Apocalypse Tips and Tricks

So, as you can probably guess from my last two posts, I had a very fun apocalypse game, probably more fun than I’ve had in any game of 40k so far. And I wasn’t the only one- the veterans of an earlier apocalypse game that I had missed all vouched that this time through it was much more fun and exciting. To make sure that you all have similar success with your apocalypse games, here are a few basic rules that I found to be instrumental to success or would have made the game better if they had been enacted.

Tip #1: Start by ironing out the basics.

By this I mean make sure that everyone understands the fundamental aspects of the game: the rules of the game, the differences that Apocalypse makes to several rules (hello scout and infiltrate!), and the rules for (at least most of) your army/armies. These are the little things that apocalypse games need to have be no-brainers in order to run smoothly, as nothing can bog a game down more than constant rules checks/disputes. Granted, not everyone will know every rule- there might be a unit that they are using that they normally don’t, or someone might fudge up some of the apocalypse rule overlays (hello scout, infiltrate and super heavies!), but as long as they know the statlines of and how to use most of their army, everything will be fine and dandy.

Also included in this is time: when and how long. Plan in advance!

Tip #2: Have a large enough space

Nothing can ruin a huge game like not having enough space to maneuver in. Fast units aren’t able to use their speed well enough, infiltrators and strategic redeployment are moot points, and holding objectives becomes more of a slugfest than chances for deft commanding. Also assault armies are put at a major advantage. However, if you have too much space much of the action is lost and assault armies are left out in the cold. In our game we had a main board of about 10’ by 15’ and a side board that was the standard 6’ by 4’ for a game with 20k points per side, and the dimensions seemed perfect. Take from that what you will.

Tip #3: Balance the sides in the ways that matter

This would be number of titans, super-heavies, strategic assets and possibly destroyer weapons. Ours was a little skewed, 4 super-heavies vs. 3, but it was balanced out by our side having slightly more points than the other. These are the specially designed apocalypse units, and will lend a tremendous advantage to whoever wields them. I haven’t found balancing formations to be necessary as they do have considerable point costs, but you may wish to do this as well.

Tip #4: Commanders

Having commanders for our teams was a great idea. We probably could have put it into focus a little bit more, but having a set person to bounce tactics off of and to corral the other members of the team into getting phases done on time was a real boon. Also having a cohesive strategy helped speed up movement and shooting, as we knew what we were aiming at and could use our individual armies to accomplish the objective.

Tip # 5: Have a clock

You don’t necessarily have to listen to it, but it does keep the passage of time at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

Tip #6: Break the rules

Apocalypse is all about cool stuff- huge robots, tanks, and points upon points of troops. But even with super-heavies and formations, it still just plays like a big 40k game. You can change this up by adding in elements not found in the game but that make thematic sense. In our case it was the warp rift which teleported troops to the secondary battlefield. For you it could be using side tables as spacecraft (like in the Reloaded book) or placing the battlefield under bizarre environmental conditions. As long as it’s cool and it changes the dynamic of the game in a fundamental way, it should be cool.

Corollary to tip #6: Don’t make it too complicated…

…because then it might end up in the dust. The more complicated something is the more likely people are going to forget what it does, which will lead to inevitable rules disputes. The stuff can still be cool, just make sure that it’s something that your gamers will be able to wrap their heads around.

Tip #7: Additional Objectives

This goes along with the break the rules part. Fighting for objectives on a map can get boring after a while- why not add additional, thematic objectives to the game that aren’t necessarily based on map locations? In our game we all had two secret objectives that our generals had to complete, one easy and one hard. Mine was to keep two random generals from my team alive (at which I succeeded), while another player’s was to suspect a fellow comrade of being a traitor and gain the ability to open fire on him on the last turn. These added a great secondary mission to the game and helped make it more thematic and fun. Balancing may be impossible, but as long as they are relatively even in difficulty everything should be fine.

Tip #8: Keep everything manageable

So we’ve got our awesome objectives, secret objectives, balanced super-heavies and crazy special rules… now we pare it down. Having too much of anything can ruin a game of apocalypse. Too many players/points per player and you have turns taking forever and more chances for people to forget things. Too many crazy new additions and no one will be able to remember them all, leading to heated rules disputes and less fun. So introduce one cool new idea, invite a manageable number of people and keep the army sizes to more realistic levels based on how many people you have. When you have games that are this big that last this long, oftentimes less is more.

Tip #9: The obligatory Have fun!

Do it. This means not sweating the small stuff, remembering it’s just a game, and embracing the sheer ridiculousness that is 40k.

I hope these tips have been useful… if you have any questions about the game we played or anything else for that matter, let me know!

40k points of Apocalypse, part 2

*begin transmission*
The battle began almost too quickly- the infiltrating portions of my regiment did not have time to set up properly and were therefore forced to find a way to outflank the enemy, hopefully to our advantage. In the meantime they would give us useful recon data, allowing our units to traverse difficult and dangerous terrain with ease. Blind barrages were fired by both sides, limiting firing areas to a very small area.

The Ice Jesters also had the foresight to place mines around the Tear on the enemy’s side, making their journey into the Tear a very difficult and dangerous one.

As the enemy had been set up when we arrived on the scene, they struck first, though to little effect thanks to the omnipresent smoke screens. This was especially good as enemy hammerheads and a vindicator linebreaker squad were unable to make much headway against our forces.



The Tau general unveiled another strategic asset, some kind of EMP warhead that he aimed squarely in the middle of our deployment lines.

