"Vintage Space Crusade: Mission 1!!!" Topic

Space Crusade

Today we played our first game of Space Crusade. Let me say that this was the best Games Workshop game I have ever played and I have played a lot of them. It is fun and fast paced and the Alien Event cards add a lot of fun drama and impact the game in unexpected and interesting ways. My set is painted and I have a lot of extra Space Crusade miniatures. I also have the Mission Dreadnought expansion and all the old WD rules/cards.

Mission 1
I am the Space Marine player and my mission is to board the alien controlled space hulk and eliminate a Dreadnought that has been massacring Space Marines and being a general nuisance. My plan is to use my order cards to scan blips and locate the Dreadnought. I will then run up and terminate it using the melta bomb order card.

Turn 1
The boarding torpedo slams into the space hulk ripping through the metal skin. The doors fly open and my marines begin their assault running forward into the dark corridors. The marines round a corner and spot a small green gremlin like creature clutching a shotgun. They shoot at him but he evades and runs away screaming.

Turn 2
The Space Marines move forward and discover that a blip is a decoy false reading. The Alien Event card gives me an extra Space Marine order card.

Turn 3
The Space Marines move forward again deeper into the moldy space hulk. The Alien Event card allows for the reading of the secondary mission objective: Destroy a recon Android that is in the area.

Turn 4
The Space Marines split up to look for the Dreadnought and the Android. I split the marines into two groups one with the plasma gun and assault cannon and the other with the sergeant, missile launcher and a bolter. They reach the next board section and scan the board using the Scanner equipment card. They locate a Gretchin, a traitor Space Marine and the recon Android! The Alien event card then gives the Android the ability to self-destruct! The aliens advance…

Turn 5
The Space Marines charge forward.
The Alien Event is disastrous as a corridor defense gun lowers itself from a ceiling tile hatch and vaporizes my Space Marine with the auto cannon. This heavy weapon was equipped with a targeter equipment card adding to the disappointment of this horrific loss.

Turn 6
The Space Marines battle the aliens! Pop!!! The Gretchin is turned into a red mist by a missile and the traitor is cut in half by the sergeant's power sword with a crackle of lightning and the smell of ozone. The Android misses and shoots the decking.

Turn 7
The Space Marines advance. The Sargent swings his deadly blade and the Android's head flies off before it can do harm with the self-destruct card! The Secondary mission is now completed and I claimed the Secondary Mission tile for points. But the Alien Event calls for the Alien player to draw two Reinforcement tokens. They draw an Android and an MK IX Dreadnought from the Space Crusade Mission Dreadnought expansion. This was not the regular Dreadnought from the main Space Crusade that is the focus of the primary mission but a very powerful machine with double the firepower of the original Dreadnought. I allowed for this token to be used because of the age and experience of the Alien player. This was a mistake. The miniatures are moved onto the board and the Alien blips advanced.

Turn 8
An Ork attacks and is gunned down. The Alien Event gives the Space Marines another order card. The Alien hoard advances.

Turn 9
I fire a missile at the advancing reinforcement Android and the Dreadnought with no effect. I then shut the door. The Alien Event is a disaster as the Melta bomb that can help destroy the Dreadnought malfunctions and is lost. The Aliens advance.

Turn 10
I try to open the door and then shoot at the aliens and then shut the door again but I land no hits on the slimy aliens! The alien player then draws an Alien Event card that lets them advance twice as fast! They rush towards the door screaming and beeping.

Turn 11
The Space Marines use the "Move it" Order card to attack the Dreadnought. The Sargent runs up bravely and slices off the missile launcher with his power sword in a shower of sparks. The Dreadnought then lunged forward and used its three remaining weapons on the sergeant. Nothing was left but a few chunks of meat and bits of smoking bloody ceramic armor plating.

Turn 12
The Space Marines use the "Fire" Order card to attack the Dreadnought. They blow off the Dred's Las gun with the missile launcher. The bolter fire is a joke against the behemoth. The two remaining Space Marines fall back.
On the other side of the board the Marine with plasma gun disintegrates a row of aliens. But the Alien Event reveals that one of the Orks is a "Mekaniak" armed with an experimental weapon. The Ork fires it at the plasma gunner killing him but the Ork is also vaporized in a blinding flash!

