Chapter Relics

I found these figures in the attic of a relatives house last summer.  I painted them while I was living there back in 1990 or so when I was fifteen.  They are painted to match the colour scheme of my first Space Marine army.

The miniatures are the same seriously dodgy Terminators that were supplied with the original Space Hulk box.  The figures are undeniably clunky, but have a very functional charm as gaming pieces, from my nostalgia ridden perspective at least.  Being as devoid of animation as they are, they are as obviously boardgame pieces as something like the top hat from Monopoly or even a pawn from a cheap set of Snakes and Ladders.

I also found a painted Terminator Librarian from the Deathwing supplement.  Another goofy early GW plastic.

I got a kick out of finding these figures and I dusted them off ready for a game of Space Hulk or Advanced Space Crusade or something similar in the future.  While the paint jobs are a scary twenty years old, they are perfectly fine for gaming with.

Funnily enough when I traded on Boardgamegeek for a set of 2nd edition Space Hulk back in 2008 I painted up another batch of the same sculpts, visible here and here.

At the time I was going through a sort of minimalist phase in my figure painting and I was trying to see the smallest amount of work required to do to a figure to get it finished well enough to game with.  This was mainly in an effort to try to make a serious dent in the lead and plastic mountain and to get some projects (like Space Hulk, Mutant Chronicles: Siege of the Citadel and Descent: Journeys in the Dark) finished for once, at the expense of paint job quality. I found it curious to compare the figures painted in 2008 with the same figures painted eighteen years earlier.

Alien Queen Basing

Uncharacteristically good weather plus an even more uncharacteristic busy social life has meant that my hobby time has been curtailed of late.  As a result todays post is a bit half-assed.  It does show that at least I am making some progress with my Aliens re-theme of Space Hulk.

Alien Queen Basing

Mikko at Dawn of the Lead has been making a lot more progress on his identical project here.  His latest addition of a very nice looking Alien Queen that came from a gashapon toy is in need of a base.  As I recently made a basic but functional base for getting my large Horrorclix Queen on the Space Hulk board, I decided to put up a quick photo.

Grid Markings

After removing the model from its clix base I stuck some styrene with a treadplate pattern on it to a 60mm plywood base.  I then added some styrene strips in a sort of tic-tac-toe pattern that matches the size of the squares in a game of Space Hulk.

While obviously using such a large figure will make some parts of the game feel a little cramped, the grid marked on the base should make it apparent where the Queen is standing in rules terms.  Adjacent figures will have to stand on small parts of the queens base but I dont foresee that being a big problem.

Mostly Space Hulk to Aliens Rules Conversion Ideas Mostly

WALL OF TEXT WARNING

I am finally making some progress on the miniatures side of the Space Hulk to Aliens project, of which more will follow.  Funnily enough, in one of those weird internet-ty ways it seems that lots of other people are dusting off their Colonial Marines, Aliens and Predators to tackle the same or very similar projects on both Lead Adventure Forum and Frothers.  Mikko at Dawn of the Lead has been doing some very solid work too, elements of which I intend to rip off use to inspire me.

To go along with the miniatures I want to hammer out the basic rules conversions required.  I mostly intend to game with these figures in Space Hulk (mostly), simply because it is such a tight and satisfying system.  Ideas for many these rules have been going around in my head for years while others have been as a result of talking to similarly interested Aliens and Space Hulk nerds and and I want to write them down somewhere.  That somewhere might as well be here.

The intention is to translate existing rules for various elements in Space Hulk into their Aliens equivalent and not to write new rules unless absolutely necessary.  Eventually I plan to write up a simple Force List in the style of the Force List in Deathwing that allows players to pick a simple Colonial Marine force for playing any Space Hulk scenario.

Finally, while I like the idea of Predators I have never really enjoyed the movies that much.  I really think that they are pretty shitty to be honest, even though even suggesting that to most of my colleagues tends to send them into a fit of nerd rage, complete with bad Schwarzenegger impersonations.  So, while I have a pile of Predators waiting to be painted they are not a priority for me in terms of rules conversion.  It will happen eventually but not for a while as I dont really care that much about them and they will be harder to legislate for anyway due to their stealth and all that.

