''Ultra Marines'' is one of a series of 4 "introductory" board games released by

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...

in 1991 (The other three being Space Fleet,

Kerrunch ''Blood Bowl'' is a Board game, miniatures board game created by Jervis Johnson for the United Kingdom, British games company Games Workshop as a parody of American football. The game was first released in 1986 and has been re-released in ne ...

and

Mighty Warriors ''Mighty Warriors'' is an adventure board game created by Games Workshop in 1991 and set in the '' Warhammer Fantasy'' fictional universe. The core rules allowed players to explore dungeons, which were randomly generated, and fight monsters, a ...

). Set in the ''

Warhammer 40,000 ''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, ...

'' universe, it is effectively a 'scaled-down' version of ''

Space Hulk ''Space Hulk'' is a board game for two players by Games Workshop. It was released in 1989. The game is set in the fictional universe of ''Warhammer 40,000''. In the game, a "space hulk" is a mass of ancient, derelict space ships, asteroids, and ...

'' and ''

Tyranid Attack ''Space Crusade'' is an adventure board game produced by Milton Bradley together with Games Workshop and was first made in 1990. It was produced in the UK and available in some other countries including Finland, Ireland, France, Spain, Denmark ...

'', using plastic Marine Scouts from the Ultramarines,

Space Wolves In the fictional universe of ''Warhammer 40,000'', the Space Marines, also known as the Adeptus Astartes, are superhuman warrior-monks who fight for the Imperium of Man. They wear mechanised suits of armour and have modified genomes that grant the ...

, Dark Angels and Blood Angels chapters. Other components include event cards, a simple ruleset, as well as corridor and room tiles from the game ''

''.

Rules

Before the game begins, players arranged the interlocking room and corridor tiles on the playing area to represent a maze (a "

"). Alien Artefact counters are randomly placed throughout the play area. Each player sets up their 5 models in a starting room of their choice and then take turns to move their pieces. The object of the game is to move the various Scout models to retrieve the artefacts and carry them to the starting rooms while stopping opponent models from achieving the same goal. Random event cards are dealt to each player that allows them to either help their own models (in the form of medipacks or double movement) or hinder opponents (by placing obstacles in their path or attacking them directly). Unlike other Games Workshop games, Ultra Marines featured a unique method of determining the accuracy of weapons fire and close combat attacks. The box of the game featured a grid printed on the inside of the lid, and dice were thrown into the lid and the results read from the squares that the dice landed in. However, this led to eventual problems after release as the cardboard box would warp or become worn after years of use and the distortion of the box lid would skew results.

External links

* {{Games Workshop Board games introduced in 1991 Warhammer 40,000 tabletop games Science fiction board games Board games with a modular board Games Workshop games