+ inload: Post-event enthusiasm +

+ Gaming at The Corsair Gambit part II +

+ A company of Salamanders Predators sweep in on the attack. +

+ Last inload concerned polishing off a Legio Maximal Reaver Titan for a Legions Imperialis event run by Maximal Fire down at Entoyment in Poole. Very pleased to report that it was a lot of fun! Alex and Johnny who were running things had clearly put a lot of effort into making sure things ran smoohtly, and that was eased along by everyone being a really nice, friendly bunch of players. I'd thoroughly recommend further events down here – Entoyment is a real Aladdin's cave of gaming, and one of my few regrets was the schedule being so packed that I didn't get more chance to explore. +

+++

+ The background for this event was built on the results of the previous Corsair Gambit event earlier in the year, in which the forces of the Warmaster managed to establish a foothold on Nabed-Paleae, Forgethrone of Legio Maximal. As a Salamanders loyalist player, I was part of the taskforce sent to reclaim this critical world. +

+ I won't go into great depth about the games, but suffice to say they were all very fun, and it was a treat to come to a gaming event where everyone was so friendly. +

+ Game 1 +

+ A planetstrike against a defending Sons of Horus army. Highlights included the Kratos tanks that just would not die, the treacherous Reaver Moderatus (I missed all three of its – 2+ to hit – Volcano Cannon shots!), and an absolutely spectacular Sons of Horus army belonging to a great chap called Gary. +

+ I managed a narrow win on objectives here – my strategic skills rather flattered by the fact he had to deploy his army to defend the whole board, while I could pick and choose which parts to contest. +

+ If nothing else, these shots go to show just how cool Legions Imperialis looks on the boards Maximal Fire brought down – and bear in mind that this was one of ten or so, so they'd really put the effort in on terrain. +

+ Green on green. Playing against such a beautiful Sons of Horus army was a real highlight of the weekend. Helps that it was against such a sporting opponent and remained close all the way through. +

+ A shot from the viewpoint of Profugon Iratus. +

+++

+ Game 2 +

+ This game was an ambush scenario, with the Salamanders defending a central ridge against Night Lords attackers, led by a cunning commander whose name – alas – evades my leaking mem-banks. Apologies! +

+ A very different army to face. Rather than tanks with infantry and air support, here I was facing a mass of infantry, Dreadnoughts and jetbikes, largely deployed via Drop Pods. Quite the contrast, and a nice change of pace. At the last event, very little had been released, so most lists were pretty samey – not so here; a very diverse set of lists. +

+ Another very fun game against a lovely opponent who was very patient with explaining the intricacies of drop pods and transports to me. These events are always learning experiences for me; however well-prepared I try to be! +

+ A second close victory here – despite Profugon Iratus being surrounded and brought low by the swift and vicious Night Lords legion. Again, the result could esily have gone either way, and I benefitted from some event special rules that affected morale. The Salamanders' special rules are not quite a hard counter to the Night Lords', but I think were important in how a few close fights fell out. +

+ I had been warned that Titans were a bit pillow-fisted and ineffectual in Legions Imperialis, and I'm sorry to say that was my experience, too. On the plus side, I think having a lot of points tied up in one activation did help my games to go slightly quicker – and of course it was great to be able to field a campaign-specific Legio to lean into the theme of the event. +

+++

+ Game 3 +

+ The day closed with a short sharp shock of a game with the awesome Jon [+IGident: @jonlukedesign +] from Battle Bling – he had designed a lot of the bits in my army, in fact; from the Thunderhawk upgrades to the objective markers. +

+ I had faced his World Eaters at the previous event, and lost in a fairly close tussle across a dense city – but his beautiful army has clearly have been polishing their skills, as they took my army apart in two turns across the salt desert, with minimal casualties! +

+ I'd love to blame tiredness for the number of tactical blunders I made early on, leading to isolated picket forces being bypassed and troops being trapped in their transports, but full credit to him, he kept the pressure up and finished the job in a fittingly brutal World Eater style! +

+ Victories are lovely, but you learn a heck of a lot more from defeats – and when they're in such a friendly, collegiate atmosphere with such a nice gang, there's really nothing to mope about. A third very fun game. +

