Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Apocalypse (section)

=The factions and their units=
Most factions in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium have at least some units which they can bring to an apocalypse game to be the heavy hitters, whether it be a [[Necron]] Gauss Pylon or an [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] Warlord titan. Such units have the toughness and/or (mostly and) the firepower to take on the opponents heavy hitters, and if your going to play Apocalypse, your going to need a few of them to draw fire from your infantry and grind your enemies units to dust. Each faction specialises in a certain type of super heavy, and here, each factions super heavies and anti-titan weapons will be covered, the guns they have and what effects they have on the battlefield as a whole.

==Imperium==
The classic Apocalypse faction, entire armies of super heavy tanks, space marines with spartan assault tanks, and of course, the titan legions. If you want to field the archetypal, uber mechanised Apocalypse army, then this is the one for you.

===Adeptus Custodes===
The goldiest of the goldiest units in the 42nd millennium are a bit tricky in apocalypse, as their multi wound models are very susceptible to all the multi damage weapons going around. Their high point cost also makes them very tempting targets for any unit with a big gun looking to make their money’s worth. However, the custodes behave and hit differently (and harder) than any other warhammer faction, and have the finest equipment available, able to go toe to toe with anything from terminators to titans.
*'''[[Orion Gunship]]:'''

*'''[[Ares Gunship]]:'''

*'''[[Dawneagle Jetbike]] and [[Gyrfalcon Pattern Jetbike ]]:''' The glorious dickbikes are some of the most dangerous and versatile units in 40k. Their variety of high quality ranged weapons and lethal Lance, along with the insane custodes stat line at toughness 6 makes the jet bikes capable of sparring with any unit on the battlefield.

===Space Marines===
The apple in GW’s eye (and their profits), the space marines can make a rather good solo apocalypse army by the simple virtue of having the most toys to play with. Whether that be dreadnoughts or a falchion, space marines have never been lacking in the apocalypse department.
*'''[[Roboute Guilliman]]''': The toughest non-mechanical or demonic unit in the game, running around with a statline capable of beating the living daylights out of most units in the game (other than other primarchs, Guilliman is quite weak by sons of the emperor standards) and provides numerous buffs to an imperium army. Running around at toughness 6, 2+/3++ and the ability to come back to life he won’t go away quickly, just be sure that you wrap him in meat shields.

*'''[[Spartan Assault Tank]]''': Worth an inclusion here simply because it's a sensible choice if playing as space marines. If you plan on getting your troops from one side of the board to the other, or at least to an objective without being completely annihilated before getting there, then the Spartan Assault Tank is your go-to choice. Anything less than this will experience a great deal of difficulty in remaining... alive. The Spartan is the bigger and better brother to the standard Land Raider, sporting BS3+, S8, T8 and 20 wounds. It also has a 2+ save and sports two sets of quad lascannons and a twin heavy bolter that can still fire in CC. It's main plus point is the troop carrying capacity: 25 marines, or 12 terminators, or if you're feeling crafty, 12 jump pack troops to truly terrify your opponent who think your embarked troops will never reach him. Captain slam and Sanguinary Guard spring to mind. Alternatively, use a Mastadon but you'll need to fork out more than double the cash and your last remaining kidney. With the new rules for Apocalypse it's likely to retain some of its durability, unlike a rhino.

*'''[[Fellblade#Falchion|Relic Falchion Superheavy Tank Destroyer]]''': Forget knights. Forget the Baneblade. This is the vehicle that makes even Titans empty their mechanical bowels. Sporting a pair of Volcano cannons, this tank can one-shot knights and any other imperial superheavy tank in a single round of shooting in a conventional game of 40K. See that Knight Castellan? Not anymore you don't. And unlike titans who sport similar levels of firepower, a Falchion can still utilise buildings as cover while simultaneously delivering volleys of planet-cracking firepower. Try hiding a Reaver behind the ruins of an Administratum. Ain't gonna happen. And that's one of its main advantages over something like a Reaver or a Warlord titan. A titan can be targeted from pretty much anywhere on the board, and this is the vehicle to do it with impunity. And at the relatively measly cost of £185 it's also considerably cheaper than a titan. That being said, once deployed, everyone's going to take note, especially the player using the titan, who will use everything to kill it. On the plus side, though, it means your other units get to live for another five minutes.

