Apoc 2016: The Battle

One of these days I will learn that the only real way to do a battle report is to sit down immediately after the game and write out the details while they’re fresh in your mind.  Naturally, you’d have think I would have learned by this point in my life–and to some degree I have.  If you asked me, I’d give you the correct answer, but in practice, that doesn’t seem to happen all that much.

While I did do some of the write-up, I hadn’t finished it.  If you want to catch up on what you missed out on, check out these posts…

So, between the fact that I’m writing this a good two months after the actual game and the fact that Apoc games are large battles where no one player can fully capture the magnitude of what transpires, I’ll do my best to recall the events of the game.  Rather than trying to recall the entire game on a play by play, I figured I’d go over some of the high points by addressing some of my preconceived notions and how they played out.

1. People Will Paint Their Armies
2. People Will Play “Apoc Style” forces (super heavies & bad FoC)
3. Teams Will Not be Random
4. People Will Adhere to Specific Board Sections
5. The Score Will be Close
6. Everyone Will Have Fun

Let’s work on these in order from top to bottom:

Apocalypse 2016: The Rules

In an earlier post I had gone over some of the rules for personal objectives we used during our most recent Apoc game.  Most of the other rules were just cut and paste from previous games, but I figured I’d write up a post on them for historical value.  Those rules are as follows:

• Rules for Terrain:
  • Moving up or down the larger hills is considered difficult terrain, but does not add additional distance required to traverse them. (ie. If you’re immediately adjascent to a hill, you can go up it for 1″, but have to roll for difficult terrain)
  • All buildings that start on the table are considered ruins (4+) for this game.
  • The Ultramarine statue counts as an Imperial Statuary and conveys the following rules:
    • A model from the Armies of the Imperium (IG, SM, Adeptus Mechanicus or SoB) that is within 2″ of Imperial Statuary terrain has the Fearless special rule.
    • A model in cover behind Imperial Statuary has a 3+ cover save.
  • The Golden Demon statues counts as a Chaos Statuary and convey the following rules:
    • A model from the Armies of the Chaos (Demons or CSM) that is within 2″ of a Chaos Statuary terrain has the Fearless special rule.
    • A model in cover behind a Chaos Statuary has a 3+ cover save.
  • Prometheum relay pipes grant a 4+ cover save but on a roll of a 6 to save, roll another D6. On a roll of a 1, D6 S4 AP5 hits with the “Ignores cover” special rule
    • Flamer weapons fired by non-vehicles within 2” of a promethium relay pipe can change their weapon types from Assault to Heavy or from Pistol to Heavy. If it does so, the weapon gains the Torrent special rule until the end of that phase.
  • All other terrain on the table counts as scatter terrain and confers a 5+ save. This is to prevent confusion from the scattered ammo crates, fuel barrels, etc.
  • The base grass/dirt/snow mats confer no special rules for this game.
• Rules for the psychic phase during a multiplayer game:
  • Determining available Warp Charge:
  • During the psychic phase, each team will roll a single die to determine the amount of extra warp charge.
  • Each player on the team will generate warp charge per the number of levels of psychic mastery in his/her army.
  • Each player will then add an additional amount of dice as dictated by the roll at the start of the phase to their total to determine their final amount of warp dice.
  • Deny the Witch
  • Each player will have their own set of dice with which to attempt to deny psychic powers.
  • Only one attempt may be made to deny each casting of a psychic power. Teams are expected to collaborate as to who will attempt to deny each power.
  • Players can only benefit from modifiers to their dice roll if they are the target of the spell. If attempting to nullify a spell that is affecting another friendly unit, you would need a 6 to deny—regardless of whether that friendly unit had any bonuses.
  • Excepting above, players can combine dice to attempt to deny psychic powers. If different rolls are required by different players, please make note of that before any dice are rolled.
• Rules for Flyers:
  • The “Death from the Skies” ruleset will not be utilized for this game. All flyers should use the rules set forth in their codices instead.
• Rules for painted models:
  • To encourage painted models, we’ll be implementing the rule where “All (fully) painted models gain ‘Preferred enemy: unpainted models” where anything that isn’t deemed as fully painted counts as unpainted. As always, it’s up to the owner of the model to determine whether something is “fully painted” or not.
  • It is up to each player to determine what constitutes “completely painted unit.” In general, it should include multiple colors of paint and a base job. We are all adults, so we’ll be using the honor system.
  • The rules apply to entire units and are checked at the beginning of the game. So if a unit is painted except for one model, and that model later dies, the squad will not benefit from preferred enemy later in the game.
• Personal Objectives:
  • Personal objectives will be in use for the game.
  • Personal objectives are missions that apply to each player and will help to set the theme (explaining why a diverse group of armies have appeared to fight on a single battlefield) and gives players an alternate method to achieve victory.
  • The actual objectives will be unique for each player and will be dealt out to each player.
  • Players are not allowed to share their personal objectives with any other participant (including team-mates) until the game is over. If they do so, there will be a penalty to pay:
    • Sharing what your objective is with anyone else before the end of the game will incur a one-time penalty indicated on your objective card.
  • No personal objective can score more than 10 points during the course of the game (though we expect most to score less than that). If a player decides to take the penalty to share his objective with the rest of the team, that penalty counts against the 10 (so thereby reduces the maximum amount of points achievable by a player).Players are encouraged to coerce their team-mates throughout the game to help assist them to accomplish their personal objective. For example: If my personal objective was to destroy all super heavies on the table, I should encourage people to kill those super heavies even if it might not be the best move for my team mate at that particular time. Coercion should be done in such a way that it’s not obvious that I’m trying to get them to complete my objective for me.
• Changes to Objectives & Victory Points:
  • There will be no team objectives in this mission. Instead, team victory point totals will be determined by adding up each team member’s total points at the end to determine the winning side.
• Time Tracking:
  • Chess clocks will be used for the game, each team will be configured to have 4 hours of play time.
  • When time runs out for the first team, the other team will have the option of calling it or having one more player turn for their side.
• Food & Drink:
  • We won’t have an official break in the game for eating, just eat when you feel like it. That way, we can keep the game play continuous and get out as early as possible.

