Hearthkyn Salvager

The whole squad in a family reunion photo.

Usually, on Space Hulk missions, the Imperium often need dedicated Elite super-soldiers clad in the toughest armour avaliable to even scout out and retrieve valuable artefacts, before fucking off when the Hulk decides to do another Warp jump. The Squats on the other hand? These guys don't fuck around. Enter the Hearthkyn Salvager teams.

Overview

First debuting in Kill Team: Gallowfall. Hearthkyn Salvagers are absolutely nutty folks that make Terminators look like pussies. You see, rather than thumbing their thumbs and wait for a Space Hulk to appear in real space, the Squats says "Fuck that noise!" and loot them in Warp jump. You may be asking yourself, "But how is that even possible?" Well, dear viewers, the answer is that the Squats jury-rigged miniature Gellar Fields around their troops. Yes. They rip apart and loot Space Hulks whilst inside the Warp, all the while telling Chaos to go fist itself. Fucking badass.

Because of their hazardous nature, Hearthkyn Salvagers are equipped with all manner of survey equipment to help identify cost-efficient targets within them. Salvager teams are diverse and well-equipped; enough to make any denizen of a Space Hulk to think twice before bum-rushing them head on. Although all Salvagers are led by a regular Theyn however.

Types of Hearthkyn Salvager

A average Salvager team is diverse as aforementioned. So here are some of the fine folks that makes up these hardcore looters:

Lokâtr

I can see you behind the wall bitch.

One of the two primary information and communication specialists of a Salvager team.

Lokâtrs carries around a pan spectral scanner. A heavy-duty scanning and detection device that is pretty crucial to properly navigate, map out and locate any peculiarities within the maze-like jungle of a Space Hulk. Movement, heat signatures and other oddities can easily be picked up by the scanner, even through or around walls. This is thanked by the fact that, as its name implies, the pan spectral scanner incorporates radar and lidar systems alongside all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Because of this, the Lokâtr is one of the most important and most protected member of a Salvager team. Nevertheless, these guys aren't defenceless. They are armed with a Autoch Pattern Bolter as their primary and either a Autoch Pattern Bolt Pistol or a Bolt Revolver as a secondary, as well as a Plasma Knife. They wear Void Power Armour like all Kin.

Their name might be a corruption of the word 'Locator'. Given their job, it fits really well.

On the Kill Team tabletop, these are warriors wearing a wrist-mounted scanner, so they do a lot of things you expect them to do on tabletop. They mess a lot with the pregame setup, denying the enemy movement from using Recon for a scouting option as well as denying the enemy the ability to deploy outside of their DZ. They also get a special action to deploy a Scan marker on the board - any attacks against enemies within 3"/square of the token gain No Cover. Overall, a decent support unit that fucks with the abilities of their opponents.

Lokâtrs are classified under Staunch and Scout.

Kognitâar

For more information, see here: Kognitâar

Salvager Lugger

"You carry a load well Molly!”

Not to be confused with the Necromundan Servitor class called the Lugger.

The guy that carries all your shit. No really!

In a Salvager team, space is a premium and no one could afford fatiguing themselves by carrying a unnecessary amount of extra equipment. So they just give it to one guy whose responsibility is just that. A Salvager Lugger has the unfortunate claim of being the team's mule. You would expect the fatigue-less Ironkin to be the one acting as the group's donkey eh?

Anyways, the Lugger hauls the gear around. Such gear is most definitely survival and exploration equipment. We are talking about spare ropes, rope clutches, spare MREs, a Hammer, spare ammo, spare grenades, illumination equipment, a Plasma Sword, and spare energy batteries.

Luggers are also very well-armed. Other than the sheathed Plasma Sword, their primary weapons are either a Autoch Pattern Bolter or a Bolt Shotgun. For their secondaries, they carries the standard Autoch Pattern Bolt Pistol or a Bolt Revolver as well as a Plasma Knife. They wear Void Power Armour like all Kin.

On the Kill Team tabletop, not only do they get to perform objective actions at a 1 AP discount, but they also get 5 EP worth of extra gear. On top of that, they have an endless bag of wargear, letting an operative within 1"/triangle change their loadout to anything you need. While this won't do anything for any special equipment, this does give you the means to switch things up on the enemy.

Luggers are classified under Staunch.

Jump Pack Warrior

It's like a one-man Assault Squad.

An oddity among the Leagues, but the Kin don't really utilise jump packs as much as their Imperium cousins. Why that's the case remains to be seen, although a likelihood for that is merely a difference of doctrine (or GW has not finished making the kit yet).

That doesn't mean that jump packs are outlawed in the Leagues, as the Jump Pack Warrior can attest. These guys are specialists that trained to use a jump pack. As jump packs aren't considered ubiquitous as aforementioned, special training is required. Once fully trained, the jump packs allow axe-wielding specialists to surmount any obstacles the team encounters.

So to no ones surprise, these guys are close-range specialists. Now the nature of a jump pack is pretty situational. Depending on the type of Space Hulk, such a unit is not needed as a tight-confined space heavily limits where the Warrior could go due to how ungainly the jump packs are. But in Space Hulks with large open spaces or in areas that needs some oomph in their jumps (i.e. crevices), or areas with limited, reduced or no gravity, then these guys are very much relevant.

These Warriors are armed with a Plasma Axe and a Autoch Pattern Bolt Pistol, with a spare pistol and a Plasma Knife holstered on their Void Power Armour.