Turn 13
The two remaining Space Marines shot a missile at the Dred and blow off its fusion gun. Then the Alien Event led to the missile launcher marine stepping on a booby trap that blows off his legs. The Dreadnought then cut down the last marine in a hail of bolter fire leading to total Alien victory.

After Action Report:
Space Marine score = 2 (I'm terrible)
Alien Player = 45 (She is a smart kid age 7)
I totally underestimated the power of the MKIX Dreadnought. Without the additional man/firepower from Mission Dreadnought the marines are no match for it. We will go on to play the next mission with the Alien player gaining an Alien Event card and an extra reinforcement token. I also discovered that we had 4 additional android blips from Mission Dreadnought in the game instead of the one called for in the mission briefing. This had no impact on the game as the extra android was a reinforcement from an Alien Event card.

Link to photos:

link

Click the arrow to the right of the big photo to advance. The battle report above appears next to the photos.

Great war, I'd forgotten how good a game it is……still have my set in the 'shed'……..some 25 years old now ( good grief!).

Mission 2

The objective of Mission 2 is to locate and neutralize the Traitor Space Marin Alien Commander.

Because of winning the last mission the Alien player starts at the rank of "Chaos Warrior" gaining an Alien Event card and an extra reinforcement token.

My Space Marine force is the same as last time consisting of a plasma gunner, assault cannon gunner, and sergeant with close combat pack, missile launcher and a marine with a bolter. I do take the "Digital Weapons" rings for my commander so he can re roll a dice.

Turn 1:
The boarding torpedo ripped into the metallic flesh of the Alien infested space hulk. The doors burst open and the Space Marines stormed in led by the assault cannon gunner. The board was then scanned using the Bio-Scanner and as luck would have it the Traitor Space Marine Commander and primary target of the mission is revealed along with an Ork and a Gretchin.

The Alien Event Card reviles that there is a malfunction that prevents me from using my Space Marine order cards next turn.

The Aliens move up and a Gretchin opens the door of the room holding the traitor commander and a large nest of aliens. The resulting hail of gun fire kills the Space Marine with the bolter.

Turn 2:
I scan a few blips looking for the terrifying Dreadnought as the bio-scanner is equipment and not an order. I can't play any order cards this turn do to the Alien Event communications malfunction last turn. My missile launcher Space Marine runs up and nails the traitor commander with a crack missile and knocks a smoking hole in his chest. Unfortunately no other aliens are injured by the blast. I win the primary mission token!

I then send up the assault cannon gunner and he rolls poorly only managing to take out three Gretchin. The Plasma gunner then takes out an Ork and two more Gretchin all in a row.

The Alien Event occurs and my assault cannon gunner steps on a booby trap! But he is unharmed by the surprise blast.
The Aliens then rush forward and an Ork attempts to crack the assault cannon gunner's helmet open with his battle-ax. However, the crude implement bounces off the ceramic armor. Another Ork then runs up and shoots the missile launcher Space Marine in his eye killing him instantly. The Alien player then uses her extra Alien Event card to order a Gretchin to run up and throw a grenade at my commander. The grenade rattles around on the ground but does not explode! There then is a lot of shooting by the large group of aliens amassed in the room. They kill the assault cannon gunner in the barrage. An android then leaps forward from the horde and gunned down my plasma gunner! All my men are now dead!

Turn 3:
I decide to retreat and make a cowardly run for the boarding torpedo. I make it and the game is over.

After Action Report:

Space Marines: I managed to only earn 16 points after my losses even though I won the primary mission. However, I did win an honor badge.

Aliens: 35 points. They now can collect two Alien Event cards at the start of the next mission and they also gained another mark allowing them two reinforcement tokens.

I know that I should have retreated after killing the traitor commander. I would have won the game with probably only the loss of the missile launcher marine.

Link to photos:

link

Click the arrow to the right of the big photo to advance. The battle report above appears next to the photos.

Excellent reports and nice job on those classic minis.

Wonderful read and fabulous looking miniatures ;)

Mission 3: Genestealer Ork Cult vs. Terminators

For mission three the primary objective is to kill as many Aliens as possible as a large Alien force is moving through the sector to reinforce the Alien perimeter. We will play the mission to see who will get the most points. By the way I discovered that the Alien player actually won mission one with 75 points and not 45 so I gave them an extra Mark. This would have allowed them another reinforcement token during the mission 2 game but would have had no impact on the outcome as the Alien reinforcements never got into the game.

