Approved Ops 2025

Books

Show History
Book	Kind	Edition	Version	Last update
Approved Ops 2025 Card Pack
Approved Ops 2025 Card Pack	Expansion	3		October 2026
		3		April 2026
		3		August 2026
Approved Ops 2025 Tournament Companion
Approved Ops 2025 Tournament Companion	Expansion	3		August 2026
		3		January 2026

For the Dominate tac op, when does it count as a friendly operative incapacitating an enemy operative if it’s not immediately clear?

It’s counted if a friendly operative can be identified as directly causing the incapacitation. This always includes instances where a friendly operative was required to perform an action or retaliate for that enemy operative to be incapacitated (e.g. SANCTIFIER Blaze), as well as rules that specify an operative in a required location (e.g. HIEROTEK CIRCLE Tesla Weave, GELLERPOX INFECTED Screaming Rustspikes). If rules on an operative’s datacard inflict damage, they are included (e.g. RATLING BOMBER Mine), but indirect sources (e.g. damage from a mine that was selected as an additional equipment option through HEARTHKYN SALVAGER LUGGER Well Supplied) wouldn’t be. If multiple friendly operatives could be identified as causing the incapacitation, select one of them to gain the related Dominate token.

Q:	For the Martyrs tac op, would an objective still gain a Martyr token if my operative was incapacitated by something other than an enemy operative (e.g. a Blast weapon used by another friendly operative, Mine universal equipment)?
A:	Yes.

Q:	How does the Expendable/Expendable Construct rule (e.g. WRECKA KREW BOMB SQUIG, CANOPTEK CIRCLE WARRIOR) or similar rules (e.g. GELLERPOX INFECTED Mutoid Vermin) work with tac ops when an operative with that rule is incapacitated?
A:	The Expendable rule only affects the below tac ops for this purpose, and does so as follows: For Sweep and Clear, the objective marker isn’t swept. For Dominate, a Dominate token is not gained. For Rout, VP are not gained. For Martyrs, a Martyr token is not gained. For Steal Intelligence, an Intelligence mission marker is not placed.

Approved Ops Mission Pack

This is a PvP mission pack for head-to-head gameplay. It’s ideal for players who want the most balanced, up-to-date and in-depth version of Kill Team. Each player must score VP during the game from three different ops:

Crit Op

Score VP by performing mission actions and controlling objective markers.

Kill Op

Score VP as enemy operatives are incapacitated.

Tac Op

Score VP from a tac op they secretly select from one of their kin team’s archetypes. Each tac op specifies when it should be revealed.

Primary Op

As a STRATEGIC GAMBIT in the first turning point, each player secretly selects one of the above ops to be their primary op. At the end of the battle they reveal their selection and score additional VP from that op. When the battle ends, the player with the most VP is the winner.

Each Approved Ops game follows the game sequence below.

1. Set up the Battle

Each player selects a kill team for the battle.
Determine the killzone and set up terrain features. Ensure terrain types are specified.
Determine one shared crit op and set up objective markers. Other than in Killzone: Bheta-Decima, all objective markers must be set up on the killzone floor.
Roll-off: the winner decides who has initiative.
The player with initiative selects one drop zone. Their opponent has the other drop zone and gains the Re-roll initiative card (explained in step 4).

2. Select Operatives

Each player secretly selects their operatives for the battle, adhering to the selection requirements in their kill team’s rules. They then reveal their selections simultaneously.
Each player secretly selects up to four equipment options. Each option cannot be selected more than once per player. They then reveal their selections simultaneously.
Each player starts with 2CP.
Each player secretly selects a tac op from one of their kill team’s archetypes (Infiltration, Recon, Security or Seek & Destroy, as specified in their kill team’s rules).

3. Set Up Operatives

Each player alternates setting up an item of equipment that’s set up before the battle (ladders, etc.), starting with the player with initiative. Note: it’s item by item, not option by option.
Each player alternates setting up one third of their kill team (rounding up), starting with the player with initiative. When a player sets up an operative, it must be wholly within their drop zone and must be given a Conceal order.

