Game this week - Epic 40k, using Future War Commander

This week we're going to take "Future War Commander", the science fiction edition of Specialist Military Publishing's rules, out for a spin, using Epic 40k miniatures and a scenario set during the early days of the Horus Heresy, pitting Horus' followers against determined loyalists.

In the fluff of the Horus Heresy, there is a lot of focus on Horus' main battle fleet, which moved to Earth quickly after the rebellion started. But the fighting spread rapidly right across the Imperium, often within systems and even planets.

For the game this week we'll set the engagement on a world where an Imperial military expedition had been amassing, containing substantial forces from the Dark Angels and Emperor's Children chapters, as well as many Imperial Guard regiments. All the units have come to a garrison world in preparation to embark on the expeditionry fleet, when news of the rebellion reaches them. The Emeperor's Children, loyal to Horus, immediately set about trying to take control of the situation, with the ultimate goal of seizing control of the system and the expeditionary force so they can join the assault on Earth. The Dark Angels move desperately to counter them. Component elements of the expedition turn on each other as some of the Imperial Guard units join with the Emperor's Children, while others remain loyal to the Emperor. Fighting breaks out across the planet.

A particularly large column of rebel forces is moving on toward an important Imperial communications base. The small garrison remains loyal to the Emperor, but cannot hold for long. Critical Imperial artefacts, supplies and personnel are loaded on to transport vehicles for evactuation. Will Horus' minions sieze these critical objectives, or will the Dark Angels be able to intervene in time?

See you this Thursday!

Armoured drop ship from Old Crow

It's small beans in terms of the painting contest, but I did manage a little progress on some 6mm stuff on the weekend. This is a 6mm scale "armoured dropship" from Old Crow Models.

Old Crow makes some outstanding 6mm, 15mm and 25mm stuff. I ordered this to add to my general pile of sci-fi stuff. I liked the look - seems like just the thing the Imperial Fleet would use to drop off troops/ poison and remove humanitarian supplies/food from a conflict zone of the future.



In Epic 40k, the Space Marines have a cool armoured landing ship, but the Imperial Guard don't have anything. I thought this would fit it as a terrian piece at a spaceport or something like that for games of Epic 40k/Future War Commander. I don't really see it having a battlefield role, so I didn't mount it on a base. I think it would make an interesting objective, either for Epic 40k, Futre War Commander, or Aeronautica Imperialis games. In the photo above I have placed a Space Marine command stand beside the craft to give you an idea of the size of the ship.



In the pictures you can also see some of the Dark Realm Miniatures 6mm figures I have been doing as a side-project. It's not like I am short of 6mm stuff, but the Dark Realm figures are awesome, so I have been putting together a group of "Pax Arcadia" stuff, to serve as either a faction in a game of Future War Commander, or handy enemies/opponents for a game of 40k. The "Kraytonian" faction also has some infantry that will make great proxies for Epic 40k Kroot, which are no longer available from Forge World.

Epic Space Marines - Ready for Horus & Friends

On the weekend I finished basing and painting a good chunk of the Space Marine forces I want to finish for Epic 40k. While both will have good times killing Orks, Squats, Tau and Eldar, I really want to play some more "classic" games set in the Horus Heresy - the 40k "period" that really got Epic launched.

For the "loyalists", I went with Dark Angels, a chatper that is classic, unique and reconigizable without being uptight (Ultramarines), absurd (Spacewolves) or dumb (Blood Angels). I have to say, the Imperial Fists would have been cool too - but the Dark Angels win because they paint up way faster!

It's a small forces - just one tactical detachment, with some Dreads and Whirlwinds in support.



I have finished a lot more of the "traitors" - the Emperor's Children (or inspired by the Emperor's Childern). I used the actual Space Marine models to capture the rebel feel - these are the forces that rebelled, not the tools who hang around the Eye Of Terror sticking a tail and five horns on to every piece of equipment they have.



Each side has some flyer support, so the Marines can fight in true "marine style" (i.e. come in from off-planet and kick butt). There is still more to finish for each side, but the great thing about Epic is that it paints stupidly fast, so I hope to have the forces pretty much done in a couple of weeks.

