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Ok, so here we can discuss about Apocalypse of 8th edition and rules developement for it. I created this thread because I wanted to hear from you people, what houserules you have for Apocalypse. Bring it on!

Firstly, if I would be in the games developement team, I would try to re-utilise Formations from 7th edition, but with more balance and usefulness.

Okay, here's my houserules for Apocalypse Games, any constructive advise are appreciated!


TABLE; 6'-18' x 4' (roughly one standard table per 5000 points)


THE ARMIES; both players (or teams) have Battle-Forged armies with 5000-15000 points per player (or team). Then armies are split into sections (this split-up must be made before deployment). Sections have their order when they are available in-game, using a turn number.
-TURN 1 Forward Force (max. 1500pts)
-TURN 2 Air Support (max. 1000pts, Flyers are now and afterwards allowed)
-TURN 3 Main Force (max. 50% of total points)
-TURN 4 Annihilation Force (max. 30% of total points, Lords of War are now and afterwards allowed)
-TURN 5 Flanking Force (max. 500pts, this section can enter the game from any table edge)
-TURN 6 Reserves (atleast 10% of total points, rest of the army)

Units entering the game can move in from a starting table edge, having count as moved. Exception is the Flanking Force.


THE BATTLEFIELD; terrain is set up with both players (or teams) approval.


THE MISSION; players (or teams) roll-off, winner chooses or generates randomly one (1) Eternal War-mission and one (1) Maelstrom-mission. No Mysterious Objectives. The Objective Markers must be set as following; one in own deployment zone, one in enemy deployment zone, one in no-mans-land.


THE DEPLOYMENT; as per mission. Available Depo-types are Hammer And Anvil, Dawn Of War, Search And Destroy. If player generates randomly, roll a D3, 1. Hammer And Anvil, 2. Dawn Of War, 3. Search And Destroy.

Both players (or teams) make a bet for how much time they have to deployment (max. 30 minutes, make a note on a paper). A player (or team) who has the lowest bid, deploys first in their amount of time and has the first turn.


BATTLE LENGHT; both players (or teams) have six (6) rounds. No Random Gamelenght.

VICTORY CONDITIONS; as per mission + achieved tactical objectives.

APOCALYPTIC EVENTS; both players (or teams) roll-off. Winner chooses or generates randomly a Catastrophe from following list. Result is used for entire battle.
-ROLL 1 Psychic Vortex (turns 1-3, player who's turn it is has it's Psykers +1 to cast a Power and +1 to Deny the Witch,, turns 4-6, in addition all units other than Psyker has -1 to LD, but Psykers suffer double Mortal Wounds from Perils of Warp)
-ROLL 2 Electrical Storm (turns 1-3, player who's turn it is chooses 3 units from opposing force which suffer D3 Mortal Wounds,, turns 4-6, in addition, both players have their Vehicle-units -1 to Toughness)
-ROLL 3 Virus Bomb (turns 1-3, player who's turn it is chooses enemy unit other than Vehicle to suffer D6 Mortal Wounds,, turns 4-6, in addition both players have their units -1 to BS and -1 to WS)
-ROLL 4 Acid Athmosphere (turns 1-3, both players have a -1 to Armour Save to all units,, turns 4-6, both players have their Vehicle-units move half-speed)
-ROLL 5 Cracking Continents (turns 1-3, both players have -2" charge range,, turns 4-6, in addition, neither of players can Advance)
-ROLL 6 Lurking Monsters (turns 1-3, player who's turn it is chooses 1 enemy unit to suffer Mortal Wound,, turns 4-6, in addition, player who's turn it is chooses an enemy Character that suffers a Mortal Wound)

Looks interesting, but I think Lords of War should be allowed from Turn 3 onwards, or you are barely going to have a chance to use your favourite toys for half of the game. They might not even have an ooportunity to make their points back.

A lot of these boil down to me asking why these rules are needed.

Especially the first set of rules. They are overly complex for just deployment and at the same time inconsistent. This doesn't strike me as anything Apocalypse ever needed, especially given that Apocalypse at its best is the party game where everything gets to be pushed out.

 curran12 wrote:
A lot of these boil down to me asking why these rules are needed.

Especially the first set of rules. They are overly complex for just deployment and at the same time inconsistent. This doesn't strike me as anything Apocalypse ever needed, especially given that Apocalypse at its best is the party game where everything gets to be pushed out.

Well, I just had a good advise on another thread about how to speed up the games of this size, and bringing units in smaller amounts makes the game more dynamic. In that thread, biggest concern was the deployment as armies this size filled it out completely.

You say makes the game more "dynamic", but what exactly is meant by that? The term "dynamic" gets thrown around a lot, but it rarely has much meaning behind it.

Plus, it doesn't get at my point. This system has serious issues with playability. For example, why so much math and percentages? Forcing the players to divide their army by both points and percentages in inconsistent patterns adds a huge amount of fiddling about to make the math work, slowing the game down.

Likewise, the various restrictions. Why is it in a normal 40k game, I can use my LoW turn 1, but in this set of Apocalypse rules (where LoW should most shine, I'll add), I only get to use my LoW for half of the game at most, and it is entirely possible that their presence is negated by the time it shows up?

Players get to plan their order before the gaming event, so its really not slowing down the game. Low are restricted because someone could just bring too many superheavies. With dynamics I mean theres a lot more to players to consider how they move and act with their units, rather than just deploying two gunlines against each other.