4. Play the battle

To determine initiative during each turning point (including the first), the players roll off (but don’t re-roll ties). Starting with the loser of the roll-off, each player alternates either using an initiative card to alter their roll result (explained below) or passing, until they both pass in succession.
If player(s) would use their kill team’s rules to affect the roll-off, they must do so before playing initiative cards, starting with the player that’s losing the roll off.
The Re-roll initiative card (see step 1) allows the player to re-roll their initiative roll. The remaining initiative cards modify the player’s roll result up or down (this can take it above 6 or below 1). For example, if a player rolls a 5 and plays the +2/-2 initiative card, they can modify their roll result to 3 or 7. If a player uses the Re-roll initiative card after they’ve modified their roll result, the new result supersedes their modification(s) used so far.
The winner of the roll-off decides who has initiative. Excluding the fourth turning point, the loser of the roll-off gains an initiative card equal to the turning point number (e.g. in the second turning point they would gain the +2/-2 initiative card). If the roll-off is a tie, the player who doesn’t currently have initiative is the winner. Note that it’s the loser of the roll-off that gains the initiative card, not the player without initiative.
As a STRATEGIC GAMBIT in the first turning point, each player secretly selects one of their three ops (1.crit, 2.kill or 3.tac) to be their primary op. They should place a card with their selection face down, conceal a dice showing their selection under a cup, etc. as appropnate.
Each player can score a maximum of 6VP from each op.

5. End the Battle

The battle ends after four turning points have been completed. If one player has no operatives in the killzone but the battle hasn’t ended, the other player plays out each remaining turning point until it does.
At the end of the battle, the players reveal their primary ops simultaneously. They score additional VP equal to half of what they scored from that op (rounding up).
The player with the most VP is the winner. If the players are tied, it’s a draw.

Approved Ops 2025 Tournament Companion

Welcome to the Approved Ops 2025 Tournament Companion. This document has been developed for Kill Team tournament organisers to use as a framework on how to best arrange a finely-tuned event using the Approved Ops 2025 card pack. While this companion is not the only way to create such an event, it can provide a valuable resource to organisers – both newer and experienced – looking for guidance on making sure their tournament is providing the best experience for players, and will be followed at most Games Workshop events using Approved Ops 2025. Tournament organisers can adapt this companion as necessary to best fit the individual needs of their event.

Recommended Terrain Layouts

Approved Ops 2025 contains 6 terrain layouts for each killzone currently in the Kill Team product range, alongside maps for Killzone: Gallowdark and non-specific killzone maps. In addition, this companion contains 6 maps to be used with Killzone: Octarius. These are all recommended for tournament play, but they are not the only terrain layouts that can be used for a balanced experience. The maps in Approved Ops 2025 may not directly correlate to an exact measurement of terrain, so it’s at your discretion as an organiser to make decisions about these placements. To encourage adaptability and generalship at the table, tournament organisers may make their own maps using their own collections of Kill Team terrain using the example killzones from Approved Ops 2025 as a guideline. We recommend tables be preset for the day with an even variety of terrain layouts, and that players be rotated through the layouts with each pairing. Note that depending on the number of layouts and rounds, this means some players may repeat a layout over the course of the event

Crit Op Selection

We recommend that all players be playing the same Crit Op in the same round to create the most consistent results for win paths (explained on the next page) in the pairings metrics. To do this, tournament organisers should select crit ops for players in each round of the tournament, either randomly or predetermined.
While organisers can select any crit ops randomly using the cards from Approved Ops 2025, we also find that some groups of crit ops feature similar play patterns. For a wider variety of mission types in each tournament, organisers can select one from each of these groupings for each round:

1. Secure, 2. Loot, 3. Transmission
4. Orb, 6. Energy Cells, 7. Download
5. Stake Claim, 8. Data, 9. Reboot

Pairings

We recommend that players be randomly paired into their matches for the first round. When selecting pairings for players in the following rounds, the most important aspect of pairings would be to ensure that players with a similar number of wins and losses are playing against one another (e.g. a player with 3 wins, 1 loss and 0 draws should play against another player with those same results if possible). However, it is inevitable to have many players with the same win/loss record. In those cases, we recommend pairing players with the following criteria:

Firstly, by record (i.e. wins, losses, draws).
Secondly, by win path (i.e. the timing of the rounds in which a player won or lost their games).
Thirdly, randomly within players of the same ranking.

If you have an odd number of players with an identical record, you can pair the player that is currently lowest ranked within players of a record with the highest ranked in the next record down, then determine the rest of the pairings, repeating this process as necessary.

