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I'm looking at both, though don't know which to get. Just looking for general advice from veteran players, though please don't give your reason purely because of the price, I'd like to know which is the better game.
Also please tell me which is simpler, as I'll probably be playing with people who don't play 40k/whfb.

First thing, if you can find Spacehulk, it's gonna be expensive as hell :(

Dreadfleet is a naval combat game, and a whole lot of fun, if you like ship to ship combat, takig into account side fire arcs, the vaguaries of navigation and wind direction.

Space Hulk (if you can still get it.. we had about 2 copies here, and they were gone before i got to the store) is more of a tactical squad command game, fighting through a wrecked spaceship against unknown and sneaky aliens. It is also a blast to play, but in a completely different way.

If you have to money, get both. If not, you'll have to ask yourself which style of game you like best


Dreadfleet is pretty simple to play. I picked it up a few days ago, and i have the rules down.

Spacehulk is also pretty simple to play IIRC (i have the original version) . unless the new version had radically different rules it should also be pretty simple.

They're both good games, neither of which I would call hard to learn or play. You're going to have a much harder time finding a copy of Space Hulk, though.

I still have two extra. I should probably look into putting them up on eBay.

Edit: Looks like parting them out isn't as good an option anymore. The 'Nids don't seem to be selling for very much and that's half the box.

Thanks alot for the advice. BTW you can get it for £-100 on Ebay.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Breotan if you have two extra Space Hulk/Dreadfleet copies, how much would you sell them for?

Space Hulk, by far.

List of reasons:
- Models are 40k-sized. If you ever get bored, you can use the models in 40k. Dreadfleet is an odd scale.
- Models are in colored plastic. May not mean much, but it's still a delight to play with unpainted figures. Dreadfleet is boring grey plastic.
- Very high quality board and cardboard chits. Dreadfleet has low-quality cards.
- Space Hulk takes up less space to play. Dreadfleet takes up almost 4x6'.
- Space Hulk is much less random. You roll dice to determine effects, but the game consists of putting yourself in advantageous positions. You may still lose to bad luck, but mostly you'll lose to bad strategy. The game is punishingly unforgiving towards bad strategy. The most "random" part of the game is dice and the genestealer-spawn beacons. The dice can be compensated for by good positioning, and the genestealer player knows the spawn beacons several turns in advance, so they can compensate. Dreadfleet is quite random. Wind changes position all the time and the outcome of an action is rather questionable.
- Space Hulk is easier. Every Genestealer has the same abilities with one exception. Every Terminator has the same abilities aside from their weapons, which are intuitive-ish. The Librarian makes things really complicated, but so be it.

Ultimately, choose Space Hulk. It's okay-ish to learn but hard to master. Dreadfleet is okay-ish to learn but too random to even consider mastery of any sort.

I've taught Space Hulk to people that didn't even understand 40k and they did fine once they got through a single game. Haven't had time to consider teaching Dreadfleet yet.

Urien_Rakarth wrote:Thanks alot for the advice. BTW you can get it for £-100 on Ebay.

Breotan if you have two extra Space Hulk/Dreadfleet copies, how much would you sell them for?

You're not going to like my answer very much. I plan on selling them for as much as I can get for them. The big ball-buster isn't the price for the SH game as much as the price for shipping that'll be tacked on. That box is HEAVY and will require $20-30 just to ship around the USA. I expect international shipping costs may be prohibitive.

You can still get dreadfleet from GW for the RRP.

I only own Space Hulk and it's great fun to play, especially any mission involving the Assault Cannon...

I honestly wouldn't get either of them for playing with non-gamers.

Dread Fleet is, at least from my perspective, pretty underwhelming; the models are pretty but the syetem is aggravatingly random, thanks to the cards.

Space Hulk, by comparison, is a wonderful game, and one of the few things ever produced by Games Workshop to earn the appreciation of gamers outside the GW hobby.

Naturally, Games Workshop don't see this as sufficient reason to keep it in print, which is a shame, but to be honest, if you're looking for something to play with non-gamers, you'd be better off with a 'soft' Eurogame like Carcassonne, or something with a stong theme like Pandemic or Twilight Struggle.

lord_blackfang wrote:I honestly wouldn't get either of them for playing with non-gamers.

I introduced a couple of friends to Space Hulk back when it was released. The rules are very basic, allowing new players to pick them up, but there are a lot of intricacies in using them - something that I could see becoming apparent to the players as we went through the game, and gradually picked up how to play. It was pretty awesome hearing something like "use those 2 other action points to take a step back, it might save you!" from people who have had absolutely no concept of this kind of board-game before. Because of the wonderful balance of the game, it also means games often go to the wire - having a couple of marines desperately trying to make it to the objective with a horde of genestealers on their tail is wonderfully cinematic! We even had some woops as other events happened in the game.

I would definitely recommend it, and certainly in GW's current repertoire there is very little else in the boardgame-type game than can involve a casual group of non-gamers for an entertaining evening.

Space Hulk is an incredible game. If every GW product was at the same level of execution as Space Hulk... well, it's a nice dream.

Thanks a load every one! I think Space Hulk it is!

I have both. LOVE Space Hulk and played my first game of Dreadfleet this past weekend; it's excellent.

I really enjoy both, and no experience in either system is required to play these games.

As far simplicity of play; Space Hulk vs. Dreadfleet... I'd have to overwhelmingly favor Space Hulk. While both games are very easy to learn and play Dreadfleet has a lot of game mechanics to keep track of.

I'll simply say I LOVE Space Hulk. Some of that is nostalgia but it has been one of my favorite boardgames since about 1998