DaBigBomma's Orks - Part 2

More on Greg Teeuwen's Orks in his words...


With the release of Apoc, I liked the idea of the Skullhamma, so I built one.

As Apoc really took hold, I quickly found out that my old Speed Freaks thinking meant I had vehicles that were too lightly armored. So I started making battlewagons.

From 4th Edition, the Speed Freaks were allowed to have (odd) flyer strafings during the first turn. And when the first Imperial Armour came out, they actually had rules for an Ork flyer, so I wasted no time in building one.

As with Sheepshagga, this flyer/pilot got a name: “Crappy” Boyington, famed Ork ace and first pilot of my rapidly expanding Black Sheep Skwadron. In many a game, thanks to the first IA rule sets and scatter die, he became infamous for killing more Orks than he did the enemy models. His obvious answer, “A kill is a kill”. Yes, he’s chocked up quite a kill count, plenty of models on the ground and he even scored a number of air to air kills.

 

As Apoc became more and more popular, I saw the need for a bigger air force and so I started creating more flyers. Most impressive to me was the Blasta Bomma ruleset from IA8. I had taken a very long break from gaming and was eventually invited to a semi-large fight. I got the latest rules and found inspiration to start scratchbuilding again.

The Blasta Bomma was first. I could’ve done a lot more to make it look more looted or Orky, but I was rusty and was in a hurry in order to be ready for the big “return” game.

Then came a few more fighters. I actually have two of these.

DaBigBomma's Orks - Part 1

Greg Teeuwen, whose White Knights I featured previously, is a master of conversion.  His Ork army is amazing and featured here.

This is my Ork WAAGH!, led by the infamous Warboss Sheepshagga.

As boyz are a dime a dozen and overly common, an Ork Waagh gets its character from one or two key leaders, but primarily from its vehicles.

With that in mind, I scratchbuilt or kitbashed every single vehicle in my army, and the army revolves around its key (and very demented) Warboss Sheepshagga.

Sheepshagga (the character) actually began as a non-hero looter boy from the game Mordheim. I put my warband together with “looting” in mind, so I had some boyz carrying bags of stuff, and one in particular was running off with a sheep under his arm.

The figure was so funny and popular with the mordheim group that he was given the name “Sheepshagga” by my fellow gamers. The sheep he was carrying was given the name “Muffin” and a silly love story soon followed. However, laughter turned to terror when Sheepshagga had actually earned enough experience in the game to actually become a heroic figure and he was soon tearing foes apart. Pretty soon, it became a competition amongst my opponents to see if someone could actually kill Sheepshagga. Oddly enough, he never perished.

As I translated over to 40k and built up a Waagh, I kept the character, updating him as necessary. I’ve made several version of him, but with the release of Black Reach, I took advantage of the nice Warboss model and created a 5th edition version of Sheepshagga. Muffin actually counts as an attack squig (+1 attack). The tire he’s standing on is symbolic of his Speed Freaks beginnings.

With the key leader in place, I then wanted my army to stand out from all the other Ork armies by having my own vehicles, not simply buying ready-made kits. I started my Waagh during 4th Edition, using the Speed Freaks ruleset, with most vehicles fast and light. However, as 5th Edition and Apocalypse came out, I beefed out my army quite a bit.

Most of my Trukks are kitbashed from WWII models.

My first Stompa (long, LONG before Stompa kits were available). This is lovingly named, “Da Nutcracka” and was a terror to behold (before Apoc really took hold and now Stompas are everywhere). In fact, when I first built this, there was so little fluff about stompas that one had to imagine what it might look like or how big it would be. All told, this Stompa cost me about $12 to make. And with the release of newer and newer Apoc rules, I’ve actually modified it quite a bit, allowing me to swap out arms for different stompa weapons.

 Sheepshagga’s old Speed Freaks ride- counted as a trukk.

Deff Koptas.

More of Alan's army tomorrow!

Quantum Gothic - A New Resin Accessory Provider

Quantum Gothic is an amazing new resin miniature wargame accessory provider and I have to say their stuff is awesome.  They have gotten nothing but rave reviews from everything I have read, and I am going to be ordering a ton of stuff from them soon.  Do check them out.

