Video Battle Report! - Eldar vs Imperial Fists

A Battle Report from Apocalypse 40K's own Son of Dorn!

Apocalypse Battle report - Eldar vs. The Imperium Rematch

Last November, the Los Angeles Games Workshop Battle Bunker hosted an epic Apocalypse battle between the forces of the Eldar and the Impeirum.  The Imperium squeaked out a 1 objective victory (scoring objectives only the last turn).  So the forces of the space elves wanted vengeance!  The game happened this past Saturday.  Here are the results:

The Basics

60,000 points per side. The Imperium didn't have some of its regulars, so couldn't muster more. I lead the Imperial team of Hannibel, Andrew, Bill, Travis and Jared.  Wolf lead the team of Ryan, Brian, Dan, David and Anthony.

No limits on Forces, each side gets 6 strategic assets

MAJOR FORCES

Imperium

1 Warlord Titan

3 Reaver Titans

3 Warhound Titans

23 Flyers

Eldar

4 Phantom Titans

6 Revenant Titans

10 Flyers

The Warlord holds the Imperial center.

TURN 1

The Eldar choose to go first (Imperium had the choice last time). They deploy pretty evenly across the board, though they leave some of their objectives in their deployment zone pretty unprotected. The Imperium laucnhes a double blind barrage (one from Strategic Assets, one from Bellerophon formation). The Warhound on the right side gets totally disabled. Warlord loses some shields. A few things blow up.

The Imperium returns fire. Only one player has careful planning, John with the Imperial Air Force. He brings in his lightnings and Thunderbolts. He goes after the Eldar Cloudstrike Formation and it is blown out of the air in front of the Warlord. One survives.

 Ryan, Bill, Wolf and Jared

TURN 2

The Eldar blow up the Warlord and a Warhound of Alec's. Both go Apocalyptic! There are very big craters on the Imperial side and the biggest piece of terrain is gone, taking with it 20 IG and the entire Eldar Striking Scorpion formation that appeared in the building on Turn 1. Dan Foster, who blew up the Warlord, can't roll higher than 4 when penetrating vehicles with the "D" level explosion. Kinda funny. He immobilizes about 8 vehicles (mostly Hydra and Manticores which won't move anyway). The Eldar had a bunch of models in the Imperial lines and they mostly die. The Phantom Titans are brutal. They tear away at the Imperial Titans, though the two with Glaives can't get near Imperial Lines.

The Eldar have about 8 Nightwings which show up.  They are very nasty and take down a Vendetta, and damaged 4 others.  Cover saves keep most of the Vendettas alive.

John's Grey Knights assault the Phantom.  Well, he had to do something!

The right side of the board.  Space Marines take on Ulthwe!

The Imperium returns fire and takes over the right side of the board. Hannibel on the left has his hands full with The Seer Council of Ulthwe, but is threatening the objective in the enemy deployment zone. A lot of this turn is spent going after the Titans and setting up for Turn 3. The Phantom on the right is totally stripped. One goes down. 3 Caestus Assault Rams come in from reserve, one using the Flank March asset. It drops out 10 Terminators with Chain Fists who disassemble a Revenant.

The Eldar center.  Phantoms, Revenants and Scorpions oh my!

TURN 3

The Eldar bring in their Webway portal and drop a HUGE amount of stuff in front of the Imperial front lines. Their Phantom on the right regenerates its weapons.   The Imperium takes a lot of damage on the right and middle, but the remaining Imperial Titans stay alive. 

The Imperial Air Force is on the table in force now and goes after the Phantoms. Two go down. Revenants fall. The tide has turned as the Imperium grabs 3 objectives in the Eldar Deployment Zone.

Game over. No need for Turn 4 (we ran out of time anyway) as the Imperials have a commanding lead that the Eldar won't overcome.

SUMMARY

Eldar had more Titans and more "D" weapons, but the Imperium ruled the skies. I would be in favor of balancing both and limiting the # of each. Good strategy on both sides and great players.  The Eldar were seriously lacking in troops due to one player not showing up, so they were mech heavy and that actually hurt them.  They were unable to hold objectives in their deployment zone. 

One major argument when one player didn't read the rules!  But all was good and even rules arguments result in no hard feelings in our group.

