It begins...

Twelve years. Twelve damn years I've been tinkering with this project, and after innumerable false starts along the way, it's looking like the end is finally in sight....

The idea was so simple. A quick and easy set of wargame rules for 20mm scale  - the 1/72 and 1/76 scale Airfix and Matchbox toy soldiers and model kits, along with the HO scale scenery from model train manufacturers, something that would have a fast and fluid game mechanic, "feel" quick and dirty and brutal.. something that as a gamer weaned on the mighty WH40K I felt was lacking from many games systems. 

Combat should be fast paced and lethal, not bogged down in reams of statistics and special rules. Cover would be crucial - no soldier in his right mind would stand up to present himself as a target. Melees should feel terrifying and brutal, as I imagine having to literally fight hand and fist and bayonet to save your own life and kill your opponent must do. 

Morale would be an essential consideration too - can any amount of training prepare a soldier for the shock of seeing his squadmate gunned down in front of him? Surrenders and POWs were a facet I've still never seen in any of the games I've played, but they're an integral part of Apocalypse: Earth, along with fire support (including air strikes, close air support and air defence) and electronic warfare.

I also wanted it to be accessible and cheap - hence the reason for the 20mm scale. At the current time of writing, you can pick up boxes of 40-50 soldiers for around the £6 mark - plenty to get started with. Beyond that, all you'll need are the counters and templates in the book, a tape measure and a fistful of bog-standard six-sided dice. 

So the mechanics came together pretty quickly, and the playtest games felt every bit as fast, furious and unforgiving of mistakes as I'd hoped. Job done.

And then...

Oh, then I thought I'd get clever.

See, you could turn this ruleset to pretty much anything - WW1, WW2, contemporary, sci-fi.. and the battles fought tended to reflect the realities of the time period. But you see, I'm a sucker for a bit of good, old-fashioned 1950-s style pulp sci-fi, and I wanted a world where all those wonderfully goofy machines - Avrocar flying saucers, jet packs, Tesla death rays - actually worked, but being a student of actual military history I wanted it to reflect the realities of combat, warts and all. Or as warts and all as can be done for someone whose closest experience was paintballing.

So the story grew, and grew, and with it the need for army lists and points values...

And as the project snowballed in terms of size, the time available to devote to it dwindled. 

Happily though, we're nearly there now, and all those interested in picking up a copy of Apocalypse: Earth, fighting battles where American flying saucers and German rocket interceptors battle it out with Soviet supertanks and mechanically augmented supersoldiers... well, stay tuned.