J.
United States
Grant
Alabama
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Introduction:
Image courtesy of Matthias_K
This is a review of Fantasy Flight Games's new cooperative card game, Space Hulk: Death Angel. Designed by Corey Konieczka and released in FFG's Silver Line series. You can play from 1 to 6 players as you commandeer teams of space marines set out to cleanse a genestealer infestation on a space ship. I'm going to do this review more from a solitaire player's perspective yet try to be as comprehensive as possible along with some tips.
Components:  
The components are simple and very well done. Although those cards probably need to be put in sleeves to protect their edges. The artwork is superb and drips heavy with theme...what else would expect from FFG? The support tokens are nice and thick, so they'll hold up well. The team tokens to me are superfluous for playing solitaire, but even with multiplayer I think they are somewhat useless for most people unless you're color blind (so kudos FFG for that). Once you've picked your teams, I think everyone can figure out which team belongs to who based on the cards in hand.
These are the tokens pictured front and back and unpunched. The support tokens are the guns. Team tokens are the colored tokens.
Image courtesy of victorman
The box is so small and there are not that many pieces. This makes it a really great game to take on a trip. Of course, you can't exactly whip it out on an airplane or a bus (unless you play on the floor), because it takes some room to lay out all the cards, but it sure is easier to take on a long trip than it's bigger cousin: Space Hulk (third edition).
Here's a comparison to it's larger cousin.
Image courtesy of Hex_Enduction_Hour
Hit Die
This is your die (only one) that you use to resolve combat and resolve special events. Basically, skulls usually mean your marines kill genestealers, and the numbers are for when the marines are attacked.
Image courtesy of karl69
This is a picture of the same die at different angles.
Space Marines
There are total of 12 marines separated into combat teams of two. It appears that most of the characters are from it's larger cousin: Space Hulk (third edition)
Image courtesy of Legion of DOOM
My top marines:
1. Brother Leon - A killing machine. He has an attack range of 3 (best overall) and 3 attacks on same or different swarms..this brother rocks
2. Brother Claudio - it's hard not to put him on top, because he's a guaranteed 3 genestealers kill in any swarm at range 1 both in front or back(that's right, behind him!). I set him at #2, because he could die on a 0 roll.
3. Brother Zael - He's a range 1 flamethrowing madman. He can kill as many as the die will allow: 0 to 5, so that's almost a guaranteed kill.
4. Lexicanum C. - His multiple psionic attack can be devastating at range 2, so long as he keeps rolling skulls. That power field isn't too shabby either when someone needs a breather from an aggravating swarm, so you can focus on others.
Previous four images provided by dotjones (miniatures NOT INCLUDED!)
Action Cards
Each team comes with 3 actions cards that have unique special abilities. Here are some pictures:
Image courtesy of victorman
GeneStealers
Here a few various genestealers, you'll face. Nothing special other than the type that they are noted by the icon in the lower left hand corner. This affects how they move after spawning.
Images courtesy of Hex_Enduction_Hour
Brood Lords
These are super genestealers found only in the Genestealer lair. They are nasty, because they reduce your chance of surviving, genestealers on entering gather around them, and they have to be the last one killed in each swarm(i.e. you can't pick them to die unless they are last). They also don't go to the blip pile.
Image courtesy of Hex_Enduction_Hour
Terrain
There are eight terrains and four terrain types. The terrain types specify where genestealers will spawn and at what probability of spawn (red highest; green lowest) and are denoted by the color icon at the upper left hand corner. Some terrain cards have special abilities based on activation.
Image courtesy of Legion of DOOM
Image courtesy of vice
Locations
There are quite a few location cards, and other than starting location, they are chosen at random based on the number. Each location has a number that specifies the order of the location and which one can be used for a mission. The location types are specified on the starting location cards. Starting location cards also specify major and minor spawns as well as the number of marines to be used with in play at the start of game. All location cards specify the number of genestealers in each blip pile on each side and specify which terrain makes up the location. All these locations create the space hulk (ship) environment your marines will be traveling through to complete their mission.