We opted not to use Death from the Skies (or whatever the flyer book is called) because of a lack of familiarity.  I’d never used it in a regular game and only read through it once, so we did away with it for fear that it might break something in Apoc.  In hindsight, it wouldn’t have made much difference at all, and we probably should’ve changed it out to use Death from the Skies but just skipped the dogfight phase (because it takes a while and can at most affect a single flyer on each side).

For Terrain, we opted to use the rules for some of the pieces, but not all of them.  All buildings counted as ruins (4+) because that was frankly quick and easy.  We only made exceptions for the promethium relay pipes and the imperial/chaos statuaries, and everything else just counted as standard scatter terrain.  While we could’ve extended the rules to cover the various ammo crates and oil drums, etc. it seemed like it would just become too much to keep track off, so we opted for a simpler arrangement.

Pretty much all of the other rules in some form or another came out of previous apocalypse games that we’ve played.  Well, that just about does it for setup–my next post will cover the actual game itself.  In order to breakup this wall of text, I did include a couple of photos from the game in this post… more to come on that soon…

Apoc 2016: The Armies

In our recent Apoc game, we went old school in how we picked teams.  I mean, truly old-school.  Like, line up against the wall and let’s revert to a popularity contest of drafting teams.  Generally I’ve avoided this because nobody wants to be picked last, but we figured that allowing the generals to pick their teams would thereby allow for more balance (or at least more strategy) when it came to dolling out the missions.

For a brief recap, at the beginning of the game, we sought volunteers to be the two team captains.  Those captains then got to read the dossier (seen in detail here) and then chose their teams.  The captain who won the coin flip to start the game got to choose whether they wanted to deploy & go first or to have first pick in the draft.  Brandon and Kurt graciously volunteered.  Kurt tossed the coin (with a  little too much vigor, as it bounced off the ceiling–but to his credit, he did manage to catch it).  Brandon called head’s and wound up winning the flip, then chose to go first.  Kurt began the draft, and the armies went a little something like this…

By the way, this is also the point where I’d normally include photos of all of the forces, but they may be a little lacking.  Everyone put their armies out to display, but I didn’t get photos of many of them (no excuses).  Luckily, Simon managed to snap a few shots before the game, so I’ll include them below.  (Thanks Simon).

Kurt’s Team:

Kurt’s Space Wolves:

• HQ:
  • Harald Deathwolf
  • Canis Wolfborn
  • Wolf Lord (Theldrun) w/ Runic Armor, Belt of Russ, PLasma Pistol, Krakenbone Sword on Thunderwolf
  • Iron Priest (Fengir) w/ Runic Armor, Servor Arm, Thunderhammer, on Thunderwolf w/ 4x Cyberwolves
• Elites:
  • Murderfang in Dreadnought Drop Pod
  • Contemptor Dreadnought (Aldr) w/ 2x H. Flamers, 2x Dreadnought Claws, & Saga of the Black Cull in Dreadnought Drop Pod
  • Venerable Dreadnought (Avgard) w/ Fenrisian Great Axe & Blizzard Shield in Dreadnought Drop Pod
  • Venerable Dreadnought (Arjarl) w/ Fenrisian Great Axe & Blizzard Shield in Dreadnought Drop Pod
  • Siege Dreadnought (Seigl) w/ Flamestorm Cannon & Assault Drill in Drop Pod
• Fast Attack:
  • Canis’ Fenrisian Pack x26
  • Thunderwolf Calvary x6 w/ 4x Stormshields & 2x Powerfists
  • Thunderwolf Calvary x6 w/ 4x Stormshields & 2x Powerfists
  • Stormwolf (Blizzard’s Howl) w/ Hellfrost, Lascannon, Multi-meltas
  • Stormwolf (Blizzard’s Snarl) w/ Hellfrost, Lascannon, Multi-meltas
• Heavy Support:
  • Stormfang (BLizzard’s Wrath) w/ Hellfrost Destructor, Lascannon & Multi-meltas
  • Brethren of the Fell-Handed
  • Bjorn the Fell-handed in Drop Pod
  • Venerable Dreadnought (Borjen) w/ Multi-melta & Powerfist in Drop Pod
  • Venerable Dreadnought (Melurn) w/ Multi-melta & Powerfist in Drop Pod

