Thursday, October 8, 2015

Post-Apocalypse



Last weekend we had our Apocalypse game and it was a giant pile of fun.



We used some slightly modified rules and they went as follows:

  1. Every unit must be part of some kind Combined Arms Detachment, Formation, Allied Detachment, Etc.  
  2. All models must have a minimum of three colors of paint.
  3. Warp Charges are limited to 30
  4. The only vehicle damage that is accounted for is Destroyed results; everything else just removes a hull point.
  5. Each side has a one hour time limit per turn.
  6. Look our sir rolls automatically pass.
Everyone showed up around 9:00 to start setup and enjoy some bourbon with their coffee.  We did a pincer attack setup on a 6'x12' board.  Chaos deployed in the center and the forces of order deployed on either end.

I am still astounded at the sheer volume of stuff we put on the board.

Drew and Cameron discuss deployment strategies, while Kim implements her exit strategy.

There is some serious firepower coming from this side of the board.

As Drew and Cameron began deployment, Harry and I began rolling for our daemonic gifts and powers.

Chaos needed two of these boards to keep track of everything.

As far as super-heavies go, Chaos had Scabeiathrax, An'ggrath, and the warhound titan. Order had two baneblades and a shadow-sword.

The more significant units for the forces of chaos were our deepstriking daemons (of which there were many), our crazy number of psykers (which let us dominate the psychic phase), and the large number of monstrous/gargantuan creatures.

The forces of order were no slouches either.  Their more important units were the three superheavy vehicles and the many deep striking units.

All of the pictures with the filters are from my friend Phil

Epedimus did a great job at buffing the other Nurgle daemons in the center.



With our psychic domination we were able to effectively maintain invisibility on various key models.  Most of the time this was the titan, but there were a couple of turns were it was cast on one of the gargantuan creatures.

The heldrakes caused some serious pain for any exposed marines.

Draigo and Paladins stare down An'ggrath

There were tons of deep striking units on turn one.  Both sides brought plenty of disruption units.  As a result no one moved too much the first turn.  

Lysander and 10 thunderhammer terminators managed to land right in the center of the Chaos force; however, since they were unable to spread out they became a prime target for my two wyverns.  The terminators ended up taking enough wounds to wipe everyone but Lysander who was eventually felled by the Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage.

Backfield disruption played a significant roll in this game.


Some sternguard get ready to take out a squad of possessed.

If you haven't ever played a game this big it can be a bit exhausting.  Our hour timer meant we were rushed.  We forgot to make key charges.  Both sides made plenty of mistakes in their rush.

A couple of daemon princes take down a space marine captain.  
Not pictured, the landraider and five terminators he started with.

Alot of warhammer requires alot of tea.

The titan was definitely the centerpiece of the battle.

Despite all of the big guys, the battle was relatively balanced.  Chaos didn't make a big victory push until the last turn.  
Chaos managed to score 16 points on our last turn.


We all had a ton of fun playing this game and we are hoping to do a game this size about every six months.  This gives everyone enough time to paint up a few more units or a new superheavy.  I know that Cameron is going to begin working on his superheavy soon, so it should be available for the next game.  We also had a couple of guys who were unable to attend due to their schedules, so hopefully they can join in on the fun the next time around.

8 comments:

  1. I'm curious why you opted to use detachments? This forces players to take basic units like marines or guard blobs and that fills up the board with bodies that require time to move around and shoot, etc when they don't bring a lot to the game. You may consider dropping the detachment restriction and letting players play whatever. Peeps will likely field more elite (and expensive) units and that will speed up play quite a bit.

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    1. These were simply the rules as decided by the host. I personally would not have been able to field nearly as big of an army without the regular grunts.

      Strangely enough, the little guys were fairly significant. My two blobs of guardsmen prevented charges on juicier targets. We didn't waste time shooting lasguns (not a single one fired the entire game), but their positioning was critical in bogging down some deep striking terminators.

      Also, I don't think a single cultist died in the entire game.

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    2. That is kinda what I figured would happen. They only contribute to the game by taking up space :P If the grunts were not there would the game have played out faster, assuming you had enough elite stuff to fill out the points?

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    3. The game would have played out much faster, but I'm not sure it would have been more fun. Without the blocking bodies I suspect that there would have been a lot more of, "Well, 10 thunderhammer terminators charged _______ and it died instantly."

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    4. Hrm, I fail to see why that is a problem. Apoc is about massive apocalyptic battles where you are engaging in battle with the most sophisticated weaponry available. I mean outside of nukes and planet killer viruses. So to me you want 10 t. hammer terminators killing stuff because they'll die to some 10" D pie plate a turn later.

      I guess in the end its about preference of play. I would be very annoyed if I had to charge my titan into 10 silly cultists simply because they were in the way. Titans and super heavies should plow right over them like they aren't even there and the rules for this type of stuff is really crappy if you ask me. The lord of skulls is a very cool unit for apoc style games. However, i'd never field it simply because some hoser would assault it with 30 fearless termagaunts and lock it up for the entire game. That simply shouldn't ever happen.

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    5. Yeah, this mostly came down to preference of play.

      Random question: Is there any rule preventing a lord of skulls from charging after it does a thunderblitz?

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    6. No, it can assault after a thunderblitz. Though it gets locked in combat and cannot stomp, so beware assaulting fearless stuff as you will find yourself stuck in combat for the whole game squishing one termagaunt at a time :(

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  2. All vehicles and monstrous/gargantuan creatures!

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