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I'm currently trying to organise an apocalypse game for my regular gaming group, none of us have played any apoc this edition though.
Has anyone played much 8th ed apocalypse?
Have you guys got any apoc 8th ed house rules or custom missions?
Any tips to help with smooth running etc?

We're looking at around 12k per side running over 2 days

Scenario that doesn't involve just killing

Have stuff come in waves rather than start everything on board. HOWEVER do not do this "at the end of movement phase set them up within X" of your board edge" as that generally hinders vehicles etc forcing them to set up at the speed of foot slogging. This way helps them to actually influence the game.

What waves does is reduces the alpha strike effect. If you have 12k side firing at once that can easily lead into crippling damage. Some player could end up with his army basically wiped out on T1! By doing it in 2-3 waves nobody gets wiped out at once.

Last time I played apoc with waves it was side that went 2nd that won(and massivedly) and this despite my army being basically dead meat(stompa sucks).

For really big battles I would dearly love redoing titans if they are used. ATM they are basically "titan who goes first wins vs other titan" and don't even feel like titans as they have been described(there's thread about players with 3k-4k armies in this forum. Last post is mine with more detailed reasoning but it's to do with how void shields works currently)

I can only advice using PL to organize the event. It makes it much more easy to organize and fit units in (or take some out), and the difference in points is completely irrelevant in such large games.

I second the wave suggestion, if you just line up everything there is a good chance that one side gets all the units obliterated which they wanted to play apoc for in the first place.

Last, use time limits. It's easy to lose yourself shooting every bolt pistol at a nearby titan. Agree on some limit per turn (2 hours or whatever) to make sure you can finish your game. After the time has passed, the current players can only do actions that are not optional (roll saves, fight in close combat, explode, etc), but nothing that can be skipped (move, shoot, overwatch, consolidate, heroic interventions, psychic powers, stratagems, etc).
In my experience, the time limit is rarely needs to be enforced, but it keeps people from wasting time. Wasted time quickly adds up in such large games.

have tried here to give everyone an army, say 3k, then each team gets 'x' power points that can only be spent on Lords of War choices (you can buy LoW with your points as well individually), allows the bigger toys, but balances them nicely.

next time we are trying phased deployment, Troops start on the board, fast attack move on T1, Elite T2 and heavy T3, CP usable to shift a unit forwards or back, HQ can come in with anything

 Jidmah wrote:
I can only advice using PL to organize the event. It makes it much more easy to organize and fit units in (or take some out), and the difference in points is completely irrelevant in such large games.

I second the wave suggestion, if you just line up everything there is a good chance that one side gets all the units obliterated which they wanted to play apoc for in the first place.

Last, use time limits. It's easy to lose yourself shooting every bolt pistol at a nearby titan. Agree on some limit per turn (2 hours or whatever) to make sure you can finish your game. After the time has passed, the current players can only do actions that are not optional (roll saves, fight in close combat, explode, etc), but nothing that can be skipped (move, shoot, overwatch, consolidate, heroic interventions, psychic powers, stratagems, etc).
In my experience, the time limit is rarely needs to be enforced, but it keeps people from wasting time. Wasted time quickly adds up in such large games.

I played in the adepticon apocalypse tourney last March and pretty much agree with everything Jidmah said. If you want anyone to use Titans you're practically forced to use PL instead of points anyways because of the FW nerf. I recommend enforcing WYSIWYG as much as humanly possible too as it reduces confusion as well as abuse of the PL system (maxing unit upgrades, etc..).

 chrispy1991 wrote:

 Jidmah wrote:
I can only advice using PL to organize the event. It makes it much more easy to organize and fit units in (or take some out), and the difference in points is completely irrelevant in such large games.

I second the wave suggestion, if you just line up everything there is a good chance that one side gets all the units obliterated which they wanted to play apoc for in the first place.

Last, use time limits. It's easy to lose yourself shooting every bolt pistol at a nearby titan. Agree on some limit per turn (2 hours or whatever) to make sure you can finish your game. After the time has passed, the current players can only do actions that are not optional (roll saves, fight in close combat, explode, etc), but nothing that can be skipped (move, shoot, overwatch, consolidate, heroic interventions, psychic powers, stratagems, etc).
In my experience, the time limit is rarely needs to be enforced, but it keeps people from wasting time. Wasted time quickly adds up in such large games.

I played in the adepticon apocalypse tourney last March and pretty much agree with everything Jidmah said. If you want anyone to use Titans you're practically forced to use PL instead of points anyways because of the FW nerf. I recommend enforcing WYSIWYG as much as humanly possible too as it reduces confusion as well as abuse of the PL system (maxing unit upgrades, etc..).

the way PL is easy to abuse is why we went with normal points for the army and PL for the big stuff, but would so love to be able to nerf proxies locally...

PL cannot be abused in a meaningful way for apocalypse.

You cannot get additional model for 0 PL, you just can overload models you pay for anyways with weapons, and very few units can do that efficiently. And those unit evaporate to all the shooting on the table anyways. No amount of wargear is going to save a unit of chosen from a warhound titan.