The Big Game - Final Numbers

Well, it took me a few weeks after the Big Game all the numbers compiled and verified.  I actually have an army list for every person who was at the L.A. Battle Bunker and confirmed their numbers, so the records are very accurate.  We set every record that we were after.  We kind of figured we would not beat the vehicle record, but I hear Siegeworld is after that this summer.  So here are the numbers:

Los Angeles Battle Bunker

Total number of painted points on one table 739,247

(The previous record for the Biggest Apocalypse Game was 382,000 by Siegeworld)

Total number of models on two tables 864,057

(The previous record for the Biggest Apocalypse Battle was 520,000 by GMI games)

Total number of miniatures 18,592

(The previous record for the most minis in a Single Battle was 6,500 by Siegeworld)

 Total number of vehicles 1,752  (Not a record)

World Wide

Total number of points at 22 locations in 5 countries  2,310,835 !!!

The Imperium was triumphant!

Final Score World Wide was 407 to 331.  The Emperor's light prevails!

At the L.A. Battle Bunker the score was 183 to 122 for the Imperium.

  Bunker regular Annibal Sanchez's Chaos horde faces the Smurfs and IG

 The San Pedro Games Workshop store clan came prepared for war!

Former Bunker manager Chris Cailor on one crowded table!

Former Bunker employee Dave Hummel (on left) managed both Crimson Fists and Blood Angels against Senobio Aguilera (on right) and his IG.

Reinforcements have arrived!

You got to love these bad boys.....

Yeah, I do everything in threes.

Alec

Random Thoughts, The Death Company......and a cool Pic

Well, played a small, 8,000 point per side Apoc game at the Broadside Bash Tournament yesterday the game ended at 1:30, and we learned a few things. It was 8,000 points of Necrons/IG vs. my Blood Angels and David's Angels of Absolution. (No Flyers or Superheavies in our side, he had a Baneblade)

Some thoughts:

1) Always look up rules if there is any question and don't feel like someone is questioning your integrity.  

When someone questions a rule, or something in my codex, I like to show them where it is, or have them show me where it is.  It just makes us all better players.  Look, I have zero problem admitting when I am wrong about a rule. Just show me! I think it is a good habit for us all to be able to refer to where a rule is. So many times we whip out the rulebook and look up a rule and we say "OH, OK", and we are both satisfied!

2) The new Objective Scoring rules are so much more fun.

We keep playing with this system, where you score objectives every player turn after Turn 1, and it keeps proving how much more fun it makes the game.  The intensity is up, and it prevents people from hanging back and loading everything into reserve. 

3) Mobility cannot be over-rated.

Players do not think about their Force Comp on a large table. We had an AWESOME table last night that was 10' x 6' and filled with Dave's terrain. Problem was, the other guy only had two units racing across the table to get 3 objectives. And he didn't even start moving them till Turn 2.

4) Playing with just Codex forces is just as fun. 

David and I both had nothing but standard stuff. No Super Heavies, Flyers, Titans, and it was a blast.  I had one formation, the Death Company, David had none.

5) Basic Sternguard are under-rated

Oh we all love Sternguard combi-melta spam, but Hellfire rounds took out BOTH C'Tan last night and in the last game I played, an Avatar. 

6) The Death Company Formation is INSANE

I fielded this 1,200 point formation last night.  30 Death Company, 20 with Jump Packs, Asorath and a Chaplain.  Two DC Dreads with Blood Talons.  Let's just say I don't fear the Green Tide.  This formation will cut through anything like butter.  The ability to reroll EVERYTHING and then get extra attacks, is just crazy-good.

And you Eldar players have been getting some love lately and are about to get more.  IA 11 should be a great book and will see the release of the Eldar Phantom Titan from Forgeworld.

Aaron Lovejoy's Eldar Cobra

Aaron Lovejoy is a multiple Golden Deamon winner who paints the armies of a bunch of us down here in SoCal.  His work is amazing and here is an Eldar Cobra he did for Shawn Green.

Forgeworld New releases

WOW!  It was only a week ago that Forgeworld released the Malcador Infernus, and today we get the Eldar Assault Walker and some Ultramarine decals.

Now you can have a War Walker Squadros with jump jets as a Troops choice.

I could get used to "Forgeworld Friday".

Eldar and Imperial Titans

The following is an article on Eldar Titans by Matt Plonski, who runs the Apoc-Eclipse Apocalypse gaming group in North Carolina.