So here goes.  Everything is as in 3rd Ed rules unless otherwise specified:

M41A Pulse Rifle armed Colonial Marine = Storm Bolter Terminator Marine (ignore the Grenade Launcher part of the M41A.  It is considered to be intrinsic to the weapons standard effect in the game.  Consider it represented by the sustained fire bonus if that floats your boat).

M41A Pulse Rifle armed Sergeant= Power Sword and Storm Bolter armed Terminator Sergeant (+1 in assault is fine for a veteran NonCom.  Parry from the sword can be seen as whatever you like, kung-fu grip, sixth sense, Riddick levels of badass-ness: whatever.  Regardless, Sergeants have it.  Just like they allow the CP redraw).

Shotgun armed Corporal (Hicks) = Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield Armed Terminator Sergeant (this one is a bit of a fudge.  Assuming that the shotgun is only effective at point blank range is pushing it, but it does make the shotgun very deadly at that range, just like in video games.  The Block given by the shield is explained away just like the Parry for the other Sarge.  It also makes Apone and Hicks different, but similar which is cool.  The utter absence of Hicks Pulse Rifle (Storm Bolter) is a bit counter intuiticve, but as it will then slot in cleanly to all of the 3rd Ed missions I think that that has to be way to do it.  Finally, this ties in with one of the few extra rules that I intend to use, Acid Splash.  If it works out then having the Shotgun guy run the risk of acid burn will feel just like the movie ).

M56 Smart Gun armed Colonial Marine = Assault Cannon Terminator

M240 Flamethrower armed Colonial Marine = Heavy Flamer Terminator

M41A Pulse Rifle armed Colonial Marine with Welder and Electrical Equipment (Hudson) = Storm Bolter and Chainfist Terminator (both troopers open doors/bulkheads that are otherwise difficult to open. Simple and accurate conversion).

Caterpillar P-5000 Powerloader = Lightning Claw armed Terminator (I was initially hesitant about this but the more that I thought about it the more that I liked it.  The LC Terminator has no ranged capability and will shred most opposition, most of the time.  It will also have a decent chance to best the dangerous Alien Queen (Patriarch/Broodlord) in hand to hand, which is reasonable.  It is a neat solution I think).

Company Man Burke, Newt and Jones the cat= C.A.T., Relic or other scenario objectives (I might try to come up with rules for Burke at a later date but having to rescue his sorry ass seems just as appropriate I think).

Synthetic/Artificial Person = Terminator Librarian (I know, I know but bear with me for a second.

Having watched Alien 4 last weekend, the idea of a synthetic with potent, situation based powers like Prescience (some sort of CCTV based thing) and Force Barrier (overriding a blast door or similar) seems fine to me. Psychic Storm might be pushing it a bit but whatever: maybe Bishop/Cole/Ash has overridden the Liquid Nitrogen spraying thing or activated the sprinklers after causing a short or switching on sentry guns in that area or something else just as Deus Ex Machina.

The Librarians close combat prowess is a bit at odds with Bishops performance but not so much with that of Ash (super-strong, but not super-tough). Considering that Bishop is three laws compliant, the idea of the synthetic going to extraordinary lengths to beat up potentially harmful Xenomorphs is ok with me.  Apparently the comics had combat synths that used to get stuck in quite regularly too, although the three laws tell me that Bishop would be compelled to help whether he was built for it or not.

Funnily enough the thing that doesnt sit well with me is that the Librarian has a Storm Bolter.  It doesnt seem right that Bishop should have a rifle (and the figure that I have to represent the synthetic has a piece of technical equipment in place of a weapon too.  Does Cole use a gun at any point in the 4th film?  I dont think so.

