Pitfalls

Pitfall counter

Over the hundreds or thousands of years, natural decay combined with collisions and explosions within and outside the hulk have caused some floor sections to crack open, forming pitfalls.

  • Allows Movement, except for Marines who will need to Jump or Carefully Cross. See Actions for details. 
  • Allows LOS 
  • Cannot be destroyed. 
  • If the current map has multiple levels, can be used by Stealer units to move between the levels. See Actions for details. 
  • Stealer units can engage close assault on Marine units below if the Stealer is standing on a pitfall square and the Marine target is on the square below.

LOS between levels

On multi-level missions, Pitfall sections, like ladders, offer a limited LOS view to the other level.  Where a Pitfall is located on an upper level, it will usually have a corresponding bottom, a square that is located on the lower level that is directly below the pitfall.  All units standing on or next to and facing, a Pitfall square, will have LOS to the Pitfall bottom square only, in addition to their normal LOS on their current level. 

Crossing over Pitfalls

Stealers are very agile creatures, and pitfalls are no obstacle for them.  Stealers can move over or up and down pitfalls with no penalty.  Marines however, with their large bulky Terminator armour are not so fortunate.  They have 2 choices, they can either carefully take their time to cross over by making use of the little available footings, or they can take a chance and attempt to jump across.  Jumping across is far quicker but poses a risk of the Marine falling through.

If a Marine unit falls through a Pitfall and the current game is a single level map, then that Marine unit is considered killed and is removed from the board.  If the current game is a multi-level map and the Pitfall has a corresponding Pitfall Bottom, then the following rules apply:

  1. Roll 1D6.
  2. On a 1 the Marine unit is Killed and removed from the board.  On a 2-5 the Marine unit falls prone (see Knocked Prone), and on a 6 the Marine gets lucky and lands upright, but the Stealer player gets to choose which way he is facing.

Regardless of the above result, if a falling Marine unit landed on another unit, Stealer or Marine, then that unit is automatically killed and removed from the board.

Pitfall Placement

During a game there may be times when players can choose to place Pitfall counters on the board, from either an Event or Tactical card.  Pitfalls can also form due to an explosion that caused a rupture.  Ruptures can cause either a new pitfall to open, or the walls and ceiling to collapse into a pile of rubble.  The details of Ruptures will be covered in detail in a later section.

Placement of the counters must adhere to the following rules: 

  • Cannot be on a Doorway, even if the door is open or destroyed.
  • Cannot be on a square containing an objective. 
  • Cannot be on a square containing a unit. 
  • Cannot be on a square containing a Compressed Canister, Debris, Rubble Blockade or Pitfall.
  • Cannot be adjacent (N, S, E and W only, diagonal squares are fine) to another Pitfall counter. 
  • Cannot be adjacent (N, S, E and W only, diagonal squares are fine) to a Rubble Blockade counter.
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Credits

  • Original Game Design: Richard Halliwell.
  • This Advanced Edition Revision: Ken Allen
  • Original Expansions and Revisions Design: Jervis Johnson, Matt Forbeck and Andy Chambers.
  • Additional Material: Paul Murphy, Alex Goh, Dean H. Bass and Martin Kay.
  • Illustrators: Dave Andrews, John Blanche, Wayne England, David Gallagher, Jes Goodwin, Pete Knifton, Ian Miller, Steve Tappin, Kevin Walker, Paul Bonner, Fangorn, Mark Gibbons, Paul Green, Gary Harrod, Tony Hough, Richard Wright, Tony Ackland, Nick Coleman and Ken Allen.
  • Tactical Cards and Additional Counter Designs: Ken Allen
  • Copyright: All original game design, artwork, concepts and story are owned by Games Workshop: UK – Games Workshop, Willow Road, Lenton, Nottingham, NG7 2WS – US – Games Workshop, 6711 Baymeadow Drive, Suite A, Glen Burnie, Maryland 21060-6401 – Australia – Games Workshop, 23 Liverpool Street, Ingleburn, NSW 2565 – Canada – Games Workshop, 2679 Bristol Circle, Unit 3, Oakville, Ontario, L6H 6Z8

The owner of this web site advises visitors to buy original products, where available, from Games Workshop. The contents of this site are intended as additional fan-made material for existing owners of the original editions of Space Hulk by Games Workshop only.

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