First Impressions: Apocalypse
Hi everybody,
Bigred here, and I wanted to tell you my thoughts on Apocalypse after my first game. I played in a 10k apocalypse game vs mkerr and it was eye-opening.
Mkerr had loads of cheap Witchhunter infantry and a handful of vehicles and inducted IG.
I had a smaller Death Guard army backed up by a very expensive (1500 pt) Reaver titan super heavy.
My impressions of Apocalypse are that it is an absolute blast, but it is fundamentally a different game than standard Warhammer 40,000.
Firstly, the game is very binary in its victory conditions, so its feels much more like playing 40K at Alpha level. VPs are only used locally to determine tiebreakers for individual objectives.
Secondly, you have to “relax” your tactics and shift out to a “larger focus”. That means that it really felt like I was commanding a real army and making large picture decisions. You just don’t have time to agonize about the fine-tuned command of individual units like you do in a 40K game. Instead, you need to focus on application of force and objectives above all.
I found myself thinking about things such as “How may turns can I keep his center busy and locked in position if I burn these 4 units to do it?” And “Let him come and destroy these 2 picket units, as I have several reserve speeders ready to overtake his advancing forces and disrupt his rear areas”… As an aside, you cannot imagine the childlike rush of pure joy that happens during the shooting phase as you spin that 10” pieplate in your hand trying to figure out what gets smacked this turn.
In effect, it felt like I was playing 2nd Edition Epic: Space Marine. In that game, you commanded large infantry formations in the main, with the occasional titan or small groups of 2-3 superheavies for backup. The game feels great, and rewards daring gambits and maneuvering. With everything being all-or-nothing objective fights, taking the “middle path” in your decision making will send you to defeat quickly.
Finally a warning. I don’t know why GW let this “anything goes” attitude gel in the community, but it is a double edged sword. Apocalypse is made for mature players (of any age), to get together and come up with a battle they really wish to fight. You should talk ahead of time and create a board together, and really discuss what Strategic Assets are appropriate for your game, or decide which ones you wont allow at all. Finally, get playing and have a great time.
What apocalypse will not reward is ad-HoC play with strangers coming up and throwing down whatever they have into existing games with others. Its a recipe for disaster. Its really a wonderful addition to the game, and opens up larger new horizons, but the players MUST self-police themselves. Apocalypse has no harsh balancing rules to protect a group against abusive or juvenile players, outside of ostracizing them.
In short, it is good, and the game is better, deeper, and larger for it. Now get out there and start throwing some 10″ pieplates around!
How was your first Apoc. game?