There was a great deal of disappointment with the Eldar datasheets in the Bell of Lost Souls "Lords of Battle" supplement.  If you are playing against Imperial titans you need to do yourself a favor and use the datasheets that Apoc-Eclipse and Siegeworld made together.    You can download them at http://www.apoc-eclipse.com/datasheetEldarPhantomTitan.pdf"]Phantom and http://www.apoc-eclipse.com/datasheetEldarWarlockTitan.pdf"]Warlock.  If you use the BoLS ones you will be very disappointed.  The Imperial titans have such superior range, armor, and shields that they are not much fun to play against.
 

I don't want to beat a dead horse, as we talked about the differences between Imperial and Eldar titans exhaustively when designing the datasheets, so simply consider the Apocalypse Launcher.  The Apocalypse Launcher is great at downing shields from up to 360" away but once the shields are down it is useless against Imperial titans.  The Eldar don't have anything that can do those things.  Against an Eldar titan the Apocalypse Launcher and Vulcan Mega Bolter never lose their ability because they can always damage the 12 front armor.  While a Reaver or Warlord is usually safe in the first turn unless a lot of firepower is poured into them a Phantom can take damage from the first S6 or better gun shot at it.  If you fire an Apocalypse Launcher at a Phantom titan you can expect that you'll see a couple of Gun Crew Shaken results at least.  It is NEVER a bad idea to shoot at an Eldar titan since any shot has the potential to do harm.
 

So, what is my strategy?  Overwhelming power.  I have six super heavy tanks that move up in front of the titans (they have even worse ranges than the titans, so you have to move up) and some of the smaller class titans.  Turn 1, the Phantom and Warlock usually get shot at, as they are the most frightening.  Usually they don't do all that much damage to them.  Once the super heavy tanks start shooting, they then become the priority since no one realized that they almost exclusively shoot Destroyer templates.  The better to take out something that actually has a chance to be taken out then to waste your shots against a titan.  In turn 3, by this time the Towering Destroyer Knight has reached the enemy lines and lays into an enemy super heavy with its two close combat weapons.  Four or five Wraithlords will also help.

What do I support my Eldar titans with?  As I said above, they have such small range that I usually keep them with the bulk of my army.  Their priority targets are anything with high strength and multiple shots.

If you are talking about Imperial titans, it is a completely different story.  Deck them out either with long range guns or with short ranged ones.  Keep them at their optimal range and use them in concert with other units to destroy whatever target type they are the best at.  It is usually good to keep a Warhound around the feet of a Reaver or Warlord to use to keep the neighborhood clear.  If you are going to use infantry just make sure that they are able to react fast since any enemy will likely try to clear out a landing zone before coming in.

It is a viable tactic to put an isolated long range titan off in the corner of the battlefield to rain death down from afar (I like the combination of Apocalypse Launchers and Volcano Cannons) and just gamble that the opponent won't want to bother trying to take it out.  It might work once or twice but eventually a Valkyrie with a Demolitions Veteran Squad will swoop into range and you won't have anything to stop them.

Hope this helps!

Matt Plonski

Blood Angel Apocalypse Formations - Sanguinary Guard

The second of the Battle Formations from White Dwarf 373 is Dante's Sanguine Host.  This is a formation that boggles the mind how nasty it is.  Every bit as intimidating as The Death Company, this unit is capable of assaulting the turn it arrives and basically won't scatter!  Who needs Vanguard Veterans with "Heroic Intervention"?

Dante's Sanguine Host  75 points + models

Formation:

Dante

1 Honor Guard

2-4 Squads of Sanguinary Guard

As with The Death Company formation, the special rules make this expensive force worth every point.

Deep Striking Force, says that after you Deep Strike Dante (using his Tactical Precision which allows him not to scatter), all other units are placed within 6" of him, and also do not scatter. 

Angels of Death is a special rule that states that units cannot shoot or run the turn they arrive, but they CAN assault.


So, this formation is very nasty and can take out multiple annoying units the turn it arrives.  It will not scatter so you basically decide where it shows up.  You can't shoot, which is one of the best things about Sanguinary Guard....Infernus pistols!  But as soon as you wipe out that annoying unit, you can jump around blasting the big stuff.

