The Big Game IV House Rules

Playing in The Big Game IV?  Well here are some house rules you can use if you want.

Apocalypse Primer - Hosting a Game

Chris Donohue, a regular on the Apocalypse40K forum, put together these thoughts for an aspiring Apocalypse gamer and so I thought them worthy of print.  I agree with most of this and Chris did a good job, so here you go....

THE APOCALYPSE PRIMER

1.  TIMING 

Schedule a time the game will start and tell all the players they absolutely have to be there by that time with their armies on hand or they will not play. Apocalypse games take several hours and just one late player can make the event no fun for everyone else. For example, state "The game begins at 10AM when we divide up players into sides, then you have half an hour to lay out your models and then deployment begins promptly at 10:30AM. Players who are not present at 10AM will not play."

2.  HOUSE RULES

Agree on what house rules are in force beforehand and let everyone know. 

House Rule Suggestions:

I. Flank March asset is outlawed or limited to only 1000 points (Flank March is extremely overwhelming).

II. If any formations or units are banned

III. Whether scoring units will be as per 4th edition (almost anything can hold an objective) or 5th edition (only Troops can hold the objectives). Apocalypse was originally written for 4th, so make it clear to all players which way the scoring will go.

IV. Points limit (or model count limit) per player. Most games work best when folks roughly equal points and no one individual is trying to field several hundred models or over 10,000 points. In the former case, if their is a large points discrepancy, folks with fewer points will get bored real fast. In the latter case, if someone is trying to run tons of stuff, the game turns will take forever. For most games outside special "go-bannanas and bring everthing you got" games (like The Big Game) it's good to keep things within limits.

3.  "D" WEAPONS

 

In general, "D" weapons are much more destructive than any other weapons. They have several advantages over "normal" weapons that you could choose as weapon options (see page 96 in Apocalypse rulebook under "Destroyer"):

1. Don't need to roll to get through armour. For example, hit a Land Raider and its an automatic Penetrating Hit. Important Note: No Glances - in particular as the glance exception (skimmers getting glanced only) is gone with 5th edition.
2. No cover saves against it. Smoke, Kustom Force Fields, lurking in ruins, etc, doesn't help against this.
3. Center hole in template doesn't need to be over vehicle to get full effect - anything touched by template is affected (even the edges).
4. +1 on the Damage Chart
5. Automatically wounds any non-vehicles it hits - no need to roll to wound. Important Point: the 1 in 6 chance of surviving due to a wound roll of 1 that you get with normal weapons doesn't exist with this weapon. No survivors when a group of infantry get hit, whereas a normal weapon will sometimes leave one or two standing when it fails to wound them.
6. Inflicts Instant Death irregardless of targets toughness (better than "doubling out" a target). So if a Wraithlord is hit (toughness 8), it will immediately die from just the one wound.
7. Points costs for D weapons typically are far underpriced compared to other weapon options, or D weapons and normal weapons are offered as equals when outfitting your vehicle.

As just one example, look at the Warlord Titan. Compare the Volcano Cannon and the Melta Cannon. Both are one shot 10" templates. The Melta Cannon looks real cool at first glance. Lots of dice to go through armour. But wait, the D weapon ignores the armour - no need to try to get through it. And it ignores the armour irregardless of whether the center hole of the template is over the target or not - everything the template touches gets hit hard. And it has 240" range vs 72" for the Melta Cannon. Infantry hit by the Melta Cannon would get cover saves, and would survive a wound if toughness 6 or better and had multiple wounds. A D weapon would instead nerf them entirely.

The downside of D weapons in Apocalypse is that suddenly everyone shows up with a max load-out of D weapons and no one plays the other weapons. Consider the cheesy-ness of a Warlord Titan with 2 Turbo Laser Destructors and 2 Laser Blasters. That's 10 5" D shots a turn!

Also, there are some equity issues in that some races have access to few or no D weapons - Tyranids, Dark Eldar, etc.

