+ An in-depth look at Epic: Legiones Imperialis +

+ An Epic gamer's look at the Epic: Legiones Imperialis preview +

+ It was a very busy weekend, and while I was otherwise engaged, a new edition of Epic, my all-time favourite game, was previewed.  You can read about that here [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] – but since I've got this little soapbox outpost, I figured I'd gather my thoughts for those interested in an article that takes a closer look at the game from a long-time Epic collector and gamer's perspective. +

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+ First reactions +

+ A mixed reaction, to be honest. Firstly, I'm surprised it's following so closely on the heels of the big launch of the new edition of Warhammer 40,000. That strikes me as GW seeing this as having a slightly different market to its 'bigger brother', or they're indifferent to whether its sales are cannibalised. Certainly I think that'll make it less likely as an impulse purchase for many buyers. +

+ I was less blown away than I was expecting (hoping?) to be by the models on first glance – though as you'll see below, I think this is more about unit choice than the individual models. +

+ The Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis model offering: 188 infantry, 19 tanks and 2 Titans. +

+ What was I expecting? I had anticipated a Titan. Big boxes like this always have a centrepiece, and it makes sense for GW to hedge their bets a bit with existing models. Likewise, I'd expected a mix of infantry and armour – but I had not expected this to be divided between Space Marines and Solar Auxilia, nor for everything to look so 'bitty' – a couple of tanks of once design, a handful of another; roughly a Company of Space Marines... Not the swathes of uniform troops I'd pictured in my mind's eye. +

+ Part of the appeal of Epic for me was the sense that you had hordes of largely uniform infantry supported by platoons or companies of likewise similar tanks. Here, the eye's jumping about between loads of small groups of visually distinct support stuff – ogryns, walkers, and four different types of tank, rather than settling on anything. +

+ The advert for Epic: Space Marine (1st ed.) This contained 48 tanks (16 Land Raiders, 32 Rhinos), and a staggering 320 Space Marines. +

+ Is that a problem? Well, no – but I must confess it rather took me aback, and I didn't have a wholly good first impression. +

+ GW have continued one Epic tradition, and that's giving it a name utterly unrelated to any previous edition. 'Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis' doesn't exactly roll of the tongue (not to mention clashing with the other in-universe Gothic plural of Legion), so for the purposes of this article I'm just going to call it 'Epic: Legions'. +

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+ A more considered look +

+ First reactions are just that. Looking with a more appraising eye, there's a lot that I do like here. Firstly, while I personally would have preferred the knowingly retro nod of having two identical forces, there's nothing inherently wrong in having Space Marines facing off against something else. After all, every edition after the first included different opposition models. Secondly, while I expect people like me – who fondly remember old editions of Epic – are part of the target market, it's fair enough that GW want to broaden its appeal. +

+ The infantry +

+ Let's look at the models – and I'm happy to say that on a closer look, there is a lot I'm positive about here. +

+ Let me be clear that I think the schemes chosen to showcase this launch were a mistake. Death Guard have a muted, dour scheme, and the Solar Auxilia here are in grey with red accents. Not exactly eye-catching – particularly given the detail on the figures. Worse than that, on the grey urban bases, they both rather blend in. It's a far cry from the hugely distinct bright red and blue (on eye-gougingly bright green bases) of the past. + 

+ Looking more closely, however, things suddenly perk up. Diving into the individual figures, and suddenly I'm back in the room ('the room of a potential purchasing', that is!). Rather than focussing on the bells and whistles and weird stuff that GW highlight in their article, I want to look at the grubby rank and file: 

+ Cor – look at them! Awesome. The old monolithic legions of identikit soldiers were great en masse, but they definitely leaned more towards tokens than giving the sense of knots of soldiers fighting. These look bigger, better posed, and properly proportioned against the Solar Auxilia. The slight increase in size is a positive for me, as it'll make painting them easier, and they'll have more presence on the board, leading to better-looking games. Crucically, I don't think they're that much larger that they'll look weird playing alongside or against older editions – or at least, with no more difficulty than the infamously odd internal scaling of the past. +

+ They're beakies, too – and while I know that's a divisive choice, I think they'll be considerably easier and more fun to paint than other armour marks, as they're clean and lacking banding and so forth. They also trigger a bit of nostalgia for me, as the original Epic models were all Mark VI. +

+ I wish they had picked a Legion with a more striking colour scheme to show these off. Emperor's Children. Word Bearers. Thousand Sons. Even the [SCRAPSHUNT] Alpha Legion would have given a better impression of just how nice these little models are. +

+ As for the other side, the Solar Auxilia demonstrate just how far Epic sculpting has come in technical terms. Too busy? Possibly; but again I think it's largely down to poor choice of paint scheme. I'm not a huge fan of the Solar Auxilia sculpts at 28mm scale, but I must confess to being impressed with how well these have been scaled down, and I think once in-hand they'll also impress. +

+ Fellow PCRC inmate Stuntwedge pointed out that the models look to lack the little circular base of previous editions, instead having integrated pill bases/rubble strips between their legs. On the face of things this isn't something to get excited about, but the implications in terms of posing units on bases or using them as tank crews or in Titanicus dioramas etc. is exciting. No more figures stuck determinedly in a particular formation on the base. +

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+ I noted above that the variety of infantry surprised me, and that it meant the box lacked that 'Legion' impact. On reflection, however, the box should probably be considered more of a taster. GW want to get in as many flavours as possible. For every one like me, who's excited about the basic line infantry, someone will be psyched that their favourite model is included. +

+ Epic: Space Marine may have included 320 Space Marine infantry, but every single one was the same sculpt. Compare that with what we have here:

+ Here's all the Space Marine infantry included in the box: 

• 2 Command stand – five unique sculpts
• 2 Cataphractii Terminator stands – five unique sculpts including a sergeant with thunder hammer
• 2 Support Legionary stands with missile launchers – again, five unique sculpts including a sergeant
• 2 Support Legionary stands with plasma guns – and here's where it gets a bit questionable, because there seems to be five sculpts plus one sergeant – unlike the missile launchers, where a crested model is on each stand, here there's just one different model across both stands. 
• 2 Assault Legionary stands – five unique sculpts plus a sergeant.
• 8 Tactical Legionary stands – Hard to tell from this picture, but the bigger one above indicates that there are five unique boltgun sculpts, plus one with a vexilla, plus a sergeant. It's possible that there are ten unique sculpts, but I would have thought GW would emphasise this in their choice of stands to show if this were the case.

