40k - The Road to the Apocalypse, part 5.

Well, a week late, but never say I don't get stuff done...eventually.

This Monday just gone, before the heatwave of hell here in the UK, we met up to have a test game of Apocalypse.

250 Power Level a side and the basic "Race to Destruction" mission, with 5 objective markers and cumulative victory points.

With five of us present, the army lists were as follows:

Imperial forces:
Black Templars Supreme HQ -30
Terminator Commander
Terminator Chaplain
Terminator Commander/Chaplain
5 Assault Terminators
Black Templars Battalion -48
Emperor's Champion
Apothecary
2x 20man Crusader Squads
10man Shotgun Scouts
Black Templars Outrider -31
JP Commander/Chaplain
3x 10 man Assault Squads with JP.
Black Templars Vanguard -35
Venerable Chaplain Dread
3x Venerable Dread
Sororiatas Vanguard -31
Canoness
Hospitalier
Imagnifier
10 Celestians (1 heavy weapon)
5 Celestians
2 Rhinos.
Super Heavy Auxiliary -25
Sororiatas Knight.
Custodes Battalion -27
Vexilus Praetor
3x 3 man Custodian Guard squads
Blood Angels Patrol -27
Blood Angels Lieutenant
10 Blood Angels Intercessors
5 Blood Angels Hellblasters

Chaos Forces:
Black Legion Supreme HQ -28
Terminator Lord
Terminator Sorceror
Terminator Sorceror
5 Terminators
Black Legion Battalion-32
Lord Mallus
Master of Possession
10 CSM (Sargent, 8 Bolters, Heavy Bolter)
10 CSM (Sargent, 8 Bolters, Heavy Bolter).
16 Cultists (Traitor Guard, Commissar, Ogryn).
Black legion Vanguard -37
Lord Discordant
Hellbrute
Hellbrute
Decimator
Black Legion Vanguard -47
Chaos Lord
Master of Executions
Maulerfiend
10 Chosen (CCW)
10 Berserkers
10 Berserkers
Black Legion Spearhead-39
Chaos Lord
Exalted Champion
Havoc Squad (1 of each heavy weapon)
Havoc Squad (1 of each heavy weapon)
2 Obliterators
Traitor Knight Detachment -66
Knight
Knight
2 Armiger

So a lot of gear on the table.
Speaking of, we arranged the table as if it was the outskirts of a ruined city with lots of buildings, etc.

With the roll for initiative, the Imperial players won and elected us to deploy and take the first activation (as I was the only one who has a copy of the rules, I was elected to show them how the turn worked).

Deployment:

We set up a strong center with the Traitor Knights, and I took the flanks with my large detachments, the left to rush forwards and chop stuff with the Berserkers and the right was to be a more sedate advance, focusing on firepower.

The Imperials placed their large crusader squads in the center for an advance that way with the sisters for finite support. Over on their left flank, Chaos right flank, the Custodes deployed supported by the Blood Angels.

And so did the battle begin:
On the left flank, the Berserkers and close combat chosen slammed into the Templar assault formation and began a huge melee.

This went on for. The duration of the game, with the Berserkers outclassing the Templars, but they refused to give up due to asset cards keeping them in the fight.

Behind them, the chaos knights RETREATED...so much for our "strong center".

So I had to pull my Dreadnaught brigade back to cover the objective. That the Templar terminators who teleported in were threatening to take.

If they had gone into the assault squads like planned, then we could have rolled up that flank I think.

The Sororitas Knight (in the center) had charged forwards and was dueling with the chaos knight warlord (purple one).

Again, having to pull the chaos dreads back buggered up the plans of rolling into the knight with the close combat specialists and any surviving dreads...

Anyway, On the left flank, Chaos Marines, Cultists and Traitor Guard charged into the Thin Gold Line of 10 Custodes...

There are nearly 50 heretics  here facing down 10 custodian guard...Paltry odds for the Custodes!
Incidentally, the Black Legion heavy support detachment (Obliterators, havoc's, shooty chaos marines) were meant to support me by shooting up this flank, but he placed them too far back because he wanted "cover"...
These units of mine were meant to range duel with the enemy, but when. The Custodes came forwards,I  obliged and counter charged him,, helped by use of the "Warptime" psychic power to shove everyone an extra move forwards.
Essentially giving my units a triple move and assault this turn!