One of the starting locations
Another location
Image courtesy of Legion of DOOM
Events
Special events happen to the marines on these cards for good or bad...mostly bad. They specify genestealer spawn locations and where major and minor spawns happen as well as genestealer movement.
Image courtesy of Legion of DOOM
Rulebook: 
This rulebook could really have been done a whole lot better. I like very clear rulebooks that cover pretty much all the corner cases where I don't have to guess. I hate ambiguity in rulebooks. There was too much "refer to page XX" for more details than I would like, and I personally feel that a lot of detail was left out that was necessary for clarity's sake. I even had to email FFG a couple of rule clarifications which I've never done before.
For instance, I draw an event card that has genestealers spawning on a terrain that doesn't exist. Okay, I guessed that meant it doesn't spawn, and someone of you may say, "Well that's obvious." Maybe, I prefer it to be spelled out in the rulebook.
Another one was what to do with extra tokens on the door that don't get used. Can I put them on another door going right into another location? Again, my assumption is that you discard them, but why can't the rulebook say that or even the door terrain card?
You really need to have that rulebook handy on your first couple of plays! See this post here for some rules clarifications.
However, the rulebook isn't a complete waste. It does have very nice visual examples of how to layout the cards and how to move the cards around based on various situations. I'll give FFG props for that! There really is a lot of detail in there, even though I wish for a little more
Game Setup & Teardown:
I find the time to setup takes only about 5 to 6 minutes, so that's not too bad. It's really a matter of quickly separating out your decks, then setting up the play area with the teams you want. You could probably spend more time just picking teams then anything else. The more you play, the more likely you'll get to a 3 or 4 minute mark.
Putting everything back in the box is just as easy, especially when you get a system. My system is to put the marines and their actions cards together along with the event cards, then put the genestealers, brood lords, and location cards together on the other side of the box. This seems to even out nicely, then just drop the support tokens on one side and squeeze the die into the center with rules on top.
You're done.
Image courtesy of gentsrugby
Gameplay:
The object of the game is to gain victory by completing the mission. The winning conditions will be found on the final destination location. This may involve pressing a button or killing Brood Lords or something else. If at any time you don't accomplish the objective (i.e. you all die)...then you lose.
Now, for solitary play, you'll be picking 3 combat teams for a total of six marines as your starting platoon. However, there really is nothing to stop you from choosing more if you want, because the rules really aren't that different. Just make sure you pick the correct starting location, always a Void Lock card, that has the correct number of marines you're playing. The nice thing about solitaire is that you get to look at all the combat teams cards, and make more informed decisions about how handle each situation.
You place your marines in formation randomly with the top half facing left and the lower half facing right.
See this picture below. Notice the location at the top with two genestealer "blip" piles on each side.
Image courtesy of mikehulsebus
The gameplay is simple, very tight, and does a decent job of emulating small combat team tactics.
The game is broken up into 4 phases: Choose an actions, Resolve Actions, GeneStealers attack, and Event Card phase (genestealer spawn), and you repeat this over and over until you end the game.
1. Choose Actions phase:
Here you decide what you want your combat team(s) to do. Each card no matter the action, has a special ability based on the combat team, so be sure to read the card text and factor that in your strategy. The basic actions are support (put a support token on a player), move & activate (change position, change facing, and/or activate terrain cards), and attack. The card only applies to the combat team of the same color, and can be performed by both team members unless their is some special ability on the card like Brother Leon attacks 3 times...yeah baby!
Now for multiplayer, players can communicate some information on what they would like to do, but if I read the rules correctly, they can't just tell everyone what is in their hand.
2. Resolve Actions phase:
Perform the actions in ascending order, so start with the lowest number on the card then finish with highest. Basically that means...support goes first, then move & activate, then attacks. Remember this, because the order does affect how you plan out your actions.
When attacking, marines must attack only the genestealers in front of them and within range (unless the card says otherwise). This means if a marine has range 0, he can only attack a genestealer directly in front of him. If the range is 1, then he can attack genestealers in front as well as genestealers one stack above or below (still in the same facing direction arrow on the marine's card). Again, this helps emulate those small combat team tactics: position and aim.
