Apokalypse was a table-top wargame released in 1996, set in the near future. It defaulted to the 25mm scale (which in the '90s was synonymous with what has currently become 28mm) but could easily be adapted for any sort of scale, depending on what minis you had available.
It's also a virtual unknown today, being the product of an indie operation that consisted of mainly three people. This company, Hardcore Media, was more or less budgeted out of pocket from its creators whilst they were touring the scandinavian RPG convention scene in the mid-'90s. Because showing off and letting people play their game this way was basically the only option they had of at all spreading the word to fellow gamers. Though what they had on these conventions was armies of fucking awesome converted or scratch-built minis and probably the best wargame terrain I've ever seen, even today. I remember their display being quite the attention-getter and totally different from everything else on the con.
Even though Apoka sold out its printing (800-1200 copies?) it pretty much disappeared after Hardcore Media folded in ~1998, presumably because the developers got tired of trudging around conventions with all their gaming material, while at the same time having next to no distribution or possibility of advertisement for Apokalypse. Noone kept the game alive or talked about it and it became an anecdote from conventions of old, today practically forgotten for ~20 years.
>But user, we already have a totally grimdark wargame about the future of war! Lets take a trip down memory lane: Back in the mid-'90s Warhammer 40k (2ed) was pretty much a saturday morning cartoon with a crappy ruleset, that's it. Apart from this there was only Warzone (which at the time actually had begun to pick up steam, starting to challenge GW for the hold of the "scifi wargame throne"). There were perhaps a minor handful of other games but they were so small, and unadvertised in the public eye, that neither me nor anyone else can honestly remember them.
Nolan Jenkins
Apoka was an all together different beast from all of these. It was not a game about humanity fighting against aliens or demons, aided by comic book weapons and shoulderpads. It was a vision of world war aftermath, rwandan and ex-yugoslavian ethnic cleansing (both fresh in mind during the '90s) taken to a global scale, in a not too far-off setting. I hear you snorting about "90's edge", there might indeed be a point to that, but you can't deny that Apokalypse very much had its own thing going! It was a game where ordinary humans gunned each other down in order to grab something to eat, because they could or because you've given them orders to. Both the fluff and the ruleset were totally unlike anything else out at the time, and very much still is. Its a wargame I've never stopped loving.
And since I find it incredibly sad and unfair that a game with as much effort and quality put into it, as Apokalypse had, it still has been totally forgotten and ignored by history and the gaming community. Which is why I've really wanted to make this PDF, for some time. At least this way the material can spread to handfuls of fellow wargaming enthusiasts.
I hope you'll at least find it an interesting read.
Michael Bennett
But what about the rules?
I'll have to admit they were a bit complex, at least compared to the current, streamlined, norm. There was a lot going on but at the same time they're never got too bogged down. The game was pretty smooth to play after a smallish test run to get a feel for the ruleset.
Dicerolls were generally made with D20s, and in the case of rolling to hit with auto-fire weapons were made with a pool. You oftentimes added in a differently coloured D20 for an ammo check as the combatant unloaded on their target.
One original feature the game had was the Planning Phase, which was performed before the minis were set up.
Kayden Cook
Your troops/elites/meatshields could come equipped with a variety of different armaments, ccw's and armor, depending on what they had access to.
Zachary Gutierrez
And gunfire in Apokalypse was quite lethal. No "roll to wound": If your subordinates got hit by bullets, and didn't wear sufficient protection, the things would tear through those dumb saps just as they do in real life.
When a trooper was hit unprotected, or by a weapon penetrating his armor, you rolled on the appropriate damage table.
Julian Martin
Wow that gypsy text was so very, very edgy. This setting is like the that guys fantasy and I think it's wonderful. Oh and how is the world going to end? Was it the rapture the whole time? Any specific factions I should know about before downloading the PDF?
Alexander Smith
I'm glad you ask! Every postapocalyptic warlord have total free reign in choosing his forces (unless otherwise agreed upon, in a scenario or somesuch). It just takes lying to them, in order to get the rabble to fight together.
Ethan King
Troops' skill, training and effectivity came in wide ranges.
Camden Howard
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Gavin Gonzalez
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Elijah Wright
Landmates were a special issue though, they weren't recruited with bribes or promises of material gain like other troops. If your warband had acess to one, your opponent did as well (unless a very tilted scenario specified otherwise). As well being fiercely dangerous to normal troops, they're not altogether prone to following orders.
Myself, I've never played the game with landmates. We didn't have any models for them and they're basically forces of mass destruction to the average trooper.
Daniel Gray
There wasn't much of a "superhuman" element in Apokalypse. Everyone was either trained, green or somewhere in the middle with regarding handling weapons. Everyone will react the same way to injury, Berserkers being the one exception, but those were few and far between.
The other peculiarity in the available army selection was the occasional, still functional Robot. With a bit of luck those could be convinced to fight on your side. Surviving combat droids from the last war, they were all fast, deadly and armored to a menace to even a best equipped unit. Also probably fully insane but, since no expansion rules or material ever got published, robot psychosis never became an issue in the game.
