THE BATTLE FOR ARMAGEDDON

Liber Apocalyptica is an irregular column that provides ideas and inspiration for your games of Apocalypse. This month well be looking at the three huge campaigns that have been fought on the Imperial hive world known simply as Armageddon.

TM

rmageddon is a world that has been torn apart by war. It is located 10,000 light years to the galactic north-east of Terra, at the centre of the Armageddon sector. For millennia it has been one of the Imperiums industrial powerhouses, its vast weapon factories providing arms and material to the Imperial Guard for use in campaigns all over the galaxy. Its strategic importance and massive stockpiles of weapons have made it the target for several major invasions, the most recent of which led by Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka is still ongoing.

with an entity as powerful as Angron, and after a desperate battle they were able to hurl his spirit back into the Warp. Without their leader, the forces of Chaos were routed and Armageddon saved.

The 2nd Armageddon War

The second invasion of Armageddon took place in 941.M41, when the Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka invaded the planet at the head of a massive Ork Waaagh! At the time Armageddon was ruled by Overlord Herman von Strab, memorably described as the greatest waste of flesh and bone born in the last five hundred years. Von Strabs incompetence allowed Ghazghkull to conquer Armageddon Prime even more easily than Angron had been able to in the 1st Armageddon War. Even worse, he neglected to defend the river lines where Angron had been halted in sufficient strength, allowing Ghazghkull to smash through the Imperial lines and onto the ash waste plains of Armageddon Secundus which lay beyond. Ork columns quickly overran Infernus Hive, and after bitter fighting Helsreach Hive fell to the Orks too. The futile counter-attacks ordered by Von Strab were smashed to pieces by the vastly superior Ork army. Only at Hades Hive were the Orks slowed down, as a desperate Imperial defence led by Commissar Yarrick did everything possible to stop the Orks from capturing the city. But even Commissar Yarrick could not undo the harm inflicted by Von Strab, and as Ork forces advanced on Acheron and Tartarus hives it looked as if all of Armageddon must fall. It was at this darkest moment that salvation arrived in the form of Ultramarines, Salamanders and Blood Angels Space Marine Chapters. The Space Marines crashed into the Orks, stemming the tide and giving the defenders the time they needed to organise their forces. With von Strab replaced as overall commander by the incomparably more capable Commander Dante of the Blood Angels, the forces of the Imperium started to turn the tables, and finally a massive orbital assault made by the entire Blood Angels Chapter broke the back of the Ork army and sent the survivors fleeing back into the thick jungles that separate Armageddon Prime and Secundus.

The 1st Armageddon War

The latest Ork invasion of Armageddon is not the first time that the planet has been attacked. More than five hundred years before Ghazghkull was born, Armageddon faced no less deadly a threat from an enemy of a very different nature the forces of Chaos. Following a rash of strange, inexplicable events, armed rebellion erupted in the huge hive cities that stud the surface of Armageddon. The revolts were quickly put down in Armageddon Secundus, but amongst the more scattered hives of Armageddon Prime they proved more difficult to eradicate. Busy containing the rebellion, the Planetary Defence Force was caught by surprise when the Space Hulk Devourer of Souls appeared in the Armageddon system. On board was an enormous Chaos army, led by the Daemon Primarch Angron. Chaos Space Marines from the World Eaters Legion swept across the land, while at the same time Warp rifts flickered into existence and unleashed hordes of Daemons upon the beleaguered Imperial defenders. Armageddon Prime fell swiftly to the Chaos army, and the survivors fell back and prepared to make a last ditch stand along the rivers Styx and Chaeron. Unknown to Angron, several Great Companies of Space Wolves led by Logan Grimnar himself had arrived to bolster the defence. Titanic battles erupted all along the front as the forces of Chaos crashed into the Imperial line. It was at this moment that Logan played his trump card in the form of a full company of Grey Knights. Only the Grey Knights could deal

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The 3rd Armageddon War

If the Imperium made one mistake in the aftermath of the 2nd Armageddon War, it was in assuming that Ghazghkull had been defeated. This was far from the truth. On the day of the Feast of the Emperors Ascension, fifty-seven years to the day after the first Ork invasion, Ghazghkulls hordes descended on the world of Armageddon once more. The greatest of the Armageddon Wars had begun. This time the defenders of Armageddon were better prepared than they had been prior to the earlier invasions. Unfortunately for them, so was Ghazghkull. At the head of an Ork Waaagh! many times larger than any the galaxy had ever seen before, Ghazghkull was able to smash aside the defending Imperial fleet and land his forces

Such is the size and enormity of this latest war that so far neither side has been able to gain the upper hand. Hive cities have fallen and been recaptured, and millions of Ork and Imperial warriors have died, but still the war continues with no end in sight. Armageddon is consumed by the greatest single planetary battle the galaxy has ever known.

