My First Apocalypse Game

I played my first game of 40k Apocalypse today, and I wrote a summarized Battle Report to mark the occasion. I also got some snapshots of the game in progress, as you can see here. Read on!

ARMY LISTS (approximate)
SM-
Chapter Master with Artificer Armor, Relic blade, and Boltgun
Chaplain with Terminator Armor
Captain with Terminator Armor, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield
Terminator Squad (10) with 2 Assault Cannons
Terminator Squad (10) with 1 H. Flamer, 1 Assault Cannon
Scout squad (5) with Heavy Bolter, Teleporter Homer
Tactical Squad (10) with Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Plasma Pistol
Tactical Squad (10) with Plasmagun, Plasma Cannon, Plasma Pistol, in drop pod
Tactical Squad (10) with Flamer, Lascannon
Venerable Dreadnought with Extra Armor
Bike Squad with 2 Meltaguns, Sgt. Power Sword
Assault Squad (5) with Sgt. Power Sword and Combat Shield
Assault Squad (5) with Sgt. Power Sword
Predator Annihilator tank with Extra Armor, Pintile-mounted Storm-bolter, and H/K missile

IG-
Company Command Squad with Lord Castellan Creed, Medic, Regimental Banner, and Voxcaster
Commissar Yarrick
Stormtrooper Squad (10) with Plasmagun, Grenade Launcher, and Sgt. Power Sword.
Ratling sniper team (4)
Ratling sniper team (3)
Guardsman Marbo
Platoon Command Squad with Voxcaster, Medic, 2 Flamers
2 Infantry Squads with 2 Voxcasters
Platoon Command Squad with Voxcaster, Missile Launcher team
4 Infantry Squads with 4 Voxcasters and 3 Flamers
Veteran Squad with Demolitions, Grenadiers, 3 Meltaguns, in a chimera with a dozerblade.
Veteran Squad with Demolitions, Grenadiers, 3 Grenade Launchers, in a chimera with a dozerblade.
Veteran Squad with Demolitions, Grenadiers, 2 Plasmaguns, in a chimera with a dozerblade.
Armored Sentinel with Lascannon, HK Missile, and Smoke Launchers
Leman Russ Vanquisher with Knight Commander Pask, Lascannon, H. Bolter sponsons, dozerblade
Leman Russ Executioner with Lascannon, Plasma Sponsons, dozerblade


TURN 0: Pre-game
-Time limit set, game started at 10 PM and ends at 2 AM (Had to wait for the kids to be in bed!).
-Imperial Guard declare Strategic Asset: Flank March
-Space Marines declare Strategic Asset: Precision Strike
-No Man's Land and Terrain Configured
-Imperial Guard deploys first, gets first turn.
-Imperial Guard holds 3 Vet Squads in Chimeras and Sentinel in reserve, along with marbo.
-SM hold Terminator squads in reserve, along with a drop pod of tactical marines.


Game Board, Pre-Deployment


After IG Deployment


After SM Deployment

TURN 1:
-IG moves aggressively, and takes out the dreadnought on the first round of shooting.
-IG Mortars fail to inflict significant damage.
-The Vanquisher also snap-fires at the Predator through cover, successfully destroying it.
-SM position their troops to strike, bounding the assault squads into assault range.
-The Chapter master calls an Orbital Strike on the Executioner, which hits, but fails to penetrate the tank's thick armor. Other shooting is only minimally successful.
-SM attack with much vigor, their assault squads ripping through a pair of infantry squads. The squads manage to retreat to a safe distance without being caught in a sweeping advance.


The Front Lines, Turn 1


Sniper's Lookout


End of Turn 1

TURN 2:
-IG reinforcements arrive: a Chimera with the Plasmagun Vets and Guardsman Marbo. Due to Flank March, the Chimera comes onto the table in the enemy deployment zone.
-IG sweeps infantry aside with massed FRFSRF orders. Both SM assault squads perish in a fusillade of lasgun fire.
-The executioner destroys an entire combat squad in a single salvo from its main cannon.
-Marbo tosses a demo charge, killing three out of five marines in a combat squad. Sniper fire takes out the other two, removing them from the objective.
-SM reinforcements arrive, a single drop-pod of tactical marines as well as a Captain in terminator armor with a thunderhammer and storm shield. The pod marines take an objective.
-The bikes boost hard in a gambit to contest one of the IG-held objectives in the IG deployment zone.
-A lascannon shot shakes the crew of the chimera that just came on-board.


The Chimera Flank-Marches


He's Right Behind You!


End of Turn 2

TURN 3: Last Turn
-The remaining IG reinforcements come on-board. Flank-marching enables them to take key positions and secure more objectives.
-The shaken chimera tank-shocks a lone lascannon gunner from the board.
-SM Biker's gambit did not pay off as they were gunned down by combined fire from a stormtrooper squad and an infantry squad.
-Combined sniper fire wounds the captain in terminator armor.
-SM opposition is eliminated from another objective.
-Fire from multiple sides eliminates half of the drop-pod squad. A scattered shot from a plasma sponson strikes the drop-pod, and by stroke of luck, detonates it with a 2” blast radius. This causes 4 wounds to the remaining squad members, of which only 2 wounds are saved by armor. The squad's morale breaks, sending them fleeing from the objective.


