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Been playing this game for a while now after getting it for christmas from a mate. Honestly took me by surprise how much I enjoyed the game. It's a basic tactical game, with some twists. It takes place in the Warhammer universe, with you piloting "terminator armoured" soldiers. These armours are bulky, and made for enclosed spaces.
The entire campaign takes place in a maze of hallways where enemy aliens spawn in great, great, great numbers. Each Terminator has action-point (4), and every action costs a few points. Walking takes 1 AP for example, but setting your unit in Overwatch takes 2 AP. The twist is that Terminator armour is very hard to maneouver, so even turning takes AP and walking backwards costs double; making positioning extremely important. Even further, your weapon can 'jam' if you Overwatch, and you'll need to use remaining unspent AP to 'unjam' it.
The game is, on a mechanical level, very well put together. No surprise, since it's basically a 1-to-1 translation of the board-game, also called Space Hulk.
Damage is pretty interesting, as everything is a OHKO if it hits. All your units have only 1 hitpoint, same for the aliens. Units that die don't die, they just 'retreat'. There's no real RPG mechancis to fall back on either with some minor upgrades that you find throughout the campaign (like +1 to hit against an door...goody).
What I really enjoy is that the game visualizes the % chances through the actual dice rolls, and allows you to see the actual roll and result in the sidebar.
An example:
An alien Genestealer always attacks with 3xD6 dice, and picks the best result. A Terminator then defends with a single D6. I.e the chances of a Terminator surviving direct conflict, is very low. You can activate Guard for 2AP to give yourself a reroll of the defence-dice, but it's still a big, big gamble. Instead you could use certain weapons, like the Shield+Hammer, to give you a +1 to your roll. Or use the Lightning Claws to give you 2xD6 rolls, instead of a single die.
On the offensive the game offers little 'risks' as well. You can Overwatch to cover a huge area, but if on your 'to hit' roll of two dice you roll a double (i.e. two 5's) it jams. Move, and you get a free shot at no cost, but if you don't move and do shoot, you get a +1 to hit against the target you just shot at prior.
It has all these little things going on which are great decisions that stack on top of each other.
And then comes the final great part: cards.
Basically each model has 'cards' that he brings with him to your deck. You have three cards per turn, that are randomized from your deck. Each card has a cost (command points) and a return value. If you use it, you need to pay CP, of which you only get 1 per turn. You can also decide to 'burn' a card, in which case you get extra AP that every unit can spend. It's a constant back and forth and it allows for a lot of creativity and flexibility.
For example there's a card that for 1CP gives a model +1 to his melee for the entire fight. Or you can 'burn' it for 3AP, which might allow your Heavy Weapon's Specialist to reload his gun and fire immediately after. Or for your Sergeant to walk that little bit further.
It's really great stuff honestly. The biggest caveat to it imo is the lack of variety in the side-missions, with only the main missions having really unique setpieces and objectives. And that the AI is absolutely abysmally abusable. Once you know how they work and how you can manipulate them to do what you want...there's not a lot they can actually do to you. The AI is programmed to avoid certain-death encounters or fights where they might die, so if you for example have a Sergeant standing in a chokepoint with a +3 melee buff, they'll just line up in front of him and never attack him since he's too powerful. The AI in general also seems to have some pathfinding problems.
That said, it's a really cool and unique strategy game based on a board game. I recommend it honestly! Even if you're not a fan of the IP.
The entire campaign takes place in a maze of hallways where enemy aliens spawn in great, great, great numbers. Each Terminator has action-point (4), and every action costs a few points. Walking takes 1 AP for example, but setting your unit in Overwatch takes 2 AP. The twist is that Terminator armour is very hard to maneouver, so even turning takes AP and walking backwards costs double; making positioning extremely important. Even further, your weapon can 'jam' if you Overwatch, and you'll need to use remaining unspent AP to 'unjam' it.
The game is, on a mechanical level, very well put together. No surprise, since it's basically a 1-to-1 translation of the board-game, also called Space Hulk.
Damage is pretty interesting, as everything is a OHKO if it hits. All your units have only 1 hitpoint, same for the aliens. Units that die don't die, they just 'retreat'. There's no real RPG mechancis to fall back on either with some minor upgrades that you find throughout the campaign (like +1 to hit against an door...goody).
What I really enjoy is that the game visualizes the % chances through the actual dice rolls, and allows you to see the actual roll and result in the sidebar.
An example:
An alien Genestealer always attacks with 3xD6 dice, and picks the best result. A Terminator then defends with a single D6. I.e the chances of a Terminator surviving direct conflict, is very low. You can activate Guard for 2AP to give yourself a reroll of the defence-dice, but it's still a big, big gamble. Instead you could use certain weapons, like the Shield+Hammer, to give you a +1 to your roll. Or use the Lightning Claws to give you 2xD6 rolls, instead of a single die.
On the offensive the game offers little 'risks' as well. You can Overwatch to cover a huge area, but if on your 'to hit' roll of two dice you roll a double (i.e. two 5's) it jams. Move, and you get a free shot at no cost, but if you don't move and do shoot, you get a +1 to hit against the target you just shot at prior.
It has all these little things going on which are great decisions that stack on top of each other.
And then comes the final great part: cards.
Basically each model has 'cards' that he brings with him to your deck. You have three cards per turn, that are randomized from your deck. Each card has a cost (command points) and a return value. If you use it, you need to pay CP, of which you only get 1 per turn. You can also decide to 'burn' a card, in which case you get extra AP that every unit can spend. It's a constant back and forth and it allows for a lot of creativity and flexibility.
For example there's a card that for 1CP gives a model +1 to his melee for the entire fight. Or you can 'burn' it for 3AP, which might allow your Heavy Weapon's Specialist to reload his gun and fire immediately after. Or for your Sergeant to walk that little bit further.
It's really great stuff honestly. The biggest caveat to it imo is the lack of variety in the side-missions, with only the main missions having really unique setpieces and objectives. And that the AI is absolutely abysmally abusable. Once you know how they work and how you can manipulate them to do what you want...there's not a lot they can actually do to you. The AI is programmed to avoid certain-death encounters or fights where they might die, so if you for example have a Sergeant standing in a chokepoint with a +3 melee buff, they'll just line up in front of him and never attack him since he's too powerful. The AI in general also seems to have some pathfinding problems.
That said, it's a really cool and unique strategy game based on a board game. I recommend it honestly! Even if you're not a fan of the IP.
