Small Cuts - Space Hulk

For some reason I do not quite understand myself, I dug out my old first edition Space Hulk game, once published by Games Workshop, and painted all the figures during the Christmas break.

I did these pretty fast, about three full nights for the lot. In retrospect, I should have spent more time cleaning the castings.

I must admit I was being a bit fast and sloppy with the genestealers.The buggers are a bitch to clean with all those ridges and claws and multiple arms and stuff. Maybe I did it to see how fast I could paint simple figures to a barely acceptable standard. They are basically just primered black, drybrushed in dark blue with teeth and claws picked out in buff and washed with brown ink.

I used more time with the marines, which is a bit funny since they are actually much worse miniatures. Very stiff and two-dimensional, with severe lack of detail in many places. In addition the original antennas were just begging to snap, so I replaced them with broom bristles.

Oh, and the symbols... originally I intented to put white stars on the shoulders, but when it came to that, I realized I didn't have any in the correct scale. It was a choice between the balkankreuz and the hinomaru and I wanted to get the miniatures done. So, balkankreuz it was.

This is a classic game from the good old days of Games Workshop. It's fun, it's fast, it's easy to learn, it is not burdened with endless supplements (which is probably one reason they killed it). And it has absolutely nothing to do with the movie Aliens. Why, Aliens came out in 1986 while Space Hulk was originally published in 1989... erm... oh, well, it's a fun game anyway.

First Game: Suicide Mission

The marines must deliver a flamer shot to the far room on the map. This is the first scenario from the game, and it's pretty basic.

	The empty hulk awaits...
	Marines advance.
	The blips converge on the marines.
	Casualties start to pile up...
	Ouch, this is not pretty.
	Run, run, RUN! And touchdown! Nice thing about Space Hulk, at least playing the humans, is that right down to the last moves you have this nagging feeling that you are not going to make it...

Second Game: Rescue

This time, two marine squads must link up and rescue a C.A.T. unit. As always, the marine player is under time pressure and in addition he is hampered by having to set up at different edges of the board.

	New game begins. Marine squads try to link up to transfer the C.A.T. unit to safety. I choose a delaying tactic to hold the exit route open.
	The flamer guy stays behind to block the corridor, while the relief column rushes forward.
	CAT team sets up a delaying ation of their own.
	Ok, looking good so far... actually, the first time we played this game the CAT team leader made a critical mistake at this stage that immediately lost the game. We decided to restart. But this is perhaps one of the largest imbalances in the game: the human player only needs to make one mistake to lose the game while stealers can usually absorb early and mid-game blunders.
	Oops, the delaying action didn't delay them for long. Who's the joker that put jam in my bolter? I hate raspberry!
	Blip approaching! Form square! Form square!
	Take that you alien fiends! Spurred on by the captain (orbiting safely) the flamer marine spins and toasts two groups of genestealers!
	While the north entrance is blocked by scorching flame, stealers rush in from south.
	A whiff of napalm should slow them down... but this ain't looking good. Hold out sarge! Help is on the way!
	The aftermath of the Kodak(tm) moment: Unbelievably the stealers lose several close assaults in row and the CAT team sergeant slips away. The C.A.T. is passed down a chain of marines and...
	TOUCHDOWN! Whew, that was close...

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