Lastly, this is where we lost the game:

See that number 1 token?
That was the objective abandoned early on in the game.
Thanks to the Templars terminators contesting it, they were constantly one point In front of us the entire game, due to a strategic asset card being played earlier on.

We had to call the game at the end of turn three as Element Games were closing earlier then their website said.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot more then regular 40k and can see myself playing it a lot more, even if my chaotic partner for the day didn't really have his heart in the game...I mean retreating like that on turn one...

Things we liked:

• Less faff per unit, weapons are abstracted together in groupings.
• Less dice rolling, no longer handfuls of dice going everywhere.
• Easy to understand rulebook, not flipping through for a rule mid game was a godsend.
• Huge game (by my standards) which flowed easily and quickly once we got into the swing of it.

Things we didn't like:

• Wildly different stats for the same weapons. We found three different stat lines for various Dreadnaught power fists...
• Some damage rolls seem too high, characters on average need an 8+ on a D12 to wound the enemy...

Not much to complain about then. A solid set of rules which are very enjoyable and will see a more regular outing from me at least, compared to normal 40k.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, things will be back to more normal proceedings soon with another update on the Orks and my new Test of Honour has turned up, so something to do with that will be soon.

Until next time...

 - Lewis

40k - The Road to the Apocalypse, part 4

WAAAG...erm...

Yes, well, those of you who were hoping for a new fix of green skinned madness will be slightly disappointed for the time being.

You see, since I have now bought my own apocalypse set, I've been discussing having a game of it with my friends who are interested.

So, tomorrow (as of writing this post), we are heading to Element Games in Stockport to throw down some Heretics against the Loyalists.

To that end, I've painted up a small detachment of Primaris Blood Angels who will be fielded and hopefully live up to the glory of the Great Angel Sanguinius.

In all their glory, Lieutenant Ciro and part of the 4th company.

Lieutenant Ciro.

Intercessor Squad Abele.

Hellblaster Squad Dario.

These models came together quite quickly following along with Warhammer TV's "Battle Ready Blood Angels" tutorial video.
I am interested to see how they perform in the battle and maybe add to their numbers at some point.

I'll be posting a battle report after the dust settles tomorrow, along with army lists and photos of it all.

Until next time...


 - Lewis

40k - The Road to the Apocalypse, Part 3.

Well a few days have passed since I started to get the Mek bug again...
Progress has been slow but steady, my favoured painting tactic of a little and often is paying off.

I already had a unit of Slugga Boyz finished (I'll have to update their bases, but they are essentially done), so chose to start with the Burna Boyz, get the number out of the way before getting to the characters for the detachment.

Six members of the mob are finished:

As is their Trukk:

A part wreck when I dug this out of a job lot I bought years ago, it was missing a set of wheels, and the entire engine block, along with the gunner.
The engine is now part of a T'au Ion Cannon which has been cut up, and an intake from a Stormboy Jetpack.
Nothing I could do about the missing wheels, but the gunner is a fudge using some plasticard and a Big Shoota gunner body from the Boyz sprue.
I was missing a set of legs for him, so. The plasticard is wrapped around like an extra armoured skirt in the turret ring.
His combi Big Shoota/Skorcha is again a converted piece.

Just so that there is no confusion about who this Trukk belongs to:

The rear deck is strewn with Jerry cans, an oil drum and a crate. Fuel and cigars for all the Burna Boyz!

I also took the time to drybrush these Bikers and bring them up to the news base standard for the army (grass Tufts are on order):

Not part of the initial detachment, but a second Kult of Speed detachment would be nice, bikes and the lovely new buggies from last year's Orktober!


Waaagh!

Until next time...


 - Lewis

40k - The Road to the Apocalypse, Part 2.

 

"Battle Bigger, Better" that's a strong tag line to live up to...here's hoping as it not only has encouraged me to drag my long abused greenskin horde out of the dank box they were stored in for years, but it may allow me to play out my own version of one of my favourite parts of the 40k lore:

ARMAGEDDON!

 

The 3rd War for Armageddon was really where I started to pay attention to such things as characters and what was actually happening in the universe. On one hand you had the tired, war weary but determined Commissar Yarrick facing off against the epitome of Orkdom Ghazkull Thraka.

