{"id":3750,"date":"2016-01-13T05:28:02","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T10:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/?p=3750"},"modified":"2022-07-01T23:02:11","modified_gmt":"2022-07-02T03:02:11","slug":"page-apocalypse-2016-rebuffed-at-barnes-595","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2016\/01\/page-apocalypse-2016-rebuffed-at-barnes-595\/","title":{"rendered":"PAGE Apocalypse 2016: Rebuffed at Barnes 595"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-42\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/kingbreakers-icon.png\" alt=\"kingbreakers-icon\" width=\"81\" height=\"81\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/forestway\/\">Without a home<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/01\/40k-apocalypse-the-fall-of-kimball-prime\/\">newly without their major supply base<\/a>, the Kingbreakers Space Marines drifted through the void for a time seeming interminable. Then they turned toward action and their sworn enemies: &#8220;They take one of ours, we take one of theirs&#8230;&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Another year, another <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pagegaming.com\/index.php?n=Warhammer40k.Warhammer40k#apocalypse\">PAGE Winter Apocalypse<\/a>! Our club&#8217;s annual mega-Apocalypse is in the books.\u00a0Seven players came out for the <a href=\"http:\/\/rocketshipgames.com\/40k\/recon-squad\/\">Recon Squad<\/a> skirmish prologue last\u00a0Saturday, and thirteen for the all-day mega-battle on Sunday. Each team fielded 26,000 points across an array of factions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Legions of Discord:<\/strong>\u00a0Daemons, Daemonkin, Chaos Marines, Renegades, Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Tyranids\n<ul>\n<li>Hierophant, Harridan, Hierodule,\u00a0Scabeiathrax, Angrath, Samus, Baneblade-chassis, Corrupted\u00a0Knight,\u00a0Macro-Cannon Strongpoint<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Forces of Order:<\/strong> Adeptus Mechanicus, Steel Legion, Death Korps of Krieg, Valhallans, Grey Knights, Dark Angels, Kingbreakers Space Marines\n<ul>\n<li>Warhound, eight Imperial Knights, Crassus Armored Transport, Marauder, two\u00a0Baneblade-chassis, Vortex Missile\u00a0Strongpoint, Plasma Obliterator<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_3902\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemonettes.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3902\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3902\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3902\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemonettes-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"Daemonettes attack the Steel Legion's position.\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemonettes-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemonettes-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemonettes-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemonettes-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemonettes.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3902\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daemonettes attack the Steel Legion&#8217;s position.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Although both days in the end came out\u00a0a couple players\u00a0smaller than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/01\/40k-apocalypse-the-fall-of-kimball-prime\/\">last year<\/a>, it was a stellar\u00a0weekend of gaming. Supported\u00a0by some fantastic\u00a0looking boards and armies, the Recon Squad matches were excellent. A new terrain theme for the Apocalypse\u00a0brought a different\u00a0look and revised tactics to that\u00a0game, while\u00a0double blind deployment significantly changed the startup phase. In the end it was a full day of\u00a0great\u00a040k with giant warmachines exploding, lone\u00a0sergeants defending critical positions, and everything in between. Bonus points go to Alex and Dan for making the trip to Philly all the way from Cleveland and DC\u00a0respectively!<\/p>\n<h2>Join the Fight!<\/h2>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_3919\" style=\"width: 82px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pagecentercity\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3919\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3919\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3919\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/FB-f-Logo__blue_72.png\" alt=\"Join us!\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/FB-f-Logo__blue_72.png 72w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/FB-f-Logo__blue_72-60x60.png 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 72px) 100vw, 72px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3919\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Join us!<\/p><\/div>The full story is below, and many more photos are in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/tjkopena\/albums\/72157663182636545\">Flickr gallery<\/a>. If you are interested in events like this in &amp; around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA), or the supporting campaigns, game\u00a0variants, and other materials we post from time to time,\u00a0we invite you to get involved or follow along in any of several ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Forums:<\/strong> Sign-up and participate in the <a href=\"http:\/\/pagegaming.com\/forums\/\">PAGE Forums<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Facebook:<\/strong> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pagecentercity\/\">PAGE on Facebook<\/a>&#8212;\n<div style=\"margin-left: 1.5em;\">\n<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v2.5&amp;appId=96363071742\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-follow\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pagecentercity\/\" data-layout=\"standard\" data-show-faces=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mailing List:<\/strong> Sign-up for the low-volume <a href=\"http:\/\/rocketshipgames.com\/40k\/invite\/\">Rocketship Games&#8217; 40k emails<\/a>&#8212;<br \/>\n<iframe src=\"\/40k\/invite\/embed.html\" width=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" onload=\"resizeIframe(this)\"><\/iframe><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_3773\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barnes-table.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3773\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3773\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3773\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barnes-table-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"The field of war.\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barnes-table-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barnes-table-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barnes-table-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barnes-table-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/barnes-table.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3773\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The field of war.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Backstory<\/h2>\n<p><em>Years ago the Legions of Discord <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/01\/40k-page-apocalypse-2014\/\">assaulted Kimball Prime<\/a>, intent on taking or destroying the primary Imperial manufactorum in the sector. After\u00a0many lives given in devotion to the Emperor, the\u00a0invasion was successfully brought\u00a0to a halt and then itself put on the defensive. Elsewhere in the sector though\u00a0the\u00a0Legions finally acquired\u00a0the\u00a0legendary Scythe of Unbound Light super-weapon after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/12\/40k-the-cataclysm-on-caldor-iv\/\">years-long campaign across\u00a0Caldor IV<\/a>.