Things are heating up in the Sin of Damnation as Sergeant Lorenzo’s squad pushes further into the dark and cramped ruins of the Space Hulk. The encroaching shadows have quickly taken shape, becoming swarms of vile Genestealers. Bloodshed is inevitable.

Continuing in a series of previews for Space Hulk: Death Angel - The Card Game , today’s preview will take us into the thick of battle. Previously we looked at Action cards and how they are used to command your Space Marines, and following that we witnessed the terror of Genestealers and their erratic movement patterns. Now it’s time to stand your ground and do what the Blood Angels do best.

Combat in Death Angel is resolved by rolling a custom combat die. This die’s six sides are numbered 0 through 5, and three of those sides has a skull icon on it. When rolling to attack, players will score a hit for a every skull symbol rolled. When defending against Genestealer attacks, players must roll higher than the number of Genestealer cards in the attacking swarm, otherwise the Space Marine is slain.

As simple as that sounds, there are several factors that modify combat depending on the situation. Facing, range, Support tokens, special abilities, and Broodlords are the main factors to consider when resolving combat.

As discussed in our Genestealer and Movement preview, facing determines whether or not your Space Marine can target a particular Genestealer swarm. Each Space Marine card is double-sided: one side has a large arrow pointing left, the other pointing right. These arrows indicate the direction in which the Space Marine can attack.

Range is measured by “positions”. A position is a single space in the formation (i.e. a Space Marine card). A Space Marine with a range of 1 can attack Genestealer swarms that are engaged with him or ones that are one position away (engaged with an adjacent Space Marine). Space Marines with a range of 0 may only attack Genestealer swarms that they are engaged with.

Support tokens are provided by the Support action card. As we discussed in the Action card preview, these tokens can be used to reroll the combat die when attacking or defending. Whenever a player uses the Support action card they gain one Support token to place on any Space Marine (even ones not under his control or already assigned a Support token).

Certain special abilities provided by Action cards allow players to either reroll the combat die or attack multiple times. The Action cards indicate when these special abilities can be used on the turn they are played.

Broodlords are exceptionally powerful Genestealers. These deadly foes are only spawned when specifically instructed. Their cards feature two movement icons meaning that swarms with Broodlords will move twice as often as normal swarms. Also, every time a player rolls the combat die to defend against a Broodlord swarm, subtracts 1 from the die roll. If that weren’t deadly enough, Broodlords must be the last Genestealer killed in a particular swarm. Meaning players will have to slay all other Genestealers before being able to attack the Broodlord.

With these factors in mind, combat is initiated in one of two ways: when an Attack action card is resolved, or during the Genestealer Attack phase. In both instances the combat die is rolled, modifiers are added in, and results are applied.

In the example above, the players controlling Brother Noctis (green) and Brother Scipio (grey) both played attack Action Cards. Brother Noctis has a range of 2, allowing him to attack the Genestealers numbered 1 and 3. He decides to attack the one he is engaged with (1), rolling a skull and slaying the Genestealer. Brother Scipio is facing to the right and has a range of 2, allowing him to attack the Genestealer numbered 2. He does not roll a skull and thus fails in protecting Noctis from an upcoming rear attack!

Combat is fast and brutal in Death Angel , so try not to blink too often.

Check back next time when we explore the Sin of Damnation, learning about Locations and Events!

 

Space Hulk: Death Angel - The Card Game is a cooperative card game for 1-6 players. Set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, players take on the roles of Space Marines pitted against the increasing hordes of Genestealers.