Hi,

Apolgies for the exceptionally long post, I have a tendency to get carried away if I'm not careful!

I have been meaning to play Epic: Armageddon for some time. I always rather enjoyed Space Marine and the first ever battle report I read in White Dwarf was a 6,000 point game where Andy Chambers used the might of the Blood Angels to battle Jervis's Alaitoc Eldar to a bloody draw. The game gripped my imagination and has held a special place in my heart ever since.

Unfortunately good intentions are not always enough, I meant to start playing Epic again when somebody (I believe it was Evil & Chaos) gave me a brief demo of the game back in 2007. I used two titans to mercilessly crush some upstart imperial guard and had a whale of a time (although, historians not in my personal employ might question why I allowed my warhound titan to be charged by rough rider platoon and get completely annihilated before suggesting that only the great resilience of a reaver titan actually led to a positive result). Sadly my efforts to play again were scuppered as my collection of epic figures turned out to have been thrown out, and other projects (with new shiny models) took over. I also made excited noises after seeing the Epic display in Warhammer World last year, but again I never quite found time for the project.

However, I have been lured back once again. I have almost finished my current project and wanted something completely different to do for a while. My ambition to play giant campaigns of seamlessly merged 40k, Epic, Gothic and Necromunda style games is once again emerging and I decided to take my first tentative step into Epic. I reasoned that I could get a 2,000 point army for a surprisingly low outlay and this would give me a completely different gaming (and painting) experience. I figured I could even get a space ship and have the flagship for some small games of Battlefleet Gothic. That was the plan.

Unfortunately I was in Moscow and was trapped at my desk for hours. I read a number of interesting threads (Space Marine Tactics, Is Armour Underpowered, a selection of battle reports, etc) and got over excited. My order grew exponentially until I find myself expecting to return to the UK in a few weeks to have 6-9000 points of Space Marines available along with a 1000 point space Marine fleet. I’m planning to buy some Thunderhawks from Forgeworld (they look significantly nicer than the GW versions) and a pair of Warhounds once they’re available again. I already have 4 Thunderbolts, some Lightnings and Marauders Bombers (2 different types) from Aeronautica so hopefully the rest of my air force is taken care of.


I therefore have several questions:

1. What elements of the game should people not play with when first learning;
2. What tips do people have for a beginner Space Marine player from a modelling and gaming perspective (for nostalgia reasons I’ll be painting them as Blood Angels);
3. Are there any other threads I should have read;
4. Are there any glaring omissions from the below purchase list; and
5. Where can one of my friends get suitable Tyranid models (especially for infantry)?


Kind regards,

Michael

2 Epic: Space Marine Battle Company
Epic: Space Marine Terminators
Epic: Space Marine Character Pack
2 Epic: Space Marine Land Speeders
Epic: Space Marine Razorbacks
2 Epic: Space Marine Whirlwinds and Hunters
2 Epic: Space Marine Rhinos
2 Epic: Space Marine Land Raiders
2 Epic: Space Marine Predators
Epic: Space Marine Scouts
2 Epic: Space Marine Drop Pods
Epic: Space Marine Dreadnoughts
Epic: Imperial Warlord Titan
Epic: Imperial Reaver Titan
Epic: Space Marine Bikes & Attack Bikes
2 Battlefleet Gothic: Space Marine Strike Cruiser
Battlefleet Gothic: Space Marine Battle Barge
Battlefleet Gothic: Nova Class Frigate
Battlefleet Gothic: Space Marine Gladius Class Frigate

Best thing to do is start by playing through the training scenarios in the book. These progressively add more of the rules into the game.

From there aim to play some 2000 point games without aircraft or war engines. Then add these both in and build up to 2700 - 3000 and beyond.

Welcome to the game.

That sounds like one of the demos I did at the Cross gaming club?

Hi!

Were you the Michael that was on the club comittee?

- Ben

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

If you are in London we are intending to have some sort of Epic introductory extravaganza (aren't we Gavin?) on Tuesday at the cock tavern in Euston (ok, the venue is not warhammer world, but its free, though sadly the upstairs room is still being used for renovations). This will be (probably) a few training scenarios for people followed by a 2000 point game on a 4x4 table (well I think it will be), with models provided by those with the requisit number of armies.

Incidentally as yesterday we had half a dozen people say they want to give it a go, if anyone can turn up with nice fluffy fun 2000 point armies and explain the training scenario's/rules, that would be good!

5. Where can one of my friends get suitable Tyranid models (especially for infantry)?
>>>>>>>>>>
Well, I bought 24 sprues for £2.50 each at the britcon bring and buy I realise this is no help at all, I just needed to crow a bit.