\u00a0Deploying it on Kimball Prime, the traitors crashed through the front gates of the manufactorum and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/01\/40k-apocalypse-the-fall-of-kimball-prime\/\">won the planet<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>With Kimball Prime fallen and its\u00a0system lost, leaders of the\u00a0in-sector armies\u00a0of the Astra Militarum and Adeptus Astartes regrouped\u00a0in secret. Drawn by the loss of a major manufactorum, the Adeptus Mechanicus joined their strategic auguries. Hungry for revenge, the Astartes proposed\u00a0to conquer and cleanse the corrupted Chaos temple world of Barnes 595&#8212;an act of symbolism over pure strategy. Although initially hesitant to partake in\u00a0this emotional\u00a0response, the Mechanicus was\u00a0swayed by the promise of archeotech believed lost in\u00a0the planet&#8217;s swamps and dead forests, or buried in the collapsed sub-basements\u00a0of its byzantine shrines.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Gazing into the strategios, the representatives of the Imperial Guard\u00a0remained silent, then assented. They were\u00a0also unconvinced by the Astartes&#8217; constant vainglorious prioritization of\u00a0honor and ideals over\u00a0blood. However, the cogs of the Imperial war machine had\u00a0already ratcheted toward\u00a0the sector. Regiments\u00a0and equipment must go toward some target, and it matters little which&#8212;there is no stopping the tide of war now, and it will wash over all the sector\u00a0in time.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3845\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recon-tables.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3845\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3845\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3845\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recon-tables-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"Recon Squad games underway.\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recon-tables-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recon-tables-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recon-tables-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recon-tables-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recon-tables.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3845\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Recon Squad games underway.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3771\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/discord-strategy.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3771\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3771\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3771\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/discord-strategy-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"Commanders of the Legions of Discord plot their strategy.\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/discord-strategy-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/discord-strategy-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/discord-strategy-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/discord-strategy-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/discord-strategy.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3771\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Commanders of the Legions of Discord plot their strategy.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Recon Squads<\/h2>\n<p>Preparing for the onslaught\u00a0to come,\u00a0the Forces of Order sent small teams\u00a0to reconnoiter and sabotage Chaos sites on Barnes 595. These were all played using our Kill Team-style <a href=\"http:\/\/rocketshipgames.com\/40k\/recon-squad\/\">Recon Squad<\/a> rules combined with our Zone Mortalis-style <em>Mortalis Solypsus<\/em> boards and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pagegaming.com\/index.php?n=Warhammer40k.20150718Tournament\">rules<\/a>. The missions\u00a0came from a set\u00a0of eight worked out for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/01\/40k-apocalypse-the-fall-of-kimball-prime\/\">last year&#8217;s<\/a> larger Recon Squad campaign. Most are asymmetric and have specific thematic objectives, e.g., defending an installation, or assassinating a special character. In this year&#8217;s smaller\u00a0form, each round the teams alternated putting forward a mission, role, and player. The other team responded with a player and a table. The third match contested the default Recon Squad skirmish mission.<\/p>\n<h3>Round 1<\/h3>\n<p><em>A band of Plaguemarines manages to intercept and ambush a\u00a0Deathwatch team infiltrating\u00a0a\u00a0Chaos planetary missile complex. The fighting quickly concentrates in a hall junction and comes down to a single warrior\u00a0from\u00a0each side in hand-to-hand combat. At last the\u00a0Imperial veteran gains an opening and jams his combat blade up to the hilt in the rotted traitor, another pyrrhic victory won for the Emperor.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Meanwhile,\u00a0an Imperial commander met with a group of Tau to learn of mysterious energy signals they have detected\u00a0buried within a collapsed underground extraction facility. They were beset however by a pack of ancient Bloodcrushers, and unable to prevent the assassination of the commander.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3776\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deathwatch.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3776\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3776\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3776\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deathwatch-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Deathwatch skulk through a complex.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deathwatch-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deathwatch-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deathwatch-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deathwatch-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deathwatch.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3776\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Deathwatch skulk through the missile complex.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3777\" style=\"width: 539px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/tau-deploy.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3777\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3777\" class=\"wp-image-3777\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/tau-deploy.jpg\" alt=\"A Tau exploration team warily enters the collapsed mine.\" width=\"529\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/tau-deploy.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/tau-deploy-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/tau-deploy-768x574.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/tau-deploy-60x45.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3777\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Tau exploration team warily enters the collapsed mine.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Round 2<\/h3>\n<p><em>Routed by Daemons, the\u00a0Tau continue\u00a0their desperate struggle\u00a0within the collapsed\u00a0mine.\u00a0Quickly encircled, the xenos fight bravely but are caught\u00a0in a\u00a0pincer of Plaguemarine reinforcements.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Having regrouped and treated their wounded as best as possible, the Deathwatch also continue their own fight. With the missile complex&#8217;s defenders alerted by the battle with the Plaguemarines, they are attacked\u00a0by Renegade infantry. Fortunately the Emperor&#8217;s light guides them into surrounding and neutralizing the heretics.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Elsewhere, the\u00a0Steel Legion arrive at Barnes 595. Small teams land and begin making their way through a Chaos temple serving as\u00a0a\u00a0gate to\u00a0the\u00a0missile complex. Although believed to be abandoned, the gate\u00a0turns out to be infested with daemonic devotees of\u00a0Khorne. The battle proceeds slowly among the site&#8217;s barricades and overgrowth, but eventually the soldiers\u00a0break through.