===Imperial Knights===
Your apocalypse go to if you need a unit which can shoot stuff to pieces as well as chop them to pieces while also looking awesome.
*''[[Imperial Knight|Knights]]:''' An incredibly customisable, variable and survivable unit, being superior to the bane blade in terms of melee and toughness, sporting 3+ weapon skills, actual melee weapons and invulnerability saves (praise the [[emperor]]). Unfortunately, they cost about the same as a baneblade but with fewer wounds, and with their invulnerability save not working in the fight phase they’ll die in melee faster than a bane blade (despite being better in melee).

*'''[[Imperial_Knight#Armiger_Knight_Patterns|Armiger Knights]]:''' Baby’s first knight, being inferior to a normal knight except in their speed and relative cheapness. By themselves not a threat to your normal apocalypse heavy hitters (although more than capable of beating the crap out of most things smaller than them) they are very dangerous when fielded in packs to hound things like baneblades or larger knights.
**'''[[Imperial_Knight#Armiger_Knight_Moirax|Armiger Morax]]:'''

*'''[[Imperial_Knight#Dominus_Knight_Patterns|Dominus Knights]]:''' Slightly larger vanilla knights who make up for poorer melee performance with even bigger and numerous guns. They also come with a suitable price rise. All in all they are some of the bigger and more dangerous threats on an apocalypse board.

*[[Imperial_Knight#Cerastus_Knight_Patterns|Cerastus Knights]]:

*[[Imperial_Knight#Acastus_Knight_Patterns|Acastus Knights]]:

===Imperial Guard===
*'''[[Baneblade]]''': The classic [[METAL BOXES|metal box]], it’s relatively cheap, spammable, relatively tough (toughness 8 is tough but not that tough unfortunately) and incredibly customisable, sporting anything from the infamous quake cannon to increased transport capacity and firing decks. If you're playing [[Imperial Guard]] in apocalypse, chances are you’ll have a fair few of these guys lying around spouting dakka. On the subject of dakka, you can take on proper titans with bane blades and win, and you're one of the few armies which can pull off such a trick, but in apocalypse baneblades will die very quickly with only a 3+ save and no invulnerability save.

===Adeptus Titanicus===
*'''[[Warhound Scout Titan]]''': Likely to be the only titan most players will ever see or face (due to its "low" money cost and 2000 point cost), but this "common" Titan still packs some of the most powerful guns in the game, although you will only ever field the Vulcan Mega Bolter and the Turbo Laser Destructor (the Bolter being the perfect gun for killing GEQ's).

*'''[[Reaver Battle Titan]]''': The Imperial Titan middle child, but it is a large step up in all aspects over the warhound, boasting better guns (and melee weapons), armour, toughness, wounds and void shields (this last one is its main defence), all for 4000 points.

*'''[[Nemesis Warbringer Titan]]''': Do you have money but not enough for a warlord Titan? Do you have the game points for a reaver but not enough for a warlord? Then the warbringer has you covered (unless you want melee weapons)! The warbringer has all the guns the reaver has, plus the minor side note that is the NEMESIS QUAKE CANNON! A gun which wouldn’t look out of place on a warlord Titan (did someone day 70 damage to a baneblade?). That and it’s strength and toughness 13, meaning that only proper Titan weaponry will wound it on anything better than a 5+.

*'''[[Warlord Titan]]''': If you're facing this Titan and you don't have at least two Reavers on your side, just give up now, the Warlord is the most powerful model (although you can get fan made rules for even larger monstrosities) in existence, as it stands I don't think it's actually possible to defeat one in a 6000 point game without your own warlord or [[lascannon]] guardsmen spam.

==Chaos==
Very similar to the Imperium, they have access to their own titan legions, heretic knights, the same space marine super heavies etc, with the addition of their own demonic engines and greater demons, and with any luck if they release rules for [[Angron]] and [[Fulgrim]] you'll be able to have an army led by '''FOUR''' demon primarchs (insert fapping noises here).

