Let's talk about Space Hulk: Death Angel

I have a copy of Warhammer Quest: Adventure Card Game coming in the mail, so last night I thought I'd dust off Death Angel and take it for a spin for the first time in a couple years. I just played the original game, even though I have the first couple POD expansions. It was with the Librarian, Sgt. Lorenzo, and Brother Zael. It ended with a confrontation against Broodlords, and it was not a happy ending.

A few thoughts:

- I still like this game a lot. It had been so long since I played it that I wasn't sure how it still held up for me, but it was a very good experience. It does a solid job at reproducing that tense "can't move" feeling you get as Space Marines in the original game, and in a 45 minute package that's hard to beat. The very best thing has to be how tense and high-stakes every die roll feels. There are so many times when it fails at just the worst time, and things go pear-shaped in a hurry. I really like that it doesn't just give you all these ways to get out of bad spots, but makes you deal with it sometimes.

- There are some moments where the abstraction does show its seams a bit more than others. The way the decisions are so tightly constrained is one. It makes good mechanical sense why you can't just attack with each team over and over, but it's hard to justify thematically I think. More than that, it just feels very tight, to the point that you can sometimes end up with just having to do a bit of nothing one round to make sure you can do SOMETHING in the next. This is kind of a lumpy feel to me, and it might be something that's more of an issue in the solo game.

- Speaking of, this game just works best as a solo game. The coordination between teams is much smoother when it's just one brain having to do it. It's fun in multiplayer, but way harder too, unless you just play it a bunch with the same people. It really requires knowing the nuances of the different squads, and that only comes with experience. Truthfully, playing it so much solo makes it much less fun to play with other people. It's also kind of a weird game to explain, because of the abstraction I mentioned earlier. You have to kind of squint to see some of the correlations, especially if you haven't played the original.

I bought WHQACG on the high recommendations here, so I'm not really worried. But I am a little worried that I'll end up with a somewhat more expensive Death Angel. That's not a bad thing exactly, but it would be a bit disappointing. Death Angel is a solid game that I will come back to now and then, but it's also one that I sometimes admire more than I love. I'm hoping WHQACG will be a little more balls-out fun, rather than the somewhat more steady Death Angel.

That said, FFG has done really well with converting GW properties to card games. I do like Death Angel, and BB: Team Manager is a good game I got rid of, and I still regret it. I am optimistic about WHQ, since it looks like a more interesting version of the Pathfinder game.

How about everyone else? Has Death Angel held up for you? How does it compare to WHQ, or does it really have the same feel at all?

Really like this game still, but only as a solo game. Not enough decisions/discussion to warrant cooperative play over something else.

All of those abstractions are overshadowed by the atmosphere this game creates similar to its parent miniatures game, primarily through quick and rapid death. Your column can evaporate if you turn away from the table, like an illusionist quickly working over the crowd. You sit there wondering how it all fell apart when you hit the last room with nearly a full squad.

I would probably say this is my best solo game. Mage Knight is technically better but once you add setup... Death Angel wins. I've played co-op a few times and it's fine there too, but I'd rather play something with an actual board if I've got warm bodies to play with.

I have never won this game, and since I play it so rarely, I doubt I ever will. But it's fun trying. Yes, the rules are a bit obtuse in places, and enemy movement is rather arbitrary. But it's tense and really packs a lot into such a small package.

This is interesting because one of the much-lauded elements when it came out was the co-op mechanism where only the "main player" could read the event that occurred every turn and and choose its result. I still think this is great but clearly it's not enough by itself to make it preferred over solo mode for some folks.

For the price, Death Angel is possibly the best game that I have bought. It scales nicely from 1 to 6 players, and that one little mechanic nicely separates the solitaire vs co-op modes.The expansions add exponentially to the replay value, though the alternate set of space marines is somewhat frustrating to play due to so many of their abilities requiring support tokens.

Shellhead wrote: For the price, Death Angel is possibly the best game that I have bought. It scales nicely from 1 to 6 players, and that one little mechanic nicely separates the solitaire vs co-op modes.The expansions add exponentially to the replay value, though the alternate set of space marines is somewhat frustrating to play due to so many of their abilities requiring support tokens.

This is true. For the price and the size it's a very good package.

I was thinking about the Instinct mechanic as well. In theory it's kind of a good idea, but it doesn't prevent the one part where quarterbacking is the biggest problem, which is selecting orders. The game state is sometimes just a bit too simple for Instinct to really have too much impact, since in those cases the best choice is obvious. Of course it's basically non-existent in solo play.

I love it and have actually had good results playing it co-op. I told group to think about it as a teambuilding exercise and they jumped right on board. It's much more satisfying to win as that team than alone.

I enjoyed the expansions, but power creep is real. in my experience, it's much easier to get a win with the Dark Angels than the Blood Angels. Also, the Tyranids can wreck your world even faster than the Genestealers. There's some good in that, though, since it provides a greater or lesser challenge without having to house rule anything.

From playing with a few different groups of players, I have noticed that military personnel enjoy Death Angel even more than regular gamers.

I REALLY like WHQ, but Death Angel is still the game I prefer. Could just be the lack of a campaign (the new "zombies" in board gaming), but I think it's much more than that.

I'm a huge fan of SH:DA. It's sorta preventing me from getting a copy of SH 2nd ed. I would so love to paint those 2nd ed plastic minis again, but do I really need it with the much loved SH:DA already on the shelf?

I haven't even cracked any of the expansions. Much like BB:TM I feel the core game is right on target with them both being outstanding values for the money. Start adding in expansions and i feel the returns start to diminish. Hell, both are still great. But the fun level isn't necessarily ramped up at the same rate as the cost... if ya feel what I'm saying.

I played SH:DA once a while back in a 4-player game. I liked it quite a bit. I like the way it replicates the tight corridors feeling of Space Hulk and the fast and lethal combat, the necessity of planning in order to succeed. Looking back on it, and after playing WHQ:AC I really don't think there's as many similarities as some people make them out to be. WHQ:AC isn't as difficult or lethal in the same way SH:DA is. There's also more different types of enemies and the ability to acquire new weapons and equipment.

Yeah, I think you're right. They get mentioned together often, but I think it's a lot closer to the Pathfinder ACG or the LotR LCG. WHQ is much better than either of those.

I have the Mission Pack and the Space Marine pack for Death Angel. I like both of them a lot, so I've considered picking up the other two POD expansions. What has been people's experience with those ones?

The Tyranid expansion is the best. The Tyranids are more interesting and somewhat more challenging than the genestealers of the base set.

The Deathwing expansion is frustrating. I love the idea of an alternate set of marines, but find that half of these guys are great and half of them suck. A bigger problem is that at least 2/3 of the Deathwing marines need support tokens to power their special abilities, and that is generally unworkable. I only play the Deathwing guys when I want a serious challenge, and then it still depends on which guys we get.

I went to my FLGS at lunch to hopefully get the other three POD packs I don't have. They only had the Space Marine pack which I understand has the least value with really only the two new SM groups.

I bought it.

Now, if only I can find Tyranids and Deathwings for under $20...

I think the SM is key and has cool teams, so you did just fine.