Now of course in order to be able to actually field this unit, you need to buy 4 boxes of Sanguinary Guard and then make a Blood Angels Honor Guard.  This is actually a fun project and I already am working on it.  I actually built my Blood Angel Honor Guard with jump packs and it is being painted by Toby Wearing, a phenominal painter who has done most of my Crimson Templar / Templars Sanguine armies.  Now I just need to buy 3 more boxes of Sanguinary Guard!

Alec

Blood Angel Apocalypse Formations - WD 373

Well, the new White Dwarf has a ton about Blood Angels, including 4 battle formations for Apocalypse and a whole battle report.  As a Blood Angel player myself, I am already working on building up enough forces to field these formations.  

These White Dwarf articles are a great way for GW to keep Apocalypse in the forefront of 40K gaming.  I was actually quite disappointed that GW didn't publish formations for the Dark Eldar.  If you are going to release a new codex, you need to release new formations for that codex. 

 

So let's take a look at the Blood Angels formations.  Today I will just look at the first (and potentially nastiest) one, The Death Company!

The Death Company  200 points + models

Formation:

Astorath

1+ Chaplains

0-1 Death Company Tycho

3+ Death Copany squads (1 squad must include Lemartes)

2-4 Death Company Dreadnoughts

Now the most important of this (as with most formations) is the special rules.  The first, Strike Force, says that after you Deep Strike Astorath, all other units are placed within 6" of him, but do not scatter.  Very useful for crowded tables.  

The second rule is absolutely GRIM.  Bloodrage states that "For each unsaved wound caused by a unit in this formation in close combat, it can immediately make another attack.  If this attack causes an unsaved wound, you may make another attack, and so on."

This is basically the Blood Talon rule for Death Company Dreadnoughts being applied to your basic Death Company dudes.

HOLY WIPEOUT BATMAN!    This rule is absolutely insane.  I cannot possibly imagine how any unit survives being charged by the Death Company here.  And considering that there is basically no limit to the number of Death Company in this formation, this formation could wipe out a Green Tide with ease.

It would be interesting to take some of your Death Company in Drop Pods and some with Jump Packs.  After they have arrived, they can act independantly, so could charge multiple targets.  The Dreadnoughts of course need to be in Drop Pods.....Lucius pattern Drop Pods if I have anything to say about it!

Which brings me to the basic tactics for this formation.  Your put your Dreads in Lucius pattern Drop Pods.  They land with everything else, but since they can assault the turn they land, the Dreads tie up the opponent until the next turn when the Death Company can charge.

Let the carnage begin!

Alec

Forgeworld New releases

Maclcador Infernus

Mounts an Inferno Cannon.  Very cool model, which goes Apocalyptic a bit easier.  Also has poison ammo.

Cadian Hostile Environment Troops

The Cadian Hostile Environment Conversion Set contains 10 resin torsos, accessories and a flamer canister for use with the plastic Cadians.

Cadian Hostile Environment Troops Plasma Squad

The Cadian Hostile Environment Conversion Set contains 3 Plasma Trooper torsos and 3 regular Hostile Environment resin torsos.

The Spirit of the Game

Kirk Damman is the Founder of Siegeworld and an avid Apocalypse player.  He wrote up these guidlines on playing Apocalypse and I think they are worth everyone reading!


The Spirit of the Game


(or rules for how to play Apocalypse so its fun for everyone)

by Kirk Damman


This article is designed for only one purpose, to try and reduce the frustration and hurt some players inevitably have in large “all comers” Apocalypse games. This frustration has many sources and can afflict the most junior to the most veteran of players. It effects those with 3,000 point armies and those with 30,000 point armies. These suggestions are not just to prevent you from getting frustrated, but to prevent you from frustrating others. I suggest anyone who is going to play in any “bring and battle” Apocalypse game abide by them to avoid getting feelings hurt on both sides of no man’s land. You don’t want to have a bad day because you weren’t prepared for what was coming.

1) Do not bring the army you could have, bring the army you actually have (or “WYSIWYG means: what you see is what you get”).

Apocalypse is designed to allow you to use your entire collection of miniatures and to field some units that can’t be fielded elsewhere. It is actually very easy to field your collection but many, many players regularly don’t field their actual armies, they field what their army could be. Simply look at your models and select the appropriate rules based on what they are. That is, play strict WYSIWYG. You should do this even if you regularly don’t use a model that way in smaller games. There is often a temptation to give a unit some small upgrade even though they don’t have it modeled because the points may not matter, or to switch a less than ideal weapon combination into something better because you can. Resist that temptation and play your models the way they are actually modeled, even if this makes them “less than ideal.” Now this isn’t to say don’t treat your cool conversion as what you modeled it to be, just don’t change it to something else entirely because you can.

