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I really wish people in my area played Epic. I've never played it myself, but I'd love an excuse to collect an army. Of course, ugh, buying GW product tends to put a bit of a pit in my stomach these days.

We have a few people that play around here. Lexington Park MD. We love the game. It is a more enjoyable game then most of what GW produces. Don't get me wrong I klove to drop my 40k army on the table. But Epic:A is a more tactical game to play. I really wish that GW would continue to support a great game. But as with all of there Specialist games they are falling by the waysides.

Whoah, wait Lexington Park? I've got a frustrated friend down there who _knows_ there have to be other gamers around, but hasn't been able to sniff them out. Is there a store you guys game at, somewhere on base?

Epic wise the Space Marines, Orks and Eldar from the 'Space Marine' boxed set are still fairly cheap on E-Bay so you can always get hold of them. Other stuff however is more difficult.

There are no shortage of non GW 6mm sci-fi minatures out there so if you want to play Epic with substitues you desire.

We have a fairly active and fairly big (for our standards) group of players that still play Epic.

http://umbigos.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/epic-adventure-in-eldar-realm/

They even played a big battle in our Great Southern Tournament



http://www.setti.tv/smf/index.php/topic,5992.30.html

(this link is in Portuguese but you can look at the pretty pictures at least)

I planned on making a IG / Space Wolves / Titan Legion army once upon a time, even purchased some Thunderhawks and Titans to get the ball rolling, but at the end of the day, I simply could not justify starting another game system to myself...

You can still buy chaos, marines, eldar and guard on th GW website. As well as the rulebook and most things you need. Its the squats, nids and older stuff that is hard to find.

If anyone is interested in playing I do suggest you get the book and read. Hell they even have a PDF of the rulebook. So please get the ball rolling and show GW that epic is here to stay.

 balsak_da_mighty wrote:
You can still buy chaos, marines, eldar and guard on th GW website. As well as the rulebook and most things you need. Its the squats, nids and older stuff that is hard to find.

If anyone is interested in playing I do suggest you get the book and read. Hell they even have a PDF of the rulebook. So please get the ball rolling and show GW that epic is here to stay.

Well, yes and no. It depends which version of the game you are playing and which aesthetic you prefer. I play 2nd Ed Epic and I don't like the Epic:Armageddon style 'strip bases' - I much prefer the square ones. I will compromise when i have to; most of the Tyranids I see on Ebay and most of the Tyranids I own are the strip style bases but I don't really like them. Likewise, the models available on the GW website are just a fraction of the units needed/wanted - I mean the Chaos stuff they sell is just this:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat490033a&prodId=prod1110143

You need a lot more different units to make a Chaos army in reality. I usually prefer to be patient and scour Ebay for stuff - it just means waiting a lot longer. As far as I am concerned, GW can shove it - they long ago chucked Epic out with the bathwater so I don't want or need support from them, thank you very much. The 2nd Ed rules are all I need and hark back to a time when GW really cared and put some effort into the games they produced.

I personally like the strip bases. It looks more pleasing to the eye for me. All of my Eldar are on square bases. I am trying to transition them all over to the new bases. As far as the chaos stuff goes I am aware of most of the different stuff that chaos has, but you still need the infantry and as far as there vehicles most are just the same as the Marines. So I think it is still a option. And as I said the older stuff, ie the older chaos stuff is hard to find. but hey if they are giving the rules away might as well take it right? After all its GW and they don't do that that much.

But my main point to make was that epic is a fun game and wish more people played.

Well, if the strip bases (Which I personally like) are your main problem, Epic:A doesn't specify that you have to use them - you can use squares if you like.

If it's rest of the mechanics, fine - the 2nd edition's more abstracted firepower mechanism had a lot to recommend it too.

Epic was the GW battle game I played that lasted the longest for me. It is a good game, and deserves more support than it gets. But if it isn't dead, it is kept alive in an iron lung with blood transfusions and a constant stream antibiotics by its diehard fans. I never even considered restarting it when I got back into wargaming due to it being so rare. Sadly, as I have many good memories of it. But when our local player, "Epic" Ulric seems to play six games of Warmachine/Hordes for every Epic game he gets in - on a good month - and three whole people show up for an Epic event at our local club after months of promoting it...it's not looking good. I lived in Copenhagen for almost six years, a city with a decent sized gaming scene, and only saw Epic being played on the Giant Fanatic tournament (which draws some 200-250 players total) - again, with 3-5 players.

Yeah, there are some local scenes. Yes, you can secure miniatures through deals and trade and hard work (and likely recasters and backroom producers). But again, when the gamers of a mid-sized town in Norway recently wanted to branch out from 40k/Fantasy and requested some advise, the only game they outright rejected was Epic, since they looked at the availability and judged that it was simply too much work to get into. Very sad. But that's reality, I fear.

For Epic to rise again, it needs a company that will support it, make new models, sell starter boxes, support events, and make it seem alive. And that studio isn't GW, apparently.

I posted on the 'Other Games" page a few days ago about how cool it would be if Epic was re-introduced as a 15mm game rather than its current 6mm version.
It would be a great transition game between BFG and 40K.
Marines could actually be sculpted at the 8' height they are supposed to be and Termies and Dreads would look AWESOME!!!
They could introdue it as a new take on the classic Horus Heresy...then gradually introduce the other races just like they did in the 80's....

