Space Hulk solo rules, No opponent? No worries. Options

[Gurth]

Space Hulk Solo-Play Rules

These rules modifications allow for playing Space Hulk with only a single player, taking the role of the Space Marines. No additional rules apply to the Space Marines, while the blips and Genestealers are moved and attack according to the rules given below. Unless specifically superseded by the following ones, all normal Space Hulk rules apply.


COMMAND POINTS
Because there is no need to hide the number of command points the Space Marines have, it is easier to roll a D6 for them at the start of each turn rather than drawing a counter.
Place a counter on the square of the command points track corresponding to the number rolled, and move it toward 0 when command points are spent to keep track of the number of points actually left.


GENESTEALERS

Movement
When a Genestealer is activated, it must move toward the Space Marine that is closest to it when the Genestealer is activated. When there is more than one Space Marine at the same distance from the Genestealer, one is selected randomly for the Genestealer to move toward.

Moving Through Fire
A Genestealer whose next move would take it into a square that is on fire rolls 1D6 before it moves; on a roll of 6, it will move into the square (another roll must then be made as normal to see if it takes damage from the fire). If it rolls anything other than a 6, it will stop moving, ending its activation for the current turn.

Attack
Genestealers must spend as many AP as possible to attack a Space Marine if they can. When more than one Space Marine is a valid target, one is selected randomly for each attack the Genestealer makes.


BLIPS

Examining Blips
It is not allowed to look at the underside of a blip counter to see how many Genestealers it represents, except when converting it.

Placing Blips
Number all Genestealer entry points sequentially, starting at 1 and going up. Any time blips may be placed, roll a die to determine the entry point the blip must enter through; should the roll exceeds the number of entry points, re-roll it until a valid number is rolled. (Some missions have more than six entry points; for these, use a die with at least as many sides as there are entry points. For example, mission IV has eight entry points, so a D8 would be needed.)

In case the mission has only one entry point, all blips enter through that without the need to roll.

If an entrance is rolled that has three blips lurking at it, the die must be re-rolled until an entrance is selected that the Genestealer can either enter or lurk at.

Lurking
Blips may not lurk at an entry point unless forced to do so by a nearby Space Marine or because there is no free square available for them to enter the board through. Under all other circumstances, blips must enter the board on the turn they become available.

The following paragraph is optional! The reason for this is that GW's Space Hulk Q&A contradicts the rules as printed in the book, so use whichever you feel is better.

If the roll to select an entrance indicates a blip must use an entrance which is being blocked by a Space Marine, the die is re-rolled. If this re-roll indicates an unblocked entrance, the Genestealer uses that entrance instead. Should the re-roll indicate a blocked entrance (whether the same one as originally rolled or another one), the blip must lurk at that entrance. If the re-roll indicates an entrance that has three blips lurking at it already, re-roll again until a valid entrance is selected. (In the rare case that all entrances are blocked or have three blips lurking already, the current blip is put in the stack of used blips.)

Blip Movement
Each blip must spend all its AP to move toward the nearest Space Marine at the time of the blip's activation, until it can no longer move any closer because it would enter a Space Marine's line of sight or end up next to a Space Marine model.
When there is more than one Space Marine at the same distance from the blip, one is selected randomly for the blip to move toward.

Moving Through Fire
A blip whose next move would take it into a square that is on fire rolls 1D6 before it moves; on a roll of 6, it will move into the square (another roll must then be made as normal to see if it takes damage from the fire). If it rolls anything other than a 6, it will stop moving, ending its activation for the current turn.

Voluntary Conversion
A blip may only be voluntarily converted under two circumstances. The first is if its first move right after activation would be to move into line of sight of, or next to, a Space Marine; in this case, it must always be converted.
The second possibility is if the blip has enough AP at the start of its activation to move it into LOS or next to a Space Marine this turn (this means that any blip that is reasonably close to a Space Marine must have its movement counted out before the blip is actually moved). In this case, roll 1D6 at the start of the blip's activation, and on a 4+, it is converted and the Genestealers move and possibly attack normally; if it is not converted, the blip moves like a blip and must stop right before making an illegal move.

