Heys all, I'm just getting into Epic, and I'm going to start with a Space Marine army (as well as an IG army, so that I have two armies to play with).

I'd appreciate any and all advice, be it gaming, purchasing, modeling, etc.

Helpful links would be great too.

Thanks!

PS: I managed to get several miniatures from ebay, but they seem to be on a square base instead of the long line base they seem to use nowadays. Is this a problem?

If you're playing in the UK, EpicUK appears to be a vibrant community, but they use their own lists for tournaments.  I'd recommend working with those lists if you're in the UK.  

Ordering from many online retailers can snag you a discount.  I don't know if Neal at the WarStore does a discount for Specialist Games, though.  

If you're in Canada, or don't think international shipping would be too bad, you can order from www.gc-minis.com.  They do a 20-25% discount on Specialist Games stuff.  Of course, that still ends up with it being ludicrously expensive, but it's less ludicrously expensive.  I recommend them - a 25% discount is nothing to sneer at.  

Ebay and Bartertown both see a decent amount of Epic stuff for sale (especially if you're in the UK for ebay).  You also might be able to buy some stuff from people on here - many have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many spare plastic Rhinos and Land Raiders.  

In regards to unit selection - a Battle Company box, some Thunderhawks, some tanks and some Land Speeders will send you toward an effective path.  Terminators are nice (and nice models, IMO).  Titans are fun (but are now ludicrously expensive).  Some Predators wouldn't hurt.  People swear by Razorbacks.

They're are also a few variant Space Marine lists kicking around the forum (including my own), but I wouldn't recommend them as a basis - you're better off sticking with the most official lists you can get at first.  That way you can play with almost anyone.

EDIT:
The square base thing is not a problem - look inside the Epic rulebook, and you'll see it's one of the mentioned basing options.  It IS a pain in the ass to paint, though.

EDIT 2:
Oh, in regard to painting - I find there are two basic ways to do it - prime the color the marines are going to mostly be (usually with a wash to get in the cracks), or prime black and drybrush over the top.  

I'm not sure which works better myself, but it's likely best to decide before painting your entire army.

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Welcome here, Joasht!

Just to address your concern about basing: unlike many games, EPIC only has "basing guidelines", which can be found in the rulebook, but I'll quote the relevant portion here:



There is no limitation on "shape" on "size", so your models are completely usable.  Different shapes and sizes have their own minor benefits and drawbacks, but it all evens out in the end.

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Thanks for the replies

Good to know the square bases are legal...for gaming purposes are straight bases preferred?

Everyone has their own preferences, line, squares, circles, ovals; heck, I base my Tyranids on *hexagons*.

For the most part it's an aesthetic choice, with the practical reality that, if you're painting based models, it's easier to do on lines rather than squares, the actual "game" effect is fairly small.

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

Well, there's one thing I'd like to caution you about. Long, strip bases occupy a larger frontage, meaning you can get fewer stands into base contact when fighting close combats than if you had the narrower square bases. I have seen som people therefore ramming in their long rectangular bases sideways into base contact, in order to maximize the number of stands able to engage. I don't like this, it looks supremely stupid to me. This is why I base all my infantry on square or round bases. You are free to do as you like, and everyone won't mind about the point I just brought up though. Just giving my personal preferences here.

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Welcome aboard, Joasht.  

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Welcome to Epic

I checked out gc-minis.com to compare with GW prices...

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Thanks for the replies

Unfortunately, I stay in Malaysia, so the canadian game website's shipping is pretty darn high to my place. At least for this one month, GW has free shipping XD

So far I've managed to win a considerable number of Land Raiders (from what I gather they aren't too good), normal marines and a thunderhawk. Haven't gotten anything else yet though.....

Well I've a mate in Bangladesh and I'm in Kolkata in West Bengal, so merely a short flight away

The EpicUK site has on the tourney records pages lots of past army lists and how well they did. A good start for what you could get. Buying wise hit ebay for a month paying half of retail or even email Onyx on this forum as he is looking a to sell a shed load of painted and unpainted stuff. Alternatively people offload stuff a lot here on the trade forums.

Finally if you want to play a bit before buying some of use use Epic Vassal and you can pm/email me for details of where I saw it being hosted for download last on the internet (and vassal 40k if you like that). Plus those players can give you endless advice as it comes up in game

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And it's usually less than you would pay on ebay.

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Thanks for the replies!

I managed to pick up several tactical marines, land raiders, rhinos and a single thunderhawk off ebay, and got six predators (3 of each variant) and 9 razorbacks from a guy I know yesterday

What is the ruleset you guys consider the most balanced? The EA with amendments?

Both the NetEA list and the EpicUK list are balanced, the big differences seem to be with Land Raiders and vndicators, NetEA upstats with higher costs, EpicUK lowers costs. People shouldn't have a problem with you using either.

Predators work best in mono type formations - all destructors or all Annihilators. So get one more of each Annihilators are better than destructors for marines.

Razorbacks are excellent, every marine formation should have one. Always have an odd number so you get an extra rhino.

You need next some Devestators and Rhinos. Rhinos are cheap as chips on ebay and indeed any nearby long term players probably have a pile sitting around for you to have!

Some bikes and landspeeders are good and cheap online as well.

Mk6 armour marines can be painted as scouts - just ask ginger.

Any model can be painted as a character.

Finally you need 1+ hunters (scratch build?).

With all that you will then have some neat options. A tactical formation with a razorback is a good all round unit. 4 Land raiders and a hunter are good, 4 annihilators and a hunter probably better. Devs can be stuck inside the thunderhawk but an excellent cheap load out is bikes. A good all round ground unit is a dev formation with a land raider, razorback and hunter (under the EpicUK costs) and a good place to hide your supreme commander, though tacticals allow you to hide him more cheaply. Scouts, landspeeders and bikes are all cheap and good at their jobs.

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If using E-Bay use this link to support Tac Com!
'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913
"Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."
General Plumer, 191x