Kurt is one of the guys in our gaming group that has enough models that he can play a largely unique army each time he plays in an Apoc game.  He can do this while generally playing the same codex (though he has been known to dabble by throwing in some Eldar or IG to supplement his Space Wolves).  In previous games, he has brought lists that consist almost entirely of Titans, or foot troops.  This game he was very heavy on dreadnoughts in drop pods, which was–quite frankly–something I didn’t even know he owned… at least not  in that quantity.

It was interesting to see how they faired, especially because it seemed like most of them were dropped right in my face–but I’ll leave that for the actual battle report.

Dan’s Tau:

• HQ:
  • Commander Farsight
  • Commander
  • Cardre Fireblade
• Elite:
  • 4x xv8 Crisis Bodyguards
  • 4x XV8 Bodyguards (x4)
  • 1x XV104 Riptide Battlesuit
  • 6x XV8 Stealth Battlesuits
  • 6x XV8 Stealth Battlesuits
  • 6x XV8 Stealth Battlesuits
  • 1x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
  • 1x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
  • 1x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
  • 1x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
  • 1x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
  • 2x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
  • 2x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits
  • 1x XV8 Crisis Battlesuit with 1 marker drone
• Troops:
  • 12x Strike Team
  • 12x Strike Team
  • 12x Strike Team
• Fast Attack:
  • 4x Drones w/ marker lights
• Heavy:
  • 1x XV8 Broadside with 2 missile drones
  • 1x XV8 Broadside with 2 missile drones
  • 1x XV8 Broadside with 2 missile drones
  • 7x Sniper Drone Team w/ 2 marksman & 5 drones
  • 7x Sniper Drone Team w/ 2 marksman & 5 drones
  • 7x Sniper Drone Team w/ 2 marksman & 5 drones
• Lord of War:
  • KV128 Stormsurge

I think Dan wins the award for the most distinct units.  It’s apoc and there’s no Force Org Chart though, so it’s a distinct advantage to break up clumps of units into smaller factors.  In talking with him before the game, he was originally going to play another list entirely, but due to time constraints, he grabbed a box of models that he had laying around and turned that into a list.  Yes, it might be odd to think that one just has a box of this many painted Tau ‘just laying around,’ but I’ve seen Dan’s garage and I whole-heartedly believe him.

Sam’s “Imperial Fists”:

• HQ:
  • Chapter Master w/ Terminator ARmor, Iron Halo, Thunderhammer, Primarch’s Wrath
• Elites:
  • 10x Terminators w/ 2x Assault Cannons
  • 10x Sternguard w/ 2x Heavy Flamer, 2x Combi-flamer, inc. Vet Sergeant w/ Powerfist in Drop Pod w/ Deathwind Launcher
• Troops:
  • 10x Tactical Marines w/ Meltagun, Heavy Bolter, inc. Vet Sergeant w/ Powerfist & Combi-melta in Drop Pod w/ Locator Beacon & Deathwind Launcher
  • 10x Tactical Marines w/ Flamer, Heavy Bolter, inc. Vet Sergeant w/ Powerfist & Combi-flamer in Drop Pod w/ Locator Beacon & Deathwind Launcher
• Formations:
  • Imperial Knight Baronial Court
    • 1x Knight Warden w/ Meltagun, Twin-linked Autocannon, Mark of Omnissah
    • 1x Knight Errant w/ Meltagun & STormspear Rocket Pod
    • 1x Knight Paladin w/ Twin-linked Autocannon
    • 1x Knight Crusader w/ Battle Cannon & Ironstorm Missle Pod
  • Skyhammer Annihilation Force:
    • 10x Devastators w/ 3x Multi-melta & 1x Plasma Cannon in Drop Pod w/ Locator Beacon & Deathwind Launcher
    • 10x Devastators w/ 4x Missile Launchers in Drop Pod w/ Locator Beacon & Deathwind Launcher
    • 5x Assault Marines w/ 2x Plasma Pistol, inc. Vet Sarge w/ Powerfist & Plasma Pistol
    • 5x Assault Marines w/ Veteran Sergeant

Sam virtually always brings a drop-pod list because that’s really his shtick.  True to form, they made a bit of a show for our game, but the primary focus was the knight titans that he has been collecting for a while now.  They’ve been collecting dust on a back shelf somewhere, but he kicked things up a notch and got all of the painted specifically for this APoc game.  It’s great to use games like this as inspiration to finally paint something that’s been neglected for a while.

