For pre ordering I also got a nifty poster of the box art.
We're going to try to get a game in today. For your $125 you get 3 sprues of Genestealers and one sprue of Blood Angels plus the Librarian on his own sprue. The Genstealers in particular have a lot of stuff going on, skulls, steel beams etc. I'm not sure that I like them better than just having Genestealers without the scenic elements.
The rule book is 22 pages and the mission book 55. The wife and daughter have already rejected playing out of hand. I haven't finished reading the rule book, but I'm trying to find a solution for the boy and I playing that will be fun. His idea was a sort of solo +1. Essentially we play together like we were playing solo. Not a bad idea actually. That way we can cooperate and learn the rules together and not get too fussed if daddy is killing our men or whatever the problem was the last time we played.
I also thought I'd take a look at some 40K reading material. Reading has been tough for the boy and he's only just now starting to find things he enjoys reading. I thought it would be a plus if we could find a book or series that would be fun and possibly tie into the mass of 40K fluff out there. A quick search revealed that there was a Space Hulk novel written by Gav Thorpe. If you bother to read the reviews you'll see most think it is pretty crap. But people who are fans describe it as "Bolter Porn" (we'll how many page views that phrase garners). Sounds like just the ticket.
Of course the 2009 released novel, also characterized as a glorified battle report, seems to be unavailable from The Black Library and 2 used copies on Amazon for $199.98 each. For a book that cost £3 at publication five years ago? Verb you! I was hoping to find an e-book or something but GW has missed a quick sale. Perhaps I'll shoot them an email just to point it out.
In late breaking news, my wife has started reading the Saxon Chronicles, my review of the first six books in the series is here. I had pre ordered the seventh book, but it has languished unread on my computer.
Hopefully we'll have some more reports and posts coming soon. Flag Football season is in full swing and we are crushing our opponents thus far. Yesterdays game was a not very fun 42 - 0 affair. We had jumped up to the Red division, hoping to get more challenging opponents. Thus far the competition has been lackluster. The opposition took forever to call their plays, which were then uninspired and predictable. Our team ate them alive. I suppose one bright side is my son got a lot of playing time and the boys got to work on some skills and play some different positions once we didn't care if they scored.
Always wanted this myself!
ReplyDeleteHey Fran, nice to hear from you. We're still preparing for our first play, but $125 didn't seem too bad. I've been paying around $90 for some of the Fantasy Flight games. I do try to buy on sale though, so have gotten some for considerably less.
DeleteI have a 2nd edition Space Hulk and my boys & I have played it quite a bit. Definitely one of my more successful games in that regard! Mind you, I tend to agree about all the scenic bits on the newer models: a bit too much of a good thing?
ReplyDeleteHi Hugh. i guess this edition is 4th for the game. Although some of the stuff is interesting it makes it odd if you wanted to use the genestealers in a setting that did not have decking and steel girders everywhere. And of course piles of skulls.
DeleteHello Sean,
ReplyDeleteNever played Space Hulk myself. I own Blood Bowl and play that solo with homemade mechanics.
As to Black Library, I read them avidly when they first came out in the 90's (I'm sure it was the 90s at least), but cannot remember any books that I could recommend for 40K (apart from Dan Abnett's Tanith First and Only series) as I mainly read the WH fantasy.
I gave up on Cornwell a number of years ago, I'm afraid (for the reasons you mention in your Uhtred specific post). I've kept all the Sharpe stories, and do enjoy them. But I won't be reading any of his other works now.
Roy
Hi Roy, I'm fuzzy on whether or not I actually played Space Hulk. I know I played the old video game, which was incredibly hard. The Uhtred stories do become rather formulaic but there a good romp. I will say that my Uhtred fervor cooled quite a bit while waiting for the seventh book. Sort of like the subsidence of my Game of Thrones fever.
DeleteI can remember feeling (about the Cornwell books) that the Derfel Ap Uther books (Winter King, Enemy of God, Excalibur), that I prefered their depth of writing (the word count dropped drastically with Uhtred - the ACW books were/are the highest, and funnily enough the one's which are unfinished mid-tale). The Uhtred books, for me, just sped through the stories too fast. I loved the character of King Alfred (even over Uhtred). But I just fell out of love with Cornwell's books as they just seemed to be going along the way of churning out books for the cash and not for the story.
