space mrines in boarding actions

[shad0w_wraith]

just wanted to know how space marines actuallt board the enemy vessels and what sort of equipment/weapons would they use, cos i dont think something like a missile launcher will be very good.
also has anyone thought of doing a game of 40k on a playing board of tight corridoors like the inside of space ship with objectives like capture the command bridge or somin. just like to know cos im thinking of theming a marine army on this and making some of my own missions for them

any ideas or special rules for the missions will be great.

Shadow Wraith

[Torquemada Coteaz]

hmm space hulk style eh?
Boarding actions ideally involve a fair amount of termies. assault cannons, heavy flamers, flamers, melta guns all come to mind in way of equipment.
anything to fill the 12inch radius with many faceted death is good

[Ikarus]

Originally Posted by shad0w_wraith

just wanted to know how space marines actuallt board the enemy vessels and what sort of equipment/weapons would they use, cos i dont think something like a missile launcher will be very good.
also has anyone thought of doing a game of 40k on a playing board of tight corridoors like the inside of space ship with objectives like capture the command bridge or somin. just like to know cos im thinking of theming a marine army on this and making some of my own missions for them

any ideas or special rules for the missions will be great.

Shadow Wraith

- Shoot drop pods into the enemy ship? Hah. Or drive thunderhawks or something to the enemy.

-Terminator Teleport Assault - Like said above, space hulk style, corridors and what not.

[Torquemada Coteaz]

drop pods will always come on your deployment zone touching table edge (or pre-determined deployment zone, but always table edge none the less)

[shad0w_wraith]

ok thnx any ideas on rules for gameplay?
and also what if termies are unavailable (after all theres only 100 in each chapter) and i doubt just 1 squad could take and entire ship.
also how would u shot droppods side ways at the enemy and how would they get through the ship hull

thnx for the replies
Shadow Wraith

[Torquemada Coteaz]

wel they aren't "drop pods" parse
they are actually boarding torpedoes
put generally it works like this:
torpedo tip penetrates hull, explosives make it go deeper and melt the hul around it creating a seal. front tip opens further sealing it. people inside get out.

If termies are unavailable, generally it doesn't matter.
Basically you wouldnt have: any vehicles, except maybe dreads, no scouts, probably no dev squads either
things you would have: tac squads, termies, any HQ, techmarines are fine, assault squads im not sure.

[shad0w_wraith]

so can anyone think of any rules or somthing for the missions, stuff like sqaud cohernecy no of units in squad and stuff like that

and thanks Torquemada Coteaz for the dicription of the droppods, that was a great help.

Shadow Wraith

[Torquemada Coteaz]

I think they maintain squad coherency always.
Perhaps squads can be broken into effective "combat" squads of half the original squad. this is excellent for fanning out in a ship and fighting in narrow corridors.
additional note: I tihnk in real boarding actions they'd have demo charges / plasma torches for getting through bulkheads and walls, so maybe you should try making a wargear for that

[Typher]

Space Marine boarding action is teleported in like all I think. They bring down shields first. Did anyone play Battlefleet Gothic?

I also think space marines could pull up beside a ship with a thunderhawk or something, throw on an airlock and cut their way in with a chainfist! Its mentioned many times that the primary use of the chainfist is for cutting through bulkheads in boarding actions... and sometimes genestealers immediately after. Space Hulk was a great game and is exactly what you were describing. Although who would ever want to be the genstealerS?

Fr

[Inquisitor Rosenadel]

I think you could probably use a Kill-team mission for this. That would simulate a squad infiltrating the ship and capturing/sabotaging/etc. If you want a large-scale boarding action, I dunno.

I think the only way to realistically do a bigger game would be to have a huge model of the inside of a ship, or playing boards that had different levels of the ship on it.

[Torquemada Coteaz]

that will be quite a nice table

[Inquisitor Rosenadel]

Originally Posted by Torquemada Coteaz

that will be quite a nice table

I saw one that wasn't huge but used for Kil-Teams at Gamesday Chicago '06. It was pretty cool. And it was a club table!