+++

+ Closing calculations – on Legions Imperialis +

+ I don't think I'm saying anything too contentious to say that Legions Imperialis is a flawed system. It is also, however, a lot of fun. Events like this demonstrate to me that you do get spectacular thematic games, and beneath all the needlessly complex chrome, bells and whistles it retains a good underlying engine that looks great on the table. +

+ You do, however, need to play with the right spirit of cooperation. It would be very easy to abuse the army-building, and if you're looking for the 'best' options in-game, there's rarely even much consideration. With this borne in mind, I was really pleased to see the sheer variety of armies and unit types that people had brought – these were a group of people who clearly love both the setting and the scale, and valued playing the game first and foremost. I'm very grateful to have been playing in this sort of environment. +

+ I hate to say it, but as it stands I'd hesitate to recommend Legions Imperialis to new players until there's a substantial FAQ or revision. I hope that in a year or two the army list, agonisingly incompletely and broken up across multiple expensive expansions, is collected into a single volume. +

+ Of course, when you do get these ingredients together – sportsmanship, beautiful armies, great tables – it's a heady combo, and the game is really very fun. Things largely do what you'd expect them to, and you get the sense of a 'grand sweep of battle'. I just hope GW can get their act together to make Legions Imperialis the success it could be. +

+++

+ Closing calculations – on the Corsair Gambit +

+ On the event itself, I have no real criticisms. Very nicely run, and some flavourful additions that added to the theme. Three games at 2,000pts did feel a little crammed, but we were asked midway through the first whether we'd prefer to cut things to two games. We ended up pressing ahead for three, which I think was the right decision, but for future events – particularly if they're at larger points limits – I think I'd prefer a two-game per day approach. +

+ Personally, I'd have loved this to be done over the course of a weekend; it was nice to meet and catch up with people from last time, but it would have been even better to have less time pressure, and some more time to socialise. +

+ We also got to see a sneak preview of, and free sample from, Battlebuilder – a very snazzy-looking nameplate service that's a collaboration between Maximal Fire, Battle Bling and some others. I hope to do a proper look at that in the near future, but the thing that made it jump out to me is that you can design things 'live' on the website itself. +

 

+ Glittering prizes +

+ I was also delighted to receive the Best Painted trophy, which you can see nuzzled between the free objectives pack we were given, and a flyer for Entoyment's Beachhead 2025 event next year. Winning this was very unexpected, given the quality of armies on display. Turns out that I can thoroughly recommend painting a Titan from the organiser's Legion to score some brownie points with the judges! +

+++

+ The true test of an event is whether you come away filled with enthusiasm, and I'm happy to say that I'm already planning for a potential third event in the Corsair Stars – you can see some additional Land Raider reinforcements above, and as you'll see below, I've also got started on an Iron Skulls maniple for Adeptus Titanicus, too. More on this shortly... +

+ inload: Legions Imperialis army-building notes +

+ Building an Army in Legions Imperialis +

+ Paintbrushes down and... done! The Second Company – swollen by some reservists – is all painted and ready for battle. But how do we organise the models into a game-ready force? That's what we'll look at here. + 

+ The army-building is, in the grand tradition of Epic, virtually unrecognisable from edition to edition, and Legions Imperialis (LI) is no exception. +

Salamanders 2nd Company – the Defenders of Nocturne

+++

+ Getting your head round the terms +

+ Army-building in LI is not as complex as it might appear, but it is potentially confusing if you've played other versions of Epic before, as the same old terms are used in slightly different ways. This inload is intended to help clarify things – and also an excuse to show off my shiny new models! +

Tactical Legionaries and a Dreadnought being led into the fires of battle by their courageous Captain.

