Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So here's the deal. I have always had a long-running love affair with Epic 40K. But since it has gone out of print, the collectors market has become full of out of sight prices unless you get lucky and jump on a good deal on Ebay. And, like most of us, I have "Army ADD", so collecting 4-5 armies of miniatures for Epic is just not going to be healthy for the pocketbook, especially with a baby on the way.

But.... then I stumbled on a great idea! For a long time now I had been seeing all the cool 40K sprites that were created for the online gaming program, Vassal. I suddenly thought, "What if I use those sprites to create 2-dimensional unit tokens to represent all the different formations in Epic? Being a long-time miniatures junkie, I wasn't sure that flat tokens would have the same "feel" as real models, but I figured that at such a small scale as Epic, they might just do the trick, so I tried my hand at it.

So what I did was scrounge up all the files I could possibly find for Vassal sprites, and with a little reworking with MSPaint and GiMP, I was able to come up with a sprite for literally every single normal unit that can be fielded by most of the armies available for Epic Armageddon, even the fan-made lists for armies like Chaos, Necrons and even Tau. With lots and lots (and lots) of cutting and pasting, I have a collection of files. And so any time I want to make any forces for my games, I simply print out everything I want on adhesive paper (100% scale printing coincidentally comes out at exact Epic scale), and then cut them out and stick them to Epic-scale bases made from the "Foamies" brand craft foam that you can buy for $1 per sheet at any craft store.

In this way, I can print a 1500-2000 point army on a single sheet of paper.

I figure I'll start with my first army, my Space Wolves. This is a selection of Space Wolf sprites I started with, found with a Google search:


And here's what some of my work has turned them into. I made it a goal to make sure every unit has exact WYSIWYG, even down to hand weapons like bolt or plasma pistols:

A Tactical Formation (with Captain in the center squad), with Rhinos for transport:


Terminators, with Land Raider Crusaders for Transport. The lower right stand has been upgrades to have a Librarian:


A Land Speeder Formation, with three tornados, a typhoon, and one on the front left with heavy bolter, and the lead one has a multi-melta:


What do you think?

I figure it's not as great as using real miniatures, but I still plan on using normal miniatures for anything that is the scale of a Titan or a Knight for each race. A flat Rhino might not be bad, but i figure a Titan would not have the same impact as a flat token. You really need to see how they tower over buildings for them to be at their coolest.

Next up, Scouts and transport, including a stand of snipers. These are my least favorite as their lower detail means they just don't "pop". But I figure, what are you going to do when each scout is only about 15-20 pixels wide? :



A Comparison with actual miniatures, a Land raider and a Supreme Commander stand:

Yeah, I'll have to find a good place to host files other than as pics on Dakka, so everyone can enjoy them..