Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

The night that 5th edition came out we all decided that the most stupidest way to kick of the new edition was with a great big game of Apocalypse! That way we could be assured of screwing up as many rules as possible as we add in the confusion of what scoring units are now and whatever other tweaks the Apocalypse expansion puts on the rules. To make things even more awesome we all had our fanboy hands on the new Apocalypse expansion – “Reload.” Since none of us bothered to read any farther than our own army assets we had no clue that the book actually has some ideas on how to handle the new scoring unit issue. Of course to gaming gods like us these facts are meaningless anyways, and we proceeded to set up our 8’ x 8’ table for a 12,000 point 4 on 4 game.

[NOTE] I usually don’t do battle reports for our Apocalypse games because there’s just too much going on usually. This is the biggest game I’ve tried to document and so much slipped through the cracks that I’m probably going to just go back to documenting the normal games only. Sorry for the vagueness in the army lists and in the report itself!

Scenario: Apocalypse
Armies: IG,IG,UM,YM vs OR,TA,SA,CM

IG (my Imperial Guard)
Company Command Squad with lascannon in Chimera, 3 x infantry platoons. Platoon 1 squads have plasma guns and vet sarges with bolters while platoon 2 squads have melta guns. 3rd Platoon has heavy bolters. The hellhounds form a squadron from the new “Reload” book. 2 Sentinels with multilasers, 1 with an autocannon, and 3 with lascannons (each separate units to be cheesy). 4 Leman Russ Battle Tanks with hull heavy bolters. ‘Emperor’s Wrath’ Artillery Battery (3 Basilisks with Indirect Fire). Baneblade

IG (Andrew’s Imperial Guard)

Company Command squad and 4 heavy weapon squads. 3 squads of veterans. Techpriest Enginseer with 2 gun servitors. 3 Leman Russ’s with hull heavy bolters and sponson heavy bolters. 1 Demolisher with hull lascannon and plasmacannon sponsons. 1 hellhound. Baneblade, and his asset the shield generator.

UM (Jeff’s Ultramarines with Titan)

Jeff’s marines were so intermixed around the titan’s legs I couldn’t tell what squads were armed with what. Sicarius. 4 Tactical Marine squads. 2 Devestator squads. Reaver Titan.

YM (Shawn’s Yellow Marines)

I don’t remember what these guys are called so I’m just going to refer to them as the yellow marines. Librarian on a bike. Chaplain. Attack Bike squad with 2 heavy bolters and a melta-gun. 3 landspeeders with 2 heavy bolters and a melta-gun. 1 10 man unit of scout snipers and 1 5 man unit of scouts. 3 x 10 man tactical squads mounted in rhinos and 1 x 5 man tactical squad in a razorback. 10 tactical marines in a landraider crusader. 1 predator with turret TL lascannons and sponson heavy bolters. 1 dreadnought with lascannon and missle launcher.


The Opposition
OR (Ryan’s Orks)

Warboss in mega armor. 1 mek with shokk attack gun and 1 mek with custom force field. 30 shoota boyz. 2 x 30 ork units of slugga boyz. 10 lootas. Dread mob including 3 deff dreads and 6 killa kans. 10 boyz in a truck and 4 or 5 mega armored nobz in another truck. 1 looted vehicle. 1 Skullhamma fortress.

TA (Steve’s Tau)

2 x Shas’O with 2 bodyguards and 6 shield drones. 5 x 12 man firewarrior squads with 2 drones. 6 Hammerheads with railguns and missile pods.

SA (Chris’ Salamanders and Imperial Guard)

Commander, and Chaplain with a large command squad including a champion and a medic and probably some other stuff. 4 tactical squads. 2 devestator squads. 1 dreadnought with lascannon/missile launcher and 1 dreadnought with DCCW and assault cannon. 1 whirlwind firing mines. 2 x 10 man grenadier squads mounted in a chimera. ‘Emperor’s Wrath’ Artillery Battery (3 Basilisks with Indirect Fire).

