Space Hulk: Death Angel – The Card Game - Tips & Strategies

If you like playing this game solo but it feels a little light – don’t be shy about using the rules for more players – by using more Space Marines and a different Vault Door you open up a very different game. It will become more complex but not that much longer as the higher spawn numbers will keep things moving nicely.

It also brings into play location cards 1A-1C that are not used at all in regular solo play.

1. Positioning is EVERYTHING. Your melee marines aren’t much of an use if they can’t attack anyone. If you are playing with the RED combat team brother Leon, you may want to put him in the middle of the formation. With a range of 3, he can provide fire support for the whole formation.

2. Disperse your combat team members evenly. That way you might be able to attack both sides of the formation with a single attack card. That proves useful when the genestealers start flanking.

3. Support is important. It saves lives. Give support tokens to the marines next to corridors, dark corners etc. They’ll be attacked the most, so having support tokens to re-roll the bad rolls prevents disasters.

4. GET TO THE DOOR-AH! As in, put support tokens on it as much as you can. When traveling to the next location with a horde of Genestealers behind you, it could be a life saving thing when 3-4 of them are locked behind the door.

5. Know when to attack in full force. It could prove fatal if you attack with your whole formation as you can’t do anything to thin out the ever growing horde of genestealers next turn. Have a plan for each of your marines and you’ll do fine.

6. Use the special abilities to their full extent. Having Brother Zael or Brother Claudio kill a newly spawned group of genestealers before they can even attack can be a game winner.

Take care and you will survive.

Survival in this game is difficult but losing the special abilities of your squad leaders can make it impossible.

Not all space marines are created equal, your squad leaders usually have better offensive or defensive capabilities. So when you have to choose between two vulnerable marines to place a support token on it’s best to take into account what special abilities you’ll lose if one of them dies, such as Leon’s ability to make 3 attack actions, losing a skill like that can greatly reduce your likelyhood of survival. Read over your cards and determen which marines are of the most combat value and keep them stocked with at least one support token if at all possible. Those defensive rerolls are paramount to survival.

1. Void locks are always starting locations. It has your spawn numbers, the type of locations to use, and the starting terrain card setup.

2. Look at the bottom right of the event card for the type of genestealers to move and move the whole swarm. Match it to genestealer icon on lower left of genestealer card. Brood Lords have two icons and only need one match.

3. Keep the starting location’s major and minor spawn numbers(the triangles with numbers) uncovered throughout the game.

4. Traveling happens at the end of any phase when at least ONE blip pile is emptied.

5. Actions cannot be played twice in a row.

6. Support tokens cannot be used when genestealers attack from behind.

7. Genestealers are drawn from blip piles that are on the same side as the terrain to receive spawn.

I’ve played around with the idea of altering a few of the rules to make the Space Marines last longer. The trick of adjusting the game system is that a little change can have an unexpected result.

I tried DasHangman’s suggestion to make saving rolls equal to or exceed the number of Genestealers present. This seems to help keep the Genestealers from being so unstoppable.

Another way is to allow a Supply Token to be used even if the Genestealer is behind the Space Marine. This reduces the impact of the Genestealer moving behind the Marines but at least the Marines still can’t attack Genestealers behind them.

The last thing I’d mention about House Rules is to be careful not to add too many rules as it changes the balance of the game. The Genestealers are supposed to be an almost unstoppable force. The good guys often lose. Also, too many rules are easy to be forgotten or misplayed or may not take all of the game’s contingencies into account.

Either way, have fun with your game, your way!

If playing solo you can place a team’s counter on the action that you selected for this turn to remember that will not be available o next turn.

Not a gameplay tip, but a good pratical tip for this game. The cards are a little on the thin side. I recommend you buy sleeves for them, because as in any card game they’ll get handled a lot by shuffling.