Also, old timer fellow Games Workshop fans will notice that my Alien horde is actually painted as a Genestealer Ork Cult! That's right infected Orks! I'm not sure why they are hanging out with Chaos Space Marines but this is Space Crusade so who cares.

We have decided to use the Hybrid Genestealers from White Dwarf magazine issue 134 and I will give up my equipment cards to equip my squad in Terminator armor from the same WD article.
The attack begins!

Turn 1:

There is a whoosh of cold air from the boarding torpedo's doors opening. The Terminators gallop into the hulk illuminating their rusting surroundings with their powerful suit lights. The Terminators scanned the wreck and a large mass of Alien blips completely filled a room. Other blips lurk around corners near the Space Marine entry point. Reinforcement tokens also begin to fill up the two Alien entry points in rooms across the board.

Alien Event: Is "Teleport" This card allows the Alien player to switch their traitor commander with their Dreadnought reinforcement token bringing the steel behemoth up to the first turn in the hallway. Spotting the lead terminator the Dreadnought let loose a hail of missiles. The projectiles missed their target and screamed down the hall. Then the Dreadnought fired its assault cannon. The shots bounced off the heavy-gauge plasteel plating of the Terminator armor leaving its operator unharmed. The Dreadnought squealed and pawed the ground. It then fired its bolters. The shots managed to find their way into the gaps torn in the armor by the previous barrage and ripped into the marine vanquishing him. Then an Ork charged forward with a blood curdling screech and used his ax on the Terminator with the flamer causing no damage as he beat the suit relentlessly. However, seeing the opportunity to prove himself another Ork aimed his gun at the mighty Terminator and dispatched it with a lucky shot to the face mask. The marine crumpled and slumped to the floor. An android clunked forward to join the brawl but slipped on a damp floor panel and over compensated for its shooting destroying a wall duct.

Turn 2:

I play the "Fire" order card…
The Terminator Captain chopped at the approaching Ork with his glowing power blade but the Ork twisted back unharmed. The Cap'n shouted "Fire!" and the Aliens became enveloped in a storm of white hot streaks tearing two of the Orks to shreds but the android survived the shooting completely unscathed.
I contemplate retreating but the terminators only move speed 4 because of their bulky large size and I cannot make it to the safety of the boarding torpedo. I try to move back after firing.

Alien Event: Take another Space Marine order card! I take "Close Assault"…

The Dreadnought chugs forward down the hall and enters the entry point room blocking the doorway. This caused his comrades to pile up behind him unable to see or fight. From his angel in the doorway the Dreadnought was unable to target the Cap'n who stood silently unnoticed in the dark corner of the room. The Dreadnought then unlashed hell on the two Terminators who stood helplessly outside the door of the torpedo inches from safety. However, the assault cannon fire missiles and the bolter fire bounced off the well-designed hardened shells of the Terminators leaving them safe from harm!

Turn 3:

I play the "Close Assault" order card…
Now that the Aliens are bottlenecked in the doorway by the lumbering robot beast. The Cap'n yells "Charge!" and the marines fire as they charge the monster. They then pound the Dreadnought with their power fists and power sword producing no damage.

Alien Event: The card allows the Alien player to move the Dreadnought twice!

The Dreadnought fired all its weapons at the Terminators but as before this caused no damage. It then attacked a second time due to the Alien Event card. It reared up and stomped one of the Terminators casing him to come out of his suit like toothpaste on to the decking.

Turn 4:

The terminators attacked as they became unable to escape as moving would allow the Aliens to flood the room before the Terminators could clear the exit. The Cap'n swung his blade as the other Terminator fired relentlessly at the Dreadnought. SHAWAAAP! The Cap's blade sliced the missile launcher arm off with a crackle and shower of orange sparks.

Alien Event: The card cause a heavy weapon to breakdown but I have no heavy weapons so no harm done…

The Dreadnought then stomped the Cap'n causing him to lose a life point.

More screaming and grunting Aliens continued to pile up in the hallway behind the Dreadnought.

Turn 5:

The Terminator misses his shot again but the Cap'n rising up from under the Dreadnought slices the assault cannon away surgically from the body of the machine! Some sort of fluid spurted intermittently from the open joint.