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3779\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/plaguemarine-tau.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3779\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3779\" class=\"wp-image-3779 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/plaguemarine-tau-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Short on ammo, a plague brother resorts to simply bashing in heads.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/plaguemarine-tau-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/plaguemarine-tau-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/plaguemarine-tau-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/plaguemarine-tau-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/plaguemarine-tau.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3779\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Short on ammo, a Plaguemarine\u00a0resorts to simply bashing in heads.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3784\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegade-sgt.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3784\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3784\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3784\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegade-sgt-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"The Renegade Sergeant bellows out orders...\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegade-sgt-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegade-sgt-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegade-sgt-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegade-sgt-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegade-sgt.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3784\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Renegade Sergeant bellows out orders&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3780\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegades.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3780\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3780\" class=\"wp-image-3780 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegades-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"As Renegades hunt for the Deathwatch team loose in their complex.\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegades-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegades-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegades-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegades-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/renegades.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3780\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">As his men\u00a0hunt for the Deathwatch team loose in their complex.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3781\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/steel-legion.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3781\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3781\" class=\"wp-image-3781 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/steel-legion-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"Steel Legion enter the closed-off base.\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/steel-legion-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/steel-legion-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/steel-legion-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/steel-legion-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/steel-legion.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3781\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steel Legion enter the closed-off base.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Round 3<\/h3>\n<p><em>Their position underground untenable, the Tau attempt to fight\u00a0back to the surface. Moving into the overgrown upper levels of the collapsed mine\u00a0they are caught by Renegade militia and wiped out in bitter skirmishing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Too late to reinforce the Tau, Skitarii renew the exploration of\u00a0the collapsed facility at the fore\u00a0of a Mechanicus excavation mission.\u00a0Although beset by Bloodcrushers at every junction, their arcane weaponry bears them through. Fighting ceases with Mars in control of whatever secrets lay beneath the choking dust.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Simultaneously, a\u00a0Steel Legion\u00a0special missions team follows the wake of the Deathwatch into the heart of the\u00a0missile\u00a0complex. Though\u00a0harried by Plaguemarines, they succeed in destroying a critical cogitator bank.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Outcomes<\/h3>\n<p>Order won the Recon Squad matches handily, 46 to 29. Together the Imperium and allies had captured an important planetary-scale missile complex, greatly aiding their establishment of a beachhead on the planet. Early excavation efforts in the collapsed mine also unearthed a long forgotten Imperial Shrine.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3788\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3788\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3788\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3788\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Steel Legion move against a vital cogitator bank...\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-1-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-1.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3788\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steel Legion move against a vital cogitator bank&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3787\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3787\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3787\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3787\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-2-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"Defended by Plaguemarines.\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-2-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-2-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-2-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-2-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-2.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3787\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Defended by Plaguemarines.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3786\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-3.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3786\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3786\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3786\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-3-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"Skitarii work their way underground...\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-3-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-3-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-3-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-3-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-3.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3786\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Skitarii work their way underground&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3785\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-4.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3785\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3785\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3785\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-4-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"While battling Bloodcrushers for control of the collapsed facility.\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-4-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-4-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-4-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-4-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/round3-4.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3785\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">While battling Bloodcrushers for control of the collapsed facility.