Do I need terrain for Kill Team?
For your first missions, no: the Kill Team Starter Set comes with printed MDF terrain. For regular games you want a bigger board, either a killzone, which is Games Workshop's name for a themed terrain set and the maps that go with it, or your own terrain.
The Core Book has rules for three killzones: Volkus, Gallowdark and Bheta-Decima. Your own terrain works too if the board is dense with cover.
What the Starter Set's terrain does
Games Workshop describes the Starter Set's terrain as easy-assembly printed MDF that slots together in seconds. The idea is to get you into first games without building and painting plastic walls and ruins. It packs down flat afterwards, which makes it easy to carry to a friend's table.
It is a learning tool. The set's rulebook leads you through simple missions, and the terrain is sized for that. Once you move to regular games, a bigger and more varied board gives you more to play with.
What a killzone is
Games Workshop lists four things you need for a full game: the Core Book, the core token sheet, a team and a killzone. The rules give each killzone its own features, and the ops card pack, the cards that build missions, has its mission maps.
| Killzone | What Games Workshop says | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| Volkus | Terrain with multiple vantage points and tall walls, to add height to the game. It came in Kill Team: Hivestorm, the launch box of the current edition. | Killzone: Volkus, £69.52, sold out at the moment |
| Tomb World | The setting of the 2025 season: tomb-world fights with breachable walls. | Killzone: Tomb World, £80.98, sold out at the moment |
| Gallowdark and Bheta-Decima | Gallowdark is ultra close-quarters fighting around blind corners, through hatchways and across packed rooms. In Bheta-Decima, operatives leap between platforms above perilous seas. | Not listed as separate sets here. See our Kill Team range. |
The 2024 ops card pack carries mission maps for Volkus, Gallowdark and Bheta-Decima, and the Core Book has the rules for those three. Volkus is a sensible first choice, because its tall walls and vantage points give the board height.
Using your own terrain
Nothing in the game requires Games Workshop terrain. Cardboard, wooden kits, other ranges and scatter from your 40,000 collection all work. Replies to one r/killteam post about a first board raised four points.
Open catwalks with nothing to hide behind turn every game into a shooting gallery, so add cover. Raised spots dominate a board, so give them enough blockers on the floor to answer. Each side needs a start area and a few staging points out of sight of most of the board. Keep the cover around each objective roughly even for both players.
What to buy, in order
- Play your first missions on the Starter Set's own terrain.
- If you enjoy the game, add one killzone set, or well-chosen pieces of your own terrain, to play the killzone mission maps.
- Add a second killzone only when you want a different style of game.
The Core Book, which has the killzone rules, is £31.60 and is sold out at the moment.
Common questions
Is Killzone: Volkus included in the Kill Team Starter Set?
No, the Starter Set has its own printed MDF terrain. Volkus came in Kill Team: Hivestorm, the launch box of the current edition, and is also a separate terrain set, which we list as Killzone: Volkus.
Which Kill Team killzone should I buy first?
Volkus, for a board with plenty of height. Tomb World suits tomb-themed fights with breachable walls. The cards on this page show the stock for both. The ops card pack has mission maps for Volkus, Gallowdark and Bheta-Decima. If the one you want is out, your own terrain does the job.
Can I use household objects or Necromunda terrain for Kill Team?
Any terrain that gives cover, height and blocked lines of sight will do. Books, boxes and cardboard can stand in for walls, as long as everyone agrees what each piece is. Some players use industrial sets from other Warhammer games, such as Boarding Actions terrain. Check the board still gives both sides safe places to start.
Starter Set terrain: Warhammer Community (Games Workshop's news site), 14 October 2024. Core Book, killzones and ops card pack maps: Warhammer Community, 20 September 2024. Tomb World season: Warhammer Community, 29 August 2025. Layout advice: one r/killteam thread, 2026. Prices and stock: this shop, read live.