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I was curious if anyone else does this or if it's just my blend of crazy, but I feel like I don't deserve to jump right to using an Epic caster without having first played the normal caster for awhile.

Makes sense, but unnecessary.

There's a tournament at gencon called rite of passage. You
get a chance at winning extra prizes if you brought both a
regular caster and the epic version in their second list.

I just did that in the tournament we had a week ago. Took a Tier4 pBastard and a Tier4 eBastard list. pBastard let me down, but that's in part me not playing him in awhile, bungling my last turn order, and Iron Fleshed Winterguard Deathstar being Un Frakking Killable.

pSkarre infantry spam into eSkarre shenanigans. pGaspy face melting into eGaspy ghost swarms. pDenny debuffs into eDenny scenario denial. Yep, sounds like a good way to make friends.

I'm of a similar opinion as Sparks. Which means that I may be a long way off from ever fielding eStryker.

I think, for me, it's still a bit of holdover from MkI. I've only recently got to the threshold of being able to field an epic caster. Even so, what I have is not fine-tuned by any stretch of the imagination.

I finally got my 1st win with pNemo and now I'm wondering, how many wins should I need before allowing myself to play eNemo?

Sparks wrote:I finally got my 1st win with pNemo and now I'm wondering, how many wins should I need before allowing myself to play eNemo?

That depends. How many heavy warjacks and stormcallers do you have?

I have 6 Heavies (2 are Defenders) and Zero Stormcallers, but I'm curious on a more general level because I'll end up playing eHaley, eCaine and eStryker at somepoint.

I'm thinking 5 wins or 15 games which ever comes 1st.

Not really sure what kind of limitation you would want to put on yourself. The epic versions of casters are not really buffed up versions of their prime version in most cases so it's not like having a solid grasp of the prime version will help you in using the epic version outside of simply having that much more game experience in general. They're just a completely different caster. For instance, pSkarre and eGaspy love their high infantry count, eSkarre and pGaspy enjoy a more balanced approach. Neither one is (arguably) directly stronger, just played to a different effect and have very different feats.

I know Prime and Epic's are completely different and not more powerful versions, but they are a representation of the Caster in later life so I am placing a completely arbitrary 'unlock' system on myself where I force myself to spend time with a Prime before 'unlocking' it's Epic version

It forces me to expand my playstyle safe zone by learning the Primes before moving on, and to a tiny extent makes me feel more connected to the lore side of Warmachine/Hordes.

Edit: Because people keep thinking that I believe Epic is innately better than Primes

Ditto Kirbinator.

'Epic' status is not some game-changing power shift uberness like a video game unlock for better gun upgrades or a higher tier of 'loot'. It's simply a progression of the character's storyline with abilities and stats to match.

Edit:

I'm honestly not sure if playing the before/after deepens an appreciation of a character, but it certainly gives you greater depth as a player, so go for it!

I think it makes you appreciate guys like pStryker who go from a support caster who can finish something off to face beatingly good. On the flip side, you go from pGaspy to eGaspy and wonder happened to him because they are so different.

Do you try to adhere to themed forces as well? I really do like the idea of playing prime for a bit before playing epic, it gives your battles more story.

12thRonin wrote:On the flip side, you go from pGaspy to eGaspy and wonder happened to him because they are so different.

He let Morty take over the warjack production plant then picked up some Banes and went on a rampage!

Trying to stick to a theme would be much more trouble than it's worth in my opinion, would have to buy too many models to keep a full force in theme.

I do know what you meen, as a new player I use Kommander Sorscha, which I like as I also have irusk, and the iron wolf, and epic Sorscha. But until I get really good with normal no way am I moving epic. Plus I need beast 09 before that

Makes sense to me. It's an artificial boundary you're using to
help you decide when to try something new. That's like "Only
going to play Trolls for a year." or "Every month I try a different
caster." I do that as well.

I tend to think that pCasters are a little bit more balanced and user friendly than the epic versions. I definitely love epics, as well, but I don't recommend epic casters to newer players.