Huge war machines tower over the battlefield, their super-heavy weapons blasting apart even the most robustly armoured tanks and cutting bloody swathes through the enemy ranks. Aircraft scream through the smoke-palled skies, making devastating bombing runs or landing to disgorge hordes of bloodthirsty fighters. Orbiting spacecraft unleash punishing barrages that pound the enemy into the ground and reduce fortifications that have stood for millennia to rubble. Throngs of warriors and squadrons of armoured vehicles surge towards the foe. This is war on a scale undreamt of...

On the pages that follow, you will find all the information you'll need to fight apocalyptic battles of Warhammer 40,000. No longer will you lead a single detachment of troops into battle. Now you can have hundreds of troops and squadron after squadron of armoured vehicles under your command, and the greatest heroes of the age will battle at their side. First, though, you will learn how to set up and organise your own Apocalypse games, and all the rules you will need to play them. In fact the only limit to what you can achieve is your own imagination. So have fun, and remember: victory may not always go to the side with the biggest guns - but they certainly do help!

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There comes a time in every gamer's life where their collection of Citadel miniatures has grown so large that they can no longer use all of their models in a single game ofWarhammer 40,000. Although it's always handy to have enough extra units to be able to 'fine tune' your army for a battle, we all know it can be frustrating too; every now and then you want to be able to fight a battle where you get to use your entire collection.

Apocalypse is designed to be played between two teams of players, where every player can field all of the Citadel miniatures in their collection. This means that Apocalypse games are large - at least as big as a large game of Warhammer 40,000, and often much larger. If the players are hardened veterans with several Warhammer 40,000 armies, then Apocalypse games offer them the opportunity to field all of their armies in a single game!For this expansion, we assume that most games of Apocalypse will be played with two sides of multiple players. It is not impossible for a single player to command an Apocalypse army on their own, but it's easier for teams of players to field the number of models needed. The number of players on each side does not have to be equal, but we try to keep it even.Games of Warhammer 40,000 and Apocalypse can take more or less time depending on the size of the game. terrors that would simply be too powerful to include in the Eternal War missions of the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. So, Apocalypse not only allows you to use your whole collection, but also to field things like the enormous super-heavy tanks of the Imperial Guard, Space Marine Thunder hawk gunships, and even the vast and destructive god-machines of the Titan Legions.

Warhammer 40,000
A regular Warhammer 40,000 or small Apocalypse game, with 1 player per side, takes an evening to play.

Apocalypse
A typical Apocalypse game, with 4 or more players split into two sides, takes up to a day to play.

Mega-Apocalypse
A massive Apocalypse game, with 8 or more players split into two sides, may take a weekend to play.

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In order to fight an Apocalypse battle, you will need all of the things you would normally use in a regular game of Warhammer 40,000, plus the additional materials described below.Apocalypse is played between two teams of players, or 'sides'. Each player will usually command an army made up of all of the models in their collection.Apocalypse battles require suitably large battlefields. The gaming area needs to be at least 6 feet by 4 feet, and is typically much larger; we've heard of games being played on the floor, where the battlefield is 40 feet long and 30 feet wide! Large playing areas like this can require quite a lot of terrain, but just as the players in each side combine their miniatures into a single army, all of the players in an Apocalypse battle should combine their terrain collections together to ensure they have enough scenery for the battle.You will be used to the blast markers and templates used in games of Warhammer 40,000. These are used in Apocalypse games too, but are complemented by additional markers and templates of suitably massive dimensions. These are needed to account for the effects of the extremely powerful weapons used in the game. More detail on these Apocalypse markers and templates, including their sizes, can be found in the Blast & Large Blast section.

