SPACE HULK

a miniatures gamer, lapsed or otherwise. First released in 1989 by Games Workshop, it was the entry point for many to the Warhammer 40,000 universe – and about as close as you could get to an unofficial boardgame. It was set aboard a derelict spacecraft (the Hulk of the title), with you playing as either the Space Marine Terminators – an elite squad of heavily-armoured warriors with big guns and a dubious attitude towards xeno race relations – or the Genestealers, vicious six-limbed monsters with pointy teeth and rending claws. This led to a simple, but thrilling, setup. The Termies would slowly trudge through the ship’s corridors on various missions, while being attacked by wave after wave of’stealers. These would be represented by “blips” on the scanner – cardboard tokens that flipped to reveal how many baddies were there. It had tension, it had the potential for setting cunning traps and, best of all, it had Citadel miniatures.