Road to Apocalypse: 10. Where Next?

Road to Apocalypse: 10. Where Next?

13 February 2022

👈 Part 9: The Final Battle

Da Boss lookin' fer da next skrap

So this was it, the final battle. It had all been leading up to this for the last few months - all the painting and practice battles. The Modelling Exhibition at Midhurst, the final showdown between the forces of the Imperium and the WAAAAAAGH! that had been steadily growing. Of course, the Orks won in the end - they always do! And if they don't then they can always come back for annuver go, so it doesn't count... or, if they're dead then they're dead, so that doesn't count neither. But this time they did win and soon there'll be a tide of Greenskins invading planet after planet - good job boyz! 

The question is, what's next? I've got a tonne of old Orks that need painting up. This sort of game is a great way to get enthusiasm and inspiration to get things painted up, and playing that massive game with fully painted armies looked fantastic. So, I definitely want to keep some momentum going and paint the rest of my Orks (though there are a few other games taking my eye at the moment as well...). In addition to that, I would definitely like to play more Apocalypse games, and I have some plans for some more large vehicles to add. The Big Meks will be busy on Midhurstian Prime for a while building these engines of destruction!

I got this Micro Machines fire and rescue plane, which I think is going to look great as a large Bommer (just look at it compared to my Dakkajet!). There's no rules for a massive bomber, but I'm sure something could be worked up. Perhaps modify a Marauder bomber's stats... Anyway, it should be cool. 

I've seen a couple of great conversions using different AT-AT models. My vision for this one will be to make a mechanical Gargantuan Squiggoth. The only problem with that is using it in regular 40K, because they seem to have nerfed the big Squig and taken away most of its guns... in that case it could possibly be another Stompa. The nice thing about Orks is just building things and making them work as SOMETHING!  

Talking of Stompas, I've wanted to scratch-build another one for ages. This one is going to be a Kustom Stompa (or Mekboy Stompa) with a Lifta-Droppa arm and a big Belly Gun. I'm going to model it largely after the old Great Gargants in Epic, but it won't be much taller than the 'normal' Stompa.   

Finally, there's something I've been keen on doing for a long time. Tom managed to get his Battle Fortress assembled from a Baneblade for the Midhurst battle, and it looked great. It didn't perform particularly well, though it did soak up a lot of firepower. Perhaps it needs to be used more like the Stompas, grinding forwards with a load of Orks inside? Because it has so many guns, the temptation is to sit it on Aimed Fire orders all game, but as with most Ork shooting it can often be lacklustre. But, with a decent transport capacity, that might be the way forwards... Anyway, I'll be using bits from this kit on the other conversions, and turning this into something that hopefully looks good.   

I definitely need a bit of a break from Apocalypse and some time playing something else. But I'm looking forward to playing it again. There are many aspects I like, and I think it will be a good way to play smaller games too - just to get models on the table and keep things simple (playing with some other friends like Robert, who has a lot of Space Marine tanks that will be perfect for this sort of game). It will be worth trying out One Page Rules as well, that is getting a lot of traction at the club right now. They have a regular 40K game as well as an Apocalypse-equivalent. 

A good goal would be to try and get more of my boyz painted up, some of these conversions, then play a big game with me controlling all the detachments! Maybe taking on Dave's pointy-eared Eldar some time down the line... that would be interesting! 

FIN