With the wife away with EPIC I play!  Well... write... no one else has really been around this holiday weekend to actually play... and it's too cold to garden... so I type away!

Anyway, here's yet another scenario from "EPIC: Total War" representing an attack on a suspected enemy weak spot.

Give it a read and rip it apart!

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Are people a little overwhelmed by all the scenario-ee goodness?  

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Just ahven't got around to playing one yet! But keep em coming; i've a game this tuesday coming

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MoK's Painting Blog
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Mok's Modular Modern Messy Guard Army

Playtesting and reporting on any of the scenarios would be GREATLY appreciated!

Let me know if you've got any questions!

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Awesome! Really looking forward to seeing the whole thing in all its glory, man.  

looks good - GROOV3R, you and I should try this out with IG on Vassal for our next game What do the scenario special rules mean? Are objectives placed normally? I.e. blitz/ PoA and TnH objectives?

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numquam culum es

Each scenario indicates who and how for objectives, as well as the the Victory Conditions for winning the game.

Let me know if something isn't clear!

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

If you collect (Gotta catch 'em all!) all the scenarios that have been so far released, each one should have a little "Special Rules" insert explaining one of the new rules.  This is just for the "Alpha", or basic, level of each scenario, the Delta and Omega level explanations will have to wait.

The only rule, I believe, that isn't covered in an insert is the "Concealment" rules, which I'll be updating soon.

Let me know if you've got other questions!

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

We played a ‘monster’ 6K Imperial Guard Vs 6K Space Marines on Sunday with two players per side,

8’ x 6’ table
Standard rules + 2008 FAQ
‘Simultaneous’ multiplayer rules (so both players activate together on one side giving a potential 4x activations).

Imperial Guard
700 Leman Russ + Hydra
550 HQ Company + Hydra
350 Infantry company + support platoon
350 Infantry company + support platoon
200 BaneBlade
200 BaneBlade
200 Shadow Sword
150 Rough Riders
150 Rough Riders
150 Hydra Battery

850 Warlord Titan (BTS)
550 Regimental HQ + Hydra
350 Infantry Company +Fire Support
350 Infantry Company +Fire Support
350 Stormtrooprs +Valkyries
200 Deathstrike Battery
150 Hydra Battery
100 Sentinels
100 Sentinels


Space Marines
200 Space Cruiser (containing Landing craft)
350 Landing Craft (containing Termies and Devs)
400 Terminators + Chaplain
325 Devastators + Razorbacks + Commander

400 Tacticals + Hunter + Razorback
350 Devastators + Hunter + Razorback
500 Warhound pair
200 Land Speeders

150 Thunderbolts
500 Warhound pair
200 Thunderhawk
400 Terminators + Chaplain
450 Terminators + Supreme Commander
550 Devastators + 4x Land Raiders
250 Bikes + Chaplain
200 Land Speeders

Deployment
The IG side had an extensive city on their edge with a road running through the mid point straight across to the Marines edge. There were some hills across the centre of the table and scattered woods on either side and on the Marines side.
We basically played the opponent across the table for most of the game, and the IG set out their infantry companies in light defences on the hill line, defended by the two sentinel squadrons and with the Rough riders to the rear of Tom’s.

The Marines deployed their entire army in the spearhead except for the Spaceship and contents, lead by the Warhound pairs.

1st turn
The Marine scouts marched wide on the right-hand flank past the IG hill-line, while successive formations pounded the sentinels and then two companies into submission, pushing forwards along the road through the central gap in the hills, but hanging back slightly in the right-hand side and keeping out of OW range on the left-hand side.

End of turn
The IG formations on the right-hand side remained broken and retired back into the outlying city, while one IG company remained in place on the Left-hand side with some Rough riders and sentinels in support.

2nd Turn
The imperial guard strategy was to out-activate the marines delaying bringing on their main armoured formations. The Marine strategy at this point was to delay the advance while clearing up the left-hand hills, hoping to entice the IG vanguard forward slightly on the right hand flank to provide something to shoot at.

After the scouts had penetrated further harassing the lurking routers, the IG brought out their Deathstrikes driving up the road to the city outskirts where they drew a bead on one pair of Warhounds – and one missile failed to fire while the other cause 3x damage. Then the manticores wheeled forwards to drop rockets on the lead Tactical formation with some fall-out hitting the adjacent one, only stripping the upgrade vehicles!!  (The battle halted at that point while MoK went a little crazy ).
When play resumed, one of the warhound pairs failed to activate, while the other broke the lurking sentinels. However they had strayed a little too far forwards, and were broken by long-range fire from the Shadowsword and a Baneblade that emerged from the left-hand side of the city. Now the marine effort concentrated on the remaining company finally breaking them off the hill line and finally clearing the way for a general advance, while the IG called on their flanking Stormtroopers to murder the advanced scouts. Being gentlemen, this order was declined (and neither IG SC was in communication to re-issue the order)!

After more dancing by MoK, the Marine spacecraft arrived overhead bombing the empty acres between the two armies, and the Landing Craft disembarked its troops in an orderly fashion near the scouts (turning the dance into a celebratory jig ). An IG Hydra battery peeked around the Right-hand end of the city and was despatched by terminator fire. At this point both HQ companies arrived behind and beyond the right-hand city edge, while the Warlord, Leman Russ company and final Baneblade doubled out of the city along the road.