Simon’s Black Legion:

• Elites:
  • Chaos Decimator Engine w/ 2x Butcher Cannon & Dedications of Nurgle
• Troops:
  • 20x Chaos Space Marines w/ Boltgun, Icon of Vengeance, Plasma Gun, Plasma Gun, inc. Aspiring Champion w/ Combi-bolter, Lightning Claw, Melta Bombs, & Veterans of the Long War
• Heavy Support:
  • Chaos Infernal Relic Predator w/ Heavy Bolters, Plasma Destroyer
  • Chaos Vindicator w/ Combi-bolter, Daemonic Possession
  • Chaos Vindicator w/ Combi-bolter, Daemonic Possession
  • Defiler w/ Dirge Caster, Heavy Flamer, & Reaper Autocannon
  • 3x Obliterators w/ Veterans of the Long War
• Lords of War:
  • Khorne Lord of Skulls w/ Daemongore cannon, Skullhurler
• Formations:
  • Cyclopia Cabal
    • Chaos Sorcerer w/  Bolt Pistol, Force Sword, Jump Pack, Power Armour, Sigil of corruption, Spell familiar, Veterans of the Long War (Psychic Level 3)
    • Chaos Sorcerer w/ Bolt Pistol, Force Axe, Mark of Nurgle, Palanquin of Nurgle, Power Armour, Sigil of corruption, Spell familiar, Veterans of the Long War (Psychic Level 3)
    • Chaos Sorcerer on Bike w/ Bolt Pistol, Force Sword, Power Armour, Sigil of corruption, Veterans of the Long War (Psychic Level 3)
  • Daemon Engine Pack
    • Forgefiend w/ 2x Hades Autocannon
    • Maulerfiend w/ Magma Cutters
    • Warpsmith w/ Aura of dark glory, Bolt Pistol, Power Axe, Veterans of the Long War
  • The Bringers of Despair
    • Abaddon the Despoiler
    • 5x Chaos Terminators w/ 2x Chainfist, 3x Powerfist, 1x Lightning Claw, 1x Heavy Flamer, 3x Combi-melta, Gift of Mutation, Mark of Khorne, Veterans of the Long War

Speaking of painting something specifically for an Apoc game: Simon is basically our poster boy for this.  Every game we have he manages to get something new painted.  In this case, I know he did “Dwayne the Rape Train” (his affectionate name for his Lord of Skulls), and I’m pretty sure he did some other units as well, but I can’t think of which ones.    He seemed to take a bunch of formations this game, which is a bit of an oddity–almost nobody else took them.  More power to him though…

Andrew’s “Apocalyptic Blood”:

• HQ:
  • Khârn the Betrayer
• Elites:
  • 11x Plague Marines w/ 2x Flamers & Veterans of the Long War inc. Champion w/ Powerfist & Plasma Pistol in CHaos Rhino w/ Dirge Caster
  • 11x Plague Marines w/ 2x Flamers & Veterans of the Long War inc. Champion w/ Powerfist & Plasma Pistol in CHaos Rhino w/ Dirge Caster
• Troops:
  • 10x Khorne Berzerkers w/ Plasma Pistol, Veterans of the Long War inc. Champion w/ Powerfist & Plasma Pistol in Chaos Rhino w/ Dirge Caster, Warpflame Gargoyles & Havoc Launchers
  • 10x Khorne Berzerkers w/ 2x Plasma Pistol, Veterans of the Long War inc. Champion w/ Gift of Mutation, Powerfist & Plasma Pistol in Chaos Rhino w/ Dirge Caster, Warpflame Gargoyles & Havoc Launchers
  • 11x Plague Marines w/ 2x Flamers & Veterans of the Long War inc. Champion w/ Powerfist & Plasma Pistol in CHaos Rhino w/ Dirge Caster
  • 11x Plague Marines w/ 2x Flamers & Veterans of the Long War inc. Champion w/ Powerfist & Plasma Pistol in CHaos Rhino w/ Dirge Caster
• 10x Chaos Space Marines w/ 2x Plasma Guns, Mark of Khorne, & Icon of Wrath inc. Champion w/ Gift of Mutation, Power Fist, Plasma Pistol, Melta Bombs in Chaos Rhino w/ Dirge Caster, Warpflame Gargoyles & Havoc Launchers
• 10x Chaos Space Marines w/ 2x Plasma Guns, Mark of Khorne, & Icon of Wrath inc. Champion w/ Gift of Mutation, Power Fist, Plasma Pistol, Melta Bombs in Chaos Rhino w/ Dirge Caster, Warpflame Gargoyles & Havoc Launchers
• Fast Attack:
  • 1x Heldrake
  • 1x Heldrake
• Heavy Support:
  • 3x Obliterators
  • 3x Obliterators
  • 1x Defiler w/ Warpflame Gargoyles
  • 1x Defiler w/ Warpflame Gargoyles
  • 1x Defiler w/ Warpflame Gargoyles
  • Chaos Land Raider w/ Dirge Caster, Combi-Flamer, & Extra Armour

Drew is a guy we don’t see nearly enough, but on occasion we can draw him out with an Apoc game.  It’s good to have him over because I used to see him on a weekly basis, and now we’re relegated to once per year.  I was especially happy to see him on the other side of the table because he had all of those rhinos… again, more on that in the actual battle report.

