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HeroQuestFans play Space Crusade on Twitch: Rules

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HeroQuestFans play Space Crusade on Twitch: Rules

Postby Kurgan » Saturday December 24th, 2022 5:37pm

So as I've admitted many times before, this is not a game I grew up playing, but I have enjoyed learning it. Much like how in HeroQuest there are rules that people argue over and have different interpretations about (what was "intended" vs. what is "most fun" or fair or realistic or whatever and all that!).

To cut down on my own confusion and to honor the experiences of those who did grow up playing Space Crusade (please be patient with me at the table!) I am laying out a few rules that I think should be clarified before we play... and I plan to host Space Crusade on MOST Fridays (starting again in January, though probably not that first weekend or two as I am visiting family for some late Christmas gatherings) 2-4pm CST (later if we're feeling up to it!) on http://www.twitch.tv/heroquestfans

The Alien/Chaos Player is more like the banker player in Monopoly, an equal competitor and not simply the GM (who can decide to allow the heroes to have an adventure or try to destroy them any way he can short of outright cheating!). So the old "Zargon is the ultimate authority" carries less weight this time! On the other hand, the others are all ganging up on him, so he has to say something sometimes! ;)

1) Moving around corners. It was pointed out to me that normally you can move diagonally (unlike HQ). What happens when you hit a corner, can you "clip past" it? We were thinking it seems better if you have to use your movement to move "around" the corner of the wall, instead of clipping past like a video game. Yes, it uses up an extra square of movement but adds to the tension. Maybe you could say the bulky characters can't always make it? I think technically in the rules there is nothing saying you have to do this, but if this is how people play I am okay with it.

2) Moving "Past" figures. Normally to pass through the square occupied by another figure that figure has to "allow you to pass." When it's your own team, that's no problem, but a Marine player could choose not to allow another marine player's pieces to pass if he wanted to. Aliens always allow fellow aliens to pass. But what if you have two enemies who are on close diagonals from each other and you (as the opponent) want to move one of your pieces diagonally BETWEEN them, do they have to allow you? We decided that the rules don't say you can't move past, and so you can (unless we are talking the huge Dreadnought which wouldn't have room).

3) Plasma Gun vs. the Dreadnought. Some have debated this because in some situations since this creature takes up four squares, it is possible to fire the Plasma gun in such a way as the beam passes through two squares of it. Some say this means it should be hit twice or take double damage. Technically the rules don't say this, so I would agree it is a house rule and we would say it only hits once for normal damage rolled.

4) Eldar hand to hand. There is a contradiction between the Mission book (which includes the rules for this Space Crusade expansion) and the info card showing their abilities. The Commander attacks with 3 light (white) combat dice for melee. But are the other Eldar warriors 3 or 2? One reference says 2, the other says 3. A suggested compromise from BGG forums based on fan feedback is that "heavy weapons" Eldar should use 2 dice for hand to hand, and "normal warriors" (not just the Exarch which is their equivalent of a commander) should get 3.

5) Orders when the Commander is dead. At first I was thinking well of course if the Commander dies, no one can issue orders. But it was pointed out to me that he actually gets the orders from the mothership. So in theory "new" orders come from a radio of some kind to the squad. So while it would make it more strategically interesting to say if the Commander is dead the orders can't be used, I am going to agree that Orders CAN still be used in this case.

6) "New" Orders? This appears to be another judgement call. When an Event card says the Marines can get a new Order card, does it literally have to be a "new" one that was not chosen before the mission began? Here I would say I would allow a previously used up Order could be issued again (it is still "new" just in the same form of a previous order). But I would still limit the Orders to the number of physical cards that came with the game!