Next up, Imperium vs. the Orks!


Alec

The Assault on Stompakropolis - Apocalypse Battle Report

APOCALYPSE - THE ASSAULT ON STOMPAKROPOLIS

Last weekend Treefort Games sponsored an Apocalypse battle.  Treefort is one of the top locations in the country for BIG Apocalypse games.  Plenty of great terrain and Titans.

“Reports from the Zouwaechua Sector...

On the planetoid of Hytrophia (aka Ork's Drift) a FLEET of Mega Gargants has been constructed. Each of these monstrosities is a match for a dozen Baneblades and 4 of them is more than a match for any SpaceMarine Chapter by itself. The waagh leader is one called Thraka Maurice and is rumored to have secretly tapped into advanced imperial engineering records for plans on weapon construction. Maurice is aparently in negotiations with various Chaos factions to contract a means of transporting the Gargants off Hytrophia.

All forces and allies are immediately called for action in a desparate assault on Hytrophia's main hive - Stompakropolis.”

We had 279,000 point with roughly 120,000 in defenders behind a walled industrial complex with Necron support being attacked by Human and Eldar forces totaling 159,000 in the attack.

The Orks and Chao fielded 4 Mega gargants, 2 Chaos Imperator Titans, 2 Gargants and half a dozen stompa. The Mega gargant drivers fortunately did take full use of the titans but did cause heavy causalities.

The Imperial and Eldar forces brought 2 Eldar titans, 1 Imperator Titan, 2 Reavers, 4 Warloards, 30+ Baneblade types and 12+ flyers. Also two dozen land raider, predators etc focused on killing the titans.

The battle went too quick for the titan drivers to make the more than one effect turn of shooting before being wrecked. In my corner it took about 30,000 point focusing on the titan and my air squadron (6 thunderbolts and a marauder) to wreck the Imperator.
Great time was had by all, and some great terrain. But only a few apoc explosions.

Marines in the Southeast Corner

Imperator Titan and Eldar Phantom

Mega Gargant – More pic of their construction on the Treefort Games Facebook Page

 Mega Gargants and old-school Stompas

North end attack at the gate

Imperator!

Gurkous White Skull Marines

 Southern Corner Necrons

Imperial Guard and Titans attack. Speeders, Flyers and skimmers off in the distance coming in to attack. (Actually sitting on the reserve table on turn one, but a cool shot)

More to come.....

Apocalypse Battle Report - San Diego

An almost 100,000 point Apocalypse battle took place at At Ease Games, a new game store in Poway, CA, started by Ron Kent, a member of the San Diego Apocalypse group run by John Macomber.

John ran the game and it was Orks, Tau and Dark Eldar on one side against Imperial and Eldar on the other. Here is how it broke down.

ORKS / DARK ELDAR / TAU  47,500 points 

IMPERIAL / ELDAR  48,600 points

The Ork team had almost twice as many structure points, but less "D" weapons.

The Table - 8' wide by 18' long

The Imperial Guard had a ton of Manticores, that were taken out pretty fast by the Enemy on Turn 1

The Ork battle line....

 ....gets rushed on Turn 1 by the Eldar and Marines.

Flyers everywhere!

Thoughts on the game:

1)  We have never seen so many flyers on a table, thanks mainly to David Ashworth and his Greg Teeuwen produced Ork flying circus (which you can see on the Apocalypse Forum) and myself and my IG Air Force.  Tau showed up with their devastating Tigersharks.  It really was great to see the back and forth in the air.

2)  The battle line was drawn diagonally, which always adds flavor to the game.

3)  There were 10 objectives, 3 each deployment zone, and 4 in the neutral zone.  We used the Modified Objective Scoring Rules with objectives weighted.  Objectives were counted every player turn, starting Turn 2.

4)  In addition, you got a single objective point for every two structure points destroyed!  This, it was actually a little more dangerous to load up on Super Heavies.  This worked very well.

The game ended at the end of Turn 4 and the Imperial side won by ONE POINT!  48-47.   Now that is the way a game should go!

Alec

40K in Moscow, Russia!

Darog's Company is the blog of the Moscow 40K gaming club.  It is in both English and Russian and a great site.  