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Setting up a game of Apocalypse requires a bit more preparation than most games of Warhammer 40,000. Because of this, it's best to have one player as the 'game organiser'. They will make sure all of the players know where and when to meet, decide on the scenario to be played, and set up the terrain for the battle.Apocalypse games usually take the best part of a day to play, and therefore have a schedule to determine when the battle starts and ends. Typically, a battle will start at 9 or 10 in the morning and end at 7 or 8 in the evening, though it is not uncommon for games to go on longer than this, or even to take place over two or more days. In addition to the start and end times, a number of breaks should be scheduled in; these allow the players to stop and grab a drink and a bite of food. They also serve as a suitable point to bring reinforcements and reserves into the battle.With the schedule set, the players gathered, and the terrain set up, it is time to begin the battle. Because Apocalypse is a team game, some time needs to be set aside for a group discussion of the strategy to be employed for the coming battle. During this process the two sides are allowed to pick one or more Strategic Assets to use in the coming conflict. Strategic Assets allow each side to carry out special battlefield strategies or execute cunning ruses, and if used wisely can spell the difference between victory and defeat.

Once all of the commanders in a side are clear about their obj ectives and any assets have been chosen, the armies can deploy. This can take some time for Apocalypse-sized armies, and because of this there will often be a time limit for deploying each army - any models that are not deployed within this time start the battle in reserve!During their turn, each side moves, shoots and assaults with the units in their army. Each player in the side will have command of certain units taking part in the battle, and it is their duty to decide what these units will do and to execute their actions on the tabletop. An Apocalypse battle will often be won by the group of players that works together best as a team, combining their efforts in order to achieve a joint victory.

An Apocalypse battle is not for the faint-hearted. Some weapons are perfectly capable of destroying entire units of even heavily armoured troops with a single shot - in fact, there are weapons that can destroy several such units or whole squadrons of armoured vehicles with a single blast! In a game of Apocalypse you can frequently expect to see more models destroyed in a single turn (or even a single shot) than would be lost in the entirety of a game of Warhammer 40,000. Fortunately, the sheer size of Apocalypse armies means that they can soak up these heavy casualties and keep on fighting. More often than not, new units will arrive on the battlefield to take their place and keep up the fight after each break in the scheduled gaming.The winner of most Apocalypse battles is determined by control of Strategic Objectives. These are placed on the table at the start of the battle. Each side scores a number of Strategic Victory Points based on the number of Strategic Objectives they control during each break and at the end of the battle. The side with the most points at the end of the battle is the winner.

However, while winning the battle is a bonus, the real reason for taking part in a game of Apocalypse is the sheer spectacle. There will be moments of courage and drama in every game that will stick in your memory for years to come.

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The players decide which of the missions to play (or devise one of their own, following the guidelines here). Each mission tells you how to set up the battlefield, how to deploy the armies, what special rules apply to the game, and how the winner is decided.

The six missions in The Missions Chapter are good for 'general purpose' games of Apocalypse, and represent the types of apocalyptic battle that have been fought many times over the millennia.Each player taking part in an Apocalypse battle needs to have an army. Some missions may place restrictions on the armies that can be chosen, but other than that you can use any army in a game of Apocalypse. If you have more than one army, you may combine them all together into a single force if you wish to do so.

Armies may include any number of units from any codex, plus any number of fortifications and Apocalypse Formations. No Force Organisation chart restrictions apply to the army - just bring along all of the models you can! In addition, you can ignore any restrictions on units that are normally limited to 0-1, 0-2 or that say 'you may field one of unit X for each unit Y'. Really, the only rule is that unit sizes must be correct. If in doubt, just ask the game organiser for a ruling.

Players can take any upgrades permitted by their army lists, but any such upgrades should be represented on the model; otherwise, keeping track of which model has which upgrade becomes very hard. This is important because detailed army rosters and points values are not usually used in games of Apocalypse. Instead, players simply bring along the models they are going to use. The game organiser can ask the players to work out roughly how many points their army is worth, but this is not strictly necessary.

This is because Apocalypse is designed to allow you to field your entire collection, so a lot of the restrictions that apply to picking an army for an Eternal War mission simply don't apply. Points can only be seen as a rough guide in Apocalypse; it helps if each player has an idea of how many points they are bringing, but the exact value of each army is not important.

