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OK, I'm hoping this turns out to be a really stupid rules question regarding the new edition of Space Hulk. All of my older editions are packed away from my move, so I haven't been able to compare the older edition rules with the newer ones to help me shed some light on this issue.


My question is essentially: When a mission has a starting # of blips when exactly are these placed onto the board in relation to the blips the stealer player gets in his reinforcement phase.


Let's take Mission #1. It says:

"The Genestealer player begins the mission with two blips, and receives two reinforcement blips per turn. Blips may enter play at any entry area."


The rulebook defines the Stealer turn as follows (page 8):

"Reinforcement Phase
At the start of his turn the Genestealer player sees how many reinforcement blips he getst his turn and places them beside the entry areas on the board, as explained later."


Then in the section for the Reinforcement Phase (and keep in mind all these rules are defined as being for the reinforcement phase) it says (page 16):

"At the start of the game, shuffle the blips counters and place them all face down in a stack...Starting and reinforcement blips are taken from the stack at the appropriate time (starting blips when setting up, and reinforcement blips in the Reinforcement phase). After the requisite number have been taken they are examined by the Genestealer player, and then placed by him at any of the Genestealer entry areas shown on the map for the mission."



So here's my question:

In Mission #1, the stealer player starts the game with two blips, but the marine player goes first. Does the Stealer player have to place his blips at particular entry areas before the marine player takes his first turn? Or does the stealer player hold onto his starting blips and place them in the first reinforcement phase? And does the Stealer player then get two more blips on his first turn, essentially meaning on his first turn he'll have four blips?

Or does the Stealer player only get his reinforcements starting on his second turn (even though the rules don't seem to say that)? If so, on missions where the Stealers start the game with NO blips does that mean on their first turn they do nothing?

Is there some little blurb in the rules that I'm missing that would clear this up nicely? And did the older editions of Space Hulk make this any more clear? And why can't I remember how I used to play...


Thanks for your help.

yakface wrote:In Mission #1, the stealer player starts the game with two blips, but the marine player goes first. Does the Stealer player have to place his blips at particular entry areas before the marine player takes his first turn?

Yes. The blips are placed at the start of the game, when setting up.

The pertinent quote as best as I can tell comes from what you already quoted.

Space Hulk 3rd edition wrote:"At the start of the game, shuffle the blips counters and place them all face down in a stack...Starting and reinforcement blips are taken from the stack at the appropriate time (starting blips when setting up, and reinforcement blips in the Reinforcement phase). After the requisite number have been taken they are examined by the Genestealer player, and then placed by him at any of the Genestealer entry areas shown on the map for the mission."

yakface wrote:a) Or does the stealer player hold onto his starting blips and place them in the first reinforcement phase?
b) And does the Stealer player then get two more blips on his first turn, essentially meaning on his first turn he'll have four blips?

a) I don't see why not, as the placement effect is basically the same as if they were placed at the beginning of the game IF the Genestealer player goes first. Not many missions are like this so I am of the opinion that it is more fair to place the starting blips at the start of the game (as is stated in the rules you quoted above) so it reflects where the blips are when the marines first enter the board alerting the genestealers of their presence. To place the blips after the marines maneuver into place is not overly cheesy, but if both players are good I can see an unfair advantage for the genestealers.
b) Yes.

yakface wrote:a) Or does the Stealer player only get his reinforcements starting on his second turn (even though the rules don't seem to say that)?
b) If so, on missions where the Stealers start the game with NO blips does that mean on their first turn they do nothing?

a) No (see above) UNLESS a missions states otherwise. There are numerous missions where the missions special rules state that reinforcements do not enter play until either a certain turn starts (placed during that turns reinforcement phase) or if a certain condition occurs (such as the marines have acquired an objective and the genestealers must stop them). These are rare however so in general, reinforcement blips usually start on the first reinforcement phase.
b) Not unless blips are stated as arriving on a certain turn.

The old rules were somewhat of an inconsistent mess at times depending on who was writing a particular mission. Some missions are very clear cut on when blips arrive while others are merely a basic outline.

Don't worry about forgetting how to play. I have hand written the third edition rules twice (for various reasons...) and I still find myself going back to read rules due to brain lock. Too much writing and not enough playing sometimes.

Hellfury wrote:

yakface wrote:In Mission #1, the stealer player starts the game with two blips, but the marine player goes first. Does the Stealer player have to place his blips at particular entry areas before the marine player takes his first turn?

Yes. The blips are placed at the start of the game, when setting up.

The pertinent quote as best as I can tell comes from what you already quoted.

Space Hulk 3rd edition wrote:"At the start of the game, shuffle the blips counters and place them all face down in a stack...Starting and reinforcement blips are taken from the stack at the appropriate time (starting blips when setting up, and reinforcement blips in the Reinforcement phase). After the requisite number have been taken they are examined by the Genestealer player, and then placed by him at any of the Genestealer entry areas shown on the map for the mission."

yakface wrote:a) Or does the stealer player hold onto his starting blips and place them in the first reinforcement phase?
b) And does the Stealer player then get two more blips on his first turn, essentially meaning on his first turn he'll have four blips?

a) I don't see why not, as the placement effect is basically the same as if they were placed at the beginning of the game IF the Genestealer player goes first. Not many missions are like this so I am of the opinion that it is more fair to place the starting blips at the start of the game (as is stated in the rules you quoted above) so it reflects where the blips are when the marines first enter the board alerting the genestealers of their presence. To place the blips after the marines maneuver into place is not overly cheesy, but if both players are good I can see an unfair advantage for the genestealers.
b) Yes.

I pretty much agree with you completely, its just that the rules are clear that the Stealer player draws the blips at the start of the game, but it isn't so clear that you immediately place them on the table at an entry point and since the only rules for doing so are for the 'reinforcement phase' I think logically reading the rules you could come to the conclusion that even the 'starting' blips are placed on the stealer's first turn instead of before the Marines take their first turn.

But I agree that this is pretty silly and it makes a bunch more sense to have those first blips placed at their entry ways before the Marine player takes his first turn.


But when it comes to the Stealers effectively having 4 blips on the first turn, somehow I don't remember that mission starting with the Stealer player having so many blips...I guess that's why this whole thing is throwing me for a loop.

yakface wrote:But when it comes to the Stealers effectively having 4 blips on the first turn, somehow I don't remember that mission starting with the Stealer player having so many blips...I guess that's why this whole thing is throwing me for a loop.

Thats because GW rewrote the mission that has been the 'starter' mission for the last three editions. [edit]Its totally understandable that it causes some confusion, especially when you KNOW that you can set up the suicide map with your eyes closed due to many years of repetitive play.[/edit]

Both 1st and 2nd edition Suicide missions were "The genestealer player begins the game with two blip counters lurking in the entry areas of his choice ... receives one reinforcement blip per turn".

The wording of which is decidedly more clear cut than what we see in 3rd ed. There is no doubt that they start on the board with this.

I have no idea why GW decided to up the reinforcement blips to two per turn, but on Board game geek there are tons of threads stating how new players are unable to beat suicide because of the immense amount of genestealers. When it is pointed out that the newest edition upped the amount from previous editions, the new players seem to have a much better time with this reduced difficulty level.

Its too bad about GW's recent C&D activity, because there is a great need for a collection of fan-made space hulk of missions that are consistently worded across the board...