Win Path: A player’s win path refers not to their number of wins and losses, but to the timing of those wins and losses. While pairing by win path has an incidental tendency to pair people by ‘strength of schedule’ (see below), its greatest impact is on the overall enjoyment experienced by all players, as it tends to pair players based upon shared experience. For example, let’s take two 3-1 players. One of them lost their first game; they likely lowered their expectations for winning the whole event after this, but are probably in a great mood after three consecutive victories. The other won their first three games then lost their fourth – a sharp disappointment after a 3-0 start. Should these players face off, their shared enjoyment may be at odds as they are in very different emotional places. Win path ensures players enter their match with recent common experiences upon which to build a friendship during their next game of Warhammer.

Draws: Draws are a perfectly valid result of a game of Kill Team. In fact, they can be some of the most exciting and competitive matches. We highly discourage the use of tiebreakers to decide the results of an individual game, and organisers should instead use the Rankings criteria below to resolve ties when determining the results of the event. We also recommend that a draw not be excessively punishing on a win record, as the relatively low score potential within Kill Team results in a higher frequency of draws. In general, we recommend that the result of two draws be an equal record result to a win and a loss.

To help resolve issues with pairings and rankings, and accurately record secondary stats like strength of schedule, organisers can use apps like Best Coast Pairings, which includes preset metrics for these options.

Rankings

At the end of the tournament, it is quite common for a number of players to have an identical record. To determine ranking players within your results, we recommend the following criteria:

Firstly, by overall record (i.e. wins, losses, draws).
Secondly, by their opponent’s win records (i.e. those with more wins against opponents with better win records would place higher).
Thirdly, by total VP scored in all games from the primary op (i.e. a player who scores an additional 3VP from their primary op selection would receive 3 points when determining this ranking criteria).

Strength of Schedule: Our second criteria for rankings – opponent’s win records – is also referred to as strength of schedule. In a difficult match between equally skilled players, we expect a player’s score to be lower on average than a match against a less skilled opponent. Therefore, strength of schedule can be used to determine the difficulty of matches a player made it through to achieve their final result. We don’t recommend using overall VP as a criteria in pairings or rankings, as these results can be lowered even when winning a match if your opponent or matchup was difficult.

Rulings

The high number of games in a Warhammer event means that players are likely to discover unusual rules interactions and edge cases. When encountering these interactions, try to be as fair as possible to players and make the best judgement you are able. To support this, the Warhammer Design Studio release regular Rules Updates on Kill Team: The App to create the most up-to-date and precise wordings possible. Whenever a printed rule contradicts an online rule, the online rule will take precedence. If you are unsure of an interaction, check these living documents first to ensure you have the best chance of successfully resolving the issue. Once you have made a ruling during an event, we recommend continuing to resolve the interaction that way for the remainder of the event. Small mistakes are natural, but trying to provide the most consistent environment for games is within your control as an organiser, and keeping as many games playing with the same rules as possible is preferable to altering course for small adjustments to a ruling.

Classified Format

When planning your tournament, you must determine if it will be using the Classified format. We recommend making your tournament Classified if your prizes for winning include a ticket to the World Championships of Warhammer. In all other tournament settings, you may allow play of all kill teams with 3rd edition rules.

Classified teams can be played in Classified format tournaments. Teams that are not Classified will continue to receive regular Rules Updates – balance updates, designer’s commentaries and erratas – and will be balanced throughout the current edition of Kill Team.

Classified Rotation

The full list of Classified kill teams can be found below. Teams will be added to this list as they are released, and removed when they are no longer Classified.

Gallowdark
Season

Bheta-Decima
Season

Volkus
Season

Tomb World
Season

* Operatives from kill teams that are no longer Classified can still be used as Requisitioned operatives when playing the Classified format.

Afterword

We hope this document has been helpful in establishing what the Warhammer Design Studio’s vision of a Kill Team Approved Ops event looks like. As a reminder, this is not the only way to create a rich, balanced and well-tuned event for Kill Team. Each tournament should look to meet the needs of its community, to develop respect between players, and to create a great space where we can come together in our love for Warhammer. That might differ from what is in this guide, and this companion should never be considered the sole ‘correct’ vision of a Kill Team Approved Ops event. We hope only to support the incredible community of this game with resources to make each event a success, and we hope that it improves your experience the next time you organise or play at a Games Workshop event, your next major tournament, or your local gaming club.

Killzone: Octarius

Killzone: Octarius has 4x ramshackle walls, 1x oil pump, 3x ramshackle barricades, and 3x scrap piles.