15mm would be my ideal size to bring the game back as. 6mm lets you have more titanic games, but the infantry are so small it's hard to do any fun painting on them. 15mm would at least give the infantry a decent amount of detail to play with when painting, while still giving great army sizes and realistic super heavy ranges on a standard 6x4 board.

About how much does an epic army run. Or it might be useful to get an idea of about how many stands a good sized game takes, and just figure it out from there.

Now I just need to figure out how to keep my wife from finding out.

Fenrir Kitsune wrote:
Epic is better than 40K is, in my opinion. Certainly the game I'd be prepared to play more often.

The UK has a pretty solid event scene as well and the rules/lists are managed by the fanbase instead of getting a Wardex every 6 months and all that. GW abandoning the game is the best thing that happened to it IMO.

So, pretty healthy if you go looking for it.

http://epic-uk.co.uk/wp/

As long as its the old epic. Not that epic 40k stuff they released later on.

Epic is/been dead. At least here in my area.

Couldn't get into Armageddon - a bit too abstract for my tastes. Epic Space Marine however (before the runaway Titans and Knight Houses) was soooo much fun. I don't get to play anymore, but I still collect the models and paint them to this day. That's how much I loved that game....

 Lansirill wrote:
About how much does an epic army run. Or it might be useful to get an idea of about how many stands a good sized game takes, and just figure it out from there.

Now I just need to figure out how to keep my wife from finding out.

My 5000k space marine army (about 1750 in 40k terms) has 22 infantry bases, 5 bike stands, 10 landspeeder stands, 10 rhinos, 4 predators and a couple of warhound titans. Space wise it takes up as much room as a couple of 10 man 40k squads in my cabinet.

Honestly, I never understood why Forgeworld didn't take over the various Specialist Games, they seem like a perfect fit for each other; Aeronautica Imperialis shows that FW can write decent rules when they try, any models they would make for the 28mm SGs would sell like hotcakes to 40K and WFB players looking to add unique figures to their armies, their love of all things tank-related would likely result in some seriously awesome Epic minis especially if they transitioned the scale up to 15mm, and it might even allow GW to claw back some gamers from the competition.

I wouldn't call it dead. Perhaps Zombified.

The brains (GW support) are dead, but the body (fans) still actively try and push forward, despite losing support and becoming necrotic.

I remember reading (on here probably) that Forgeworld bascially had to make a choice between taking up the specialist games, or doing Horus Heresy stuff.

Therefore I eagerly await this heresy nonsense to finish

I still play epic from time to time, but in no way are there many people who play. Its a shame because its a really sound rules set that rewards tactical play. The biggest reason the epic scene died out could be attributed to the release of 3rd edition (epic 40,000). I happen to agree with Jervis and Andy on this one. the rules are very streamlined, and abstracted compared with "nd ed. The only criticism is that it was perhaps too generic in the rules, and didn't differentiate the units enough. On the flip side though, "nd ed probably had too many rules, and was perhaps a little too clunky in its final incarnations.
It is perhaps worth noting that the rules for Battlefleet gothic are a development of the 3rd ed rules, and work very well. I happen to think BFG is the most balanced rules set GW have ever released, and most of the principles from the game come directly from Epic 40,000.

What was the most probable cause of the games demise in my opinion is that compared to warhammer and 40k, it was very very easy to get a full and working army for very little money, so you didn't have to spend nearly as much on it, but then again, it was much easier to buy multiple armies for the same reason. Its also a problem with BFG, its a very cheap game to get a full fleet, and then the sales dry up.

I must dig out my IG army.
I have a fairly substantial Steel Legion force in a box somewhere.

It's not dead it Escaped.

Graphite wrote:
I remember reading (on here probably) that Forgeworld bascially had to make a choice between taking up the specialist games, or doing Horus Heresy stuff.

Therefore I eagerly await this heresy nonsense to finish

Between dropping their xeno terrain (well, most of their complete terrain range) with new terrain focusing on RoBB tiles, slowing down production on Warhammer Forge and Imperial Armour, and ramping up production on Space Marines to levels beyond even GW's studio, I'm really getting a bit tired of Forgeworlds business choices.

Space Marines sell (which, by their own admittance, is the cause of the explosion of power armour from them), but I can't help but imagine that so would a rereleased line of Epic, Warmaster, Necromunda or Warhammer Quest, even if all resin.

 Bookwrack wrote:
Yeah, those models don't make it out much. On the other hand, they're far from useless!

(I thought it would be neat to make the Storm Talon's base a scenic illustration of the 'escort' rule.

That is very cool! Mind if I borrow the idea?

Epic was one of those things I really wanted to try but never got around to unfortunately, too busy playing Necromunda!

 Llamahead wrote:
It's not dead it Escaped.

this. the community has epic now. i will gladly let WH40k die off and just play epic and enjoy it.

Loki - hit up bartertown.org - you'll find all sorts of rare gems at VERY good prices. Back in 2005 I picked up a NIB 40k Scale Eldar Phantom Titan for $180 USD (the very same price it sold for when still in print).

Seriously there are some fantastic people on there who don't expect to sell their goods for overinflated prices that are commonly seen on eBay.

Maybe someone should make a kickstarter--there seems to be a new project every day anymore :-)