Review: Kill Team: Blood and Zeal

Shortly before the Great Gun is fired, the population of Volkus is in a state of religious turmoil. As the sweating masses gather for the preparatory rituals, a bloodthirsty danger brews from within. In this review of Kill Team: Blood and Zeal, we’ll take a look at the new models of the Sanctifiers and Khorne’s Goremongers (including high-res sprue images) and leaf through the dossier and mission pack.

Kill Team: Blood and Zeal will be available for pre-order starting Saturday, 22 March 2025. The pre-order period lasts two weeks, with the official release date set for 5 April 2025. Please note that there will be only one production run, so the box is available only until stocks last.

Included in the box are:

• The Sanctifiers (11 models)
• The Goremongers (8 models)
• a shrine statue
• the 56-page Blood and Zeal dossier
• tokens and datacards for both Kill Teams
• the Blood and Zeal mission pack card deck

Unboxing Kill Team: Blood and Zeal

Thematically, Kill Team: Blood and Zeal plunges into the Cascabael district. Rituals take place, as the citizens of Volkus prepare for the firing of the Massif Ballistus. The Goremongers came to slaughter their way through the crowds, and only the Sanctifiers can stand in their way.

The Sanctifiers Kill Team review

The Sanctifiers are Imperial zealots of the Ministorum, a total of 11 models on 25mm bases, spread across two medium-sized sprues. The kit features a mix of monopose models (some of which have head options, some don’t), as well as Missionaries and Preachers that are more modular in design:

• 1 Confessor, who has 2 different head options.
• 1 Cherub (no build options).
• 1 Death Cult Assassin, who has 3 different head options.
• 1 Salvationist (no build options).
• 1 Miraculist (no build options).
• Missionary 1 can have either a right arm with a brazier of holy fire or icon, and hold a plasma gun in the left arm. Alternatively, a meltagun for the right arm and a left arm with a prayer book.
• Missionary 2 holds a flamethrower in the left arm, and can have either the right arm with the brazier or icon, depending on which arm you used for Missionary 1.
• Preacher 1 can be built either as a Drill Abbot or as a regular Preacher. These differ by their weapons/arms: the Drill Abbot carries a skull icon and great hammer, the Preacher has a hand flamer and chainsword.
• Preacher 2 can be built either as a Persecutor or as a regular Preacher. These differ by their weapons/arms: the Persecutor wields a two-handed Eviscerator, the Preacher has a hand flamer and chainsword.
• Preacher 3 can be built either as a Conflagrator or as a regular Preacher. These differ by their weapons/arms: the Conflagrator carries two hand flamers and spare ammo on their back, the Preacher has a hand flamer and chainsword and a book on their back.
• Preacher 4 can be built either as a Reliquant or as a regular Preacher. These differ by their weapons/arms: the Reliquant has a hand flamer and a large cult icon, the Preacher has a chainsword in their left hand instead.
• A total of 14 heads on ball joints are included, which you can freely distribute among the Missionaries and Preachers. In terms of size, they also fit on Cadians, for example.

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

I love the large number of heads. Additionally, the four Preachers have identical connection points for the arms under their robes, so with a bit of experimentation, you can find combinations other than those specified in the instructions. Be aware though that due to the two-part nature of the bodies, there will be a lot of seam lines on the robes that need to be filled. Overall, a very nice kit with many options though, and a lot of models are dating back to previous metal incarnations from the 2nd and 3rd Edition of Warhammer 40k, with some models such as the Drill Abbot inspired by classic Inquisitor models.

As the only suggestion for improvement, I would have liked to see alternative heads or details for the purely mono-build models like the Cherub, the Miraculist, and the Salvationist, and perhaps an alternative pose for the Death Cult Assassin. Maybe they could have spared a few of the Preacher heads for that.

Gameplay

In the game, The Sanctifiers are a close-range firepower team with 11 operatives. The Confessor and Cherub are mandatory. The remaining 9 models are your choice, but each of the special operatives can only be used once, with a maximum of 4 preachers and only 1 missionary with a brazier of holy fire. The faction rule is the Ministorum Sermon, where friendly Sanctifier operatives near an Orator operative benefit from the Sermon, reducing normal and critical damage of 3 or more by 1. There is also a new “blaze” special rule for flame weapons.