===Chaos Space Marines===

*'''[[Lord_of_Skulls|Khorne Lord of Skulls]]''': One of the most 40k models in 40k, the lord of skulls is effectly a chaos knight but with extra korne (aka, added skulls or blood to all its weapons and abilities. It’s better in melee than a knight, but lacks the same long ranged power of said knights.

*'''[[Brass Scorpion|Greater Brass Scorpion of Khorne]]''':This thing is quick. Like, really quick, with a 12” move and 3d6” charge range. Good news is, it also packs a monstrous punch in melee (starting off with 8 attacks at S14 AP-4 D6) and has very versatile medium-range shooting options (which it can still use if there are {{W40kKeyword|Infantry}} enemies within 1” of it), and best of all neither it’s WS nor BS degrade as it takes damage. It also causes Perils to any psyker trying to cast a power on it on a roll of any double, not just double 1s or 6s, so your opponent is unlikely to try and bust it open with smite. It’s not bad defensively either, with a 3+/5++ and T8, along with infernal regeneration, it’s essentially a Chaos Knight in defence. 

====Death Guard====
The toughest faction in 40k, running around at toughness 5 and a 5+ feel no pain save it takes a concerted effort from apocalypse class weaponry to remove them from the field.
*'''[[Mortarion]]''':While his big brother (Magnus being tall in the fluff) is a melee monster and a very powerful psyker, mortarion is a master of melee and surviving whatever you throw at him, while also handing out mortal wound presents to everyone stupid enough to get into flamer range.

====Thousand Sons====
The psychic monsters of 40k, with their smite spam it doesn’t matter how tough you are.
*'''[[Magnus the Red]]''': The second most powerful psyker in existence (although first place goes to the [[emperor]] who's probably dead and Magnus cannot really be considered [[Daemon Prince|mortal]] anymore) who is also a master in melee, it’s almost as if being a demon prince and a primarch gives you super powers?

*'''[[Chaos Knight|Renegade Knight]]''': Identical to the standard knights except with different keywords (and more spikes). The only real difference is that they can SUMMON DAEMONS! Allowing you to call in all the reinforcements you want while beating a loyalist knight to death.

===Chaos Demons===
*'''[[An'ggrath|An’ggrath the Unbound]]''': The biggest beat stick of all the beat sticks, a daemon who embodies the concept of rage to such a point that the [[Angry Marines]] look like a basket of sleeping kittens, throwing out an obscene amount (10) of attacks which hit at strength 15 (a strange number until you realize that it's so he doesn't wound toughness 8 models on a 2+) while being as tough as an imperial knight, even tougher when you consider that he has a 4++ invulnerable save. Combine that with an obscene amount of deny the witch and the ability to cause mortal wounds, and the sheer amount of [[distraction carnifex|DISTRACTION]] Anggrath can perform makes this particular daemon a valuable addition to any chaos army which wants to get into melee.

*'''[[Aetaos'Rau'Keres|Aetaos'Rau'Keres the Slayer of Souls]]''': A daemon psyker who stands on par (if not better) with [[Magnus]] (which is saying something), running around with massive psychic buffs, a staff that fire lascannon shots and chops things into small pieces, and the standard tzeentch uber invulnerability save (which in his case is a 3++ from the get go instead of a 4++, meaning you can buff him to 2++ with the Tzeentch stratagem).

*'''[[Scabeiathrax|Scabeiathrax the Bloated]]''': The toughest thing to come out of the warp that isn’t a titan of some kind, running around with an obscene amount of toughness, invulnerability saves, feel no pain, a butt load of psychic powers, and the potential to inflict -3 to hit modifiers against any attack targeting him within 7”, this guy is going nowhere. Throw on top some fairly hefty melee weapons and a surprisingly brutal flamed attack, and you get a demon who will happily dissolve its way through any enemy if it can get close enough.