+ In LI, each stand of infantry or individual tank is called a model – what would have been called a Unit or Stand in Epic: Armageddon (EA) or Epic: Space Marine (SM2). The term model is used consistently, so don't be thrown by the fact that there are five figures on a base – together, they are still one model.  +

+ Models are grouped into Detachments, which were called Formations in EA, or Company Cards in SM2. This was the top level of subdivision in EA/SM2, where armies were built around groups of Formations or particular Company cards. + 

+ In LI, there's another level: Detachments are formed into super-groups called Formations, and one or more of these will make up your army. +

+ While the shared terminology but be stumbling block to an old player, this system is hopefully nice and clear if you're new: you have an Army with one or more Formations, each of which is made up of Detachments, each of which is made up of Models. +

+++

+ Formations and detachments +

+ For anyone coming in from 40k, you might remember Force Organisation Charts (FOC) – a little table that gave you slots that you either had to fill, or were able to. This was an attempt to create forces consistent with the background, so an army would have to have a leader and some line infantry units alongside specialist units. +

+ Formations work in much the same way: you have Compulsory  and Optional Detachments of different types:

+ The Plasma Gun-armed Marines below are an example of a Support Detachment, while the Tactical Marines behind them are a Core Detachment. The variety and number of the Compulsory and Optional Detachments is what will give your particular army its character and individuality. +

Plasma gun-armed marines start as Support Detachments of four Models, which can be expanded.

+ In addition to a particular combination of Detachment 'slots', Formations sometimes have a special limitation or bonus. In the case of the Legion Demi-Company Formation, from which the extract above is taken, the limitation is that the Compulsory Core Detachments have to be Legionary Tactical Detachments. The bonuses that the Formation offers are a boost to infantry's ability to capture objectives, and the ability to mount infantry in Rhinos without using up a Transport Detachment slot. +

+++

+ Wait, where's...? +

A converted Space Marine Captain – he's traded his power sword with the Terminator to his left, and has a Mark II helmet taken from a spare Rhino crewman. The final touch is a bolt pistol from a spare Sergeant model. Fun and quick to convert at this scale! 

+ Thus far we only have two Formations for Space Marines, and there are a number of Detachments types that are either very limited – Transport and Core have only one option each, for example – or absent altogether. There are no current options for Space Marine Light Armour, Vanguard or Artillery Detachments. The Solar Auxilia suffer in the same way. +

+ This can be a bit confusing when putting things together, particularly if you're trying to future-proof things or plan your purchases. Doubtless future releases will fill in some of these lacunae, but its worth being aware that some apparent options are just not there when you come to start building your Army. +

+++

+ Upgrading +

+ Like SM2's Support Cards or EA's Upgrade system, you can customise Formations a little – generally by expanding them with more of the same type of Models. The Devastators (or rather 'Legion Missile Launcher Support Detachment') below, for example, start as four Models, but have limited expansion options: either increasing the Detachment size by 2 or by 4. +

+ The 'photoshoot' example above, then, is not allowed. Dreadnoughts are not a valid upgrade, and you're not allowed to take individual stands. It's thus not quite as flexible as the super-flavourful Epic: 40,000 (E40k), but slightly more so than SM2. + 

+ The hard limits are not a huge problem, but you might like to bear them in mind as you build your kits. Since you get a few optional choices for sergeants and things, with some clever trimming (or simply having fewer models per base, or not minding having a few additional sergeants dotted around), you can stretch your kits a bit further should you so wish. If you do so, you might end up with some odd 'orphan' stands – so you might instead like to just save these spares minis to add some flair to a Titan base or scenery instead. +

Each sprue comes with six Assault marines including a Sergeant. For every six sprues, you can get one spare stand, if you don't mind having a non-Codex proportion of Sergeants – or, as shown above, you can easily do a bit of trimming to convert the Sergeants into regular Assault Marines.

+ Thus far, Core Detachments like the Tactical Marines (more formally the 'Legion Tactical Detachment') have slightly more flexibility built into them. As well as increasing in size with more Tactical stands, you can also bring in Plasma Gun- or Missile Launcher-armed models, and even Assault Marines or Terminators. This brings in some complexity and decision-making at the army building stage. +

+++

+ Options, options... +

+ Once you've got the terminology clear, building an army is then as straightforward as it ever has been – though it's easy to get siezed by analysis paralysis. What's the best Detachment size? How many upgrades should I take, and what sort? +

+ This, I suspect, is going to be very difficult to answer until you start playing some games and seeing what works – and to be honest, I'm rather relishing the idea of getting in early, before everything gets hyper-analysied and optimised. That way I can just enjoy playing with what I think feels right, and find things out the hard way. +

