The third mega-battle in Games Workshop's year-long Apocalypse Campaign, The Lucky 13s, 'I Didn't See That Coming!,' will take place Saturday, May 31st--pitting the Mordant 13th Imperial Guard and the Daemonhunters of the Ordo Malleus, with their Imperial allies, against the might of the arch-foe...the Ruinous Powers of Chaos!
The pattern for HobbytownUSA Dallas' event will closely follow the largely-successful model of the second mega-battle in March: participation slots will be limited to numbers the Game Hall can comfortably handle, and interested participants must sign up in advance, no later than by the completion of the Daemonic Council Painting Event the prior Sunday, May 25th, and be committed to having internet access and some amount of available time for the week immediately leading up to the mega-battle on the 31st, as both sides will again coordinate amongst themselves during that week to present one army list, representing the entire side, Imperial or Chaos.
The Sign-Up list will be available at HobbytownUSA Dallas Friday, April 25th. Paid members of the HTUD Game Club will get first shot at signing up for slots, through the end of April; everyone will be able to fill remaining open slots beginning Thursday, May 1st. Remember before signing up and committing to the mega-battle that the Ard Boyz Regional is that same day, as well as the IPMS Regional convention. Play will begin immediately when HTUD opens Saturday at 10am, and will run at least until the store closes at 6pm, with the possibility of running past closing, as was managed recently for the Ard Boyz tourney, if store manpower allows.
The Lucky 13s Campaign has been an enormous success in North Texas thus far, and these mega-battles are its centerpieces. This clash will be monumental, as waves of Grey Knights, Inquisitors, Space Marines and, of course, the Lucky 13s face Chaos Space Marines, Daemons, Traitors, Heretics, Cultists, the Daemonic Council, and Ahriman of the Thousand Sons himself in the third mega-battle of the Lucky 13s Apocalypse Campaign, 'I Didn't See That Coming!,' Saturday, May 31st, at the Game Hall of HobbytownUSA Dallas!
NORTH TEXAS-SPECIFIC SCENARIO RULES
All specific conditions following supersede any information presented in the general scenario for the third Apocalypse Campaign mega-battle found on the Games Workshop website, upon which it is based.
SETUP: No Mans Land will be pre-set on the diagonal centerline of two 6'x4' tables, creating an 8'x6'' battlefield. The Imperium will have choice of deployment zone, due to their successes in the prior mega-battles. A Chaos Summoning Circle will then manifest in the center of the table, in No Mans Land, representing the focus for the Warp Rift Apocalypse Formation. This will count as a Vital Objective per the Apocalypse Rules. Three additional Objectives will then be declared for each side, within their Deployment Zones. These physical Objectives will replace the Army Agenda objectives utilized in mega-battle two--but players in this event who achieved their Army Agendas in the previous game *will* still get their special benefit.
MUSTERING FORCES: Participation at HobbytownUSA Dallas will be limited to six Players per side on the primary 8'x6' table. Four additional players--two per side--will be able to participate via the separate 6'x4' artillery bombardment table, about which more see following. Sign-up will take place in person at HobbytownUSA Dallas, with interested participants needing to be certain they can meet the following conditions for play:
- Participants must be able to field a force themed to this specific mega-battle. In this confrontation, the Mordant 13th and its allies will be confronting all the varied force types aligned with the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. There will be six 'Imperium' slots available for sign-up. Imperial Guard players may sign up for four of the six slots, and two will be specifically dedicated to Guard, including the Mordant 13th; because the Imperium is ready for the upcoming attack, two slots will be dedicated to Daemonhunter players. The remaining two are open to any other Imperial army types--Space Marines, other Inquisitorial types, etc.There will also be six 'Chaos' slots available for sign-up: these may be of any Chaos composition--Chaos Space Marines, Daemons, Lost and Damned, Imperial Guard Traitors, etc--except that slot 1 is reserved for a player committed to bringing the chief villains of the mega-battle, the Thousand Sons, in strength. These 12 will be the primary participants in the mega-battle, playing on the primary table, and the only ones which can directly win or lose the game. However, because both sides are ready for this clash when it finally comes, each has established their artillery in the hills above the battlefield ruin, and this will be represented by play on an additional unconnected 6'x4' table. There will be two slots for each side available for sign-up--an 'artillery' player, whose job it will be to lob indirect fire onto the primary table, and a 'strike force' player, whose job will be to silence those big guns. Players who sign up for either the Imperium Artillery player slot or the Chaos Artillery player slot *must* have completed sufficient models to represent at least one minimum-size appropriate Apocalypse Datasheet (either a Basilisk Battery or Suppression Force), which they will get to field free. Any additional forces--and all Strike Force forces--must come from the side's total points allotment. Strike Force units must comprise of units which are either Flyers or can Deep Strike, to reach their targets in time. Players who sign up to participate in the mega-battle on the artillery table will be able to enjoy a unique role in the game, but must understand and accept that, because they will have to play their game turns in concert with the pace of the main table, their amount of 'down time' on the day may be correspondingly higher.