DeleteRaymond E. Feist - now there's an author who's books took a nose-dive in quality, unfortunately, as it went past the mid-point of the whole saga. But he did say that he had fallen out of love with the stories, and was only completing them out of a sense of obligation to himself and his fans. (I'm sure he said that at least).
I hope that all makes sense :)
Hi Roy, I have been recommended the Arthur series before. I have also heard that the Sharpe series is very popular. I'm trying to think if I've ever read any Feist. Word count is not something that sways me either way, use as many as you need to tell the story. My wife is convinced that whole books in the Game of Thrones series were unnecessary.
DeleteI gave up on GoT. In actual fact I've given up on all fantasy and sci-fi. I'm preferring historical or C20th stories now, with a preference to British in Asia or India (not military, mind).
DeleteI've never heard of the game, but you do seem rather pleased!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat?! Ray, I can't believe that you never heard of or played the game before. It's pretty fun.
DeleteJealous enough of your purchase to not comment
ReplyDeleteSorry Joe, didn't mean to rub it in. I just couldn't let the opportunity to have it pass me by twice. I also avoided paying "collector" prices for the original game, even if I did have to fork money over to the evil empire.
DeleteI've been a great fan of Space Hulk (including the short-lived "official" computer version) since the very first one, I think however the subsequent releases were less than satisfactory. The new game (3rd edition ?) I found very disappointing with a lot of the figures being almost unusable imo. The price then and now is far too prohibitive for me to make any further investment sadly.
DeleteI will say that I have had to rationalize upping my price point. There is still a part of me, deep down, that chafes at paying over $100 for a board game. I think pat of it is getting past what the late teen/ early twenties me would have payed for things and realizing that inflation has played some part in where prices are today. Sort of like my dad vowing to never drive again until gas returned to 25 cents a gallon. That lasted until he moved somewhere where he needed to drive.
DeleteNice! I bought the prior version a few years ago, just as they sold out. Given the prices I later saw on eBay, I was afraid to open the box. I'm actually happy GW re-released it, so I can now open my box with a clear conscience. Good luck playing with the kid. My boys enjoyed playing Incursion, so this ought to be much the same. Enjoy!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks TB, I have a similar thinking about some of my Oldhammer figures still in box or blister. I think I've resolved to just try and paint and love them as I originally intended and not dream of early retirement. We had a good time playing the Beach head mission.
DeleteNice. Saw this on BGG the other day and was tempted to get it 'for the kids' myself...
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Aaron
Hi Aaron. I totally, and unashamedly bought this for myself. The boy's interest spurred me on to not fuss about things too much and just play.
DeleteSpace Hulk was a great game. I have very fond memories of playing it. All the best for your new games with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks SoY. I mentioned earlier that I am hazy on whether I actually played the board game at the time, but I did play the computer game. First game in was fun.
DeleteSean,
ReplyDeleteA search for "Bolter Porn" brought me here - only to find a pics of some board game released by GW???
Just kidding :) Looking forward to seeing you play a few rounds of SH. Was one of the first GW games (that and BattleMasters!) I played.
Hi Steven, looks like I need a new post label. I'm hoping that the pictures I took are evocative of the game. I never played Battle Masters, but was beat out in a couple of auctions for a copy.
DeleteBattlemasters was (is) alot of fun. Very close to Command / Colors in the activation and combat system and Milton Bradley made the figures, all based on GW sculpts and set in the Warhammer old world.
ReplyDeleteI would think one could take 20mm 1/72 plastics and play it without the original miniatures. The rules can be downloaded for free.
I may have downloaded them somewhere. I've had similar thoughts about Heroquest et al since I can't seem to find that for love nor money either.
DeleteHey, Space Hulk is one of my favorite games. I have first, second and third edition - I'm a bit disaapointed that GW broke the rule of limitation and reprinted the third edition, but good for you! I probably never won't use mine, as I like it more in it's package. Normally my wife and I play the second, but the first has this real cool rogue trader feeling...Enjoy your buy!
ReplyDeleteThanks Tuffskull, you're the second person to mention not opening 3rd ed Space Hulk. I've gone the other way and am starting to open and play with some of those classics that I bought back in the day but never played for one reason or another. Man O War, here I come!
Delete