BLOOD ANGELS THUNDERHAWK ASSAULT FORCE

POINTS: 200 + MODELS
It was when things looked bleakest for the Imperium during the 2nd Armageddon War that the Blood Angels arrived to turn the tide. The first of these hammer blows fell on the Orks that were assaulting Acheron Hive, ripping them asunder in a thunder of bombs as the sky overhead filled with the shapes of Space Marine Thunderhawk Gunships. Ghazghkull responded quickly, sending a fresh horde of Ork reinforcements to attack Tartarus Hive. If Tartarus was overrun, the industrial power in the south would be smashed and the Orks could easily consolidate their position. But as the Orks assaulted Tartarus, their vanguard already pushing into the streets of the hive city, Dante made his move. Dante led a massive strike into the heart of the Ork army. Though heavily outnumbered, the Blood Angels massacred any Orks in their path. Fuelled by righteous fury, the Blood Angels slew nearly half the Ork army, and it was rumoured that Ghazghkull himself was slain. Leaderless and assaulted from all sides, the Orks were crushed and the 2nd Armageddon War was at an end.

New Datasheets
Weve included three new datasheets with this article for battle formations and legendary units that fought in the Armageddon Wars, and you can find six more new datasheets on our website at www.games-workshop.co.uk. These datasheets can be used in any game of Apocalypse if you wish to, but they are especially well-suited for use when refighting one of the battles that took place in the Armageddon Wars. The background and history of the three Armageddon Wars make a fantastic starting point for story-based Apocalypse games. Recreating such a battle is best taken on as a group project, with different members of the group supplying the models for the different armies taking part, and helping to make the terrain necessary to represent the battlezone. For example, you could refight the battle of the River Chaeron, with Angron leading his Chaos horde against an Imperial army that includes Grey Knights, Space Wolves and Imperial Guardsmen. Or you might want to refight Commissar Yarricks last stand during the defence of Hades Hive, or Dantes climactic orbital assault on the Orks during the same war. The possibilities are endless.

The fate of hundreds of worlds will be decided on the blood-soaked ash dunes of Armageddon
Commissar Yarrick

THUNDERHAWK GUNSHIPS

HONOUR GUARD

Dante

TACTICAL SQUAD

TACTICAL SQUAD

ASSAULT SQUAD

ASSAULT SQUAD

You will find that the following codexes, special characters and datasheets will come in useful for Apocalypse battles set on Armageddon:

ASSAULT SQUAD

FORMATION: 1ST ARMAGEDDON WAR Codexes: Codex Space Wolves, Codex Imperial Guard, Codex Chaos Space Marines. Special Characters: Logan Grimnar (Codex Space Wolves). Datasheets: All Imperial Guard, Space Marine, Imperial and Chaos datasheets*. 2ND & 3RD ARMAGEDDON WARS Codexes: Codex Space Marines, Codex Blood Angels, Codex Black Templars, Codex Imperial Guard, Codex Orks. Special Characters: Commander Dante (Codex Blood Angels), Commissar Yarrick (Codex Imperial Guard), Ghazghkull Thraka (Codex Orks). Datasheets: All Imperial Guard, Space Marine, Imperial and Ork datasheets*.
3 Thunderhawk Gunships. Commander Dante. 1 Blood Angels Honour Guard. 1 Blood Angels Chaplain. 1 ten-man Death Company Squad. 1 ten-man Veteran Assault Squad. 2 ten-man Tactical Squads. 4 ten-man Assault Squads.

* Datasheets can be found in Apocalypse, Apocalypse: Reload, Imperial Armour Apocalypse, and on our website at www.games-workshop.com

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ASSAULT SQUAD

Armageddon Wars
Forces of the

SPECIAL RULES
F o r t h e C h a p t e r: In addition to his normal strategic assets, the player gains the following three assets: -Vital Objective -Careful Planning -Orbital Bombardment C o m m a n d T h u n d e r h a w k : The Thunderhawk in which Dante arrives is fitted with a Shield Generator. Any non-vehicle models within 12" of it receive a 4+ invulnerable save against any attack originating more than 12" away from the generator (the Thunderhawk and other vehicles count as Obscured instead).

VETERAN ASSAULT SQUAD

all across the surface of Armageddon. A battle of unprecedented ferocity erupted entire hive cities were destroyed by asteroids hurled at the surface from orbiting space hulks, the sulphur-yellow skies of Armageddon became interwoven with the twisting con-trails of thousands of aircraft battling for aerial supremacy, while on the ground, invading Ork hordes clashed with Imperial Guard armies.