Alien Event: The Marines are dealt an equipment malfunction but as we have no equipment having traded it for the suits this event has no consequence.

The Dreadnought then lowered its body quickly crushing the Cap'n again under its weight. He is now down to 4 life points.

Turn 6:

Not giving up the Cap'n rolled over and extended his blade cutting into the bottom of the Dreadnought. This incision proved deadly having hit some vital component of the machine making it topple over and crash into the wall. The Dreadnought was destroyed!

Alien Event: Then the Space Marine mother ship barked new orders to the Cap'n to destroy the Dreadnought as a secondary mission objective. The captain replied solemnly on his wrist com "it is already done". I collected the secondary mission token!

Then a Gretchin lobed a crude fragmentation bomb at the Cap'n. This exploded burning half his face and killing the other marine. Another life point gone! An android then attempted to bayonet the Cap'n as he picked himself up. The blade missed and slid across the surface of the Terminator armor with a nails on chalkboard like sound. Then without notice a hybrid Genestealer Ork dropped down from above the Cap'n and blasted him with a conversion beam weapon. This made the Cap'n's suit smoke and reduced him to two life points. The Cap'n took a final wild swing at the Android and missed him. He then stepped over the threshold of the boarding torpedo and the safety door slammed shut. The mission was over. Smoldering, the Cap'n was the only survivor.

After Action Report:

The Alien player wins the Primary Mission token.
Alien score: 55 They advance a rank to "Chaos Commander" and gain a mark. They now can collect three Alien event cards at the start of the next mission and they also gained another mark allowing them 4 reinforcement tokens.

Space Marines: 21 I gain an honour badge. I keep telling myself I need to play more conservatively and run away after the first Marine dies but I did kill the Dreadnought right!?

Notes:

I discovered that Genestealers produced by the Alien Event Card of the same name are worth no points because they have no token to collect after you eliminate them as per game rules. So the Alien player can attack you with them with no risk of giving you extra points if you kill them.

The Terminator Armor is tough and it makes it much harder for the Alien player to get points if a marine dies but it has little firepower. I think things would have been different if the flamer had not gotten taken out so early on in the game.

Link to photos:

link

Click the arrow to the right of the big photo to advance. The battle report above appears next to the photos.

Mission 4: Support from the Blood Angels!

Read on this was the best battle yet…

The objective of this diversionary attack mission is to exterminate as many Aliens as possible.

A squad of Blood Angel Space Marines is also involved in this mission consisting of a plasma gunner, assault cannon gunner with a targeter card, and sergeant with close combat pack and a force field card, missile launcher and a marine with a bolter. They also take the Melta Bomb card and the "Fire!" order card.

The Ultra Marines trade their equipment cards for Terminator armor. One of them has a flamer. They take the "Fire!" order card.

The Alien player gets to take 3 Alien Event cards and 4 reinforcement tokens.

Turn1:

Ultra Marines: Marines move out on to two boards and scan for blips.

Blood Angels: Marines move out on to two boards and scan for blips. All Alien blips are now placed.

Alien Event: A Genestealer hybrid descends from an overhead air vent and rips the Blood Angels Space Marine with the missile launcher in half.

Aliens: A group of Aliens attack the Blood Angels Sergeant Alpheus with missiles and Android manages to hit him and takes a life point. An Ork and a Gretchin run up and attack the Ultra Marine Terminators in hand to hand combat. The Terminators smash them both into the decking with their power fists. A Gretchin then takes a lucky pot shot at a Terminator and kills him. The Ultra Marine Cap'n takes a hit from an Ork and loses a life point.

Turn 2:

Ultra Marines: The Terminator with the Flamer squirts deadly flaming liquid onto 3 Orks and 2 Gretchin incinerating them. A Terminator attempts to smash a Traitor Space Marine with his power fist but is bludgeoned with the Traitor's combat blade. The Cap'n then misses the Traitor and is unable to avenge his comrade.

Blood Angels: They use their "Fire" order card allowing them to fire twice. The Blood Angels Space Marine with the bolter guns down the hybrid that killed his missile launching friend. The Plasma Gunner then fries a long line of Orks and Gretchin revealing not one but two Dreadnoughts! He takes his second shot but his plasma gun fizzles and he does no damage. Sergeant Alpheus then uses his power sword to cut an Android in half in hand to hand combat. Alpheus kicks its headless body to the ground. Then the Blood Angels Assault canon operator runs into the hallway and attempts to fire on the Aliens. He fails both his shots even with his targeting equipment. He is a disgrace to the Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter.

