Road to Apocalypse: 2. ApORKalypse!
1 January 2022
👈 Part 1 - Mustering
👉 Part 3 - Dread Mob
Everyone arrived nice and early to start setting up the huge battlefield and arranging their troops on tables around the hall. Unfortunately we didn't have Tom and his Evil Sunz Speed Freeks, but we had plenty of extra Goffs and Deffkulls to make up the numbers! Around 600 or so PL per side... it was going to be a huge battle!
Forces - Orks and Chaos
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| My Goff Orks |
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| Dave's Deffskull Orks (1/2) |
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| Dave's Deffskull Orks (2/2) |
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| Andrew's Chaos (Deathguard and Thousand Sons) |
Forces - Space Marines
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| Patrick's Space Wolves |
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| Mark's Crimson Fists, Space Wolves and Deathwatch |
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| Sam's Black Templars |
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| Tris' Blood Angels |
The Mission
Dave sorted out the mission and acted as umpire and instructor as he had the most experience with Apocalypse, so everything went pretty smoothly. The mission selected was 'Exterminatus' - the Space Marines were attacking the Ork / Chaos forces while their ships bombarded the planet from orbit. We figured that the Chaos force must have been doing something naughty and the Space Marines needed to recover whatever archaeotech they had been messing with before the planet was entirely destroyed... the Orks had been lured to the fight by the machinations of Chaos, not that they minded - they would continue scrapping while the planet exploded around them, then probably continue fighting in the vacuum of space if there was anyone around left to hit!
This gave us a a bit of narrative to work around, so it was on with rolling dice.
Warboss Gulskrag Thraka leaned on the railing of his battlewagon as it bounced over the cratered ground, looking into the distance. He saw the unmistakable trails of Space Marine drop pods streaking to the ground. Good. Beakies always gave a good fight, hopefully better than the pathetic humies who had been on this planet before his WAAAAGH! had arrived and slaughtered them.
He looked around the battlewagon. He could see the ungainly strides of the various walkers that his meks had built - little kans, bigger dreads, the even bigger Gorkanaut, and the two huge Stompas that seemed like effigies of Gork and Mork. His Goff boyz swarmed the plain, running to keep up with the battlewagons and walkers. They were itching for a fight too, the WAAAAGH! energy from their collective excitement palpable in the air. Even Gulskrag could feel it pressing on his head, which made him glad that he'd stuck Bozgit the Weirdboy in the Gorkanaut. The last thing he wanted was that git's brains exploding all over his battlewagon. He made a mental note to get Buzzmek to build the Oddgit a proper Weirdboy Tower if he survived this battle. Keep him out of the way.
Thinking about 'out the way', Gulskrag wondered where those zogging Evil Sunz were? The Speed Freeks had gone racing in the wastes. Useless gitz must've got lost or run out of fuel. Less reliable than a pack of snotlings, but it was too quiet without their roaring engines and squealing tyres circling the main army. Oh well, more beakies for him and his boyz to krump without those crazed bikers rushing off and shooting them up first!
Gulskrag shook his head and stopped his musing as the battlewagon's throbbing engine eased off and the vehicle began to slow. He could see ranks of Space Marines starting to deploy in ordered ranks on the horizon. He grinned as he saw a flash of grey on one flank and midnight-black power armour on the other - the Wolfie boyz and the Templars were here, they were some of the few beakies who really understood the joy of fighting, almost as much as Orks did! Closer to his boyz, he could see a throng of diseased humies and spiky Chaos Marines standing, watching the beakies deploying. The Chaos lot were standing just where they told him they would be, and they had delivered on their promise of a big fight with the beakies. Normally, Gulskrag would've gutted the Chaos Marine who came to talk to him in the ruins of the hive city, but he was wearing green power armour so seemed alright. He then promised Gulskrag a huge fight with the beakies, so the Warboss had let him live. It was still tempting to shoot them in the back, but Gulskrag held his bloodlust in check. There were plenty of Space Marines out there to go round.