This might seem to confer an advantage to players with larger collections of models, but as you'll see, we've included a number of methods that will allow you to 'balance' a game without having to - leave models on a shelf (well, unless you want to leave them on the shelf that is - you don't have to use that broken model if you don't want to). We're labouring this point because, during playtesting, people found it hard to believe that we were saying 'Just bring all of your collection and play', but this is exactly what we mean. Using the rules and guidelines from this book you can field your entire collection and have a fantastic game!

That being said, a game organiser should feel free to set a maximum points limit for the game if they wish. We've played many battles with a points limit of between 3,000 and 6,000 points, all of which proved extremely enjoyable and only took slightly longer than an Eternal War mission. Even in these games, though, we recommend that upgrades are dictated by what a model is carrying, if only to ensure that the games are played in the right spirit.Remember that you can bring along units from more than one codex, so if your collection includes Imperial Guard and Tau, plus a squad of Harlequins you bought just to paint, then all these models can fight as a single force. The great thing about this system is that it allows you to vary your painting routine, collect units you like even if you have no immediate plans of building them up into a full army, or start the core of a new force and field it in battle straight away.It can be difficult to use more than one special character in an Eternal War mission; they cost rather a lot of points and often use up valuable 'HQ slots' of the Force Organisation chart.

Fortunately, such obstacles do not matter in Apocalypse. In fact, we consider it appropriate to field as many special characters as possible, as it makes the game feel suitably apocalyptic in nature - huge battles are just the place for such legendary individuals as Abaddon the Despoiler and Commissar Yarrick. Also, it would seem a waste to leave any special characters out of such a game. That being said, you can still only have a single instance of any unique special characters in each army. In the event that two players want to field the same unique special character, the game organiser makes the call. Only one Abaddon the Despoiler strides the battlefields of the 41st Millennium, regardless of how grand in scale they may be.Apocalypse battles can be fought between just two players, but they are especially suited to team play. While it's possible to play 'all against all' games, or games where there are three or more sides taking part, all of the Apocalypse missions in this book assume that the players will be split into two sides. Because of this, if there are three or more players taking part, they are split into two sides at the start of the game. The number of players in each side doesn't have to be the same, but it helps if neither side has more than one player more than its opponents (for example, three players versus four players is better than two versus five).

Players are usually split into sides by comparing their collections and then putting the players into two sides that have similarly sized armies. Alternatively, you may want to consider using the Allies matrix from the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook to help decide which side each player belongs to. If one side or the other looks like it is more powerful, then the weaker side can be given extra Strategic Assets in order to balance the game. However, it's best to aim to create two sides whose armies are roughly equivalent in terms of size and power.

The players in a side each command their own army, and all armies on the same side are treated as Allies. Armies from the same codex that are commanded by different players count each other as Battle Brothers for the purposes of the Allies rules. Armies that, according to the Allies matrix, ally only 'Come the Apocalypse' count each other as Desperate Allies.Before a game of Apocalypse begins, each player nominates one model to be his Warlord, just like in a game of Warhammer 40,000. As a result, there may be several Warlords on each side, each of whom will have a Warlord Trait, as normal, and get a chance to use the Finest Hour rules.

However, it is important to establish who is in overall control of each side, so the players need to agree on which of their Warlords is going to be the Warmaster for that game. The Warmaster is in overall control of whatever alliance or war effort is taking place. If the players on a side cannot agree which Warlord should be Warmaster, they should roll-off. A player that is hosting, or organised, the game gets +1 to their dice roll.

The player that controls the Warmaster gets precedence when his side disagrees upon matters of overall strategy that directly affect more than one specific person in that side. Be warned, though - the head of the enemy's overall commander is a trophy greatly prized by the foe...At this point the two sides select their Strategic Assets. These represent high level military strategies that can swing the battle in your favour.As mentioned earlier in this section, an apocalyptic battle requires a suitably large playing area as well as enough terrain to fill it. We've found that eight feet is about the maximum width that can be used while still allowing players to reach the middle without knocking models over. Similarly, twenty-four feet is about the maximum length than can be used without the table starting to look too long and thin.