Brandon’s Team:

Brandon’s Salamanders (Flameblade Strike Force Battle Company):

• HQ:
  • Vulkan He’stan
  • 1x Librarian: Psyker (Mastery Level 2)
  • 1x Librarian: Psyker (Mastery Level 2); The Tome Of Vel’Cona
  • 1x Librarian in Terminator Armour: Psyker (Mastery Level 2); storm shield
  • 1x Captain: thunder hammer; thunder hammer; artificer armour; The Salamanders Mantle
  • 1x Chaplain
• Troops:
  • 10x Tactical Marines: Veteran Sergeant (combi-flamer; melta bombs); 9 Tactical Marines; flamer; multi-melta in Drop Pod
  • 10x Tactical Marines: Veteran Sergeant (combi-flamer; melta bombs); 9 Tactical Marines; meltagun; multi-melta in Rhino
  • 10x Tactical Marines: Veteran Sergeant (combi-flamer; melta bombs); 9 Tactical Marines; meltagun; multi-melta in Rhino
  • 10x Tactical Marines: Veteran Sergeant (combi-grav; melta bombs); 9 Tactical Marines; grav-gun; plasma cannon
  • 10x Tactical Marines: Veteran Sergeant (combi-melta; power fist; melta bombs); 9 Tactical Marines; meltagun; multi-melta in Rhino
  • 10x Tactical Marines: Veteran Sergeant (combi-flamer; melta bombs); 9 Tactical Marines; flamer; missile launcher
• Elites:
  • 5x Veterans: Company Champion; Apothecary; Company Standard; 1 power weapon; 1 power fist; 2 × plasma gun in Drop Pod
  • 5x Terminators: Terminator Sergeant; 4 Terminators; 1 chainfist; 1 heavy flamer 190
  • 5x Assault Terminators: Terminator Sergeant (thunder hammer and storm shield); 4 Assault Terminators; 4 × thunder hammer and storm shield
  • 7x Sternguard Veterans: Veteran Sergeant (power fist); 6 Sternguard Veterans; 2 × combi-melta; 1 combi-plasma; 1 heavy flamer in Drop Pod
• Fast Attack:
  • 5x Vanguard Veterans: Veteran Sergeant (storm shield; relic blade); 4 Vanguard Veterans; 1 lightning claw; 1 storm shield; 2 × power weapon; 1 lightning claw; 1 thunder hammer; jump packs
  • 10x Assault Marines: Veteran Sergeant (power weapon; melta bombs); 9 Assault Marines; 2 × flamer
  • 10x Assault Marines: Veteran Sergeant (thunder hammer; melta bombs); 9 Assault Marines; 2 × flamer
• Heavy Support:
  • 10x Devastator Marines: Space Marine Sergeant; 9 Devastator Marines; 4 × missile launcher
  • 10x Devastator Marines: Space Marine Sergeant; 9 Devastator Marines; 4 × lascannon

Brandon doesn’t Apoc much.  Apparently he’d done so a bit back in the days of 4th edition, but that was long before I knew him.  We’ve talked it up a bunch, and he even hosted a game earlier this year.  He’s done a great job of finishing up a painted battle company of marines for Apoc, and that’s become his defacto standard army to play.  One of these days he’s going to surprise everyone by busting out his Chaos forces though… I can’t wait…

Rob’s Forces of Ultramar:

• HQ:
  • 1x Captain in Terminator Armor w/ Stormshield
  • 1x Librarian in Terminator Armor w/ Stormshield (Prescience, Perfect Timing, Precognition)
• Elites:
  • 5x Terminators w/ Thunderhammers & Storm Shields
  • 1x Ironclad Dreadnought w/ Heavy Flamer & 2x Hunter Killer Missiles in Drop Pod w/ Deathwind Launcher
  • 1x Techmarine w/ Thunderfire Cannon
  • 1x Techmarine w/ Thunderfire Cannon
  • 1x Techmarine w/ Thunderfire Cannon
• Fast Attack:
  • 1x Attack Bike w/ Multi-melta
  • 1x Attack Bike w/ Multi-melta
  • 1x Storm Talon w/ Twin-linked Assault Cannon & Twin-linked Lascannon
  • 1x Storm Talon w/ Twin-linked Assault Cannon & Twin-linked Lascannon
  • 1x Storm Talon w/ Twin-linked Assault Cannon & Skyhammer Missiles
  • 1x Storm Talon w/ Twin-linked Assault Cannon & Skyhammer Missiles
• Heavy Support:
  • 1x Whirlwind
  • 1x Whirlwind
  • 3x Centurion Devastators w/ Grav Cannons & Hurricane Bolters inc. Sergeant w/ Omniscope
  • 3x Centurion Devastators w/ Grav Cannons & Hurricane Bolters inc. Sergeant w/ Omniscope
  • 1x Heavy Artillery Carriage w/ Earth Shaker Cannon
  • 1x Heavy Artillery Carriage w/ Earth Shaker Cannon
  • 1x Heavy Artillery Carriage w/ Earth Shaker Cannon
  • 1x Heavy Artillery Carriage w/ Earth Shaker Cannon
  • 1x Heavy Artillery Carriage w/ Earth Shaker Cannon
  • 1x Heavy Artillery Carriage w/ Earth Shaker Cannon
• Fortifications:
  • Aegis Defense Line w/ Icarus Lascannon
• Formations:
  • Skyhammer Annihilation Force:
    • 5x Assault Marines w/ 2x Plasma Pistols
    • 5x Assault Marines inc. Veteran Sergeant w/ Power Axe
    • 10x Devastators w/ 2x Lascannons & 2x Multi-Melta in Drop Pod w/ Deathwind Launcher
    • 10x Devastators w/ 2x Missile Launchers & 2x Heavy Plasma in Drop Pod w/ Deathwind Launcher

My Apoc list doesn’t seem to vary all that much from game to game.  The biggest change this time was a lack of fortifications and the addition of some flyers.  I had wanted to paint up some Storm Ravens too, but time got the best of me.

Next Apoc, I should strive to make things a little more varied and put things like Tactical marines into the list…

Sean’s Eldar:

• HQ:
  • Wraithseer w/ D-Cannon (Warlord)
  • Eldrad Ulthran
  • Autarch w/ Banshee Mask, Eldar Jetbike, Fusion Pistol & Shard of Anaris
• Elites:
  • 5x Wraithguard w/ Wraithcannon in Wave Serpent w/ Holo-fields, Shuriken Cannon, & Twin-linked Starcannon
  • 5x Wraithguard w/ Wraithcannon in Wave Serpent w/ Holo-fields, Shuriken Cannon, & Twin-linked Starcannon
  • 5x Wraithguard w/ Wraithcannon in Wave Serpent w/ Holo-fields, Shuriken Cannon, & Twin-linked Starcannon
• Troops:
  • 6x Windriders w/ Shuriken Cannon
  • 6x Windriders w/ Shuriken Cannon
• Fast Attack:
  • 3x Hornet w/ Holo-fields & 2x Pulse Laser
• Heavy Support:
  • Fire Prism w/ Crystal Targeting Matrix, Holo-fields & Shuriken Cannon
  • Lynx w/ Holo-fields, Sonic Lance, Star Engines & Starcannon
• Lords of War:
  • Avatar of Khaine
  • Revenant Titan w/ 2x Pulsar
  • Wraithknight w/ Suncannon & Scattershield

He was on my side, and his list seemed small, but I had no idea that he had under 50 models in the entire force.  That means his average cost per model was upwards of 80 points each.  Egads… In comparison, I had nearly twice as many models and Mitch… well, Mitch is special…

Albert’s Chaos:

• HQ:
  • Typhus
  • Sorcerer (level 3) w/ Spell Familiar
• Elites:
  • 10x Chosen w/ 2x Lightning Claws, Melta Bombs, Mark of Nurgle in Rhino
  • 10x Terminator w/ 1x Heavy Flamer, 1x Reaper Autocannon, 2x Chainfist, 4x Powerfist, 1x Combi-melta w/ Mark of Nurgle in Land Raider
  • 5x Terminator w/ 2x Powerfist, 1x Reaper Autocannon, w/ Mark of Nurgle
  • 1x Hellbrute w/ Twin-linked Lascannon
  • 1x Hellbrute w/ Twin-linked Lascannon
• Troops:
  • 15x Plague Marine w/ 2x Plasmagun & 1x Power Weapon
  • 15x Plague Marine w/ 2x Plasmagun & 1x Power Weapon
  • 10x Chaos Space Marines w/ Plasma Pistol, Heavy Bolter, Powerfist w/ Mark of Nurgle in Rhino
  • 10x Chaos Space Marines w/ Plasmagun, Meltagun, Power Axe w/ Mark of Nurgle in Rhino
  • 20x Cultists w/ 1x Heavy Stubber, 1x Flamer, 1x Shotgun & Mark of Nurgle
  • 20x Cultists w/ 1x Heavy Stubber, 1x Flamer, 1x Shotgun & Mark of Nurgle
• Fast Attack:
  • 1x Helldrake
• Heavy Support:
  • 1x Forgefiend w/ Extra Ecto Cannon
  • 1x Landraider
  • 2x Obliterators w/ Mark of Nugle