They recently had a 66K point Apoc game.    The tables were set up in a bug "U".  It went 5 turns and by that time the Forces of Order had taken all of the objectives: the Governor's Palace, the factory, the space port, the port and the Inquisition´s bunker.

Here are some photos:

14,000 points of Space Wolves, Imperial Guard and Inquisition

The Forces of Darkness

It is great to know that Moscow has such a strong 40K presence!  Now join in The Big Game II now guys!

Alec

Apocalypse Battle Report

Andrew Lotz submitted this Apocalypse battle report.

Some buddies and I got together over the weekend for a quick Apoc game (12,000 points). My Imperial Guard and a buddy's Raptors Space Marines versus a Nurgle CSM, Tyranid, and Space Wolves alliance. I figured I'd share some fun photos and the storyline.

Cheers.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Transmission Code: Beta 377U9K++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++][+++++++++++++++++++++++++Attention: Ordos Malleus++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++][+++

+++][+++++++++++++++++++++++++Attention: Ordos Xenos+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++][+++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Report: Al-Arach 52nd Regiment+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Re: Heretical Plague Indicators++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Action Report: Al-Arach 52nd Infantry Regiment, Lt. Colonel Eugustine

Location: Ionna, Third Moon of Dagurius Prime, Segmentum Secundus

Imperial Disposition of Forces: Al-Arach 52nd Infantry Regiment, Al-Arach 4th Armored Company, 1/2 Company of Adeptus Astartes (designation: Raptors)

Memorandum:

My men of the Al-Arach 52nd Infantry were dispatched as part of an Imperial task force to Ionna, the Third Moon of Dagurius Prime, eight years ago to combat a minor infestation of xenos that was discovered on the lunar surface (ref. Xenos order 8J88N-52). The xenos (suspected designation: splinter of Hive Fleet Leviathan that remained dormant until recently) had begun gestating in underground lairs under the habital lunar surface, and the Imperial colony on the moon was attacked. Our response had been effective, and the campaign to eliminate the xenos was nearly complete as of this report.

Sensors reported the arrival of a single light cruiser in the system, no designation. Attempts to contact the cruiser resulted only in static and a sound like the buzzing of flies. Dispatched observers spotted a number of landing craft heading from the cruiser's low orbit position toward the central area of xenos infestation on the moon. I contacted Captain Argus of the Raptors, and we mobilized the central elements of our forces to pursue the landing craft and intercept the interlopers.

As we approached the site, we found a most curious spectacle. A greenish haze lay over the battlefield, and huge shapes were moving toward us. I ordered rebreather protocols of all my forces, and we formed a solid battle-line in order to deal with the threat. I assumed that it was just another surge of xenos bio-monstrousities, which my forces were well-prepared to eliminate. Unfortunately, the new arrivals had changed things.

The Imperial battle-line was formed quickly, ready to intercept the xenos in the usual pattern. Note the Hellstorm Squadron of Hellhounds supporting the 4th Armored Company's Stormlord. The Al-Arach armory is specially equipped to handle "living wave" style xenos threats, with our extensive use of promethium and volume of fire equipment.

Out of the mist came more than just our now-familiar xenos threat. A number of Rhino-pattern APCs were leading the way. As the first ones neared, we saw markings like I had never seen before.

As the vehicles drew closer, we saw two things that horrified us. First, some of the Rhinos sprouted gruesome tentatcles, or were drenched in a strange sticky greyish tar-like material that seemed to warp and flow before our very eyes. One of the vehicles, a Vindicator, was reported to seem almost "alive", the strange tar moving and shaping like a face atop the armored surface of the vehicle. The second, and more horrible fear, was that the wave of power armor-clad warriors striding behind these rhinos had a familiar designation: the heraldry of Leman Russ' Space Wolves. 

While my 52nd company and the 4th armored made a huge dent in the waves of xenos creatures, the APCs disgorged a set of passengers we were wholly unprepared for: strange, power armor wearing foes covered in boils. It was if a cloud of flies had been unleashed from the Rhinos as well as these immense and strangely silent warriors. Then to our horror, right in front of the 4th armored battle line, a few of these unknown warriors went into convulsions. It was if their bodies expanded outword, or something inside of them burst out of them. Suddenly, three huge entities stood before our tanks, their weeping pustules leaving a wake of brownish contamination on the land. Even more horrifying, the xenos behind them seemed to ignore them--it was if the strange chemical toxins in the air were affecting the xenos, causing their hive mind to follow the commands of these poisonous perversions of reality.