Reluctant Badass Lieutenant Ellen Ripley = Space Hulk First Edition Captain (another fudge.  The Captain in 1st Ed is very potent: he adds +2 to the CP total every turn, adds +2 to combat rolls and has a Power Sword, Grenade Launcher and Storm Bolter.  I have found that the Captain is roughly equivalent to the 3rd Ed Librarian in potency and I have swapped the characters when playing 3rd Ed quite successfully.

I suppose that Ripley is shown to have leadership qualities in the movie so ok to the CP bonus. The Storm Bolter/Pulse Rifle is perfect and the Captains GL can simply be seen as an alternative way of using the Incinerator that Ripley carries.  Thats OK with me.  The +2 combat plus Parry is harder to explain away but in the interests of keeping the rules standard I think that I can live with it.  I will justify it to myself as Fate or Hero points: the things that make the Hero, the Hero.

So, thats the Humans dealt with.   Bugs now:

Xenomorph = Purestrain Genestealer

Alien Queen = Broodlord

Face-hugger or Chest-burster = First Edition Unarmed Hybrid (these guys will get wiped out by fire very easily.  Once converted from Blip to model they move more slowly too.  They will be a fun, straightforward way to add some variety to the Alien players forces without much additional complexity and the rules are already written.  As I will use the 1st Ed blip sets, including the Hybrid blips it will be easy to throw in a few small aliens.  I havent decided on a way to incorporate it into the standard 3rd Ed blips yet.  It will probably be something similar to how the Patriarch can be brought into play, except that a “1″ Blip can be exchanged for 3 Face-huggers twice a game or something like that.)

Lastly, Acid Splash.  Some players have added rules for this.  In many ways I think that it is an unneccesary complication for little gain.  Still, after mulling it over I had an idea: rather than roll to hit any/all adjacent models when an Alien dies (which would be tedious and could easily spoil the rapid flow of the game) I want to try out an idea based on the Scatter rule from Blood Bowl.

See Mikkos comments below.

Acid Splash: Acid Splash occurs when an Alien is hit from a shooting attack and that attack rolls at least two “1″‘s rolls at least two “6″‘s. If the target Alien is adjacent to one or more non-Alien figures then one of the non-Alien figures is chosen by the shooting player.  The chosen figure is removed from play.

As noted below this gives only a 1/36 chance of damage and is incorporated into the existing rolls and game mechanics.  It also makes point blank shooting a tiny bit risky which is both thematic and entertaining.  It also means that a blast from an Assault Cannon/Smart Gun is more likely to cause Acid Splash while the Heavy Flamer cannot ever.  Quite satisfyingly accurate to the relative strengths and weaknesses of the weapons as I see them.  Nice one Mikko.

Phew, that was a long one.  Congrats if you endured it this far.  Comments and thoughts on that much are welcome.

EDIT 02/06/10: replaced Acid Splash idea with Mikkos version from comments below.

EDIT 02/06/10: replaced Acid Splash “1″ with “6″.

Sin Eater Tactical Squad Rico: Pt 2

Missile Launcher and Bolter

Part 1 is HERE.

Although Marine squads usually max out at ten men I have painted up a few extra for Squad Rico.  They are marines with different heavy weapons, giving me more flexibility when picking a force.  That sort of extra flexibility is always something that is on my mind when preparing miniatures for games, but it rarely works out as comprehensively as it did with Squad Rico.

The Missile Launcher above comes from an old (’89 or so) GW Chaos Heavy Weapon sprue.  It is probably most familiar from its inclusion in the Space Hulk: Genestealer expansion.  The Hybrids had a few.

Plasma Gun and Bolter Marines

Bolter Marine and Sergeant Rico

Heavy Bolter and Bolter Marines

The Heavy Bolter armament above is pretty cool looking (and would be all the more so only for that annoying shine…): its a cool model.   The hand painted insignia is easily visible on the right hand guys shoulder pad.

Sin Eater Tactical Squad Rico: Pt1

Squad Rico Banner Bearer

Squad Rico was one of the first squads that I painted for my Sin Eaters Chaos Marine army, over a decade ago.  They have seen a lot of tabletop action including some 3rd Edition Space Hulk and Advanced Space Crusade.  I quite like their look.

