Hi all,
At my local club we have been on a schedule of running four apocalypse events a year, for several yeas. One of the biggest issues we have run into is time management. These games are long and it can be difficult to get more than 2 turns a day in. Furthermore, balance issues arise based on turn order as the team that goes first might be able to wipe out the team that goes second. To address these issues we have adopted the following changes, I would love to hear what you all think!
Army Size 5,000 per person
Battle Type: Open – players may have unlimited detachments and there is no limit on the number of times a non-unique datasheet is included. However any detachment taken must be a legal detachment.
PRIORITY: This is defined as who is the “active” player/team during a given battle round. While this isn’t a huge deal given that a lot of units are only removed at the end of a battle round it is still an advantage. To make this more interesting, the following rule is added At the start of a new battle round, both sides will SECRETLY bid a number of collective command points (This happens after gaining 1 at the start of a turn). A side can only bid points which they currently have. Each side then reveals what they bid, the winning side then reduces their collective command points (they can decide which player(s) spend command points in this manner) by what they bid. The side that bid the most is considered the active side for that battle round.
First battle round:
- All units destroyed during the 1st battle round are not removed until the end of the battle round (unless they were destroyed in the fight phase)
- After the first battle round, Any Monster, Vehicle, Character or unit that has a Leader that is destroyed is not removed from the battlefield until the end of the battle round.
To make infantry and mounted units more viable the following rule will be used for determining OC (objective control)
- Battleline within range of an objective count as having an OC value equal to the STARTING strength of their unit (Up to a maximum of 20 OC) OR may use the standard method for determining total OC within range of an objective. What this means is that units such as a 10 man intercessor unit counts as OC 20 even if they have been reduced to only a single model.
Deployment Rules
- Each player may ONLY deploy a maximum of 50% of their army on the table. The rest needs to be placed into reserves, as this will greatly speed up starting the game. Half of your reserves may come on turn 2, and all remaining reserves come on turn 3.
Reserve and Deep Striking modifications
- Due to how insanely crowded the board can be with, units may deep strike or arrive from strategic reserve as long as an enemy unit is more than 3″ away. IF a unit arrives this way, roll a D6 for every model in the unit and on a 1 or 2 the unit suffers a DEVASTATING WOUND with a Damage of 3. These ignore Feel No Pain and similar abilities.
Phases of a Turn:
These apoc games use a modified turn structure Command and Movement Phase: Both sides take their command phases and movement phases at the same time. If there are issues with who can move where, then the player who finishes their movement first keeps their models position. This will be TIMED, so get moving.
Charge + Fight Phases:
Instead of the shooting phase, the Charge + Fight Phases will follow the movement phase. Each side (or groups of players if we have a lot) will make all charges and then fight with units as normal, starting with the active side. Units destroyed in melee are immediately removed as per normal rules (This bypasses the end of battle round rules). Exceptions: Walker vehicles, and Characters (not the bodyguard) will remain until end of battle round so they can still fight back. INSTEAD OF FIGHTING (On its turn) a unit may make a Fallback move, but treats it as a desperate escape (IE a model dies on a D6 roll of 1-2)
OR:
At the GM’s discretion certain fight phases may occur simultaneously with all models in a combat fighting at the same time.
Shooting Phase: The active side will conduct their shooting attacks (Or we will alternate from side to side by player if needed to keep things interesting). Then the other side will conduct their shooting phase. BATTLESHOCK since this will no doubt cause major slow downs if we roll for every unit. Only roll for battleshock IF the unit may actually hold an objective, fallback or when they try to use a stratagem. Insane Heroism may be used during the command phase as normal, but makes the unit immune to battleshock tests until the start of your next command phase (easier book keeping).
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