The battle was then joined in earnest. The Raptors, who were fighting on the right flank of our forces, were strangely silent about the nature of their opponents--those power armored warriors in heraldry that appeared similar to that of the Space Wolves. A few reports, particularly from the targeting crew of the 4th armored's Baneblade, suggested that the men were indeed Space Wolves Astartes, but with a horrible greenish pallor. What sort of disease would cause even the mighty Astartes to turn on their allies? I dispatched Commissar Allen to remove that gunner from active duty, given the heretical claims of his report.

The battle became more and more desperate. While the Raptors turned their whole fury on the so-called "Space Wolves", my forces were left to deal with the rampaging creatures of pure disease, as well as the tide of xenos that seemed to be bound to their chemical miasma. I saw the foes first-hand, when a pair of heavily-armored heretical foes teleported just behind my position, their bodies alive with twisting guns and horrific weaponry. They managed to dispatch our Deathstrike missile launcher before it could fire, but the weight of my men's accurate lasgun volleys managed to tear down these two horrors in return.

Meanwhile the huge chemical beasts assaulted the pride and joy of the 4th armored, their Stormlord tank. While the Baneblade hammered the foe without a single scratch, the Stormlord had every single weapon torn off in a frenzy of claws and chemical erosion.

Our more mobile forces, meanwhile, were ahead dispatching the xenos to the best of their ability. The Hellstorm squadron proved to be effective as usual, burning all sizes of bio-beasts to a cinder in righteous, purging flame. Only the very largest of the bio-monstrousities could survive the blaze, and even then some of them fell to the cooking heat of the promethium.

While the 4th armored was ravaged by the assault, my 52nd infantry company managed to unload enough firepower to demolish almost all of the foul, disease-ridden abominations assaulting our position. The battle churned onward, with a stalemate being reached on the right flank between the Raptors and the combined forces of the plagued ones and the Space Wolves impostors. Then as suddenly as they had come, the plagued forces began to draw back. We watched them as they cleared the battlefield, the hunched warriors apparently taking samples from both the xenos as well as harvesting organs from the fallen Astartes warriors. We fired at the landing ships that surged out of the mist to carry the disease-ridden warriors back to their cruiser, but their atmospheric shields kept them well defended. The Raptors, in their rage at fighting the so-called Space Wolves, neglected their usual maneuverable air support and the heretical Plague Marines were able to escape with whatever results they had hoped for in the mission.

I fear that this was but a trial assault, some plan to use chemical agents to pervert the minds of upstanding Imperial citizens (I had to order 47 of my own soldiers to be eliminated in the following weeks for various signs of heretical perversion--however the use of proper rebreather protocol managed to stop most of the heretical infections). As to whether those were infected heretical Space Wolves, the Raptors were not sharing and I did not pursue the matter further. What was horrifying, is that the chemical agents also seemed to be effective on the Tyranid xenos threat. Whether the chemical just masked the plagued warriors from tyranid senses, or whether the beasts were under their full control, remains to be seen. I can only hope it is the latter.

Lt. Colonel Eugustine
Al-Arach 52nd Infantry Regiment

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Transcription Servitor Liquidated+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Transmission Code: Beta 377U9K END++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Eldar vs. The Imperium Battle Report - Part II

Well, it is taking a bit longer than to get the video battle report up, but I will have it up in a day or two.  In the mean time, here are a few more photos and a bit more detail on what happened.

This was the main Imperial Artillery Park on Table # 3.  Table # 2 had about 50% of this as well.  Mostly Manticores (12) and Basilisks.  The enemy targeted the Basilsks, which was a mistake.  Manticores are much more deadly to Titans.  

This green patch had trees, and so granted a 4+ cover save.  Of course everything had camo netting!  While not WYSIWYG, we have a rule that as long as ALL vehicles have the exact same upgrades, you don't need to model them.  Enclosed crew compartment does have to be modeled because that is a fairly important one visually.  The idea is that the opponent should always know what he is dealing with.