More Epic 40k

I'm continuing along with my Epic 40k re-base/paint-the-stuff-I-find-along-the-way project. In my horde of unpainted Epic stuff, I found a few Space Marine sprues and vehicles (sounds good) and two Space Marine Landing Craft (!) as well as two packs of the Epic 40k scale defence lines from Forge World (must have been purchased back in the Epic Tau splurge several years ago).

Strangely, I have almost no painted Space Marines for Epic, and that did not make any sense, because the recent Epic rules (both "Epic 40,000" and "Epic: Armgageddon") do such a great job at representing how tough the Marines actually are, you don't need very many models painted to make a very tough force.

With this in mind, I am adding a contingent of both "loyal" and "traitor" Marines(not Chaos Marines, but actual traitors) so we can play some classic Horus Heresey games. For the loyalists, I went with the Dark Angels chapter.

Here are some of the models Dark Angels, together with the recently completely set of defence line bits:





The big sucker in the middle is one of the Space Marine Landers (the other will be painted for the Traitor Chapter). In the rules it is designed to fill a role above that of the Thunderhawks (although the GW/Forgeworld folks seemed to have moved beyond it by creating the Thunderhawk vehicle transporters), carrying quite a few troops while also provinding heavy support. Its rules are very tough - it can make flyer/bombing runs, land troops (many of them - right in their vehicles), or just land and serve as a very tough fire base for the Marines. Plus it has the damage capacity of a Baneblade.

The model - issued in the wake of the "Epic: Armageddon" version of Epic - is not the greatest model made by GW, but still looks OK. Fellow Conscript Curt C described it perfectly once - a sci-fi version of the Chinook helicopter. So even though it is a little odd, I find it sits well with the Marine stuff.

I used one of the extremely cool Ninja Magic magnetic couplers on the model, so I will be able to develop a couple of different bases for it - one flying high (bombing run), one hovering, and one landed.

I really like the defence line stuff - should add to the look and feel of an upcoming Epic game!

Battle Report - Orks take it in the Teef'

Last week Mike F and Brian popped over and we played a game of "Epic 40,000" - the predecessor to the current "Epic: Armgageddon" rules. It has been quite a while since I have played a game of "Epic: 40,000", which at the time it came out represented a real jump in a new direction for GW and their rules, featuring highly abstracted and much more balanced game play than the previous Epic/Space Marine rules.

Tau Hunter Cadre with Fire Warriors, drones, Devilfish APCs and a unit of Pathfinders

An Ork Warband moves to attack

Hammerheads look for enemy targets from a hill

Note that Epic/Space Marine rules were awesome too - I just think the different vehicles/capabilities/special abilities had got way, way out of hand and it became pretty slow and hard to play because of the multitudes of exceptions and special rules (sound like any other system? I digress...). Whatever the reason, the GW guys purged the Augean stables of Space Marine and came out with a game system that used blast markers, flexible detachments, abstracted firing and army morale to create something pretty cool. The endless special rules were replaced with more abstract and subtle abilities that required careful play in order to exploit. And the icing on the cake - it was sold in a box, complete with ALL the army lists, and TWO armies to start! Now THAT takes me back...

Anyway, to the game: the scenario was a meeting engagement, between an Ork army with two warbands, one Kult of Speed and a pair of Ork Battlefortresses. The Tau for their part featured four different Cadres - two of infantry in Devilfish with assorted drones and Pathfinders for support, one made up of Hammerheads with railguns (oh yeah!) and a rather lethal and mobile cadre of Crisis suits, backed by Broadside suits and Stealth Suits. Brian and I played the Tau, and Mike F took the Orks.

The Ork Kult of Speed prepares to go out with a bang...

The key to most "Epic 40,000" games is army morale - as your detachments break, the morale of the army decreases, and if you hit "0", you're done. All of sorts of things add to this - the blast markers on your army in each morale phase, a war engine going out in spectacular fashion, different objectives being taken, lost, etc. In other words, the rate at which your army morale decreases is not necessarily exactly aligned to the rate at which you take casualties - in fact, it can materially exceed it.

Ork boyz contemplate the flaming death of their Kult of Speed...

Mike F learned about this the hard way, when he advanced his Kult of Speed out in front (which of course they would do) and into a close assault! I gulped a bit, as the Tau generally do poorly in close assault, but I was saved by lucky (for me)/ unlucky (for Mike F) dice rolling! We tied the first roll, and on the second, Mike rolled the "Scottish Number" and I came up with a "6". The Tau slaughtered the Orks, placing a pile of blast markers on the enemy detachment AND breaking them...the horrific combined effect of this (lots and lots of blast markers plus breaking) took Mike's army morale from 21 down to 5 or so, reflecting the impact that the complete destruction of the Kult had on the other Ork Boyz!

