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You guys see this?. I apologize if this was already posted. I did a search and didn't find anything, but "death" and "angel" are not exactly rare up ins.

yeah, it's been known about for months but i think it was first available last week at gencon. i'll be picking up a copy when it hits my FLGS.

I'm guessing the point of this is for people who missed out on the SH re-release? Other than that it doesn't seem to be needed.

You can play space hulk a lot faster with a card game.. Id say its needed. From my stand point Ill play space hulk a lot more often

i could be wrong but i think the game takes a bit less time from opening to playing since you don't have to laminate the paper or color in the cards yourself like you must assemble and can paint the regular spullk.

So, snap-together models that come in the appropriate coloured plastic are a chore now?

You know you don't actually have to take the mold-lines off or paint them in order to play, right? Sure, it's nicer when you do have painted minis to play with, but by no means is it a requirement for play.

So aside from then ten minutes it takes to cut them off the sprue and snap them together, I don't see how the cards are any faster... If you want to paint the SH minis, then that's up to you. I did, but I viewed it as a fun thing to do in my hobby time, and played the game with unpainted, then half painted, and now painted minis.

Don't get me wrong, I think FF stuff is great, I'm just not seeing much of a point to this one, especially for people who already have the full board game.

Ktulhut wrote:So, snap-together models that come in the appropriate coloured plastic are a chore now?

for me? no. i've got a whole deathwing army of space hulk figs i love them so much. for others i know? yeah, it is. two people i used to know read most of the 40k books and other fiction but wouldn't touch the minis game because they thought they couldn't do it any justice without even trying.

Because, it's easier, faster, appealing to more players to whip out the card game version, than it is to break out the big board game, find a table to fit it all, read through the mission rules, and go through all that jazz.

Also, this version is a purely co-op game, so everyone's working together to win. This fact means even more players will be willing to play because sometimes you're just not in the mood for a competitive, or even adversarial, game.

Sorry, those are good points, but I'm still falling on the side of "Why?" here. If I want to play Space Hulk, I'll play Space Hulk.

I just... just don't see the point of this. Not saying it'll be bad - FFG have a track record of good products - but I just can't see people wanting to play this in place of actual Space Hulk.

The point is, this game is called DEATH ANGEL.

It is not Space Hulk in card form. It's Death Angel the game, it just happens to have the same setting and theme as Space Hulk.

You're getting too hung up on the Space Hulk thing and because of that you're going to miss out on a fun new 40K, co-operative card game.

And that's the "why." My "Why?" is why you're even asking why? It's a cool new game, one that covers the material significantly differently.

Pfft I prefer using models too cards

I like the game. As for why: Well I missed the new edition of Space Hulk (I owned the original 1st edition). I love that FFG are releasing games that give a nod back to the GW board games of yore. One of my favourite games was Chainsaw warrior, a solo play card game where you fought your way out a zombie infested tower block with - you guessed it - a chainsaw and various other guns and such. It had a board to keep track of the layout and a load of cards to show equipment and encounters. This new card game can be played solo (not sure if new SH has that option) and it's also small enough to be taken on holiday (good for rainy days in a tent / caravan / hotel). I love this idea and I hope they release later expansions for other boarding missions and chapters. I'd love to play Space Wolves invading a Chaos Marine ship.

You get out of these games what you put in. If you let your imaginiation run free then they are great and as always you dont have to buy it.

I cant wait for this one to hit my FLGS, they better be putting a copy away for me.

I'm also going to pick up one of these when available. The rules have been posted and it's clearly not "space hulk with cards" - more like a space hulk themed card game.

It's a nice game that comes in a small box. I ran demos of it at Games Day at the FFG booth and everyone seemed to have a good time. You can also play 1-6 players, not just 2. You randomize the setup each time, so you don't know what you will face as your squads travel from location to location, so each game plays out differently (it also will vary depending on how many players there are too). It doesn't replace the minis game, but a lot of things from there are in here, including facing and range to determine if you can attack your foe. One thing I really like is that pretty much every marine has a special ability - even the grunts with storm bolters can be cool as well.
-Tim

yeah,
I want a copy of this.

1st: it's based on SpaceHulk - Do Want!
2nd:it's based on SpaceHulk - Do Want!
3rd: It's easy to carry about, I'll just bung it in my manBag
4th: It can be played Single Player great for killing time when your waiting on someone.
5th:If your out and about and bump into a friend who is also into SpaceHulk but isn't carring his copy of SpaceHulk with him... you can play this.

Panic...

I played a demo of this at the FFG event center yesterday and wasn't too impressed. As HBMC pointed out, if I want to play Space Hulk, I'll play Space Hulk and have a better time. The principle advantages to this game is the portability and the fact that it can be played solitaire. Ultimately, it just frustrated me since it removes the 3rd person shooter feel of Space Hulk and replaces it with abstractions that don't generate the same level of excitement. The first aspect that I found irritating was the color coding of the action cards to only certain squad members and the inability to repeat actions. In my experience, this meant that instead of being able to take the action you want to take, your squad ends up standing around with their thumbs up their asses. There are times when you have a guy hanging out staring at a growing pile of genestealers and because his other squad mate is doing something else or shot last turn they just stand there and do nothing of value. I suppose practice might reduce this phenomenon, but it kills the fun of the game when your players don't get to do much. Also, the rules about initiative and the order action cards go into effect are intended to add tension, but mostly just are a way for players to step on each other's feet in an irritating way.

