Split Table Apocalypse Games

[Archon Charybdis]

So for my group's next Apocalypse game, I want to reduce some of the table congestion of having 10 people by coming up with a slightly more story driven scenario, that involves two separate games on different tables.

I want the smaller, secondary table to have a story-based objective that impacts the larger table in some way, like the attackers having a cannon that grants an orbital bombardment, or the defenders having a power generator for void shields on the main table. Anyone have experience with a setup like that, or any advice on how to balance that kind of objective-based perk?

[Lockark]

Once had a idea of doing a apoc game with two tables, were the 2nd smaller table would be divided up into a bunch of corridors and tight firing lanes.

The idea is the smaller table would be the sewers/Subways/ect of the citiy with corresponding exit hatches to the surface. only total av32 vheclies allowed to be deployed down thier in the larger subway tunnles. Vheclies, walkers, bikes, jetbikes can not use the hatchs to move between boards.

The idea basically being a place were people with out the super heavies can fight and acculy contribute to the game more.

(And of course. Only deep strikeing described as burrowing and teleporting allowed.)

[DrLove42]

GW did one once...can't remember where though. There was a secondary table that had exactly that...a massive battery that could be fired at the other table, but all the objectives were on the other side, so it was a trade off. Infantry and tanks couldn't move from one table to another, but aircraft could give up an turn and go from one to the other. So it was a balence in how many forces you wanted on each table, to either ensure chances of holding the gun, or winning the game.

Theres also another in the Apoc Reload book. Theres a table and a 2nd small "spaceship table". The Spaceship could shoot at the table, assuming it had't been destroyed. There was also a radio beacon on the table that could be destroyed, but while active made the orbital shots more accurate. The spaceship was obviously infantry only.

Another good way is having 2 tables with bridges. Make good choke points for tight firepower, particularly if you put objectives on them. Or have random teleporta pads

[SotonShades]

Most of the Apoc games I've played tend to boil down to which army can wipe out the other, more or less ignoring any objectives. However, the one's that have worked tended to be wherethe objectives were placed on natural choke points (bridges and the like) or places inaccessible to Superheavies.

Personnally I love Lockark's idea of having a secondary board that only light vehicles and infantry can use. Split the objectives between that and something superheavies/vehicles can fight over, with troops defending deffinitely has advantages when it comes to breaking out of the all out killfest a lot of Apoc games become.

On a similar note, I posted a while ago about an idea for a multitable charity Apoc game (with the hope of attracting 30 or so players per side, though which has now fallen through slightly), full details of my plan can be found here;
Sotonshades's Charity Apocolypse Plan (http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=16439&highlight=charity)

The main problem I have always found with multitable games was people having to constantly move from one table to another, especiallywhen being shot at or assaulted by multiple opponant on multiple tables. To this end, for my game I planned on keeping players initially deployed on a single table, and only through special moves being able to get to the other tables.

As for the objectives, I did something a little different that I had picked up from an old WD battle report. Rather than set objective counters that units had to occupy, each player was given an objective to achieve with his force (such as kill Xnumber of super heavy vehicles, occupy Ynumber buildings at the end of the game, etc). This was for a couple of reasons; firstly it meant you didn't have clusters of troops fighting over small areas of the board in such away that a couple of templates would take out a whole lot of them easilly. Secondly, although all the players on the same side were working together, they each had to have a different plan. In some cases the missions could even be contradictory. The idea was to drive commanders to do things that were advantageous to their own mission, but potentially not to the overall battle plan for their side (though that might not work if they didn't keep their missions secret lol.) The side who achieved the most personnal missions won.

The final thing that relates to your original question Archon Chaybdis was that I also had cannons firing shots from the smaller tables, potentially on to the main tables. The trick with those weapons will be balancing how difficult they are to fire with how powerful they were. In my case I worked out that it was unlikely they would be fired before turn 3, more likely turns 4 or 5, because of my deployment restrictions, so I made them pretty powerful to compensate (if a little inaccurate, just for funsies :P). On the otherhand, if you have people able to fire them from turn one and every turn, you may want to tone them down so they don't dominate the game too much.

hope that all helps

[Vindur]

When we were fighting the siege of the emperors palace, there were 2 games going on.
One main game up stairs, with a second smaller one being played in the basement.
If the alpha legion won the game down stairs it shut down the gellar field on the palace. In game this had the effect of allowing deamons to be summoned to icons within the walls.

