Advanced Space Hulk Quest

[wilsongrahams]

Hello. Some of you may remember my Space Hulk Quest log started well over a year ago. Check it out here: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...ace-Hulk-Quest

Anyway, I always intended to expand it and create an advanced version. Now, I've done a lot of playtesting and created thousands of rules, scrapped most, and only have a few I've confirmed to keep. I'm still a long way to go before posting finished cards and rules up like I did before but I think I'm ready to have some help in the form of other playtesters and some valuable input.

Also, check out zerodemon's event card log to add extra cards to your own decks - please don't post variations of them here without his consent.

Anyway, the hardest task I've had is to create extra units and skills that can be incorporated along my own guidelines - use existing rules and mechanisms where possible, not too many new rules else you really will never use them, and don't allow the roster for your team to get too complex that you waste time checking your characters every single game turn!

The basics - First, most of the map generation and event cards remain in use from Space Hulk Quest - hence why I posted the link above. It may be worth having a read through the map cards, event cards and the rules page in that log if you have not done so before - Read the first post and it tells you where to find them all - they wouldn't all fit in the first page. This log will likely end up the same eventually - with all important information bein gathered here and replacing this text so check it from time to time. I will also create some essentially blank posts after this where I can gather all the relevent up to date information near the start of the log - so ignore them for now if need be.

Your team - In Advanced SHQ you don't start with basic Terminators every game, but rather play a form of campaign, using those models within your team. How it works: You need to select a commander - either a Captain, Librarian or Chaplain. They may have some options and special rules so you will need to check them out before deciding. In essence they should be Combat, Support and Command, in respect to their effect in your games. You also need to select 10 Terminators to make up your team, including 2 sergeants and a maximum of 2 heavy weapons. These will be your characters and can develop skills as the campaign progresses. As survival is easier in my Quest games as you can take things steady, you should manage to keep them alive longer, but the loss of one will be felt sorely. Not all missions will use all models.

Enemies - so far I have added some Orks and some Tyranids to allow different forces to be encountered on your space hulk - I aim to include Chaos later but not yet - you should select one enemy to form the enemy deck in all games of your campaign. Where possible I have kept things simple, dropped many options, and weakened the effectiveness of units in some cases all for balance. One note here on weapon options - not all are available - this is for balance, for example the carnifex does not yet include weapon options other than close combat (scything talons or crushing claws I guess) simply because it is so hard to kill, if it's shooting back it isn't any fun, and my aim in all this is to allow you to play a campaign, nurturing your unit through, rather than single games where you can lose everyone without worry.

[wilsongrahams]

Your team.

The overall mission commander has appointed two squads of terminators to your commander and assigned a sector of the hulk to be explored and cleared of infestation. Along the way he will pass on other missions that you will need to complete. Other commanders have charge of other forces throughout the hulk and all have some autonomy with only brief mission updates sent down from command.

Your Commander
You may choose either a Captain, Librarian or Chaplain to be the local commader of your forces.

Captain
A Captain may be armed with either Storm Bolter and Power Fist including Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Storm Bolter and Power Sword, Lightning Claws, or Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield. He counts as a Sergeant in respect to the command points, and may also reroll the D6 for command points. The second roll stands even if it is worse. In combat a Sergeant adds +2 to his best dice score in addition to other weapon bonuses.

Librarian
A Librarian is armed with a Storm Bolter and Force Weapon. He has the default psychic powers. In combat a Librarian adds +1 to his best dice score in addition to any psi points. This model is essentially unchanged from the 2009 boxed game.

Chaplain
A Chaplain is armed with a Storm Bolter, Crozius Arcanum and carries a Rosarius. He has the Inspiring Presence rule. This allows him to +1 to the Command Points after any rerolls etc for Sergeants up to a maximum of 6. In addition, any and all marines may make an action in response to seeing a genestealer perform an action if the Chaplain is within 6 squares of the marine. Each marine uses 1CP so multiple marines performing actions will use several Command Points. In combat a chaplain adds +1 to his best combat score in addition to other weapon bonuses.

The Team
Your team consists of two Terminator Squads. Each Squad consists of one Sergeant, one Terminator with Heavy Weapon, and three Terminators. You may instead opt to take a standard Terminator instead of a Terminator with Heavy Weapon.