Placing Revealed Genestealers
If the Genestealer player would be allowed to place revealed Genestealers, they must be placed as close as possible to the nearest Space Marine, facing that model. All other normal Genestealer placement rules must still be followed.


THE BROODLORD
If the mission calls for the Broodlord to be used, roll a D6 any time a '3' blip is revealed. The first time this happens, on a roll of 6 the Broodlord is placed instead of Genestealers. Every time a new '3' blip is revealed, the number to be rolled is reduced by 1 (that is, the Broodlord must be placed on a roll of 5 or 6 for the second '3' blip, of a 4 or higher for the third '3' blip, and so on). The roll cannot become lower than 2+.

This post has been edited by Gurth: Oct 3 2009, 08:55 AM

[Brightguy]

Sound reasonable.

I assume blips are distributed either evenly or randomly among available entry points?

[Gillyfish]

I think a question you haven't considered is what happens when the mission calls for the Broodlord to be placed.

Perhaps a suggestion might be to roll a D6 when the first '3' blip is revealed and then have a score to (4+?) to beat that will determine whether it is the Broodlord. Of course, you may not want it to be the first blip revealed, so another alternative might be to have the first '3' blip become the Broodlord on a 6, the second on a 5+ and so on. By then there might also be fewer marines...

[igotsmeakabob!!]

I've played Space Hulk by myself, it's pretty simple.. just like playing chess against yourself, etc. Try to win with both sides.

I kicked my ass, by the way. Genestealers won (played the first mission).

[Doghouse]

Great stuff mate. Solo space hulk is really good for getting in some practice games.

I do agree that the Brood Lord does pose a problem. A random dice roll of four plus is probably the best way to go though.

I normally move the stealers towards the nearest marine and in the event of two being equal distance roll a d6 to determine the way it goes.
I tend to treat it as a tactical shoot 'em up and not actually make any decisions for the stealers myself instead allowing on chance.
It's not the same as playing a human opponent because the stealers become a horde rather than an alien intelligence but still great fun.

[Gurth]

I assume blips are distributed either evenly or randomly among available entry points?

Good point, I forgot about that. Either would work, I suppose

I think a question you haven't considered is what happens when the mission calls for the Broodlord to be placed.

Forgot about that too, indeed.

I'll modify my initial post to reflect these thoughts — thanks

[Doghouse]

The brood lord rule works really well, I'm going to have to try that out myself.

[Important]

Looks pretty solid. Going to test that tomorrow.

[paintner]

regarding the entrypoints it could be solved with a dice on what point they should enter.

also maybe some honest common sense what would be best for the Stealers tactical plan could work, but I guess the temptation to cheat can be to much for some people =)

[Altered_Soul]

I recommend adding a changelog so that people checking back can quickly know what changes you have made.

I look forward to trying this before I head to a gamestore to play for the first time, so at least I get the hang of how this all goes down.

[paintner]

regarding the use of dices they could be split up ...

as 1,2 and 3,4 and 5,6 count as 1,2,3 respectively ... and for 8 entries if no D8 you could do a 1-6 are entries and on a roll of even (or uneven) on a 2nd dice you get to roll a 3rd dice for the other 2 entries etc. (then 1-3 represent 7 and 4-6 is 8)

[Altered_Soul]

regarding the use of dices they could be split up ...

as 1,2 and 3,4 and 5,6 count as 1,2,3 respectively ... and for 8 entries if no D8 you could do a 1-6 are entries and on a roll of even (or uneven) on a 2nd dice you get to roll a 3rd dice for the other 2 entries etc. (then 1-3 represent 7 and 4-6 is 8)

Additionally, you could always assign numerical values to the entryways and use the corresponding numerical sum of the rolled dice to determine it, using any "remainder" sums as a "reroll".

For example, if you have 6 entrances, obviously you use the D6 in accordance. If you can not make a XD6 correlation, just use direct numbers. for 5 entrances, 1-5 are respective, 6 is a "reroll" until you get a 1-5. Allow the X of the XD6 to be any total sum of dice needed to create a total facing sum. For (oh man) 13 entrances, use 3D6, with any sum rolled higher than 13 being a reroll. It shouldn't kill the pace of the game too much, unless your individual dice-fu is borked.