Tau Hunter Cadre moves on to a hill

Fire from the Ork Kans and Stompas broke one of the Tau Hunter Cadres

Thanks to drones, the Tau are able to hold their position under Ork fire

Betrayal by the dice was a common theme for Mike for the rest of the game. He tried to pull the Tau into position where he could make a stronger attack, and fire from his dreads, boyz and Stompas did break one of the hunter Cadres. But as his morale clicked down (and he had bad luck with rally rolls), he had to make a final charge, and Brian moved in with the Crisis suit detachment at just the right time to lay a horrible licking on one of the last Ork warbands.

Brian's crisis suits eliminate the enemy, delivering a coup de grace to the Orks - note the blast markers in the backround...

In the end, it was a Tau win - the Ork army morale dipped to "0", while the Tau still had 7 points left. I have to give credit to Brian for playing the suits very well, and to character - letting the Fire Warriors soak up the abuse, and then dropping in for the kill. And clearly I don't think the Tau would be so lucky again now that Mike has a better feel for the "Epic 40:000" rules! It could have gone either way with the assault by the Kult of Speed for sure.

Thanks to Mike and Brian for coming by, and providing me with another opportunity to further "amortize" my Epic Tau.

Yet another surprise in "The Pile"

Another gem recovered while rummaging through the pile in the basement! An Epic 40,000 Imperator class Titan:



I don't recall the specific Epic box set that sold you this monstrosity, but I think it was issued around the sunset of the good times in Epic (i.e. before GW started to strangle it, then notice sales weren't going, so they started to shut it down and made the cost of a detachment of aspect warriors mouned in Wave Serpents approximately equivalent to a mortgage payment).

I must have acquired this sucker in an irresponsible Ebay transaction of some kind. These things fetch stupid prices these days, but it was a bargain because it was already assembled.

I mounted this on a blank CD for a base...not sure how that will work, but it was handy. Now to paint the sucker....

New toy for Epic Orks

It's always nice to dig through the hoard of unpainted minis in my basement (known euphemistically as "pending projects") and find a nice surprise, still in its box. Many, many years ago I purchased an Ork Gargant for Epic 40k from the shelf at Campaign Outfitters. It cost approx $20 Canadian.

Who knows how long it had been sitting there? It then sat more years in my basement. During my Epic re-basing project, I found it in the basement, put it together and painted it. So, better late than never, I guess.

Here is a pic of the model next to the larger, scarier "Great Gargant", which I acquired from Fawcett member Sean M. years ago. It gives a sense of the relative size - I think the Gargant fits into the line at about the same position as the Imperial Reaver Titan - scary, but not the scariest thing.



Now to stomp some humiez! Should make for a good dust-up with the Imperial Guard and a few Titans.

For fun, I checked the GW site for how much it would cost to acquire one today. Only $42 US for a Gargant! Needless to say, much better to find one in the basement.

While I was visiting the GW Web site, I thought I would check the other Epic 40k models, and was floored by just how much the Epic 40k stuff is starting to cost. The Gargant is a great deal compared to the criminal price of $23.75 US for TWO, count em', that's TWO, Wave Serpents. So putting your detachment of eight Eldar units into Wave Serpents for Epic 40k can be done for just about $50 US! What a GREAT DEAL.

It is actually cheaper to order the resin Epic models from Forge World!!

No wonder nobody plays Epic anymore...

Fun with Epic

It's been a nice holiday vacation - time with family, some new gifts, and time to paint and work on projects. Over the holidays, I focused on a particular project - rebasing my Epic 40k collection.

Inspired by a conversation with Curt in which we pondered ideal basing system for Epic (in which we agreed to the "strip" bases were not ideal), I explored the idea of basing on 30mm squares (1.5mm thick). I decided to stark with my Ork forces, which I had previously based on 35mm round bases (which didn't look great, and as a result the Orks were the only ones based this way and so saw limited action on the table because their basing was not similar to anyone else) See below for the results.