Sergeant
A Sergeant may be armed with Storm Bolter and Power Sword, Lightning Claws, or Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield. A Sergeant may reroll the command dice if you wish, however the second roll stands. In combat a Sergeant adds +1 to his best dice score in addition to other weapon bonuses.

Terminator with Heavy Weapon
The Terminator may be armed with either a Heavy Flamer, Assault Cannon, or Cyclone Missile Launcher. He also carries either a Power Fist or Chainfist. In addition, a Terminator carrying a Cyclone Missile Launcher also carries a Storm Bolter.

Terminators
Each Terminator may be armed with either a Storm Bolter and Power Fist, Storm Bolter and Chainfist, Lighning Claws, or Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield.

Experience Points
Advanced Space Hulk Quest keeps track of your Marines as they develop. Once your forces are chosen it's time to determine their Experience level or XP for short. As the campaign progresses you will earn more XP and will need to record them. At a later date a sheet for recording your team will be made and added. To begin with, your commander, whether Captain, Librarian or Chaplain begins with 100+D6 XP. Your Sergeants each begin with 40+D6 XP. All other Marines begin with 20+D6 XP. If a model is slain, it is replaced by a Terminator with 0 XP. In reality the model has much experience but not all fresh, and not necesarily against this foe - so there is much to learn about the new enemy. If the Sergeant dies the position is taken up by the Terminator with the most XP in his squad. He does not count as a Sergeant for Command Point purposes until he gains the required XP however. If your commander is slain, the Sergeant with the highest XP should take his place. He will not however gain any skills or abilities that applied to that model. He gains the Rank of Commander but still has his Sergeant and other earned abilities. Losses will be covered in more detail in the rules once completed - this should suffice for now however.

Earning Experience
This will be added to in a lot more detail, however as it currently stands, Terminators earn 1XP per enemy killed by their hand, and D6 XP for performing an Objective Winning Action - for now that is whatever completes one of your objectives allowing you to win the game, end the mission etc. Note all Space Hulk Quest games have an objective other than to clear the hulk so this may not apply - if the map is completed with no objective then there is no award! This is the one area that needs careful playtesting by others, especially where special creatures start being used - I've playtested most of these rules seperate from each other for simplicity sake so far.

Experience Tables - these will be expanded and more detail added however here is the basics. Note however that a model starting at higher XP levels does not gain bonuses for lower levels as any experience is already included in their starting stats. The Rank or award after the XP value should be noted on the roster to help you.

0-20XP Trooper. Only replacement Terminators will have this level of XP. Terminators at this level do not gain sustained fire bonuses whilst on Overwatch.
21-30XP Veteran. Terminators at this level do not have any special rules.
31-40XP Corporal. Terminators at this level gain +1 to their best dice score in combat in the same manner as a Sergeant.
41-50XP Sergeant. Terminators at this level are promoted to Sergeant and may reroll the dice when determining Command Points.
51-60XP Marksman. Terminators at this level may gain up to +2 on Sustained fire for third and subsequent shots at the same target instead of +1.
61-70XP Combat Master. Terminators at this level may roll one extra dice in combat and discard any single dice. This extra dice must be chosen and on discarded before a reroll is used if the Terminator is on Guard.

Crozius Arcanum - This counts as a Thunder Hammer and grants +1 to the best dice score in combat to the front.
Rosarius - This confers the Block ability to any model attacking the Chaplain regardless of direction - not front only like a Storm Shield.
Aux. Grenade Launcher - 1AP to fire, Range: 6 squares, 1D6, 6+, Area Effect, 6 Shots, May move and fire in the same way as a Storm Bolter.
Cyclone Missile Launcher - 2AP to fire, Range: unlimited, 1D6, 6+, Area Effect, 12 Shots - May choose to fire any number of missiles within the same 2AP cost. Each addition missile increases the roll to kill by +1 in the same manner of Sustained Fire. May not move and fire in the same manner as a Heavy Flamer. Only the Storm Bolter may be used on Overwatch!

