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I've always wondered about all the different games that are available (whether they are currently in production or are out of print) and who actually plays them and where they play them at. I mean, at the independent game store I frequent, the only paint-'em yourself tabletop wargame I ever see people play is Warmachine (or Hoards, which I consider to be the same game). So, from that point of view, epic is dead - as in, I can't just pop down to the store and expect a pick-up game. Hell, I can't even buy mini's there.
But that's obviously setting the "it's dead, Jim" bar a bit high. I mean, at the one historical gaming convention I went to, there were at least 20 different games being played by over a hundred players, a majority of which I'd never heard of before (much less met anyone who played them). I believe most of those games being played were long OOP, but obviously they were still being enjoyed by someone. I can only assume that those games got played 2-3 times a year tops, counting the 2-3 times they were played that weekend.
As for SFC killing Epic, I don't see it happening. They are skew lines as far as I'm concerned. I mean, what impact did BFG have on SFB or that B5 game? Any? Can one game really kill another just because it's in the same genre and/or scale? Doesn't it have more to do with the support available for each game?
I can state with a 99% chance of being correct that SFC will never hold the popularity that is currently enjoyed by Warmachine (or was enjoyed by WH40K 5-10 years ago, or battletech 15-20 years ago). Because of this, I think SFC's fate will be the same as all those other games played by the likes of those at the historical gaming convention - played by smalls clumps of players distrubuted widely accross the globe with no real hope of gathering enough critical mass to achieve widespread popularity. Basically, the same fate as Epic (except that Epic has the additional draw of being set in the same universe as 40k, which I admit may not help as much as it once did).
I say this not based on any problem I have with SFC (I know nothing at all about it, in fact), but based on what happens to practically all tabletop wargames - VOID, Vor, warzone, crimson skies, battle tech, confrontation, etc. etc.
All those games had their proponents, and I have no doubt that I you looked in the right places, you could find people still playing them, but I would say Epic is better off than those games simply because of the fact that GW is still in business and is an independent operation. When the day comes that GW is sold to Hasbro or goes out of business (which will eventually happen - I doubt GW will be around 100 years from now, so sometime between now and then something will become of them), that is the day Epic will be dead ?- at least until a clicky version is released 10 years later.
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) for 6mm Sci-fi ... with it's roots having an Epic linage ... 
