Epic 40,000

Eons ago, I was first introduced to Epic 40,000 - Games Workshop's 6mm wargame. There was something about that particular scale, where a human stands 6mm or about a quarter of the 'usual' 28mm scale that most people are familiar with, that I've always found exciting.

I purchased some 6mm minis first back in the late 80s? early 90s? painted them up, played a game or two of Space Marine (or was it Epic) and then put my toys away for the next few decades. Whilst at various swap meets, I've occasionally purchased collections in various states of newness. Sometimes some still in their packet stuff, but most often bags of minis and sprues that, if painted, were and are pretty rough. Incidentally, that's one great thing about 6mm wargaming, even the quickest and roughest paintjob at that scale is hardly noticeable once a game is underway.

Weep at the skills from yesteryear on display...

More recently my club mates have been looking at some of the newer epic-scaled games that have hit the market. They all look pretty damn good two, especially when combined with 2027 3D printing technology - an entire army can realistically be printed over the course of two days. I have been playing lots of cyberpunk skirmish games over the last couple of years and I thought, following the most recent Axes & Ales Bring-and-Buy, I decided to through some energy into Epic 40,000. It was time.

The Vision

I'd like to have two or three armies with a good range of minis so that my mates and I can play varied games during the next while. Presently I've got lots of Orks (and I mean lots), Space Marines, and Eldar. Eldar is my favourite faction, and (un) fortunately they don't require the same volume of minis relative to a similarly point-sized Ork army. Bottom-line: I've got more than enough minis already and what I don't have, I can/will track down (either the real deal or get some STL prints) without too much drama.

Once I let my clubmates know what I was up to, many of them quickly jumped into the fray - either dusting off their older armies or kick-starting a new army.

The Rules

I spent a bit of time trying to work out the Epic ruleset I will lock-in. It kind of matters because the rules all account for different army lists and presently, I don't want to have to get my head around multiple sets of rules. I've settled on Net Epic Armageddon which appears to be well supported, comprehensive, played around Australia, and interestingly, employs an activation system much like most of the skirmish games of which I'm familiar. From the site:

In 2003 Games Workshop published the fourth edition of their science fiction, mass combat system: Epic Armageddon. The game relied heavily on community feedback during its development and a living rulebook was made available for free via GW's Fanatic Games Division website. While the rules are still available for free to this day, they do not see active development from GW with Fanatic being closed. Instead, development flows from the fans in the form of Net Epic Armageddon.

Hobby Time

I'll not go into things too much here, rather give a quick account of what's been happening during the last couple of months. Firstly, I did an Epic Audit at the club: I brought in my three 10-litre tubs of minis and a few guys helped me make senses of what I had on hand. Bottom-line: lots.

Three tubs might normally house on W40k army...

Lots of Space Marines

My Ork Collection

The Eldar

Soon after I pulled together two 2,000 point armies - Eldar and Ork - and held a trial game. It was as slow paced as you'd expect with all but one guy familiar with the game, but it was a lot of fun - we could see the potential.

I also spent some (well actually too much) time making my own Epic Army Movies. For the last few years I've really enjoyed making my own miniatures' boxes/cases using VHS tape boxes. I ended up making two ahead of the first game which was a lot of fun. I really find doing such things is a great way to hobby without having to reach for the paints. They came up a treat, and I've got a few more in mind and a suitable stash of VHS cases to repurpose too.

More recently I started painting some minis. Because I've got so many Orks, I thought I'd start with them. I wanted to get my skills up a little before moving onto my Eldar (of which I've got significantly fewer) and when it comes to Orks, you can never have enough. I found my groove, pumped out a heap over the course of a week or two and even worked out how to make some cool banners which, given the scale, was insane, but worked out really well.

We've played another game since and I've got another game scheduled shortly. Today I collected, assembled and commenced painting some scale-appropriate terrain for our games - hopefully it will be ready for the next game too.

I'll see what I can do about sharing some more details in due course. Should you want to discuss your love for Epic stuff, feel free to Comment on the blog else look me and my mates up on our Club's Discord, where the "tiny-sci-fi" channel is getting a fair bit of traffic.