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>APOCALYPSE<\/h2>\n<p>Finally the big day.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that our Apocalypse games are not the\u00a0cliche\u00a0of just dumping out all the models you own, or whatever ridiculously overpowered Titans you happen to have spent a fortune on. A good\u00a0amount of effort is put into balancing the teams. For example, all superheavies\/gargantuans must be declared in advance, and models with more than 9 hull points\/wounds are negotiated between the teams. Between switching players to balance for skill, asking that Reaver or Warlord Titans (!) or such sit out the game if the other side can&#8217;t match it, and so on, we usually wind up fairly closely matched.\u00a0Scoring and other mechanisms further ensure that troops matter and tactics count, even as whole units are\u00a0obliterated.<\/p>\n<p>Although a few people bailed right beforehand, this was probably the smoothest we&#8217;ve launched\u00a0one of these mega-battles. We made it clear than anybody who showed up late would go into\u00a0reserve, and\u00a0in the end that only almost applied to me as I scrambled to finish my army list during deployment&#8230; (I was planning to reserve the bulk anyway). Everybody\u00a0came prepared to\u00a0fill out up to ~1k in additional points or trim down a bit to balance for the no-shows. When the time came we ran\u00a0through a roll call, did some quick math, adjusted a couple armies, and away we went.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3906\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/knight-errant.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3906\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3906\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3906\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/knight-errant-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"A Knight Errant stalks its prey across the crowded battlefield.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/knight-errant-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/knight-errant-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/knight-errant-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/knight-errant-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/knight-errant.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3906\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Knight Errant stalks its prey across the crowded battlefield.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Field of War<\/h3>\n<p>Having fought largely among\u00a0Imperial ruins the past two years,\u00a0we moved\u00a0this year to a wasteland\u00a0forest with many barbaric Chaos\u00a0fortifications and shrines.\u00a0The final table was\u00a0exactly 6&#8242; by 18&#8242;, cluttered up with just enough line-of-sight blockers and scatter terrain. As usual the deployment zones were marked off with tape to speed things up and improve\u00a0adherence. Seven primary objectives were\u00a0symmetrically placed, two in each deployment zone and three along the midline, each associated with some particularly notable piece of terrain.<\/p>\n<p>After doing an &#8216;L&#8217; shaped deployment last year, we switched it up even more by using Vanguard Strike deployment zones, diagonal table corners with a 2&#8242; buffer zone. I was concerned about the reduced frontage of this configuration leading to armies just sitting around in the comparatively deep backfield. If the table had a narrower aspect ratio or our armies included less deep striking and other fast mobility that may have been the case. As it was however, there was plenty of action all over the board, with significant charges both across and down the board, as well as deep strikers and outflankers coming in from all sides.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3909\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traitor-bikes.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3909\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3909\" class=\"wp-image-3909 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traitor-bikes-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Traitor melta-bikers race through a slave village toward a Knight Errant threatening their perimeter bastions.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traitor-bikes-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traitor-bikes-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traitor-bikes-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traitor-bikes-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traitor-bikes.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3909\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Traitor melta-bikers race through a slave village toward a Knight Errant threatening their perimeter bastions.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Double Blind<\/h3>\n<p>In previous Apocalypse matches\u00a0we&#8217;ve used a bidding mechanism for deployment and turn order: Both teams make a bid on deployment time, up\u00a0to 30 minutes. The\u00a0lower bid would deploy first and play first, but only got\u00a0that long to set up.\u00a0At first that worked great.\u00a0In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/01\/40k-page-apocalypse-2014\/\">2014 Winter Apocalypse<\/a>, Order spent a lot of time debating\u00a0its need to deploy lots of static gunlines versus trying to scoop Discord for an\u00a0Alpha strike, only to have Discord bid a ridiculous 3 minutes&#8230; In the couple <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/01\/40k-apocalypse-the-fall-of-kimball-prime\/\">Apoc<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pagegaming.com\/index.php?n=Warhammer40k.20150516Tournament\">Apoc-styled<\/a> games we&#8217;ve had since then though,\u00a0both sides have taken to bidding 30 minutes, through a combination of having more players to coordinate, more models to start\u00a0on the board, and most importantly wanting to play second.<\/p>\n<p>So this year we changed things up a lot: Double blind deployment. That&#8217;s a\u00a0bold departure from standard 40k play, and risky for\u00a0Apocalypse&#8212;we usually try to be a bit conservative with\u00a0Apoc given the time commitment and how easy it is for things to go sideways with\u00a0so many points and\u00a0overpowered models in play.<\/p>\n<p>Physically it would be really difficult\u00a0to screen such a big table\u00a0so the teams couldn&#8217;t see each others&#8217; activities, let alone to not have the screen fall and crush models.\u00a0Strategically we also really wanted players to have some idea what they were facing\u00a0across the table before deploying. So instead we used a two step process.\u00a0We drew a simple map of the table and gave each team a copy. The map showed all the primary objectives, deployment zones, and a grid of 2&#8242; by 1.5&#8242; sectors. The teams then huddled up and each player committed to deploying in up to two sectors by marking up the map, also making note of any\u00a0superheavies, gargantuans, mighty bulwarks, or lords of war.<\/p>\n<p>Those maps were then revealed to the opposing\u00a0team, and the two sides\u00a0simultaneously deployed. That worked well because at this scale of game players generally aren&#8217;t super concerned about the precise positioning of enemy units while they deploy, so there&#8217;s no gaming of trying to see what the other side is doing while deploying. There&#8217;s also only so much adjustment you can do within\u00a0the 30 minute time limit. But you did\u00a0have a rough idea of what&#8217;s likely coming after you and could\u00a0take that into account while deploying. As a\u00a0bonus, by deploying simultaneously, we shaved half an hour off the schedule. Choice\u00a0of first or second turn was set as the prize for\u00a0overall victory of the Recon Squad games.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3807\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deployment.