[eldargal]

I would go with two completely seperate tables over table connected by bridges, it never seems to work too well. You either get a huge bottleneck as everyone races for the 'main board' or the objective in the second board is so important the connections don't get used anyway. There is also the problem if someone bumps a bridge or something covered in expensive toys which is quite likely given how clumsy the average 13-25 year old male is.

One thing our group did recently is have a subterranean themed table representing an Imperial defense tunnel network. The Eldar and Dark Eldar (vs Imperium) had gained access in an attempt to stem reinforcements to the surface. Each objective (tunnel to the surface) allowed D3 vehicles to pass through to the surface board each turn. These were independent of however many vehicles were present on the actual map, representing reinforcement convoys rather than vehicle which survived the fight for the objective. They would arrive at a random exit on the surface. This prevented people just bunkering on the objectives which they were most important to them. This led to some fun things like an LR Executioner (I think) arriving right behind Lelith Hesperax, who promptly saved all 30 4++ saves.:rolleyes:

The Orbital battery idea is a classic for a reason, but you could try things like a cathedral objective which grants Imperial forces some kind of buff, or a Xenoarchaeological digsite with some artifact that gives board-wide, bizarre effects that change each turn or whatever else you can think of. Don't be afraid to experiment.:)

[DrLove42]

It help to have a DM in a way. One person who isn't playing but can keep an eye on everythign and plan/do all the crazy stuff you want. And then plot suprises.

Like the underground theme....you could have a map drawn at the beginning of the game and plot cave ins

[WYSIWYG]

You could have a main apoc table that the 40k players are on. Then you could have a smaller battle fleet Gothic table that represents the battle in orbit above the planet, and the two could effect each other in some way, like having an orbital battery on the apoc table that could fire into the BFG game, and BFG ships firing down into the apoc game. That would be wicked cool.:D

[Majorcrash]

years ago we did a apoc battle based on the movie "A bridge To Far". the bridges werent actually on the table just the bridge heads. Attackers an defenders had to divid themselves up between each bridge. and each bridge was two objectives. The first bridge could be assaulted by armor on a road, and anything else. The second bridge was deepstrike and infil units or any unit that was amphibious. the third bridge which had a heavy city theme was only deepstrike, infil, and air units. this was played out on 4 tables and had 9 players per side. took all day but was great. By the way units could ony move between units if they had the flyer rule. THis kept the players at their tables and didnt bunch people up much. PLus we required at least 2 players per side at each table.

Good luck

[Archon Charybdis]

Thanks for all the input so far, everyone. My group can be especially tough to organize for because they get so crotchety about new rules and special scenarios, so I want to try and ease them into it. My hope is to come up with something straightforward but still more flavorful than "Move directly forward and claim objectives."

My rough scenario is to have the defending side have a Fortress of Redemption (because I have one I never use) on the main table, and the attacking side have a large cannon (because I have one that I never use) on the second table that will fire either an Orbital Bombardment or some kind of 10'' blast.

On the main table, the attackers will be able to bring their Strategic Reserves in along the short table edges (a slightly less broken Flank March) to represent their all-out offensive and encircling the enemy. On the small table, the counter-attacking defenders will get a free Tunnels asset to use in their assault on the enemy cannon. This represents their hidden sally ports in the areas surrounding the Fortress.

I'm not quite sure what to do for the objectives. The cannon will be one, and the Fortress of Redemption will be at least one, but I'm not sure if it merits being worth more. I think the FoR and a big cannon on either side seem fairly even, so it's not as though the defenders are at a disadvantage and need to start with more objectives under their control.

Beyond that, I'd like to use some story-driven objectives and could use some thoughts for more than just "Kill your enemies' most expensive HQ."

[Jambo]

we had thought of doing something similar to that with a second smaller table that counts as the inside of a installation that is on the main table but havent had the time to set it up yet.

[Drunkencorgimaster]

GW did one once...can't remember where though. There was a secondary table that had exactly that...a massive battery that could be fired at the other table, but all the objectives were on the other side, so it was a trade off. Infantry and tanks couldn't move from one table to another, but aircraft could give up an turn and go from one to the other.

I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about, but back in '2000 or '1999 or there abouts they had a massive Armagedon battle with one main table and three secondary ones. The battles on the secondary tables effected the main one in different ways. One was an artillery battery, one allow speed freaks or white scars to join the main battle, I forget the third.