The attack involves rolling the red die. If you roll a skull, kill one genestealer. If the marine has a support token on him, then he can discard a support token to reroll the die if it was a bad roll. Support tokens are your friend, especially on defense. There are possible modifiers to the die roll depending the marine and the attack card, so be sure to read the text.
Once you resolved the action, set the card aside until you finish the event phase of the next round, not the current round. This means, you can't choose the same action card twice in a row. You have to wait another round to get it back into your hand. Actually, this is what I do. I set aside the actions cards I played on my left side. Once I pick my actions on the next round, I set them down on my right side and then pick up the last used action cards on my left and add them to my hand. I then proceed to resolve the action cards on my right then set to my left.
3. Genestealer Attacks phase:
If you have any genestealers left, each swarm gets to attack the marine that is in front of them (i.e. they can attack from behind or in front of the marine based on their location). The genestealer attack is simple. Count the number of genestealers in a given swarm, and roll the die. If the die is less than or equal to the number of genestealers in the swarm, kiss your marine good bye. If the roll is higher, then count your blessings. If a marine dies, remove him from the formation, and shift the smallest group of marines towards the larger group of remaining marines along with any terrain and/or genestealers next to shifting marines.
Again, if a marine has a support token and is facing the attacking genestealer swarm, you can discard the token and re-roll the die for a better result to keep him alive. No re-rolls for genestealers attacking from behind!
4. Event Card phase:
Draw an event card.
Image courtesy of LordHellFury
Immediately resolve "instinct" actions specified by the card and perform any else written. Then spawn the genestealers in the terrain locations based on the colors the found on the event card and on the terrain cards. There are little triangles on top of the terrain colors of the event card. This signifies the type of spawn to be performed. If the triangle is yellow, it's a major spawn, and if it's white, then it's a minor spawn. See the starting location card (Void Lock) to find the numbers inside the yellow and white triangles. This will be the number of genestealers to spawn on that terrain card. Be sure to only draw from the blip piles that are on the same side as the terrain getting the spawn.
After spawning, the genestealer swarms are moved based on genestealers with matching icons found on both the event card in the lower right hand corner and on the lower left of the genestealer card. There are two movements: up/down denoted by double up and down arrows and flanking denoted by a curved arrow. The up/down move is based on the double arrows found on the nearest marine's card on the same side as the genestealers. You then move the genestealer (whole swarm) in that direction by one marine and then combine any swarms afterward. The flanking move means place the genestealer behind the current marine (opposite the big single arrow on marine card). If already flanked (behind), then don't move the genestealer.
After that, the phases start over. It's important to remember that at any time if one of the blip piles is empty, it's time for the marines to travel to a new location after the CURRENT phase is finished. So, traveling can happen anywhere between the phases except between choosing and resolving action phases (nothing happens there). All "traveling" means is that you draw the next location card, set aside old terrain cards, setup the new terrain cards specified on the location card (matching icons), resolve any "Upon Entering" text on the card, and then proceed with the next phase you were to do next after the blip pile emptied.
Seven things to remember:
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.
Seven Strategy Tips:
1. Doors are key pieces of terrain to help you survive and win the game. Make it a priority of getting support tokens on it with move and activate. Alternate your teams attacking and moving. Once you travel, you can clean house on a lot of genestealers. I love how this terrain when used effectively simulates the tactics of how doorways create great kill zones and choke points. I can imagine those marines forming up on the other side of the door as they leave and just unloading on the genestealers following from behind.
2. Keep support tokens on marines that have special attack abilities: Brother Leon, Brother Zael, Brother Claudio, and Lexicanum C..blah. These guys can really do some damage to the enemy. Keep them alive!
3. Do your best to keep marines facing in alternate directions and have each marine's back covered by at least two other separate squad members. This maximizes both your offensive and defensive capabilities.
4. Put Brother Leon somewhere near the middle where he can effectively cover almost the whole side of one formation. His range of 3 plus 3 attacks rocks! Point him at a red terrain type (highest probability of genestealer spawn). He doesn't have to be directly in front, just in range of it.
