Recon Squad is an unofficial, fan-made variant of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 miniatures game. It is a simple set of rules and missions tailored for skirmishing. All the usual 40k mechanics are used so there is no new core gameplay to learn. But each model acts independently, moving about the board and fighting on its own rather than as part of a unit. Each player typically only fields a handful to a dozen of models, some of which are given unique special abilities. Matches generally take well under an hour to play. Grab your favorite sergeant and his best grunts and take them on a mission---the fates of entire sectors hinge on the mettle of such warriors!
The Recon Squad PDF contains a default mission that works well for pickup games. The Legacies 40k skirmish narrative framework includes seven more thematic scenarios, and ties them all together in a simple multi-player campaign of squads working to accomplish special missions and earn their place in history.
A discussion of the design rationale for Recon Squad—based on the 7th edition version but still applicable—is on tjkopena's blog. It also compares Recon Squad to Games Workshop's traditional and current Kill Team rules.
- 2017/12/12: Posted rules updated for 40k 8th edition, as used for the 2017 NOVA Narrative. The previous rules are still available for 7th edition play, along with the FAQ.
- 2015/05/21: The Necron specific codex adaptation for Reanimation Protocols was removed, as that rule in the codex is no longer contingent on other models being present. The Dark Eldar codex adaptation for Power from Pain was also removed as that rule in the codex is now based on turn number rather than kills.
- 2015/01/09: Initial release.
- Rules Design: Joe Kopena, Colin Kielick, and the Philadelphia Area Gaming Enthusiasts (PAGE)
- Text & Photos: Joe Kopena
- Cover Art: Luke Walker
Recon Squad is obviously completely unofficial, unauthorized, and unaffiliated with Games Workshop. All models depicted above are also all obviously Games Workshop intellectual property. Adepta Sororitas, Adeptus Astartes, Astra Militarum, Blood Angels, Chaos Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, Dark Angels, Dark Eldar, Eldar, Grey Knights, Necrons, Orks, Space Wolves, Tau Empire, Tyranid, Forge World, Games Workshop, Warhammer, and all associated marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units, illustrations, images, and models from the Warhammer 40,000 universe and game are either ®, TM, and/or © Copyright Games Workshop Ltd 2000. Used without permission, no challenge to status intended, all rights reserved to their respective owners.
Recon Squad is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It has been produced using solely open source tools. The document and image sources are available on GitHub.