Warhammer 40k: APOCAPIZZA! Scenario and Setup (09/08/2013)

So today was my first game of Warhammer 40k: Apocalypse and it was certainly an eductional experience. It was also a crapload of fun, hanging about with the various gaming denizens of Glasgow as we blasted bloody chunks out of each other with as much weaponry as we could muster! As the title of this post implies, we ordered in some pizza (and pakoras!) and settled in for the most memorable session of gaming I've ever had. 

A few words about the set-up, this scenario was fought on two separate boards (units could travel off the edge of one board and onto the other). An Inquisitorial research facility had been captured by the forces of the traitor legions of Chaos and the Daemonic entities of the warp. A huge Imperial army consisting of Dark Angels, Space Wolves and Imperial Guard, supported by detachments of Blood Angels and the feared Grey Knights of the Inquisition had been tasked with taking it back, at all costs. The Inquisitorical facility was located in area ravaged by warp storms and, as such, any deep-striking units in this area were forced to scatter by 3d6 with no modifications allowed. Victory points were award for killing an enemy warlord, for first blood, for control of the research facility and a tower on the second board and for every loyalist unit who moved through the daemonic gates to the warp-corrupted area of the board. I was playing as a Dark Angels contingent on the secondary board and had Azrael with a Command Squad, Belial, a Librarian and an Interrogator Chaplain leading 10 Deathwing, 5 Deathwing Knights, 2 Tactical Squads, a Devastator Squad, a Land Raider Crusader, a Dreadnought, a Vindicator and some Scouts.

The staff member on hand, Scott, played the role of  a Lord Inquisitor, in charge of orbital bombardments that affected each side equally, with great aplomb, also announcing the passage of turns and the divine intervention of both the Chaos Gods and the Divine Emperor of Mankind.

                                          The very crowded deployment on my board. The Imperial Guard absolutely swarmed 
                                                        the place with tanks.






Setup

On the main table stood a research facility infested with the daemons of Nurgle (led by a Great Unclean One and three Daemon Princes of Nurgle) and defended by a horde of Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion and Death Guard. Nurgle had truly vomited forth a loathsome and putrescent swarm and the air was bloated with plague. Facing them down were the brave Astartes of the Space Wolves and Blood Angels, led by Logan Grimnar, the Great Wolf. Land Raider engines rumbled, the engines of a Storm Talon flyer roared into life and the Sons of Fenris  looked to their brothers and gave thanks for the fierce valour of their comrades while the grim visages of the Blood Angels offered no hint of hesitation or fear.

A few miles away Horus, Angron, Fulgrim and Mortarion; 4 of the legendary traitorous Primarchs themselves, led a a huge horde of cultists, Obliterators, Mutilators, Terminators, Heldrakes, Helbrutes and even a Khornate Lord of Skulls. The traitors had even invoked the favour of the Blood God to summon a Greater Daemon of Khorne and the mighty Greater Daemon Skarbrand.
Only the bravest of warriors would sally forth to meet this dark host and yet meet them the soldiers of the Imperium did. Two detachments of Imperial Guard, bristling with tanks and weaponry, offered prayers to the Emperor as they nobly prepared to lay down their lives in His service. They even deployed two of the legendary Baneblade Super-Heavy battle tanks, earning their reputation as the hammerblow of the Imperium.
The Dark Angels, always driven by righteous fury and zeal, deployed almost the entirety of their leadership to meet the foe, standing at the head of a force of marines from the 3rd and 5th companies, with large numbers of the Deathwing and Ravenwing waiting in reserves, ready to flank and destroy their hated enemy.
The Blood Angels, splitting their forces, deployed a Sanguinary Guard unit, a revered Land Raider Redeemer and a unit of the cursed Death Company, led by the grim figure of Mephiston, the Lord Death. Ready to sell their lives dearly, the Blood Angels looked to the sky in amazement as the mythical figure of the Sanguinor descended on angelic wings to join the sons of Sanguinius.

Above the atmosphere of the wartorn planet, an unseen figure readied himself to enact the Divine Emperor's will, even if that involved the sacrifice of the Imperial Forces on the surface below. The traitors could not be allowed to gain access to the knowledge contained in the captured facility and if the circumstances called for it, the Lord Inquisitor was more than willing to obliterate the surface of the planet. Sacrifice was, after all, the lifeblood of the Imperium.

The lines were drawn. Battle would be met. Bloody carnage would be wrought on a planetary scale as the forces of Order and Chaos clashed.

The Apocalypse had begun.

Thus concludes the Scenario and Setup section of this multi-entry battle-report. Check in regularly for future updates!