Tips & Strategies (18)

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Tips & Strategies (18)

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11
Miniature Painter
Expert Advisor
Inventor
Advanced Reviewer
65 of 67 gamers found this helpful
“Go Digital”

Substitute a digital timer for the plastic hourglass that comes with the game. A simple battery-operated kitchen timer can be purchased inexpensively and will enhance gameplay in a few different ways.

A digital timer will allow resets at the push of a button instead of waiting for the sand to reload. It can provide exact time information for the Space Marine in a just a quick glance. It will make a sound when expired, accurately defining the end of a turn, when the sand timer is sometimes forgotten in the heat of battle. It also enables you to modify the time setting to change the difficulty level.

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11
Miniature Painter
Expert Advisor
Inventor
Advanced Reviewer
18 of 18 gamers found this helpful
“They're Coming Outta the Walls!”

This house rule was created by accident through a misinterpretation of the rules. It makes sense logically and gives Space Marines a tiny bit of flexibility in their actions. We keep it around for those reasons.

Line of sight extends to any unobstructed square to a Marine’s direct left or right. Marine players can shoot while moving forward and backward at the sacrifice of not gaining sustained fire bonuses. In our games, we extend this to include turning 90 degrees also. 180 degree turns are not allowed because they would be out of line of sight before the action.

Turning and shooting adds a third move and shoot option to the Space Marine player’s repertoire. It can help keep you from being flanked by Genestealers or maybe clear a door slightly faster but doesn’t threaten game balance.

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11
Miniature Painter
Expert Advisor
Inventor
Advanced Reviewer
31 of 33 gamers found this helpful
“Genestealers shoud hurry too!”

We all know that the Marine player has to play his turn fast. Most don’t realize that it’s advantageous for the Stealer to speed it up too!

By executing the Stealer turn as fast as possible, you give the Space Marines less time to survey his current situation. This forces his counter-strategy to be more reactive and less thought out.

This technique will take the already tense time pressure element and turn it up a notch!

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11
Miniature Painter
Expert Advisor
Inventor
Advanced Reviewer
21 of 22 gamers found this helpful
“No Takebacks (Advanced Marines Only!)”

The real time element of this game is arguably its greatest feature. To completely embrace this theme, do not allow takebacks on any model movements. Once a model moves in any way, the AP is spent. For example, if a player turns his Marine to the right (1AP) but then decides to swing to the left instead, he should be charged an additional 2AP for the turnaround, totaling 3AP! This simulates real life mistakes that could happen in high stress situations. A small amount of pre-planning will avoid this, but also eats away at precious time.

Unleash this rule on your next session to prove who really deserves to wear that Terminator Armor.

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6
AEG fan
Miniature Painter
US Army Service
29 of 31 gamers found this helpful
“4th Edition changes to opportunity fire”

An old ploy was for a gene stealer player to run long range target out in order to hopefully force a jam so that a nearby gene stealer could move with zero risk and attack the marine with the jammed weapon.

Unlike previous editions of Space Hulk, which forced the Space Marine on over watch to fire at all visible targets inside 12 squares, the 4th edition added a “may fire” to the rules which allows the marine player to be selective.

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3
I'm a Real Person
28 of 30 gamers found this helpful
“blast the doors!”

take out doors if you can, genestealers can close doors to stop your line-of-sight down long corridors getting them nearer. You’ll only get 1 chance to get the door on Over Watch if your covering it. after that they can move with impunity.

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11
Miniature Painter
Expert Advisor
Inventor
Advanced Reviewer
28 of 30 gamers found this helpful
“Space Marines: Every second counts!”

While playing the Space Marines, you will sometimes have a few extra seconds on your time clock before you end your turn. Utilize that time to review the board and think ahead a few moves rather than immediately passing play to the Genestealers. This may give you a chance to see weaknesses in the enemy strategy or possible scenario loopholes (ie. better path through the “Hulk”) that you may miss during active parts of the game.

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4
BoardGaming.com Beta 1.0 Tester
I Am What I Am
Advocate
25 of 27 gamers found this helpful
“Super Easy way to make the game feel "darker".”

After I punched the chits and set up the game it had a lovely dark theme but light brown cardboard stood out easily on the map sides and tokens.

A SUPER EASY fix is to take a black permanent ink marker “sharpie” and color the sides of the the tokens!!!

After setting it up again, my eyes were no longer distracted and drawn to the light brown cardboard!

ADVANCED TIP: mix two parts black acrylic paint (you can find it for $1 at craft stores) with 1 part Elmers glue (like the kind you used to you in school) and paint the sides with a paintbrush (cheap disposable ones are best because it will ruin the brush) instead of using a sharpie. It will have the same color effect but will “seal” the exposed cardboard and also prevent warping.