Ramshackle Wall

A The upper level is Vantage and Ceiling terrain.
B The door is Accessible and Heavy terrain. For the purposes of control range, ignore the door when determining visibility.
C The gap in the wall on the lower level and all gaps in the upper level’s floors are Blocking terrain.
The upper rampart is Light terrain.
All other parts of it are Heavy terrain.

Ramshackle Barricade

This is Light terrain.

Scrap Pile

This is Light terrain.

Oil Pump

A The upper level is Vantage and Ceiling terrain.
B The pumpjack’s horse head is Exposed terrain.
C The small spigot is Insignificant and Exposed terrain.
All other parts of it are Heavy terrain.

Connecting Walkway

This is Vantage and Ceiling terrain.

Pillars

This is Light, Vantage, and Ceiling terrain.

Killzone: Octarius Map Key

A - Ramshackle Walls (x2)

B - Ramshackle Walls (x2)

C - Oil Pump

D - Ramshackle Barricades

E - Ramshackle Barricades

F - Ramshackle Barricades

G - Scrap Piles

H - Scrap Piles

I - Scrap Piles

J - Connecting Walkway

K - Pillars

Universal Map Key

	Player A Drop Zone and Territory
	Player A Territory
	Player A Killzone Edge
	Player B Drop Zone and Territory
	Player B Territory
	Player B Killzone Edge
	Centreline
	Neutral Killzone Edge
	Centre of Killzone
	Objective Marker

If a marker or a piece of a terrain feature is underneath Vantage terrain, it’s represented by these thin white dashed lines.

The position of a door is represented by these thick white dashed lines.

Mission Generator

This is the mission generator, and it is intended to replace the Approved Ops 2025 card pack. Press the ‘Generate Mission’ button to pick up the mission and map as specified by the RANDOM method (see Determine Mission and Map). Use ‘Mission’ and ‘Map’ dropdown lists if you prefer other methods.

Press ‘Select’ button (

) to add Tac Op to your Selected Tac Ops list. ‘Remove’ button (

) used to remove Tac Op from the list. Note that generator limits only the maximum number of Tac Ops allowed (one) - Select Tac Ops rule omitted so you are free to pick any Tac Ops.

If you accidentally close the browser or refresh the page your card selection will be safe. It is saved in cookies of the browser on the current device.

UNIVERSAL MAP KEY

	Player 1 Drop Zone and Territory
	Player 1 Territory
	Player 1 Killzone Edge
	Player 1 Objective Marker
	Player 2 Drop Zone and Territory
	Player 2 Territory
	Player 2 Killzone Edge
	Player 2 Objective Marker
	Centre Objective Marker
	Neutral Killzone Edge
	Centre of Killzone
	Centre Line

KILLZONE: BHETA-DECIMA MAP KEY

	Hazardous Area
	Short Gantry
	Medium Gantry
	Long Gantry
	Ferratonic Furnace

KILLZONE: GALLOWDARK MAP KEY

KILLZONE: TOMB WORLD MAP KEY

KILLZONE: VOLKUS MAP KEY

KILL OP

You start without a kill grade. As enemy operatives are incapacitated, your kill grade goes up until it reaches 5.

Whenever you move to a new kill grade, you score 1 VP
At the end of the battle, if your kill grade is higher than your opponent’s, you score 1VP.

The table below shows how many enemy operatives must be incapacitated to reach each kill grade. The row you use is determined by the starting number of enemy operatives.

Generate Mission

Mission: Map: Map: Map: Map: Map: Map: Killzone:

Selected Tac Ops

Archetype Tac Ops

Archetypes Filter:

Card Decks

Crit Ops

Crit Op

1. Secure

MISSION ACTION

Secure1AP

One objective marker the active operative controls is secured by your kill team until the enemy kill team secures that objective marker.

An operative cannot perform this action during the first turning point, or while within control range of an enemy operative.

VICTORY POINTS

At the end of each turning point after the first:

If any objective markers are secured by your kill team, you score 1VP.
If more objective markers are secured by your kill team than your opponent’s kill team, you score 1VP.

Crit Op

2. Loot

MISSION ACTION

Loot1AP

One objective marker the active operative controls is looted.

An operative cannot perform this action during the first turning point, while within control range of an enemy operative, or if that objective marker has already been looted during this turning point.

VICTORY POINTS

Whenever a friendly operative performs the Loot action, you score 1VP (to a maximum of 2VP per turning point).

