Space Hulk
2 player game
recommended ages: 12+
estimated play time: 60 Min
Game pieces include 35 minatures, jigsaw style board for endless play throughs, dice
Space Hulk is a board game for two players by Games Workshop. The game is set in the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000. In the game, a "space hulk" is a mass of ancient, derelict space ships, asteroids, and other assorted space debris. One player takes the role of Space Marine Terminators, superhuman elite soldiers who have been sent to investigate such a space hulk. The other player takes the role of Tyranid Genestealers, an aggressive alien species which have made their home aboard such masses.
The game is set on a modular board made up of various board sections which represent corridors and rooms and which can be freely arranged and locked together like a jigsaw puzzle to represent the interior of a space hulk. One player controls the Space Marine Terminators, and the other player controls the Tyranid Genestealers.
It is an asymmetric game in the following respects:
The two players have different force.
The players have different objectives to fulfill during a "mission" (the in-game term for a particular scenario). For example, the Terminator player may have the objective of destroying a specified area of the board or a specified Genestealer piece or some other objective; while the Genestealer player may have the objective of destroying a specified Terminator piece or all of the Terminator pieces or some other objective.
The pieces of the two players move at different rates (Terminators move slowly, Genestealers rapidly).
Terminator pieces excel at ranged combat, but are weak in close combat; the Genestealer pieces excel at close combat, but cannot perform ranged combat at all.
The pieces are moved by the players through a system of "action points", where each piece has a certain number specified for it. A Terminator piece has few action points; a Genestealer piece has many action points.
The game is notable for its hidden play mechanics, from which it derives much of its playability and tension.
On the one hand, the Terminator player has a variable number of "command points" available each turn which are only revealed to the Genestealer player after they are used up; these command points may be used to move the Terminator pieces either during the Terminator player's own turn or during the Genestealer player's turn. (In the second edition, the extra points were not hidden from the Genestealer player.) On the other hand, the actual number of Genestealer pieces in play is hidden from the Terminator player, because the Genestealer pieces come into play as "blips" which may represent multiple creatures.