Space Hulk

For the video games, see Space Hulk (video game) and Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels.

Space Hulk

Cover of the first edition of Space Hulk
Manufacturers	Games Workshop
Designers	Dean Bass
Publishers	Games Workshop

Space Hulk is a board game by Games Workshop, first released in 1989 and re-released in 2009. The game is set in their Warhammer 40,000 universe and draws a certain degree of inspiration from the Alien movies.

The term "Space Hulk", from which the game gets its name, is used within the Warhammer 40,000 universe for any masses of ancient, derelict starships, asteroids, and other assorted space junk drifting in and out of the Warp that eventually merges into one massive form, ranging from the size of a small moon to a large planet, which drift through the territory of the Imperium. Because a hulk may contain bits of lost information or technology, or hostile life forms that pose a threat to mankind, the Imperium often sends teams to search for and secure these entities. The hulk may not stay in real space for very long, eventually slipping back into the Warp, so retrieval operations must be rapid and efficient.

Genestealers often make homes of these hulks, attacking those who come aboard in order to spread their genetic code further afield. The game pits an investigative force of Space Marine Terminators against such a coven.

A third edition of Space Hulk was released by Games Workshop on September 5th, 2009.

Gameplay

The game is set on a board made up of various corridor and room tiles which can be freely arranged and locked together like a jigsaw puzzle to represent the interior of derelict space ships. One player controls the Space Marines, and the other controls the Genestealers.

The game is notable for its hidden play mechanics, from which it derives much of its playability and tension. The actual number of genestealers in play is hidden from the Marines because they came into play as "blips" which can represent 1-3 creatures (or 0-6 in the Deathwing expansion and second edition). On the other hand, the Marine player has a number of "action points" available each turn which are only revealed to the genestealer player after they are used up. (In the second edition, the extra points are no longer hidden from the genestealer player.)

Space Hulk won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1989. Its first expansion, Deathwing, won Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1990.

In the basic versions of the game, playing the genestealers is very straightforward; so simple, in fact, that Space Hulk is quite playable as a solo game. Playing the marines on the other hand is engaging and tactically challenging - partly because the Space Marines player is constrained by a time limit for his turn. To overcome this shortfall, players are encouraged to play each game twice, swapping roles after the first play. The fairly fast play time (around half an hour per game), driven by the Space Marines time limitation, makes this a reasonable solution. The expansion packs for the First edition add human-genestealer hybrids, which can carry weapons and equipment, to the Genestealer player's forces, adding more depth for the genestealer side.

Editions

Second edition rulebook cover

1st Edition

Expansions

The first edition has two expansion packs:

• Deathwing focuses on additional Space Marine weapons, Space Marine Librarians, new features and rules
• Genestealer introduces Genestealer hybrids, greatly expanding the tactical possibilities for the Genestealer side, and an elaborate system of psychic combat.

Further scenarios and rules were released in the White Dwarf and Citadel Journal magazines. A hardback book, Space Hulk Campaigns, was released in 1991 and later reprinted as a paperback (1993). It contained much of the magazine material, including rules for Traitor Terminators and Space Marines in Power Armour and some new board sections.

2nd Edition

The second edition has no expansion packs, although additional scenarios and board sections were released in White Dwarf magazine. While it features better board artwork and Terminator models, it is significantly simplified from the original rules and offers less opportunity for expansion. A critical change was made to the Command Point system, no longer allowing them to be used in the enemy turn altering the game's strategic complexity. The flamer rules were also changed and the difference between the standard weapons and the area effect flamer was reduced.

Kill-Team Rules for Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition

Games Workshop no longer supports either of the previously published editions of Space Hulk. The company has published suggestions as to how the game can be reenacted using the Kill-team rules in the revised Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.

3rd Edition

On Monday August 17th 2009 an official re-release of the Space Hulk board game was confirmed and listed for pre-order on the Games Workshop web site, to be released on September 5th 2009. The mail order stocks sold out on Wednesday 2nd September 2009, before release. The rules have been modernised to some extent, but are largely similar to those from the first edition.

The 3rd edition of the game has new box art, and the models it contains are new sculpts by Games Workshop. Advancements in sculpting and moulding have allowed Games Workshop's Alex Hedstrom to add a greater level of detail to the figures, and the new sculpts differ greatly from those in the earlier incarnations of the board game. Each of the twelve Terminators of the Blood Angel chapter has a distinct appearance, such as Brother Omnio being shown consulting a scanner mounted in his Power Fist. The game's card counters and board sections have been made using new debossing techniques which can apply shallow depressions into the cardboard. These board sections are additionally much thicker and heavier than the original stock.

Several rules changes were introduced, the most critical being that a marine jamming his weapon on overwatch does not lose the overwatch status.

Derivatives

Three computer games were made based on the board game, the first, Space Hulk, for the PC and Amiga; and the second, Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels for the PC, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and 3DO consoles. Both of these were tactical action shooters based on the boardgame rather than reproductions of the boardgame. In 2008, a small group of hobbyists released a PC conversion of the board game, along with assorted scenarios, for free over the Internet. However, within a month the game was removed from the developers' site. They noted that the web download traffic was creating problems, and that Games Workshop were threatening legal action due to THQ's current ownership of the Warhammer 40,000 video game license. According to the development team, their attempts to negotiate for the release of the game with THQ were refused, resulting in the game being rebranded under the name "Alien Assault".

In 2005, a mobile phone version of the Space Hulk boardgame was released. This game replicates the board game's play mechanics and allows play as either Space Marines or Genestealers.

A fan-made game called NetHulk is currently available as freeware. It allows two players to compete head-to-head over an internet/LAN connection or in a hotseat mode. The game's rules do not strictly adhere to the board game, but are a hybrid of the first and second editions. QSpacehulk is another fan-made freeware available which strictly follows the rules of the game.

See also

• Space Crusade
• Space Marines

References

• Space Hulk Rules. Games Workshop. 1989. ISBN 1 869893 69 7. - included in the game box
• Deathwing Rules & Missions. Games Workshop. 1990. - included in the expansion box
• Genestealer Rules and Missions. Games Workshop. 1990. - included in the expansion box
• Space Hulk Campaigns (softback ed.). Games Workshop. 1993. ISBN 1 872372 65 1.

External links

• Space Hulk at BoardGameGeek
• Space Hulk webring
• Fanbased Space Hulk boardgame