← all games

Space Hulk

#2163BGG ↗

1989 · 2-2 players · 45min · weight 2.50 · 3,939 ratings

v2 v3 fit 0.389

BGG raw

ID
2163
Name
Space Hulk
Year
1989
Rank
486
Min players
2
Max players
2
Playing time
45
Min playtime
45
Max playtime
45
Avg weight
2.4985
Num weights
325
Bayes avg
6.65977
Average
7.49031
Users rated
3939
Num owned
4262
Wanting
213
Wishing
653
Num comments
1022
Fetched at
Sat Apr 25 2026 16:15:58 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Mechanisms (4)
Action PointsDice RollingGrid MovementModular Board
Categories (4)
FightingMiniaturesScience FictionWargame
Description (1917 chars)

Space Hulk is a light miniatures wargame set in the Warhammer 40K universe. It has a relatively simple rule-set (compared to Warhammer 40K itself) and is known for its fast play and immersive theme (think the movie Aliens). You lay out corridors and rooms that represent a space hulk, a large disabled ship floating in space. The Space Marines wear powerful space battle suits and carry heavy weaponry. The Genestealers (reminiscent of the alien in Alien) are naked, except for their quick movement, multiple clawed arms capable of ripping through Terminator armor and their seemingly endless numbers. Each game is played as a scenario. The Space Marines win by completing a certain goal, such as retrieving an artifact and escaping alive. The Genestealers win by stopping the Space Marines from achieving their goal, usually by killing them all. A unique mechanism is that the Genestealers have no time limit for their turn, but the Space Marines have a 3 minute time limit, and less if a sergeant is killed. This simulates the fact that Genestealers move so much quicker and adds a lot of tension to the game for the Marine player. The miniatures are excellent although you do have to paint them yourselves and the modular board is very well done. The Deathwing Expansion adds new personnel, weapons, rules for multilevel hulks, new missions and a mission generator along with some complexity. The Genestealer Expansion adds new marines, weapons, Genestealer Hybrids who can use weapons and new missions. There are also rules for psychic powers. There was also the Space Hulk Campaign Book that can be linked for longer games. This book also added rules for traitor Marines and new weapons. Even with all rules in place the game does not get too complicated and is a very good introduction to Warhammer 40K. Re-implemented by: Space Hulk (2nd Edition) Space Hulk (3rd Edition) Space Hulk (4th Edition)

LLM v2 (wide)

Core verb
spend AP under timer
Decision shape
mixed:spatial+probabilistic
Reward schedule
immediate
Aesthetics
["Challenge", "Fantasy", "Sensation"]
Core loop pitch
Marines get a 3-minute sand timer to push down corridors; Genestealers swarm from blip tokens with no time pressure.
Translation difficulty
Easy
Difficulty reason
Multiple Steam/iOS ports exist (Full Control, Cyanide); grid + AP + overwatch is a tactics-game canonical.
Direct digital port
Space Hulk (Steam/iOS, Full Control / SNEG)
Port kind
first_party
Closest loop translation
none yet
Primitive tags
["real_time_clock_pressure", "overwatch_reaction_fire", "blip_fog_of_war", "narrow_corridor_geometry", "asymmetric_swarm_vs_elite"]
Confidence
0.8
Extracted at
Mon Apr 27 2026 11:40:03 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Raw v2 JSON (926 chars)
{
  "game_id": 2163,
  "name": "Space Hulk",
  "core_verb": "spend AP under timer",
  "decision_shape": "mixed:spatial+probabilistic",
  "reward_schedule": "immediate",
  "aesthetics": [
    "Challenge",
    "Fantasy",
    "Sensation"
  ],
  "core_loop_pitch": "Marines get a 3-minute sand timer to push down corridors; Genestealers swarm from blip tokens with no time pressure.",
  "mobile_translation_difficulty": "Easy",
  "translation_difficulty_reason": "Multiple Steam/iOS ports exist (Full Control, Cyanide); grid + AP + overwatch is a tactics-game canonical.",
  "direct_digital_port": "Space Hulk (Steam/iOS, Full Control / SNEG)",
  "direct_digital_port_kind": "first_party",
  "closest_loop_translation": "none yet",
  "primitive_tags": [
    "real_time_clock_pressure",
    "overwatch_reaction_fire",
    "blip_fog_of_war",
    "narrow_corridor_geometry",
    "asymmetric_swarm_vs_elite"
  ],
  "confidence": 0.8
}

LLM v3 (deep)

Not yet enriched at v3 (deep pass).