Space Gits: First Impressions

'Ere we go!

I recently had the opportunity to play the miniature skirmish game Space Gits with a few longtime friends, and I had such a good time with it that I wanted to write about it. Space Gits is a game about drunken orks fighting one another and causing mischief. It was created by the game designer Mike Hutchinson, best known for Gaslands, a Mad Max-esque vehicular combat game. Space Gits is marketed as a “dexterity-based” miniatures skirmish game, which is liable to turn some heads as “dexterity” is not something you expect to employ while playing a miniatures game.

In Space Gits, the dexterity-based portion of the game pertains to how dice are used, which it implements in many unique ways. For one, every time an ork takes damage over the course of the game, you represent that by stacking a 6-sided die (D6) into a tower beside the model (a weak hit might force you to add 1 D6 to the dice tower for the model, whereas a stronger hit might require you to add two or more D6). If you cause the dice tower of one of your orks to topple, the ork has fallen over in a  drunken stupor and can no longer activate (unless another ork gets into base-to-base contact with them and kicks them with a “boot” action). Players take turns activating a single ork model. When a model is activated, they can do up to two different actions from the following list: 1) scoot (move), 2) shoot, and 3) boot (kick a fallen ork to wake them up). Once you finish activating a model, you have to add 1 D6 to the ork’s dice tower to represent them taking a swig of alcohol and getting a little more drunk. 

This ork’s dice tower is growing very high, suggesting they are getting pretty inebriated. It is unlikely that they will be upright for very long.

Both Scooting and Shooting use dice in a unique way, as well. When you wish to move a model, you take 3 D6 (the number can vary depending on the type of model) and roll them on the game board. The placement of the dice after rolling dictates the directions in which the model can move. Once the dice are rolled, you move your model toward each die, one at a time. The number on the die you are moving towards dictates the number of inches you must move in that direction. After finishing the movement with one die, you choose another and move towards it. You keep doing this until you have gone through all the dice, or until you hit something. If you hit something, your movement stops. If you run into an opponent’s model, a fight breaks out (which I will describe later in this article). As an added challenge, every time you move an ork, you must move their dice tower along with them (remember, if you topple the dice tower, the ork falls over and their activation ends)! To shoot, you roll dice (the number dictated by the weapon) in the play area and your model can shoot in a straight line towards one of those dice. If a model is in the path of one of these shooting dice, and within the range of the weapon, the weapon hits. You then compare the value on the shooting die to the toughness of the model taking the hit. If the value equals or exceeds the model’s toughness, the model takes Big Damage. If the value is below the model’s toughness, they take Small Damage. How much Big or Small Damage amounts to varies based on the weapon, but the damage is always applied by adding dice to the model’s dice tower. Based on where your shooting dice fall on the table, you might not be hit anything, so shooting successfully takes a little bit of skill and a little luck.

This Klankbot is scanning the battlefield for a suitable target to shoot with their Blaster. Space Gits is the perfect opportunity to use this old tinboy model we painted a while back.

If your movement causes your model to get into base-to-base contact with an opponent model, a fight erupts! Interestingly, a fight is resolved by playing a modified game of Rock, Paper, Scissors (which Space Gits calls “Thump, Shove, Pinch”). Thump (Rock) cancels Pinch (Scissors). Pinch (Scissors) cancels Shove (Paper). Shove (Paper) cancels Thump (Rock). A Thump (Rock) will damage the opponent by adding dice to their tower, unless it was cancelled by Shove (Paper). A Pinch (Scissors) allows you to steal a Bottle Cap from your opponent's stash (you need to collect Bottle Caps to win. More on this later), unless it was cancelled by a Thump (Rock). A Shove (Paper) forces the opponent model backwards by 3 inches, unless cancelled by a Pinch (Scissors). When a round concludes, if the models are still in base-to-base contact and standing, you play another round!

A fight has broken out between these two orks. How many rounds of Thump, Shove, Pinch will it take before the fight is resolved?

At the start of a game, after terrain has been set up, each player drops six bottle caps onto the center of the table. These bottle caps represent loot you are trying to collect throughout the game. If a model runs into a bottle cap during a Scoot action, they pick up the bottle cap. At the end of the game, the person with the most bottle caps is the winner. As a fun additional rule, if you finish a bottled beverage during the game, you can drop it anywhere you please on the game board!

A wealth of bottle caps await this fortunate ork. But will their Scoot dice line up properly so that he can collect them?

After cracking open a bottle of Coca-Cola, this bottle cap was dropped onto the table with the intent of causing the dice tower of this ork to fall. Amazingly, the tower stood resilient.

Jon celebrates after successfully stacking a total of 17 D6 on top of one another. No one was able to surpass 17 dice during the rest of the day of gaming.

We all had a great time playing Space Gits and are eager to play it again. It adds a refreshing vitality to miniature skirmish games, taking a commonplace task like dice rolling and adding an extra dimension to it. While it might not be a game that would thrive in a competitive scene, it is sure to be one that will be embraced among friend groups and be talked about for years to come! If this sounds interesting to you, you can find the quickstart rules for the game on Planet Smasher Games’ website. Also, the Hive Scum Podcast has a good interview with Mike Hutchinson where they talk to him about his design process and how Space Gits came to fruition. Make sure to listen to that, as well!

- Gregory Wier