On the Kill Team tabletop, they are a bit of an oddity, as the squats never had such an ability to wear jump packs before. Mobility can be quite handy since your Kin got stubby legs - especially when you spend 2 AP to make a mad dash across the board in a straight line, moving 12"/2 pentagons. The jump pack also gives a bit of momentum as charging gives their Plasma Axe the Brutal rule, which can do a lot for their alpha-strike potential.

Curiously, they also have a set of climbing gear they can lay out for their fellow Kin. Since this guy doesn't really need anything of the sort, they can lay it out on any vantage point they're near so others can climb up to join them.

Jump Pack Warriors are classified under Combat and Scout.

Dôzr

C'mere you little shit! I will give you a Sunday Special!

Ah the Dôzr. What can we say about this Scottish Bar Hooligan stereotype?

The Dôzr made rounds in /tg/ for how absolutely hilarious his whole get-up is. Imagine a Squat, whose entire specialty is in bar brawls. We are not making this shit up. Look at his pose and what he is wielding as a weapon.

As expected, these hobos are the second type of melee-specialists for the Kin. They carry the infamous fisticuffs called a Concussion Knuckle. Whilst the range if obviously downright pitiful, fortunately for the Kin, range doesn't really matter within the closed space of a Space Hulk, so they are perfectly-suited to the cramped quarters of a Space Hulk or ruined tunnel. These bar brawl enthusiasts use their Knuckles to break down hatchways and barricades in a quick and very compact way.

Other than that, as overglorified brass knuckles, it still leaves the Kin's fingers free to be articulated. Which actually frees up the Dôzr's hands to do something other than giving a Genestealer an uppercut. Other than that, they carry the standard Autoch Pattern Bolt Pistol or a Bolt Revolver, as well as a Plasma Knife. They wear Void Power Armour like all Kin.

On the Kill Team tabletop, despite wearing void suits, this particular stuntie got the balls to take off the sleeves of this pressurized suit to instead wear knuckle dusters (called Concussion Knux cuz EXTREME). These knuckles aren't too shabby either, as they have 4/4 damage with Ceaseless and Lethal 5+ to more easily trigger Stun on a crit. Even better, fighting this bastard makes combat reinforcement shenanigans fall flat and can make one final swing before dying.

He also has a special action that knocks an adjacent enemy square/3" back and deals d3+1 MWs, with a 3 also robbing the enemy of 1 APL on their next activation. For this reason, it would be a nice trick to keep the Dôzr close to any key operatives when near a melee-heavy force and act as their bouncer.

Dôzrs are classified under Combat and Staunch.

Salvager Grenadier

The Demo-Guy of the team.

The bombs and explosive expert of the team.

Salvager Grenadiers are kin who has a Michael Bay-levels of explosive fetish. Nevertheless, their role is pretty dang important. In a salvage mission, there has to be a guy who knows the proper procedures in blowing up blocked entrenches or demolishing dangerously weak structures. In a Space Hulk, the level of disrepair and nightmarish mish-mash of fused ships means that hazards such as these are going to very common to encounter.

As such, these Grenadiers suit up with a metric shit ton of Gravitic Concussion Grenades and big-ass C8 HX Charges. Their neverending training with these grenades means that a Grenadier knows the right distance to pull the pin and throw a hail marry at whoever is dumb enough to group themselves together.

Other than their belt of grenades, Grenadiers aren't that well equipped all things considered. They are only armed with either a Autoch Pattern Bolt Pistol or a Bolt Revolver. They do wear the standard Void Power Armour, so there's that.

On the Kill Team tabletop, not only do they get a Gravitic Concussion Grenade, they also get a single-use C8 HX Grenade for a more direct if short-ranged explosive. They also have a special utility grenade they can set up anywhere within 6"/pentagon to set up a 3"/square bubble with one of three effects: Either operatives need to spend an additional 2"/circle to move through it, forces all guns to suffer Range 6"/pentagon (which means nothing for any pistols equipped), or forces any objective actions to spend an additional AP to pull off.

Salvager Grenadiers are classified under Scout and Staunch.

Salvager Gunner

The Heavy Weapons Guy of the team.

The heavy weapons guy of the team.

Sometimes, a Salvager team may find way too many resistance to handle. So who do they call to clear the rabble? These guys of course. Salvager Gunners are specialists that lug around heavy weapons. The weapons they carry do make them slow and sluggish, but the amount of sheer Dakka they can output is something else entirely.

True to its name, Salvager Gunners only carry the largest man Squat-portable weapons available. The most notable or common is the HYLas Rotary Cannon, which is a god damn rapid-firing Lascannon. The reason why the HYLas was chosen is simple. Ammunition is rare within a Space Hulk, and lasers weapons are very ammo-efficient. So it makes sense for the Kin to go with this. Other heavy weapons includes the EtaCarn Plasma Beamer, the L7 Missile Launcher and the Magna-Rail Rifle.

Other than the BFG. A Gunner is equipped with a secondary Autoch Pattern Bolt Pistol, HYLas Auto Rifle or a Bolt Revolver and the standard-issue Void Power Armour.

On the Kill Team tabletop, Gunners gives you your variety of heavy guns. The EtaCarn Plasma Beamer is high-powered with AP2 while Beam makes any crits makes it draw a line to hit another enemy in it for d3 MWs. The HYLas Auto Rifle gives you something pretty decent with Relentless and Rending while the HYLas Rotor Cannon is a Heavy gun with Ceaseless and Fusillade to cover the field while Scan ignores obscuration. The L7 Missile Launcher has two firing modes, one being a crowd-covering Blast while the other's a high-powered AP1 shot. The Rail Rifle gives a high-powered gun, getting AP2 and MW2 on crits, but Unwieldy makes it unable to be used in Overwatch.

Salvager Gunners are classified under Marksman and Staunch.