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I got the game yesterday.

I had to spend about an hour trying to get the rules straight in my head before trying to play. The rules aren't unclear, per se, but the way they're laid out in the rulebook makes wrapping your head around the whole concept of how the game is actually played really tough IMHO, and I'm someone who really digs games and understanding rules. I'd be really surprised if someone less 'rules inclined' could actually pick up this game and figure out how to play just from reading that rulebook (I don't think so).

What the rules booklet REALLY is missing some sort of walkthrough section, or even a pre-organized step-by-step of a few turns of the game to illustrate what the heck the game is actually about.

But anyway, after getting through the rules, I've played several (five to be exact) solo games and the game seems like it has nice potential. It seems as though it would indeed be more fun with more players, but the solo game isn't terrible either.

After five games played and only one 'win', I do think that the solo game is a bit heavily skewed towards the marines dying. I'm not sure if playing with more people helps to balance things out a bit, but I found the way they resolve Genestealers attacking each turn to be overly punishing.

I made a simple change of having a marine survive a stealer attack if he rolls equal to or over the number of stealers attacking him (as opposed to just OVER the number of steelers attacking him).

This simple change has made the game feel much more 'beatable' for me, and I would recommend playing with this variant to anyone for a while. If you find you start winning the mission everytime then of course you can switch the rules back to the standard version, but IMHO I think FF should have suggested to play this way for beginning players (at least in the solo game...again not sure if the multi-player game is a bit more forgiving to the Marines or not).

FFG's web site now says the game shipped on 8th Sep so I hope it will arrive in stock in Amazon UK this week and I will get my copy.

Yakface, which marines did you use for the solo play?

Certain combinations are better with certain numbers of marines. I had a much easier time with the Librarian, Flamer, and Lightning Claw marine teams when I played solo. The combination of the heroic charge from the lightning claws guaranteeing 3 dead genestealers (even though you risk a 1 in 6 chance of that marine dying) was incredibly useful, especially since you outright kill anything within 1 distance, regardless of facing or position. Their other action cards also help in defense of certain hot zones. Their movement ability allows them to switch positions with anyone along the formation, which is incredibly useful for getting the weapons you want lined up against the right targets. In my case, I was able to get both my heavy weapons in the middle of th formation quickly where they were most useful.

Then the flamethrower marine's attack action really helps wipe out large swarms. The forward scouting works great since you control all marines and also see the upcoming card, you can plan ahead when you use it.

The librarian can just keep attacking if he rolls a skull, which is a fifty fifty chance on the die, he also has range 2 on his attacks. His force wall ability can really save you, enabling you to basically ignore even a large swarms, and either dealing with other threats or taking a turn to prepare your formation to kill off that large swarm on a later turn.

And never forget those support tokens.

Also, remember that almost all the genestealer movement or actions happens on the swarm level.

I was confused the first time I played where I thought that when genestealer movement comes up, only the genestealer cards with the icon depicted move, but instead, it's whenever a swarm contains a genestealer card with that icon, then the entire swarm moves as shown.

This has the benefit of helping to keep the genestealers from scattering all around the place too much. But also makes it so that they're more likely to group up into a similar location on the formation since as a swarm moves every turn it will pick up more members eventually, becoming more deadly. But another plus is that you'll be able to keep marines facing the genestealers more often and employ weapons to wipe out large swarms.

It's also important to note that having 1 genestealer means that a marine will die 1/3 of the time since the die is numbered 0-5, pretty tough odds. But it's doable if you make sure to watch your facing and use a lot of support actions. I think the game is really supposed to be difficult, as that difficulty adds to the tension in a co-op game where things might otherwise be boring playing co-op if it was too easy.

Vertrucio wrote:Yakface, which marines did you use for the solo play?

