Tartarus VII: An Apocalypse Battle Report (sort of)

With the army lists and mission already detailed, the only thing left to tell of the Battle of Tartarus VII is the actual battle report.

I’ve long-since learned that a proper battle report for an Apocalypse game is neigh-impossible to write if you’re actually playing in the game. You’re too busy participating to catch all of the nuance swirling around in the larger battle. And, since we don’t employe a professional reporter for our games, instead I’ve chosen to highlight various parts of the game that were more memorable.

To get up to speed, the teams were as follows:

The Victors

• Dan’s Imperial Guard
• My Ultramar PDF
• Albert’s Chaos
• Sam’s Adeptus Astartes (& Knights)

The Mission of Tartarus VII

I’m continuing my write-up for the Battle for Tartarus VII: an Apocalypse sized battle we used to herald the passing of 7th edition last year. For some reason, I wound up kicking the can down the road on writing up the batrep (if I had to guess why, I’d say it was apathy combined with the fact that I lost some of the army lists that folks had given me). Well, in an effort to right previous wrongs, I’m making good on my write-up.

As with previous Apoc battles (Apoc 2016, the Fall of Morrsleb, the Vacillite Campaign, Argos Prime, & Arctic Apocalypse 2010), I’ve taken to writing this in multiple parts:

• Army Lists
• Mission
• Battle Report

In some instances, I’ve broken them down even further, especially when there are excess details. This one will be summed up in three posts for sure though. The first post, covering Army list, went live earlier, so we’re up to the mission itself.

As with every game we’ve played, we try to mix things up a little bit each time. We’ve introduced some items over the years that have become regular staples (such as time clocks), and some that show up occasionally (like personal objectives). This game was to be no different.

Per usual, I enlisted the help of anyone who wanted to contribute for plot twists, terrain, and mission setup. For this game, Kurt and Mitch stepped up to the table, and we brainstormed ideas until we came up with something that seemed like it would work.

Apocalypse: The Armies of Tartarus VII

We held an Apocalypse game sometime last Summer, but I never bothered to do a proper write-up on it (or really, any write-up at all). Part of that was because I wasn’t in the mood and because I hadn’t collected all of the various army lists and such (though, I’m pretty sure the guys turned them in–and I’ve since lost them). Procrastination got the better of me, and now I’m here, more than six months later and trying to cobble together things from memory. What I can say for certain is that we all had four-thousand points to build lists with, and

I don’t recall what we called the teams, or even how we picked them. My guess is that we divided things up as evenly as possible ahead of time with pre-chosen teams (but folks didn’t know). This would split apart those folks that habitually play with each other, and then take those people that don’t often win, and spread them around to ensure that at least half of them would count as winning.

But at least I remember who played! That was Dan, Sam, Albert, Simon, Mitch, Tim, Kurt, and yours truly. The teams looked a little something like this…

Team 1: The Victors

(I’m not saying we won, but I’m on the team, so why not just give it a cool name, right?)

Dan’s Imperial Guard

• HQ:
  • Commissar Yarrick
  • 1x Ministorum Priest
  • 1x Ministorum Priest
  • 1x Ministorum Priest
  • Lord Commissar
  • Lord Commissar
• Elites:
  • 5x Bullgryn w/ Powermauls & Shields
  • 5x Bullgryn w/ Powermauls & Shields
  • 5x Ogryn w/ Ripper Guns
  • 5x Ogryn w/ Ripper Guns
  • 5x Ogryn w/ Ripper Guns
  • 5x Wyrdvane Psykers
  • 5x Wyrdvane Psykers
• Fast Attack:
  • 1x Scout Sentinel w/ Lascannon
  • 1x Scout Sentinel w/ Lascannon
  • 1x Armored Sentinel w/ Lascannon
• Fortification:
  • Aegis Defense Line w/ Icarus Lascannon
• Formation:
  • Imperial Sword Heavy Weapon Company
    • Company Command Squad w/ Nork Deddog & Lord Casellan Creed
    • 3x Lascannon Teams
    • 3x Lascannon Teams
    • 3x Lascannon Teams
    • 3x Lascannon Teams
    • 3x Autocannon Teams
    • 3x Autocannon Teams
    • 3x Heavy Bolter Teams
    • 3x Heavy Bolter Teams
    • 3x Missile Launcher Teams
    • 3x Missile Launcher Teams
    • 3x Missile Launcher Teams
    • 3x Missile Launcher Teams
    • 3x Missile Launcher Teams
    • 3x Missile Launcher Teams
  • Emperor’s Talon Recon Company
    • 3x Armored Sentinel w/ Missle Launcher
    • 3x Armored Sentinel w/ Missle Launcher
    • 3x Armored Sentinel w/ Autocannon

Dan has a bunch of different armies he can field, but I’d say he most often plays his IG–followed by Tau. His list consisted of a ton of guns that could help shoot stuff out of the sky.

Apocalypse: The Battle for Tartarus VII

A planet once rich in natural resources, Tartarus VII was long hailed as the gem of the sector.  But it had been millennia since those days.

Now, the planet resembled more of a wasteland prison.  Gone were the days when the manufactorums pumped out standard template constructs for the mighty Adeptus Mechanicus.  Now, these disheveled factories fill the air with soot while churning out bastardized creations: mere shells of what they used to be.

When the taint of the cult had infected the planet, all protection from the Imperium had been lost.  Though the inhabitants had managed to squelch the alien uprising long before the arrival of the Imperial fleet, the army of man can never be too careful…

Those who somehow managed to survive the virus bombing lay dormant for years underground.   When the air was no longer putrefied and life crept back onto the planet, they crawled out from their shelters and tried to cobble together some semblance of their former greatness.  Unfortunately, they no longer had the protection or resources of the Imperium–nor could they reach out to request aid, for fear that they would come back and “finish the job.”

Despite their efforts to begin terraforming the planet again, the inhabitants knew life could never be the same.  Their once great planet now consisted of a large battleground where disparate forces could come wage war in such a fashion so as not to harm their own planets.  Lumbering behemoths and champions from every race across the multiverse came here to do battle and further destroy the landscape.

The ground shook quietly beneath their feet; a new band of challengers had arrived…..

The below rules will be used for our upcoming Apocalypse game on June 3rd.  The base rules were taken from last Apoc game, those indicated are new for this specific game.