And it's not as if this is the first time these two giant personalities had already met, having fought in the 2nd War for Armageddon, the battle for Golgotha, Yarrick being released as a prisoner because Ghazkull needed a proper enemy to fight...a real world consuming war, I loved the 2 part battle report in White Dwarf from the period (I still have both copies) and the short story by Dan Abnett "Cometh the Hour" of a colossal Imperial assault upon the Ork horde after a Rok Fortress lands from orbit.

 

Anyway, what does this have to do with my wargaming?
After all in my last post I did mention that 40k suffers from a time sink at larger games which I cannot afford, but the new Apocalypse version coming out could serve me well.



The Datasheets for Apocalypse are available to download...FOR FREE (is this actually Games Workshop we are talking about?).

Grabbing them, and having learnt how forces are organised (should that be Orkanised?) I have started to assemble my Waaagh!

Each force is organised into a series of detachments which are built around the normal detachment from 40k.
So you get Battalion, Vanguard, Spearhead, etc all as normal, but using the Apocalypse Power Levels.
Each detachment must have a Warlord to lead it (which can be ANY model in the detachment) and if they are killed, then another nominated model takes over. However Character models are very important as they allow you to keep drawing your asset cards.

With these things in mind, I drew up a first detachment of 50PL (47 if you want to be accurate) as follows:

Evil Sunz:
Warboss, Mekboy & 5 Nobz in a Trukk.
10 Slugga Boyz with Big Shoota, Nob & a Mekboy in a Trukk.
10 Slugga Boyz with Big Shoota, Nob & a Mekboy in a Trukk.
10 Burna Boyz with Big Shoota, Nob & a Mekboy in a Trukk .

Not too much to get through (so I should manage it) and its a very fast hard hitting formation whose purpose is just to swamp an area with bodies quickly, before a heavier formation moves in just behind them to keep pressure on...I hope...
They also include a fair few characters, as I anticipate heavy losses amongst them, especially as the Warboss and Nobz will be krumping from the front!

The first 10 Slugga Boyz are ready:

 

And the detachment's Warboss is converted up and ready to be painted:

 

So, WAAAGH! to you and we'll see you on the other side.



Until next time...


 - Lewis

40k - The Road to the Apocalypse, Part 1

One of the things which I really dislike about Warhammer 40,000 is just how long it takes to play a game at times.

Being a working family man, my time is split between family, household work and actual employed work a lot of the time, so I generally get about an hour or so when I can to do some hobby (maybe that's why things have slowed down on here for a while, but updates are incoming...)

So, I just don't have the time anymore to play all day wargames or generally even four or five hours of wargames, unless I have organised a specific day with people, most of whom also work and have families, so even that is a pain sometimes.

Added to that there is the inspiration of classic pieces of 40k artwork like this:

"The 9th Cadian devastates Hive Fleet Scarborous"

(If memory serves)

Massed ranks of Imperial infantry and Squadrons of Tanks, Air power, the multitudinous filth of the Xenos horde, lots to love and it has been a constant source of inspiration for years.

Waaay back in 4th edition 40k, GW released the original Apocalypse book, which at the time had us all very excited (oh how naive and young we were):

 

A way to field your entire collections at once, but you'd need a day or two to play out the game. Likewise there were so many broken or overpowered formations in that book that you could literally just drop a list on a piece of paper down sometimes and win (one of my friends at the time was notorious for this...we don't speak much anymore).

This little trek down memory lane does have a purpose though, bear with me, as Games Workshop have put up for pre-order a new version of Apocalypse, one which seems actually fun!

 

The new box set, with D12s?

Well from all the previews I have seen it plays a LOT like old Epic 40k, just different enough to be its own beast, but close enough to be very interesting...most importantly, the game which was played out on Warhammer TV's livestream last week was fought to conclusion within 2 & 1/2 hours!!!!

And they were fielding around 3,000 points or 300 Power Level each....

The last "big game" of Warhammer 40,000 I saw was only 2,000 or 200 Power Level and it took 6 hours to finish...maybe because of Forge World gubbinz, or what, but far too long.

I plan on getting some stuff ready for this as my next few projects as I await my pre-ordered copy of Test of Honour 2 to arrive.


WAAAGH!
(to give you a little clue)



Until next time...


 - Lewis