So many of the things I learned last time I played apocalypse were reinforced and I learned some new things.
First, I'll revisit some points from last time:
1. You need to build an Apocalypse Army One again, my army is not "apocalypse-ised". In fact, I played an army that I basically stopped playing two years ago. Fortunately, the Ork players knew this and went easy on us. While Brian brought his infamous stompa, we simply used it as a piece of scenery that represented an objective.
If I were playing my chaos, this may have been different. But then, I would have been using CSM allied with Daemons. Which would be much bigger and badder.
2. You need to use Datasheets. This is true for more reasons than I previously thought. We played this game on a 8' x 12' board, and with 9,000 points, we were still very cramped. However, if we would have sunk some points into super-heavies, would whould have had some breathing room.
3. Know your ally. No problems with this one this time around.
4. Play fast as possible. We timed our turns which I think helped things move along at a steady pace. We only made it to turn 4 after 7 hours. Still, not bad for the first game with this group.
5. Know what you're fighting for. Having Brian's Stompa on the board as an objective gave us something to shoot for (not shoot at). It was a vital objective (which we didn't know until the end of the game). Still, it was nice to have a unified Ork force against a unified (more or less) Imperial force.
6. Apocalypse is about planning as much as it is about playing. Hats off to Eric and Nick. The game went off very smoothly.
Some new things I'd like to add:
7. Don't get hung up on strategic assets. Eric handed out strategic assets randomly to both sides. He also limited what strategic assets were allowed in the game. I first, I thought this was a terrible idea (sorry). However, it turned out to be a lot of fun to work with assets I might not have tried otherwise. I received some kind of force field (I can't remember the name) and supreme headquarters. Both were extremely useful. I would actually suggest randomizing assets for your first time out. Or at the very least, try ones you might not usually try.
8. You can play faster than you think. This goes along with #4. We instituted a 30 minute per turn time limit. I was afraid that this would be tough for the Ork, but for the first few turns, both sides were finishing with time left on the clock. The later turns took longer, especially with assaults. We agreed that if the timer ran out while rolling for assault was in progress, we'd finish it. I suppose this system could be tweaked a little, and I say, set the bar high.
Without further ado, here are the rest of the pictures...
A perfect illustration of not having enough room. My Space Wolves got stuck in this corner after after destroying Brian's battle wagon. It became a wreck that blocked my way out.
Anton's three (3!) penitent engins take to the street.
The Orks make an orbital strike at our supreme head quarters. Luckily, our force shield (or whatever) held strong.
A lot of the fighting centered on the line of barricades. I kept yelling, "HOLD THE LINE!" at the top of my lungs. This apparently annoyed people.
Matt's version of Ragnar Blackmane (a much older, wiser version) holds an objective against a couple killer kans and a deff dread.