Alien Event: A brave Gretchin assaults the Terminator Cap'n with his twirling poison blades but the Marine's power glove punches him into the deck with crunching sound.

Aliens: Traitors then shoot at Alpheus engulfing him in a barrage of fire taking a life point. The first Dreadnought then launched a missile at the assault canon gunner and missed him. The Dreadnought then shot the assault cannon gunner down along with the Plasma gunner with its other weapon arm. Another Android then rushed the Alpheus only to be laid low with the crackle of his power fist to the robots forehead. The android convulsed on the ground as its now flat face twitched and sparked. A Gretchin then shot at the Space Marine with the bolter and killed him. Another Gretchin lands a shot on the Alpheus.

Turn3:

Ultra Marines: They use their "Fire" order card allowing them to fire twice. The Cap'n misses the Traitor as shots wiz by the enemy's helmet. The Terminator with the Flamer then incinerated another mob of Aliens at the far end of the hallway. Two Orks, a Traitor and a Gretchin went up in smoke!

Blood Angels: All alone now the Sergeant Alpheus falls back…
Alien Event: An auto-defense gun pops out of a wall panel only to be smashed back in with a mighty power glove blow by Sergeant Alpheus.

Aliens: The Alien Player then uses an Alien Event card to teleport a Dreadnought in to the forward position of a Gretchin. The killer machine fires a rocket at Alpheus knocking off his shoulder pad. He bobbed and weaved and avoided the Dreadnought's assault cannon and bolter fire. Some Gretchin then take a few pot shots at the Sergeant but all fall short.

The Alien Player then leaves a door open to entice the Ultra Marine Terminators into attacking for a trap.

Turn 4:

Ultra Marines: Seeing the opportunity of the open door the Terminator with the Flamer then tried to repeat his previous BBQing success but then wastes both his Fire actions by missing the targets twice! In an attempt to preserve the important Terminator with the Flamer another Terminator moves ahead of him and manages to take out an Android hitting it right between the eyes! The Cap'n then moved ahead of the Terminator and eradicated a Gretchin. This formed a sort of defensive line.

Blood Angels: Alpheus falls back into the corner of a dark room.

Alien Event: The Space Marine mother ship relays that the diversionary attack is over and that the Marines now must fall back to their torpedoes. The Secondary Mission Token will go to the Marine Player who does this first.

Aliens: The Aliens Then attempt to block Alpheus from re-boarding the torpedo buy packing themselves behind the Dreadnought. The other Dreadnought approaches but is delayed by a doorway as it cannot stop under it and must wait until next turn to fully make entry onto the next board. On the other side of the game board the Aliens bombard the Cap'n with a barrage of gun fire. He is only wounded once and is now at three life points.

Turn 5:

Ultra Marines: The Cap'n takes a parting shot at ta Traitor and falls back toward the torpedo. Next a Terminator picks of a Gretchin leaving a red stain across the floor plates. Then the Terminator with the Flamer incinerates a Traitor Captain, an Android and three Gretchin and also falls back. The Alien Players "Trap" fails.

Blood Angels: Alpheus makes a choice not to die cowering in the corner of the dank room and instead charges fanatically into the wall of Alien preventing his exit. In what will be remembered as one of the finest personal feats of a Blood Angel Space Marine, Alpheus sprang onto the Dreadnought and planted the Melta Bomb on the top of it. He then slid off the back and hid under its mettle belly. This happened so fast that the tightly packed Aliens could not move fast enough to counter the attack. The bomb explode melting the top carapace of the Dreadnought sending molten metal into the crowd of Aliens. The Dreadnought's heavy weapon arms then began to sag. The arms then buckled with a loud crack and both weapons fell to the ground.

Alien Event: There is a communications malfunction preventing the use of order cards but the Space Marine players have no cards to play.

Aliens: The Aliens attempt to move towards the Ultra Marines but the Terminators are safely out of reach.
The heavily damaged Dreadnought then tried to stomp on Alpheus but he countered with his power sword by inserting it into the machine's exposed innards. The Dreadnought made a screeching swine like sound and fell back onto the crowd of Aliens that formed behind it crushing several of them.