Thanks, and may your gun never jam!!!

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2
23 of 25 gamers found this helpful
“Don't forget about diagonal!”

I see alot of new players forget they can move diagonal around corners, so long as one side of the corner is unblocked. This can be particularly useful when playing as the marines, who don’t really have the AP to go into a square they don’t really need to. It’s absolutely necessary when playing Suicide Mission!

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6
AEG fan
Miniature Painter
US Army Service
20 of 22 gamers found this helpful
“Get White Dwarf #33”

This issue of White Dwarf is largely dedicated to Space Hulk 4th edition. It is recommended if you want a solid painting guide, a walk-through of the Breachhead scenario which comes with the base game, or would like to have an additional scenario entitled “Disable the Shields”.

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9
My First Heart
My First Wish!
My First Favorite!
Gave My First Grade
24 of 27 gamers found this helpful
“Learn to Paint Miniatures Somewhere Else”

This game has some of the most beautiful game components ever made for board games. It would be a crime to take the highly detailed miniatures for this game and use them as your first foray into painting tiny things.

Instead, buy another game that looks good to you (or just cheap miniatures by themselves) and practice on those until you feel comfortable and confident enough to give the prettiest little pieces on the table the effort and skill they deserve.

….or, you know, just pay someone else to do it. 😉

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5
Strategist
Sophomore
Rated 25 Games
“Assembly of the Marines and Genestealers”

OH woe is me! I broke the arm of a space marine while removing it for assembly! (this really happened to me)
TIP: I found that the best way to cut the pieces out was with Swiss Army knife scissors and fingernail clippers. I tried Exaco knives and razor blades but they require to much pressure for the delicate pieces.

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8
Plaid Hat Games fan
Cave Goblins - Summoner Wars
I Am What I Am
14 of 16 gamers found this helpful
“iOS version, Space Hulk in all but name”

There are a couple of really solid iOS apps that have a VERY similar feel to Space Hulk, Hunters and Hunters 2 (#2 obviously being the more polished version). It’s a top down, turn based campaign with a variety of team members and enemies. You can play a hammer wielding “Hunter” (not a marine *wink*) with heavy armor that only has three action points or a fast moving lightly armored shotgun specialist with five+ action points per round. All your Hunters gain XP and can level up and upgrade different specialist talent trees. It’s also tactical in that there’s fog of war with lines of sight and facing really does matter, especially in overwatch mode. I would certainly recommend Hunters 2 to anyone who wants to play Space Hulk with zero setup time, no assembly required!

http://rodeogames.co.uk/hunters-two/

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2
Freshman
Reporter Intern
18 of 21 gamers found this helpful
“Beginners' Tip: Lose the Timer”

If you are inexperienced with the game, it’s easier for the Terminators to play without the timer. There is less pressure, though possibly also less tension. However, it is a good way to learn the game the first few sessions, without getting stressed and making huge mistakes.

Don’t wait for too many sessions to put the timer in though, because the exquisite balancing in the game is attained by playing with it. The timer fits perfectly in the theme of the Terminators being assaulted from all sides by lightning-speed Genestealers, and not always making the best and most thought-through decision.

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10
Jungle Elves - Summoner Wars
BoardGaming.com Beta 2.0 Tester
Summoner Wars Fan
Unicorn Clan - Legend of the Five Rings
26 of 31 gamers found this helpful
“How do I store this thing?”

Not a game play tip, but important nontheless. I struggled to find a decent storage solution without taking up too much shelf space and without damaging the fragile miniatures. For anyone not aware of it, Battlefoam sells custom foam cutouts for the minis. It is listed as “Space Corridor Game,” and you have to make sure you choose the one that fits in the original box (there is one that fits in a Pack bag, so be careful which one you choose). The foam is cut for each miniature and fits all the components back in, but the box top sticks up just a bit. This doesn’t bother me, but it may bother some. I definitely think it was a worthwhile investment to protect an expensive purchase.

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2
United Kingdom
14 of 17 gamers found this helpful
“White Dwarf”

It’s worth pointing out that White Dwarf, the Games Workshop magazine, published hundreds of new rules, as well as force lists for all kinds of Imperial and alien scaries, on a monthly basis. These are well worth looking for on ebay and in thrift shops, as they extend the replay life of this classic game.

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7
USA
I play red
The Bronze Heart
11 of 16 gamers found this helpful
“Space Hulk Plus”

I really love this game so I decided it needed a little more action. I have added Tyrinads, Hunter Slayers, Zoats, Squigs and other little nasties into the game. The marines are still the best fighters but this adds to the game in many ways. The alpha blips now can be more of a surprise to the marines.

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2
10 of 26 gamers found this helpful
“Slowly walking backwards”

1 step backwards and back onto overwatch, sure it’s slow but it covers your rear.

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