Yesterday was the big day: a 3500 point Apocalypse event organized by my good friend Robert and graciously hosted by the propietor of Kingdom Wargames, Alex. All the proceeds from this miniature Apoc tournament went to paying off the debt accrued by my wife's unfortunate car accident which occured at the beginning of this month. Before I get any further, let me just say how much my wife and I appreciate the kindness and generosity exhibited by these fine fellows and all the others who participated in this event! Words don't describe it.
That being said, it was likely one of the most professionally organized and run Apocalypse events I have ever had the pleasure of taking part in. We started with four players, myself included, in a free-for-all style game on a regular-sized gaming table. I took 3500 points of Blood Angels, having sold my IG army a while prior, and consisting of primarily Terminators.
The players present aside from myself were John, Colton, and Brandon (who had to duck out immediately after deployment, unfortunately). John was playing IG, Colton was playing Black Templars, and Brandon was playing a combination of Dark Angels and Raven Guard. It was interesting having every variation of the Marine codex on the same table! After Brandon departed, Robert threw in a random Thunderhawk to keep that table quarter from being completely bare. The game was set up so that there were twelve objectives, as well as six extra markers we did not know the purpose of. We each were allowed a stratagem, and for players under the point limit were allowed extras. I maximized my list, so I only chose Flank March since about half of my army was in reserve.
After we deployed, Robert asked us a cryptic question: "Every full turn, or every player turn?" The votes were tallied and it was determined to be every player turn. He then informed us that the mysterious markers were locator beacons for artillery barrages. Every player turn, he would roll 2d6. Each marker was numbered, so the two that corresponded to the dice results would have a S10 AP1 blast land within scatter distance of the marker. It was a great effect, and was great for thinning the table of models.
Instead of a turn-by-turn account, I'll hit the highlights:
Colton used nearly every artillery barrage he had on Johns exposed IG, killing swathes of them (and likely leading to Johns downfall). The few blasts he centered on my lines killed a few regular marines, but left the bulk of my force (mainly Terminators) relatively unscathed.
After a round of us unloading on the Thunderhawk, it went nova right in between John and I. It took out my only Land Raider, filled with Death Company, as well as a huge portion of John's gunlines. .
Unfortunately, it was parked right in front of a minefield and the closest enemy unit was directly across it. Marbo appeared a turn later, throwing a demo charge into the hapless Death Company. The last surviving two then had to run back across the mines to engage the Sly One.
Mephiston leaped into combat with a trio of sentinels, failing to dispatch the walkers for 3 whole turns due to failing two out of thee psychic power tests for Sanguine Sword. A squad of Thunderhammer Terminators finally had to help him dispatch them. Afterward, though, he did manage to kill the wounded Lord Commissar with a Plasma pistol shot.
The BT special characters Grimaldis and the High Marshal form in unstoppable force, rolling through two assault squads and killing a charging terminator squad. Finally, after being preemptively struckby cyclone launchers and stormbolters, they fall to a Red Thirst empowered Terminator charge.
A unit of Scouts with Shotguns flank marched, appearing right behind a unit of Ratling snipers. They then proceed to fail miserably in an assault against the hobbit-sized creatures for the next two turns, earning them a place in my immortalized Hall of Shame.
A squad of assault troops arrive via reserves. Colton's revealed disruption beacons relocate the drop point, falling millimeters short of a building. They still managed to hit the rear armor of the Leman Russ they dropped behind, getting an explosion. They then got wiped out.
Anyway, it was a good game. It was too bad that Brandon had to leave, but he was able to come back and get the lowdown:
End Results-
Colton 6 objectives
Me- 5 objectives, one contested
John- one contested
So we raised a bit of dough, rolled some dice, and had a blast. Colton won himself a battleforce of his choosing, courtesy of our sponsor Alex of Kingdom Wargames, and even John took a few models from my personal collection as a doorprize. Thanks again to all that participated, I had a grand time, and you helped ease my stress immeasurably!
On a side note, I asked Robert to become an author on the blog. He has some amazing ideas for turning gaming events into fundraisers (as seen by this success) and is even contemplating taking those ideas even further! What's better than gamers helping gamers, huh?
So until next time,
--Fp135 via iPhone
