1) When the
MEdge rules were first released,
40k was in 7th edition, and the clear answer to your question would have been 'yes'. Since then,
40k incredibly simplified its core rules in 8th/9th edition, so the answer is now a bit more complicated. The
MEdge rules were written to try to cover every possible rules issue that could possibly arise (a pet peeve I had with
40k rules for years), even against future rules releases. Unfortunately, writing this way means the rules in general tend to be longer and more wordy than you'd need just to get stuck in and play your first few games. Some people like this level of clarity, others prefer more simplicity in their writing even at the cost of a bit more ambiguity in stranger rules occurrences.
You can download the v1 rulebook here if you'd like to check things out:
https://www.maelstromsedge.com/117/FREE%20-%20Maelstrom's%20Edge%20Digital%20Rulebook%20(PDF)/
We are currently working on v2 of the game, though Covid-19 has definitely put a brake on things, we are still moving forward behind the scenes (just at a much slower pace). The v2 rules are much more simplified than v1, which can be both a positive and negative for the reasons I wrote about above, but overall I think the game is much better in v2 (or else we wouldn't be making those changes). You can see a sneak preview of the v2 rules here:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/775150.page
2)
MEdge is targeted at around 30-60 models per side. It is an army scale game, but the units themselves are much smaller than say
40k...you're always looking at squad sizes of 1-6 models max. This puts it as a match against the scale of Gates of Antares or
40k Combat Patrol.
3) It has a low model count compared to
40k. But it has a high model count compared to a true skirmish game like Infinity. It is absolutely designed to shine in the 30-60 model per side range. You can make your games as big as you want, but since it is alternating unit activation, bigger games will take much, much longer to complete.
4) We are a small, independent company and have chosen to keep the faction's rules limited to the models that we currently have released (because we don't really like it when a game has rules for a bunch of cool units, but there are no models for them). As such, some factions are definitely better developed than others. However, we are acutely aware of this fact and our future release plans always keep this in mind. We are constantly looking to flush each faction out, both in tabletop play style and expanding the breadth of the faction's lore through the introduction of new units/technology.
However, especially these days with Covid-19, it has been a while since our last release and many of our partners we use behind the scenes have had shutdowns delays of their own, so things are currently much slower than they normally would be. Rest assured though, we still have things in the works and have no plans of stopping anytime soon.
We do not have any plans to run another kickstarter. We are in the process of making new faction starter kits for the v2 release.
5) The starter set is pretty balanced. Certainly points-wise the two forces are pretty close (not including the extra Mature Angel the Karists have if the starter box was made during the kickstarter). While we did our best to tweak the rules/points to match between those starter set forces, players have had a tendency to struggle winning with the Epirian box set force against the Karist box set force for a number of reasons. These issues have been tweaked for the v2 rules.
6) For the Karists, while not a full unit, the Heavy Weapon Troopers:
https://www.maelstromsedge.com/medge/store.jsp?p=34
Really change the capacity of any Karist Trooper units you add one into. Plus, you can add 2 heavies to a unit and make it into a full Trooper Heavy Weapon squad.
For the Epirians, the thing they really struggle against the Karist box set force is their lack of speed (as the Karists have Shadow Walkers that can teleport around the table capturing objectives). As such, getting a second unit of Firefly Drones is a great idea, or either the SecDef Infantry squad or the SecDef Boostpack Infantry squad can also close this gap as they're able to use aerial insertion to show up anywhere on the table.
https://www.maelstromsedge.com/medge/store.jsp?p=41
https://www.maelstromsedge.com/medge/store.jsp?p=46
6) Some of the strengths of the game are:
• Its background is written in a 'realistic' tone so that no faction is truly good or bad, just lots of shades of grey. Every faction is just fighting to get ahead in the crazy situation the Maelstrom has created in the spiral arm.
• The rules are written very consistently, and there is an index (rules finder) in the book to ensure you can always find the rules you need.
• The game allows you to bring back units that get destroyed as reinforcements, so no losing your prized unit on the first turn and not getting to play with it.
• The game is designed to allow for interactions of units beyond just destroying them (i.e. suppressing units), which means you are always accomplishing something by shooting the enemy, even if you can't destroy them.
• The game is focused heavily on scoring the missions to win, not just destroying the enemy force. Players must move out, take and hold objectives right from the start of the game in oder to win.
• The game ends when one side reaches its mission total, which means no playing the last few turns of a game even when its abundantly clear one side is going to win.
Some of the games weaknesses are:
• Some people like more black/white good/evil factions, so our background style doesn't appeal to them as much. Other people find the whole concept of the Maelstrom to be nihilistic and therefore don't care for our universe (even though there are many millennia before the Maelstrom would come close to destroying most of the spiral arm).
• Some people find the comprehensiveness of the rules to be off-putting.
• Some people don't find the interaction of simply suppressing enemy units very rewarding (they prefer destroying units more quickly). The v2 rules have definitely skewed things a bit so that there is a little more unit destructing and a little less just suppressing enemy units.
• Because we are a small company, we aren't able to have the level of new releases that some people want/require for their game.
8) The 'mecha' faction are the Artarian Remnant. They are a gladiatorial faction, with each armored suit being able to take on many times the numbers of enemy troopers. They were always envisioned and designed to be a faction where you have only a handful of models in your force. We do still have some releases planned for them, but even right now with just two 'models' for sale for the faction, you can make a playable force with them.
The starter box forces are around 120 points. You can use the online force lists:
https://www.maelstromsedge.com/medge/forcelist.jsp?f=8
To build an Artarian Remnant force of roughly the same size.
If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask away!
