I feel that an apocalypse battle needs good planning beforehand, the guys at Games Workshop had organised the whole event and sorted a clear battle plan and history for the battle. They supplied the tables, terrain, and in a game with over 20,000 points you need lots of terrain!
I planned my army the week before, as the initial plan was for 4,000pts per player. However, on arrival I was told that due to the Imperials being down a player that I could have more troops. Queue a mad dash home to pick up more tanks!
In my mind, there are a couple of key points that I took away from the battle which I would like to share:
- Time- We only had 2 hours play, and we were strict with the half an hour turn rule. This helped to keep the game moving. - It would of been good to have more time so look to have your battles over the course of a day/weekend
- Organiser- We had one of the guys from GW monitor the game for any issues/problems/bare knuckle fist fights etc- Having a strong organiser is essential for a smooth game.
- Space- We had 4, 8x4 tables so lots of space for all the weemen! - You also need to be able to reach models in the centre of the board, therefore having lower tables is best
- Communication- Talking to both your team mates and opposition is vital. Any roll you make needs to be done whilst one of the opposition watches to avoid any 'what was that roll for?' and 'how did you kill my super-heavy??)
- Dice, Dice and more Dice... I found it useful to have several different colours of dice.
- Having further space to keep you reserve units save, and out of the way.
- Troop choices are essential, simply these guys are needed to grab the objectives.
Hope that these points are useful!!
My Ultramarines comprised of serious 'punch' units, two squads of Terminators with a Terminator Chaplain and the God Of War (or dog of war during the battle) Marneus Calgar. These units were transported into battle in a Thunderhawk Gunship. I also had two 10 man full drop pods, a combat squad supported by Tigurius, 6 man Sternguard squad with Cassius, two Dreadnoughts a Landraider with support from a Baneblade and a Shadowsword, oh, and a Reaver! On the Imperial side there were also several baneblades/shadowswords and a Stormlord plus several Sister of Battle units.
The deployment stages was very entertaining, the orks played the jamming beacon, so no communication during deployment, - 4minutes isn't long to get as many units on the table! - The orks had a massive 25 minutes and another 5 minutes to discuss their tactics!
Due to time issues we could only have 2 turns, 30 minutes a turn. let battle commence!!
Turn 1, the Orks grabbed the initiative and started first, all of the Stompa's charged forward getting into a good position to launch into assault. The Gargant took aim and blasted one of the Baneblades, 1 structure point down. The lifta drop also showed good aim and dropped one of the Leman Russ' into the forest. Combat was bloody, with the titan close combat weapons showing no grace as two Baneblades were assaulted, one exploding taking another two Leman Russ' with it! (curse that 6 on the super heavy catastrophy table!) The Reaver took some heavy fire and all void shields were overloaded. (BOO!!)
The Orks final turn, the arrival of another Stompa, two mobs of Killer Kans and 30 ork boyz just behind the Reaver titan, all ready to charge into combat. Things were looking bad for the Imperials. More boyz arrived on the other side if the table to contest the objective in no-mans-land from the Sternguard. A further mob of biker boyz zoomed up behind one of the Baneblades, the Nobz powerclaw readied for action. The Orks weren't able to hit a thing, (a good thing) however, the Renegade forces with the support from a Drop Pod full of space marines managed to take out two of the mighty terminators (Two failed storm shields saves. I need bigger shields like Siph's Termi's.) and also took out the thunderhawk with lascannon fire from all directions. In the assault phase, the orks took control of the battle, two more Baneblades felt the wrong end of the Stompa's close combat weapons. A further Baneblade was destroyed by that Ork Nob on the warbike (four 6's in a row... unbelieveable). Worst was to follow as the Orks behind the Reaver charged into combat with my lone combat squad, wiping them out to a man, the Stompa charged into combat with the Reaver and hammered home by taking off 3 structure points. Things were looking very bad for the Imperial forces.
The final turn had little movement, Drop Pods were deployed to contest objectives. Orbital bombardments with support fire from the remaining super heavy tanks managed to take out the Gargant, on the last roll for damage, a 6 was rolled... a further roll of 6 meant that the Gargant went out with a massive apocalyptic explosion. 9 was rolled, thus taking a massive amount of troops and tanks, enough to have made a good small skirmish! Close combat again was manic as the Terminators smashed into more of the Renegade Imperial forces and killing more of them. The Reaver stomped back at the killer kans around its base, taking one with it, however the combination of 2 killer kans and the Stompa were enough to take down the mighty Titan. A bell on Mars chimed at the death of one of its mighty war machines.
As the dust settled, the results were close. The Imperial forces had control of 1 objective and contested 3 others, the Orks had control of 2 objectives!! The Orks won the battle.
"Efficient training, might not be effective training."
Simple cutting and filing the Rhino Vehicle Accessory Storm Bolter, one gun will give you two magazines. Remove the normal magazine as shown and glue. Scope is from the SM Tactical Weapons Sprue or even the AOBR marines.
Next up is a predator armed with the tank hunting annihilator patten. The marine on the turret has been converted to allow the storm bolter turret to rotate. Originally I was going to paint the marine red, as his left shoulder pad is a mechanicus symbol. After consulting sergeant Chronus profile it hit me that some tanks would be crewed by 'normal' space marines. Within the character profile it cites that there are 50+ marines within the armoury, so why not have a squad designed to operate all armour vehicles? -Thus tread head marine was born. The mechanicus symbol was painted bronze to identify the marine as a 'tread head'. ( i like the idea, I hope you guys do to!!)
To add to the Rhino's, a second drop pod was built, and painted. The model requires the doors to be finished with the yellow/black chevron combination. I've got a third sat waiting to be completed! I love the idea of having a company drop podding into battle, the fear of facing 1 is scary enough.. but 9??? Geezes.
Also I've added pictures of my other projects carried over from my marathon of modelling, I built up my Forgeworld Ultramarine Venerable Dreadnought and Chaplain Dreadnought. I've converted the base of the Venerable Dreadnought so that he is stomping onto a Tyranid warrior body, the positioning of the model is aimed so that it appears that the unfortunate Tyranid has been blasted by a plasma-cannon (its going to leave a mark, for sure... medic!!) The Chaplain Dreadnought is armed for close quarter combat. A Multi-melta for the tougher opposition and a power fist/flamer combi. I've gone for the MkV style arm, I feel it fits with the style of the model, it is the same size as the melta arm so he doesn't look 'wonky'.
As you can see the Dreadnoughts have good company. I really need to crack on and finish all of these dreads!!
Also added is a picture of my Assault Termie's, they were awesome in the battle report again against Siph. The sergeant is based on the Lysander model, with the Imperial Fist icons filed away, I like the idea of having veterean sergeants (especially the 1st company) looking venerable with their armour covered in honours - almost looking like a captain. (these guys are pretty much one step from becoming a captain). These guys will be getting a fresh lick of paint, and basing. Once done I'll show you the results!!
