"Epic 40000 newbie" Topic

I am picking up an assortment of figures(space marine and orks) off of ebay and I wanted to try out the free rules from the GW website.

I have a few questions;

1. What is the smallest point you could play for the 'average' game.
2. What would be enough points to get a real feel for the game but not have to buy a whole army?

3. What are the differences between the GW free rules, the Net-epic ones, and would it be worth my time to try and get any of the older versions?

4. Is there anything I should really know before jumping in that would make it easier for me?

Thanks

Either version should be aiming for 2000+ pts, though Epic Armageddon (the version free from GW) can give you a good idea of play at 1000.

The two are different. As I'm not a fan of NetEpic or the original edition (2nd, aka "Space Marine") that spawned it, I'll leave it at that.

As for your last question, the biggest clue-by-four is that the two groups of fans tend to be mutually exclusive. If you are not yet settled on an edition, base for NetEpic. The basing rules for Epic Armageddon completely encompass the NetEpic basing standard, so units based for NetEpic are not excluded from Epic Armageddon.

Hi. I am a fan of both the Original Space Marine and Net Epic. Both were lots of fun to play. However, they tended to take a long time and having to remember all the SPECIAL rules became tedious and slowed the game.

Epic Armageddon is iMHO the BEST of all the Epic rules released. GW got it right this time. sadly, the game has little exposure. On the up side the rules ARE free so if your uddies have an army away you go. We have played 1000 point games and they work fine. You can play much larger ones since the rules will readily handle it.

You should also check out the Epic forums.

link

Thanks,

John

John's absolutely right-- Epic Armageddon is the best of all worlds. We've been talking about getting some games on the table here lately and I'm really looking forward to it. My friend Audrey was writing the rules for the Lost and the Damned when GW pulled the plug on Specialist games so I saw a lot of the development of the EA rules and army lists. It's a terrific game.

Oh, and…

1. Around 1000 points, although bigger is WAY better in EA.

2. Same as above. I would suggest using chits to get a feel for the game before spending any dough.

3. Don't know, but why go with a knock off when you can have the real thing for free? 8)=

4. As John said, check out the Epic Forums. If I had an address I'd give it to you. Sorry!

Very roughly, how many stands of infantry and how many tanks would a 1000 point Space Marine army be? I just want to picture what scale of project we would be talking about. Thanks.

For E:A, that's roughly (by memory) a company of Marines (21 stands) with transport (11 Rhinos) and a little support (4 or 8 Predators or Whirlwind/Hunters).

That is 4 or 5 formations under E:A "tournament" organization, so the feel for turn order can be had from that size force.

It is worth noting that while Marines are the simplest force to play in 40k, they are a precision force in E:A. Ease of play is best with the Imperial Guard. A squadron of Russ and a battery of Basilisks, plus infantry (13 stands), would be a handy starter force for Guard.

A Battle Company of Marine:

6 Tactical units (30 marines) – 300
6 Tactical units (30 marines) – 300
4 Assault units (20 marines) – 250
4 Devastator units (20 marines) – 175

Tops out at 1025 (more if you add a few characters). You don't need Rhinos but they are free point's wise if you add them, as are Drop Pods.

The Space Marine boxset gives you two Battle Companies with a little left over. Not a bad investment for $20 USD as 2000 point games are really the smallest you can go and still be fair.

As Farstar said (or meant to say I think), Marines are tough to play in EA. There's a lot of advanced Tactics that you'll need to master in order to get good with them. Good started armies though are the IG or Orks. Orks particularly are very cheap on eBay as well.

Definitely check out TacComms:

link

We're definitely a very active bunch of gamers :). We've even seen the release of a completely fan made and professionally printed supplement this year, Epic Raiders:

link

Thanks for the input,

I picked marines as they were cheaper on ebay. I'll keep in mind they are harder to play when I try it out.

I have to read thru the rules again but is there anything to guide you on what you buy for you points?

I don't mean like good combinations but like 40k's, 2- core, 1 – hq, type setup or am I free to put all my points in infantry if I was so incline?

"The basing rules for Epic Armageddon completely encompass the NetEpic basing standard, so units based for NetEpic are not excluded from Epic Armageddon."