Fortunately it scattered onto my xenos allies, and even then failed to do much damage as the warhead shorted out soon after.

On our turn we suffered the same shooting limitations as our enemies but managed to turbo boost the wave serpents, a Blood Angels land raider and a squad of Ice Jester bikers through the portal and into the maiden world, where we were angered to find a demon prince and some chaos forces already present.

There was much fighting around the portal, especially from our brave terminators.

The Imperial guard platoon command squad offered cover to the Space Wolves as they tried to outflank the enemy position.


Unfortunately for us, the next turn brought much disaster to our lines. Tau battlesuits, a predator annihilator and a dragon shaped defiler came in and decimated our tank squads while genestealers ran rampant over any units that had strayed too close to the edges of the battle.

Fortunately we were able to return the favor with the Emperor’s mercy.

Guardsman Marbo also made his contribution, wiping out half a squad of Khorne berzerkers with a demo charge before retreating into the woods to stalk another target.


Despite our best efforts, as the battle raged on more and more of the enemy managed to pass through the portal.


At this point our viewcorder was damaged by falling debris, so the rest will have to be an oral report. Space wolf drop pods probably sealed victory for us, landing on top of the mountain objective and holding it with support from a squad of my finest stormtroopers. On the Eldar world our xenos allies were surprisingly competent, their seer council annihilating the enemy seer council while howling banshees contested one objective and their wave serpent transport contested a second, with the third left unclaimed. My sentinels gave enemy marines a sound thrashing in close combat, and victory seemed at hand.

Then Creed ordered me into assault. I wasn’t sure why this order was being given, especially to his commander, but I figured that the battle was already won, so urged my command squad onwards to glory. Then Creed’s demolisher made an about face and his entire army aimed their weapons at my men who were in the ruins…

Apparently the general had failed in his previous campaign and, in order to restore his dignity, needed to be the sole force controlling the objective. So he fired upon my men and slew over half of them- just enough to give him all the credit.

In the end, we held two objectives to the enemy’s one, but apparently they had settled more of their personal vendettas than we had, granting them at least an equal share of victory. The war has reached a stalemate unfortunately, but one that another several regiments should be able to handle. I recommend increasing the recruitment zone another 100 light years in order to break through this particular block and ensure an Imperial victory.

I shall include a brief after action report on various tactics and ideas on fighting battle on this scale in my next communiqué. Ave Imperator.
*end transmission*

40k points of Apocalypse, part 1

*begin transmission*
This is a report from Gen. Card of the 24th Fortunan in regards to what shall be referred to as the Battle for the Tear. That's tear as in a tear in my uniform (of which I assure you there are none, thank the Emperor!), just to be clear. And my apologies for not transmitting any information for some time- a combination of recruitment time before the battle, personal vendettas/obligations that needed to be addressed and warp storms in the vicinity of the Tear have made communication nigh-impossible for some time. I shall have to complete my treatise on effective use of the Punisher Battle Tank at another time. If you wish to view any of the images in larger format, please activate them with your tactile interface.

Imperial Astropaths became aware of the Tear's forming several months ago and determined that it would lead to a long lost Eldar maiden-world filled with valuable xenos technology... that and that our astropaths in the region were going silent one by one. My regiment, members of the Ice Jesters and Blood Angels Space Marine chapters and even the glorious Cadian 8th led by Usarkar Creed himself were dispatched to secure the Tear and repulse whatever forces were seeking to claim the Tear for themselves. I was declared commander of the battlegroup, an honor that I feel was only given to me because of Creed's major failure in his last action.



As we were departing the system an Eldar vessel hailed us and asked to be allowed to join us, claiming that without their aid two of our finest commanders, Creed and Dante of the Blood Angels, would fall in the coming battle. After consulting the Cards our psykers determined the veracity of the xenos' claim and welcomed them grudgingly along.

Preliminary view of the battle field, located near the ruins of what used to be the capitol city. The city was destroyed, and the climate became cold when the warp Tear formed.


Preliminary view of the Eldar maiden-world, as depicted by our astropaths. We were ordered to take the xenos structures, as well as an icon to Khorne that had probably precipitated the warp Tear. There were three “warp-in” points, which, thanks to the whims of Chaos, we would randomly warp through.


And here are (most) of the assembled forces of his Imperial Highness, with notable exceptions of our super-heavy attachments (a Baneblade, a Banesword and a Shadowsword) and the glorious and ever victorious 24th, which I believe you have seen enough pictures of already.




As we entered the system the we spotted an odd assortment of ships: Chaos, Tyranid, Tau and, most surprisingly, Eldar.


The Eldar farseers on our side simply nodded when they heard this, mumbling something about “we knew.” Strange creatures, these Eldar.

It seems we arrived just in time, Battle lines were drawn up on both sides.



Warmaster Sam, foul traitor devoted to Chaos, was determined to be the leader of the strange alliance facing us.


Planetside, there were three objectives we were ordered to secure. One was a building in the heart of the city ruins around which the 24th and the 8th set up their command structure.


One was a large mountain from which we could accurately fire and call orbital bombardments upon the enemy.


And the final objective was an Imperial fortress that had survived even the formation of the Tear. It was unfortunately the first thing overrun by the foul forces of Abaddon the Despoiler… who had somehow managed to take a hive tyrant’s brain and use it to control the foul beasts.


The Tau set up towards the rear of the fighting lines, as if preparing for something…



Transmission will continue tomorrow. Ave Imperator!