+ inload: Hyperanalysis of Legions Imperialis +

+ Legions Imperialis +

+ Forebears – the very first Epic Space Marine sculpt +

+ Every so often, I sit back in an outdoor seat, perhaps cradling a mug of tea, recaff or a glass of synthale in my manipulators, and look out at the garden. I see the fresh air, the green grass and branches of the ash swaying gently in the summer breeze and think, 'There's more to life than toy soldiers.' +

+ Today, however, is very firmly not one of those days. I make no apologies for the thoroughly nerdy nature of today's inload as we dive into the murky world of previews and glean, techpriest-style, what we can divine about the new version of Epic – Legions Imperialis. +

+ If – like me – you're at risk of getting a bit too enthused by the news that Epic is coming back and have been scouring the noosphere for more news, I hope you'll find today's hyperanalysis soothing... + 

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+ Looking closer +

+ Warhammer Community [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] has been exloading articles about the upcoming game, and you can read quite a bit between the lines. The most recent article showed a lovely pile o' sprues. We'll see what we can see about the other, but most clearly visible is the Space Marine infantry sprue. +

+ I've marked up the image with some dots to help discuss this sprue – but please note that this is all conjecture based on what has thus been revealed – along with a little bit of reading between the lines. +

• Orange – Contemptor parts. I'm reading the two bits at the top left as the front of the waist, but unsure. The twin-lascannon is in two parts.
• Red – Missile launcher support squad: each marine in two parts (body and arm with gun). I'm fairly sure there are 6 missile launchers, but can only see 5 bodies – perhaps the sixth body (sergeant) is cropped at the bottom. 
• Yellow – Cataphractii Terminators. 6 of these.
• Blue – Plasma Gun support squad. Tentatively marked 5 of these, but the arrangement seems odd. Not beyond the bounds of reason (technical necessity/filling in available space).
• Green – Tactical Legionaries. 20 of these.
• Purple – Assault Legionaries. 5 of these.
• White – other/unclear. These are undoubtedly the Command squad and sergeants, but it's too unclear for my tired ol' occulobes to make them out with any certainty.
• The white spot on the left-hand side, about halfway up, may be the sixth variant of the plasma gunners. Could be something to do with the Heavy Support, but looks to have a rifle of some sort.
• There's a white spot at the upper right of the sprue, which could be something to do with the Contemptor. 

+ Besides the simple assessment of numbers, there are some other lessons to mark from this sprue pictcapture: +

• Confirmation that there's no integrated round base insert on infantry.
• Single attachment point to the sprue is very welcome – means you'll be able to spray (even paint) on-sprue easily, as the only attachment point is hidden.
• Eight legs across two Contemptor Dreadnought bodies means lots of variety in posing – though only one of each gun (twin lascannon and assault cannon) on each sprue.

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+ How tall are the models? +

+ With some nice close-ups, we're able to estimate the actual size of the figures much more closely, by using the base as a measurement. This is confirmed as 25mm – though there's a little leeway in that: is 25mm the bottom or top of the bevelled base? For the images here, I've assumed the bottom – that is, the widest point, which seems to be the common way for GW to measure their bases. +

+ I've isolated the front two figures to account for a bit of variety in pose. The red line is 25mm, taken from the widest point of the base. I've then reduced this to 12.5mm (yellow); 10mm (green); 8mm (dark blue) and 6mm (light blue) to account for a few common/familiar sizes. +

+ Nominally, older Epic models are 6mm tall (light blue), so you can see that the new Epic scale is considerably larger. The models stand almost exactly 8mm to the eye, and 10mm to the top of the figure. Your mileage may vary, of course, but for me there are a couple of big positives to this: 

• Consistency  It is clearly a substantial jump from the old figures, but as existing Epic collectors will attest, we've played with rather dubious relative measurements for a long time – just compare the old Tactical marines to the old Scouts. Having all the new models – Titans, aircraft, vehicles and infantry – in a new, consistent scale is a plus point.
• Greater detail  While less detailed than their 40k-size counterparts, this size of figure means that the sculptors can include more detail. I'm delighted to see the variety of poses; and interested to see how the greater size translates to painting – I suspect it's going to be a bit easier to get good results very quickly.

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+ Can I use old figures? +

+ Composite image taken from WarCom for direct comparison +

+ Whether you're happy to use older Epic figures alongside these models or not is, of course, going to depend on the individual (much as with the new Marines in 40k), but I'd note that tabletop distance is going to make the apparent jump in size between old and new Epic less relevant. +

+ In mechanical terms, infantry are going to be unaffected. Epic Armageddon demonstrated that the difference between strip, square and round bases is largely irrelevant, so infantry are going to work just fine. In terms of vehicles, if we take the statement that the models are one quarter the size of their 40k counterparts literally, we can estimate the length of the new models. Rhinos (and Predators etc.) are ~120mm long in 40k scale, which translates to 30mm long in the new Epic scale. +

 

+ Clockwise from top left: Epic: Armageddon (E:A) era Land Raider; Epic: Space Marine (1st ed.) (SM1) era Rhino; Epic: 40,000 (E:40k) era Dreadnought; E:A era Rhino. +

+ The pict-capture of some older tank sculpts above shows that the models are likely to be within spitting distance – around 5mm shorter – so while you might choose to go with all-new sculpts, I don't think there will be any particular mechanical problems with using old Epic armies. +

+ What about the Guard? +

+ Happily, Leman Russ tanks are the same length as the Predator, so again they should be 30mm long. +

Clockwise from top left: E:40k era Hellhound; E:40k era Leman Russ; third party 'forumware' Leman Russ; E:40k era Leman Russ (again).