[Gurth]

regarding the entrypoints it could be solved with a dice on what point they should enter.

That has already been added

I guess the temptation to cheat can be to much for some people =)

You can, of course, play it solo using the full two-player rules, switching roles as needed, but I suspect many people would become tempted to favour one side or the other. For that reason, the idea is basically to make the genestealers act on autopilot (plus a few random decisions so you can't count on them 100%).

regarding the use of dices they could be split up ...

I thought about that, but it gets complicated fast — I felt it was much easier to simply say "Get yourself a set of polyhedral dice and roll the appropriate one." And anyway, what kind of gamer are you if you don't have at least one set of those dice?

For (oh man) 13 entrances, use 3D6, with any sum rolled higher than 13 being a reroll.

Doesn't work — first of all, how will you ever roll entry point no. 1 or 2 on a 3D6 roll? Sure, you can solve this by saying "With 13 entrances, number them 3 through 15" but that also complicates matters quite a bit. A less obvious but much more important problem is that if you have 13 entrances and number then 3-15, then roll 3D6, is that you'll find a lot more genestealers appearing out of entry point no. 13 than out of no. 3 … This because a single die had an equal chance of rolling any number[1] while if you roll multiple dice and simply sum their rolls, the numbers near both ends of the scale are much less likely to come up than those in the middle. On 2D6, you have six ways to roll 7, but only one way to roll 12, for example; 3D6 is even more extreme.

[1] Not really, but it's close enough for a game like this.

[Somar]

i would stick with a maximum of 12 entry areas and resolve them as follows: roll a D6, 1-3 means areas 1-6, 4-6 means areas 7-12. roll again, if you rolled high before add 6 to the result. that gives an even chance for all entry areas.

[Brightguy]

13 entrances is pretty easy if you want even probability. Roll a die. 1,2 is entrances 1-6. 3,4 is entrances 7-12, 5,6 is entrance 13. Roll a further die to see which of the 1-6, 7-12, etc. you actually enter. Here's the trick. If you don't roll a 1 on entrance 13, you need to restart the procedure. This gives even odds for all entrances.

Any die can be emulated with this method and any other die with any even number of sides. Heck, you can emulate any random die-like process with a coin, it just takes longer.

[Altered_Soul]

Blip Movement
Each blip must spend all its AP to move toward the nearest Space Marine at the time of the blip's activation, until it can no longer move any closer because it would enter a Space Marine's line of sight or end up next to a Space Marine model.
When there is more than one Space Marine at the same distance from the blip, one is selected randomly for the blip to move toward.

Voluntary Conversion
A blip may only be voluntarily converted if its first move right after activation would be to move into line of sight of, or next to, a Space Marine.

Tried out the rules last night (good call on the dice, but playing solo, I wouldn't be so concerned with the median spread of probability, especially since its human controlled entrance numbering to begin with, which already skews the random nature beyond using 1D, and I am assuming no other materials other than what comes in the box), they work OK, but the blip flipping got me a little.

So, in the current iterations in the OP, a blip must move on the quickest path to the closes SM without becoming visible, so it stops a square short of going LOS. To be voluntarily flipped, if the SM hadn't moved, then instead of attempting an illegal move (moving a blip voluntarily into LOS), it converts into the appropriate amount of genestealers.

Do you think it would be more interesting that instead of stopping at a LOS square, the blip then converts? So instead of waiting a turn to convert the blip, if the blip finishes a move with the blip just outside LOS, it converts? In my mind, since the blips are already of limited capability, and are just going to flip first thing after activation after the next turn, this would liven the pace of the single player SOP, and in SP I want to have quick lively games rather than slow meandering waiting periods (we are playing the Space Marines in this iteration). I also noticed this prevents "stacking blips", because genestealers have more movement capability (not prevented by LOS) than the blips, and because of the forced reaction of the marines, it creates a slightly less "firing range" effect of blips stopping, next turn, converting, repeat.

Does that make sense?

[Gurth]

Do you think it would be more interesting that instead of stopping at a LOS square, the blip then converts? So instead of waiting a turn to convert the blip, if the blip finishes a move with the blip just outside LOS, it converts?