+++

+ How many points is this? +

+ Here's the rub. Pictured here is – give or take – what you get from three boxes of Legions Astartes Infantry; or to put it another way, on six sprues. There are also some old metals Dreadnoughts and new plastic Rhinos included in the picture here, which aren't in the box – but you do get two Contemptors per sprue, too, so it roughly evens out. +

+ Building these six sprues as GW intends (i.e. without stretching things), you will end up with:

• 24 stands of Tactical Marines
• 6 stands of Assault Marines
• 6 stands of Devastator Marines
• 6 stands of marines with Plasma Guns
• 6 stands of Terminator
• 6 Contemptor Dreadnoughts
• 6 Command stands.

+ I've not followed that pattern, and haven't optimised the models – but as you can see, I've already ended up with a couple of extra stands, and a little pile of spare Marines (mostly command models and veterans) that I can save for future use. +

+ Still, taking that list above, you can make something like this army:

Formation 1: Legion Demi-Company

• Compulsory Detachments
• HQ: Legion Command Squad (1 stand)
• Core: Legion Tactical Detachment (4 stands)
• +2 extra stands
• Core: Legion Tactical Detachment (4 stands)
• +2 extra stands
• Support: Legion Plasma Gun Detachment (4 stands)
• +2 extra stands
• Optional Detachments
• Support: Legion Assault Detachment (4 stands)
• + 2 extra stands
Support: Legion Terminator Detachment (4 stands)
• + 2 extra stands

Formation 2: Legion Demi-Company

• Compulsory Detachments
• HQ: Legion Command Squad (1 stand)
• Core: Legion Tactical Detachment (4 stands)
• +2 extra stands
• Core: Legion Tactical Detachment (4 stands)
• +2 extra stands
• Support: Legion Missile Launcher Detachment (4 stands)
• +2 extra stands
• Optional Detachments
• Support: Legion Dreadnought Detachment (4 models)
• + 2 extra stands

+ That's everything used up except for four Command Stands – and it only comes to 550pts(!). Given that the game is explicitly intended for 3,000pts, that's a lot of painting to do – to mention nothing of the cost. Realistically, I think that an all-infantry army is not, therefore, very feasible. +

+ Happily, with tanks, Titans and flyers being relatively expensive in comparison, I think that this might be intentional – infantry are dirt cheap in this game, but apparently pivotal in actually claiming objectives. In short, unglamorous – but you'll want to take some. +

Seas of infantry are awesome, but you'll need very deep pockets. I'd suggest a mixed force is going to be both more practical, and also more fun for both you and the other players.

+ Why two Formations? +

+ You'll note that I've split the army across two Formations, but you could (just about) squeeze everything into one if you prefer. The reason I've gone for two is that it opens up your options for allies. You can't have more Allied Formations than the Faction you've chosen for your main army. +

+ Thus, if you want to use the Solar Auxilia and the Titans that come in the core box, you'll need at least two Astartes formations to be able to field them. +

+++

+ A few thoughts for forward planning +

+ With so few releases actually being available, you're very limited on what you can actually do with them. For example, there's currently no way to field the Legion Garrison Force Formation (at least with GW models only), as it requires a Bastion Detachment – models for which have been previewed but not released. +

Where's my fire support?

+ Because of the upgrade system, you can currently just about field one box of Marines as-is. This will allow you to play the game in a very limited way and get your head round the mechanics, but I'd suggest that a second box will give you far more fun. This is because it will allow you to have separate Detachments of all the specialists, rather than having them act as upgrades for the Tacticals. +

+ Beyond that, I'd suggest that a third box (like I've got above) will be useful going forward, but more than four might be a bit premature at this stage. +

+ Apart from anything else, the upcoming dreadnought/support weapon box is going to give you the option to field the Garrison Formation, and the previewed bikes/jetbikes box implies either a new Formation coming in the next book, or at least some Vanguard Detachment options for your existing Formations. +

+++

+ Conclusion +

+ The army building system is pleasingly straightforward if you're fresh to the game and don't overthink it. If you're coming to it from previous editions of Epic, or are trying to optimise the models you've got, then you may find the tweaks to terminology – or lack of available models – cause you some problems. +