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3807\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3807\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3807\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deployment.png\" alt=\"Barnes 595.\" width=\"600\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deployment.png 600w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deployment-300x120.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/deployment-60x24.png 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3807\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barnes 595.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Means of Victory<\/h3>\n<p>We also tweaked our scoring mechanism to be every turn rather than every other, the better to either end games earlier than expected or run an extra turn as time permits (the latter never happens&#8230;). The rules are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>All players designate\u00a0a warlord as usual, one of which on each team is nominated to be the warmaster.<\/li>\n<li>After deployment,\u00a0each team alternates having each player place a secondary\u00a0objective anywhere on the board, caveat the usual restrictions (at least 12&#8243; from other objectives, 6&#8243; from table edges).\n<ul>\n<li>Any player and either team can score any secondary objective, they&#8217;re just placed by a particular player to represent their personal\u00a0goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Only troops may score objective markers until the final scoring, at which point all scoring units count.<\/li>\n<li>Scoring happens at the end of each\u00a0game turn:\n<ul>\n<li>Primary objectives are worth the current game turn number;<\/li>\n<li>Secondary objectives are always worth 1 victory point;<\/li>\n<li>The warmasters are worth 3 points;<\/li>\n<li>Eliminating a\u00a0superheavy, gargantuan, mighty bulwark, lord of war, or warlord is worth 1 point each.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_3907\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harridan.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3907\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3907\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3907\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harridan-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"A Harridan prepares to chow down on some Dark Angels.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harridan-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harridan-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harridan-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harridan-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harridan.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3907\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Harridan prepares to chow down on some Dark Angels.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The rule\u00a0about troops is a huge deal. It does have the downside that it encourages players to bring a lot of individual infantry rather than sinking points into big models, which makes it hard to meet turn\u00a0time constraints. However, it ensures that regular troopers are critical and armies have to include a good contingent of them to be viable, which consequently makes\u00a0the match\u00a0feel a lot like a regular game of 40k writ huge, rather than a whole different game of giant robot\/monster battles.<\/p>\n<p>The escalating value of primary objectives is another balancing mechanism.\u00a0It&#8217;s difficult for teams to run away with the game by controlling objectives\u00a0over the early turns since they&#8217;re worth so much more\u00a0at the end. Conversely, by not scoring solely\u00a0at the end, alpha striking and high-mobility armies are given a better chance than they otherwise would have against deathstar and brick armies.<\/p>\n<p>The other points for killing supers, etc., are also of course a balancing mechanism. They and the secondary objectives become less important as the game goes on and the primaries scale up, which is how you want the focus to change heading toward the end of the game. However, those single points\u00a0still add up over time and are critical to overall victory, as played out in this very game.<\/p>\n<p>In practice this basic scoring\u00a0scheme and the other balancing efforts have\u00a0worked out very well, producing a number of close games over several years now.<\/p>\n<h2>Deployment<\/h2>\n<p><em>Following\u00a0their successes in the Recon Squad campaign, the Forces of Order established their invasion base around the Missile Complex and Imperial\u00a0Shrine and chose to play second. They turned their aim\u00a0on the heavily defended Broken Altar and Warp Tower, important sites to all the disciples of Chaos. In between lay a disused\u00a0Comms Tower that might be reclaimed for the invasion, a\u00a0Side Gate barring the way to a complex of\u00a0temples beyond, and of course the wreckage of Sergeant Titus&#8217; Rhino, an important relic of the Kingbreakers\u00a0claimed by Nurgle&#8217;s servants\u00a0in the aftermath of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/05\/apocalypse-on-solypsus-9\/\">Apocalypse on Solypsus 9<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3835\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/commitment.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3835\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3835\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3835\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/commitment.png\" alt=\"Deployment commitments.\" width=\"600\" height=\"345\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/commitment.png 600w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/commitment-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/commitment-60x35.png 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3835\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Deployment commitments.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Fight!<\/h2>\n<p><em>The invasion begun, the mighty armies on both sides rumbled to war. A\u00a0gang of monstrous\u00a0Tyranids held captive on Barnes 595 was unleashed on the\u00a0Death Korps, with many fatalities in the earliest phase of the combat\u00a0as the flying ones\u00a0raked their dagger-like talons across exposed\u00a0infantry. Worse, a Crassus superheavy armored transport\u00a0poised\u00a0toward the enemy lines was obliterated before it could even move from the landing point, with the entire platoon inside lost to the Emperor&#8217;s grace. A\u00a0desperate struggle between the Death Korps\u00a0and the gargantuan Tyranids\u00a0towering over them would last throughout the battle.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Meanwhile, in Order&#8217;s backfield,\u00a0a coterie of Slaneesh&#8217;s followers lead by a formation of Daemonettes made a devastating surprise attack. Spawning directly onto the Steel Legion&#8217;s lines, many tanks were immediately destroyed.\u00a0Only after prolonged fighting and the death of the Order\u00a0warmaster was their charge finally blunted by\u00a0the arrival\u00a0of the Shadowsword\u00a0Indominator. No longer imperiled, the\u00a0Steel Legion supported the Valhallans\u00a0moving on the Comms Tower, as well as the defense of the Imperial Shrine and Missile Complex.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Matching that aggression, squad after squad of Kingbreakers, Grey Knights, and Dark Angels dropped\u00a0directly into Discord&#8217;s backfield.\u00a0Dark Angels claimed secondary objectives while\u00a0Grey Knights fought Dark Eldar come to\u00a0capture\u00a0whatever they could in the heat of battle. Kingbreakers fought valiantly all around the Warp Tower and contested the site\u00a0for some time, but were ultimately overwhelmed by the\u00a0flood of Daemons and Daemonkin pouring into the area, guided\u00a0and supported by the Renegades sworn to Discord warmaster Hellboy.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3836\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/movement.