*'''[[Zarakynel|Zarakynel, the Bringer of Torments]]''': A demon who will certainly not be respecting your safe word. The weakest and cheapest of the arch demons, zarakynel is by no means an easy target, getting the usual demon invulnerability save and butt loads of psychic powers. However, they’re also unique in that they’re purpose is as an infantry blender, jizzing out mortal wounds at anyone stupid enough to get too close.

==Orks==
The orks were made for Apocalypse, officially they lack a certain amount of the variety that the Imperium or Chaos has, but that doesn't matter as you can convert all of their models to be your own. Do you want an orky Baneblade? You can have it (the [[Skullhamma]] is an actual thing). Do you want to take a [[Hierophant]], fill it with gubinz and bitz, and then have a Mek drive it? You can definitely do that! The orks are the only faction that can steal everyone elses stuff, then make rules for it, then bring said model and rules to an Apocalypse game, and as long as it have ballistic skill 5+ (or perhaps 4+ if you give it a "git finda") your opponent will not only accept it, but bow down to your majesty, as you are truly a god among mortals (and also someone with a lot of time and money on their hands).

*'''[[Kill Tank]]''': A hidden jewel as far as the orks are concerned, as it can actually shoot reasonably straight (praise be to Gork and Mork) and it comes with an optional pseudo Vulcan Mega Bolter (which pumps out an average of 21 shots but can go as high as 36!), all on a fairly cheap package. Be warned, despite its shootiness, it has the danger point toughness of 8 and only has a 4+ save, and (more importantly) no invulnerability save.

*'''Kustom [[Stompa]]''': If only this thing could shoot straight it would destroy anything smaller than a titan, but alas, this model truly represents the idea of what it means to be an ork, be large, noisy and throw a lot of lead downrange. It would be very choppy as well (and it is, sort of) if it wasn't for the fact that [[Forge World]] neglected (in their infinite wisdom) to give it a stomp attack... A Stompa that cannot stomp?

*'''Gargantuan [[Squiggoth]]''': A big green melee monster for the low price of roughly 500 points, for which you get a literal S12 T8 monster, running around at 10" a turn and has more wounds than an imperial knight while still sporting a suitably orky amount of firepower. It's also an open topped transport, which makes it unique as for as warhammer models go, in that its actually an effective melee and shooting combatant while still being a good transport.

==Tau==
Tau battle suits are effectively tiny titans, but their heavy hitters come in the form of models like the KX139 Ta'Unar Supremacy Armour and the [[Manta]], and the ability to divert wounds onto drones makes them incredibly resilient while being incredibly mobile, expect to find yourself either being bombarded from range or flanked by a nimble but destructive battle suits. Most notably they have access to rail rifles on relatively small models for relatively low costs, giving you access to macro weapons on surprisingly study, fast and yet "disposable" platforms.

*'''[[Battlesuit#KV128_Stormsurge_Ballistic_Suit|KV128 Stormsurge Ballistic Suit]]''':

*'''[[Battlesuit#KX139_Ta.27Unar_Supremacy_Armour|KX139 Ta'Unar Supremacy Armour]]''': The VERY big brother to the Stormsurge, packing even bigger and more guns, along with toughness 8 3+/5++, this dakka monster is (thankfully) more survivable than a baneblade, but can carry enough guns to deal with most targets. Being a Battlesuit it can also benefit from all that saviour protocol cheese and drone repairs which the smaller suits also benefit from, making it excellent for taking on other titans in long range duels, as chances are this monster can out shoot and survive them. Never put it in melee though, it has stomp attacks but anything remotely setup for melee will eat it alive (like almost all tau).

*'''[[Manta|Manta Super-Heavy Dropship]]''': With opponents subtracting 1 from their hit rolls and 12” from their weapon range against this model, the manta is almost immune to attacks from races like the orks, and even space marines and the like will struggle to hit this monster. And even though it’s a flier, it has toughness 8 and a 5+ invulnerability save, making it as tough as the hierophant (even tougher with the minus’ to hit), along with a huge amount of guns, and the ability to transport an entire armies worth of models, in particular, it’s macro railguns allow it to spar quite happily with proper titans, so do not be mistaken by its flying status, it’s effectively a slightly weaker war hound Titan with [[awesome|wings]]. Be aware though that if anything manages to get into melee with it and makes it unable to move its minimum distance it will be automatically slain, so watch out for lone squads of jet pack infantry with aspirations of Titan hunting.