+ In the short term, an extra box or two of infantry – if you can get hold of them – is a safe purchase, as they'll increase your options and give you something to be getting on with while we wait for more. I would, however, dissuade you from going crazy on buying huge numbers more for the moment, unless you have something very specific in mind. +

+ On a related note, I don't think the Core box on its own is a great way to kick off the game, unless you're planning to swap some of the models with someone else. It will give you a very small, very odd game-ready force, but you'll have to jump through a few hoops to do so. +

+ Likewise, and rather more annoyingly, the army list presented in the core rulebook is very limited. If you've got the game, then I suggest you concentrate simply on making and painting the models for now, rather than trying to put together a meaningful 'finished army'. Like Necromunda and Adeptus Titanicus before it, this game is cursed with DLC. It seems to be part of GW's new way of working, a model inherited from the worst bits of computer gaming and downloadable content. As noted by Kym (Warburton) in the comments on this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], the prospect of buying half a dozen books to get a full army list is a real disincentive to getting involved at all. +

+ Like those games, if you come back to it in six months' or a year's time, I think you'll end up with a more complete and more enjoyable game overall. For those early adopters, it's going to be a limited experience while GW get their releases in order, and we're effectively going to be beta-testing the game. +

+++

+ It's not all bad news. What little has been released is awesome, and because the game has inherited the models of both Aeronautica Imperialis and Adeptus Titanicus, if you're prepared to use skewed lists or step outside of the strict limits of army building, you'll be able to play some interesting scenarios. +

+ If you've got old Epic models, or are able to get third party stand-ins, there are more Detachments in the rulebook that will increase your options. While not the complete Space Marine army that you might wish for, you'll at least be able to bring in some more Dreadnoughts and Support Weapons for further flavour and interest. +

+++

+ What now? +

+ Happily, I don't have to wait for GW to get their releases out, as I can concentrate on putting together the Orks and Eldar [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] to face this rather more limited Space Marine (and Guard) threat. +

+ GW's release model has left me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth – though given the delays and supply side problems they're apparently facing, it seems a bit unsporting to gripe too much about it. After all, I've only just finished off the infantry I've bought, and have plenty of tanks and Solar Auxilia to get on with – so it seems only fair to give them the benefit of the doubt and save any further complaints over lack of releases until after I've run out of stuff to paint! +

+++

+ In the meantime, I hope the inload's given you some food for thought, and you've enjoyed the piccies. I'm hoping to get a test game in this week, so I'll come back with some thoughts after that. +

+++

 

+ inload: A look at Legions Imperial infantry +

+ A look at the Legions Imperialis Astartes Infantry box +

'Shouldn't we be smaller?'
'Yes, but GW's shipping seems to be taking inspiration from the Adeptus Munitorum, so they'll have to make do with 40k-scale Salamanders for the moment. +

+++

+ First thoughts +

+ For those who played older versions of Epic, you'll find much that is familiar in the new Legions Astartes Infantry kit for Legions Imperialis. Each sprue contains a variety of troop types, so more akin to later releases than the very early single model sprues. You get two identical sprues in the box, each intending you to build:

• 4 stand of Tactical marines
• 1 stand of Assault marines
• 1 stand of Devastators
• 1 stand of Marines with plasma guns
• 1 Command stands
• 1 stand of Terminators
• 2 Contemptor dreadnoughts

+ Double this up and you end up with... not quite enough to build standalone detachments for the new game. Unless you buy two boxes, or combine it with the models you get in the big game box, most of these stands will have to be upgrades to a Tactical detachment, rather than their own thing. +

+ Is this a problem? Well, your mileage will vary. I think the take-up of Epic 40,000 (E:40k) suffered because the boxes both dropped in content and increased in price in comparison with the earlier giant boxes for Space Marine (SM2) – and likewise you ended up with one or two stands of (say) bikes rather than the entire formations you used to get. I'd hate for those on the fence to be put off by the prospect of buying multiples to get useable formations. +

+ Another problem of the two sprue approach is variety. The big SM2 boxes were so packed that they allowed huge amounts of variety right from the off, while I think the cost/value ratio here will mean that people will want to squeeze everything possible out of it. That'll lead to very samey armies, which is a shame. +