A Pair of Bolter Armed Tactical Marines

Squad Rico uses a lot fewer Chaos components than most of the other squads in the army.  When assembling the force I wanted to distinguish each unit by their armour configuration as much as insignia, to aid with recognition on the tabletop.  To this end Squad Rico is distinguished by the Imperial armour configuration, Imperial weaponry plus the then brand new plastic zombie heads.

Lascannon and Bolter armed Tactical Marines

Topdown View of the Huge Lascannon

 

Part two to follow.

Space Hulk Relic, C.A.T. & Teleport Homer

C.A.T.

These three items were painted up as MacGuffins for Space Hulk (and any other game that might require them).  The Cyber Altered Task unit (CAT) is a data collecting item that the marines have to retrieve or transport in some scenarios.  Obviously calling the rather odd looking item pictured above a “cat” is a reference to Jones in Alien.

Teleport Homer

The teleport homer was not supplied with Space Hulk but as it came in the box of terminators that I used to paint up my Iron Men terminators, I decided to put it here.  It is painted in the Iron Men chapter colours.

Blood Angel Relic

The chalice above is the second relic supplied with 3rd edition Space Hulk.  Like the C.A.T., it provides an objective for various scenarios.

I like having little painted objective pieces like these in my games.  Sometimes they can be impractically large or inconvenient but mostly I will happily use these in preference to a flat counter.

Another Space Hulk Weekend: Pt 2

Sgt Downey climbs over the pile of genestealer corpses that he has cut down. Fourteen 'stealers are killed in close combat alone in "Return to Kalidus: Honour Bound".

Day two of our second Space Hulk weekend started with a set of missions from White Dwarf February 1993: the Return to Kalidus campaign.

Return to Kalidus came out at the same time as the original Space Wolf: Wolf Guard Terminator box, waaay back in early 1993 or so.  The Space Wolf: Wolf Guard Terminator box consisted of five terminator figures with some slightly unorthodox weapon fits.  The box, which was what the entire Return to Kalidus campaign was based on had the following configuration:

1. Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Power Sword
2. Marine with Heavy Flamer and Chainfist
3. Marine with Assault Cannon and Power Fist
4. Marine with Storm Bolter and Chainfist
5. Marine with Storm Bolter and Power Fist

Like almost every Space Hulk player on the planet, I dont have a painted terminator model with a Heavy Flamer and a Chainfist.  The difference between a Chainfist and a Power Fist is entirely cosmetic in the scenarios that we played so it didnt make any difference.

For the purposes of this SH campaign, the marines are from the Space Wolf chapter.  In game terms that means that every member of the squad gets an additional +1 in close combat.  Not too shabby, particularly for the Sergeant, doubly so if he is on 3rd ed Guard orders.

——-

Return to Kalidus Mission I : A Quest for Power

A Quest for Power Set Up

In this scenario the marines are trying to get to a console on the opposite side of the map and spend some APs to find the location of the items to be procured in scenarios 2 and 3.

MTs crusade marines are joined by an Iron Man.

Despite a very promising set of opening turns, the Crusaders lose their Sergeant and Assault Cannon suddenly.

Soon the 'stealers have the run of almost the entire map.

Finally the only Marine representative still alive has a flamer with enough ammo for one shot. He bought the farm shortly afterwards.

The game ended in a win for the Genestealers (me).  Amusingly, the boy MTs performance is so hilariously dismal that it means that the rest of the campaign is supposedly defunct, as the remaining two missions simply cannot be completed without a marine victory in A Quest for Power. 

We decide to play the next one anyway, despite the campaign abruptly ending on a technicality.

——-

Return to Kalidus Mission II : Honour Bound

Honour Bound Set Up

Honour Bound involves an identical squad to the one that appeared in A Quest for Power trying to get through the map to find a chapter relic in one of four rooms.  The ‘stealer player gets two blips per turn plus an unprecedented six starting blips.  This does not bode well for the marines.