An attacking Gretchin then rushed forward blocking Alpheus's exit. Alpheus cut him in two. Then another Gretchin pushed forward hissing and stabbing at Alpheus. He smashed this one with his power glove. Yet another jumped forward only to be run through. Then another grabbed at his face. He then thrust his blade still embedded in the last creature into this new foe. A fifth little monster attacked and the brave Space Marine grabbed his head and crushed it with the power glove. Then a Traitor Space Marine captain stepped forward to attack.

Alpheus's blade burning hot inside the bodies of the two skewered creatures was easy to dislodge as he pulled up on it plunging it into the Traitor's belly. The Traitor gurgled and Alpheus punched him in his mask crushing his mutated skull. The body fell back and an Android pushed closer locking blades with the heroic Sergeant in what was a temporary stalemate.

A Traitor marine with a missile launcher attempts to stop the Space Marine even though he himself is in the blast zone. However, the missile harmlessly slides out of the launcher onto the ground without exploding.

Turn 6:

Ultra Marines: The Three Terminators board the torpedo and the bulkhead door slams shut.

Blood Angels: Alpheus draws back his blade and hits the Android with a surprise upper cut sending its limp body flying back into the large pile of bodes that is hindering the approaching Alien mob. Seeing his exit clear Alpheus dives into the torpedo. The safety door slams shut and he is safe.

The Alien horde throw themselves against the torpedo bulkhead to no avail. Then a Gretchin hit his foot on the unexploded missile causing it to detonate incinerating more of the mob. Then the torpedo withdrew leaving a large gap in the hull sucking the reaming Aliens and the other Dreadnought into space.

After Action Report:

Ultra Marines: 110 Points! They got both the primary and secondary mission tokens. They will gain a rank and 3 badges. They trade in 4 of the 5 they now have and increase another rank to Lieutenant Senioris. This gives them 3 order cards.

Blood Angels: 52 points. They gain three badges allowing them 7 equipment cards.

Aliens: 45 points. They gain a mark but already have 4. So they cannot take it nor spend the 4 they have to move up to the rank of Lord of Chaos as this rank must be earned in battle.

Notes:

Alpheus's Force Field equipment card is very cool as it makes him as tough as a Terminator.

The Melta Bomb was also very cool. I see that it is now possible to take out a Dreadnought with this card.
It was very cool having two Dreadnoughts on the board. I can't wait to play the Mission Dreadnought expansion.

Link to photos: link

Click the arrow to the right of the big photo to advance. The battle report above appears next to the photos.

Mission 5: Destroy all Orks!

A bunch of Orks are headed into the sector and the Space Marines must eliminate them.

The Blood Angels get a bunch of extra equipment cards because of the last game.

The Ultra Marines trade their equipment again for Terminator suits.

I used some new casualty and blast tokens in the photos to help capture the action for this game.

Turn 1:

Ultra Marines: Move out and scan the board.

Blood Angels: Open the blast door to their boarding torpedo and a Traitor is looking right at them. The Marine with the bolter AKA "6 Shot" kills him. The Blood Angels then fire a missile into a group of Aliens blowing up five Gretchin, two Orks, a Traitor Captain and an Android. The Blood Angels then took out three more Gretchin with the assault cannon. The Plasma Gunner misses and burns up a bank of overhead lighting. Alpheus the fearless Blood Angel leader cuts a traitor in two with his power sword! He then throws a blind grenade that prevents the Aliens from attacking in the next turn. Lights out Aliens!

Alien Event: The Terminator Flamer runs out of ammo and he must now revert to his storm bolter.

Aliens: The Alien player now plays an Alien Event card that takes away Alpheus's force field. This is bad for him as the force field made him as tough as a Terminator in the last game. Unable to see the Aliens then push forward in an attempt to swarm Alpheus.

Turn 2:

Ultra Marines: Use their "Fire!" Order card allowing them to fire twice. The Terminators fire on a Dreadnought but it is undamaged by the salvo. The Ultra Marine Cap'n then runs up and takes out the Dreadnought in one swing of his power sword! Cutting it completely in half. It was totally
destroyed (an awesome roll of the dice!)!!! The Terminators then advanced onto the next board and scanned it for life signs.