+ Given the paired stands, I had assumed this would be two duplicates of one Mark VI sprue. It still could be, with the sergeants, vexilla etc. being optional extras. My guess is that each sprue will have half of what's listed above – e.g. one Command stand, four Tactical stands etc. +

+ These models are lovely, and right up my street. I am delighted with the changes made here, and even if the game turns out to be a dog's dinner, I'll pick up the Space Marine infantry at the very least. +

+ I'm also excited by what this implies. If all the Mark VI infantry models do fit onto one sprue, then I think it's not just realistic to hope for other armour marks and variety, but that it's a shoe-in. +

+ In the short term I'm expecting a Mark II and/or IV set(s) with a similar line-up – likely with a different set of heavy and special weapons in the Support Squads, and another specialist type of Terminators. It's this that has grabbed my imagination, because while the number of models in this box is relatively small, the potential for expansion is awesome. Players like me, who want that multiple Company-scale battle experience, will be able to do just that and refight stuff like the Dropsite Massacre at 6mm – or perhaps the Badab War, or the War of the False Primarch...  +

+ On the models, then, I think my initial reaction is coming round to broadly positive. There's things I would have changed, different decisions I would have made – I would have preferred more Predators to the Sicarians, for example – but I can be objective enough to know that these are personal opinions, rather than commercially-sensible ones. I can see the value for GW in showing off the variety and possibilities promised by multiple different sculpts rather than aiming for the spectacle of a uniform field of, say, a Predator tank company. This boxed set, I suspect, is not meant to be a balanced army, but more to grab the attention of as many potential buyers as possible:

'Look, Titanicus and Aeronautica players – we haven't forgotten you!' 

'Look, old Epic players – you can remake old armies with cool new models!' 

'Look, people who've never seen Epic scale before – here's an array of many sculpts to show you what we can do – and imply there's a lot more on the horizon.' 

'Look, it's not just Space Marines. There's more to come!' 

+ In that, I think this box partially succeeds – but in spite of, rather than because of, the paint schemes chosen; and it's a very patchy, broad-based  message. I hope it works out – but that's more because I've got a lot of goodwill towards Epic and want to see it succeed than because this box has blown my socks off. +

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+ The setting +

+ I'm torn on the HH setting, and wonder if that spread appeal is perhaps slightly working against itself. Our gaming group played a decent amount of Epic, but most played xenos – orks, nids, Tau... all of which have just had the door shut in their face. Of those who would also be excited by Space Marines, they were met the inclusion of über-niche faction Solar Auxilia with a resounding silence. It's not got the mirror match appeal of good(ish) SM vs bad SM; but nor are the Solar Auxilia – again, fully-enclosed armoured troops – visually distinct to a newcomer. +

+ The Horus Heresy setting supposedly has manufacturing appeal by having less to make – but by then including such a mish-mash of models, you've rather undercut that argument. +

+ It fits alongside Titanicus... but then that's matched by Titanicus players fearful that this is going to supplant and resource-starve their (excellent) game – a game that could easily have been expanded with xenos instead. (Though as an aside, I am pleased both to see new plastic options for the Warhounds, and an explicit note from GW that rules for such will be available for Titanicus too.)+

+ So far, then, I think the HH setting is at best a neutral appeal for me, and a definite barrier to entry to my friends, some of whom will sadly be put off Epic gaming for another edition. +

+ It surprised me that the game is following so closely behind the 28mm scale Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness release. Despite having invested lots of time and energy into the 28mm scale HH game in the past, none of our gaming group bought into that. The 7th edition-40k derived rules immediately made us feel exhausted, and the increasing model count likewise. Huge model-count games, once a big part of our gaming life – had become a turn-off, as the game itself got increasingly cramped and 'boggy'. +

+ Weird, then, to have a 28mm game that increasingly encourages abstraction and large model counts to be met with a 6mm boxed game launch that doesn't – on first appearances – look to be an markedly larger model count game. +

+ So far, so neutral. My first impressions were mixed – though, in typical Pollyanna fashion, I was pleased to find I was feeling more bemused than disappointed. +

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+ Conclusion +

+ There is a lot to chew over here, both implicit and explicit. I hope that GW's articles over the next few days expand and clarify things a bit better. I really loved Epic: Armageddon, and was hoping that Epic: Legions would charm me from the start. +

+ Alas, while I haven't closed the door on the idea, it's not grabbed me as much as I'd hoped. I will almost certainly pick up the Marines, and I'm still leaning towards buying the box. Even if it's not quite as feverishly as I'd been expecting to want it, it does still appeal – although there's that nagging worry I'm not going to have anyone to play against, for me the models are just too cool to miss out on. +

+ So, overall – excited, but tempered a little by some questions. Let's see if Warhammer Community's promised articles can set my mind at rest a little and get my servomotors turning over in anticipation...

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