Just two weeks after the “Gallowfall fiasco” comes yet another Kill Team expansion set. In our Kill Team: Ashes of Faith review we take a look at both old and new models (but mainly old) and the brand new 2-player campaign system.

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Kill Team: Ashes of Faith will be available for preorder starting Saturday, May 20, 2023, and go on sale one week after. The box contains the following:

  • Inquisitorial Agents warband (7 models)
  • 5 Tempestus Scions
  • 5 Sisters of Silence (inc. Burning of Prospero transfer sheet)
  • Dark Commune (5 models)
  • Accursed Cultists (8 models)
  • Chaos Cultists (10 models)
  • Kill Team: Ashes of Faith book
  • Kill Team: Ashes of Faith campaign rules booklet
  • a set of cards, tableauts, and stickers for the narrative campaign
Unboxing of the Kill Team: Ashes of Faith box on a concrete background
This item was kindly provided by Games Workshop. Thoughts and opinions are our own.

Inquisitorial Agents review

The main attraction of the set are certainly the Inquisitorial Agents, the only new models. And I have to say, after long years of waiting for new Inquisition models, I am a bit disappointed. The seven models are squeezed onto three small sprues:

  • The first body has male/androgynous features and builds as either an Interrogator or Enlightener
  • The second body has female features and builds as either a Questkeeper or Pistoleer
  • The third body has male features and builds as either a Mystic or Hexorcist
  • The fourth body has male features and builds as either a Penal Legionnaire or Death World Veteran (clearly inspired by the old Sergeant Stone miniature from Inquisitor)

Each of these four models is a dual-build – this means you can choose to assemble either or. Each variant comes with a specific head and set of arms, but no other optional weapon, heads, or bitz. This makes this kit very limiting.

Kill Team: Ashes of Faith review, sprues 1 and 2 of the Inquisitorial Agents
Inquisitorial Agents sprues 1 and 2
  • The fifth model is an Autoservant, who has two heads to choose from
  • The sixth model is a Servitor, who can choose between a multi-melta, plasma cannon, or heavy bolter
  • The seventh model is a Tome-skull
Kill Team: Ashes of Faith review, sprue 3 of the Inquisitorial Agents
Inquisitorial Agents sprue 3

I just don’t understand why Imperial Navy Breachers got the full 10-model kit treatment, but the iconic Inquisition is fobbed off with such a limited kit. Furthermore, I feel the poses look rather stiff, the level of detail is low, and the servitor looks like a bad copy of Servitor X-101 from Blackstone Fortress. Somehow the models look like they could be ten years old, at least in my opinion.

Tempestus Scions & Sisters of Silence

Inquisitional Agents are a quite unusual Kill Team. Instead of having 12 Inquisitional Agents operatives, they can also have a core of seven operatives and then requisition one of five support units: Kasrkin, Adeptus Arbites, Veteran Guardsmen, Tempestus Scions, and Sisters of Silence. You can’t mix and match though, you have to take a group of 5 (or 6 in case of Veteran Guardsmen) operatives each. As they can have a roster of 30 operatives, you could thus add multiple support units of five/six models each, and still have plenty of space to fill the rest of the roster with Inquisitorial Agent operatives.

Five Tempestus Scions and Sisters of Silence models are included in Kill Team: Ashes of Faith. Just based on looks, I think that the fully armoured Sisters look rather odd among the robed Inquisitorial Agents. And the Tempestus Scions are based on the proportions of the old Cadians, and are thus much stockier than the Agent models, which have the same proportions as the new Cadians. Makes me feel like the selection is more of a recycling of old models.

Chaos Cult review

The Chaos Cult is another Kill Team with a very unique playstyle. You start building your team with the five models from the Dark Commune set, plus 10 Devotees (Chaos Cultists). Over the course of the game, you can mutate the Devotees into Mutants and finally Torments (the effect only lasts until the end of the game though).

Kill Team: Ashes of Faith includes the contents of the Dark Commune box (5 models), the Accursed Cultists box (5 mutants and 3 torments), and one new Cultists box (10 models). We have examined all these kits in more detail in this review. Unfortunately, all models are monopose mono-builds (except for the Cultist leader, which has a few cosmetic options and the choice to have a boltpistol). Meaning that all Chaos Cultist Kill Teams play pretty much the same, as the composition is dictated and there are no weapon options other than equipment.

Contents of the Kill Team: Ashes of Faith box
© Copyright Games Workshop Limited, used without permission

Ashes of Faith book & campaign rules

The Ashes of Faith book is quite thin with only 72 pages, as it only contains the rules and lore of the two Kill Teams. You will find the campaign rules in a separate 36 pages booklet. The Ashes of Faith campaign system is for two players only. While you can technically play with Kill Teams other than the teams included, one player needs to be nominated as the Inquisition player and one needs to be nominated as the Chaos Cult player for rules purposes.

The campaign is played in six rounds, plus a final Ritual mission. A campaign round involves a game of Kill Team (open, matched, or narrative play), and is followed by a card draft stage. The cards are then used to control, persuade, or investigate various territories, in order to gain dominance over as many of them as possible. The campaign can be won by controlling the most territories, and/or winning the final Ritual mission.

Value

I think the main thing this box has going for is the price. With an RRP of £95 / 120 € / $160, you save about half over purchasing the models individually (assuming a price of £32.50 for the Inquisitorial Agents, the value of the models alone adds up to £190). Plus you get some books and accessories and a narrative campaign on top.

At this point, I would like to point out that the last Kill Team expansion sets were sold out within a few minutes/hours each. I don’t know whether Ashes of Faith has been produced in such low numbers, too, but I would recommend to not hesitate too long.

Feel free to have a look at our partner stores Wayland GamesElement Games, Firestorm Games, and Taschengelddieb. You can get discounts of up to 20% over RRP and support Tale of Painters with your purchase by using our links.

I hope you found this review helpful, feel free to leave a reaction or comment below, or post your questions here or discuss on our Discord channel.

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Pros

  • Finally new Inquisition models...
  • 50% saving over purchasing the models individually
  • Narrative campaign system with lots of accessories

Cons

  • ... but locked behind a box with lots of old models
  • Inquisitorial Agent kit has limited options and stiff poses

Final Verdict

You might have been able to read between the lines, but I was disappointed by Ashes of Faith. The box seems to be designed to sell a bunch of old models to people who are thirsty for new Inquisition models. On top of that, the actual models are very limited in options and would have deserved a lot more optional bitz so you could really make an Inquisitorial warband of your own. The narrative campaign is quite nice, though, and the box has at least good valu for money.