Blood Angels: With a bright flash of light the Plasma Gunner then disintegrated a Traitor, an Android and Gretchin. Only ashes remained. This clearing of the Alien hoard exposed a terrifying Alien beast… It was a Tyranid. The Assault cannon opened fire on the monsters but they shrugged off the explosive bursts. The Blood Angel with the missile launcher than fired a shot at the Tyranid blowing its insect like body into chunks along with a nearby Ork. Alpheus duels with an Ork but it is a draw and he then runs to protect the missile launcher.

Alien Event: An Ork Mekaniak tries to shoot an experimental weapon at Alpheus but he blows up!

Aliens: The Alien player plays a Communications Malfunction card that prevents the Space Marines from using order cards this turn. The Aliens then unleash a storm of fire at the invaders but miss all their shots. The Aliens then attempt to take cover.

Turn 3:

Ultra Marines: The Terminators exchange fire with the Orks with no hits and then move into close combat. A Terminator gallops up to an Ork and ponds him into the decking! Thump! Thump! Thump! The Ork was mushed. Another Terminator attempted this maneuver only to have his helmet and face smashed in by an over enthusiastic Ork. The Cap'n then shot another Ork dead.

Blood Angels: Having slung his bolter in favor of his upgraded bolt pistol at the start of the mission, 6 Shot gunned a Gretchin down. The other Blood Angels moved to defensive positions.

Alien Event: The Space Marine Mother Ship channels a psychic attack onto the space hulk that temporarily paralyzes all of the Orks and Gretchin.

Aliens: A Traitor then sends a rocket down the hallway into a Terminator blowing it to bits.

Turn 4:

Ultra Marines: The Cap'n returns fire at the Traitor and kills him. The Terminators then only manage to take out a Gretchin.

Blood Angels: They use their "Fire!" order card. The Plasma Gunner spots a Tyranid down a corridor but fails to hit him. The Missile Launcher Marine then spots yet another Tyranid come down the other corridor leading to the second Alien entry point. He fires at it and blows it apart only to reveal an advancing Dreadnought. The Marine fired again blowing off the Dreadnought's assault cannon. The Space Marine Assault Cannon then misses the other Tyranid twice.

Alien Event: A Gretchin lobs a bomb at the Terminator Cap'n but it explodes harmlessly.

Aliens: The Orks and Gretchin miss all their shots and attempt to hide under cover. The Dreadnought fires on the Space Marine with the Missile Launcher but misses him. The Dreadnought then sprays the Marine with bolter fire killing him. The surviving Tyranid charged 6 Shot with its bone swords. 6 Shot aimed and shot the creature between its eyes sending it crashing down. Green stuff erupted from the monster as the massive carcass convulsed. Then another Tyranid ran down the corridor spraying an acid like substance on to Alpheus melting away his skin. Alpheus was badly burned loosing 4 life points. Then a Traitor shot Alpheus. Taking another life point. An Ork took a shot but missed. Then another Traitor cut down Alpheus with several well placed shots. The hero Alpheus was gone killed doing his duty.

Turn 5:

Ultra Marines: The Terminators miss many shots only managing to dispatch an Ork.

Blood Angels: The Assault Canon and Plasma Gunner each kill a Gretchin but miss the Traitor Captain who has a heavy bolter. However, 6 Shot takes aim at the Tyranid who participated in the death of Alpheus and placed an explosive shell into its brain with his trademark between the eyes shot. The body flopped on top of the other dead Tyranid.

Alien Event: Secondary mission: The Aliens are building a Teleport room and it must be destroyed.

Aliens: The Aliens attack the Space Marines without success. They miss all their shots. The Dreadnought's rocket attack on the Cap'n fails to penetrate his armor. Also, an Ork, a Traitor and the Traitor Captain are unable to hit 6 Shot. 6 Shot even was encumbered by a net bag carrying the dripping heads of his Tyranid victims!

Turn 6:

Ultra Marines: They use the "Move it!" Order card. The two Terminators fire at some Gretchin killing one. They then retreat to the boarding torpedo. The Cap'n then runs up and attempts to slash the Dreadnought. Overconfident from his last success at destroying the previous Dreadnought the Cap'n is crushed under the machine's feet as it leaps on him. Badly crushed the Cap'n lost 4 life points.
Blood Angels: 6 Shot then gets in a shoving match with a Traitor and both are unable to fire on one another. The Plasma Gunner fires on the Dreadnought but the shot does no damage. The Assault Cannon Gunner runs up on the Dreadnought and attempted to use a Melta bomb but he stumbles and blows himself up!