In a similar vein, if you really want that unit to have that upgrade for the upcoming game, grab your modeling tools and some paint and give them it before the game kicks off. It may be a lot of work to you, but that cool model may actually get you some praise.

2) A proxy is a game piece, not a model (or “do not bring the army you want, bring the army you actually have”)

Apocalypse allows you to field some incredibly powerful units only available in Apocalypse games. Many of these models are very expensive or require a huge effort to scratchbuild.

Because these units are powerful and “cool,” however, many players will want to field something that they don’t have in their collection simply because it can have such a powerful game effect. Resist that temptation. It is very frustrating to someone who has spent a good deal of money on a Forgeworld model or a lot of time making a cool scratchbuild to see others asserting that a cardboard box or a teddy bear is the same thing as what they have. If you would feel ashamed showing your model in a modeling competition or on a modeling forum on the web, it probably shouldn’t be in your army list because it’s a “game piece” not a model. Apocalypse isn’t a game, it’s a model showcase with rules.

In a similar vein, if you have a really cool model that might require bending the rules to be fielded true WYSIWYG, bring it. Most people are always willing to fight something that looks great, even if its not totally “legal”.

3) If it isn’t modeled and painted to fit with your army, why are you bringing it? (or “how to detect when you are about to violate rule 1 or 2”)

As mentioned above, Apocalypse is about fielding your entire army. If your models are still gray plastic, or cardboard, or kid’s toys, are they really a part of your army? Generally, if what you are playing with hasn’t been modeled and painted to be a part of your army, it’s not really a part of it. People who seriously play Apocalypse and have those really cool big armies that others drool over don’t play something simply because it’s good, cool, or different. They play their army because they love their army, warts and all. Generally if what you are bringing isn’t something you cared enough to make a true part of your army, you’re only fielding it because of its rules and are thus about to violate rule 1 or 2.

In a similar vein, if you are new to the game or make an honest effort but just don’t have that much skill when it comes to modeling or painting, most people aren’t going to stop you from coming and playing and aren’t going to be offended by your attempts. The frustration lies in those who don’t care about making something part of an army, not those who want to but simply can’t.

4) Cut yourself first (or “those who are about to die, we salute you.”)

If you have ever studied blade fighting, one of the things that is often suggested is to cut yourself just before the fight. That way, the sting of your opponents blade is less likely to distract you at a critical moment because you always feel the first cut the most.

In Apocalypse many, many of your models will get taken off the battlefield without doing squat. The weapons of the 41st millennium are varied and universally destructive, and Apocalypse adds some that go far, far beyond what is the norm. No matter how hard you worked on that cool unit to be able to field it today, it may never make it to the enemy (or even out of its transport). You need to be prepared for this before you place your first model on the field. If you aren’t ready to see it die, why did you bring it here anyway?

In a similar vein, don’t sulk about how that vortex grenade, titan weapon, or absolutely sick close combat unit that killed off the unit you were intending to toss the vortex grenade, fire the titan weapon, or wipe the floor with your enemy is unfair. It only causes you to feel bad. Everyone else thinks you’re a sore loser.

5) Fight with honor (or “come home with your shield, or on it.”)

You need to treat the game as the spectacle of the gladiator ring and accept that what people remember from the game makes a good photograph, not a military victory. Being scared that your army will get wiped off the board by a more powerful opponent and “hiding” tends to make you bored. On this battlefield, dying spectacularly can be just as much fun as killing spectacularly. You don’t want to avoid the unpredictable and highly devastating aspects of Apocalypse, you want to embrace the chaos and enjoy the game as something that goes beyond what your army may or may not do. Apocalypse games are not about what one player, unit, or side did. It’s about the spectacle of seeing a story come alive in a spectacular fashion.

In a similar vein, as stated in the movie Gladiator, a quick kill is boring. Tabling the enemy tends to earn you the wrath of all the other players, not victory points. Don’t be afraid to let your opponent kill you back so that the show goes on.


