Celebrating The Apocalypse Part 4: The Big Game

Greetings and felicitations to my fellow Chaos brethren. Welcome back to the latest edition of Chaos Corner. It's been a wild time for us 40K players, hasn't it? We just keep getting lots of goodies, with no signs of letting up (rumors of Black Legion supplement incoming). Whew!

First off, I got the Apocalypse book from a week and a half ago. While some of the data sheets are similar, this really is a different beast from the old Apocalypse edition. There's lots of new rules, randomness, several missions, Finest Hour, Divine Intervention, Unnatural Disasters, and a lot more. A game of Apocalypse is a bit more complicated than the previous edition, some of which is great, some of which is a bit too much book-keeping. However, the best thing about the book is the emphasis on "this is a guide... do what works for your game". Thus, not every single rule MUST be followed... Apocalypse is meant to be a huge, fun, experience. Something the group doesn't like? Get rid of it. The group has a new idea? Give it a go. They even give you additional ideas to try out. The book is really good, with lots of art, some fluff (Warzone: Armageddon), and lots of formations.

So, the GW store "near" me had an Apocalypse game the day the book came out. I decided to go, and I brought with me a ton of Plague Marine stuff, including my Titan and Baneblade. I brought nearly 7K points worth of stuff with me- I wasn't sure just how big this game would be, nor did I know what others would bring.

Well, we had two sides- the forces of good (Tau, Grey Knights, Blood Angels, and a small contingent of Necrons) on one side, and the forces of disorder on the other (my Plague Marines, Iron Warriors, Orks, and some odds and ends). I was made the warlord of our side, and Typhus was the leader. Hahaha... not a good start, huh?

A ton happened in this game, so there's no way I could give you a play by play, so I'll just get to the highlights:

The store manager, Ian, was calling the shots for the game and started by giving the forces of good a Baneblade (called the "Bling-Blade" based on its gold paint job). and it fired immediately, causing a great deal of damage to my Titan. I could see how this was going to go, my Titan would be target number one.

The forces of good went first, and it took a while, no doubt (that's what happens in a game this size). Their heavy weapons target my Titan constantly, with Tau Tiger Shark air craft taking the last of its hull points. There was the requisite huge explosion, and many Plague Zombies died, but that's what they are for. Indeed, a lot died in their shooting phase overall, but heck, there was a lot on the table. Further, lots of marines deep striked in that turn as well (terminators and jump packs, including Dante jumping in near my forces).

I thought we'd have our revenge in our shooting phase, but it was 50-50. My Baneblade got revenge for the Titan though, destroying a whole swath of Tau- men, battle suits, and vehicles. My Vindicators also blew holes in the advancing Necrons and Tau. On the other end, I threw in all the zombies I had to halt the oncoming advance of the combined Adeptus Astartes forces- they did their job, despite the heavy losses they took from the Titan explosion. I fired a lot at their Dreadnoughts and of course I tried to kill Dante- I wounded him, but I simply couldn't kill him.

Lots of Grey Knights were lost due to the Unnatural Disaster!

Removing the Grey Knights

After they were all removed.

Now, all of that (ONE turn) took hours. Holy cow! Well, now it was turn 2, and games master Ian selected me as the "Master of Disaster". He desperately wanted me to do "Total Collapse" from the Seismic Disaster table. So, I rolled for one random table segment to be destroyed (it could have been my side or theirs). I rolled quite well- it was their side, and I killed a TON of Space Marines- I think I must have killed 1K points worth just like that. Whoa... maybe that's too powerful? But it was fun, though.

Thus, their 2nd shooting phase was next- they decided to target a lot of shots at my Baneblade, and once again their concentrated fire destroyed it- with lots of Orks getting the burn on that one. A vindicator of mine was destroyed, as were 2 of my dreadnoughts. My zombies were still brawling and drooling, though most of them were dead by now (again). Sadly, Dante still lived; and we got the Bling Blade down to 1 Hull Point. We only had 1 Heldrake (I left mine home since I wasn't sure about carrying it on top of everything else), and they had several planes, so we had a hard time dealing with their air superiority.

Dante lived, despite the firepower I threw at him

Sadly, we did not get to have much of our side of turn 2, as the store was closing in a bit, and we had to clean up. The forces of good won, and I'm pretty sure they would have won even if we got more turns.

Overall, it was a ton of fun. The super-heavies now have hull points, and since even glancing hits take a hull point away, you can see that it is easier to get rid of the super-heavies now. However, that goes for both sides- so it is even. I see the need for more air/anti-air, at least for Apocalypse. I'll need to work on more Heldrakes for my Plague Marines. Ultimately, I am very glad I participated in the battle, despite the loss.It was a lot of fun, and seeing so much total destruction was great. I also got to play with a cool group of guys too, which only makes it better. The Necrons, Iron Warriors, Blood Angels and the Grey Knights were particularly well painted, which made the battle even more fun. The forces of evil may have lost this battle, but the war goes on...

As Dr. Claw always said "Next time, Gadget... Next time!!!"