- Participants must be signed up at HTUD by end of business Saturday, May 24th (one week in advance of the mega-battle on May 31st), and must provide an active email address which they will be able to check during the subsequent week leading up to the mega-battle. Points for the mega-battle will be 13,000 per side--divided as follows:
- Following the May Lucky 13s Event The Daemonic Council on Sunday, May 25th, the players on each side will be provided with the names and email addresses of their teammates, and each side will have the entirety of the following week to coordinate with each other and the Event Moderator on everything relevant to the Saturday mega-battle. A 'Commanding General' will be assigned for each side in advance, and collectively the players on each side will determine which player will brings what units to the mega-battle, and in how many points; a player on each side will create an overall army list *for the entire side* (just one list, including everything, though broken down by individual participant's 'armies'), a copy each of which will be presented to the moderator and the opposing 'Commanding General' on the day of the battle. Strategy, tactics, force composition, Apocalypse Assets--everything will be decided by the participating players themselves, in the week leading up to the mega-battle...essentially extending the event to a weeklong amount of fun, instead of just one day of it!
- All models used must be at least assembled to properly represent their weapons and equipment, and should preferably be at least primed; priority in assembling the joint army lists for each side *must* be given to fully-painted models. In addition, priority should be extended to those things which make Apocalypse battles unique: superheavy vehicles, datasheet formations, custom-created models, etc should all be 'first choices' in the unified army list. As result, players will not have equal points amounts, nor should they expect to; every player will have a sufficiently large force to occupy them on the day, but one player may wind up bringing only 1000 points of his models, while another may bring 3000 (given the priorities noted above).
- Apocalypse Datasheets from the Apocalypse rulebook, the official GW website, and the Forge World Apocalypse book are accepted without review; any vehicle or formation using a Datasheet from any other Forge World source, any unofficial website or created through VDR *must* be pre-approved by a moderator before its inclusion in any army list for either side.
- Before signing up, participants must insure they are able to devote the time to the event it will require; everyone understands the demands real life can make, but if real life on that weekend might require an early departure, players should not sign up to participate. The mega-battle will start as soon as HTUD opens at 10am; participants can either bring a lunch or go in with other participants to have pizza delivered; and there is a good possibility HTUD will allow play to continue beyond the 6pm store closing, in order to complete more turns of play. No player should sign up if that commitment of time is impractical for them; in addition, there will be a Friday night session prior to the Saturday mega-battle, from approximately 6pm until 8pm, in which all players will be asked to assemble at the HTUD Game Hall, make their deployment bid, and deploy their models onto the tables. This will allow Turn One action to begin almost immediately upon the store opening on Saturday. Players will *not* be excluded from participating in the mega-battle if they cannot attend this Friday night session--however their models will have to come on from Reserve beginning with Turn Two on Saturday unless the player can make some arrangement with his teammates to deploy his models for him on Friday night.
- Participants must insure they can play on the day without having to be responsible for non-participants in the Game Hall; space is limited, and is there for event participants. Note this in no way excludes parents from being present for their participant children, such oversight is welcomed; but participants should not sign up if *their* responsibility would include oversight of non-participant children--there is insufficient space and too much going on. Note also that this in no way excludes short term or visiting spectators; such support is encouraged for participants, as is the opportunity to show off the hobby to potential future players. The key words are 'short term' and 'visiting:' the Game Hall is not an acceptable venue for non-participants to eat, babysit, converse loudly or engage in other potentially distracting activities on a day when it has been reserved for a mega-battle; the participants in that event have devoted a great deal of time in preparation for same, and deserve a venue conducive to fully enjoying it.
- The Chaos side receives the Warp Rift formation at the center of the table free--but must pay for the models which use it from their 13,000 point allotment. The Imperium receives all Grey Knight units at half their Codex points cost *IF* the models are fully-painted and based; otherwise they cost their normal points to field. Each side receives one minimum-size artillery Datasheet formation (Basilisk Battery or Suppression Force) on the artillery bombardment table free, if the models representing the Datasheet are at least fully assembled; they may increase the size of that formation or add formations at cost, from their 13,000 point allotment. The Chaos side will also utilize the Daemonic Council, composed of submitted models from the painting event concluding the Sunday prior; special rules (including cost) for this unit will be provided.
The sides have been drawn. The Imperium has dug in, in the name of uncovering heresy...and surviving, to reveal it; the Powers of Darkness have responded, bringing all the forces of Chaos, including the Daemonic Council and perhaps Ahriman himself to contest the outcome. The stakes are monumental. Will you be a part of deciding the day?