Kirk Damman

Greg Patterson - Interview with an Apocalypse Apostle

Greg Patterson is a big time Apocalypse gamer and one of the guys behind Siegeworld.  I took some time to interview Greg because he is an active part of the Apoc community.

How and when did you get into 40K?  

My older brother bought the Rouge Trader book way back when it first came out i don't remember how long ago. My two older brothers started playing with some friends and they got out of it pretty quickly. My first miniature was a Chaplin on a jet bike when I was 11 I think, I still have parts of that jet bike laying around somewhere in my bits box.  Oh and Space Hulk, My older brothers played that and I begged them to let me play all the time. Space Hulk is a great game, I have had every edition and all the expansions at one time or another.

What was your first army?  

Chaos marines were my first army. They didn't have cult armies back then but mine were all Khorne. I was buying most of my stuff second hand from one of my brothers friends at a dollar a model. I quickly bought up all his Chaos and moved on to space marines. I started up a Dark Angles army back when they were still black not green, I was pretty pissed when they changed the colors.\

When did you start playing really big games?  How did Siegeworld start?

My armies really got big when I started building an Imperial Armoured Company from the old White Dwarf article. I already had a playable Imperial Guard Army with a few Leman Russ and I always liked mechanized infantry. Building he Armoured Company got me into thinking in terms of squadrons of Leman Russ instead of single tanks. I had picked up an old Armourcast Baneblade from a store going out of business for super cheap so I already had a superheavy all those years ago. At the time I was playing with a regional group called Adeptus Basementus they had groups here in St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago. I did some traveling to Kansas City and played in some of the Chicago Grand Tournaments. Kirk was one of the other members of the group and he is the one who really started the idea of Siegeworld. I played in the very first Siegeworld event back in 2003. I then promptly left town for several years. I kept playing in Buffalo NY and Omaha NE but I didn't make it back to Siegeworld until 2008. By then Kirk, Josh, Pat, Ray and several had kept the game going. I always kept up with the game and tried to come several times but it was always at a bad time of the year or I was in another state. While in Buffalo I did run into Psypath (Gerald Wincek, who ran The Big Game out of Treefort Games in Fayetteville, GA) and we did play a game or two of floorhammer at my apartment. Funny enough this was before either of us were on forums online and when I saw his stuff on forums he was doing Imperial Guard instead of the Space Marines he was playing back then. I was later reunited with Psypath last year when he showed up at Siegeworld. By 2008 the Siegeworld group was running regular events mostly in basements sometimes in stores.

How has the release of Apocalypse changed those games?

Kirk had already developed his own set of rules for Mega games as we called them back then we had all the forge world rules back then so we were pretty well set. The games ran smoothly thanks to Kirk's rules we didn't really need Apocalypse. When Apocalypse was released we were glad that someone reckoning what we were doing as a legitimate part of the game and that we were weren't just a bunch of loons with ridiculously huge armies. We adopted the full rule-set immediately we kept some of the old Siegeworld concepts like movement trays and I think we still use the original movement for roads and things like that but more and more we use the Apocalypse rules as is.  Really the biggest change we have seen is a rise in popularity of big games. Kirk moved the games out of the large meeting room at a local collage to an empty ice hockey rink for several reasons but mainly for more room. Apocalypse40k has done a good job of improving the visibility of the games and broadened the discussion of the game and how it works. There is really a lot of momentum here for this years Siegeworld.  The Big Game reset the bar pretty high and we don't really have the player base locally to beat that record but with the popularity of Apocalypse on the rise I hope we can come close, if nothing else it is a great time.

Siege world is known for mastering "floorhammer" as people like to call it, huge games on the floor of a really big place.  Tell us the pluses and minuses of this and is Siegeworld moving towards table-based games?

Floorhammer allows for a more complete battlefield. It allows every player to fight for a common objective and intermingle across the battlefield. When you look at what the SoCal Battle bunker did for the Big Game you will see that what you really have there is really one huge long 4' wide table and the guys on the opposite ends of the table wont end up interacting very much if at all. I am not trying to put down that event at all that is just the limitations of tables. On the other hand floorhammer involves a lot of bending over and you have to walk around all those very expensive models. I have only ever stepped on my own miniatures and only once. I would love to see us get away from the floor but we don't have a facility that has enough tables to accomplish this and I am afraid it would drastically change the flavor of the game we play. That being said We have been playing on tables 6' deep a lot lately and we are all getting older. That being said I really love the table set up the guys in Canberra, Australia used for their location. I drew up a plan like this (only much bigger) , but my problem was I was basing it on 4' x 8' tables and that ends up with tables too deep. I think we will eventually move away from the floor but we will have to find a way to make and store a lot of tables to make the game happen the way we want it to.