Notes
I believe that's all you need for now. All I have to say is that the skills list will be added to over time - the first few are the ones I used most and are thus play tested more. I also wanted to mention the cyclone - I fiddled with 5+, 2D6, 6 ammo etc but in the end decided it shouldn't be too powerful per shot, but I also really wanted the option of creating a maestrom of destruction - however it will cost a lot more ammo than say a heavy flamer will for the same effect. There is just one thing left to note for the Cyclone - it's effect on Hard To Kill models. Currently using 1D6 means it cannot harm them, but I may allow the option of each extra missile adding a D6 instead of altering the score, to represent the missiles being directed into one spot rather than spread for more havoc. This will obviously need to be sorted before these rules are finalised into any kind of finished version especially if using the other tyranid models.

[wilsongrahams]

Enemy option - The Tyranid Swarm

Along with genestealers, other Tyranid organisms infest this hulk. You will find their rules and some brief descriptions below - I have a lot more than this prepared but really need some Event Cards making before these can be used properly - eg Quantity per blip, Carnifex as an onjective etc. The basics for some of these rules to be used are being applied here but will go in the main ASHQ rules later. For now let me know what you think.

Termagant - 6AP, 1D6 in combat, armed with Fleshborer, light carapce.
Hormogaunt - 6AP, 2D6 in combat, light carapace.
Tyranid Warrior - 6AP, 3D6 in combat, Hard To Kill (However a Flamer will slay on a 5+), light carapace, armed with Devourer, Deathspitter or Boneswords (Other options may be added later).
Carfnifex - 6AP, 3D6 in combat, Large Model, Mighty Strike, Hard To Kill, Regenerate, armed with Crushing Claws or Scything Talons (Both provide Mighty Strike, No ranged options are available at this time due to balance issues if the Carnifex is shooting back!) Currently all Tyranids may move and fire their weapons.

Light Carapace - Terminators shooting at this model gain +1 to hit on their shooting - this does not apply to the Heavy Flamer which is already 2+!
Fleshborer - 1AP to fire, Range: 12 squares, 1D6, 6+ (Terminators are Hard To Kill - see Terminators and Overwatch below)
Devourer - 1AP to fire, Range: 12 squares, 2D6, 6+ (Terminators are Hard To Kill)
Deathspitter - 1AP to fire, Range: 12 squares, 2D6, 6+, Sustained Fire (Terminators are Hard To Kill)
Boneswords - Warrior gains +1 to highest dice score in combat and may Parry once
Large Model - Model occupies 4 squares in a 2x2 area. Such a model may attack in combat to the front of either front square but may not enter any corridor that is not at least 2 squares wide. Line of Sight is determined from either front square. Model moves in the same manner as a Terminator instead of a Genestealer.
Regenerate - In addition to being Hard To Kill, this model heals mortal wounds at an incredible rate - Terminators do not gain a sustained fire bonus whilst firing at this model.
Terminators - Terminators are Hard To Kill to all Tyranid Shooting unless otherwise stated as Armour Piercing - the Venom Cannon will have this rule when included.

Overwatch - Being shot at and hit can be very offputting to one's aim. A Terminator that is shot at but only suffers a single hit and so is not slain due to Hard To Kill, will lose his Overwatch status and count as Jammed. He will be able to 'clear his jam' as normal using Command Points to resume firing after regaining his balance etc. Note that this is all that a Fleshborer can do to a Terminator as it rolls only 1 dice and so cannot score a hit on two dice needed for Hard To Kill.

Notes
As mentioned, some options are currently missing for the Canrnifex and Tyranid Warriors - mostly for balance - can you imagine a Carnifex shooting back with a venom cannon at terminators that can't kill it back? When I add rules for Marine Dreadnoughts they will also count as occupying 2x2 squares so some extra testing needs to be done regarding large models and movement - you should be able to figure anything tricky out. Let me know if there's something I haven't thought of that comes up. For now I have only used a Carnifex as a Mission Objective stuck in a room, requiring a map card to be designated before the game began - to do this you have to decide on the mission rather than select them randomly or add them to the deck randomly. I currently used 1 Blips as D6 Termagants or Hormogants, 2 Blips as a Warrior, and 3 Blips as normal Genestealers. Seperate event cards will eventually be made for these so blips won't actually have to be drawn to determine number and type etc.

