Episode 274 - Staging the Apocalypse

The Independent Characters | Warhammer 40k Podcast

Carl Tuttle

Hobbies, Leisure

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2026

⏱️ 143 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it really take to stage a true Apocalypse game in the modern era of Warhammer 40,000? In this episode of The Independent Characters, we tackle "Staging the Apocalypse" - a deep dive into running cinematic mega-battles at 3,000+ points per side without letting the game grind to a halt. We will talk about how to make colossal games feel epic rather than exhausting, and we break down ideas on how to design, structure, and pace large-scale narrative events so every turn stays snappy and every player stays engaged.

From table setup and activation structure to personal objectives and dramatic end-game triggers, we explore how to think like a Game Master instead of a tournament organizer. How do you handle Titans and super-heavies without drowning in dice rolls? And how do you end a mega-battle with a cinematic conclusion rather than fatigue on turn three? We share practical tools, hard-earned lessons, and the philosophy behind making these games unforgettable.

We also address the big question: how do you run Apocalypse-style events now that Games Workshop no longer actively supports the format? With the right mindset and a willingness to simplify, narrative mega-battles may be more accessible, and more rewarding than ever.

Time Stamps:

0:00:00 - Show Intro, Elite Choice, Hobby Progress, and Games Played
0:59:50 - Staging the Apocalypse: Part 1
1:35:10 - Staging the Apocalypse: Part 2
2:12:55 - Final Discussion and Show Closing

Relevant Links:

Transcript

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0:00.0	I didn't sell out son I bought in
0:03.2	keep that much
0:04.7	welcome Welcome to the Independent Characters, episode 274.
0:28.9	This is Carl.
0:29.9	This is Josh.
0:30.7	This is a Don.
0:32.1	In this episode, we are bringing you staging the apocalypse.
0:36.0	At least that's the title of the episode and we're
0:38.1	going to talk about how you run narrative mega battles so battles larger than 3,000 points
0:46.3	in 40k significantly larger in our case but we'll we'll talk about that we'll talk about
0:53.5	kind of our findings and thoughts there and maybe some other solutions that might work out well. Before we get started in that, I want to talk about our sponsors, Sean Ireland and Nick Mutton. Sean Ireland. Haven't seen Sean in a while. Yeah. Blast from the past. Yeah. What's up, buddy? I hope you're doing well, buddy. Yeah. Say hi to Big Jim. Yeah. Thank you guys for your support of the show through our Patreon. If you want to find out more about that, there's links at the independent characters.com. And as usual, we're part of the Goonhammer Media Network. So you can check out media.com for more shows and information. Yeah. So I want to thank them. Actually, one of their articles helped me with putting together my workboarding action, talk about that later. Oh, nice. Yeah. All right. They got lots of good resources. Yeah, they do. It's awesome. I'm not just saying that because we know some of the guys who run it.
1:44.4	It's awesome. I'm not just saying that because we know some of the guys who run it.
1:47.7	It's a great resource.
1:49.0	A great resource.
1:49.8	All right, let's leap right into elite choice.
1:52.5	These are the things that we saw from the I sees community in the last couple weeks.
1:57.4	And for me, I chose Dark Muse and his Starweaver on our Discord channel because if there's one thing, I absolutely do not want to paint its harlequins.
2:10.3	And I absolutely love the color choices and the diamond pattern, which is done by hand.
2:16.8	The color fade of the diamond pattern across the carapace of the vehicle, too, the starlight, I mean, the stars, the galaxy kind of looking thing. Yeah, because one of the cool things about the galaxy on this, I mean, one of the things you'll see is people do like an airbrush, kind of like just a spurt thing. Usually they flick it off of the brush.
2:35.2	Or flick it off a brush.
2:36.0	And this is actually done by hand. It's all hand out. It much more intentional. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It looks great. It looks absolutely great. And I'd like to see more of his units, to be honest with you. I kind of searched around a little bit. I couldn't find him. but I'm a big fan of the way Harlequins look.
2:51.7	I just never want to paint them.
	...

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