+ Again, these look pretty close to me. Perhaps mixing old and new sculpts will make the differences more stark, but I think the main reason to be looking at the new models is that they're nice models in and of themselves, rather than because they have somehow made your existing collection obselete. +

+ Pew pew! Kaboom! +

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+ What else is in that sprue picture? +

+ I think I can make out:

• Space Marine infantry sprue
• Sicarian sprue
• A second Space Marine infantry sprue
• Predator sprue
• Two Warhound sprues
• Solar Auxilia infantry sprue (the one at the back, with ogryns).

+ ...And what does that tell us about the release model? +

+ Firstly, while we have mixed infantry sprues – that is, we have Terminators, Dreadnoughts and power-armoued marines on a single sprue – the vehicle types look to have been kept separate. This bodes well if you're after just one type (e.g. Predator). +

+ Judging them against the Warhound sprue size, I think all of the Epic sprues are smaller half-size sprues – akin to the other Boxed Games releases, like Blood Bowl, Warcry etc. My guess is that we'll see GW release boxes of two identical sprues for ~£30. My hope is that they'll be a little cheaper, to take account of the fact that the game supposedly demands multiples (as opposed to the other Boxed Games, where one box is typically the default for a side). +

+ I think it's notable that all the marines are in Mark VI; and am hoping that we'll see other marks of armour being introduced through follow-up releases. GW will be unlikely to want multiple identical boxes cannibalising each other, so I have a few related predictions:

• The pictured infantry sprue will be sold as Legionary Tactical detachment (or similar). The box will contain two identical sprues.
• Follow-up releases will contain a similar mix of figures, but in different marks of armour, and with options. They will be marketed as (e.g.) Legionary Recon detachment, Legionary Siege detachment. These will include just one or two Tactical (boltgun-armed) stands in the appropriate armour, and instead include Recon/Breacher marines. This model will be how things like Tartaros Terminators are released. The Contemptor Dreadnoughts will vary in armament or be replaced entirely.
• Note that the heavy weapon arms are separate from the figures. This is undoubtedly for production reasons, but it also means that other interchangeable weapons (such as lascannons or multimeltas) could be present on follow-up sprues. The theoretical Siege Marine release, for example, perhaps replacing the support squads with melta gunners and lascannons.

+ In terms of quantities of sprues, I'm anticipating the box will contain:

• Two Space Marine infantry sprues
• Two Solar Auxilia infantry sprues
• One Predator sprue
• One Leman Russ sprue
• One Sicarian sprue
• One Malcador sprue
• Three Warhound sprues (or possibly four, if they include the old guns alongside the new ones).

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+ ...And what does that tell us about the rules? +

+ Here's where the speculation might get a little bit wild-eyed, so buckle up (or don your tinfoil hat). With that said, the following is not complete wishlisting – it's based on what has been stated by GW. + 

+ Note the weapon options. Almost all the releases so far previewed include two options. Tanks, Dreadnoughts, static artillery... +

+ Perhaps it's purely aesthetic, but given the statement that Legions Imperialis :

'Warhammer has previously made several games in epic scale, and we’ll be taking a look down memory lane later this month, and this new game system is based on the best bits of previous incarnations of these epic scale games – while adding lots of cool new elements.'

... I think it likely that these reflect in-game mechanics. Looking at the options they've chosen, most fall neatly into 'anti-infantry' or 'anti-tank'; which was how Epic: 40,000 and Epic: Armageddon divided things. + 

+ Plasma is an arguable exception to this distinction – and it's common: we see it on the Deredeos above, as well as the Support Squad infantry and Sicarians. I think this may have the niche of 'mid-range all-rounder'; and it's notable that the Space Marines have it in abundance, while the Solar Auxilia have not a jot. That all-rounder theme is backed up by the Space Marine infantry sprue, where we see the Missile Launcher and plasma gun – neither obviously anti-tank nor anti-infantry. +

+ The Solar Auxilia, in contrast, show less flexibility. Their infantry are armed with anti-infantry axes and flamers, while their tanks don't appear to have specialist anti-infantry options. +

+ Night Lords from the latest terrain preview +

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+ Hold on a second... +

+ These themes – generalist and adaptable Space Marines formation and inter-reliant Imperial Guard is in line with previous editions of the game. If this is the case, of course, this is a pretty decent counter-argument for my guess that we'll see more specialist releases that blur these lines. +

+ After all, if the Solar Auxilia are defined by very fixed, specialist formations, and the Space Marines by being 'jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none', then releasing specialist formations for the Marines seems a bit odd. +

+ I'd agree; though it's also worth noting how much GW has emphasised that we'll be able to make our existing armies in miniature. I can't see them leaving out things like armour marks – and the opportunity to sell rulebooks and expansions that explore the differences between the Legions. New infantry in different armour marks and with different weapons just seem too tempting as a release option. We shall see, no doubt... +

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+ To close; I hope the rather tenuous connections I've made here have been interesting to read – and do feel free to exload a comment if there's something you think I've missed, would like to discuss further, or perhaps explain your guesses for the future of Legions Imperialis. +

+ In the meantime, I shall continue to anticipate the welcome return of Epic to the world – and perhaps enjoy that quiet cup of tea in the garden after all... +

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