+ From my point of view, while it's certainly nice to get lots of variety on the sprue, I think I would have preferred Dreadnoughts and Terminators to have been released separately and have a more focussed box. If there is anything here that you don't want, then the already high price (£30) is a good excuse to leave it on the shelf. +

+++

+ Chapter Astartes – using them in the 41st Millenium +

+ I am pleased to say that the new models in and of themselves are a lot of fun – though not perfect. They are without a doubt a substantial improvement on previous generations of GW's Epic Space Marines. Standing ~8.5mm from foot to the top of the model, there are a variety of poses and lots of lovely detail. As much detail as I'd like? Well, that's arguable. There are lots (and lots) of alternative power-armoured 6mm models, and freely-available files for 3D printing for pretty much every combination of Space Marine you might wish. Lots of those, to be frank, beat these into a cocked hat in terms of absolute detail and lack of design compromises. +

+ I do like to support the creators of the IP where possible, and the convenience and resilience offered by these plastics is a strong point in favour – but I can quite understand anyone who comes to the conclusion that third party models are a better choice for them. The elephant in the room addressed, let's get back to the kit itself. +

+ The kit combines various Mark VI Space Marine infantry models (that is, beakies) with two Contemptor Dreadnoughts. You get quite a few options for Contemptor legs, oddly – four individual legs for each body – while other options are essentially model swap-outs. For example, there are sufficient marines with jump packs to allow for different sergeant load-outs. This is a nice little touch, and means that even if you stick rigidly with the suggested way of assembling, you'll end up with some nice visual variety across your force and even a few spares to scatter about – perhaps on Titan bases or the like. +

Contemptor dreadnought, marine with plasma gun and marine with boltgun.

+ Refreshingly, there are multiple poses for even the basic troops, and this is a step-change for GW's Epic models. The larger absolute size means that it's generally clear which models are which – and painting will help make distinct those very close, like the two above. While it may seem a little thing that you've got more than one Tactical Marine pose, it will make a huge difference to the look of a whole army – and that variety will (I hope) grow with further releases. +

+ It's not all sunshine and rainbows, however. Even a cursory search for the new models online will reveal the extrusions/stretching caused to the poses of some of the boltgun marines by the limitations of the manufacturing method. I'll show you how I fixed this to my satisifaction in a future inload, as I didn't have time to get shots for this one. For the moment, it's enough to say that it's a (thankfully) quick and simple fix. While I personally don't think it's a catastrophic  decision – and my overall impression remains very positive – it's a definite black mark against the sprue for me, and I hope that further releases take the complaints into account. + 

+ The models are designed for the Horus Heresy setting, but as most of the PCRC – my most likely opponents – have ork or Tau armies, I'd like to make sure that these will fit in with the 40k setting; and specifically the Second War for Armageddon. If possible, I'd also like them to pull double-duty and not look too out of place in the HH setting. +

+ While I haven't made any firm decisions on how to finally glue them, it strikes me that the kit is as well suited to building a 40k-style Space Marine Battle Company as it is a 30k style force – and I think scattering the plasma guns and missile launchers around Tactical Squads would both look cool and help differentiate the force from its 30k equivalants. +

+++

+ Painting Epic-scale Salamanders +

+ The 'Winterblade', Pellas Mir'san of the 2nd Company +

+ Salamanders are a natural choice for me here – present in both 30k and on Armageddon in 40k; and also a lovely vibrant colour scheme that stands out well. This force will let me expand The Ashes of Armageddon project – and I think it'll be fun to explore. +

+ It's worth emphasising two very important features of the new sprue: by and large each infantry model is attached by just one point to the sprue, and they have little puddle bases rather than the old big round. These two changes seem minor, but they make all the difference. I'm willing to forgive a little delay for this, as it will make a huge leap in actually getting the models painted and on the board. +

+ Painting +

+ The green I've used to spray them gave me a jolt of nostaglia, as it's the same green as the sprue on my mate Malcolm's original box of Epic +