The Marines inch forward, covering each others flanks against the vast number of 'stealers.

The flamer uses the last of its fuel to clear a room for the slow advance. The flamer marine dies almost immediately afterwards.

Sgt Downey slowly hacks his way through the corridors, a battle brother guarding his back.

The slaughter continues and the Sgt racks up his tally of bugs at this point. His battle brother is about to be overwhelmed however...

Sgt Downey is finally overcome, failing in his mission.

The game ends in a Genestealer victory for MT.

——-

The Return to Kalidus campaign is hard.  Considering that it was written for 1st ed (where Marine shooting is less effective than in 3rd ed overall) it is hard to imagine the Marines winning the second mission very often.  The only reason that the marines got as far as they did in Honour Bound was because of the Sergeant: +2 combat, plus Parry plus Guard orders is not to be sneered at (even if it is a bit uninspiring to play with/against).

Lastly, we decided to leave the third and final Return to Kalidus scenario until next time and to play one more Marine vs Marine game to round off the weekend.

——-

Retrieval

Retrieval Set Up (we reused the Honour Bound map, seeing as it was already set up).

We made up Retrieval on the spot.  We placed a Maguffin (a C.A.T. this time) equidistant from both sides which both sides had to get back to their deployment room.  We also used the rules from Mission IX: Regroup to stagger the arrival of the ten Power Armour marines that we each had.

MTs Emperors Voice Tactical Squad ready to deploy.

My Sin Eaters Tactical Squad Van Helden ready to go.

The game was a hair-raising, back and forth affair, with Marines diving into overwatch zones hoping to get a shot off before they got killed by return fire.

Sgt Van Helden makes an early break for the C.A.T. (top right).

Van Helden and a battle brother, just before Van Helden is cut down by enemy fire.

The lone Sin Eater sprints down the corridor after the now randomly moving C.A.T., avenging his Sarge with shots from the hip. The Emperors Voice flamer marine puts paid to his antics however, with not one, but two blasts of promethium.

The game ends with a Emperors Voice marine win for MT.

——-

In conclusion, Space Hulk is great.  The marine vs marine games are a bit weird, but they were fun all the same.  I will try Marine vs  Marine games out again, but I am uncertain that the mechanics are suitable for games where both sides have guns really.

That said, I still havent played any games with my Hybrids so I am sure that there will be another Space Hulk session again soon.

Another Space Hulk Weekend: Pt 1

Sgt Gideon notches up another kill in Mission IX: Regroup.

The last Space Hulk weekend (pt1 and pt2) left us wanting to play more, so MT and I organised another weekend for late October last.  I took some snaps as we played.  They arent National Geographic level shots or anything, but they illustrate the games sufficiently.

Having played through most of the scenarios in the 3rd ed missions book the last time, we were ready to try some different things out this time around, starting with a Power Armour (as opposed to Terminator armour) scenario.

——————–

Denzarks Hammer (White Dwarf # 120)

"By Denzarks Hammer, you shall be avenged!"

First up was Denzarks Hammer, a scenario that was printed in White Dwarf for first edition.  It introduced the rules for Power Armoured marines in SH.

Squad Van Helden (top) and Squad Rico.

Although MT played marines in this one, he had forgotten to bring enough of his “Emperors Voice” marines with him.  As a result he used two Sin Eaters squads of mine instead.  Although they are Chaos Marine figures, we obviously played them as standard.

Standard Imperial "Conga" deployment doctrine in full effect.

The scenario states that the ‘stealer player gets one blip per turn.  The scenario also suggests that this limit should be increased to two blips per turn once the Marine player gets the hang of using the Power Armour troopers. 

While moving twenty figures in under three minutes proved a bit challenging from time to time,  it turned out that one blip per turn is far too few ‘stealers to either present a significant threat or provide some fun for the ‘stealer player.  Two blips per turn is a must for this scenario.

After suffering minimal casualties the Sin Eaters get to the bridge, achieve the objective and hold off the remaining 'stealers easily.

