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Hi all

So, me and a buddy just finished playing Space Hulk again. It's been a while since we both played, but we found that a few of the mission are hideously imbalanced, favouring the Space Marines. Particular examples are missions 4, 6 and 12. In all of them it just seems like the genestealers don't get nearly enough blips to get through all of the marines in time. This is especially true with the Librarian, who just stomps all over anything that gets in his way, stopping your advance as he pleases with Force Barrier.

Don't get me wrong, some of them are well balanced and a joy to play (mission 3 springs to mind). But for others, it just seems like the odds are far too far against the 'stealers. Both of us consider ourselves to be quite good with both sides, but we're thinking we must be doing something seriously wrong with the genestealers.

Has anyone else come across this? If so, what have you found to redress the balance? One idea we've had for mission 12 is to increase the rate of reinforcement to 2 per turn and/or swap the librarian for a subsitute (TH/SS or 2 normal marines for example), but we've yet to try any variations.

Sok

We had the complete opposite experience although we only tried mission 1. We played 4 times and the marines lost every single time (we each tried it twice on both sides). The one time the marines came close there was a huge amount of 5's and 6's rolled with the storm bolters and the flamer marine (the last one left) was one dice roll away from accomplishing the mission but failed.

I play first edition and the odds usually seem stacked against the marine player. If you think the Marines can take more punishment then either give the 'stealer player extra blips to begin the game or even allow them to draw an extra blip per turn.

I don't think Space Hulk has ever been a super balanced game and the addition of weirdo spase magic powers didn't help at all. There is a fair bit of luck involved.

That said, the attraction of the game is that it plays very quickly, so you can take turn and turn about.

If a particular mission is clearly biased to one side, you can easily compensate by adding or deducting blips as Mr Treesong said.

Space hulk is all about skill. Once a player learns how to play the marines properly the game really does favor the marines. The marines are all about finesse. The genestealers are pretty plug and play, but they do have tricks up their sleeves. There is a fair bit of luck in the game, the trick is to cut down on the luck, sound strategy wins 90% of the time if you are marines.

It's all about skill.

Some of the younger kids in my club bought copies of the new version, and after playing through it, said that it was impossible for the marines to win missions x to x+2.

I played the marines in those missions to see if they were right. I won.

Then I played as genestealers in mission 1 and beat them again (it's as easy a mission as the marines will get.).

Youth and enthusiasm trumped by age and dirty tricks.

warboss wrote:We had the complete opposite experience although we only tried mission 1. We played 4 times and the marines lost every single time (we each tried it twice on both sides). The one time the marines came close there was a huge amount of 5's and 6's rolled with the storm bolters and the flamer marine (the last one left) was one dice roll away from accomplishing the mission but failed.

isn't the first mission called "suicide". If so I think the hint is in the title


Space hulk can be very unbalanced. I feel the librarian and the broodlord are two of the biggest problems and my friends and I rarely use them. When we play a game I generally make a mission up on the spot. Once you know the game well and understand what balances it. The book has very few missions and they rarely suit the amount of players we have available at any given time or not enough to add variety.

i.e length of corridors. Long long corridors leave the genestealer no chance of getting to someone amidst a mass of bolter fire.

number of blips per turn. If its obviously not working and the genestealer is not getting enough or getting too many simply alter the amount.

Squad options. We do not stick to the models as they are. If your have the storm shield sergeant but prefer the power sword combo then fine use that.

Also being good at the game and understanding it helps. One of my friends is a great genestealer player as he is really really agressive and in your face but useless with the termies as he applies the same aggression and jsut gets eaten up while the other squad moves forward tactically and methodically, not advancing till its confidentally can

lukewild1982 wrote:

warboss wrote:We had the complete opposite experience although we only tried mission 1. We played 4 times and the marines lost every single time (we each tried it twice on both sides). The one time the marines came close there was a huge amount of 5's and 6's rolled with the storm bolters and the flamer marine (the last one left) was one dice roll away from accomplishing the mission but failed.

isn't the first mission called "suicide". If so I think the hint is in the title


Space hulk can be very unbalanced.

I don't recall the name but I expect good game design to include missions that are not so heavily skewed towards one side. Considering that the only other person who bought the game (the one I mentioned) in my circle of friends decided to just sell it due to the problems we had, using that horribly balanced mission as the defacto intro one (who doesn't start with mission number when when they're numbered?) was probably not a good idea. I myself haven't played the actual game since and have just used the terminators are part of a 40k army instead. In the end, I don't think GW cares, though, as they've met their number one and only goal of actually selling the kit. Supporting the game or rebalancing it subsequently doesn't garner them any profit.

GW are pretty good at making things unbalanced. Most of the latest armies released are often not balanced compared to the older armies around them. The concept and rules of Space hulk are fundementally balanced. Also the first mission is balanced and many people seem to feel its not because most of the marines (if not all die from time to time). Space hulf can feel unbalanced but actually its a very very clever and tactical game, you really have to think 5 moves ahead and plan your strategy, thats for both sides. I urge you to give it another try.

It's not really a balancing issue, it's and experience issue. If you don't know how to use the marines you will get stomped, if you know how to use them properly you can crush. The Genestealers are just foils for the marines. That's why to play it proper you have to play as each side.

It would be nice if experience payed off as well with the genestealers, the fixed that a little with the expansions in previous editions. This edition of Space hulk is just a game, not a game system. Unfortunately.

Agree wholeheartedly with above