You could do that, but it means the game might become different from normal (two-player) Space Hulk, because in that, the blip would be forced to wait just before entering LOS; a human player would then probably convert the blip next turn (assuming the marine hadn't moved) to try and attack. The solo rules try to simulate that by allowing a blip to convert only if its first move would be illegal as a blip, but not as a genestealer.

OTOH, it is not all that different from a human genestealer player counting the squares, seeing the blip is close enough to get to a space marine to attack, and voluntarily converting the blip. Maybe base it on a die roll: if a blip has enough movement at the start of its activation to bring it into LOS or next to a space marine, roll 1D6. On a 4+, it voluntarily converts.

Thinking about it this way, it makes sense. I'll add it to the rules, too.

This post has been edited by Gurth: Sep 9 2009, 06:09 PM

[Duymon]

It's pretty simple to play against yourself. The sad part is I always win with the genestealers

[Altered_Soul]

I was just thinking of a little wrinkle. Tried the latest last night, worked well (though apparently I suck, I have yet to beat Mission I with Space Marines, human or otherwise). I was wondering about "blocked" Genestealer entry points, and how/if it should be treated. If a Space Marine is within 6 spaces of a Stealer's entry point, they are forced to lurk. This could be potentially exploited in solo play, however un-fun that is (there are just "those" people, you know?), and though its random, more than three could be stacked in lurking and thus forcing the "computer" to forfeit a counter with the current random entry point blip distribution system.

Obviously this situation would be unrealistic (in terms of natural human gameplay).

I had come up with two solutions, but I am not sure if they are ideal or even necessary.

First:

CODE

If a Space Marine blocks a Stealer entrance, the "computer" when placing blips via the dice, ignores any roll that would land the new blip on a blocked entry way.  Re-roll until an unblocked entrance is rolled.

After coming up with that, I realized this would also be an unnatural limitation to the computer, as a human might still want to lurk a blip at a blocked entrance, so I came up with an improvement:

CODE

If a Space Marine is blocking a stealer entrance and the "computer" rolls the entrance to place a blip, it makes a single re-roll and must accept the result of the re-roll.  If an entrance is "full" with three blips, it is ignored by the computer.  If no entrances have an available spot to place a blip (I am not even sure if this is possible, definitely not very likely), it is forfeited.

Yes, no, make sense, too complicated, flawed?

This post has been edited by Altered_Soul: Sep 10 2009, 06:10 PM

[Gurth]

though its random, more than three could be stacked in lurking and thus forcing the "computer" to forfeit a counter with the current random entry point blip distribution system.

The chance is probably remote, given that most missions have so many entry points that you'd be very hard-pressed to block enough of them for this to matter, but it makes sense as an optional rule, I suppose

[Altered_Soul]

though its random, more than three could be stacked in lurking and thus forcing the "computer" to forfeit a counter with the current random entry point blip distribution system.

The chance is probably remote, given that most missions have so many entry points that you'd be very hard-pressed to block enough of them for this to matter, but it makes sense as an optional rule, I suppose

I agree, that possibility is extremely remote. But I still think there should be some procedure for the "computer" when placing blips when a Space Marine is blocking an entrance, as in a regular human game, a human Stealer probably wouldn't want to place blips at a blocked entrance. Yea, nea?

EDIT: Ah I see the rules were updated. I think that is a good way of going about it .

This post has been edited by Altered_Soul: Sep 10 2009, 06:58 PM

[Gurth]

I changed the lurking rules a bit, to make them clearer and remove some unnecessary rules.

[Sigismund Himsel...]

Once you've got this to your satisfaction Gurth, let me know and I'll put it into the Librarium

[Doghouse]

I tried this out with power armoured marines and it worked really well. I found that for the command points it's easiest just to roll a d6 to see how many the marines get instead of messing about with counters.

[Gurth]

Once you've got this to your satisfaction Gurth, let me know and I'll put it into the Librarium

Not yet, but I can't see it requiring a lot more polishing

I found that for the command points it's easiest just to roll a d6 to see how many the marines get instead of messing about with counters.

Good point, if you're playing solo you don't need to bother hiding it after all.