Biker's Gambit


Surrounded


End of Turn 3

With the time limit reached, and only 2 scoring units left in the SM army vs. the 11 scoring units left in the IG army, the SM player concedes. Deepstriking SM might have been able to shake a few defenders from objectives, but with the IG holding 4 out of 6 objectives and contesting 1, there was little hope of pulling even a tie out of this one.



FINAL THOUGHTS:
A game of this size is fun, but to really experience Apocalypse, you have to either formations or superheavies. Otherwise, it is just a really big 40k game.

With that in mind, I am now currently researching ways to scratch-build various vehicles. Of course, if anybody has an extra Baneblade they wouldn't mind giving me for free, I would be very willing to oblige you!

Well, it's nearly 3:30 in the morning here, and my wife probably is expecting me to come to bed sometime tonight, so I guess I'll leave it at that.

Until next time,
--FP135

Tyranids will be here very soon now...

...so here is the list I am currently using for my 1500 point Tyranid army, based on exactly the number of models I have:

---HQ---

Broodlord-
+extended carapace
+toxin sacs
+implant attack
102 Points

Genestealer Retinue (5)-
+extended carapace
+toxin sacs
+scything talons
135 points


Warrior Brood (3)-
+adrenal glands (WS)
+extended carapace
+toxin sacs
+scything talons
+deathspitter
108 points

---TROOPS---


Genestealers (10+7)
+extended carapace
+scything talons
+toxin sacs
459 points

Hormagaunts (8)
+extended carapace
+adrenal glands (WS)
+toxin sacs
112 points


---ELITES---

Lictor
80 points


---HEAVY SUPPORT---

Carnifexes (2)
+adrenal glands (I)
+adrenal glands (WS)
+extended carapace
+reinforced chitin
+regenerate
+bonded exoskeleton
+spine banks
+mace tail
+toxin sacs
+barbed strangler
+scything talons
+bio plasma
+toxic miasma
+flesh hooks
502 points

_________
Total: 1498 Points



Ok, now my question is, will I be able to keep this list in the new edition? I have heard that gaunts are getting their points halved (or at least reduced). However, I think there is going to be a new kind of Lictor called a Death Leaper that is more expensive points-wise. With the carnifexes' biomorphs... well that's anybody's guess as to whether or not those will still be legal in the new edition. I guess I'll just have to wait a month and find out!

Project Update: 12/06/09

I got a bit more done to that Broodlord. As you can see, he is decent table-top quality but I have some cleaning up to do on it. For the rest of the day, however, I plan on working on the Carnifex and Lictor you might have spied in the background of the last image I uploaded.

Until next time,
--FP135

Project Update: 12/05/09

I started painting the 3 big tyranid creatures I had left, a Lictor, a Broodlord, and a Carnifex. This is step one, after priming anyway.

I also promised pictures of my new cabin that my wife and I bought. It is only 4:30, but it is dark already, so this was the best I could manage but here you go! Also included is a picture of my loft, where I store my hobby supplies.







Ahh... it's nice to have some time to do a bit of painting. The Broodlord will look pretty good I think when it's done. Well, I'm off to continue painting! Expect more updates soon!

Rising from the ashes, and a campaign map

Hello folks, by now you can pretty much see that I am back up and running. Due to some issues at work and home, I am now back to being Mr. Mom to the kids while the wife goes to work to earn the bacon. You know what that means... I might actually get something accomplished for once!

I did develop a prototype of campaign today, based off of a map. Here is the map I used:



Using pushpins, I used certain colors of pins to denote corresponding force sizes. I went with forces sized at 500, 750, 1000, and 1500 points. Each player then gets an agreed-upon amount of pins of those colors. My wife helped me playtest, and we used two pins of 500 points and two of 750. We agreed that if two pins of the same color occupy the same square on the map, then they could combine into a larger force. I.e., the two 500 pins could combine into a 1000 point or the two 750 pins could combine to a 1500 point force. To denote who had what pins, I colored all my pins with a permanent marker so we could tell the difference.

Much like a standard 40k game, each side got a long "table edge". To see who deployed first, we rolled off a standard 6-sided die. Whoever gets the highest result gets to choose who deploys first. We then took turns deploying the individual pins in one of the squares along our edge.

Once all the pins were deployed, the person who was first to deploy takes the first turn moving all his/her pins. A pin can move one square in any direction per player turn. A pin can occupy the same square as a friendly pin only if both pins are the same color (aka the same force size). If this happens, the two pins MAY combine into a pin of the appropriate force size.

To attack an enemy force, simply move a pin so that it occupies the same square as a hostile pin. At that point, campaign play stops and a regular game of 40k is fought to determine the winner of the battle. Use any of the standard 40k game-types to play the game. It adds a little character to play terrain that is similar to what is on the square of the map where the battle is taking place!

The loser of the game removes his/her pin from the map. The victor now claims the square. Play continues until only one player's pins remain.



This is obviously a very simple way to run a campaign. I am currently testing some things to improve the campaign, but I thought I would share the basics that I have so far.

Well, that's it for now! Until next time,
--FP135