Apocalypse originally appeared as Classic Warlord, self-published by designer Mike Hayes, in 1974. The name changed to Warlord in 1978. Both of these versions came in plain red and blue boxes, respectively. Games Workshop, displaying its usual marketing prowess, released what you see above in 1980. The kids ate it up, despite the fact that the game board was cut in half. How could we resist playing out the “nuclear devastation” that grown men were on the verge of playing for real?
Here are some directions from the 1978 version. See if you can follow them.
We were not a squeamish generation, clearly, apart from the wankers who ran out of the theater during Gremlins.
(All images via Board Game Geek)
2 Warps to Neptune 
Hi,
You might like to amend your comments on the Warlord/Apocalypse/Classic Warlord games either by looking at the current Classic Warlord website or by asking for more info from me, the designer of these games.
Yours, Mike Hayes
Pleasure to hear from you, Mike! I linked to your Classic Warlord site in my original post. Let me know what I got wrong and I’ll correct. Thanks.
Hi, Classic Warlord is the massive 2012 upgrade (600 regions, 8 Boards) of the Warlord/Apocalypse series. Classicwarlord.com freely shows all the new rules and what the new map looks like. Contact me any time if you’d like more info. We are holding the UK Northern Championship at the Showroom, in Sheffield (free entry) on Sunday July 10, 12.00 to 4.00.
Yours Mike