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| The Goff Stompa... stomps. Surprisingly. |
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| The Imperial armies are deployed |
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| The combined Space Marine force |
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| A Dakkajet and Burna Bomma scream down from the sky |
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| The Ork WAAAAAGH!!! |
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| The Ork WAAAAAAGH!!! |
Turn 1
The Imperials gained the initiative with a lightning assault from their drop pods. The disruption caused by the falling drop pods and a Blood Angels Librarian using his psychic abilities sowed confusion amongst the greenskins. Further to that, falling debris and stray orbital cannon shots hit the Ork ranks, throwing bodies into the air (the Imperials used a 'Laserburn' card, but calling it part of the Exterminatus orbital bombardment fit the narrative better).
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| The Space Marines advance |
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| The Ork war machine trundles forwards |
As the Space Marines advanced, several explosions could be heard at several points of the battlefield. A number of Marines fell, clutching their throats, while several Chaos Marines also suffered. It seemed that the Deathguard had been distributing Virus Bombs, but some had gone off early. Was this the archaeotech that the Imperial forces were trying to take control of?
Deathguard Terminators blinked into existence to the rear of the Imperial lines as they were teleported in to assault the Blood Angels, who had been tasked with protecting the landing zone. Though the Space Marines would not retreat until their mission was complete, they needed an extraction point to avoid being destroyed along with this world - dying in combat against the foes of humanity was one thing, but throwing away their lives needlessly would be an affront to the Emperor.
The Blood Angels responded to the Deathguard assault in force, opening up a second front of fierce fighting before the main forces had really begun to clash.
In the centre of the battlefield, the Poxwalkers shambled forwards onto an objective while the Daemon Prince and Raptors charged forwards on wings of fury to attack the hated loyalists. A swirling melee erupted in the centre as the Space Wolf cavalry charged in, led by Logan Grimnir. No quarters were offered or given as the ancient foes attacked each other remorselessly.
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| The Raptors attack |
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| Wolves and Poxwalkers clash |
On the left flank, the Ork Big Gunz unloaded on a Black Templar tank, smashing several rounds and some weird energy blasts into the vehicle - the Grot crew were clearly scared enough by the prospect of being used as ammo in a Shokk Attack Gun that they made sure their shooting was more accurate than normal! There was no such luck for either Stompa - the Great Green Gitkilla stood idle as the Kaptain tried to work out what he was supposed to be doing, while the Deffskullz Stompa was just wildly inaccurate with its shooting.
The two Blood Axe jets that Snikrot had brought with him zoomed overhead, targeting the shining form of Marshal Helbrecht amongst the sea of Black Templars in front of them. Despite some incredibly accurate strafing fire, the fanatical devotion of his troops saw them dive in front of their Marshal and protect him from the worst of the fire, so he narrowly escaped death. For now.
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| The Blood Axe jets try to strafe the Black Templars Commander |
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| The Dakkajet aims at Helbrecht while the Burna Bomma pulls up, dropping its deadly payload |
There was some commotion in the centre of the battlefield. All of a sudden, the entire Chaos force dematerialised! It appeared that the Deathguard had achieved whatever nefarious goal they had set for themselves, and had disappeared into the Warp! The combined force of Deathwatch, Crimson Fists and Imperial Knights likewise teleported out of the fighting, in all likelihood to chase down the Chaos Worshippers and to try and recover whatever they had taken with them. The Orks, of course, didn't care - there was now a big gap in the centre of the battlefield that would let them charge straight into the Imperial lines, so that was good! The remaining Space Marine forces saw their objective unfulfilled, so chose to remain and put the greenskins to the sword while they searched for the remains of whatever the Deathguard had been chasing. Besides, the bloodlust of all three chapters wouldn't allow them the luxury of retreating... it just wasn't in their nature.