You make a lot of models for other people, scratchbuilds and conversions.  Tell us about what you like building and why.

I really love scratch building I have been doing it since I started playing, and the only tanks for 40k were the old Land Raider and the old Rhino. I made a ton of models that are long gone to use in games. I used to do a lot of kit bashing, melding 1/48 scale model kits with GW models. I really like many of those conversions but I have in the last few years decided that it was not getting the best results in terms of getting a 40k look out of my models and have moved to almost strictly scratchbuilding using strictly GW parts and Plasticard. I do still pull things like wheels and vents and other 1/48 scale bits out of my box but I have gotten away from slapping a Sherman turret on a Leman Russ hull. Not that you cannot make some great models out of things like this but I really wanted to challenge myself more to make unique models.

Then one day the company I worked for bought a CAD router. I looked at this thing for over a year thinking about the possibilities. I then got my hands on a copy of the folded paper Warhound templates out there and spent several hours converting it into something I could cut out on the router. Warhounds are great but the real models that make Apocalypse more than regular 40k are bigger. The Warlord is really the the best application for the process I use. There are just not enough Warlords out there. 

Now before you go and think I am proposing that Apocalypse is just a game where giant superheavies destroy a bunch of smaller armies I'm not. What I am saying is if there are more Warlords out there more people will understand that they are just big cool looking targets. As for things I like building, well my next big project is the Emperor Titan. What I love about this one is I got my hands on a Epic model and a set of calipers and scaled the whole thing up in AutoCAD. It should be cut out here in a bit and I cannot wait to see how it comes out, it is a direct copy in many areas. I am quite fond of simply and faithfully scaling up Epic models to use in Apocalypse. My Leviathan turned out really well, it was simple to build and I think fits very well on the table top. But I have recently rediscovered my real true love in scratchbuilding, Orks. I really love the freedom of not having to cut straight lines and the cobbled together feel of Ork vehicles. This is not to say that I don't love the massed produced STCs of the Imperium but sometimes I like to put down the straightedge and have some fun building an Ork Vehicle with nothing but a crazy dream and a pile of plasticard and bits.

What is the thing that most attracts you to Apocalypse and really big games?

Tanks, I love tanks and big tank battles. I have over 100 guard infantry that rarely get out of their transports. I am working to better use my infantry but the tanks are just more fun.

What is the biggest challenge in Apocalypse games?

Playing with your whole army. This is what I meant in saying I want to use my infantry more. I have a big Imperial Guard army that I use in most Apocalypse games, but like I said my troops rarely get out of their Chimeras. They end up wasted as they rarely get to shoot with their Meltas which would really help in a lot of cases as Battlecannons really have a hard time with armour 14. I need to work on getting my Chimeras moving towards objectives earlier and utilizing them more. I find it hard to get my 12 Chimeras to fit between my 18 Leman Russ variants plus the 6 Baneblades and variants I usually field, this is not even mentioning the Titans or artillery that I bring. My deployment areas are usually looks like a giant Imperial Guard parking lot.

What is the future of Apocalypse?

I hope to see GW put out more models like the Stormraven. There are rumors of a huge spider for Fantasy goblins so I don't think these large plastic kits are going away any time soon. 

Also I think more and more players should be, and are, building more units geared directly for Apocalypse. For instance I recently converted all 20+ of my Crimson Fists Terminators to carry Chain Fists. Titanhammer formations are cute and all but Vortex grenades are not reliable enough to take down Warlords. The Hades Breaching Drill with Melta Vets is another good example of this. 

I also have hopes for this Summer of Flyers thing that GW has going. I really don't think that Flyer rules really work well. I feel that it is an area that was never expected to be as important as it is and I feel that the rules are kind of tacked on the the rest of the Apocalypse rules. A dedicated set of rules would help the game a lot. I still want Flyers to be a valuable and powerful part of Apocalypse armies I just want them to interact better with the rest of the rules.