A look at the The Goremongers

The World Eaters’ Goremongers are also spread across two medium-sized sprues. The 8 models come on 32mm bases, and you can build the following models with the kit:

• Goremonger 1 is the Blood Herald. You have the choice of whether or not he holds a Chaos icon in his right hand; otherwise, the model is monopose.
• Goremonger 2 can be built either as a Bloodtaker or an Aspirant, and you can choose between two heads. The Bloodtaker has a pair of arms with ritual blades, the Aspirant wields a two-handed chainglaive.
• Goremonger 3 can be built either as an Impaler or an Aspirant, and you can choose between two heads. The Impaler has a pair of arms with a fleshskewer gun, the Aspirant holds an autopistol in his right hand and a chainglaive in his left. He also has an alternative, empty pistol holster.
• Goremonger 4 can be built either as a Skullclaimer or an Aspirant, and you can choose between two heads. The Skullclaimer wields a two-handed chainaxe, the Aspirant has his right fist clenched and holds a chainglaive in his left hand.
• Goremonger 5 can be built either as an Impaler or an Aspirant, and you can choose between two heads. The Stalker has a pair of arms with pickripper chainswords, the Aspirant wields a two-handed chainglaive.
• Goremonger 6 can be built either as an Inciter or an Aspirant, and you can choose between two heads. The Inciter has a pair of arms with dual autopistols, the Aspirant holds an autopistol in his right hand and a chainglaive in his left.
• Goremongers 7 and 8 can only be built as Aspirants, both wielding two-handed chainglaives. Aspirant 8 has two head options.

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

The Goremongers are the enlightened elite amongst the masses of cultists who follow the World Eaters legions. They have been able to observe Bloodletters in battle and survived, and now strive towards their demonic ideal. This includes replacing their legs with biomechanical augmentations in barbaric operations.

I’m sure if you’d asked World Eaters collectors what they wanted, very few would have answered with elite Jakkhals. But I like it when Games Workshop surprises us with something new. The Goremonger kit impresses with a good selection of special operatives for Kill Team, but can also be built purely with chainglaives for potential use in 40k. The poses of the models are dynamic, with many architectural fragments from which the Goremongers propel themselves.

Gameplay

The Goremongers use all 8 models from the box, and you can only select each special operative once. So a single kit is usually sufficient, unless you want to play more of the generic Aspirants. The Goremongers play as an aggressive melee team, thanks to the Runes of Khorne, they can never lose more than 8 wounds per shoot action. Additionally, for each model you track a “gore tank” with three levels. Tokens for this are included on the sheet. You start the game at the middle level, and incapacitating operatives increases the tank. You can spend the tank’s contents for the Sanguavitae rule, which allows you to trigger one of six effects, such as extra movement or a free bonus fight action.

The shrine statue terrain piece

The shrine statue is the statue of St. Celestine, which was originally part of the Adepta Sororitas Battle Sanctum terrain kit. The statue has an imposing height of approximately 19 cm and comes on a single large sprue.

I welcome the fact that the Sisters of Battle statue is being made available again thanks to Kill Team: Blood and Zeal. It fits the Sanctifiers in the box and the background story that has been woven around Blood and Zeal. It’s also part of the of the effects you can generate with the Blood and Zeal mission pack deck. However, in terms of the grand narrative of this season around the Great Gun, I would have liked a different piece of terrain. Something that fits more with the context of this massive, world-spanning weapon. For example, a spare parts depot, gigantic shells, a crane, something more industrial.

Flicking through the Blood and Zeal dossier

At 56 pages, the Blood and Zeal dossier rulebook is quite thin. As with the previous expansion books of this edition, there are first a few pages of lore, then an introduction to both included Kill Teams with their rules, and mission pack. The book is rounded off by two pages of conversion and painting tips to defile the shrine statue in the name of Khorne.

The Blood and Zeal mission pack comprises only three pages, as it can only be played as an expansion of existing mission packs. It introduces the Blood and Zeal card deck with 32 cards, and you’ll also need the shrine statue. One of the two Kill Teams draws cards from the Zeal deck, while the other players draws from the Blood deck, during each strategy phase and when the opponent scores VP. The Zeal cards provide more defensive effects, while the Blood cards grant bonuses for aggressive play, such as extra damage or movement.

As announced on Warhammer Community, Games Workshop appears to be increasingly focusing on standalone gaming experiences with their new Kill Team boxes. So, we can look forward to more ‘gimmicks’ like the Blood and Zeal deck in future boxes.

Value

Kill Team: Blood and Zeal has a recommended retail price of £82.50 / 110 €. This is about equivalent to the previous battle box, Kill Team: Brutal and Cunning, which I reviewed here. In direct comparison, Blood and Zeal contains less plastic than Brutal and Cunning, as that box included two large terrain sprues instead of just one.

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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.