Space Hulk Main

"Hey guys, let's go pwn some noobs."

Space Hulk is square-based, turn-based, tabletop board game where players control a group in one of two conflicting forces in desperate conflict: the Space Marines or the Tyranids. The battle takes place inside a "Space Hulk", an ancient, abandonded, and mostly inoperable space ship. The Space Marines have a goal to achieve inside the Space Hulk, which varies depending on the scenario or campaign, such as recovering an artifact, activating a control panel, or freeing trapped crewmen. This ship, however, is infested by the Tyranids, whose natural desire to defend their nest mixes with their ever-present need to destroy.

Space Hulk's tactical brilliance is in its seemingly disproportionate aspects. A Space Marine's edge comes from his ability to waste away aliens at range with a variety of guns, missile launchers, and flamethrowers. The opposing faction rarely uses missile weapons, usually getting mowed down as they race through bullet-ridden corridors. But for every ranged strength the Marines possess, the Tyranids are equally exceptional once they finally close in on a target. Additionally and more importantly: the Tyranids never stop coming. Once a Space Marine dies in battle, there will be no reinforcement to step up in his place. Genestealers can buffet against their firing line with no fear because there are always more bugs behind them.

These are my revised and expanded rules for Space Hulk. It takes from not only the original rules in the 1989 release but also its expansions, Deathwing and Genestealer, as well as the 2009 re-release. It pulls very heavily from house rules and expansions used by Matt Hargenrader at the "Random Gamers Guild" of Oil City, Pennsylvania that were used in the mid-90's, which were also probably derivative of the White Dwarf and Citadel Journal rules suggestions that were floating around at that time.

As a loyal enthusiast of Space Hulk for years, I've tried to pool the best of the rules and add the proper tweaks to give Space Hulk a higher level of complexity and objectivity without sacrificing playability. If this version comes off as too much in that regard, well...sorry. The unmodified 2009 version is just dandy and can be played out of the box to provide hours of delight. If you want a deeper game then these expanded rules are for you. Although, I'd say still not more complicated than Space Hulk's big fat parent game, Warhammer 40K.