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3836\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3836\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3836\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/movement.png\" alt=\"Major movements and drops throughout the game.\" width=\"600\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/movement.png 600w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/movement-300x120.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/movement-60x24.png 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3836\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Major movements and drops throughout the game.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>All across\u00a0the land in between, daemons and traitors clashed with\u00a0the Emperor&#8217;s finest. Dark Angels made an early play for Titus&#8217; Rhino, but were eventually pushed off by the legions of Nurgle inexorably marching to\u00a0reclaim the prize they had so carelessly left laying around. Valhallan air cavalry flew bravely into the daemons guarding the Comms Tower and successfully held it at several critical junctures.\u00a0By\u00a0their landing base,\u00a0Commissar Yarrick almost singlehandedly defended the Missile Complex despite repeated wounds that would have been mortal for any lesser man.\u00a0Nearly all the armies wound up engaged at some point in the fierce\u00a0battle for the Side Gate as one unit after another claimed it, only to be blasted away and replaced by another in rapid succession.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Throughout all this, Adeptus Mechanicus light units guarded the Imperial Shrine while their heavy war machines were dispatched up and\u00a0down the Order line wherever a heavy threat appeared. Surely the center would have caved but for\u00a0a\u00a0Warhound Titan come to lock in close combat with\u00a0an enraged Hierophant. By the Side Gate, a Cerastus Lancer bravely\u00a0launched into combat with Angrath, piercing\u00a0the beast\u00a0squarely to dispatch him back to the Warp and save that flank. On the opposite end, Knight Errants and Castigators\u00a0blasted away at giant\u00a0Tyranids and Daemons alike as they\u00a0fought over the Missile Complex. Many\u00a0irreplaceable\u00a0war machines were lost throughout the battle, but no doubt their sacrifice\u00a0prevented the total collapse of\u00a0Order&#8217;s position.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In the end though that was all the might of Mars was able to ensure. The steadfast troops\u00a0of the Legions of Discord stood firm against the combined attack on the planet. With their\u00a0strike forces extinguished or hastily falling back, by the end the Forces of Order had been rebuffed, claiming little more than their initial beachhead. Although not repulsed entirely from the planet, the effort to cleanse the temple world\u00a0had ground to a halt, its only trace\u00a0yet more bones rotting\u00a0among the dead forests and abandoned\u00a0shrines of Barnes 595.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3912\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/warhound-hierophant.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3912\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3912\" class=\"wp-image-3912 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/warhound-hierophant-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Monsters and war machines towering over the troops below go at each other's throats.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/warhound-hierophant-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/warhound-hierophant-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/warhound-hierophant-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/warhound-hierophant-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/warhound-hierophant.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3912\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monsters and war machines towering over the troops below go at each other&#8217;s throats.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3914\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/marauder.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3914\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3914\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3914\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/marauder-1024x766.jpg\" alt=\"A Death Korps Marauder swoops in to aerial combat with a Harridan menacing its Guard compatriots below.\" width=\"530\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/marauder-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/marauder-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/marauder-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/marauder-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/marauder.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3914\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Death Korps Marauder swoops in to aerial combat with a Harridan menacing its Guard compatriots below.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3926\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/soulgrinder.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3926\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3926\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3926\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/soulgrinder-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"A Soulgrinder prepares to crush a lesser walker.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/soulgrinder-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/soulgrinder-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/soulgrinder-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/soulgrinder-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/soulgrinder.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3926\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Soulgrinder prepares to crush a lesser walker.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3927\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemon.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3927\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3927\" class=\"wp-image-3927 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemon-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"A molten daemon lurks in the bushes.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemon-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemon-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemon-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemon-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/daemon.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3927\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A molten daemon lurks in the bushes.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_3928\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/troops.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3928\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3928\" class=\"wp-image-3928 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/troops-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Troops prepare to give their lives by the score.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/troops-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/troops-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/troops-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/troops-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/troops.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3928\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Troops prepare to give their lives by the score.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Harbinger&#8217;s Charge<\/h2>\n<p>I wouldn&#8217;t want to play\u00a0Apocalypse all the time, but with all our balancing mechanisms and other\u00a0rules\u00a0it&#8217;s actually a really good, strategic and tactical game.<\/p>\n<p>As a small example, one of my own\u00a0favorite stories from this\u00a0game is that of the Kingbreakers&#8217; Sergeant Harbinger. He and his Tacticals are part of the mass\u00a0Drop Pod assault\u00a0on\u00a0the Warp Tower objective in\u00a0Turn 1.