The game ended in an easy win for MT playing the Marines.  Two blips per turn next time for sure.

——————–

Deathmatch

Deathmatch Set Up.

Deathmatch is a custom scenario that we threw together for playing Marine vs Marine games of SH. MT had a symmetrical map planned out in advance.  We placed an objective for each side in the central room furthest from their deployment zone (the Sin Eaters were looking for a teleport homer while the Emperors Voice and Thoraxian Crusade marines were looking for the relic).

Emperors Voice marines (bottom) and Thoraxian Crusade Terminators on the starting blocks.

Sin Eater Squad Romero (top) and Squad Rico during the first turn.

We put a random blip of ‘stealers in each of the four rooms, just for fun.  They moved automatically (roughly using the solo rules from 1st ed Deathwing to determine their behaviour once revealed).  Although the genestealers gave both sides cause for concern, all were eradicated without marine casualties on either side.

The sides close.

Tit for tat firefights whittle numbers on both sides...

...until the last Emperors Voice marine is gunned down by a Squad Romero storm bolter.

The game ended with a Chaos victory for me.

This was the first Marine vs Marine battle that I had ever played (I think that MT had played one or two before).  These games play very differently from the usual genestealer games  as obviously your marines can get shot. 

The rules work in such a way that the marine that move-and-fires gets his shot off before the Overwatching marine shoots back.  This makes advancing marginally less dangerous than Overwatching (although both are obviously necessary). 

The game swung back and forth with alarming frequency and it was fun, but I am unsure as to how solid a platform for marine versus marine games SH actually is.

——-

Mission IX: Regroup

Regroup after a couple of turns.

Regroup is one of the few scenarios from the 3rd ed box that we hadnt tried, so we gave it a go.  We decided to use the 1st ed Captain as a direct exchange for the Librarian.  The Captain rules struck us as being approximately as powerful as the Librarian in games terms, and I think that we were right.

The Iron Men spread out thinly, each marine trusting his flanks to his brothers.

Marine casualties mount, despite the sterling efforts of Thunder Hammer armed Sgt Gideon (centre right).

Sgt Gideon with Guard orders is a tough nut to crack from the front.  He butchered upwards of 13 ‘stealers during the game (we lost track).

Sgt Gideon takes advantage of a lull plus the increased CPs that Captain Stark supplies to retreat rapidly up the corridor (top right).

Captain Stark covers the retreat.

Captain Stark gets three Terminators to the regroup point.

This scenario required the Marine player (me) to roll a dice after  the game.  If the score was equal to or under the number of Marines who escaped then the Marine player won.  I rolled a “5″.  MT won.  Ho hum.

The 1st Ed Captain seemed to be about as powerful as the 3rd Ed Librarian.  The Captain can probably be swapped out for the Librarian in scenarios on a one for one basis without a problem from here on in.

——-

To be continued…

Space Hulk Weekend: Part 2

MT's Harlequins

This Space Hulk report continues from last time which can be found here.

Last thing on Saturday evening we decided to play one more scenario.  Unfortunately this turned out to be a mistake as mission eight appears to be nearly impossible for the Genestealers to win and quite a dull scenario.

——————–

Mission VIII: Escape Route

Escape Route Set Up

 

The game was a washout in favour of the Marines, over in a couple of turns.  After looking at the mission afterwards it appears that the only way for the ‘stealers to have a chance is to pile as many as possible in the single corridor at the end.  While this may give the ‘stealer player a chance it makes for a dull game.  I wont be playing this mission again in a hurry.

The mission ended in a Marine victory for MT.

——————–

First thing on Sunday morning we skipped missions nine and ten.  We knew that we were unlikely to get more than two games played and we wanted to play the scenarios with the Broodlord, now that we had got the hang of the Librarian rules.

