Asmondai
.......anyone else bought the Deathwatch boardgame?? sweatdrop Now I have, and I've gone through the rules and the content.
I have not been able to play it yet due to me having limited possibilities to do so (no one to play it with), but I am confident that my general knowledge and skill in examining and imagining how it plays out will serve me well anyway.
First .... as I already written in the post above:
The Genestealer Hybrids are Back!
And with them, the entire Genestealer Cult concept with Patriarc (not "Broodlord"), Magus, and even a new variant called "Aberrants",and a new version of a Magus called a Primus.
The Magus even has Genestealer Familiars.
And that's In the Box.
Second, The Deathwatch has very varying warriors, most are in Power Armor, but one has Terminator Armor, and one even has a Bike.
Essentially, i'm amazed.
However, this is info you probably already knew.
So, content:
The Floorplans are (sadly?) not interlocking as in Space Hulk, but they are highly glossed, well painted and looking good.
A problem with boards may be that the light shines so it obscures the squares or other things one uses to measure movement, but on these boards the surface has been slightly cut in the pattern of the areas used for movement each side, so I guess this will make them visible even when the artwork is obscured by the shine.
...It do give me the "punch out" - feel in my fingers though.
Each Marine and each type of Cultist Leader has a separate card noting their respective attacks, as well as speed(essentially Move) and if they have any armor save.
Regular cultists has their stats on the back of the combined Rule- and Mission Book.
I will not go into detail or mention everything in the box, just assume that whatever I didn't mention was at least ok, such as the miniatures, dice, and a special range ruler for attacks.
So, on to the rules:
It is not like Space Hulk.
No AP's, no Command Points.
It looks more like a boardgame-skirmish-version of 40K, with movement phases (both sides, though) followed by Marine Attack, then Cult Attack, then Marine Attack again.
It also has armor saves, although some weapons ignores armor saves, of course, like the purestrain Genestealer claws.
The movement uses a more fluid move system, where one moves Areas (typically 2 for the Marines) instead of squares, and may group as one like in each Area.
Attacking uses a special range ruler instead, so how a model is positioned in an area may get important.
I'm personally not fond of the step away from the Space Hulk concept, but i'm sure a lot of others like the more 40K-like approach more.
Personally, I like the Area movement concept enough to consider it better than the strict square-movement.
And here I wrap it up for now.
If anyone has any questions, I may be able to answer them.