How are the basing rules different? I got into epic with Adeptus Titanicus, but have not touched it since the 1997 edition, whatever that was called.

Is it the infantry strip-bases? I hated those things! Sci-fi minis should not look like they're based for DBX.

Epic Armageddon requires bases to be between 5mm and 40mm, with one measurement being at least 20mm. Since the Space Marine infantry bases are 20mm squares, they fit within that requirement. The E40k strips are 40mm by 12mm, roughly.

The Armageddon requirement does not extend to shapes, and I've seen a couple forces based on rounds. This works because the proximity rules for assaults are not nearly as finicky as previous.

dropzonetoe

Once you read how expensive the points are in most army lists, you will find a 3000 point forces easy to assemble. Especially Space Marines.

@dropzonetoe

If you're planning on doing tournament styled games (check out chapter 6) then as long as your formations are legal you can have as many infantry formations as you like. I would recommend reading this though:

PDF link

I didn't really want all infantry but was more curious as to how one is limited on how they make their detachments. I'm still hunting and pecking thru the pile of PDF's so I'll have to look at that one more closely.

E:A is of two minds on the matter of force composition.

For tournament play, the rules provide several "paper strength" army lists with point values.

For friendly play, throw down whatever. Understrength companies, ad hoc organizations, battle-scarred remnants, whatever.

For friendly play, throw down whatever. Understrength companies, ad hoc organizations, battle-scarred remnants, whatever.

Thats what I was looking for!

Thanks

To The Beast Rabban

As for basing in DBX style this is much closer to infantry skirmish line tactics that are commonly practiced the world over. Personally I think they look better in lines rather than the old prefect squares.

And yes I have been a fanboy of this system since AT. To start in this system just get some figs off of Ebay and take it from there. You will like or you won't.

Personally I love the figures and the newest incarnation of the rules.

crustie

"I didn't really want all infantry but was more curious as to how one is limited on how they make their detachments. I'm still hunting and pecking thru the pile of PDF's so I'll have to look at that one more closely."

Hi. Force selection in EA is very different from 40K. The normal system in EA is that you pick a core formation, and this allows a number of support formations (seperate) and upgrades (added to the core formation). Usually, you are allowed up to three of each for every core formation. However, this should be listed in the actual force selection tables and notes. Other than this, force selection is a lot more free than 40K, and you can pick whatever formations you want in your force. The only other restriction is that aircraft and Titans cant be more than 1/3 of the total points cost of the entire force.

All the best.

Epic Raiders looks very nice. :) Shame it doesn't tell me who to contact about buying a copy or anything easy like that. *groan*

Why can't they just stick a paypal link on there. It's really not hard to do.

Ah, I just noticed CyberShadow is posting here (yeah, I skimmed the topic).

I'm very interesting in buying Epic Raiders but have no idea who to send the money to etc etc. Please contact me at bugATk-nitrate.com

Ta.

Hi, my name is William and I am the fella you need to contact regarding Epic: Raiders. I can be reached at MoscovianAThotmail.com for Paypal payments or questions.

To answer your question about the Paypal link, when I first put out Raiders, we weren't sure if printing it would even be okay (due to GW's agressive Legal department). It was only after a few weeks that printing it became a reality. By then the supplement had been downloaded about 600 times and I didn't want to go back and re-do anything.

Ironically, that is exactly what I did recently though. Firebase (at warseer.com) picked up Raiders and in that pdf I updated the credit page with my email address. I also placed a memo in the front of the pdf file with instructions to contact me via my email address. I didn't do a Paypal link because, well I just didn't think of that. People miss things – it happens. Oh well!

So if you (or anybody else) is interested in a copy by all means reach out to me and I'll be happy to accommodate you. If you have questions about anything (content, printing quality, shipping costs, whatever) just ask.

Thanks!

I am also a wh40k player with a slight interest in epic. In some of the above army descriptions, when you say 'stand', are you referring to a base containing roughly five 6mm soldiers, or are you referring to individual soldiers? ie, does 6 stands refer to 6 marines on a base, or 6 bases of marines(roughly 30 little guys).

A stand is a base, with typically 5 figures of standard troops on it. So 6 stands equals 30x 6mm marines figures and 6 slabs of plastic :)