——————–

Mission XI: Unknown Lifeforms

Unknown Lifeforms Set Up

This mission looks nigh on impossible for the Marines on paper.  With only five bodies to cover the many junctions it looks like an almost guaranteed ‘stealer win.  Granted, one of the Marines is Librarian Calistarius but even he has limitations (attacking him in the side or rear is a pretty reliable way to take him out of the picture).  The Broodlord is available for the first time in this scenario too. 

In order to balance things out the marines have one Power Field Generator each.  These can be thrown into spaces which then become impassable.  Genestealers can overload the generators by spending 6 APs in one go while adjacent, twice.  The combination of the use of the PFGs, Broodlord and Librarian, combined with some very lucky and very unlucky timing for various events made this game probably my favourite of the weekend.

Marines advance trusting their flanks to the PFGs (top right)

The eponymous unknown lifeform shows up and is rapidly cut down by Librarian Storm Bolter fire.

Pressure builds as Calistarius tries to catch a moment to back into the objective room and take the sample.

Calistarius makes some small progress backing down the corridor as Brother Leon and Sgt Lorenzo try to buy him more time...

The Librarians luck runs out (it takes him 6APs to kill one 'stealer) and he is overrun at the doorstep of victory.

 

The games ends with another Genestealer win for MT.

——————–

Mission XII: Pitfall

Pitfall Set Up

 

Pitfall is an unusual scenario that is played using two maps, each representing adjacent floors in the hulk.  Basically, the ‘stealers come into play on the bottom floor and tend to pop out to attack the Marines from underneath.

The survivors of the assault on the Sin of Damnation head for the exit (a disposal chute).

Calistarius sprints for the chute and leaps into it, leaving his battle brothers to their own devices. They all died.

 

Victory conditions for this scenario are funny.  If no Marines get to the chute then the ‘stealers win.  If any Marines make it then that number is used to modify a D6 roll-off between the players to see who wins.  MT rolled a “1″ giving a total of “2″ due to the escaped Librarian.  I rolled a “1″ and so it was determined that the Marines won.  I didnt even manage/need to get the Broodlord in play.  Harrumph.

The game ended with a Marine victory for MT.

——————–

Mission twelve played faster than we had expected and so we decided to have one more game, finally getting around to using MTs Harlequins that hadnt managed to get to the table yet.

The Harlequins rules are first ed rules.  As there is so much in common with first and third ed we decided to play using third ed rules as we had enjoyed them quite a lot for the weekend.  In essence all that this really changed for the Harlequins was to reduce the maximum sustained fire increment to +1 (to get the weapons in line with sustained fire applying in Overwatch).

——————–

Harlequin Mission I: Into the Darkness

The Harlequins advance into the clutches of the Genestealers.Before the Harlequins can even establish a beachhead they take casualties.

Still under pressure, the Harlequins still get a tiny bit of breathing space.

The Troupe Leader (yellow) uses his Harlequins Kiss on his opponent, while his squad die all around him.

The Death Jester is the only Eldar still alive...

...yet he outdoes his entire squad in a massive display of violence... delivered with Harlequin panache.

The Jester is on borrowed time: there are just too many for him, despite his hi-jinks.

The Jesters soul melds with the Laughing God. Death has a name... and its name is "Genestealer".

The game ended in a Genestealer win for me.

The Harlequins made a few big boo-boos early on in this game.  We also decided that the five starting blips which begin one in each room could be looked at and placed by the ‘stealer player.  In retrospect maybe random placement would have been better as it was a bit harsh with 6 ‘stealers in striking range early on.  Then again, if the lead Harlequin had been in either Defensive Stance or Guard the story could have been quite different.  I am looking forward to giving the Harlequins another run out next time.

——————–

After that long session of 3rd ed Space Hulk I am happy to say that I quite enjoy the 3rd ed rules, possibly even more than 1st ed.  The slightly more efficient Terminator fire makes the game feel a little more like the fluff which is cool, although it provides even less of an incentive to play the Genestealers.  On the other hand, I quite enjoyed playing the Genestealers over the weekend.  There are plenty of decisions to make while using them too.

