Space: The Hulkening 1

Due to scheduling conflicts, this blog is rapidly becoming just about gaming. I might have to change my banner and title if I keep it up.

I always enjoyed the Space Hulk board game, though I haven’t played it a lot. I was introduced to it by my brother back at a MichiCon event in the 90s. I must have been around 12 or 13 years old. He had all the expansions and whatnot, and it was a lot of fun getting my marines annihilated. I don't think I ever beat the Genestealers. A few years later my friend Robb pulled the same game and expansions out of his cabinet, and we played it some more. Still, no marines could pull off a win. And we never even played with the optional timing rules, or if so not much.

Anyway, the third edition came out last year, and I decided that I had to have it. I swooped it up for a little less than cost from my FLGS. Getting it less than cost was actually a good deal, as it was a limited edition and they’re sort of expensive online now. On top of that, all the models were already put together because it was a display game, the proverbial last-in-stock.

I think it’s worth the cash, but then I hadn’t owned the game. Robb, being the only friend I have who loves board games, agreed to play some new Hulk, mainly because he was interested in the rules changes. Robb was skeptical, especially with the rules updates. The 3rd edition rulebook is a slim 24 page manual with lots of full color illustrations, and the psyker rules have been significantly simplified. Robb liked the old rules better. He always does. He’s been pissed about the change in Zip Gun and ammo cards for a while now. And don’t get me started on Kindred Restructure. Christ.

The game, for those not in the know, is roughly the plot of the film Aliens. A group of supersoldiers climbs into a derelict space station in search of. . .whatever the mission says. . .and there’s a big bunch of man-eating reptile/bug/monster thingies there. The tension in the game comes from the fact that the marines have ranged weapons, while the Genestealers excel in close combat. So if the marine can shoot all the bugs to pieces before they get close they’re good. If they can’t then they’re probably dead. The players each control one faction (it’s a two player game at heart, though multiple-squad missions can be played with more than one marine player) and each mission has a set objective, at least in the Mission book. Of course, new missions can always be created, and the lovely cardstock (hugely thick) panels for map construction offer a myriad of various space derelicts.

I give the board game components, with the awesome minis and panels, a 4.0. Some of the missions are more Meh.

Mission I: Suicide Mission

We played the first two missions awhile ago.

Mission one pits a squad of marines against an absurd amount of Genestealers. The marines need to fire their heavy flamer weapon (one guy has a flamethrower with six shots, and it’s a devastating weapon, let’s call him Brother Zael, as that’s what the Mission book names the heavy flamer marine) into a certain room to stop the launch of potentially Genestealer-infested escape pods. The Genestealer player needs to kill Brother Zael or make him use his six shots before he can torch the room.

I played as the marines, and things went pretty well. I lost one guy early, but while all that was going on I moved my troops down to the correct area and incinerated huge swaths of bugs with Brother Zael. I got pretty lucky, and we did not play with the timer, as I’m not nearly as familiar with the rules as Robb is. Also, the floor-model game I picked up was missing the timer. It’s not a big loss, from what I understand.

I managed to get to the Launch Control room, but in order to flame it with my last shot I had to incinerate Sergeant Lorenzo, who had opened the door to said room. They don’t call it Suicide Mission for nothin’. Marines player:3.0 Genestealers player: 3.0 Lots of fun and strategy for both sides.

Mission II: Exterminate

Robb and I decided to switch teams (read that as you will) and he played the Marines, and I the Genestealers. I think this is the first time I ever played as the bugs. This is a pretty simple “outlast the other side” mission. The marines get to dig in on the map, and the Genestealer has a finite amount of reinforcements (in most missions, the Genestealer player has unlimited reinforcements, so the marines are working against that). Whoever is left when the dust clears wins.

Rob dug himself in real good and then rolled like gangbusters, nuking all of my bugs before they could get close. I think I only managed a single close combat roll the whole time, and Robb won that as well, so I got skunked. Kind of a boring mission, and. . . Hmmm. Marines win again. Marines player:3.0 Genestealers player: 2.0 Not having more bugs was a let down, Robb got this one pretty easy.