CM (Anthony’s Chaos Space Marines)

Abbadon with 5 chaos terminators. Demon prince. 5 obliterators (each one a separate unit). 1 x 10 man unit of chaos marines. 1 unit of 10 bikes and 1 unit of 6 bikes. 1 unit of 5 havoks? (whatever the chaos devastators are). 2 predators with TL lascannons and sponson lascannons.


Deployment





I’ve been making my way through the assets and there were only a few left that I haven’t tried. So, for this game I picked the dreaded Flank March. I actually figured this would be a good game for me to get it out of the way since our deployment zone would be crowded enough as it was. Plus it had the added benefit of getting my hellhound squadron on the table to get at least one shot off since I have yet to see the big flame template get used. I set up my heavy bolter armed platoon right up against no man’s land on the right and put the tanks behind them nestled into the right side with the basilisks hiding behind the ruins in the back. The Yellow marines set up around the ruins on the right with the chaplain guarding the objective there. Shawn chose one of the new assets (holy relic I think?) that bumped up the chaplains CC skills exponentially or something but if he got killed would be another objective for the enemy. Andrew’s IG covered the center with the tanks and heavy weapon teams and guarded our left flank with masses of infantry. He would be drop trooping the rest of his guys later. Jeff being the cheese monger he is set up his titan in the corner surrounded by masses of ultramarines. Our plan was actually to try to use my flank march to get to at least one of the objectives on their side and try to use brute force to hold the two in the center. We weren’t worried about holding the ones on our side. The bulk of the orks and Tau were set up in a way to deny them from getting to the objectives in the center while the chaos marines and salamanders were set up more on the right with a pretty good kill zone right around both of them.

Turn 1 US



It was pretty obvious that those hammerheads were the titan’s main concern as it destroyed all but one of them. Even the one that got away had it’s weapon destroyed and was stunned though. The lead ork mob on the left got raked by Imperial Guard fire but the Skullhamma Fortress came through unscathed thanks in no small part to the mek’s force field. The lootas on the hill got completely blown away by a baneblade shot. The basilisks decided to kill it’s mirror unit and did while taking a chaos marine with them in the blast. The second baneblade all but annihilated the salamander command squad and took 2 obliterators with them. The only movement was made by the yellow marines as they bolstered the lines in preparation for the opponents turn.

Turn 1 OP




This was beginning to look like a turkey shoot over on the left side but Ryan’s orks had a few surprises in store for us. He had taken the new asset for the orks of a giant fist shaped meteor that causes massive destruction wherever it lands. With extreme luck he landed both of them right in the perfect spot in the center of our lines destroying one of our baneblades and a marine assault squad while crippling the landraider and killing some guardsmen. I say it’s lucky because the only way to get the thing to actually “hit” is by rolling a hit on the scatter die AND rolling a 1. Any other result will scatter the marker the distance rolled in FEET! His first shot was bang on target and his second one only scattered a foot. The dreadnoughts on the left took their revenge on the guard by destroying one of the heavy weapon squads, but the slugga boyz on that side get a little slowed up as they weave through immobilized kans in front of them. The Tau spring another surprise on us with their asset that is like an EMP bomb or something. Using the 10 inch template Steve covered Andrew’s tanks on the left and I think he may have immobilized one, but unfortunately he rolled a 1 and that meant the field would go away immediately. Lucky for us, since that’s the only way it goes away! It would be messing with his tanks all game! The whirlwind lands a minefield right on some guardsmen and bikes on the right but the bikes don’t have time to think about whether or not they should move next turn as they are destroyed by the obliterators. Either an obliterator or the shok attack gun takes out some of the scouts taking cover in the ruins. One predator takes out a Leman Russ while the other destroys the razorback leaving only 3 marines standing out in the open. The skullhamma fortress rockets forward with the warboss and mek close behind.

