EDIT:
Originally I had gunned for a 1500pt start (I confess it was an arbitary figure!), but aparrently the advice is to start at 2k - so we'll go for that, thanks!

Folks,
Great to see a thriving epic forum - I had feared the worst!  I was involved in Epic Armageddon during the beta stages before the release, and for some time after - though I must confess I wasn't an active member on the Specialist Games forums.

So after what seems an absolute age, myself and a friend are keen on comming back into the fold; me as an IG player, and him as Space Marine.

We wish to start off small with a 2000pt army each, and all we have from before are the following:

SM
- 6 SM Tac stands
- 1 Tac/Captain Stand

IG
- Steel Legion company (bare bones)
- Forgeworld Reaver Titan

The challenge I would like to be for you fine veterans, is to come up with a starting 1500pt list for myself and my friend.  While in a similar vein to the stickied thread, there are a a few crucial differences:

1) The lists must incorporate the existing figures we already have.
2) While of course the lists should be competitive - they must also be balanced against one another, so neither has an advantage based on what we have on the table.
3) The armies should be all-rounder middle of the road lists; i.e. they haven't been been customised to exclusively counter one another.

While we will certainly appreciate you help, hopefully this may spark a bit of debate amongst the armchair generals amongst you!

Would love to help :-): may i suggest that you perhaps aim for 2 or even 3k instead? Understandable wanting to start small but the average epic game is 3000pts with larger armies tending to be 4-5k if not i'm sure i can put something together for you :-)
Welcome back to the fold!
YRs<
R>

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I too recommend 2k as a practical minimum for a playable epic game.

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Bring it on!

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'Man of Kent' and 'Zombocom' - I'll take your advice onboard and set it for a 2k list; alas, more of a challenge to keep that extra 500pts in check!  

'Evil and Chaos', I've noticed your name in quite a few of the boards I've googled, so I await your answer with bated breath!  

Welcome, brother.  

I'll throw my 2 cents in for Marines, but someone else will have to take stab at the Guard for your mate.

Space Marines
You've got a single Tactical detachment with no transport (Rhinos), so you have a lot of "growth potential" there to get to 2,000pts.

Marines strength is their mobility and their flexibility. Their weakness is their limited numbers. To use them correctly, you need to get them into the fight before your opponent has a chance to whittle them down and reduce their effectiveness. The best way to do that that I've found is with Thunderhawk gunships, and Landing Craft laden with infantry and armour.

Here's what I would target with your purchases to bit the magic 2k mark (itals means you already have it):

Tactical Detachment (6 stands) with Supreme Commander upgrade (400pts)
Devastator Detachment (4 stands) with Librarian (300pts)
Devastator Detachment (4 stands) with Librarian (300pts)
Thunderhawk gunship (200pts)
Assault Detachment (4 stands) with Chaplain (225pts)
Devastator Detachment (4 stands) with Librarian (300pts)
Thunderhawk gunship (200pts)

The objective with this list would be to smash your opponent's most expensive formation early (for the BTS victory condition) to put him off his game, and then seize his blitz objective (for the Blitzkrieg victory condition). The central tenet of this list is, to reference the Rogue Trader rulebook: "Loss is acceptable. Failure is not."  

The weakness of this list is the low number of activations. The difficulty would be in isolating his BTS formation for your air assault--not to mention holding him off his objectives/victory conditions.

The advantage of this list is that it plays to the Marines' strengths, and it would be relatively cheap (good bang for buck).

For this list, you would need to purchase the following:

two Space Marines Battle Company box sets
two Thunderhawks
one Marines character pack

Expanding upon this list later, you could add a Reaver titan, Land Speeders, Predators, Land Raiders, a Landing Craft, and Terminators.

Again...just my 2 cents.