Pretty standard Albert Apoc list.  We’re gonna have to get this boy a few new toys so he can include them into his army.  It’s all decent (as decent as his codex gets), but you’d think he’d like to mix it up a little more…

Mitchell’s “Corruption Rupture”:

• HQ:
  • Typhus
  • Herald of Nurgle w/ Greater Reward, Lesser Reward, Exalted Locus of Contagion, Palanquin of Nurgle, Psyker level 2
  • Herald of Nurgle w/ Greater Reward, Lesser Reward, Exalted Locus of Contagion, Palanquin of Nurgle, Psyker level 2
  • Herald of Nurgle w/ Greater Reward, Lesser Reward, Greater Locus of Fecundity, Palanquin of Nurgle, Psyker level 2
  • Herald of Nurgle w/ Greater Reward, Lesser Reward, Greater Locus of Fecundity, Palanquin of Nurgle, Psyker level 2
  • Necrosius the Undying
  • Chaos Space Marine Sorcer w/ Terminator Armor, Force Axe, Combi-bolter, Mark of Nurgle, Sigil of Corruption, Spell familiar, Vets of the Long War, Psyker level 3
• Troops:
  • 18x Plaguebearers of Nurgle w/ Icon of Chaos & Plagueridden
  • 18x Plaguebearers of Nurgle w/ Icon of Chaos & Plagueridden
  • 25x Plague Zombies inc. Champion
  • 25x Plague Zombies inc. Champion
  • 25x Plague Zombies inc. Champion
  • 25x Plague Zombies inc. Champion
  • 25x Plague Zombies inc. Champion
• Fast Attack:
  • 6x Plague Drones of Nurgle w/ Deaths’ Head, Instrument of Chaos, Icon of Chaos, Plague Banner, Plague Bringer, & Rot Proboscis
• Heavy Support:
  • Defiler
  • Maulerfiend
• Lord of War
  • Scabeiathrax the Bloated

Between Mitchell and Albert we actually had two copies of Typhus on our side of the table.  Albert’s version was slightly less protected as he wasn’t hiding behind nearly 200 various zombie & demon models.  If Sean wins the “least models on the table rule,” Mitchell definitely walks away with the most models (177 total for anyone that’s counting–which is more than three times as many as Sean had).

Apocalypse Missions 2016: A Variation on Personal Objectives

In ever Apoc game I host, I always try to mix things up a little bit so that things are a little unique to each game.  In doing so, we’ve found a variety of little tweaks to implement over the years.  Some that make a pretty consistent showing include the use of chess clocks and the one for personal objectives.   This particular Apoc game involved both of these, but as the chess clocks had literally no change from the previous iterations, I’ll skip over how that worked.  Instead, I’d like to focus on Personal objectives as we put in another additional twist this game.

First, I should say that my friend Sam came over and helped to plan the missions out.  We decided this time that there was no need for traditional “grab and hold” style team objectives, and instead assigned a quantity of points to each of a series of “personal objectives.”  At the end of the game, each team was to earn points equal to the total points earned by each player.

Our goal was to give each player a different way to “win” without forcing them into a specific role.  Based upon feedback we’d received in previous games, we made changes in the objectives that were given and how they were given out.  In previous games we had some objectives that were largely considered “bad” (such as “in defense of defense” and “pacifism,” of which you can see more details here).  We tried to make all of the missions (except one) be something that people could achieve and likely have some fun with.   We tried to create missions with flexibility as we were unsure what the opponents would be fielding (so having a mission that was all about killing psykers when your opponent had no psykers would prove problematic).  Lastly, we decided to have the “General” (a volunteered/nominated team leader) of each side get to see all of the missions and then hand them out to everyone at the start of the game based upon their army composition.

The missions (And rules given to each commander ) we came up with were as follows:

++++ BEGIN FIRST RULES BLURB ++++

After the draft has been completed, the commander will divvy out personal objectives to the members of his team. These objectives will be hidden from other players, so only you and the player holding a given objective will know what it is. There is a rule to allow them to share that information at a penalty later.

Although these objectives can’t be shared by players throughout the game, you will know at the onset which objectives were given to each of your team mates. Though you’re not allowed to share with the team who has which objective, you can certainly encourage people to deploy or target certain areas of the field instead of others. (ie. “Hey Bob, maybe you should concentrate your fire on the infantry there and let Rick take out that titan…”).

The summary of each of the objectives is listed below. NOTE: for “Earth Shaker, there is an additional special rule that you know of, but is not known to the person who has the card. It is written in red below.