+ I started off by spraying the sprues with Halford's Camo green. This provided a mid-toned base. Once dry, I removed the infantry from the sprue and cleaned them up – or rather, I tried to. Thankfully, the new sprues benefit from GW's excellent manufacturing, so there are no visible seams, flash or mouldlines that needed cleaning. Even the burrs caused by clipping them from the sprue are on the puddle base, safely hidden away. Whatever reservations I have about GW's logistics and management, I have none for their sprue layout designers. +

+ I also assembled the Contemptors at this point – and while I'm equanimous about their presence of the infantry sprue, I must confess that they are jolly nice little fellows that went together well. The designers have integrated pegs and sockets in the legs, allowing for variety and preventing the bugbear of old Epic – monopose muliples – while also making it a breeze to create cool poses. +

+ The method used is a development of that I've used for my 40k-scale Dust of Armageddon related project. +

+ The next step was to use little dots of superglue to reattach the models on the top of the sprue frame – see the image above for what I mean – and give them a zenithal spray of Colour Forge's Salamander Green, creating a hint of preshading. That completed the preparation for the Space Marines, so onto the bases. +

+ Next up will be an oil wash and picking out details –  and I think that'll pretty much be it. +

+++

+ Bases +

+ From squares to strips to circles, it's not Epic without changes to basing. While my pre-ordered copy has yet to grace my doorstep (grumble grumble), I can't imagine that the base style you use will have any effect on the game – but if you want to try something else, you'll need twenty-two of them, as that's how many 25mm bases you get included in the kit. +

+ First and foremost, you'll notice no recesses in the new bases – and good riddance. The five little holes made placement of models rigid and awkward, highlighting their nature as game tokens rather than cool models. It was a pain to get to the centre figure, unnecessarily awkward to apply and paint basing material, and the slight gaps always seemed to show. I am very much looking forward to putting the models on the bases in arrangements more suggestive of combat than the parade ground. + 

+ The bases come pre-textured with an urban style. Nice enough if that's what you're after, but not great if you want something different. I very nearly decided to just use 2p pieces – they're the same size and give the stands a bit of heft – but then spotted that the underneath of the new bases is ever so slightly recessed. This seems a minor thing, but having the centre of the base raised even a hint makes a surprising difference when playing on the Realm of Battle board I've just painted up. +

+ I therefore got to work with a bit of texture paste and sand. I was going to completely cover each one, but found that some of the detail works quite nicely left exposed, as you can see below. You'll spot I also added some larger bits of grit and a couple of bases from the Titanicus industrial terrain sprue.+

+ Once dry, these were sprayed Halford's camo brown. Once dry, I gave them a light dusting from a shallow angle with Halford's camo khaki to pick up the detail – a very quick scheme indeed! +

+++

+ Closing thoughts +

+ This is a good but flawed kit, and while well-engineered, I think GW ought to up their game. Plastics have many advantages over other materials for Epic, but a key one – economy of scale – is not being used here, and as a result the decision to buy these or source alternatives is not clear cut at all. The compromises made to the sculpts for the sake of single-piece models is (in my opinion) fine, but at full price, and with so many good alternatives, this is a kit I feel reticent to recommend whole-heartedly. +

+ Are these models nice? Yes. Are my opinions coloured by nostalgia? Doubtless. Are these models worth picking up? Well, as always that'll depend on your own preferences. They are unarguably a huge improvement over previous editions – and not merely the expected result of thirty or so years of manufacturing developments. These have clearly been very carefully planned and thought-out, and invested with a lot of love by the designers. Nevertheless, there are also some unarguable niggles that even someone keen to like them and prepared to overlook a few flaws might find not merely annoying, but properly off-putting. +

+ To finish on a positive note, in isolation, these are a delight. For a fan of older editions of Epic, if you'd put this kit in front of me ten years ago, I'd have been absolutely blown away. Full of the weird charm of their bigger cousins, this kit is varied and interesting, and a good balance of crisp detail, and gameworthy sturdiness. These are perfect little miniatures of your miniatures, and I defy anyone to build a few stands of them and not end up with a big grin on their face. +

+ 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... + 

+++

+ 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.

+++

+ 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.

+++

+ 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! +

+++

+ 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).

+++

+ ...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 +

+++

+ 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... +

+++

+ 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... +

+++