5. If you're forced to pick a marine to die based on event card (or doing an activate), pick a marine with no special abilities and/or pick a marine that will not wipe out a combat team! You need those marines with special abilities, and you need each combat team's abilities. When whole team is wiped out, you can't use their cards.
6. Put the range 0 marines on high probable spawn terrain. These guys are useless without a genestealer in front of them (except Bro. Claudio).
7. Take out those spore chimneys and promethium tanks ASAP. That means...less spawn in your location.
Conclusion:
Overall, I really enjoy this game as a solitaire game. It's dripping with great theme that pretty much tells a story as you go along. It's so much better than whipping out a game of Klondike or Spider solitaire to kill the time...snooze. Nothing like blazing flame throwers and firing assault cannons to satisfy that manly urge to wreak some havoc on the enemy by leaving behind the carnage of crispy-fried alien skin and splattered alien blood all over the place. Cue Tim Allen ape grunts.
I was always interested in Space Hulk (third edition) since last year when the reprint came out, but I just couldn't stomach the amount of money required to get it. I was just getting into boardgaming, and I wanted so many more games that I could buy more for the same amount of money. I still can't stomach the price! Now, at a SMALL fraction of the cost and size of Space Hulk, I think I get a decent approximation that still contains a great theme, implements some nice tactical elements given it's well designed cards, and is easy to setup.
Some of you may not like solitaire games and that's fine. I wanted to buy this game mainly for it's solitaire play, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a lot less fiddly than some other cooperative games that you can play solo (Pandemic, Castle Panic, etc.) as well as some other solitaire wargames. It's very compact and easy to throw in backpack or suitcase. Oh, did I mention that I really like the theme?
Maybe one day, I'll get around to letting other people play SH: Death Angel with me
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Tristan Hall
England
Manchester
Google 'NinjaDorg Fantasy Quest'
Google 'NinjaDorg Fantasy Quest'
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Nice review - makes me wish I was the one in our group who'd picked this up!
BTW we place the team tokens on the Action chosen that round, makes it easier to remember what Actions you've already used.
Although you could always just tap the card I suppose...
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J.
United States
Grant
Alabama
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I never thought about using the tokens to show the actions taken. Not a bad idea, but it's easier to not use them. Less fiddly. Tapping is not a bad idea either. I actually do tap the swarm that I put into a power field.
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Rauli Kettunen
Finland
Oulu
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jgatkinsn wrote:
2. Brother Claudio - it's hard not to put him on top, because he's a guaranteed 3 genestealers kill in one swarm at range 1 both in front or back(that's right, behind him!). I set him at #2, because he could die on a 0 roll.
Don't know if it will pump him up to #1 or not, but Claudio can kill any 3 GS within 1 range of him, there is no "same swarm" limit in Heroic Charge.
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Tom Tempest
United Kingdom
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Firstly fantastic post, brilliant review, loved it
Claudio almost has the same "kill range" as Brother Leon as well. If you see Leon as:
GS ----
GS ----
GS ----
GS ---- < Leon
GS ----
GS ----
GS ----
Therefore able to reach all 7 of the Genestealers on this set up (3 up, 3 down and 1 directly in front).
Claudio's spread is almost as many:
GS ---- ---------- ---- GS
GS ---- < Claudio ---- GS
GS ---- ---------- ---- GS
Despite facing left and seeming to have a range of 0, Claudio has 6 possible kill spots - only 1 shy of Leon and Claudio doesn't have the same facing problems.
While Leon can kill three Genestealers, Claudio will kill three. The only downside, as you pointed out, is that slight killing himself problem...
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A great review!!!
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Stuart Middleton
Australia
Merbein
Victoria
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Great review! This one is going to the top of the wish list (now I've just gotta convince the significant other that I need more games
 ).
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Joe Schlimgen
United States
Salt Lake City
Utah
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TempestBlade wrote: The only downside, as you pointed out, is that slight killing himself problem...
For me, it's not a slight problem, but a major one. I've used the yellow team twice. In the first game, Claudio killed 3 genestealers; in the second he killed 3 genestealers.