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| The battlefield at the end of Turn 1 |
End of Turn 1
Space Marines: 3 VP (two objectives secured)
Orks: 1 VP (one objective secured)
Turn 2
The gits had run off! Gulskrag could hardly believe that all the Spiky Boyz had Tellyported away. He wasn't very impressed - they didn't deserve to be wearing that green armour, he reckoned - but, on the other hand, he now had a clear run to get at those Wolfies. And he was keen for a new pelt to drape on his wagon.
He looked down at his feet to the strange device the Deathguard Marine had given him. They'd handed a few out among the boyz. He didn't know what it was, but they said it was a weapon.... didn't look much like a gun though. Or a choppa. Maybe it was some sort of bomb, but what was he, some zogging Tankbusta?! He didn't use bombs when he had a power klaw and a massive great shoota!! He thought he could hear ticking coming from it, but figured it wasn't important. The Wolfies were howling and had started charging towards him and his boyz now. It was time to do what he did best. It was time to start krumping.
Another set of Virus Bombs exploded on the battlefield, causing destruction across both forces. For some reason, the Blood Axe Dakkajet pilot was holding one of the bombs, 'gifted' to him by a Deathguard Space Marine, but he hadn't lobbed it down to the ground and it now exploded in his face and made him cough and retch. Several of the devices also exploded in the large Goff Battalion - was it a coincidence that the Chaos warband had just taken its leave from the battlefield?
The Goffs barely had time to recover from the effects of the virus before the Thunderwolves were on them. The howling Space Marines were probably the closest that the Astartes ever came to the savage fury of the greenskins, and it showed in the devastating charge. However, the Space Wolves hadn't reckoned on the twin aspects of the Ork - they were Kunnin' as well as Brutal. And Warboss Gulskrag demonstrated this as he patiently waited for the Wolves to complete their charge before he disembarked from his battlewagon along with his Meganobz. His Waaaaagh! banner bearer jumped out of the Gorkanaut as well, to help push the boyz into a furious counter-charge.
Logan and his Space Wolves might have thought they had a big fight on their hands with the Poxwalkers and Chaos Marines. They had left that frying pan and landed in the roaring fire of a melee with a mass of Goff Orks. The huge mobs of slugga boyz had taken horrendous casualties from the wolves, but there were so many of them that they were able to retaliate savagely, even before the Warboss and his Meganobz began tearing their power klaws into the Space Wolves. Soon, there was only Logan Grimnir and one of his Wolfguard left alive. To his horror, Grimnir saw the Gorkanaut's doors fling open and a gibbering Weirdboy point his staff towards him. Bozgit hit Grimnir with a psychic KRUNCH, staggering the old man as blood dripped from his nose. The Weirdboy then pointed his staff at the boyz and encouraged them to further heights of violence by using WARPATH. They launched themselves forwards again. Logan Grimnir couldn't withstand the attacks and he collapsed in his chariot, the wolves pulling it instinctively turning and retreating as they sensed their master was no longer conscious.
The Imperial Warmaster had been taken out by the Kunnin' Brutality of the Goff Orks.
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| A confusing melee in the centre of the battlefield, but the Orks can't bring their full weight to bear |
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| The Goffs destroy the Space Wolves and take Logan Grimnir out of action |
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| The Black Templars cling to the objective despite the pounding of the Big Gunz |
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| The Deffskullz trukk careens into the Black Templars |
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| The Meganobz chase the trukk while the Big Gunz provide covering fire |
Boss Snikrot and his Red Skull Kommandos had watched the Deathguard teleport assault with great interest from their hiding places, and now that the distraction had worked they decided it was time to reveal themselves and stab the Blood Angels in the back - like propa Blood Axes!
Unfortunately, without the Deathguard Terminators to keep the Blood Angels occupied, the Space Marines are able to quickly respond to the new threat and start hacking down the Kommandos. Snikrot himself was the first to be cut down by a chainsword while Delta Skwad, providing a rearguard, found themselves the target of every gun the Blood Angels could bring to bear.