\u00a0His men\u00a0blow\u00a0up a Rhino, the rest of his\u00a0squad gets obliterated, and he\u00a0ducks back behind his Drop Pod while other units contest that primary\u00a0objective.<\/p>\n<p>Next, Captain Angholan\u00a0splits from\u00a0the\u00a0Deathwatch team\u00a0he dropped with, and I have a choice: Charge\u00a0him at Samus now, or use him to wipe out Bloodletters standing between Harbinger and the objective. I go for the latter, and the Chaos players\u00a0look at me like I&#8217;m silly\u00a0for giving up the preemptive charge on Samus.<\/p>\n<p>Turn 3, the\u00a0Kingbreakers on the objective have all been wiped out. Samus has gone after Captain Angholan, who blocked him from doing anything else and stood there taunting the beast.\u00a0But Sergeant Harbinger alone now has a clear path to run up onto the Warp Tower base\u00a0and just barely contest the objective, shocking Discord and denying them 3 points. Didn&#8217;t win the game, but didn&#8217;t hurt either. And it wouldn&#8217;t have happened without just a bit of advance thinking\u00a0on my part and forcing moves and mistakes on my opponents&#8217; part to make sure I had that one Tactical left and a clear path for him. Meanwhile I&#8217;m also making larger decisions\u00a0about where to commit reserves, use my stratagem, etc..<\/p>\n<p>So\u00a0even though it might look and even sometimes feel like a silly\u00a0game of simply putting down units, shooting, and removing units, at least in the form we run Apocalypse there is actually both tactics and strategy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3900\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harbingers-charge.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3900\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3900\" class=\"wp-image-3900 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harbingers-charge-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Sergeant Harbinger contests the Warp Tower objective, against impossible odds.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harbingers-charge-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harbingers-charge-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harbingers-charge-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harbingers-charge-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/harbingers-charge.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3900\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sergeant Harbinger contests the Warp Tower objective, against impossible odds.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Outcome<\/h2>\n<p>This was a very back-and-forth battle.\u00a0Order opened the game in the lead, felt like it lost all momentum in the middle, then rallied to pull close but not enough to seize the day.\u00a0In the final tally Discord won, 79 victory points to Order&#8217;s 70, a close result given the scoring structure.\u00a0The last turn\u00a0was a nail-biter right down until we&#8217;d gone over the final disposition of the objectives twice and tallied everything up.<\/p>\n<p>The turn-by-turn breakdown lines\u00a0up with how I felt things were going during the match. Order essentially lost on Turn 3.\u00a0Taking ten\u00a0less points that round was the biggest turn deficit of the game, and we never made it up. By the end of that\u00a0Discord player turn I was actually telling Lovell that we were getting creamed and would be lucky to not fall\u00a0tens of points behind and have zero hope for the remainder of the game. Fortunately Order\u00a0managed to make some desperate\u00a0moves that just barely tied us on primary objectives for the turn; I was shocked to sum everything\u00a0and find us only seven points behind overall. But we got smoked on secondaries and tertiaries that round as Discord contested a bunch of our home base markers and\u00a0destroyed a couple superheavies and warlords. With our\u00a0alpha strike depleted that\u00a0was just too much of a gap to cover by the end.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3853\" style=\"width: 583px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/turn-scoring.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3853\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3853\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3853\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/turn-scoring.png\" alt=\"Turn-by-turn breakdown of the scoring.\" width=\"573\" height=\"256\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/turn-scoring.png 573w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/turn-scoring-300x134.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/turn-scoring-60x27.png 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 573px) 100vw, 573px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3853\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Turn-by-turn breakdown of the scoring.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Analysis<\/h2>\n<p>Directly from that, I think Order&#8217;s\u00a0big strategic issue continues to be that it puts itself in the position of half-committing to an alpha strike. One\u00a0way to look at the loss is that we needed to scoop a couple more objectives early, and ideally keep Discord\u00a0off them longer. Alternatively, maybe we needed to sit back and save more\u00a0resources for the\u00a0closing turns. I view the Discord team\u00a0as largely following the latter. Brett frequently\u00a0does some pretty\u00a0aggressive alpha striking deep into enemy territory, and Justin\u00a0did some as well this game. But everybody else tends to sit back a bit more and work their way across the table in a more traditional fashion. Their most aggressive\u00a0flanking\u00a0attacks usually come late in the game, after we&#8217;re spread thin\u00a0and out of steam. So, Order should consider\u00a0two paths:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tone down the alpha strike. It can&#8217;t go away completely just given some of the armies and players. But it should be smaller, and be better concentrated on taking and holding specific objectives. Part of this is that the forces being dropped need to be modernized and hardier: More Centurions and Venerable Dreadnoughts, fewer\u00a0ridiculously brave but foolish Tactical Marines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Amp up the alpha strike! Just go for broke, and\u00a0dump a lot more forces on the other side of the table early on. Sure, we&#8217;ll regret it horribly as the bad guys\u00a0roll right onto our\u00a0home base objectives. But so what, as long as we&#8217;ve taken theirs?\u00a0Further, most of their stuff\u00a0moving across the ground might\u00a0be either blocked or more or less forced to turn back and reckon with the drop.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_3910\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/valhallans.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3910\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3910\" class=\"wp-image-3910 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/valhallans-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Elite Valhallans fly over the battlefield on their mission to take the Comms Tower.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/valhallans-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/valhallans-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/valhallans-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/valhallans-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/valhallans.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3910\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elite Valhallans fly over the battlefield on their mission to take the Comms Tower.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The big meta-point to make that happen is that we probably need to establish\u00a0a commander not\u00a0also entangled in organizing this and many of our\u00a0other events.