Space Hulk Weekend: Part 1

Space Hulk Weekend

I finally painted up the figures from my 1st and 2nd edition Space Hulk last year.  With the release of the new 3rd edition I wanted to have a full on Space Hulk weekend.  Long term gaming co-conspirator MT agreed to meet up last weekend and we went from there.

Although the new edition comes with lovely miniatures that I must get around to painting some time, we were not going to let that stop us from playing with the painted older Bugs and Iron Men terminators that I already have ready to go.  As we both have a few other “real-life” things going on at the moment we didnt commit to having a whole lot extra finished by the weekend either (normally I use deadlines for gaming meets to help me achieve goals in terms of figures painted, scenery made etc).  With that in mind MT painted up the dead Blood Angel Terminator and I painted the C.A.T. and the relic chalice. Very achievable.

Finally, although it would have been nice to get all of the 12 Space Hulk scenarios printed in the 3rd edition played in one weekend we decided to skip a few to ensure that we could get to play the scenarios with the Broodlord/Librarian/other interesting stuff.   In addition we hoped that we might be able to squeeze in a game using the Eldar Harlequins that MT painted up six months ago with 1st edition Space Hulk in mind.  The scenarios that we skipped were either too similar to other scenarios that we wanted to play or were scenarios that either or both of us has played before too often (Missions 1 and 2 in particular).

  

——————–

Mission III: Rescue

Mission III: Rescue

The mission involves getting the Cyber Altered Task (C.A.T.)-unit from Squad Lorenzo into the hands of Squad Gideon which starts on the other side of the map.

Sgt Lorenzo on C.A.T. detail

Sgt Lorenzo and Brother Zael try to hold back the xeno tide.

Note the C.A.T. on the right.

 

The mission ended in a Marine victory for MT.

I dont remember that much detail about playing this scenario, probably because my opponent won it

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Mission V: Decoy

 

Decoy Set Up

Decoy involves two terminator squads that start in close proximity making their way across the map to an exit point.  In theory at least.

The Iron Men deploy efficiently.

The good guys get butchered.

The mission ended in a Genestealer victory for MT.

Sergeant Gideon (the guy with the thunder hammer and storm shield in the bottom right above) managed to get killed upon first contact with the enemy, despite being on Guard.

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Mission VI: Alarm Call

Alarm Call Set Up

In Alarm Call a squad of Terminators have been incapacitated by a Broodlord psychic attack.  Librarian Calistarius and lightning claw armed Claudio are sent to investigate.

Librarian Calistarius resuscitates a comrade while Sgt Lorenzo blasts 'stealers.

Marines adopt standard overwatch doctrine and mutter a prayer to the Emperor..

The intensity of the alien attack increases and Calistarius is cut down.

The mission ended in a Genestealer victory for me.

This game involved the largest amount of ‘stealers on the board at once.  Whichever side that I am playing I get a kick out of lots of bugs in play.  Obviously however, if I am playing Genestealers and about to win I enjoy it that much more.

It was also the first game using the Librarian, which although potentially good at runing the timer out due to the options that he provides, turns out to be fun to play.  He is very powerful though, potentially too powerful perhaps.  He isnt unstoppable however, he has weaknesses.

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Mission VII: The Artefact

Artefact Set Up

The Artefact concerns a valiant raid deep into the hulk to recover a relic said to have been used by Sanguinius himself.  This is a big deal if you are a Blood Angel Terminator.

After blowing a series of doors off their mountings while on the move down the corridor, Calistarius spots his goal.

With Brother Claudio on rearguard duty the Librarian runs into the relic room...

 

...grabs the relic, runs back and hands off to Brother Claudio...

...who reverentially carries it the length of the board and back to Space Marine controlled areas.

 The mission ended in a Terminator victory for me.

The scenario worked out as a little lacklustre for MT this time around.  The Marines deployed in textbook fashion and managed to hold the line well by and large.  This was my first game with the Librarian and he lived up the hype, Psychic Blasts and Force Walls making him the centre of attention for most of the game.

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Tune in next time for the last few scenarios, plus some Harlequin games.