The green Stormlord had Lord Castellan's Supreme Command and so gave tank hunters to all units within 24".

Table 1 Turn 1  The Warlord dominates the table, and has a Vortex Missile launcher underneath it.

Table # 1 was hotly contested and had the most infantry units.  There used to be a Reaver where that big hole is.  It was taken down to one Structure point on Turn 1 and then eliminated on Turn 2.  On Turn 2, a group of Wraithlords Flank Marched and were engaged by Marines and IG.  In fact the IG held their ground after being almost wiped out so the Wraithlords couldn't assault the Warlord!  They were then wiped out in Turn 3.

Dark Eldar Deep Striked very effectively, but their fragile raiders got whacked in turn 3.  The Eldar countered the Imperial Navy with their ridiculously effective Nightwings, which are almost impossible to shoot down with TWO saves!

The ELdar fielded THREE Phantom Titans!  But after blasting away on turn 1, they were neutralized by the Imperium at the bottom of Turn 1, having their weapons shot off or stunned for the most part.

At the far end of the Eldar table was a nice Armorcst Phantom Titan.  They actually hold up well in the game looks-wise.  They are a bit smaller, but not out of place.

Well, the complete run-down will be on video shortly!

Alec

130,000 pt Eldar vs. The Imperium Battle Report

On Saturday, Sept. 24th, the L.A. Games Workshop Battle Bunker and SoCal Apocalypse hosted a 130,000 point Apocalypse battle.  It was a blast and was very close in the end.

The Bunker has a loyal and dedicated group of Eldar players, and, combined with some newer Eldar players put together a team of 7 to take on the Imperial regulars who have played a few times together.  

The Imperial side was an even mix of IG and Marines (Blood Angels and Red Scorpions). The Eldar had 3 Phantom Titans and about 8 Revenants.  The Imperium had a Warlord Titan, 4 Reavers and 4 Warhounds.

Here are some photos from the Imperial side of things.

The Eldar team surveying Table # 1

Table # 2 Imperial Titans and Artillery

Table # 3 The Imperial artillery park

Table # 4, More Imperial artillery!

Eldar had first turn due to a roll off and the Imperium choosing to go second. The Eldar team wanted to use objective scoring out of the book, so objectives would only be counted at the end of the game.  This changed strategy, as usually going first is a benefit if you are using the modified objective rules.  But if you only count them at the end, then you want last licks to get to the objectives last.

The Bunker staff did a video battle report and I will get that up tomorrow.

Alec

Planetsrike Apocalypse, LA Battle Bunker Battle Report

The latest SoCal Apocalypse game saw an AMAZING Apocalypse game based around Planetstrike.  It was absolute carnage and so much fun!  A group of regulars showed up, and were joined by some new players.  Much fun was had.

I brought the Crimson Templar Air Force, but no Super Heavy Tanks and only one "D" Weapon, on my Thunderhawk. 

The Defenders set up the terrain.  Attackers got nothing!  The 4 Bastions were objectives and they got the Leviathan for free.  It was an objective as well.  It was treated like a Warlord Titan (8 structure points and 6 shields) and they got it for free (we knew it wouldn't last).

Turn 1 - The Attackers Drop Pod with 2 squads of Sternguard from Alec and 2 squads from David Ashworth.  Plus 2 Caestus Assault Rams full of Termies and 2 Dreadnaughts with Lucius Pattern Drop Pods.

 Hey!  What happened?  Well, after the last structure point was gone, I rolled a 6 for the catastrophic damage and so a 3D6" "D" explosion!  Bye bye EVERYTHING.

Two more Bastions get destroyed! 

Eldar Super Heavies get plastered!

The endgame develops.  A close game that comes down to one objective!

This was really a lot of fun.  It is also the LAST game I ever use a GW flying stand.  I came home and the next day put the Dragonforge flying base adapters on all my Vendettas.   Now, every flyer has Dragonforge bases.  

6 Vendettas

3 Vultures

3 Lightnings

3 Thunderbolts

2 Arvus Lighters

1 Marauder Destroyer

As well as my Caestus Assault Rams.  Those required a bit of shaving of the adapters, but worked great.  I can't reccomend them strongly enough!

Next up, Cityfight Apocalypse!