Also, the way genestealer attacks work and advancing through the corridors makes sense but is a bit anti-climactic. The longer you stay in an area the more genestealers pile up and your guys start dropping. However, once all of the genestealer swarms have been allocated and one of the spawning piles run out, your guys get to advance to the next area and the piles go away. In my mind, this felt like treading water until the end rather than an all out fight to the death. The areas and marine event cards have some cool mechanics that allow genestealers to pop up in unexpected places and marines to make special attacks, but I felt like the fights lacked closure, when all you wanted to do was just survive long enough to get to the next room.

All in all, the game design is interesting and would probably improve with repeat play, but ultimately the Space Hulk setting and claustrophobic atmosphere made me wish I were playing Space Hulk instead of a card game. Its a time consuming game to play and takes up a lot of space with a lot of extra cards and pieces and whatnot, which means that it isn't a good "filler" game for small amounts of time and is complex enough that the learning curve requires a serious walkthrough.

I have this on order but FFG seem to have slipped their ship date quite badly.

I appreciate Samwise158's comments above. The point is that it is a card game, which is always going to be more of an abstraction of skirmish war than a table top game. So you have to play it as a card game rather a wargame, and take it for what it is.

As I like card games and "board games" as well as tabletop wargames I am looking forward to Death Angels partly for the solitaire play and portability compared to traditional Spulk.

Yeah, I was about to write up a long and snarky post covering the same idea.

It's a pure card game, not a miniatures game compacted into card format. If you like miniatures games, but not card games, just don't play it. But, don't try to put miniature game criteria on the card game, you'll only end up disappointing yourself.

I'm an omnigamer. So this game appeals to me not as some space hulk replacement, but as an entire new game to itself that's also co-op and scifi.

Vertrucio wrote:It's a pure card game, not a miniatures game compacted into card format. If you like miniatures games, but not card games, just don't play it. But, don't try to put miniature game criteria on the card game, you'll only end up disappointing yourself.

Basically it comes down to expectations and what types of gaming mechanics you appreciate.

Let's take Tom Vasal's review of the game for instance.
Tom is a boardgamer who, as he notes in the video, has a bit of 40K background.



It capitalizes on the popularity of Space Hulk, makes it more accessible to those who dont want to spend $100+ to get the feel of the game.

Personally, I feel the same way as Samwise above does as far as learning curve and overall enjoyment of the game. The rules are crap and it takes too long for what it is. However other than the poorly written rules that FFG are often infamous for (to be fair they have gotten much better about this but sometimes rules like this slip through somehow), that doesn't make it a bad game. There is actually a lot about the game to like. Its a gamer's game in the strictest sense. No prep time, painting or anything. Just drop it on the table and play (after you decipher the rules).

Is it shipping in the US now or just preview copies?

There are some UK retailers listing it for sale however if Amazon hasn't got it I think the other shops are just fishing for orders.

Fantasy Flight lists it as "Shipping Now" meaning its on its way to retailers.

But FFG are sometimes lax on updating their 'Upcoming" section of their site and wouldn't doubt for a second that many retailers already have it since most orders arrive by this time during the week.

What happened to all the old 40k (maybe gimmicky) card games?

kenshin620 wrote:What happened to all the old 40k (maybe gimmicky) card games?

I've got a set of 4 in a drawer upstairs somewhere. Don't recall how it's played, now.

Kilkrazy wrote:Is it shipping in the US now or just preview copies?

There are some UK retailers listing it for sale however if Amazon hasn't got it I think the other shops are just fishing for orders.

Available through US online retailers such as FRP Games and Noble Knight Games; believe it should be in FLGS this week as well.

AJC

Samwise158 wrote:I played a demo of this at the FFG event center yesterday and wasn't too impressed. <snip>

Sounds like a bad demo I think. Stealers will follow the marines from room to room for example actually - finishing off a room just helps you advance, not kill them off. I liked it myself, there is a a lot of growing tension and you really have to think ahead since you can't simply keep playing "attack" actions each turn. We've been playing a lot while waiting for others to show up for bigger games especially as it sets up fast. The rules though are indeed a tough read - It wasn't until I got a copy and could play through a solo game that they really clicked.
-Tim

And, as usual, FFG will provide expansions to make things more interesting if it's successful.

They do this so regularly I basically factor it into my purchase decisions at some point.

And yes, small card box is a big plus for me, one less thing to lug around.

Got 5 in the big box today. Looks pretty cool.

UltraPrime wrote:

kenshin620 wrote:What happened to all the old 40k (maybe gimmicky) card games?

I've got a set of 4 in a drawer upstairs somewhere. Don't recall how it's played, now.

There was also Chaos Marauders, which FFG recently re-released. It's not that great of a game, TBH. But it's fun for a couple plays, which ain't bad for $10 or so.

Played a few games of this today, a few 2 player games and one solo game. All were pretty fun, but the game gets better with more people.

Although the solo mode is played a bit like a nice solitaire puzzler with random elements.