Sunday 14 February 2016

Betrayal at Calth

Ok, so I know this was released some time ago now but I finally got round to playing Betrayal at Calth.

Firstly, lets start with the contents of the box...

The quality is great, the range of bits is absurd and man, that is a lot of miniatures for your money, especially considering how much I have spent on resin crack from Forge World.

The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth

So far I have only stuck together the dreadnought, I just couldn't resist. He's not quite finished yet, just waiting for the new Space Wolves transfers to arrive, but I should hopefully have him completed next week sometime.

Lets get on to the game. My boss offered to play with me as he also has a fancy for 40k so I took it in to work, fully believing the "a game only takes 30 minutes" tag line...

We peeled back the cellophane on the board pieces and unpacked the dice. He played Word Bearers (with Space Wolves stand in minis) and I played Ultramarines (with Space Wolves stand in minis...).

The game board fit on an office desk, so it's much easier to transport and set up than a full on game or 40k (and even Space Hulk, which is surprisingly big). The space required and number of minis involved reminded me of Warmachine Hoards, when I had a demo game of that.

We played Scenario 1, which was essentially a race to the blast doors at the end of the board before they slam shut and bar your escape.

What I would say about this scenario is that: Blast Door 1 closes after the third turn, 2 closes after the fourth and 3 closes after the fifth. You can only move 2 hexes a turn, and Blast Door 1 is 7 hexes away. I'm not that great at math but unless you have a card that helps with tactical points or movement, you ain't never gonna get there in time!

We figured this pretty quickly and both set off for Blast Door 3.

The game was fun. We played it with everyone having bolters so that we could keep it simple, but essentially it's just a more complicated Space Hulk, which I love anyway.


Shooting with bolters seems a little ineffective, but close combat was real fun. The game itself took us 55 minutes, but it was the first time we'd even looked at the rules so I'm not surprised. I'll definitely take it in again and give it another go. I'm even tempted to paint up some minis specifically for the game (and I'm tempted to buy another box just for the minis!!)

Who won? I did, which makes a change because I never win at Space Hulk, 40k or 30k. This could be the game for me!!

If you brought the box for the minis, I urge you to give the game a try. I really hope it sticks around as one of the Specialist Games that GW are launching and supporting.

Dave



















2 comments:

  1. Nice post, I've had a couple of games and the board is amazing! One thing I'd mention is that you can move 2 hexes per action point, but as you have 2 action points per squad you can move 4 sexes in a turn. So that blast door is within reach.

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  2. Ah thanks for that Adam, I was hoping I'd read the rules wrong and it looks like I had. That might change things next time we play :-)

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