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One of the most interesting concepts in 40K for me, is the Space Hulk, and I was wondering what we know or can share lore-wise on these things. If anyone has some really interesting passages or stories on them, or remember some lore, that would be great. For me, the first image of a Space Hulk in lore, that is drilled into my mind as the quintessential one, is the Ork Space Hulk that crashed into Angelis, aka Gorkamorka, so I imagine them as huge elongated clumps of derelicts fitted with massive engines by the Orks:



However, they seem to actually vary quite a lot in appearance, perhaps reaching sizes as small as a couple of starships, and sometimes having irregular shapes especiallly when not used as a transport ship by Orks. Here are a few images from computer games and the like:


The "Sin of Damnation"


The "Olethros"


The "Judgement of Carrion"


The "Forsaken Doom"

Anyone have a favorite story or game related to them?

The one yarrick book about him being captured by ghaz has some really good setting inside a space hulk.

For me, Space Hulks will always be connected to Genestealers. I was introduced to Rogue trader in 89, and I played one or two skirmishes- but what really drew me into the 40k universe was the original Space Hulk boardgame.

By the time I played my first game, the Genestealer expansion with hybrids and Librarians had already been released, and the metal range was getting blister pack releases including a patriarch, a magus and a selection of hybrids.

There may have been a White Dwarf article throughout the history of the Space Hulk boardgame, but nobody ever tried it in any of our games. We played on a scratch-built 3d board.

I don't think I've ever seen a representation of a Space Hulk that truly capitalized on the warp-origins and the ancient nature of such structures.

You'd think, for example, that after floating in the warp for 10 Millenia, they would incorporate craft built by a multitude of space fairing races, yet they look distinctly Imperial in most of the artwork. Certainly the board tiles in all editions of the Space Hulk game have fallen short of the truly chaotic nature of these craft; they'd be fused at all angles, requiring those brave enough to explore them to make changes in spatial orientation. Sections from different eras in history and different species from section to section. Some transition segments between the different craft that comprise the hulk would be warp infused, while others would be the product of physical collisions.

If there is ever a rerelease of Space Hulk, I'd love to see it done as a Warhammer Quest game, with expansions and novels. Literally every race has a motivation to be on a Space Hulk, and expansion sets could be themed by era and faction.

I played the heck out of the 3DO videogame, but like the boardgames, the design is almost exclusively Imperial, and it's all too pristine to be a depiction of a true Hulk. Certainly, large sections would be intact- even to the point of including sections with powered doors, working lights, or data terminals. Granted, some of the missions required the Terminators to reactivate the technology before they could take advantage of it.

PenitentJake wrote:
For me, Space Hulks will always be connected to Genestealers. I was introduced to Rogue trader in 89, and I played one or two skirmishes- but what really drew me into the 40k universe was the original Space Hulk boardgame.

By the time I played my first game, the Genestealer expansion with hybrids and Librarians had already been released, and the metal range was getting blister pack releases including a patriarch, a magus and a selection of hybrids.

There may have been a White Dwarf article throughout the history of the Space Hulk boardgame, but nobody ever tried it in any of our games. We played on a scratch-built 3d board.

I don't think I've ever seen a representation of a Space Hulk that truly capitalized on the warp-origins and the ancient nature of such structures.

You'd think, for example, that after floating in the warp for 10 Millenia, they would incorporate craft built by a multitude of space fairing races, yet they look distinctly Imperial in most of the artwork. Certainly the board tiles in all editions of the Space Hulk game have fallen short of the truly chaotic nature of these craft; they'd be fused at all angles, requiring those brave enough to explore them to make changes in spatial orientation. Sections from different eras in history and different species from section to section. Some transition segments between the different craft that comprise the hulk would be warp infused, while others would be the product of physical collisions.

If there is ever a rerelease of Space Hulk, I'd love to see it done as a Warhammer Quest game, with expansions and novels. Literally every race has a motivation to be on a Space Hulk, and expansion sets could be themed by era and faction.

I played the heck out of the 3DO videogame, but like the boardgames, the design is almost exclusively Imperial, and it's all too pristine to be a depiction of a true Hulk. Certainly, large sections would be intact- even to the point of including sections with powered doors, working lights, or data terminals. Granted, some of the missions required the Terminators to reactivate the technology before they could take advantage of it.

My parents found a copy of 2nd edition Space Hulk for just £1 in some shop, sitting on a shelf after someone had given it away presumably. I really regret that I gave all the unpainted Terminators away to a friend, probably as a trade for something that wasn't that important. It seems like Genestealers and Orks are the two primary alien races you are likely to find on a space hulk, although they mention chaos cultists use them as a transport too, and I bet other races like the Hrud might.

There are a few modern Space Hulk games that I have generally found quite good, and much better than their reviews suggest:

- Space Hulk
- Space Hulk: Ascension
- Space Hulk: Deathwing
- Space Hulk: Tactics

The way Deathwing handled the terrain being orderly, was to suggest that most vessels within the hulk were intact.

Lore-wise, I wonder if the predominance of human spacecraft in a space hulk might reflect that humanity during the Age of Technology was a really really prolific ship-building species, so that the vast majority of wreaks are either from that time or from ten millennia of the Imperium. It's the only in-universe way I can think to justify it.

Remember Space Hulks are colossal and when a Hulk is boarded, it's not the depths that are explored but rather the outer crust. The centre of a Space Hulk is mostly rock and general debris but the outer sections are where ships get caught and this is where the majority of novels/games take place.
That's not to say humanity didn't build a lot of ships because it did and continues to do so.

I think a divinity original sin 2 style rpg set aboard a massive space hulk would be great. By style I mean game play.

I loved the description of the space hulk that the soul drinkers made their home (if I remember it right) that it was made of huge imperial, ork and squat ships that had crunched together as well as some unknown zenos ships. They even find a fleet of alien shuttles that they use to fly around the place. Of course there is the obligatory clearing out of gene stealers.