DEATH COMPANY

Chaplain

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ANGRON, DAEMON PRIMARCH OF THE WORLD EATERS

POINTS: 500 + POINTS FOR BLOODTHIRSTER MODELS
Angron was one of the superhuman Space Marine Primarchs created by the Emperor of Mankind in an effort to battle against the tide of Chaos. From Angrons genetic material, the Emperor created the World Eaters Space Marines. He was the first Primarch to join the Warmaster Horus at the start of the Horus Heresy, for he knew Horus as a brother and supported the Warmaster in demanding a new order of discipline and martial virtue as the only way to save Mankind from destruction. Once the rebellion turned into full scale civil war, Angron and the World Eaters were drawn into bloodier and bloodier conflicts. The World Eaters had always been the most savage and warlike Space Marines, and Angron led them in the worship of Khorne, who was able to appeal to their sense of honour and martial pride more than the Emperor ever could. Khorne has wrought many changes in Angron during the Primarchs 10,000 year service. Angron is now a hulking, muscular giant with skin the colour of spilt blood. His face is bestial and fang filled, his eyes milky white without iris or pupil. Angron fights with a mighty Chaos blade of black glowing iron, etched with runes of doom and destruction. His voice is like the roaring of a violent storm and mortals quail at his approach.

ORK SUBMERSIBLE
One of the peculiar machineries invented by the mad Mekaniak known only as Orghamek is the Ork Submersible, first devised for the purposes of surprise assault. Thickhulled and crude, these improbable machines are heavy duty enough to negotiate storm-wracked seas and poisonous oceans alike. Their cavernous holds are large enough to transport an entire warband of Orks, and they invariably mount cannons and torpedos with which to announce their presence once they have been manoeuvred into position. The Ork Boyz who ride within the bellies of these great metal beasts see them as aquatic Battlewagons, and embrace this new form of attack with the gung-ho attitude typical of greenskins across the galaxy. When an Ork Submersible beaches, usually behind enemy lines, its great
Ork Freebooters often tell of the Submersible, Orkilus, which beached to the west of Tempestora a few days after the main attack hit home. Its hull was crushed and buckled in several places, and the thick metallic paint on its surface had been ground away in great strings of circular scars. Not one Ork survived the disaster, which the Freebooters ascribe to a beast known only as Da Big Tentacley Fing.

POINTS: 350
metal doors will grind open and hundreds of Orks will pour forth, hooting and hollering as they splash through the shallows to engage the enemy from an unexpected quarter. Submersibles were first used in the Third War for Armageddon. Cannibalised and cobbled together from disused Imperial tankers, a flotilla of submersibles was built in the region known as the Fire Wastes, judged tactically worthless by Imperial strategos because of its remote location. Ghazghkull and Orghamek demonstrated the folly of this assumption when the submersibles crossed the ocean between the Fire Wastes and Armageddon Prime. They revealed themselves from the waters around Hive Tempestora in a battlefield coup of such violence and cunning that it wrested the fiercely contested hive from Imperial hands within the space of a few hours.
Submersibles observed at the Battle for Tempestora: O.S.S. Snaggletoof Da Big Ugly Surprise Da Drilljaw Killafish Da Orka

FORMATION:
Angron and a bodyguard of between 2 and 12 Bloodthirsters chosen from Codex: Chaos Daemons.

ANGRON: Angron is treated as a Daemon Prince with the

following profile and special rules.

Peekin tubes

WS
10

BS
6

S
7

T
6

W
5

I
6

A
6

LD
10

SV
4+

Thrust Generators Seacannon

UNIT TYPE: Monstrous Creature SPECIAL RULES

Daemon, Furious Charge D a e m o n i c G i f t s : Iron Hide, Daemonic Flight A n g ro n s B l a c k B l a d e : Angron is armed with a Chaos blade. It counts as a master-crafted close combat weapon that causes Instant Death. R o a r o f H a t e : Any enemy unit within 12" of Angron must reduce their Leadership by 1 point. Stabilising fins

Prow (lowered position)

Spyholes

UNIT: 1 Ork Submersible TYPE: Super-heavy Vehicle STRUCTURE POINTS: 2

BS
2

ARMOUR FRONT SIDE

13 12

REAR
12

SPECIAL RULES
A q u a t i c D e p l o y m e n t : A submersible may only enter play at an area that has been designated as water (or equivalent!). This area must be large enough to contain the submersible model. The submersible must touch an area of land for its passengers to disembark. Submersibles may never enter play on the first turn. Roll a dice on the second and subsequent turns to see if the submersible enters play. Once it has entered play the submersible may not move, but its passengers may disembark and assault as if it were an open-topped vehicle. Tu r n Submersible enters play on: 1 n/a 2 3+ 3 2+ 4 Automatic

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His voice is like the roaring of a mighty storm and mortals quail at his approach.

An Ork Submersible has a Transport Capacity of 60 models, has one access point (the prow/jaw) and no fire points.

OPTIONS: A Submersible can be upgraded to have:

- A Seacannon at +120pts, using the profile below: Range Str 9 AP 3 Ty p e Ordnance, 7" Blast

Seacannon

90"

- Up to three big shootas at +5 points per weapon. These can have the anti-aircraft special rule at a further cost of +5 points per weapon (use normal BS when firing at flyers).

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