Quote from: Shipyard Locked;798118I suppose it's too much to hope that this indicates the GW leadership might be toying with the possibility of true skirmish level games as an entry point again?

Well,, new leadership at the company, new Space Hulk, hiring a new public relations officer....all gives one hope.

Quote from: TristramEvans;798124Well,, new leadership at the company, new Space Hulk, hiring a new public relations officer....all gives one hope.

I might start hoping once I hold a decent and new Space Hulk in my hands.
Or something equivalent.
Not before that.

Quote from: Catelf;798144I might start hoping once I hold a decent and new Space Hulk in my hands.
Or something equivalent.
Not before that.

New Space Hulk was at my FLGS today. If I hadnt been laying out hundreds of dollars for Papa Nurgle probably would have grabbed it.

Quote from: TristramEvans;798432New Space Hulk was at my FLGS today. If I hadnt been laying out hundreds of dollars for Papa Nurgle probably would have grabbed it.

It's (Mostly) the same as 2009 Space Hulk.

Get Space Hulk : Death Angel instead! It's much cheaper and is brilliant.

Quote from: TristramEvans;798432New Space Hulk was at my FLGS today. If I hadnt been laying out hundreds of dollars for Papa Nurgle probably would have grabbed it.

Hey Tristram, since you seem to still be involved in the core tabletop games, how do you feel they are doing these days, rules-wise, participation-wise? I'm especially interested in the response to 7th edition 40k over time.

QuoteGet Space Hulk : Death Angel instead! It's much cheaper and is brilliant.

Yes it is, on both counts.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;798477Hey Tristram, since you seem to still be involved in the core tabletop games, how do you feel they are doing these days, rules-wise, participation-wise? I'm especially interested in the response to 7th edition 40k over time.

I'm afraid I dont play 40k, but my impression is its much more popular than fantasy thesedays. I have a small Necron force made up of modified DrWho Cybermen minis that I'd like to try out one of thesedays, but I'm really all about the fantasy myself. I also only play with asmall group of friends, havent really touched the tournament scene and I wont play with strangers at the store because way too many gamers at the local venues dont paint their armies and that hurts immersion for me. Im much more into the painting/converting side of the hobby than any real competitive spirit. I like coming up with unique scenarios and such rather than constant head to head battles.

As for rules, 8th edition fantasy is my favourite iteration of the game since 3rd edition. While I still prefer third just because its much more open and about using your own imagination than being restricted by some codex writer's interpretation of an army, overall 8th is a wonderful streamlining of the game as it appeared in 6th & 7th. I really like that the focus is largely put onto units, so even with the End Times adjustment of 50% Lords and Heroes allowance, units are still much more important and effective than pimped-out characters. Its basically the anti-"HeroHammer". It just feels more like a wargame to me with big blocks of infantry and cavalry/monsters/war machines as support. I primarily play Skaven, which isnt easy on the pocketbook (I will generally field upwards of 150 troops at 1000 pts), but our battles feel like great clashes of armies. Movement,special rules, and magic have all been streamlined quite nicely and generally "make sense" so there isnt a lot of times where a rule seems arbitrary or contradicts my inner imagining of the battle. Unfortunately, the game doesnt scale down very well & at less than 1500 pts its very hard to field a varied or interestingly themed army (the game assumes a 2K "baseline" for the most part). Most of the armies are pretty well balanced, though not quite as well as 3rd, and it remains to be seen how all the armies are going to fair with the End Times rules adjustments.

Overall I may not be the best one to answer your questions, as I do tend to stick with playing with my small group of friends, and I'm not exposed much to the overall scene beyond picking up Warhammer Visions each month and spending a lot of time lurking on Warseer and DakkaDakka (the only forums I actually post in are The UnderEmpire and Oldhammer), and following the videos of Warhammer Joey (who I'd totally wed on the spot if I thought it was an option). Speaking of Oldhammer, I'd very much like to get across the pond for the Oldhammer convention at Foundry one of these years, but my time has been at a premium the last year since starting a new job so not sure if that will happen.

Warmachine seems to be the most popular game in my city, followed by Flames of War, just based on what goes on at the 3 local gaming stores I visit on a regular basis. Of those stores only 2 carry Warhammer, but there is a Games Workshop store as well not far from me (though if possible I prefer to give my money to independent retailers).

They should roll back the iconography to the white, blonde, Übermensch on the cover of Space Crusade and see what happens on the internet... Just for kicks.

But petty bullshit aside, it would be nice if it was less DEATH and more METAL!