End of Turn,
The infantry companies all remained broken, the Warhounds recovered their composure in the rear and all other Marine forces removed BMs.

At this point the marines have advanced elements by the right-hand end of the city, linked to the bulk of the army in the centre of the table with some delayed elements on or to the rear of the left-hand hills. The IG have three strong formations on the right hand side of the city with a variety of armoured formations on the central edge of the city spearheaded by the Warlord.

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"Play up and play the game"

Vitai lampada
Sir Hemry Newbolt

And then what happened...  

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

3rd Turn
After much discussion, the terminators both teleport behind the rearmost HQ company on the right-hand side of the city (but with BMs), the Marines won the strategy roll, and the terminators (including their supreme commander) settled down for a further discussion about the finer points of strategy!! Fortunately the terminators that had arrived earlier obeyed orders assaulting the HQ company frontally. Three tense rounds of combat later and the remaining two victorious marine stands retired towards the second HQ company to support the Devastators assault – that did not materialise!!!! . This effectively sealed the fate of the nearby scouts that were annihilated by this HQ company and the storm troopers. But by advancing this allowed the ThunderHawk to pick up one of the Terminator formations in the IG rear.

On the left-hand side, the marines advanced, destroying the last Rough riders formations and advancing over the hill. Meanwhile in the centre, the Warlord doubled further forwards wiping out one of the two tactical formations, and was subjected to a hail of fire from various formations stripping its shields and doing some damage. the Landing Craft landed to embark the BTS devastators with their Land Raiders (depriving the Leman Russ a target).

End of turn
The IG formations remained broken, while the Marines recovered their composure a little, and eyed up the towering Warlord.

4th Turn
We ran through what was going to happen and came to the following conclusions:-
The Marines were going to shoot the Warlord with Landing Craft and Devastators, then assault it with the Terminators. While this failed to destroy the beast, it ended up broken in the Marines spearhead. The HQ company and Storm troopers would be able to sweep into the Marines spearhead, but not completely enter it.

BTS –                   Neither side gains this
Breakthrough –    NO (The IG still had more formations than the Marines in their table-half)
Defend the flag -  YES (the Leman Russ company ensure this)
Hold the line -       NO (various Marine formations survive in the IG table-half)
Overrun -               NO (the Marines cannot both shift the Leman Russ company and kill the Warlord)
Seal the Breach -   NO (the Landing Craft, devastators and Terminators are astride the main road, while the HQ company and Storm troopers are too far away from the Marine deployment zone to get entirely into it.

So 1-0 to the IG, a fantastic game that was really enjoyable, with many memorable moments (including MoK’s jig ).

MoK has a more detailed record including some pictures which he may care to post.

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"Play up and play the game"

Vitai lampada
Sir Hemry Newbolt

Conclusions
A really good scenario, especially when played on a larger table than usual. I do wonder slightly about using a 4' deep table which compresses the defenders side somewhat. should the defenders deployment zone be a specific minimum distance from their own table edge (perhaps 60 minimum)?

Only one real question - should formations be allowed to declare an assault from off-table? The issue is that the fast 'vanguard' formations can almost reach the half-way line, and cannot be shot / blocked etc beforehand. In our case, the Storm troopers failed to assault the scouts in this manner, but this would be really powerfull.

_________________
"Play up and play the game"

Vitai lampada
Sir Hemry Newbolt

Technically, as the Attacker, the Marine could only deploy 1/3 of their forces in the "spearhead", that would be their Vanguard, everything else would have to come in as reinforcements; I realize the Marines had a lot of reserves, but it looks like they've also got more than 2000 points "on the ground".

Only one real question - should formations be allowed to declare an assault from off-table? The issue is that the fast 'vanguard' formations can almost reach the half-way line, and cannot be shot / blocked etc beforehand. In our case, the Storm troopers failed to assault the scouts in this manner, but this would be really powerfull.

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

(re-reads the Vanguard rule) - Oops! Well, in practice the shape of the spearhead deployment area together with the presence of the woods and the OW range of the defenders meant that we started most of the Marines towards the rear of their deployment zone, and so complied with the spirit of the rule.

I have been thinking about 'off-table' deployments, and the point is that, had we known about the presence of three large formations in the area, the scouts would not necessarily have moved to their positions (or at least been placed differently). As they are currently written, the rules allow these 'vanguard' forces to arrive anywhere on their table edge straight into an assault, and they can pick and choose their target virtually anywhere in their own table half. IMHO this is really OTT, but it is easily remedied.

Option 1)
Off table formations may activate and if successfull, the head unit is placed on the table edge where they arrive. The following turn they may activate as usual.
(In the context of your system, this would have to be done one turn earlier than they are currently listed to arrive)

Option 2)
Off table formations may activate and if successfull, the formation makes a march move of any length onto the battlefield. The following turn they may activate as usual.
(In the context of your system, this could arrive one turn earlier, or on the turn you specify)

By playing off-table forces in this way, both players actually gain slightly - the attacker knows where the reinforcements / reserves are appearing, while the defender gets some time-wasting activations that can be used to co-ordinate and focus his forces.

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"Play up and play the game"

Vitai lampada
Sir Hemry Newbolt

hmmm - the download links don't seem to be working

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[url=http://tinyurl.com/bott2015][img]http://i62.tinypic.com/205fcow.jpg[/img][/url]