Games Workshop is advertising a new position in the Warhammer 40k Kill Team design team, the ‘Matched Play Games Designer’. If you’re a “tournament player with a proven track record of victories in the competitive gaming scene” you have until midnight, UK time, on Sunday August 20 to apply.
This role “will be responsible for crafting and refining rules and gameplay mechanics” in Warhammer 40k: Kill Team to ensure “a balanced and engaging experience for players in competitive environments”, no matter which Warhammer 40k faction they take to the field.
The post-holder will work with the design team to “create and iterate on rules that promote strategic depth and balanced gameplay in competitive settings”.
That will involve “rigorous playtesting”, data analysis, staying “up-to-date with the current competitive Kill Team scene, including tournament meta, player feedback, and emerging strategies” – plus maintaining relationships with the Kill Team community.
This is a position for people who already know Kill Team backwards and forwards. Games Workshops wants someone with “extensive tournament experience”, and “a deep understanding” of the rules.
The successful candidate will also need “strong analytical and problem-solving abilities”, “excellent verbal and written communication skills” to communicate with people inside and outside the community, and a “team-player mindset”.
The post is a full-time role based at Games Workshop’s HQ at Warhammer World, Nottingham, in the UK. The job listing does not provide a salary.
Kill Team is a miniature wargame designed, from the ground up, to support a competitive scene. The small board size makes it easy for stores and conventions to run tournaments in limited space. The game already receives regular balance updates – here’s Kill Team specialist Glass Half Dead responding to the latest patch to the game.
The restrictive force construction rules, not to mention how Kill Teams are limited to a very small range of models from their parent faction, greatly reduces the possible combinations of units – which makes it easier to interpret playtest and tournament data to determine where imbalances come from.
That’s not to say that Kill Team isn’t great for casual or narrative gaming – the sell-out success of Ashes of Faith demonstrates how popular narrative Kill Team is. If the concept of competitive gaming leaves a sour taste in your mouth, check out our The Doomed review – it’s a fantastic skirmish game that is 100% narrative driven, and works great with Kill Team minis.