Love at the end of the world

One of the great parts of wargaming is its ability to stimulate your imagination. Lots of things can achieve this, but there is something wonderfully cinematic about two well painted armies on a table laden with terrain that few other games manage. For me this is one of the reasons I like to play a couple of apocalypse games each year: the sight of two 10,000 point armies going toe-to-toe is ace.

Lots of mens = lots of carnage

Another nice feature of planning and running a game of this size is that it is a group activity. This means that instead of two or three of your friends getting together, it is 8 or 10! Apoc is a party with added dice.

Expect the wacky; and carnage

Creating a memorable apoc takes a bit of effort, but the pay-off is worth it. Our gaming group is working towards an apoc game in a couple of weeks. From my teasers you may have guessed that it will be Tyranids versus Space Marines. I’ve done the teaser posts because I’m looking forward to the game and want to help a little to build the excitement. (I’ve not used any ‘nid photos for the simple reason I don’t have any, hence my more cryptic approach.)

Fluid situations will arise

The current Apocalypse rule book has some good tips on getting a game together. We don’t use them all (and discovered some for ourselves years ago), but they are worth a look early in your process.

Plenty of room for the big toys

To help ensure a memorable day (for the right reasons) I suggest that you do at least the following:

1. Get it on the calendar well in advance. Coordinating the lives of ten gamers can be daunting
2. Plan food and beer as well as gaming. It is going to be a long day.
3. Theme. It’s tempting to get all your toys out, but two themed armies is a wonderful sight
4. Painted. Truly, don’t field it if it doesn’t have paint.
5. Don’t sweat the detail too much. At 10,000 points a side it’s more the vibe. Related to this is go WYSIWYG. There is too much on the table and way too many people to have substitutes or fuss with melta-bombs you can’t see

And finally, chill. It can be a long day and while the fate of an entire planet hands the balance you’re there for fun.

And you’ll get to find out who wins in Bloodthirster v. Baneblade

cheers,
D.