So after grabbing the boy or teenager as he constantly reminds me of now, we hit the game store to check for anything new and fun. After much digging and looking we found a few copies of the the Space Hulk card game. Now I know many Space Hulk games; original, P.C., Playstation, newest (well I’ve seen the new) and now this version. It looked to be Space Hulk minus the super cool minis, tiles and hefty price tag. So we grabbed it and gave it a whirl.
Well after running through a game it is Space Hulki-sh. You have the marines and genestealers all messing about. You are exploring a derelict ship. There is combat and it is unforgiving. So yeah it is and isn’t Space Hulk.
There are some pros and cons with this incarnation of the game.
The cons first as I prefer bad news first that is what you get as well.
• It doesn’t have the best rulebook. This makes for a rocky start as the rules are sketchy in parts. The layout of the rules is bad as well. There is way too much of turn to page this to resolve that. Sure it isn’t huge, but it is annoying.
• Which brings me to…it is a real slow start to get this game going.
• It is very strategy heavy. Sure for me and mine that is fine, but for others it might be a bit much. The playing of cards is super important for marine survival and it is easy to get wiped if you don’t play action/ support cards properly.
• Combat feels very one sided and the marine team really needs a combat turn. Marine combat only occurs with attack cards and you can’t play the same card two turns in a row. Genstealters have attacks every turn. So it feels very lopsided when it comes to killing xenos (this is the heavy strategy that some might dislike)
• The game wants teamwork, but doesn’t want teamwork. You play with each other and against the game. However, the rules say not to openly talk card play, but mention,” I want to attack/ move.” This is opposed to common sense of, “I want to play the shoot 3x card to wipe that genestealer mob.” “No wait. I want to move first before you do that.” Why the game encourages non-teamwork teamwork is beyond me. (we talk card play before we play it just makes sense to have a plan while exploring a Space Hulk)
• It isn’t the cool new Space Hulk. It definitely feels like a red headed step child of the new miniature Space Hulk game.
The pros as the cons aren’t that bad.
• It is very strategy heavy, which is good for me and mine. We like strategy and card placement and play needs to be discussed for survival.
• It is pretty fast once you figure out the rules. It is a 30 minute-ish game. It is faster if the combats are against you.
• It was only like $20 and change. This is a nice price for a game. The design and quality of the cards is really well done and worth the price.
• It is decently fun and has enough of a Space Hulk feel to it.
• It is a card game (and thank the gods not collectable give me the brain spasms and diarrhea) thus it is easily transported and takes little room to play.
The teenager and I enjoy the game. We have even added a few house rules for more fun and faster play. Eventually we’ll make it through to the end. Eventually.
So is it a buy for others? I can’t really say yes, but a definite maybe. If you like Space Hulk in any incarnation then you will probably like this as well.
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