The Tyranid Warrior has been given light carapace and hard to kill to keep it in line with it's toughness in 40k. Where a genestealer takes 1.5 shots to kill on average, a broodlord took 4.5 to wound and 13.5 to kill therefore, a tyranid warrior took an average of 3 shots to wound and 9 to kill, so therfore had to either be the same as or easier to kill than a broodlord. Looking at space hulk shooting, you have a 33% chance to kill a stealer on the first shot and 66% after that. A broodlord is 2.78% and 11%, and so with light carapace and hard to kill, you get 11% for killing a warrior on your first shot - neatly fits the 3 times harder to wound from 40k, and 25% to kill with sustained fire - harder than a stealer but easier than the broodlord, and you couldn't really have too many broodlord-hard targets in one game. So that is an example of how I have determined the shooting at these new models - through comparison and a little testing. For reference a carnifex requires an average of about 57 stormbolters firing at it to kill in 40k, so giving it hard to kill and regenerate kept this in line.

[wilsongrahams]

Enemy option - The Ork Hordes

This hulk is infested with greenskins. They are unorganised and violent but Space Marines excel at boarding actions, and you have the best of the best at your command.

To begin with, the rules listed above for 'Terminators' and 'Overwatch' under Tyranids will apply here too. Also as combat does not provide much of a mechanic for heavy armour I'm still yet to decide exactly how to make Orks different in combat compared to tyranid models. For now they automatically lose drawn combats. Orks move like Genestealers unless otherwise noted.

Troop Types
Ork Boy with Slugga and Choppa - 4AP, 2D6 in combat, Slow Witted
Ork Boy with Shoota - 4AP, 1D6 in combat, Slow Witted
Ork Boy with Big Shoota - 4AP, 1D6 in combat, Slow Witted
Ork Boy with Rokkit Launcher - 4AP, 1D6 in combat, Slow Witted
Ork Nob with Slugga and Choppa - 4AP, 3D6 in combat, Slow Witted
Ork Nob with Slugga and Big Choppa - 4AP, 2D6 in combat, Slow Witted
Ork Nob with Slugga and Power Klaw - 4AP, 2D6 in combat, Slow Witted
Ork Flash Git with Snazzgun - 4AP, 2D6 in combat, Slow Witted, Eavy Armour
Ork Maganob with Shoota and Power Klaw - 4AP, 2D6 in combat, Hard To Kill, Moves as Terminator, Slow Witted
Ork Big Boss with Big Shoota and Power Klaw - 4AP, 3D6 in combat, Hard To Kill, Slow Witted

Wargear and Rules
Eavy Armour - Terminators firing at this model do not gain a sustained fire bonus. Option remains to equip other models than Flash Gitz with this.
Slugga - 1AP to fire, 1D6, 6+, (Terminators are Hard To Kill)
Choppa - No bonus
Shoota - 1AP to fire, 2D6, 6+, (Terminators are Hard To Kill)
Big Shoota - 1AP to fire, 3D6, 6+, (Terminators are Hard To Kill)
Rokkit Launcher - 2AP to fire, 1D6, 5+
Big Choppa - Ork adds +1 to his highest dice score in combat
Power Klaw - Ork gains Mighty Strike
Snazzgun - 1AP to fire, 2D6, 6+, Sustained Fire, (Terminators are Hard To Kill)
Moves as Terminator - use the Terminator AP Chart for movement restrictions and AP cost
Slow Witted - Being slower to respond than a marine, an Ork automatically loses a drawn combat and will be slain

Notes
I am still undecided whether to include Lootas, Burnaboys etc yet. They pose some balance and complexity issues to me.
An option I am currently wanting to playtest is for Orks to discard thir highest dice roll so lose combat more, or allow marines to parry - something to represent their armour and powerful assault weaponry. With marines already being lowest of the low it's not easy to make an ork more likely to lose!
Some may argue that Orks need more attacks, but as an enemy that can shoot and attack in combat they cannot be too strong or your terminators will never kill them all and survive a campaign. I've tried using 40k references where possible to keep troop types balanced with each other, but some sacrifices have had to be made. This will make for a very different experience.