==Eldar==
The glass cannon faction in small scale battles is also fairly fragile in apocalypse, with your toughest unit being toughness 9, which may seem like a lot until you consider that the equivalent of the phantom titan for the Imperium (the reaver) has toughness 10, which makes a big difference when it comes to wounding tables. You do have two things (technically three) going for you, firstly, lots of guns, and secondly, you have high mobility (ungodly levels, the revenant moves as fast as airborne flyers) and distortion fields, the reason that those two points aren't separate pluses is that one doesn't work without the other, you need your speed to unlock the higher invulnerability saves, but you need those invulnerability saves to protect you when your high speed brings you close to an opponent. In short, hit hard, hit fast, if you fail, you're probably dead (just like Eldar in general).

'''[[Jetbike]]s''': Ironically, while other factions might resort to heavy hitters to shoot from across the board, you can resort to bike hordes. Fast moving and sporting decent anti-infantry firepower, and to some extent anti-armour capabilities, you can just spam the enemy with a fast-moving cloud of bikes. Obviously, it goes without saying that if your particular Apocalypse game involves no enemy infantry, then you may want to re-think this approach.

'''[[Wraithknight]]''': Still the effective counterpoint to the Imperial Knight, sporting 24 wounds and is better in melee than the Imperial version. But It lacks the same level of firepower. Big, fast, scary.

'''[[Revenant Titan]]''': Scout class titan with the fly ability and 32 wounds, which by the way is the same as the movement - 32". Bigger, faster, and scarier than the Wraith Knight.

'''[[Phantom Titan]]''': The daddy of Eldar (Aeldari) titans with an impressive 60 wounds and equally impressive choice of ranged weapons. In terms of points it's actually a bargain at only 400 points more than a Revenant.

==Necrons==
An unusual faction, as they're heaviest hitter is actually an incredibly cheap (for its output), resilient but immobile gun emplacement, the gauss pylon, other than this you have the [[c'tan]] and their vaults. What they lack in Lords of War however they gain in infantry which will not go away/die.

*'''Gauss Pylon''': Don’t let its stationary nature fool you, the pylon packs the most armour and most powerful guns for its price, and it has the bonus of gaining +1 to hit against flyers, making it effectively an auto hitting weapons against things like Revenant titans. A smart commander will deploy this after the battle has begun to take advantage of the best lines of sight at the back of the battlefield, and start picking off targets one by one (from 10 feet away).

==Tyranids==
The terrifying locusts from space famous for their large monsters, unsurprisingly, have some very large monsters that it can throw at the enemy in addition to wave upon wave of infantry, the premier choice being the Hierophant, acting as both your go to heavy melee and ranged platform. Below this colossal creature you have plenty of things which can dissect your opponent incredibly well, but very little when it comes to useful ranged firepower and all your titanic units are slightly weaker than those belong to other races, T8 just doesn’t cut it at this level.

*'''Scythed Hierodule''': A bite sized, melee Hierophant, sporting incredible speed and flurries of attacks which allow it to "sneak" around enemy flanks and pick off unprotected (and protected) foes, its attacks being even powerful enough to damage proper titans.

*'''Harridan''': A living, breathing, and shitting, flying aircraft carrier, a monstrous organism which gives up some armour and general clout to be able to transport swarms of gargoyles. Its speed, fast firing weapons and transport capacity make it a dangerous foe to let sneak around your flanks, especially considering that gargoyles are very difficult foes to deal with and will happily chew their way through guardsmen and marines alike.

*'''Hierophant''': The crem dela crem of all tyranid bio-organisms (until we get either models for the [[Dominatrix]] or [[Hydraphant]] but there are fan made rules for those made by yours truly), sporting the most powerful weapons and the most resilient armour the tyranids possess, all of which is more than capable of rendering other titans to bubbling slag, assuming that it itself doesn't get shot to pieces first.