Turn 2 US




With a new huge transport lumbering it’s way into the center of our lines we decide that it’s probably a good idea to make it the new target priority. The units in front of the skullhamma fortress soften it up for the titan to deliver the knockout blow. Jeff’s orbital bombardment shows up as well and coupled with some more fire from the titan wipes out the storm troopers guarding their rear lines. The only things that I flank march on are the sentinels. The Hellhounds just don’t have quite enough room and I wanted to clear a little more of the firewarriors out of the backfield before my platoons arrive. The sentinels eliminate the last indirect fire threat by destroying the whirlwind while immobilizing the dreadnought. One of the sentinels on the other side can’t even hit the looted vehicle but ehe other one manages to destroy the missile pods and immobilize the only functioning hammerhead. The basilisks pick on a salamander squad by using the spotting round. This is really where the spotting round is brutal. I placed the template on his special weapons troopers and sergeant scoring 6 hits and wounds. He removes 6 models but leaves the sarge and two specials there so I just auto hit the same spot and force him to remove three more. The baneblade causes massive destruction in front of it as the big gun takes out 9 marines (including the commander) and two more obliterators. Finally the yellow predator is able to destroy one of it’s chaos counterparts but a battle cannon round bounces harmlessly off the other. The librarian charges the demon prince but the combat is drawn ( I think). On the left the poor orks continue to take a pounding as all but two shootas are killed and more killa kans take some damage.

Turn 2 OP





To no one’s surprise the Andrew brings on more chaos stuff. His bikes zoom in from behind us and take out a basilisk and a unit of marines that had disembarked from their landraider. With an objective in our backfield now unclaimed I get a little concerned since the chimeras in the opponents backfield move to block my platoons’ easy grab of their objective. On the left the last two shoota boys get a charge off as the other boyz ‘waagh!’ their way through the killa kan wreckage. My guardsmen on the front left side take some fire and one squad is even force to fall back as the sentinels pay for their success by getting beaten up by a newly arrived dreadnought and close range bolter fire. The round ends with the librarian destroying the demon prince and heading off for the mek. I think one of the Shas’O squads dropped right onto the rightmost center objective here but my notes started getting pretty hazy right about here.

Turn 3 US




The hellhounds come in from the left and roast most of the firewarriors who are covering the objective. The titan destroys the unit right next to my exposed hellhounds and the basilisks mop up a few more troops around the objective. My platoons enter from the back of the table but all roll pretty badly to move through the terrain there and with the chimeras in the way can’t really get a run either. They smoke some firewarriors though and manage to stun one of the chimeras (not pictured because we all forgot about it next turn anyways). One of the surviving sentinels on the right finishes off the dreadnought in it’s sights and one chaos marine falls to massed lasgun fire. Two of Andrew’s drop troop squads land right on target and destroy the opposition around the objective (including the phantom Shas’O unit). Another of his squads scatters slightly but is still in a good position. I think the last squad must have gotten destroyed or something. I was fading fast at this point! The baneblade decides the salamanders in the center have gotten close enough as it destroys the unit taking a few orks with it. The rest of the orks in the unit get shot up by the guardsmen waiting for them leaving only 10 orks left in the center. On the left side the slugga boyz run into a wall of fire as they are reduced to only 9 orks. The two remaining shootas actually wipeout the guard squad they assaulted and move into the ruins while on the opposite end of the field the librarian makes short work of the mek and moves toward the objective. The chaplain with the holy relic just says “watch this” and proceeds to tear the chaos bikers apart destroying almost the entire squad single handedly.

Turn 3 OP



I announce that this is the last turn so they should just try to claim objectives and call it good. They oblige and two trucks zoom onto the table to contest the objective on the right center. Abbadon decides the time is right to bring his chaosy destructive chaosness onto the table but as he steps into the teleporter he trips and accidentally pushes the “target” knob from “Alpha 9-48 x Delta 6-27” to “Random” and ends up in his own backfield in front of the chaos marines. Frustrated he and his terminators just stomp off the field. The remaining sluggas in the center limp over to the objective there but find it contested by a landpeeder that they just can’t take out. The orks on the left decide to just take a knee and run out the clock as everyone watches what will happen in the backfield. The last Shas’O unit drops almost right onto the objective as the 3 remaining firewarriors nearby limp over to claim it. The two chimeras tank shock the nearby guardsmen and one gets blown up for its trouble while the other manages to crush a plasma gunner who fails to damage it in his death or glory attack. With no more moves to make toward any objectives the dreadnought decides to end the game by punching the sentinel’s ammo box causing it to explode.


