"Regular Marines in Space Hulk...." Topic

I always wanted to game CSM (non-termies) in Space Hulk games but never got around to it. I recently downloaded the S.H. bible and saw that the White Dwarf rules for regular Marines were in there.

I'd love to see Khone Berzerkies running through narrow corridors raging to get into close combat with 'Stealers.

I was wondering if anyone has gamed these types of battles and did theMarines stand any chance?

I suppose due to their weaker firepower, armor and close combat values you could just adjust the rate of Stealer blips to suite the game?

Thanks for any input re: games played and your experiences!

U.K.

the marines issue of WD for hulk was from before the Beserkers were a big thing, ( poss before they were evan thought of) If you arnt too worried it may be that you can use staright 40K ( edition of your choise) to do it.

The Sm seemed a bit underpowered in the games we played, but that was back in the EARLY 90s… So the memory is a bit hazy…

Yeah, for Berzerkies I figured i'd either give them a +1 cc bonus or let them roll two dice.

Long ago, when we played a campaign of 1st ed SH, we modded the weaponry.

We used a QUICK FIRE BOLTER. You roll the two dice like a Storm Bolter and that was it. It allowed us to use SM Scouts and SMs easily in the Hulk. They still died horribly though.

We did not modify the IG for this and boy, they died a lot faster. There is nothing like an IMperial Flashlight. It's when you have 50 X IMperial Flashlight that things look different.

Ah, memories…

Some friends and I played Space Hulk a LOT when it first came out (1989 or so I think). We tried the rules published in WD for regular SM and they were very entertaining. Regular Space Marines tended to die very quickly in melee, but could put down a reasonable amount of firepower. It ended up being a tradeoff of armor for maneuver for them. Also, the 'terminatus' grenade each Marine tended to carry around made a Genestealer win in hand-to-hand bittersweet.

I would probably need to include speacial weapons like flamers, meltas, plasmas on about a 1 every 5 troop scale to balance things out for the Marines.

10 man squads too instead of the usual 5 in SH to give the Marines a little combat depth (though that will make for some awfully crowded corridors!

Some CSM Raptors w/out jump packs but with lightening claws might be fun too. (Warp Talons?)

Thanks for comments so far.

As with my comments about the IG in space hulk,(allow triple rank firing and fore n aft squad placenent.special weapons and a heavy bolter)Space marines should get double rank,special weapons options as well as the tactical squad heavy weapons option.Properly done i have cleansed and burned stealers with guardsmen…imagine the sisters going in.

I would probably need to include speacial weapons like flamers, meltas, plasmas on about a 1 every 5 troop scale to balance things out for the Marines.

10 man squads too instead of the usual 5 in SH to give the Marines a little combat depth (though that will make for some awfully crowded corridors!

The power armour rules in WD120 did indeed focus on 10-man squads, including one flamer and one missile launcher (these were the only support weapons allowed to the marines in that article).

They also had access to frag, crack, plasma and melta grenades, and used frags for the 'terminatus' CC defence that JLA105 mentioned (basically they could prime a grenade, then hold it indefinitely until a stealer kills them and the grenade drops).

I only played Space Hulk with power armour a couple of times. As noted, the benefit was that they were more agile. The greater number of marines was a mixed blessing though, as they did choke up those narrow corridors, and you can still only bring so many guns to bear down them. Speaking of guns, the essentially half-powered bolters and flamers were their real weakness, and made them challenging to play.

Basically if you've got the marines and access to the rules I'd give them a try, but SH is perfectly suited to the original lineup of termies vs stealers. Start messing with either side too much and it goes off the rails pretty quickly.

We let the regular marines fire from a second rank to give them a little more firepower. That made sense to us since they were not as bulky as the termies.

Using the WD rules though you don't want to get them in close combat.

We also played Marine on Chaos marine games with just a few genestealers in the hulk, controlled by a third player. Those were quite interesting.

Thanks guys. The two rank firing idea is very good idea
. I will def include it.

My campaign plan is for an old traitor marine hulk from the Horus Heresy to drop out of the warp near a Night Lords pirate ship. Night Lords (along with small batch of Khorne mercenaries) attempt to reclaim ship only to find out it is Stealer invested. Chaos goals will be to capture key parts of the ship and eventually kill the Magus.

I appreciate the input. Keep it coming!

I have run Space Hulk with standard Marines and Imperial Guard. They die quick and fast even with the two rank rule for firing. They do a little better in the larger rooms. The larger squads create traffic jams that make your hulk look like a clogged artery.

I would make some suggestions…

1. Decrease squad size to five Marines or IG and give each squad a sergeant. Keep the two rank rule and no AP point for a 90 degree turn.

2. Allow beyond normal special equipment issue ( shotguns / flamers / meltaguns /grenades etc…)

3. Give them campaign missions they are more suited for like "Hold the Line".

4. Decrease the maximum number of reinforcement blips for missions that include IG or regular Marines.

5. Include more hybrids with standard weapons (pistols, autoguns, lasguns etc…)

6. Include blips of brood brothers with poor weaponry.

You can justify the presence of brood brothers and hybrids to the effects of the warp or cryogenic chambers.

Sounds good!