[wilsongrahams]

I guess the important bit that I forgot to put here was that the way missions are selected and the difficulty level chosen is to be altered. Before, you chose your units to set the difficulty and the mission was either chosen beforehand or inserted randomly into the event deck. The change I started to implement only a couple of games ago, was that each of your squads and your commander count as seperate units. So you have three units you can take into the hulk. As it's mainly for solo-play, it's up to you to make your own challenges and fun and not to take every model every game, and so to encourage this, I decided that if there was to a large concentration of Terminators or a force personally led by your local Commander then it would be an important part of the Space Hulk. To this end, for your first squad, you may select a Mission card before the game as normal. If you take an extra squad or the commander, or both, you must select an additional Mission card and either keep it or add it into the deck. I propose that these are shuffled into the Event deck and only revealed as the Hulk is explored and your troops know where they are and so can find their objective easier.

An alternate option I was thinking of was to have minor missions per unit (so between one and three depending upon your forces) and one major mission. The minor missions would always be in the event deck and unknown, and the primary mission, or major mission would be chosen before starting your game and you would be fully aware of it from the beginning. This allowed me to tie a mission event to a map card far more easily - so when the board section was placed, the event was already chosen for it rather than a random event being drawn. This was my solution to how to bring a Carnifex on and guarantee it would be in a room - the only place it will fit! It also allows special map sections to be created with a mission card - the reactor room and my own hangar are two examples of this. Knowing that when you reach the hangar there will be a Dreadnought there to cover your backs whilst you rearm will be a great help. This idea stemmed from the fact that several games of Space Hulk Quest I played had a mission revealed that required me to back track to another room I'd already cleared and encountering no new enemies along the way - this was frankly quite boring unless I'd uncovered a Genestealer Entry Area, in which case the extra time spent was dangerous too.

There is of course the possibility of assigning the Primary Mission to your first unit, and drawing minor missions for each extra unit taken. This will require mission cards to be divided into Primary and Secondary Objectives. many cards already created can be used as secondary objectives. Primary Objective cards will be more closely matched to the regular Space hulk Missions - Exit Board, Clear it all, Flame a Room, Kill the Broodlord etc. Plus anything directly relating to some of the new monsters.

Inspired by Androids from Space Crusade I would like to introduce Necrons aswell as Chaos, Daemons and Power Armoured Marines to the mix. A possibility of allied reinforcements in the way of Grey Knights could also be used due to the campaign nature of the Advanced version - discovering something on one mission that alows you to take a unit of Grey Knights instead of a regular unit in a later mission would be interesting. As would said Hangar board section becoming your staging area and any mission starting there could include Dreadnoughts. Would larger corridor sections interest anybody, or should this be avoided as it requires more than what is available in the box, and making more than the Event and Hulk decks is a pain?

Thoughts, guys?

[Darkness Screamer]

.

This idea stemmed from the fact that several games of Space Hulk Quest I played had a mission revealed that required me to back track to another room I'd already cleared and encountering no new enemies along the way - this was frankly quite boring unless I'd uncovered a Genestealer Entry Area, in which case the extra timeAs would said Hangar board section becoming your staging area and any mission starting there could include Dreadnoughts. Would larger corridor sections interest anybody, or should this be avoided as it requires more than what is available in the box, and making more than the Event and Hulk decks is a pain?

Thoughts, guys?

One of the reasons I`m building a hangar/loading bay is to get a dreadnought into the game,but I intend to keep it in that area only.Building larger corridors as you mentioned would be a pain and Space Hulk is all about dark tiny crawl spaces.Saying that thought a larger area is useful for staging areas and mission objective areas,go for it

[wilsongrahams]

Thanks. I'll probably use the 1st ed 3-wide corridors to begin with as there is more chance others will use them - the difficulty is having 'random' board sections deploy from them when obviously only another 3-wide corridor will fit. I'll have a think on exactly how to do this, though as with the hangar I've already made (Well drawn on paper and coloured in kids crayons lol) it is a complete board section and very large with only normal width exits on it. My excuse for such a lare piece is that it is well lit so no need to have LOS issues. So far it's only been used as a deployment zone, but as an objective room would be good too - I wonder how many genestealers should be hiding there - or maybe a Carnifex and Warrior Brood to liven things up lol.

I promise to get some Event cards made up for the new enemies soon, and the skills table will get a revision possibly too. Now I've settled on what I don't like, it's a case of getting more testing done on what I do to refine it, and I don't get that much time to do that. I do want to include my Necromunda gang as the crew of a ship needing rescue. That would make for a difficult escort mission - all the way to the bridge and back to the boarding craft without losing all the weedy crew!