I was pleased with the look, so I rebased all of the Orks and and a substantial chunk of my Imperial Guardsmen using the new system. Smaller vehicles and things like Sentinels and "Killa Kans" were placed on smaller 25mm square bases, while larger things like Baneblades, or even just odd models, such as the Ork "Scorcha", were placed on 40mm x 30mm bases. Command bases were placed on 30mm round bases so they would stand out a little bit.

I was able to generate a good bit of momentum from the project, so I painted a bunch of extra stuff, including the Siegemaster infantry pack and some Chimeras and other vehicles Dallas had picked up for me at a Comics America sale some months back. Here is a quick pic of the unit.



In all, I rebased almost 150 inidividual 5-man units and vehicles, and painted up another 25 bases of infantry and 30 or so vehicles (gotta love 6mm - paints SO fast). I also found an un-opened Ork Gargant in my mini pile, so I put that together too.

Unfortunately I ran out of bases, but I put in for more from the good folks at Litko. Once the next round of re-basing is done, I hope to have a game using the new bases sometime early in February.

Epic 40k battle report - Conflict on Toxo IV

Table showing the three "sludge production sectors" that were objectives.

Last night Dallas hosted a game of Epic 40k, pitting the Tau against the Imperial Guard for full control of some vital toxic sludge plants. It was the battlefield debut for my Epic Tau. Yes, that's right - Epic Tau from Forgeworld. What the f***k was I thinking? Well, I got them - years ago! and I managed to paint them. Last night they went into battle! I have to say I am pleased to finally have seen them on the table.

The Tau had a cadre of Crisis Suits, Stealth Suits, Broadsides, Hammerhead tanks and infantry in Devilfish APCs. They also had some human auxiliaries, representing Imperial Guard units who had defected to their side in return for not having to worry about Commissars any more.

The Imperials had a storm trooper company in Valkyries, backed by Vulture gunships, a detachment of Sentinels, a mechanized infantry company and a tank company, backed by a battery of Basilisk artillery pieces.

Cam, Mike F and Brian took the Tau, and Dallas and Bill rolled out with the Imperial Guard.

Imperial Guard storm troopers enter "flavour country"

The scenario was a classic "take two out of three" objective grab - each ojbective representing an important sludge factory, along with the housing which would naturally be concentrated very close to it so as to maximize worker productivity and minimize commuting.

The Tau started in control of the three objectives, but could place only their traitor milita on the table. The Imperials would be allowed to "drop" their storm troopers and sentinels in on the first turn, and from there it was all on!

The Tau move out from their occupied objective, led by their Hammerhead gunships.

The storm troopers made a tough assault in the first turn, capturing a sludge plant and defeating a traitor infantry platoon and artillery battery. This was a great firefight, as Dallas and Brian tied the result rolls again and again, meaning that round after round was fought.

A Leman Russ tank company - one of the most devestating units the Imperial Guard can get.

In the second turn, Bill rolled the mechanized infantry in to capture a second sludge sector, while the Tau concentrated on the third. Realizing they would need to capture a second sector to win the game, the Tau side began a careful advance against the storm troopers and the sentinels.

Tau deploy from their Devilfish APCs - thanks to markerlights elsewhere on the table, the Devlish can send guided missiles all over the place to p*ss off their opponents.

The upshot of the careful advance was a lot of headaches for the storm troopers and sentinels, and especially for Dallas, who got to enjoy exposure to the mobility of the Tau suits, markerlights etc. While the Tau were not able to kill many units in the factory sector, they did wreak havoc with their weapons which caused extra blast markers.

Mechanized infantry secure an objective.

We called the game for time a little after midnight - each side had one sludge sector firmly in control, and the third was contested. The final turn was a bit of an anti-climax, with both sides failing to issue engage orders successfully, meaning that what would have been a wicked cool firefight was falling down toward a Verdun-style grind for both sides.

It was great to play Epic 40k again - I just love the rules. The Tau are definitely tough in the game. The suits are super-mobile, the Hammerheads are lethal and the markerlights and guided missiles, while not causing too much harm on their own, made the Imperial players mental ("the missiles come from where???"). While I can't say I will be adding more Epic Tau figures (which don't seem to be that available from Forgeworld anymore regardless) I will paint up the Epic Tau flyers that I have, and I may try to convert my own Manta using 40k bits so they can take out Titans.

Thanks to Dallas for hosting, and for everyone who came out to play! I definitely enjoyed it.