The most equitable solution seems to be to have a house rule that reduces the template used by one level. So a 5" template uses a 3" instead. A 10" uses a 7" instead. This also provides incentive for players to use the other weapons instead of the D ones, as their larger blast makes them better against infantry. Upping the points cost for D weapons has been discussed, but the conclusion many came to is that people would continue to favor D weapons even at a much higher points cost as in their listed form they are a wonder weapon that basically nukes everything ("It slices, it dices, it smashes tomatoes - the Ginsu D weapon"). 

4.  HAVE FUN!

Probably most important of all - inform all players that the game will be a fun game, not a competitive game. Apocalypse was not written as tightly as regular 40K; there's lots of gray zones and rule conflicts that will come up. Be prepared to do a lot of 4+ rolls to decide things. Make the players aware that their are idiosyncracies compared to regular 40K. Also, warn players that rules lawyers will not be tolerated.

Thoughts on Objectives

The discussion of objectives has come up a lot lately; on the Apocalypse40K forum, at the Battle Bunker during the post-mortem of our latest game, and in private discussions I have had with other gamers.  

I think this is a very relevant  topic as too often the discussion is focused on forces and models and units and not objectives.  We all love our toys and want more, but too many gamers talk about their kick ass units and not about building a force that can take objectives.

Taking objectives is something I find myself more focused on than almost anyone else I play against.  I keep my team focused on it too.  I remind them every turn, I plan with them who goes after what objective, we discuss who needs reinforcements to hold an objective.  And I am thinking ahead two or three turns to what needs to be accomplished.

But the old way of you only count objectives on the last turn, allows for last turn shenanigans, and makes it easy to be lazy all game. 

So here are some different ways we have come to play objectives.

1)  Modified Objective Scoring

This is the basic way we have been playing our games lately.  Both at the L.A. Battle Bunker and in San Diego with John Macomber's Apoc group.  Basically you choose a number of objectives, and place them in Team 1's deployment zone, team 2's deployment zone and the neutral zone.  Then, starting with the top of Turn 2, you count objectives every PLAYER turn.  So in a 4 turn game, you count the objectives 6x.

Also, we weight objectives, so an objective in any enemy deployment zone is worth 3 points, the neutral zone is 2 points and your deployment zone is 1 point.  It forces you to have a mobile force and be aggressive.

During the big game we do not weight objectives for ease of bookkeeping.


2)  What Can Hold an Objective?

This is a big mater of discussion and there have been two major schools of thought here.

1.  Anything with a WS can hold an objective.  - Exceptions GC and super-heavy walkers.

This is a good method, even approved by the Powers That Be.  It is easy, works well and has few downsides.

2.  Troops Only  -  This is what John Macomber and his San Diego group have started doing and I have to say it really is a great rule.  It forces you to take lots of troops and make them mobile.  Two things you should be doing anyway.  Only troops can hold or contest.  We played a game last weekend and the game came down to one point!

I really wish more people would do this.  It helps balance the game out too, forcing people to better plan their army.

We have found that Modified Objective Scoring, in any of the forms we have used, create VERY close and competitive games.  I highly recommend you try them.

Alec

Modified Objective Scoring....a new way of scoring

Well, we at SoCal Apocalypse have been using a modified objective scoring system in our Apoc games and it works very well.  Here is how it works:

Rather than counting objectives at the end of the game, you start counting objectives held every PLAYER TURN, starting with the end of the top of turn 2.  This, every turn, you count the objectives twice:  once at the end of the top of the turn, and once at the end of the bottom of the turn.  Thus, in a four turn game, you count objectives SIX times.

We find this is a great way to make the game exciting.

Pros

1)  No last turn rush for objectives.

2)  Going second not a definite benefit.

3) Forces aggression from the beginning.

4)  Makes the game more interesting every turn.

Cons

1)  If you aren't aggressive, you can find yourself far behind quickly.

All 3 of the Apoc groups I play with have played with this rule.  I urge you to try it out and then give your feedback on the Apocalypse40k Forums.

Alec

Do AP 1 weapons get +1 on the Super Heavy Vehicle Damage Table?

So this question has come up recently on the Apocalypse40K.com forum.  Why is this a question?

Well, the Super-Heavy Damage Table in the Apocalypse Rulebook, page 93 doesn't say anything about AP 1 weapons, as it was published BEFORE 5th edition and the advent of the Vehicle Damage Table (p. 61 on the main 5th edition Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.)