7) Close Range Shooting. This was the hardest one for me to notice and accept because of my understanding of this rule in HeroQuest, but Space Crusade is a different game! So it seems the intention of the rules has always been that if you are adjacent to an enemy figure (or orthogonally adjacent, aka close diagonal with the Blood Angel "Close Blades" card in play) you can choose EITHER to engage them in melee combat (in which case the enemy always gets to roll their own melee to see who has the highest, and of course armor is ignored) OR he can shoot at another target somewhere else OR he can shoot the enemy at close range (no special bonus, it works just like any other ranged attack which has to defeat armor to do damage) OR he can choose not to attack the figure at all. I originally thought melee was the only way you could attack someone at close range, but there is no minimum or maximum range of "firing/shooting" and the only dangers are Plasma gun can blast through targets and Missile can cause splash damage, both of which can lead to "friendly fire" incidents.

8) Line of Sight rules for shooting. It seems to me that the clearest intention of the rules is that you can only shoot a target that you have clear "line of sight" to. The only difference is that Plasma can fire through one target to hit another on the other side (doing damage to both based on dice rolls). The only exception to this is the Missile Launcher (rocket launcher) which targets a specific SQUARE. You could (in theory) target a square at the edge of a corner, knowing there is a blip token on the other side that would be caught in the explosion and (potentially) damaged. The question of the rocket firing in a straight line vs. some kind of "lobbed" weapon in a parabolic arc through the hallway or some kind of homing missile could explain how it works if you wish to say you can fire from behind your buddy in a corridor to hit the enemy on the other side. I am inclined to say that the Missile should be treated like other weapons when it comes to targeting. If there is someone else in the way, you risk hitting them with the rocket.

9) Resolving target disputes? The Rules say that if there is a dispute over LOS then both players roll one red heavy weapons die. The highest roll determines who decides if the target has valid LOS that turn. If it is a tie then whoever's turn it is gets to decide in that instance. I read that as saying this doesn't mean it is a binding decision for all time in similar situations. I also implement the house rule of the "uncommon feat." Here one of the Marine players (or vice versa with the alien player to the marines) can propose a plausible (within the game's lore, world and setting) one-off situation as an exception to the rule. This could include "lobbing the rocket over my buddy's head." As with our HQ houserule with Uncommon Feats, there would be a 50% chance of success or failure (roll 1 red die... a number means success, a zero means failure.. so if you fail maybe your buddy gets hit instead!).

10) As when we play HeroQuest on Twitch, the chatters (who are not controlling figures in the game) can use their channel points (still gold coins) to "buy" for one faction or another. They can purchase bonus "Orders" (from the cards not in play), Equipment (ditto) for the Marines/Eldar/non-Chaotic Orks... they can also purchase an "Alien Event" for the Alien/Chaos player, or a Reinforcement Token for the bad guy side. Buyers are encouraged to specify who the reward is for, or "let the GM decide" (the GM being the one hosting the game). If the suggestion cannot be fulfilled at the time, we will fulfill it as soon as it becomes possible to do so (let's say for instance if all the Orders were already in play; or if the queue didn't appear until after the game had ended--it could be put towards the next mission). Other rewards like directions to travel in and such are more like suggestions, and the players still have a final say over whether they will follow that advice!

Any others I should address? Also, I'm open to it being when someone else hosts the game and takes on the Alien player responsibility that we can re-negotiate the rules much as we might do that when someone else is playing as Zargon (even though Zargon is the true GM and the Chaos/Alien player is a kind of lite GM).


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Re: HeroQuestFans play Space Crusade on Twitch: Rules

Postby KungFuNav » Wednesday September 27th, 2023 11:46am

For Eldar Attack there are a couple of cards that could be explained better, for example:

1. PSYCHIC SENDING - The craftworld transmits a psychic boost to back up the squad. The Exarch may pick up on extra command card.
- There are Order, Equipment and Exarch cards, we've played assuming this means an extra 'order' card.

2. BOUNDING LEAP - Your Exarch may jump up to six spaces over any other peices in a straight line horizontally, vertically or diagonally and must land on an empty space. This then counts as his move. Remains in use for the whole mission.
- I don't think we've ever had a situation where this ability is necessary over simply having the Exarch run to a location (they can run 7 rather than leap 6 squares)... I can see you might want to get your Exarch between an Eldar Warrior and line of fire, but I don't think I would sacrifice an Exarch card to it, just odd.

