Space Marine Adventures

PEW PEW PEW! Cried the heavy bolter, as brother Grimm shot on the spawning Necron, transforming the robot in a pile of useless iron. 

Space Marine Adventures (SMA) is a small series of games from the world of Warhammer 40k. The reviewed product is called "Labyrinth of the Necrons" and it brings us to a claustrophobic place of corridors full of spawning robotic aliens called Necrons. 

1 to 4 players get to choose from 5 space marines of different colors and try to fight trough the labyrinth. The "campaign" mode of the game has 3 levels, which you can change everytime you play, since there are 3 doublesided game boards. Btw, the marines are in the classic Warhammer product manner required to be assembled, fortunately its very easy and you dont need glue (altough for the heads i would recommend it). 

So: in the box youll find 5 marines, 3 game boards, 5 colored dice and a nice amount of cards. The spawning cards are different for each of the 3 "levels", geting harder each level. Also you add new Necron models (represented by tokens). The first two levels are about activating a console a finding the exit, the last level you have to beat the main enemy first and then exit. 

Fighting is done per one dice roll each time, when you try to roll a number equal or higher to the defense number of the target. Both attack rolls and target defense numbers can get modified during the turns. Its logical and thematic, that if you roll a 6 on the flamethrower, you destroy also Necrons adjacent to your primary target, for example. 

The interesting thing, that I was afraid of, is, that Necrons spawn but dont move or attack. Its just that the corridors get overcrowded with them, if you dont kill them as you advance. And in the moment someone spawns at your poisition, you are wounded - and the next wound kills you. So the game can be pretty punishing at times, if you are not careful. BUT you also have to advance fast, because there is a timer mechanism: if all spawn cards are gone, you loose. 

For me, this game has all i need: its a scifi dungeon crawl with nice marine minis, that makes your mouth do a PEW PEW PEW by each attack. Its very atmospheric and thematically strong, and fun to play solo. I imagine with others it can be a really cool coop experience. Its easy to learn and fast to play, and doesnt make your head hurt from rules complications.

If you love games like this, this is a no brainer!