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| The Kommandos appear behind the Space Marine lines |
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| The Blood Angels have their backs to the Kommandos - perfick! |
The Blood Axe jets were peppered with fire from the Black Templars below, as they continued their strafing run on Marshal Helbrect. They managed to finally take him out, but the jets were destroyed in return, crashing to the ground in fiery explosions that failed to even kill any of the enemy!
Overall, the Orks were destroying great chunks of the Imperial army, but they just couldn't shift the Space Marines off the objectives they had captured. There was also a traffic jam in the centre of the battlefield - there were fortifications restricting movement, and the Ork numbers worked against them when trying to manoeuvre.
End of Turn 2
Space Marines: 8 VP (three objectives secured)
Orks: 3 VP (one objective secured and enemy Warmaster killed)
Turn 3
Yet more Virus Bombs exploded across the battlefield - those Deathguard really had been very generous with the gifts they had left behind! The Kommandos decided they would try to use one of the bombs on the Blood Angels, but the activation runes were incomprehensible to the Greenskins and they managed to blow it up in their own faces. The Blood Angels advanced on the few remaining Kommandos... it wouldn't take long to mop them up.
In the centre, the Goffs had no one left within hitting distance, so they surged forwards as fast as they could - boyz running and walkers clanking on piston-driven legs. The Grots were shouted at until they began to run up the slope towards the waiting Black Templars - stuck between vicious, bloodthirsty maniacs dressed in black both in front and behind them, the Gretchin eventually decided to do what their Ork masters said and assaulted the Space Marines. They were weedy little things, but surprisingly dangerous in large numbers...
Between the Charge of the Grot Brigade and further pounding by all the guns on the left flank, the Black Templar lines were shredded to pieces. The cowardly Grots were unable to capitalise on this as their were too afraid, and the remains of the mob scattered into rocks and undergrowth nearby to cower. That left just a single Black Templar squad close enough to the objective to hold on to it - one more than the Greenskins had.
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| The Goffs in the centre had no enemies left to krump |
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| The battlefield was looking more bare |
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| The Orks rush forwards as quickly as possible, goading the Grots into attacking the Black Templars |
The Deffskullz on the right flank were trying to shift the remaining Space Wolves off the objective, but Ragnar Blackmane and his merry band were dug in harder than an Alabama tick. Bikes, Deffkoptas and Buggies all advanced and hosed the emplacement with bullets, but still the Wolves wouldn't die. The Boss on his Deffkilla Wartrike had an idea, and used his squawk box to bark an idea to the nob of the Lootas sitting in the captured tower (doin' nothing back there anyway, he thought). With a wide grin, the Loota Nob listened to the Boss and then turned to prod the Deffskullz Weirdboy, who was gibbering to himself in a corner. The Nob pushed the Weirdboy to the parapet and pointed to the Stompa that was grinding its way forwards nearby. After his bleary eyes focused, the Weirdboy got the message. He excitedly started scampering back and forth, drawing in the WAAAAAGH! energy that was suffusing the area. His fingers crackling with green energy, the Weirdboy stretched his hands out towards the Stompa and he screamed out a single word.
"JUMP!"
The entire warmachine popped out of existence and reappeared, looming round the rocky outcrops that the Space Wolves were hiding behind, green lightning crackling from its metal panels. The Weirdboy had collapsed backwards with the effort, his mouth open in a smile of ecstasy and drool pooling beneath his head.
This new threat was more than a little surprise to Ragnar and his Space Wolves, but they showed no fear and prepared to face their doom in a way that would make the skalds remember their names through the ages. As it happened, even the ferocious barrage of fire from the Stompa's many guns was unable to dislodge the Space Wolves entirely, and they remained in possession of the objective by the skin of their fangs.
