Epic Scale 40k Apocalypse – Marines vs Imperial Guard.

A couple of buddies of mine have been lamenting for some time that we have not played an Epic 40k game in a very long time. I keep planning on running the game at my place for a while, but things never lined up. We decided it was time, so committed to play the game in advance, so we could all re-accustom ourselves to the rules!

We got together on our Tuesday gaming night with everything in hand. I set up the table with my limited terrain. We started with a city in the center, in a Valley between some hills. There were some odd structures around the city and some alien looking forest areas in the surrounding area.

We went with five objective markers. Each was worth two point each turn they were held. The exception was the one in the players set up areas. These were worth three to the opponent and one to the initial owning player.

Since we did not have a lot of time and would be slow with the rules, we went with a small 300 point force limit. Both sides had a mix of armor, infantry and artillery. The Marines had the larger infantry force, with a handful of Landraiders. The guard went with a tank heavy force with Leman Russ companies, a Baneblade and a single force of mech infantry.

Each side set up and we got going. The marines went first and concentrated their forces into the city, moving forward towards the center objective. The guard were more spread out and grabbed a few objectives across the front. They were a bit faster on the advance and secured the city center.

The fight in the city center was heavy, with both forces concentrating their forces in this area. The guard secured their right flank and the objective there. The then occupied the heights and brought their firepower on the city below.

The marines advanced through the city left to try to make a surprise attack on the guard rear with their jet pack troop. However, the guard pulled out an Adumantum Will card at the right time to make the marines change their order from assault. This upset the applecart and ensured the marines could not make the attack and got bogged down in the city.

The central fight started to get very bloody, with casualties on both side. The intervention of the Terminators seemed to tip the balance, resulting in the guard loosing a lot of their own infantry and loosing the center objective.

Unfortunately, time ran out and we had to wrap up the game early. At the point, the guard had the objective advantage, with a 8-2 advantage. It is likely, the marines would have overcome that, if they had more time. Next time, we will be a little faster, with this rules reminder session behind us!

• Manteuffel