Aaron Cox
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Brody Nguyen
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Levi Perez
You had to be inventive (or desperate) in the last days of humanity in order to deal with massive threats like Landmates or Robots.
Alexander Johnson
Fortunately suicide candidates for such a job isn't too much of an investment...
Chase Mitchell
>suicide candidates And speaking of which!
We had a houserule for these little scoundrels: They could be used to run into close combat and detonating the grenade, instead of following standard cqc protocol, and removed as a casualty.
Jaxon Peterson
The Fanatics are an interesting troop choice though, in that there's a squad psychology rule for "fanatics" (as a result on the Morale roll). I assume these guys also follow those rules due to their relatively high cost compared to their low performance?
Information in the rules can sometimes be a little non-compliant to find, is probably one of the only downsides to the game I'll ever admit to. One of the developers confessed in correspondence: "How the hell could we miss putting in an index!? Hindsight is 20/20..."
Gavin Hernandez
Lets say you want to try Apoka out! What minis are you supposed to use?
>Gee-dubs You can actually find a few minis from GW that will work well for Apokalypse, as long as they're non-"heroic size". Necromunda especially, but some IG lines should work too. >Infinity Has honest-to-god Landmates! Robots, power armor and a bunch of other fitting stuff as well, even though their models are a little on the high-tech side rather than the postapocalyptic. lead-adventure.com/ Various post-apoca dudes scotiagrendel.com/Products/ Both the Urban War and Kryomek line work very well (the devs used Kryomek robots, for example). You might find minis from the other game lines too. wargamesfoundry.com/our-ranges/street-violence various military/ganger minis anvilindustry.co.uk/ Scifi military and powerarmors em4miniatures.com/ Good selection of military/armed minis. The plastic space rangers were what I used for Ramrod armors, even though their weapons are a little too scifi. copplestonecastings.co.uk/ Scifi, postapoca and ganger minis victoryforce.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=VFM Has some decent minis. You can find Landmates under the "Aurora" line (CLAWS models). aberrantgames.com/darktomorrow.html Alt-necromunda, there should be a few usable minis. brother-vinni.com/shop.htm#!/28-mm/c/5901131/offset=0&sort=normal Has a few fitting scifi/postapoca minis. spectreminiatures.com/ Lots of contemporary military and militia minis that will go well with Apokalypse.
I guess the only true glaring absence in the army catalogue would be Panteras and Speed Power Armor, but the latter can easily be proxied by some speedy futuristic model with armour plating and/or jumpjets. Most model producers have something along these lines. I'm very curious how the Apoka developers managed to represent Panteras on the table-top back in the day, though...?
Jeremiah Gomez
>It was a vision of world war aftermath, rwandan and ex-yugoslavian ethnic cleansing (both fresh in mind during the '90s) taken to a global scale, in a not too far-off setting
I like this. Modern conflicts have proven to be very edgy.
Joshua Russell
>Panteras >grill power
Jaxon Evans
They have, haven't they? I also constantly feel Apoka is somewhat of a current game, what with ongoing antics in the MENA area, various rumblings in the eastern Europe, and so on...
Grayson Young
I like the idea of dirty, pointless wars following a general conflagration. The game is slightly too edgy to be current, but an adaptation or similar game allowing you to field irregular forces (ethnic militias like the Hutu, or the Balkan Tigers) would be dope.
Justin Thompson
Oh that's just the style the game's written in, both writers for the game went on to become horror writers after they left the table-top business. And I actually like the pitch-black, "all shit, all the time!", setting. :)
But you could probably just separate the ruleset from the setting to make for a more "realistic" game? The rules feel very encompassing, what with both squad and individual psychology etc., covering all sorts of irrational combat or panic responses. But I guess you could just roll with armed tacticool duders (no armor besides helmet/flak vest) rather than death machines, psycho maniacs and scifi weapons?
The "Subject to Panic" or the Hollow Men "Overwhelm" cqc rules could probably see some additional usage in this setting, too?
Luke Sullivan
I also like the small rules for how combat experience and training makes units more effective, opposed to just a "chance to hit" percentage (the CS stat).
Christopher Lopez
I recall there being vehicles?
Nathaniel Hughes
Apoka never had any vehicle rules. Getting a vehicle in working condition and find fuel for it would be a grueling task in the post-Extinction Wars situation, anyhow. There was a mention of an expansion supplement that would cover such things in the afterword, but all material not included in the core book was destroyed when Hardcore Media was liquidated... >mfw
Andrew Baker
Is the PDF small enough to be posted to Veeky Forums?
Michael Nelson
Nope, 72mg.
Bentley Perry
's getting late af here so I'll tuck in.and let the thread go. Goodnight, sweet prince!
Thanks for your time, if you've given the game a quick browse! If you haven't, download it for a comfy read on a rainy day.