With the table ready, you need to add terrain. First, set up any fortifications taken by either side, and then set up the rest of the terrain as you would for an Eternal War mission. You should try to get your hands on as much terrain as you can, and then set it up in any mutually agreeable manner. We recommend 'clumping' the terrain to form larger features rather than spreading it out evenly over the battlefield. For example, you could clump all of the buildings near to each other to create a town, all of the woods together to create a forest and so on. Don't worry if there are wide-open spaces - in fact, these are quite desirable, as you'll soon fill the space with models!Once the table is set up, each side must place three Strategic Objectives on the table. Roll a dice to see which side sets up one of these first. That side sets up one, then the opposing side sets up one of theirs, and so on, back and forth until all six Strategic Objectives have been placed. If for some reason you find you can't place a Strategic Objective, adjust those already in play by the minimum amount to ensure it can be placed.

Each side must set up one Strategic Objective in their own deployment zone, one in the opponent's deployment zone, and one anywhere on the table. A Strategic Objective may not be set up within 12" of another that has already been placed, or within 12" of any table edge.It's now (finally!) time to deploy your armies. Each mission's instructions will tell you how to set up, and which side goes first. It's a good idea to specify a time limit for deployment, to avoid this stage dragging on too long. For example, you might say that deployment will start at 9:00 a.m. and everyone must be finished by 10:00 a.m., with each side allowed a maximum of 30 minutes for deployment.

Usually, the side setting up first is allowed a few minutes to look over the layout of the table and discuss their deployment, and then has the amount of time specified in the schedule to actually set up their army. Once the first side has set up, their opponents get the same planning period followed by the specified amount of time to deploy their army.

In some missions, Scouts will be allowed to redeploy and Infiltrators to be set up after both sides have deployed, but again, it is a good idea to impose a time limit on each side for carrying out these special deployments.

If the time limit runs out while a side is mid-way through setting up a unit, then that unit is placed in Strategic Reserve, along with any other units that have not yet been set up on the table. Any units that have accidentally been set up incorrectly are moved into Strategic Reserve too.Eternal War missions are fought for a certain number of turns (usually six), but we've found that this doesn't work that well for Apocalypse battles. Whenever we used a turn limit, we found that we'd either not had time to finish our game, or that we finished too soon. So instead of a turn limit, Apocalypse battles have a time limit, which is determined by the players or the game organiser before the battle starts. For example, you might say 'We'll play until 7 p.m. tonight,' or 'We'll start at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning and finish on Sunday at 5 p.m. with a few preplanned breaks in between.'

It's difficult to say how long a game will take, as different groups of players tend to play at different speeds. The simplest solution is to assume that your Apocalypse game will take a full day to play. Once you've fought a battle or two you'll learn how quickly your group plays, and will be able to judge more precisely how long you need for a game.

When the agreed time limit is reached, keep on playing long enough for both sides to complete the same number of turns.

For example, at the agreed time, side A is in the middle of their fourth turn and side B has had three turns. Therefore side A completes its turn (taking it up to four game turns), and then side B gets to take a turn (so they have played four turns also). The game is then over. Because the game will almost always overrun the time limit, you should set the time at least an hour and a half before the game really needs to finish.

As an aside, teams can of course agree to play on after the time limit has been reached, or to pause the game and come back to finish it the next day, and so on. Sometimes you'll find that the battle is at such a crucial stage that it simply feels wrong to end the game right then, and so will decide to play an extra turn or two until there is a natural conclusion. At other times, you may be enjoying the sheer carnage of the battle so much that you simply don't want to stop! In any case, it is perfectly acceptable to keep on playing if both sides agree to do so.In addition to a finish time, you will need to arrange a number of 'break times'. A break gives players a chance to have a rest and grab a bite to eat and drink, and depending on the special rules being used, may allow one or both sides to score Strategic Victory Points and gather reinforcements. At the very least, it will give you a chance to put your feet up for a while and come up with the next stage of your battle plan.

There should ideally be a break after every three to four hours of play. When the break time is reached, keep on playing until both sides have had the same number of turns, as described earlier. Then, halt play for fifteen minutes to an hour before starting the next session of play.