\u00a0With the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pagegaming.com\/index.php?n=Warhammer40k.2015WinterCombatPatrol\">Winter Combat Patrol<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.novaopen.com\/\">NOVA<\/a> taking up much more time than I had hoped, I\u00a0wasn&#8217;t able to foster\u00a0any team discussion leading up to the Apocalypse. What little strategizing did\u00a0happen pre-game was actually instigated by Colin stepping in to help out. Which, you know, is awesome, because it basically amounts to the Discord warmaster saying &#8220;You puny Imperials\u00a0are no match for our dark strategies! Come, come, please talk amongst yourselves such that you may offer at least <em>some<\/em> challenge to our warriors!&#8221; With Colin at the helm, Discord does just a bit more planning over army focii; use of reserves and their entry vectors; and stratagems. Although we generally manage to keep the games\u00a0close, that\u00a0extra bit of coordination\u00a0shows in the\u00a0closing turns and the\u00a0slightly higher percentage of Discord wins across all our\u00a0Apocalypse battles.<\/p>\n<h2>Revisions<\/h2>\n<p>Back to the organizational side, I have just a couple notes for next year.<\/p>\n<p>One issue in this match was that the armies were too large.\u00a0Discord in particular had a hard time completing all of its actions in the early turns. Next year we should cut the baseline back down to 3000 points, but allow\u00a0people to\u00a0field up to 4000 if at least a quarter of that is made up of superheavy, gargantuan, or mighty bulwark models. That way they should have a low enough model count to be a touch more comfortable in the turn time limits, yet still field lots of toys.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3913\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/castigator.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3913\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3913\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3913\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/castigator-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"A Knight Castigator marches toward deadly combat with rotted Scabeiathrax.\" width=\"530\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/castigator-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/castigator-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/castigator-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/castigator-60x45.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/castigator.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3913\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Knight Castigator marches toward deadly combat with rotted Scabeiathrax.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We should also perhaps try to find a way to limit how many different sections of the table in which a single person can have units. That&#8217;s tough, because sprawling interaction across a huge landscape is part of the appeal of Apocalypse, and important to some armies playing more of a supporting or counter-attacking role. You can&#8217;t limit people down to a single table or such, as then you\u00a0may as well play separate games in a linked campaign. But that&#8217;s a major cause of slowdowns, when one person\u00a0is\u00a0getting shot at or is in assaults all over the place. Even with other people helping resolve them, it&#8217;s a bottleneck. One possible idea is to have players\u00a0secretly record several\u00a0reserve vectors and\u00a0deep strike locations on the map, and only allow their reserves to enter from those sectors.\u00a0Obviously many\u00a0units could still move around the board quite a bit regardless, but that would prevent a great deal of the spreading out which\u00a0occurs. Most people shouldn&#8217;t have armies literally all over the place because it hurts their focus and encourages mistakes,\u00a0let alone generally\u00a0weakening their forces. But lots of people do, and as a side benefit, a mechanism like this would cut down on\u00a0that.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, although this is just a free, semi-invitational event, next year we&#8217;ll probably require $20 deposits to sign-up. For those that show, the money will be put toward food for the day and the remainder returned, or maybe we just put it toward club expenses or new activities. It would not be returned for people that bail after some cut-off close to the event.\u00a0That\u00a0will likely eliminate the usual couple of people who sign-up but aren&#8217;t committed and simply don&#8217;t come through, as opposed to those that legitimately have something come up at the last minute.<\/p>\n<h2>Wrap-Up<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/tjkopena\/albums\/72157663182636545\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3915\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3915\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/more-photos.png\" alt=\"more-photos\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/more-photos.png 100w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/more-photos-60x60.png 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/a>Although not without its trying moments in preparation, this was another great event. Some old friends made the trip, some new friends joined up, and\u00a0we had a bunch of\u00a0excellent Recon Squad games\u00a0and another epic, closely fought Apocalypse featuring\u00a0some interesting new mechanisms. Again, there are tons more photos in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/tjkopena\/albums\/72157663182636545\">Flickr gallery<\/a>.\u00a0We&#8217;ll\u00a0see\u00a0you\u00a0next year!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3892\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/lord-of-skulls.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3892\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3892\" class=\"wp-image-3892\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/lord-of-skulls.jpg\" alt=\"The Lord of Skulls cares not the victor, for he wins the loser regardless!\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/lord-of-skulls.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/lord-of-skulls-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/lord-of-skulls-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/lord-of-skulls-60x34.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3892\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Lord of Skulls cares not the victor, for he wins the loser regardless!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pagegaming.com\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3918\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3918\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/page-logo-1.png\" alt=\"page-logo\" width=\"599\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/page-logo-1.png 599w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/page-logo-1-300x112.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/page-logo-1-60x22.png 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Without a home and newly without their major supply base, the Kingbreakers Space Marines drifted through the void for a time seeming interminable. Then they turned toward action and their sworn enemies: &#8220;They take one of ours, we take one of theirs&#8230;&#8221; Another year, another PAGE Winter Apocalypse! Our club&#8217;s annual mega-Apocalypse is in the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2016\/01\/page-apocalypse-2016-rebuffed-at-barnes-595\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[411],"tags":[272,46,340,85,51,257,137,38,17,251,274,29,24,31],"class_list":["post-3750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campaigns","tag-40k","tag-apocalypse","tag-chaos","tag-dark-angels","tag-eldar","tag-featured","tag-grey-knights","tag-imperial-guard","tag-kingbreakers","tag-mechanicum","tag-miniatures","tag-page","tag-space-marines","tag-tyranid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3750"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3991,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750\/revisions\/3991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}