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Anders Pedersen
Denmark
Copenhagen N.
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Great review!
jgatkinsn wrote: This rulebook could really have been done a whole lot better. I like very clear rulebooks that cover pretty much all the corner cases where I don't have to guess. I hate ambiguity in rulebooks. There was too much "refer to page XX" for more details than I would like, and I personally feel that a lot of detail was left out that was necessary for clarity's sake. I even had to email FFG a couple of rule clarifications which I've never done before.
For instance, I draw an event card that has genestealers spawning on a terrain that doesn't exist. Okay, I guessed that meant it doesn't spawn, and someone of you may say, "Well that's obvious." Maybe, I prefer it to be spelled out in the rulebook.
Another one was what to do with extra tokens on the door that don't get used. Can I put them on another door going right into another
location? Again, my assumption is that you discard them, but why can't the rulebook say that or even the door terrain card?
You really need to have that rulebook handy on your first couple of plays!
I disagree with the rule book being confusing. We hardly had to look anything up in our first game.
But it is great you included some examples to support your opinion. This clearly shows how people are reading stuff differently!
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Tristan Hall
England
Manchester
Google 'NinjaDorg Fantasy Quest'
Google 'NinjaDorg Fantasy Quest'
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macron wrote: TempestBlade wrote: The only downside, as you pointed out, is that slight killing himself problem... For me, it's not a slight problem, but a major one. I've used the yellow team twice. In the first game, Claudio killed 3 genestealers; in the second he killed 3 genestealers.
It's only a 1 in 6 chance - them's the breaks...
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J.
United States
Grant
Alabama
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dbc- wrote:
I disagree with the rule book being confusing. We hardly had to look anything up in our first game.
But it is great you included some examples to support your opinion. This clearly shows how people are reading stuff differently!
Yeah, just goes to show that everyone processes information differently. I'm also a very visual person, so I have re-read rulebooks a lot times to get it stored in my brain better and I'm not young whipper snapper that soaks up information as easily anymore.
I was probably a little too harsh on my review of the rulebook, because it did have great visual examples in there. My frustration came out a little too much. So, I'll edit accordingly and bump it up a star.
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Rob
United States
Crescent City
Northern California
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Nice review. I also got this game to play solo.
Que ape grunts LOL
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All we are is
United States
Lake Forest
Click to Select (if applicable)
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Great review!
I just played the game with a friend last week. I totally agree with you on the rulebook...it's confusing/ambiguous, but once you get to the game, it's very fun. Never played any warhammer themed games, but this is an interesting co-op.
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J.
United States
Grant
Alabama
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Thanks for all the kind words and thumbs! I couldn't have done it without all the nice pictures taken by fellow BGG'ers that I gave credit too. Be sure to spread some thumbs their way for the cool photos.
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J.
United States
Grant
Alabama
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Dam the Man wrote: jgatkinsn wrote:
2. Brother Claudio - it's hard not to put him on top, because he's a guaranteed 3 genestealers kill in one swarm at range 1 both in front or back(that's right, behind him!). I set him at #2, because he could die on a 0 roll.
Don't know if it will pump him up to #1 or not, but Claudio can kill any 3 GS within 1 range of him, there is no "same swarm" limit in Heroic Charge.
Corrected, Thanks! I still keep him at #2, because of the might die factor, and unfortunately for some reason...it happens all too often for a 1 in 6 chance.
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Andrew More
United Kingdom
Ohio
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It's not REALLY a 1 in 6 if you remember to keep a support token on him at all times. Then it becomes 1 in 36, almost a guarantee!
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Rauli Kettunen
Finland
Oulu
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GreenJello wrote: It's not REALLY a 1 in 6 if you remember to keep a support token on him at all times. Then it becomes 1 in 36, almost a guarantee!
Claudio cannot use a support token to reroll his roll from using the Attack action, that is if you use the optional attack (kill 3 GS, then roll a die). It's not an attack roll. This is stated outright in the rules.
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Posted Wed Oct 27, 2010 8:57 am
