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All is in the title: I'm curious to know the view of the community on these two hot sellings GW boardgames.
I know the venerable Space Hulk is an idolized boardgame with a great (deserved) reputation, but the all new BaC seems to sell like hot cakes and has solid arguments (the quality still so high, the quantity for the price, and, mainly, is 40k compatible).
So, what are your feelings on this ?

Space Hulk, mainly because I still have my old box. No need to throw good money at GW.

I played the original Space Hulk when it came out. Solid game, lots of fun. I own the digital version, which does a good job representing it. I picked up the BaC box, mostly for the minis. Read the rules, and they look solid. Seems very scenario based. Not that SH wasn’t, but I’d worry about replayability. Of course, BaC gives you a lot of lateral options in gear, so can you swap out what equipment you are running with and play again. Both are fast moving streamlined games. And that’s good. If I wanted a lot of crunchy rules, I’d just play 40k (or something else). I can’t say one is better then the other. BaC seems a more open system, where SH is very much a marine vs. bug setup.

The latest SH has some beautiful minis, but they are very specific. As an Ultramarine player, it would be more work then I’m willing to do to de-blood the terminators, and the genestealers would just be a painting exercise a/o part of a base/diorama. The BaC box however is an excellent value box for anyone playing a marine army. 30k, 40k, chaos, whoever. And the whole box can be used. And the marines are fully compatible with other kits. It’s just win followed by win.

Agreed with Nev on the SH models being much more specific - I can imagine many more people pick up the BaC box to add it into armies than do so for SH (though I remember a fair number that did).

As to the games themselves, I have and enjoy SH, but still waiting for a chance to play BaC with my friends.

Space Hulk is a very fun game in and of itself. I'll still base the Terminators and maybe the Genestealers at some point, but the fact is that those models are for Space Hulk first and that's where I want them to be. Assassinorum and Calth is just extra crap added into a box of models to me.

Space Hulk would be 'meh' for me.

Betrayal at Calth I could at least plunder ALL the minis from.

I say BaC, I get a game AND a fair number of models? That works for me

The results you get from this poll will be skewed.

As a board game, Space Hulk is the superior game. Betrayal at Calth is simply a vehicle for shifting models to 40K and 30K players.

Many people on this site who are voting, are voting for BaC because they want models and not a board game. In this respect, BaC is clearly going to have the most votes.


So... for an actual standalone game, Space Hulk. For toy soldiers for use elsewhere, BaC.

As a product, I would want BaC more, but it's because it's a gateway to Horus Heresy, not because I like the game in it.

As a game, I like Space Hulk more, as the game, while not as complex as 40k, is actually pretty fun on it's own. Space Hulk is still incredibly good value from a 40k standpoint, but nowhere near as good as BaC.

I disagree with the assertion that Space Hulk is a better boardgame. Space Hulk was designed to represent battles between slow shooty troops and fast rip-your-head-off aliens and it totally nails the concept. But back in the day it was also expanded with rules for shooty hybrids as well as marine on marine action and the basic mechanics didn't cope with them as well as the they did the original theme. I wasn't expecting much from Betrayal at Calth and only picked it up for the miniatures, but the rules are actually surprisingly good. They are built from the ground up to handle shooty marine vs shooty marine combat in the same way that Space Hulk is designed to be shooty marine vs stabby aliens and I think it nails its assigned concept just as well, which to me puts them on an equal footing - the better game is whichever theme I feel like playing at the time. (I can't help but feel Betrayal at Calth was written by an intern who *really* wanted to prove himself)

I voted for Space Hulk even though I don't own either game. I have no real interest in getting into 30k, so I have little reason to get BaC even though the minis are awesome. Space Hulk, on the other hand, features two armies I might get into playing on the 40k TT at some point, which means I would be much more likely to buy it (although still unlikely). I would just base the minis on regular 40k bases.

If I was going to buy one of these box games, it would be Assassinorum: Execution Force. Great assassin models and some extra cultists ('cuz you can never have enough cultists!).

I really love the look of the models in BaC as well as all the glowing reviews I see for the game itself. My brother loves board games and is hesitant to join 40k so I'm hoping to tip him over the edge with BaC.