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Recently I've started to get the feel for the 6mm game Epic Armageddon, and I was trying to introduce some of my friends to it.
I did so by setting up a small scenario (two formations each) to go over the basic rules. We spent roughly 30 mins actually playing, and a good 2 hours trying to find the correct rules, reading them, trying to use them properly, keeping track of how they change things etc.

My general theory is that if you can't even explain the basic rules of a game without spending a large chunk of time explaining everything else in the entire book (Took me a week to read, and by the time we started playing, i'd had forgotten a good 75% of it...), then there are some streamlining issues in the game.

So I pitch the question: does anyone know of a more streamlined version of GW's rules (without referring to NetEpic's rule set, which involves cards)?

E:A is pretty streamlined, especially as far as GW games go. It's certainly easier to pickup than the earlier versions, as any special rules are global to all armies and not unit-specific.
Every special rule that applies to individual units is contained within 6 pages of the main rule book. Then any special rules for armies virtually always apply to that whole army and not specific units, making things easier to learn.

Did you try playing the training scenarios in the rulebook? (Section 2.3 for normal units, 3.4 for war engines, and 4.5 for flyers) They give a good way to learn new 'layers' of rules without getting distracted by other kinds of units. And don't forget that there's a game summary sheet plus unit summaries for each army, making reference easier.

Honestly, E:A is really well done done in terms of balanced rules that aren't too complex to learn, while still providiing great tactical depth. It's certainly miles ahead of regular 40k.

I would think that EA is quite streamlined. If you play without the aircraft and WEs (which I suggest for first game anyway), then all the rules are in section 1 (less than 50 pages). Section 2 has all special rules, except the ones per army which are either in section 5 before the units of that army or section 6 before the list section. For main GT scenario, all the rules are in few pages in section 6.

If you’re looking for an alternate set of rules, you could try Future War Commander. It’s similar in concept to Warmater in that it’s all based around Command and Control. I'm a big fan of the Commander family of rules.

It also has the lists for all the GW epic armies in the core rulebook. Though the names have obviously been changed.

 LuciusAR wrote:
If you’re looking for an alternate set of rules, you could try Future War Commander. It’s similar in concept to Warmater in that it’s all based around Command and Control. I'm a big fan of the Commander family of rules.

It also has the lists for all the GW epic armies in the core rulebook. Though the names have obviously been changed.

Aha, that looks very good, thankyou

If you can find the 3 rulebooks try Epic 40,000, the version that came before Epic Armageddon. It was replaced with EA because it was seen as too streamlined, abstract and simple, which is why I love the game!

For others that understand E:A well. Was it just me, or were the Eldar "spirit stones" rules a little....powerful?

I honestly never lost a game of E:A against the Space Marine player that got me into the game and had been playing for a year or so before I began.

Edit: The heavy availability of Macro Weapons I guess helped Eldar too?

 Farseer Faenyin wrote:
For others that understand E:A well. Was it just me, or were the Eldar "spirit stones" rules a little....powerful?

It was very powerful, which is why it was removed in the final update that GW did before stopping development of SGs.

I honestly never lost a game of E:A against the Space Marine player that got me into the game and had been playing for a year or so before I began.

Edit: The heavy availability of Macro Weapons I guess helped Eldar too?

I've won with Marines against Eldar many times. Marines in epic are a lot harder to play than in 40k .

I would agree that FWC is prbably easier for peopl eto "pick up" and play. The rules themselves are slick and play fast and you will get a good game.

However, I do get the feeling they are basically Blitzkreig Commander with the briefest nod to SF. It is hard rto get a feel of variety into your units.

The same critisism could be said of Epic 40k (3rd) when the main task was creating Firepower blocks. It was a great games design, but it felt nothing like the 40k universe.

Stick to E:A but start small and buiild up in layers. It is worth it as this is a great tactically tight set of rules (far better IMO than standard 40k) and once you get it, there is no turning back.

 obithius wrote:
If you can find the 3 rulebooks try Epic 40,000, the version that came before Epic Armageddon. It was replaced with EA because it was seen as too streamlined, abstract and simple, which is why I love the game!

This...a thousand times this. The epic ruleset that actually worked for its scale. Relatively easy to learn, but hard to master. Really showed a clear ebb and flow in battles that was missing in all the ludicrous amounts of dice rolling involved in the earlier versions of the epic rules. I started playing Epic with Adeptus Titanticus, Space Marine 1st edition and Codex Titanticus. It was improved by better force creation and control rules in 2nd edition, but by the release of Titan Legions was so full of special rules that it was a nightmare for new players to even try to understand. When a single superheavy tank could require something like 17 dice to roll all of its attacks, and then you had to do it again for the other 2 tanks in the company, and you had another 5 companies of them Space Marine 2nd edition/Titan Legions just bogged down horribly. Then Epic 40,000 was released and the game suddenly was fast, streamlined and very easy to play. Dice rolling was greatly reduced thankfully(!!!) and universal special rules were added instead of each army having similar, but slightly different instances of each special rule.

It definitely had its detractors, though, because some people far prefered to roll an infinite number of dice every turn in the earlier incarnations. My friends and I were amazed when we played the first 2000 point battle and it was done in an hour. The *whole* game...as opposed to the earlier editions where we'd still be there 5 hours later rolling dice for 2000 points. We could now play multiple games in the same time frame and I found I had fewer headaches after playing than before.

Skriker

Hi,

You could try the epic scale Solar Scourge their rulebook is free to download and easy to learn.