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| Ragnar's Space Wolves, dug in around the objective |
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| Peekaboo! The Stompa can see you! |
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| The combined firepower of the Deffskullz Speed Freeks and Stompa still aren't enough to dislodge the Space Wolves |
With this final ploy from the Greenskins, the day was over. The orbital bombardment had intensified and the planet's surface was beginning to crack. The Black Templars and Space Wolves had held on to the central objectives long enough to dig out some ancient archaeotech that had been hidden there - the Chaos scum might have escaped with what they were searching for, but they hadn't taken all the treasures. Falling back to the Blood Angel's safely defended position at the extraction zone, the Space Marines boarded transports and departed this doomed world. As the Angels of Death ascended back into the sky, there was just one sound following them up from the ground below.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
End of Turn 3 - Space Marine victory
Space Marines: 13 VP (three objectives secured)
Orks: 4 VP (one objective secured and enemy Warmaster killed)
Conclusions
Gulskrag roared in victory as he stomped another grey helmet into the dirt. His boyz had fought like, well, like Goffs! They'd wiped out the Space Wolves and were looking for more beakies to fight. He laughed loudly when he saw the Deffskull Stompa appear next to the other Space Wolves behind the rock pillars - that was funny, he'd loved to have seen the look on their faces when that popped up next to 'em!
He figured that, with a Stompa doing its thing over there, him and his boyz would get a better fight if they went after those nutty black-armoured beakies on the other side. They were getting pounded by guns, so it was only right that they get chopped up by choppas too. He called the charge and the ladz began to move that way.
Suddenly, there was an enormous rumbling and the ground started to shake, almost causing the Warboss to topple over. Then there were more explosions and a huge crack appeared in the ground ahead of him. This planet was getting duffed up pretty well, he knew that, but while there were still beakies to kill..... oh. They were legging it. He saw the two forces of Space Marines closest to him legging it back to their mates with the tanks, heading for their jets that were dropping from then sky. Cowardly gits, couldn't even take a little thing like a planet blowing up. He shook his great head in disgust. Beakies was still humies, he supposed.
He shouted to the boyz and turned around, trudging towards his battlewagon. If the beakies were leaving then he might as well get the ladz back on to the Roks and Kroozers and get off this doomed planet too. Maybe he could chase down those zogging Chaos gitz and have a little chat about just what those weird exploding virus thingies were all about... yeah, a little friendly chat. With a power klaw. That thought cheered Gulskrag up as he got the battlewagon turned around. Behind him, the battlefield was exploding from the orbital barrage, but he didn't look back as he led his boyz to the ships. He didn't need to look back. He was looking forwards to the next fight.
That was the main issue really - time management. Getting used to the alternate activations and token distribution was key. By the time we were on Turn 3, that was all getting a lot quicker. But it is very labour-intensive to sort out all the tokens and do the damage / morale etc. at the end of the turn. It is important to get that right though! We also aimed too high with the total PL of the two forces. There were also a lot of infantry units that take time to move around (movement trays are essential!). This size of force was really a two-day affair, so we'll have to reduce the force size for Midhurst.
I really liked a lot of the aspect of Apocalypse. Damage at the end of the turn is great - means everything gets to do something before being killed, and provides this tense situation while Blast Markers are applied during the turn. Is there a chance your tank will survive? Should the enemy focus on one target to ensure its destruction, or spread their shots out a bit and trust to poor save rolls? Alternate activations for detachments are good as well, keeping things flowing quite nicely.
Big mobs of boyz were remarkably good because of the amount of damage they can soak up. Morale is a bit of an issue for them, but they were really useful. Stompas were, of course, a lot of fun - and Dave Jumping his with his Weirdboy on Turn 3 was just brilliant! I've certainly got an idea of the sort of (smaller) force that I'll be taking to Midhurst, so I'd better get on with some painting! We have a few Saturday morning meetings before the big day, so there should be a few more smaller Apocalypse practice games between now and then.
The Orks will be back, they always are!
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