Apocalypse Then, Not Now

It's time for a look back through the mists of time to mid-August 2008 and the closing days of the 4th edition of Warhammer 40,000. My cousin and I played regularly throughout this edition, and many battles were fought between us. My main armies were Necrons and Salamanders, while he played Tau and Thousand Sons.

With the edition coming to a close, we decided to go all in on a huge farewell battle using the Apocalypse rules released in 2007 and every painted miniature we could get our hands on! The terrain was set up on Friday evening, the battle began at lunchtime on Saturday, and it finally concluded on Sunday afternoon.

"In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war."

As it turned out, this was both our first and last game using the Apocalypse rules. Lining up all your toys and smashing them together can certainly be fun, but it was never something we really enjoyed. We preferred smaller games with a narrative focus, which made this mega-battle a truly unique event.

Terrain Set-up

We set up a massive 8 x 6-foot table consisting of our 8 x 4-foot grass table, covered in jungle terrain, and two 2 x 4-foot sections from our urban table, complete with ruined buildings. The idea was that the forces of Order would defend a ruined city against the forces of Destruction. The battlefield was fairly open to make room for all the miniatures.

The outskirts of the ruined city.

The bulk of the table was made up of grass-covered fields and some jungle terrain.

Forces and Deployment

We decided to divide our armies into the forces of Order, consisting of a host of Alaitoc Eldar, Space Marines of the Salamanders Chapter and the Tau, and the forces of Destruction: an unholy alliance of Necrons, Word Bearers, Thousand Sons and Death Guard. Normally, you'd be hard-pressed to find Necrons fighting alongside the minions of Chaos, but somehow their goals must have aligned for this battle! 

My cousin took command of the larger forces of Destruction, while I led the smaller forces of Order. Looking back, I can't remember how we decided who would play each side. I guess it came down to the fact that I was more familiar with Space Marines and Eldar, while he had a good grasp of Chaos Space Marines. Likewise, I don't remember the points values at all, but it must have totalled several thousand points!

In Apocalypse, you drew a diagonal line across the length of the board and deployed your armies along that. I set up my forces in the city, while the bulk of my cousin's force was set up in the jungle. From what I can tell from the photographs, we placed a total of six objectives (represented by the neon-green flags).

The Word Bearers held the left flank of the forces of Destruction's deployment zone.

Opposing the Word Bearers stood a force of Eldar and Tau.

The Salamanders, with support from the Tau, were concentrated on the left flank of the forces of Order, facing the Thousand Sons and the bulk of the Necrons.

The Monolith and the Deceiver formed the centre of the forces of Destruction's battleline, while the forces of Order took up position in the ruins (I hope no one noticed the unpainted bases on those Vespids!).

The Battle Rages

With the armies deployed and strategic assets chosen, the stage was set for an epic confrontation that would last two days!

Unfortunately, I find it difficult to recall all the events and twists of the battle (this was 18 years ago, after all!), but I'll try and recount the things I do remember.

• I deployed a squad of Dark Reapers in a tall building where they rained death upon the enemy. They were accompanied by a Farseer casting Guide or Fortune on them for maximum cheese.
  
  
• The Broadside fired the first shot of the game, hitting the Word Bearers Land Raider with its Railgun and blowing it up instantly!
  
  
• The main attack of the forces of Destruction fell on the left flank of the city. Here the Thousand Sons and Necrons struck hard, their attack spearheaded by a Daemon Prince, a Lord of Change, a Defiler, The Deceiver and a Monolith. The Tau and the Salamanders fought bravely, but were overwhelmed by waves of Rubric Marines and Tzeentchian Daemons.
  
  
• Several Word Bearers and Necron units struck deep behind Order lines, appearing in the middle of the streets. These forces consisted of Chaos Terminators (who then summoned Nurgle Daemons) and Necron Immortals among other things.
  
  
• A large unit of 20 Kroot used a strategic asset (I can't remember which one) to appear behind the forces of Destruction in the latter stages of the battle. The unit had to be arranged base-to-base in a large circle when it arrived. Unfortunately my cousin had the Orbital Bombardment strategic asset, and the huge template neatly covered the entire unit! Once the smoke cleared there wasn’t much left of the poor Kroot!

The Thousand Sons' offensive began with Horrors and Flamers of Tzeentch being summoned right on top of the defenders.

Chaos Terminators and Necron Immortals struck deep behind enemy lines while the Eldar tried to stem the flow of Word Bearers.

The Wraithlord strode forth to confront the Flesh Hounds of Khorne and the advancing Chaos Space Marines. Meanwhile, the Death Guard seized the objective in the old temple.

Bitter close quarters battles erupted in the streets of the ruined city. Apparently someone had used a Vortex Grenade strategic asset as well (right hand corner)!

The Word Bearers' infantry came under fire from the Eldar and Tau as they advanced slowly and steadily towards the objective on the hill. 

A squad of Dire Avengers attempted to contain the Destruction units that had appeared in the streets, while a squad of Storm Guardians held the objective in the centre of the city (top left).

Ahriman and a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch directed the Chaos offensive on the forces of Order's left flank, while the Necrons pressed the attack in the centre.

The forces of Order still held the objective in the city centre, but it was beginning to look a bit bleak. In the bottom right a horde of Nurgle Daemons had just been summoned to aid the Chaos Terminators.

The Eldar War Walkers caused a lot of destruction, but could ultimately not halt the tide of Chaos. Here we can also see a swarm of Nurglings behind the Order line (bottom left), and the tide of Bloodletters storming through the streets (top left).

The forces of Destruction, in the form of a squad of Plague Marines and a unit of Necron Warriors, closed in on the objective in the city centre.

The Chaos Terminators fought their way through the Order-held ruins (top right), while the Necrons and Thousand Sons continued to advance (although their strength was a bit diminished by now).

The End

The photographs below show the battlefield at the end of the game. As you can see there wasn't much left of the forces of Order! Looking at the photographs from the end of the battle, it seems the Necron army must have Phased Out. I don't remember the details, but I must have inflicted enough losses on them to make that happen. As we were using the 3rd edition Codex, the Necron army disappeared from the battle if it was reduced to 25% or less of its original strength.

Destroyed vehicles littered the battlefield.

The objective in the old temple was held by the Death Guard throughout the battle. The poor Chaos Land Raider, however, was blown up by a Tau Broadside on turn one and didn't even get to move!

It seems the Word Bearers ignored the objective on the hill and advanced into the city instead. No doubt they were intent on slaughter instead of holding paltry strategic positions!

The city centre objective was secured by the Death Guard.

As you can probably tell from the photographs, the forces of Destruction (in the guise of my cousin!) emerged victorious in the end, despite the brave efforts of the forces of Order. In my defence, they were outnumbered from the start, so the result was inevitable! At least, that's the version I'm going with...

Looking back, it was certainly a memorable way to end 4th edition, as I can still remember many details of the battle 18 years later. The effort involved in making it happen was considerable, though, and maybe that's why we never played another Apocalypse game.

We played a few games during 5th and 6th edition, but nothing compared to the number of games we played during 3rd and 4th edition. In that sense, this battle also marked the end of an era, as it was around this time that we stopped playing Warhammer 40,000 regularly. Well, as they say, it's better to go out with a bang than a whimper!

Time to pack it all away (that alone probably took a few hours)!