Guilty... I guess my persuading the rest of the committee to grab some Epic terrain makes more sense now! Becoming a lawyer rather delayed my plans, but I'm hoping to paint the Epic chaps quite quickly (possibly even experimenting with dipping *cringes in shame*).


Thank you for the tips so far - I'm having a go at running through some of the training missions with proxies in a quiet afternoon. Not quite as inspiring as using miniatures (or terrain!), but I'd much rather get the hang of things before I get back to London in September and try to teach one of my friends (who's agreed to build an Ork army). Is the Cock tavern a regular thing and... er... what time does it finish (work isn't always very predictable or flexible when it comes to the hours)?

Right let's see:


Well, aircraft and war engines are generally to be avoided for your first game or two, but if you've got a good head for rules they should be usable in your first few games anyway.


From a modelling perspective, I dunno, I recently painted up a Blood Angels army, maybe you can pick up some ideas from it?
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=251154
I painted them as Blood Angels, but when using my Marines in tournaments I just use them as normal Codex Marines, as I'm not a fan of the UK tournament group's Blood Angels army list (They have written quite a few lists many of which I like, but their Blood Angels list is quite underpowered).

You can find the UK tournament group's army lists here, if you're interested: http://epic-uk.co.uk/armylists.shtml
And the "NetEA project"'s army lists here : viewforum.php?f=69 (In the "Army Compendium" threads)

Since GW abandoned Epic rules development, the community has taken over, one way or another. :-)

I'd say it's best to stick to the Codex Marine rules, rather than pick a variant chapter, especially as a learner.
EUK and NetEA rules for the Codex Marine list are both pretty much the same there too, with only some very minor differences.
Indeed there's very little different from the original rulebook rules, just a few modified points costs for the most part.



From a gaming perspective, Marines in Epic play much more like they do in the background than they do in Warhammer 40,000.

Marines are an elite strike force, able to bring more firepower to bear on a single part of the battlefield than pretty much any other army, and they have a high strategy rating (Meaning that they'll likely get to act first each turn) and a low initiative rating (Meaning that your troops will rarely disobey your orders).

But they have the disadvantage of lack of numbers, so they can't get bogged down in attritional battles, they have to win through out-manoevering the opponent, and superior use of mobility assets (Such as Thunderhawk Gunships, Landing Craft, Drop Pods, Teleporting Terminators, etc...).

In practice, this means that you can't just walk them up the table relying on their armour save and rolling attack dice, as you can in a certain 28mm game. :-)





Maybe. *Shrug* :-)


I never leave home without at least one squadron of Thunderbolt Fighters.
I use the nice Aeronautica models.

Just noticed you already have an Aeronautica fleet. :-)

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

No, the person cringing in shame should be me, when I took some of that club terrain home to paint and then didn't get around to going back to the club to return it for 2 months. :-P

I've tended to go to the Cock tavern more than the Cross for the last few years, as it's quicker to get to (Only half an hour by car) and at least until the current renovations started had twice as much space as the Cross had. Though I understand the Cross club has moved now.


The gaming club is on there every tuesday, and I'm sure someone would be happy to give you an intro game any time.

I try and make it along fairly regularly, as long as other commitments don't get in the way.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

It starts whenever as it were, just turn up. As for finishing I don't think I've ever stayed past midnight.

I just spent a long agonising time looking at your Blood Angels. They're nothing short of incredible. I remember your Death Korps being beautiful, but those chaps (especially the terminators) are genuinely amazing. I'll head off and read the Titan blog in a minute.

I noticed that you mention in your thread that you were contracting for some cool companies... is that game design or sculpting?



EDIT: Your warhounds are beyond belief.

Thanks mucho. :-)

I've just started on an Ork army too, for the "Tale of Epic Gamers" that runs once a year here on Tactical Command:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18932

If you find the time you could join in, skipping the first month wouldn't be such a terrible thing.
More TOEGs can be found here.


Sculpting; The only game design I'm doing right now is stuff for Epic (For the "NetEA project" which is run here on TC and is an unpaid volunteer affair), and for my own 10mm scale game system which isn't even released yet.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Links? It's always nice to see what people are up to!

As for the Tale of Epic Gamers suggestion, I may take you up on it but can't say for certain until I get back and find out how busy I am. Sounds like a nice idea though and I'll definitely keep an eye on the various projects.

These are the sub-forums where Epic army list development goes on:
viewforum.php?f=109


My own game is still semi-secret. :-)

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Chris you're having this extravaganza this tuesday coming? the 24th?

That is correct, and we have a few club members who are expressing interest - so come along, the more the merrier.

ah that's a shame on the date. I was going to offer to bring some stuff, but alas i'm going on holiday tomorrow!