultists with chaos marines instead of traitor guardsmen. The beastmen will be more complicated, but if you combine the body of a cultist and the head and legs of gors/ungors, it should work well enough. Hell, they could work well with basically the whole mini being from the AoS Gors/Ungors pack so long as you give them a chainsword and a stubber with a couple of sci-fi and chaotic bits here and there.

The Rogue Psyker is difficult. You could always pick a sorcerer and just make it count as one, but where's the fun in that? The original BSF mini has a very particular look, with the body chained to the ground due to his excessive psykic power making him float, all with a massive and shinny mutant head. Now, while the stave and the body shouldn't be that hard to get right (any cultist or ragged body should do the trick) the problem is in the head and the chains. You could forego the chains by adding something for the model to stand up on, like a pile of bones, a recently deceased enemy, a pile of evil-looking ruines... If you want the chains, you'll have to search for someone selling some rigid chains or add one of those transparent supports to get the unit to simulate the floating effect. The Jimmy Neutron head is the most complicated part of it all, as there is nothing really similar within GW range. You can always forego that and just greenstuff the head growths, taking a particularly evil looking head but and just adding a small cover of greenstuff to simulate the massive psyker head. And while things like horns and protrusions are easy to make, the veins might not be. Something that small will need a ton of detail there, so unless you are really good at that, try to choose some other effect.

Lastly, we have the negavolt cultists. Out of all of the minis of this range, this one is the hardest to really kitbash from zero, considering the pieces it may use are rather rare. Both the Electropriest and the AoS Flagellants work well enough for the body (and the Mandrakes as well, but those are more problematic to work with, considering the machine bits you'll have to add later), and you can give each units two taser goads, one on each hand. The problem is the head and the electric generator on the back. The flagellant's heads are great if you like evil but goofy grins, but if you want something more scary-looking and visceral, you'll have to go to Dark Eldar masks. Units like the Wracks and Wyches have great heads for that. You might have to greenstuff them a bit, but it can be done. If you want the head with the mecha-tendrills... For now you'll have to resort to the original model, I can't think of something even close, even from 3rd party modellers, sorry. Same for the back generator. 

Nevermind all that, GW is releasing a standalone version of the SoTA units. [https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/BlackstoneAbomIntel-Oct1-HostilesProducts4uhcw.jpg] Looks like it will come with the exact same number of minis that the original Blackstone Fortress came with, so if you need more than four negavolts, you will need both. 
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[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Chaos]]

[[Category: Chaos Space Marines]]

[[Category: Death Guard]]

[[Category: Thousand Sons]]

[[Category: Daemons]]

[[Category: Lost and the Damned]]