The Super-Heavy Damage table only notes that you get + 1 from a Destroyer hit.  But, every group I know of house ruled that AP 1 weapons are +1 as the 5th edition Rulebook came out after Apocalypse and so it only made sense.  

Well, now Imperial Armor Apocalypse 2 comes along......

Many of us buy EVERYTHING that comes from Forgeworld, but most people don't.  I am actually amazed how many people don't have all the Apocalypse books.  So many of us didn't even notice this in the Addendum:

Well, that settles that!  So another outstanding issue has been settled.  I strongly urge all of you who haven't bought Imperial Armor Apocalypse 1 & 2 (let alone Apocalypse and Apocalypse Reloaded), you go do it.   If you want to play Apoc you need these books, lest you not know all the rules!

Now go spam those meltas and railguns!

Alec

The Big Game Rules Set v 1.2

Well, we have finally gotten to what we hope will be the final version of the Big Game Rules Set.  Version 1.2 is up and available on the Apocalypse40K forum.  If you are attending the Los Angeles Games Workshop Battle Bunker location for The Big Game, you need to read this rule set.  There are many house rules we have put in place to make the game run smoother, faster and more efficiently.  

Valkyries in Apocalypse

Valkyries are obviously very popular in 40K as well as Apocalypse.  Not only are they cool models, they are very useful units to have in both games.  I personally have 6 Vendettas and 3 Vultures in my army.  In Apocalypse you must have both air power and AA in order to deal with all threats.

The strength of these platforms comes from their ability to apply firepower ANYWHERE on the table.  Plus they hit side armor on vehicles.   

But rather then writing about what these units can do, I want to clarify how you play the Valkyrie in Apocalypse as there is often confusion.

LATEST RULES

The most important part of using Valkyries in Apocalypse is to understand that the latest rules for the Valkyrie, that make the Valkyrie a flyer in Apocalypse and which  update the Imperial Guard codex and Imperial Armor Volume One (where the Valk first appeared) are on the Forgeworld website here:

Imperial Armor Volume One Rules Update (v 1.1)

VALKYRIE AIRBORNE ASSAULT CARRIER . . . . . . . . .100 PTS
Armour
BS Front Side Rear
Valkyrie 3 12 12 10
Options:
• Any Valkyrie may replace its multi-laser with:
- Lascannon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 pts
• Any Valkyrie may exchange both its Hellstrike missiles for:
- Two multiple rocket pods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 pts
• Any Valkyrie may take a pair of sponsons armed with:
- Heavy bolters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 pts

*In games of Apocalypse the Valkyrie is treated as a Flyer with hover mode.

Grav Chute Insertion
If the Valkyrie has moved flat out, passengers may still
disembark, but they must do so as follows. Nominate any
point which the Valkyrie or Vendetta moved over and deploy
the squad as if it were deep striking onto that point. If the
unit scatters, every model must immediately take a
dangerous terrain test. If any of the models cannot be
deployed, the unit is destroyed as described in the 1-2 result
on the Deep Strike Mishap table.

So it is always good to follow the Forgeworld updates as they are pretty good at keeping their rules up to date.  The Imperial Armor Volume 2 update, is actually in V 3 now.  The above rules supersede the Imperial Guard Codex as well.

HOUSE RULES

Now, the only problem here is that it make the Valkyrie the only flyer besides a Thunderhawk with Armor 12.  (An Manta has armor 13/12/11 but is 2,000 points!)  And the Thunderhawk is an orbital lander with ceramite shielding.  No way a standard planet-based flyer has the same armor.  So, for game purposes, we have adopted a House Rule at SoCal Apocalypse making a Valkyrie that is treated as a Flyer as armor 10.  So we allow you to use your Valkyrie as EITHER an Armor 10 flyer, or an armor 12 skimmer. 

This has proven a great, very well balanced house rule and most gamers have no problem with this.  It makes a lot of sense, and every Apoc game club I play with has adopted this house rule.   

There is a discussion on this on the Apocalypse40K forum and needless to say, there are many opinions on how to treat Valkyries.

Alec