Crit Op

3. Transmission

MISSION ACTION

Initiate Transmission1AP

One objective marker the active operative controls is transmitting until the start of the next turning point.

An operative cannot perform this action during the first turning point, or while within control range of an enemy operative.

VICTORY POINTS

At the end of each turning point after the first:

If friendly operatives control any transmitting objective markers, you score 1VP.
If friendly operatives control more transmitting objective markers than enemy operatives do, you score 1VP.

Crit Op

4. Orb

MISSION ACTION

Move Orb1AP

If the active operative controls the objective marker that has the Orb token, move that token as follows:

If the centre objective marker has it, move it to either player’s objective marker (your choice).
If a player’s objective marker has it, move it to the centre objective marker.

An operative cannot perform this action during the first turning point, while within control range of an enemy operative, or if it doesn’t control the objective marker that has the Orb token.

ADITIONAL RULES

At the start of the battle, the centre objective marker has the Orb token.

VICTORY POINTS

At the end of each turning point after the first, for each objective marker that friendly operatives control that doesn’t have the Orb token, you score 1VP.

Crit Op

5. Stake Claim

ADITIONAL RULES

At the start of the Gambit step of each Strategy phase after the first, starting with the player with initiative, each player must select both one objective marker and one of the following claims for that turning point:

Friendly operatives will control that objective marker at the end of this turning point.
Enemy operatives won’t contest that objective marker at the end of this turning point.

Each player cannot select each objective marker more than once per battle (so they must select each objective marker once during the battle).

VICTORY POINTS

At the end of each turning point after the first:

If friendly operatives control more objective markers than enemy operatives do, you score 1VP.
If your selected claim is true, you score 1VP.

Crit Op

6. Energy Cells

ADITIONAL RULES

Operatives can perform the Pick Up Marker action upon each objective marker in the following turning points:

2, but you must spend an additional 2AP (that action cannot be free and its AP cannot be reduced).
3, but you must spend an additional 1AP (that action cannot be free and its AP cannot be reduced).
4 (as normal).

Whenever an operative is carrying an objective marker, that operative cannot be removed and set up again more than 6" away.

VICTORY POINTS

At the end of each turning point after the first, if friendly operatives control more objective markers than enemy operatives do, you score 1VP.

At the end of the battle, for each objective marker friendly operatives are carrying, you score 1VP.

Crit Op

7. Download

MISSION ACTION

Download1AP

One centre or opponent’s objective marker the active operative controls is downloaded.

An operative cannot perform this action during the first or second turning point, while within control range of an enemy operative, or if that objective marker has already been downloaded during the battle.

VICTORY POINTS

At the end of each turning point after the first, if friendly operatives control more objective markers than enemy operatives do, you score 1VP. Ignore downloaded objective markers when determining this.

Whenever a friendly operative performs the Download action during the third turning point, you score 1VP.

Whenever a friendly operative performs the Download action during the fourth turning point, you score 2VP.

Crit Op

8. Data

MISSION ACTION

Compile Data1AP

One objective marker the active operative controls gains 1 Data point. Use a dice as a token to keep track of Data points at that objective marker.

An operative cannot perform this action during the first turning point, while within control range of an enemy operative, or if that objective marker has already gained a Data point during this turning point.

Send Data1AP

Remove all Data points from an objective marker the active operative controls.

An operative cannot perform this action during the first, second or third turning point, while within control range of an enemy operative, or if that objective marker doesn’t have any Data points to remove.

VICTORY POINTS

At the end of the second and third turning point, if friendly operatives have performed more Compile Data actions during that turning point than enemy operatives have, you score 1VP.

Whenever a friendly operative performs the Send Data action, you score a number of VP equal to the number of Data points removed.

Crit Op

9. Reboot

ADITIONAL RULES

When setting up the battle, after setting up objective markers, number each objective marker 1–3. At the start of the Gambit step of each Strategy phase, each player secretly selects one objective marker by putting a number of dice in their hand that matches that marker’s number, then reveal simultaneously: If both players selected the same one, that objective marker is inert during this turning point. If not, the objective marker that neither player selected is inert during this turning point.

MISSION ACTION

Reboot2AP

One inert objective marker the active operative controls is no longer inert.

An operative cannot perform this action during the first turning point, or while within control range of an enemy operative.

VICTORY POINTS

At the end of each turning point after the first, for each objective marker friendly operatives control, you score 1VP. Ignore inert objective markers when determining this.