• Earth Shaker (-5)
  • Earn 2 points for each enemy fortification you destroy during the game. AT THE END OF THE GAME, YOUR TEAM GETS A +25% BONUS TO ALL VICTORY POINTS AT THE END OF THE GAME. (the +25% bonus should remain a secret until the end of the game when tallying up the score—if it comes out earlier, no bonus will be given—so you should keep this sheet secret from the rest of your team).
• Hammer of the Gods (-2)
  • Earn 3 points for each enemy superheavy destroyed during the course of the game.
• Stand Your Ground (-4)
  • At the end of the game, earn 10 points if you control one unit within 6″ of the Imperial Statue and there are no enemy units within 24″. For each enemy unit within the range, subtract one from the earned points.
• Heroes’ Bane (-2)
  • Earn 5 points for each enemy warlord you kill during the course of the game. Due to the difficulty of this mission, the maximum number of points you can achieve for this is not 10, but is rather 20.
• Death from the Skies (-2)
  • Choose one of the following:
    • Earn two points for each enemy flyer destroyed by one of your units during the game. OR
    • Earn one point for each enemy unit destroyed by one of your flyers or flying monstrous creatures during the game.
• Grand Theft Rhino (-4)
  • Earn 3 points for each enemy transport stolen during the game. Your units gain the ability to embark on enemy transports as if they were your own. Your units still need to meet any model size requirements of the transport. Once embarked, you may not fire any of the weapons, but may use fire points normally. Your units ignore the distance that the vehicle previously moved for embarking on them.
• Purge the Witch (-2)
  • Choose one of the following and consult the chart:
    • Earn points for each enemy psyker destroyed by one of your units. OR
    • Earn points for each enemy unit destroyed by one of your psykers.

Total Psykers	Points per kill
1-9	2
10+	1

• EACH Team also has one of the following:
  1. A Penny Saved (-1) —
     • A penny has been placed on each of the buildings. At the end of the game, earn 1 point for each penny that shows TAILS. As you move a unit (via any means) into the footprint of any building, you can choose to flip the penny over. Moving includes normal movement, runs, falling back, consolidation, etc.
  2. A Penny Earned (-1)
     • A penny has been placed on each of the buildings. At the end of the game, earn 1 point for each penny that shows HEADS. As you move a unit (via any means) into the footprint of any building, you can choose to flip the penny over. Moving includes normal movement, runs, falling back, consolidation, etc.

++++ END FIRST RULES BLURB ++++

Additionally, the following rules pertaining to personal objectives were given to each player (plus each player would be given one of the above listed personal objective cards):

++++ BEGIN SECOND RULES BLURB ++++

• Personal Objectives:
  • There will be no team objectives in this mission. Instead, team victory point totals will be determined by adding up each team member’s total points at the end to determine the winning side.
  • Personal objectives will be in use for the game.
  • Personal objectives are missions that apply to each player and will help to set the theme (explaining why a diverse group of armies have appeared to fight on a single battlefield) and gives players an alternate method to achieve victory.
  • The actual objectives will be unique for each player and will be dealt out to each player.
  • Players are not allowed to share their personal objectives with any other participant (including team-mates) until the game is over. If they do so, there will be a penalty to pay:
    • Sharing what your objective is with anyone else before the end of the game will incur a one-time penalty indicated on your objective card.
  • No personal objective can score more than 10 points during the course of the game (though we expect most to score less than that). If a player decides to take the penalty to share his objective with the rest of the team, that penalty counts against the 10 (so thereby reduces the maximum amount of points achievable by a player).Players are encouraged to coerce their team-mates throughout the game to help assist them to accomplish their personal objective. For example: If my personal objective was to destroy all super heavies on the table, I should encourage people to kill those super heavies even if it might not be the best move for my team mate at that particular time. Coercion should be done in such a way that it’s not obvious that I’m trying to get them to complete my objective for me.

 

++++ END SECOND RULES BLURB ++++

Sam and I, though we knew what all of the missions were, opted not to become generals because we had done a significant amount of talking in advance and felt we knew which missions were the best because of it (hint: we both really like “Earth Shaker” despite knowing that there would likely be very few fortifications in the game).  We also thought it was an added element of fun for other players to be the general.

Our goal before the game was to balance each objective so that a team should score roughly 6 points per objective–so each team should end up with roughly 6 points–no matter which one they choose (assuming they all played relatively well).   Since we don’t have much experience designing missions like this, we also included the “no more than 10 points” rule so that one army didn’t tilt the scales (an army of Flyrants basically breaks the “killing a unit with your flyers” or “killing with psykers”).  I won’t spoil the end of the game much, but it turns out that we were relatively close to that goal by the end.  I’ll go more into that at a later date.

For anyone that’s interested, I’ve uploaded the Word format cards that I printed out at this link: Apoc2016Cards. I didn’t spend a long time editing them or making them look particularly fancy, but someone might find some value in these. To print them out, I used Avery template 5871 “Clean Edge Business Cards” to print them out. I”m sure you could just use normal paper and cut it out with scissors though…