Around Christmas time I decided that I really needed to fight the Siege of Terra at some point in 2013, and that Epic would be the best way to do it.
I enlisted the help of a couple of my oldest friends. Neither of them really plays Epic, but they were willing to help in my scheme. I would do all the armies and scenery etc.
The three of us go to the Salute show in London together every year and usually turn it into a wargaming weekend. This seemed like the perfect occasion to fight the battle and would give me about four months to get everything together.
I already had a lot of the stuff I would need: lots of Imperial Guard to play the role of the Imperial Army; several titans, including an Imperator; quite a lot of buildings; piles of unpainted space marines.
The things I would need to acquire from somewhere were: some more buildings; some sort of front wall and gate; more space marines to fill some gaps; daemons. Oh yes, and the Imperial Palace!
I locked myself away and set to work.
The Scenario
I did a new scenario for the battle. Victory points would be awarded for the following:
Battlefield positions held:
• Lion’s Gate spaceport = 1 point for Traitors, 3 points for Loyalists
• Eternity Gate = 1 point for Loyalists, 3 points for Traitors
• Basilica = 1 point
• Librarium = 1 point
Key foes destroyed:
• Primarch = 1 point
• Reaver Titan = 1 point
• Warlord Titan = 2 points
• Imperator Titan = 1 point if reduced below 10 wounds, or 3 points if destroyed
If either side achieved 6 victory points at the end of turn 3, they would automatically win. Otherwise, the game would end after turn 4 and the player with the most victory points would be winner.
There were a few special rules. The first was that there were two shield generators built into the front wall. These could be destroyed, but while operational they created a static bubble over the city that would destroy any flier, skimmer or teleporter entering the city on a 4+ (5+ if only one generator is operational). The main purpose of this rule was to change the game up a bit so that the loyalists could have stuff like an artillery company without it getting killed in the first activation!
The other main special rule was that Jaghatai Khan and his White Scar bikers would enter play on turn 2 from any point on either neutral table edge (this point had to be noted down by the Loyalist players before the game).
Onto some pictures...
Here is a view of the whole table. We played long ways, with the Emperor’s Palace at one end and the Lion’s Gate spaceport (represented by some old Necromunda terrain) at the other.
Here is a closer view of the city. That big grey thing by the window is meant to represent the very edge of the Emperor’s Palace. The Eternity Gate objective is there, at the end of the big bridge.
Another view of the city outside the Palace. The Basilica objective is the brown building in the foreground. The Librarium is the white tower in the distance.
The east of the city, showing a closer view of the Librarium objective.
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