Results:

OP - 2
US - 2

Post Battle Report:
Everyone involved agreed that if we had played another turn the game would gave gone in our favor. There would be no way the remnants of the Tau force could hold those objectives from my guardsmen and the orks in the middle were not going to survive another shooting phase. It was a good game but I think we’re going to take a break from Apocalypse for a while. It’ll be nice to get in some nice regular sized games in to get used to the scoring and cover rules in version 5. The worst part is that when we finish games of this size or bigger I still have to put my army away!

I agree with the possibility for Apocalypse fatigue, playing 40k for 8 hours straight usually results in a sweaty-gross feeling that is hard to find enjoyable. It is good for special occasions, but man, it can get downright exhausing.

Heh you should try doing it for three days straight.

We did that. Three games of Apoc in three days. First one was 12000 a side, second one 20,000 a side and the final one 30,000 a side.

BYE

Did the Titan make its points up? Looking it over it seems that it royally messed up some heavy armor but it doesn't seem like its overall impact was commensurate with its cost.

In games like Apocalypse it's hard to guage wether units make their points back or not. Since destroyed units don't count for points or anything it really just becomes a matter of how well it helps a player score his objectives. In this case (and all cases in my experience where a titan is involved) it won the game. My guard army could have probably sat the game out and we would have ended up with the same result. During the turn we would just tell Jeff which units we wanted destroyed and then the titan would just destroy them. It was that easy, and really it's like that every time. His marines never even moved out to claim any objectives. If we had played a turn 4 we could have just moved nothing and let the titan wipe away the rest of the opposition that could possibly hold an objective.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the titans could all have their points doubled and still be just fine. We all decided that we're going to leave the titans out for a while and reserve them for very special occasions.

what program did you use to create all the fancy graphics? I really like

Thanks. I use Photoshop and Visio

Always love to see a good Igigumym vs Ortasacm throwdown

Great report, more impressive graphics FTW. Loving those RELOAD assets, got to use Demon Shell and Major Possession in a game this weekend, to the horror of the Dark Angel guy they were used against.

One thing: your last 2 pics are the same as the turn before.

- Salvage

Thanks man! Fixed! Copy/Paste: The greatest and most dangerous thing ever invented.

As always, an excellent report to read. Honestly, how do you keep notes and take pictures while playing the game? I've had trouble batrep'ing 6000pt/side games and I wasn't playing!

Well, I'm not much of a player so that helps. I have a really simplistic shorthand that I use like:

T1 US
tacFR -> SBF = 5

That would mean that the first thing that happened in our first turn was that a space marine tactical squad in the front right of our lines killed 5 shoota boyz in front of them. The pictures really help to fill in the blanks though. I take a ton of them next to a turn marker at the end of every round.

Great report Glaive CO.

Its impressive to see apocalpyse games of this magnitude, especially with models completely painted!

Thanks for the report.

It looks like 1st turn there was just WAAAY too much damage done my the lower side. The upper side never really recovered it looks like. Nice post i like all the pics.

hahah im wondering how long this game was

I know it's a titan, but how did it manage to take out Five Hammerheads with only a Turbo Destructor and Plasma Whichamacallit?

Hey OP, great report. The battle maps were incredible and made it much easier to follow the action. Thanks for all the effort.

Loving the looks of that Warhound titan (is that what it's called? The titan the Ultramarines had).

I didn't know you were into games.

All I can say is that looked like a good game, send gratz to the other players too.