I recently finished all the 'campaign' from Space Hulk (2014), including the 'Disable the shields' game from White Dwarf #33 (Sep 2014). The photos of this scenario are below. I've dragged this out over several years against the same opponent, knocking off a few games each year. I'm very glad to have completed all these games, which I have never done despite owning Space Hulk (1989) since the 90s.
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| The boarding torpedo screams across the void. |
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| The Terminators break into the hulk. |
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| Contact! A long corridor provides no cover. |
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| The squad advances with mutual cover... |
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| Jammed! A genestealer rips the heavy flamer marine apart. |
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| As the plan falls apart, the far marine makes a slow break for the objective. |
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| The genestealers swarm! |
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| Jammed! The sergeant goes down. |
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| The terminator sacrifices himself to buy time. |
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| The sole survivor lumbers toward the objective. |
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He holds off the xenos long enough to disable the shields.
Victory! But at what cost? |
I have long appreciated the elegant simplicity of SH: the tension of blips moving on the board, and everything swinging on single die rolls. 6s to hit in shooting with minimal modifiers; simple action points, line of sight, and square grid-based movement. There have been some changes from the 1989 original but the core experience is the same*. While the Terminator player gets D6 'Command Points' to spend every turn to give them a little action flexibility, the only surprises the Genestealer player has are how many xenos each blip represents. This does sadly lead to some predictable situations where you know exactly that you are unreachable this turn.
I can't help but try to improve this venerable classic- give the 'Stealer some random cards which maybe they pay for in blips, that they could use to move extra squares or appear in unexpected places.
I put quotation marks around 'campaign' because the games are not linked in any meaningful way. Win or lose has no effect on upcoming missions, and your deaths are miraculously healed. This is another area that could be improved.
I'm tempted to dig up the Deathwing (1990) expansion which, IIRC, had a mini solo campaign.
Is it time for a refresh of this venerable game, or should it be left at peace? Can you recommend a similar game?
* I cannot recommend the Genestealer expansion (1990), the psychic and shooting rules are clunky.
Classic game. Timker and either make it better or ruin it. Best part is to play. I agree with you that the Y not
ReplyDeleteVery hard to improve on such an elegantly simple game.
DeleteMeant to say expansion Genestealers had mostly the unplayable fortress
ReplyDeleteOh, so wonderful. I never played the original one and, though I got the 2014 game, only started a game which we had to interrupt anyway, so I would gladly give it another try. Cool to see you put it into good use!
ReplyDeleteHighly recommended!
DeleteSH remains the best game I think they have ever made and yes I still have my 1st edition and beloved yellow Campaign book too! And yet, every time I pick it up again I try to tinker with it, forgetting that its simplicity is its strength.
ReplyDeleteI think a new Campaigns book, with an updated system for SM vs Traitor termies, remains my 'most wanted' thing for GW to produce
I should dig up the old campaigns. I think a lot of them used psychic rules, which I dislike.
DeleteThe new 40mm-base terminators are gorgeous, I'd like to see floor tiles for them. 3D printer time?
An excellent game, sadly I sold on my original game but I have the 2014 / 15 game but have not taken it out of the box.
ReplyDeleteSpace Hulk is a fantastic game to play not too complicated, thanks for sharing.
Willz.