3. PSYCHIC FOCUS - Your Exarch may roll two heavy weapons dice when attacking any Orks, Gretchin or Chaos Space Marines in hand to hand combat. He may not use this device against Androids or Dreadnoughts. Remains in use for the whole mission. (On the reverse: This crystal allows an Exarch to combine his physical attack with a psychic attack against any organic creatures.)
- This text on the reverse implies 'combining' the red and white dice, which would make the Exarch truly formidable in hand-to-hand, or is it meant that the white dice are replaced with red dice instead (i.e. the combined power of physical and psychic attack makes the white dice into red?). There's another card which means the Exarch can use 3 white dice in hand-to-hand, which complicates the answer.

4. MENTAL PROJECTION - Once a turn, your Exarch may move up to two spaces when attacked by an opponent. If this places him out of range or line of fire, the combat does not take place. Remains in use for the whole mission. (On the reverse: Your Exarch has the ability to mentally project an image of himself for a short distance.)
- Does this have to be used before an Alien Player makes an attack... or after an attack has been made and hits the Exarch. I'm reading it as before the attack is made, though I think we were wrongly using it to move after an attack was hit, which was making it massively OverPowered (OP) to the point (as the Alien) I gave up trying to hit the Exarch.

This skill, and Eldar in general, are still too OP in my opinion, to the point where I'd choose Eldar over Space Marines in any game.
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Re: HeroQuestFans play Space Crusade on Twitch: Rules

Postby KungFuNav » Wednesday September 27th, 2023 12:30pm

I realise it's almost a year later, but in response to your list:

1) Moving around corners - In the Space Crusade computer game miniatures are allowed to 'clip' round corners. We've always played that you can clip diagonally around walls.

2) Moving past figures - I think it makes sense that you can't move diagonally through two figures without their consent, if you had two walls that were close diagonals I certainly would say that the path was obstructed and you wouldn't be able to squeeze between them, so it make sense that the diagonally adjacent figures would also be counted as obstructions and require consent to pass.

3) Plasma gun vs the dreadnought - It never even occurred to me this might count as double damage, we've always played this as a single hit. If each square of the dreadnought were counted as a separate entity you could start to argue that each of its guns should have it's own armour save value.

4) Eldar hand to hand - I don't think I noticed that! It does say 3 light weapons dice for Eldar Warrior in the rule book, and 2 on the card, though I agree the 2 is amongst the heavy weapons section so it makes sense it would only appy to the Eldar carrying heavy weapons. I'd say this is a fail by whoever created the reference card.

5) Orders when the Commander is dead - Agree that orders should continue after a commander is dead. I wish I were able to kill the commander often enough that this came up as a question.

6) New orders - We've always played this as a new order card (if available), so you'd be able to reuse one that had been played/discarded or any others that are not already in use.

7) Close range shooting - We've always played that if you're adjacent (or diagonal with the Blood Angels 'Close Assault Blades' card) then you HAVE to hand to hand, although you are within your rights to move one square away and blast the opponent. Being in hand-to-hand range means you don't have a choice. Imagine a dreadnought forcing you up against a wall while androids cut off your route of escape, it makes sense you'd have to use your hands to fend off attacks rather than bring a heavy weapon to bear. Hmm... I hadn't considered the 'Close Assault Blades' card might force you into hand-to-hand where you might not want to though, I would say that in that instance diagonal does not force a Blood Angel with the card to engage in hand-to-hand if they don't want to (as the opponent technically isn't allowed to attack them in that manner).

8) Line of sight rules for shooting - We play with the missile launcher being able to target floor tiles, which does mean a target around the corner can be killed. Which is kind of cheating I suppose, as the Marine shouldn't know it's there... We wouldn't let the missile go over the top or around miniatures that block line of sight. The game is supposed to be in cramped corridors so it doesn't make sense the missile would home around or be able to be fired in an arc over heads.

9) Resolving target disputes - I agree with your resolution (I'm getting tired now).

10) Will try to check out your Twitch channel when I get the chance!
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