Alien Event: Then a hybrid Genestealer climbs down from a vent and does a point blank rocket attack on the wounded Cap'n. The rocket explodes harmlessly next to the Cap'n who lay stunned on the ground beneath the Dreadnought. It was a harmless training round!

Aliens: The Dreadnought attempted to stomp the Cap'n again but the heroic Marine slashed the rocket launcher wires disabling the weapon. The Plasma Gunner escapes enemy fire. Angry Orks and Gretchin then start shooting at the Cap'n. Their shots bounce off his armor. They then try to surround him. 6 shot manages to shoot the Traitor in the face and then avoids heavy bolter fire from the Traitor Captain and a Gretchin.

Turn 7:

Ultra Marines: They use the "Close Assault Card". The Cap'n decapitates the hybrid but then misses his shot at a Gretchin. He then brakes away moving toward the torpedo to escape.

Blood Angels: The Plasma Gunner vaporizes an Ork, a Traitor with a rocket launcher and an Android. 6 Shot encumbered by his bag of Alien heads misses his shot at the Traitor Captain and runs with his bag of trophies to the torpedo. He escapes.

Alien Event: Teleport: A Gretchin and the Dreadnought switch places. The Ultra Marines exit is now blocked.

Aliens: The Dreadnought kicks the Cap'n to the ground. He only has one life point left. Seven Gretchin and two Orks all attempt to kill the Cap'n but fail. Another group of Aliens also miss all their shots on the Plasma Gunner and attempt to black his exit as well.

Turn 8:

Ultra Marines: The Cap'n takes a shot at the heavily damaged Dreadnought. If he can kill it he can board the torpedo and go home… he misses.

Blood Angels: Seeing that he will not be able to make the distance to the Blood Angel boarding torpedo the Plasma Gunner attempts to clear a path for the Ultra Marine Cap'n. He disintegrates two Gretchin but the shot does not disable the Dreadnought.

Alien Event: Android Fault: The Dreadnought and all Androids go off line due to a glitch!

Aliens: An Ork runs up and viciously chops the wounded Cap's head off and a Gretchin sniper kills the Plasma Gunner. The mission is over.

After Action Repot:

Ultra Marines: 34 Points… They lose all cards because of the death of the Cap'n but gain two honor badges.

Blood Angels: 128 Points they lose existing awards but 6 Shot is promoted to rank of Sargent with three honor badges.

Aliens: 60 They already have 4 Marks and cannot bank more or spend existing marks to be promoted to the top rank of Lord. They have to win the title in battle.

I was impressed with how 6 Shot wiped out the Tyranids with his hot dice rolling with the extra dice from the bolt pistol equipment card. Also, it was cool when the Cap'n sliced the Dred in half in one shot. I enjoyed that! I did have some bad rolling though. The Orks and Gretchins rolled poorly in this game. I am also not totally taken with the Terminators. After I lost the flamer their shooting was poor and then one even got killed in hand to hand by a little Ork. However, they are able to take fire because of their Armor. It was also a bad deal when Alpheus lost his force field. It reduced his impact on the game and he was easily killed off. The Assault Cannon continues to be a letdown. It is much more powerful in Space Hulk.

Link to photos:

link

Click the arrow to the right of the big photo to advance. The battle report above appears next to the photos.

Hi Great Battle report ! Love the great Paint jobs ! I have never played this game now I want to find it . The old GW games were the best . I love Chainsaw Warrior and The Mummy , Dracula games were Super ! Thank you for this Fun Game Walk Through :-)

Alas, I don't think it was ever released in the US, and is still cherished other places. Can be a difficult find.

I'm not even sure I've a complete copy, and have had a few.

Doug

Updated links:

Space Crusade Mission 1
flic.kr/s/aHsjYxky7B

Space Crusade Mission 2
flic.kr/s/aHsjYxW4yp

Space Crusade Mission 3
flic.kr/s/aHsjYHNeLe

Space Crusade Mission 4
flic.kr/s/aHsjYfsW3J

Space Crusade Mission 5
flic.kr/s/aHsjZ4dWri

Yes we did play mission 6 and I took photos but I lost the battle report notes and I am not sure of what happened to the photos as I switched laptops several. times.