As an aside, there is nothing wrong with taking informal pauses during play if you want to. Stopping the game for a few minutes so that players can take a rest and get refreshments is a good idea. However, the special rules that apply to the scheduled breaks obviously don't apply to the informal ones, and any time the rules refer to a break, this means a scheduled one.
Some Apocalypse missions will specify which side gets the first turn, whilst others will require the sides to roll-off to determine this. Other missions allow the side who deployed their army first to start the first turn, unless their opponents can Seize the Initiative.You can now fight the battle. Apocalypse battles use the standard Warhammer 40,000 rules, plus any of the special rules from this expansion. Each game turn in Apocalypse uses an expanded sequence of play, detailed in the Turn Summary box, to the right.

Continue this sequence until the time limit or a break is reached, and then finish the player turn in progress and play an extra player turn if needed to make sure each side has the same number of turns, as described in Game Length. Once the final time limit is reached, and both sides have played an equal number of turns, the game is over.Once you have finished, it is time to determine which side has won. You will often need to keep track of Strategic Victory Points to determine the winner, but sometimes other objectives will need to be completed instead.

If one side concedes the battle, or all of the models on that side are wiped out, the victory goes to the opposing side. Likewise, if at the end of any game turn, one side has no models on the battlefield, the opposing side automatically wins.Strategic Objectives are key points on the battlefield, the capture of which will give their side a strategic advantage in the ongoing campaign of which this battle is just a part (albeit a very important part!). Tap here for how these are placed.

The winner of an Apocalypse battle that uses the Strategic Objectives mission special rule is decided by the capture of Strategic Objectives. They can be represented by a marker, a coin or a bespoke token themed for army or the specific battle, but because of their importance, you may want to put some effort into making suitably large and impressive objectives instead. Veteran players may already have some such markers in their collections.

Note that Strategic Objectives are considered to be objectives for the purposes of Warlord Traits and special rules that interact with objectives.If the Apocalypse scenario has the Mysterious Objectives special rule, it applies to all Strategic Objectives.After each session of play (i.e. the start of each break), Strategic Victory Points are scored for controlling Strategic Objectives. Strategic Victory Points are also scored at the end of the final session of play.

A Strategic Objective is controlled by the side that has the nearest unit to it - if two or more units are equally close, each side rolls off each time Strategic Victory Points are scored. Note that all units are scoring units in Apocalypse, though a unit can still only control one Strategic Objective at a time, and fleeing units cannot control objectives. If a unit is the closest one to several objectives, it controls the one closest to it. Each Strategic Objective is worth one Strategic Victory Point at the end of the first session of play, two Strategic Victory Points at the end of the second session of play, three Strategic Victory Points at the end of the third session of play, and so on.

Note that Strategic Victory Points are earned after each gaming session, not just at the end of the whole game - this means you will need to capture Strategic Objectives early on and hold them for as long as possible if you wish to win!Bonus Strategic Victory Points are scored immediately for carrying out the following actions:

• Destroying a Super-heavy Vehicle
• Killing a Gargantuan Creature
• Killing a Warmaster
• Stopping a Finest Hour

The side that ends the game with the most Strategic Victory Points wins the battle. However, these Strategic Victory Points can also be 'spent' to carry out special Strategic Actions. These can be very powerful, but spending a Strategic Victory Point to use them could mean the difference between victory and defeat, so do so wisely!

Each player is allowed to spend a maximum of one Strategic Victory Point each turn. It is entirely each player's choice as to when or if they spend a point, but we recommend they confer with the other players on their own side before doing so! Note that you may not spend Strategic Victory Points you do not yet have - so if one player spends their side's last one, no other players can spend any Strategic Victory Points until some more have been earned. There are two types of Strategic Action:

• Strategic Reinforcements
• Strategic Resource

Much like the Eternal War missions featured in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook, Apocalypse missions have specific special rules that affect how the game is played. Some of these special rules, such as Mysterious Objectives and Night Fighting, simply follow the rules in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. Others are special rules specific to Apocalypse that represent events on a far grander scale; their rules are detailed throughout the next section of the book. They are loosely summarised as follows:In the most spectacular of the galaxy's battles, the god-like beings of the universe sometimes take an active hand. The rules for Divine Intervention allow powerful miracles of war; each race is able to call upon its deity once certain epic or deadly criteria have been met.When the fate of their race hangs in the balance, true heroes will push themselves to superhuman feats of prowess. Similar in nature to Warlord Traits but on a far more impressive scale, the Finest Hour rules allow your Warlord a timely boost that can see him singlehandedly turn the tide.Amongst the Space Marines there are those whose gene-seed runs pure enough to manifest the glory of the Primarchs. A specialised form of the Finest Hour rules, these give Space Marine players the ability to channel their Primarch's greatness in their hour of need.The generals of the 41st Millennium have access to strategic elements ranging from orbital strikes to lightning-fast flanking manoeuvres. Each player gets a number of Strategic Asset cards with which to tip the scales; self-contained events and ploys for you to unveil as the game unfolds.A wise general ensures he has reserves waiting to strike... These rules allow you to hold a portion of your force in reserve, ready to pounce.The battlefield is ravaged as the planet's doom unfolds. These rules allow you to fight battles as the apocalypse erupts around your troops. Be warned, these cataclysmic rule sets pack a punch!Apocalypse battlefields are dominated by huge formations of troops, thundering spearheads of armoured vehicles, massive Super-heavy vehicles and Gargantuan Creatures, and weapons so vast that they will blow apart anything they hit.

Apocalypse introduces many new models, units and fortifications to the war-torn universe of the 41st Millennium. On the following pages, you will find the rules for the different categories of these new models, units and fortifications, each of which builds upon the rules in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.Apocalypse gives you the chance to field Apocalypse Formations. Every Apocalypse Formation is presented on its own datasheet, which includes all of the information needed to use the formation in a battle. In addition, the datasheet tells you which codex the formation is considered a part of for all rules purposes. A host of datasheets can be found here and more are presented in the Armageddon War Zone in this book. You should also feel free to design your own formations; just be sure that your opponents agree to their use before the game starts.

Each type of Apocalypse Formation, from Armoured Spearheads to Gargantuan Creatures, has its own special rules that can be found on the following pages. In addition to these, most Apocalypse Formations have their own unique special rules that are described on their datasheets. This means that most Apocalypse Formations will have two sets of special rules that affect it during a game: ones that apply because of their type, and any found on their datasheet. Note that no model in your army may belong to more than one datasheet at a time.Armoured Spearheads
A special unit of three to five armoured vehicles that have a unique ability, such as a Space Marine Predator Assassin Squadron.

Flyer Wings
Similar to an Armoured Spearhead, but made up of Flyers rather than Tanks, such as the Ork Burna-Bommer Skwadron.

Battle Formations
A Battle Formation is a large collection of units, such as a Space Marine Battle Company or an Infinite Phalanx of Necron Warriors.

High Commands
An HQ formation consisting of one or more commanders and their supporting units, such as the Brethren of the Great Wolf.

Massive Fortifications
Incredibly large and fortified buildings that are almost impossible to destroy, such as an Vortex Missile Aquila Strongpoint.

Psychic Choirs
A group of Psykers that can unleash hugely powerful psychic powers, such as an Eldar Farseer Council.

Super-heavy Vehicles
Extremely large and heavily armed vehicles, such as the Imperial Guard Baneblade or Necron Tesseract Vault.

Super-heavy Walkers
Super-heavy vehicles that stride across the battlefield, such as Chaos Warhound Titans and Ork Stompas.

Super-heavy Flyers
Super-heavy vehicles that dominate the skies over the battlefield, such as Space Marine Thunderhawk Gunships.

Gargantuan Creatures
Creatures of such immense size that they can take on entire armies on their own, such as Tyranid Hierophants.

Flying Gargantuan Creatures
Colossal flying monstrosities with wingspans as wide as a Thunderhawk, such as the Tyranid Harridan.

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