Tales from Origins -- The Apocalypse Game (Updated)

Posted by Ranillon on 13. July 2009 23:28

Note:  You can now click on the pictures to see larger versions 

I had a lot of fun at Origins and in the process learned a lot about running large events.  I also happened to be in a 95,000 point Apocalypse conflict and I learned a lot during it as well.



The game had the more or less standard format of Imperials vs. Aliens, although in this case since we had a lot more of the former than the latter we needed a few of us to switch sides.  This time that included me.  So, I setup on one end of the long game table facing down a straightforward Space Marine army and an Imperial Guard Tank company brimming over with super-heavy tanks and one Armorcast Reaver Titan.  Fortunately, a teammate took out the Titan, but I faced most of the remaining super-heavies alone.

Facing them I had four super-heavies of my own – two Shadowswords and two Baneblades.  Stupidly I had left my Stormlord at home (doh!), but given its anti-infantry armament its absence wasn’t as critical as it could have been.  I also had my own Titan (an Armorcast Warhound I bought way back when the model was new) to anchor my portion of the battle line.  Likewise, I possessed an Eldar Scorpion (the role of which was being played by an old Tempest), but I decided to flank march it, my two land raiders, and a handful of infantry. 

With all this I had my legion of terminators, a few squads of allied Eldar, two assassins, and an Inquisitor in a Valkyrie.  I kept the terminators in reserve to have them available whenever needed up and down the line.  As it happened I later brought all of them in on my section of the board anyway to secure objectives.  Arguably they might have been more useful down at the other end where our allied Tyranids and Orks were getting slaughtered (entirely because they were two large infantry forces trying to destroy Titans and tanks), but the terminators weren’t really meant to kill things so much as to hold territory.  In this they did pretty well as when the game was over I managed to grab the two objectives nearest me.



My flanking force came in from the nearest end of the table.  It was worth only perhaps 2000 points, a total that might sound impressive until you remember that they represented less than 3% of the forces playing.  However, they did a good job of bogging down my nearest opponent.  He couldn’t just wander past without facing serious flank fire and thus had to devote troops to take me down.  My forces were tough enough to stick it out for the most part, giving as good as they received.  The upshot is that it kept the enemy just far enough away for me to secure the nearest objective counter.

In doing this I learned that the Thunderfire Cannon is a better unit that I had originally thought.  It might not be able to ignore the armor of Space Marines, but its 5” templates could still bomb entire squads at a time.  Likewise, its 60” range meant I had my choice of a wide range of enemy units, thereby guaranteeing that there was always a relevant target within reach.  All-in-all I am now a good deal more enthusiastic about the Cannon (if I can only find my White Dwarf with that Apocalypse Thunderfire Cannon formation….)



The highlight of the game had to be my duel against the opposing line of super-heavies.  In particular, one spectacular firing from a Shadowsword of mine ended up producing three sixes in a row and destroying an enemy SS in single shot!  Beyond that we spent most of the game slowly crippling each other’s tanks, although thanks to a backfield assault from one of my allies our side ultimately managed to get the best of the deal.

This duel taught me the value of ShadowSwords in an Apocalypse game.  I was initially a bit unenthused with them when compared to Baneblades if for no other reason the latter has so much more to shoot!  Yet, the Strength D Volcano Cannon on the ‘Sword is an especially handy weapon to have when facing super-heavies and Titans.  All you have to do is hit and you’re rolling on the damage table.  While Baneblades may be better against infantry hordes the Shadowsword is definitely a superior choice when facing the big stuff.

Not all my units did well – take my homemade Lightning fighter.  I did get some positive reviews for my on-the-cheap conversion, but as an actual military unit the thing couldn’t hit the broad side of a Baneblade.  In my first turn I shot two missiles at a single target only to roll snake eyes.  I then followed up by missing with my twin-linked lascannons the rest of the game!  Thus, in the end my fighter accomplished little more than take in the sights.  At least the difficulty of hitting a zooming flyer meant it made it through without so much as a scratch.



One of the enemy players showed up with a whole air force of Forge World flyers and man were they impressive to see.  Not so impressive that I’d be willing to pay the hundreds of dollars to have the same thing, but impressive enough for me to look into doing other conversions.  A Marauder Bomber would be especially nice to have for the next game.

Of course, nothing is better than having a Titan on the field.  In this game we had two Reaver Titans and at least three Warhounds on the board.  It makes me wish I could time travel back fifteen years and splurge on some of the old, but still great Armorcast models.  Having just the Warhound is nice, but more would be better.

Regardless, the game was a lot of fun.  While we may not have broken the Apocalypse point record we did attract a lot of attention and there are already new volunteers lined up for next year’s game.  I think we can guarantee breaking the 200,000 point barrier if not (much) more.  Here’s looking forward to Origins 2010!