At this point we stopped playing, mainly because it was 2 in the morning. Robb was concerned that the rules changes benefitted the marines player too much. In earlier editions the marines player had a tough go of it, while so far the marines were batting 1000, out of two at-bats, which isn’t necessarily proof of brokenness. . .

We picked it up again this weekend and continued through the missions in the mission book.

Mission III: Rescue

We had to re-refresh ourselves on the rules, because the first two missions were played like last December. We swapped sides again, so I got to be the marines. We again elected to play without a timer because of the rules thing. We’re not sure that was a good idea.

Rescue has two squads of marines at opposite ends of the map, and Squad A needs to navigate through the halls to meet up with their pals and then move back toward Squad B’s starting point. There’s a marine carrying a MacGuffin which needs to go out the exit for the marines to win. The Genestealer player needs to stop that from happening.

This one was a lot of fun. For me. Robb didn’t get to make a single roll as the Genestealer player. I moved Squad A along and pushed only two guys from Squad B to meet them, sending Sgt. “Victim with a Thunder Hammer” Gideon and a couple of grunts down to seal off the entry points near the exit section. This kept the Genestealers from moving in behind me.

Squad A was full of killing machines. I set a couple of marines on overwatch to keep an eye on the back hallways while the MacGuffin-carrying marine made his mad dash, and those guys killed at least a dozen Genstealers. I also used Zael’s Flamer to block off some access points for the bugs, which bought me a lot of time.

The middle section of the map is ugly, with two ridiculous access points for the Genestealers to jump out of, near a critical junction where the marines must pass through. Using the last of my Zael’s Flamer ammo to emberfy two Genestealers, Sgt. Lorenzo and MacGuffin Marine made for the exit, backed up by reinforcements from Squad B now.

No marines lost, but Robb conceded the game to me right after Brother Zael had used his last Flamer shot, and Zael was almost certainly going to get mauled in the hallway with no gun to shoot. However, for as successful as it was, I was incredibly lucky. Many times my last shot of the turn is what killed the bug in front of one of my marines. Marines player:3.5 Genestealers player: 3.0 There’s enough entry points for bugs that there are several strategies available, and the middle section could get nasty if the marines miss a few key shots.

Mission IV: Cleanse and Burn

Robb took the Marines for this one. He immediately recognized it as an older mission redone for the new game. The map was even similar. The marines get two squads and have to fire heavy weapons (Flamer or Autocannon) in two rooms, similar to Mission I, in order to win. The Genestealer player needs to kill Brother Zael and Brother Leon, or run out of ammo, before they can complete the mission objectives.

Robb plays a strong game as either side. I seem to need every bullet I get when I’m playing marines, but Robb just muscled his way down the hall toward the objective, blasting every door in sight so that my bugs had nowhere to hide. I poured most of my Genestealers into the middle access points, but Robb nuked most of them with Flamer and Autocannon fire. Brother Leon, the Autocannon Marine, was running out of ammo. I set my bugs upon him and managed to eviscerate him and most of Sgt. "Victim" Gideon’s squad. Meanwhile, Lorenzo’s team was pretty strong, and Zael had already flamed one of the objective rooms. Damn.

I ran a few Genestealers in to try and make things difficult, but Robb moved Zael into position and had his lead marines open all the doors cross-hallway to the other objective room. Zael pulled the trigger and that was that. Four marines dead, but still no victory for the Genestealers. Marines player:3.0 Genestealers player: 3.0 Lots of fun, and a fast-paced mission to boot.

We had to call it again on account of lateness, but Robb would like to play all twelve missions and then perhaps revise or hybridize the rules with the first edition set he has. I guess we’ll see how those houserules go after playing all twelve missions.

Both Robb and I independently came to the conclusion that the marines player needs to have the timer in order to balance the marines out: they’re supposed to be calculating beasts, but any mistake on the part of the marines can be fatal, and the timer really plays to that. So next time we’ll use a stopwatch or similar and see if things get balanced. Downloading a stopwatch app for the iphone right now. . .

-Mark out