[Torquemada Coteaz]

this can be somewhat easily adapted for full 40k games, though force org. charts and deployment rules will have to be changed.

[shad0w_wraith]

thats exactly what i was trying to do, just thought it would be cool

also i was just wondering what space hulk was about (it was a bit before my time unfortunatly) becuase it sounds cool

Shadow Wraith

[Steellegioncpt]

Ah yes the constant struggle to get boarding party rules organized. First off they usally teleport over to the enemy ship similar to deep striking. Also boarding vessels like Shark Assualt Boats. If your fimilar to Battle Fleet Gothic these kinds of things are found.

[Torquemada Coteaz]

I'm fairly sure that marines don't use sharks.
They use thunderhawks, and I heard boarding torpedoes/pods somewhere...

[Inquisitor Rosenadel]

Originally Posted by Torquemada Coteaz

I'm fairly sure that marines don't use sharks.
They use thunderhawks, and I heard boarding torpedoes/pods somewhere...

This is correct: Marines use Thunderhawks and Boarding Torpedoes. They also teleport, but that is not their only mode of boarding, and sounds, to me, like the most dangerous way of doing so.

[Torquemada Coteaz]

hehe. marines can take it.
iggies cant =(

[ZeroState]

Originally Posted by shad0w_wraith

thats exactly what i was trying to do, just thought it would be cool

also i was just wondering what space hulk was about (it was a bit before my time unfortunatly) becuase it sounds cool

Shadow Wraith

Space hulk was a skirmish game with termies and genestealers on a 'board' made of 2D card corridors and rooms, representing the interior of a hulk. The 'Stealers were 'blips' i.e., counters that one player moved about the board - representing auspex blips - and when they came close enough to the termies, they either became nothing or a 'stealer. The number genestealers were IIRC essentially limitless as they spawned at entry points every now and then. The marines won if they completed their mission goals, the 'stealers if they finished off the terminators.
A game could be played through quickly.
As you can tell, I was playing it back then : )

[Torquemada Coteaz]

ah a games workshop veteran, good to have ya on board!
essentially space hulk is killteam with terminators and escalation :P
though i did not know about the "only win if complete objectives" part i thought you could kill stealers and be done with it :P
as you can tell ive never actually played it

[ZeroState]

I forgot to add, the marine player was timed! You only got three minutes to complete your turn. Any command points (actions) left undone after that were lost. That could be harsh sometimes!
A few mission were just about killing - there was one I remember from the basic set where you just had to kill a set number of genestealers... of course if you didn't do it soon enough the number of 'stealers and blips built up, that and the limited time and the termies could be in quite a pickle!

[shad0w_wraith]

sound great fun also is there any way of buying it these days as i would love to play it also is it compatable with the new termies

[ZeroState]

Originally Posted by shad0w_wraith

sound great fun also is there any way of buying it these days as i would love to play it also is it compatable with the new termies

Well, there's always 2nd hand on eBay. You wouldn't need a complete mint set - terminators and genestealers aren't that hard to come by (and any metal termie is way better than the game plastic ones), and the hulk sections and counters can be made pretty easily from card, minis bases etc.
If you are buying just the books second hand, get first edition as the second is reputedly worse playwise even though it is meant to have better art - never seen it though. It has no suppliments either. Look for (if you're not getting complete boxes):
Space Hulk (the basic set of rules): two books, "Rules" and "Missions & Background".
Deathwing (solo rules, missions and other cool stuff): one book, "Rules and Missions" 1st ed. only.
Genestealer (introduces librarians and hybrid 'stealers): one book, "Rules and Missions". 1st ed. only.
Space Hulk Campaigns: hard back book featuring some campaigns, optional rules, and board section. Very cool IMO.
Good luck!

[Typher]

I would love to get my hands on a copy of Space Hulk rules, as it was the first tabletop game i ever played when i wandered into a GW store all those years ago. The game was fast paced, the rules werent hard and terminators were just as cool back then as they are now!

Overall it has more of boardgame feel than 40k or warhammer and can be played very quickly (back then 40k 2nd edition games could be very lengthy and warhammer was an afternoon sport). Its a great game for introducing new people to the hobby!