Certain combinations are better with certain numbers of marines. I had a much easier time with the Librarian, Flamer, and Lightning Claw marine teams when I played solo. The combination of the heroic charge from the lightning claws guaranteeing 3 dead genestealers (even though you risk a 1 in 6 chance of that marine dying) was incredibly useful, especially since you outright kill anything within 1 distance, regardless of facing or position. Their other action cards also help in defense of certain hot zones. Their movement ability allows them to switch positions with anyone along the formation, which is incredibly useful for getting the weapons you want lined up against the right targets. In my case, I was able to get both my heavy weapons in the middle of th formation quickly where they were most useful.

Then the flamethrower marine's attack action really helps wipe out large swarms. The forward scouting works great since you control all marines and also see the upcoming card, you can plan ahead when you use it.

The librarian can just keep attacking if he rolls a skull, which is a fifty fifty chance on the die, he also has range 2 on his attacks. His force wall ability can really save you, enabling you to basically ignore even a large swarms, and either dealing with other threats or taking a turn to prepare your formation to kill off that large swarm on a later turn.

And never forget those support tokens.

Yeah, nearly every game I used a different combination, just to try some different stuff out. Playing solo allowed me to take my time, really think about the possibilities open to me and even fix a 'mistake' if I found that I should have noticed something. Even so, the game tends to be punishingly random when even a single stealer kills a marine 33% of the time. Even with a re-roll (support token) it really isn't that uncommon to roll a '0' or '1' two times in a row. And once you get a few bad breaks in the solo game (like rolling a '0' and having your lightning claw guy die) the stealers get overwhelming very quickly.

Also, remember that almost all the genestealer movement or actions happens on the swarm level.

I was confused the first time I played where I thought that when genestealer movement comes up, only the genestealer cards with the icon depicted move, but instead, it's whenever a swarm contains a genestealer card with that icon, then the entire swarm moves as shown.

This has the benefit of helping to keep the genestealers from scattering all around the place too much. But also makes it so that they're more likely to group up into a similar location on the formation since as a swarm moves every turn it will pick up more members eventually, becoming more deadly. But another plus is that you'll be able to keep marines facing the genestealers more often and employ weapons to wipe out large swarms.

The swarm movement is definitely a detriment rather than a benefit (IMHO). Having stealers spread out will usually mean that both squad members can fire with an 'attack' order no matter if they're facing opposite directions or not. With whole swarms moving, you are much more likely to sometimes end up with situations where one marine in the team is 'out of range' of a target.

It's also important to note that having 1 genestealer means that a marine will die 1/3 of the time since the die is numbered 0-5, pretty tough odds. But it's doable if you make sure to watch your facing and use a lot of support actions. I think the game is really supposed to be difficult, as that difficulty adds to the tension in a co-op game where things might otherwise be boring playing co-op if it was too easy.

I know it is do-able. I've completed it a couple of times now and I know they were trying to go for a really tough feel. I just think that, especially when you're learning the game, you don't mind if the mission is a little bit easy. It is a whole lot more satisfying to complete the mission for a bunch of players learning the rules then it is to lose 3 times in a row (for example).

So I really do think that altering the rule regarding stealer attacks makes the game better, without making it too easy. I also think that a roll of a '5' should always save a marine, regardless of how many stealers are in the swarm. These are space marines! They're supposed to be able to survive seemingly hopeless odds. And plus, just having a 'chance' to survive a 5+ stealer swarm is *exciting*. You get to pick up the die and make that desperate roll, as opposed to currently where you just *know* that your marine is dead, without having any kind of fighting chance.

This looks like it can be a fun game in the Space Hulk theme. While not a fan of collectible card games, I think this stand-alone will be a nice addition to my collection.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/death-angel/minisite/support/Death_Angel%20FAQ.pdf

FAQ for this game is now up.

I'm still waiting for my copy.

Even though I ordered it over a week in advance, Amazon sold it out before sending one to me.

>:C

yeah,

Same here, I preordered this months ago on amazon :(
I think i might cancel, my want is fadings..


Panic...

Looks neat. I might play a game if someone offers.