Those were the days. Womble Marines (sorry Beakies to you non-UK folk), and the ever so slight absurdity of it all.

I do miss the time when GW had a sense of humour about itself.

Quote from: Ladybird;798437Get Space Hulk : Death Angel instead! It's much cheaper and is brilliant.

What's the difference in gameplay with SH vs. SH: DA?

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;798477I'm especially interested in the response to 7th edition 40k over time.

I have played 40k at the FLGS a bit, but only the small scale, quick play kill team stuff which has been fun. I haven't been deep, deep into 40k since 5e, but my impression of 7e has been good overall. I've played both IG and Necrons and I've really enjoyed how the Necron kill teams work.

Quote from: Spinachcat;798716What's the difference in gameplay with SH vs. SH: DA?

It's a card game (Well, more a board game on cards), rather than a strict board game; it's also co-op vs the board, rather than competitive.

Each player gets a "fireteam" of marines, which is one storm bolter marine and one special weapon marine; each fireteam also has a unique set of three different actions. The marines march in a formation through various locations in the hulk (A long line, with each marine able to face "left" or "right"; different locations will put different pieces of scenary around the formation); their aim is to wipe out all the genestealers in each location and advance, until they get to the end room where they'll find out their final mission.

Each turn, each marine player picks one action from their hand (Move, Attack, or Support, and depending on the fireteam, each one will have different effects), and then the actions are resolved in turn (Each action card has it's own initiative number). After that, any genestealers around the formation attack (The game has a die numbered 0 - 5; a marine under attack has to roll equal to or higher than the number of genestealers attacking them in order to survive). You draw an event card, which details something bad happening to the squad (Like one of them needing to unjam a weapon, or getting stuck, or more genestealers approaching the squad), where and how many genestealers spawn around the formation, and how they move around. And then it's back to the start, but with the restriction that you can't use the same action card two turns running.

Where it works, is the tenseness. You don't have much space to move, and the terminators aren't very fast when they do it; it's easy to get attacked from behind, and if you're playing a many-player game and your marines are at the wrong end of the formation, you might not even be able to help them. You can't hunker down, because you can't just attack every turn. You don't ever know what's coming next (Event cards are drawn from a random deck, there's a different location deck for each stage of your journey through the hulk, you don't know the objective until the last room), but it never feels random, it always has the feeling of malice. You have to rely on the other players, but there are game rules that restrict communication.

Of course, being a PvBoard game, it is very easy to lose on the first turn, but it's simple to just shuffle everything back together. Some of the endings are easy ("Wipe out remaining Stealers"), some not so much ("Destroy Spore Towers while under attack from Broodlords", with the Broodlords counting as two Genestealers...).

There are also four expansions; one with two more fireteams for the base squad, one with a new mission set (That starts hard and gets easier, rather than the base game's starting easy and getting harder), one with a Tyranid deck to replace the genestealers (Which makes the game much harder, and also includes a few new missions which involve killing boss monsters), and the last expansion contained a squad of Dark Angels, replacing the Blood Angels from the base game (Haven't played with them much, but apparently they're more powerful than the BA squad). The expansions aren't essential, but they add plenty of gameplay so I think they're worth getting.

It's not Space Hulk, but the important part is that it feels right, it's got the atmosphere.

Not sure if this is heartening or disheartening. But GameZone. The minis publisher that is doing the now infamous HeroQuest 25th Anniversary board game has made it known that their sights are set next on Space Crusade and last heard they were, or allready had, registered the title as a TM in Spain.

Quote from: Ladybird;798852It's not Space Hulk, but the important part is that it feels right, it's got the atmosphere.

Speaking of, any Mordheim fans out there should check out Ral Partha's new Blighthaven line. Samurai Dark Elves, among others, make up this 15mm warband-based urban skirmish game. A friend and I are planning to use these to do a 15mm Mordheim (supplemented with some Not-Skaven Ratmen from Pendraken).

Quote from: Ladybird;798852It's not Space Hulk, but the important part is that it feels right, it's got the atmosphere.

Ladybird, thank you so much for that breakdown! I am definitely picking it up.

Quote from: Omega;799671Not sure if this is heartening or disheartening. But GameZone. The minis publisher that is doing the now infamous HeroQuest 25th Anniversary board game has made it known that their sights are set next on Space Crusade and last heard they were, or allready had, registered the title as a TM in Spain.

Would this new version still use the Warhammer IP, or are we looking at a faux-40k with space troopers firing bluster guns at DNA stealers and space trolls? If it's the latter I'll be slightly disappointed, but still inclined to check it out.