Citadel have used various scales in both their plastic and metal miniatures. The Epic game is considered to be in 6mm scale and is Warhammer 40K, albeit with different rules. GW also did 6mm scale miniatures for Warmaster, which was the equivalent of Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WHFB). 6mm is also referred to as 1/300th (1:300) scale, which is a US army scale introduced in the 1960’s, or 1/285 (1/285) scale, which is the NATO standard scale. I say referred to, as none of these three scales are actually the same size. 6mm is a nice round number and they are as close to that, for the purposes of a scaled down wargame, so no one is going to notice. Perspective wise, a squat trooper is 6mm tall with an imperial Guardsmen being 7mm. Ignoring the locating Epic base insert piece, these heights are taken to the top of the head. I only mention this as some manufacturers work out their scales to eye level, others to the actual head height. Eye level is used as some miniatures wear helmets or tall hats, so measuring to eye level actually gives a good idea of scale of the actual body proportions.

Due to the smaller 6mm scale models Epic allows for much larger scale mass battles using hundreds, or even thousands, of soldiers and huge amounts of vehicles. Humans are reduced to 6mm (ish) and a few are used on each base to represent the troops, so you can get much larger scale battles. Each model is just a representational indication of where the troops are located on the battlefield and what they look like, rather than showing their exact size. You will still see odd things, a few trees representing a whole woodland and troops being too large compared to the earlier vehicles that they come out of. GW did size up the later issued vehicle miniatures a little to deal with this, but still the actual troop figures would be hard pressed to squeeze into the vehicles. Most budding Generals overlook this for the purposes of a fair and workable game and understand that the laws of physics need to be bent and broken a little. Gamers suspend disbelief, perhaps with a little relief that the troops can be painted without a microscope!

An equivalent for Epic would be the Warhammer 40K Apocalypse game that GW brought out, as they both deal with larger battlefields and commanding a larger number of troops and vehicle units. Epic has a lot going for it, as it has more of a battle look with a more realistic ground scale.

On top of these benefits, financially Epic was a good game to get into. You could get started quickly from a boxed set, but as with any hobby, it depends how far you want to go with it. I would have to say that the overall outlay would be less than both Warhammer 40K and Warhammer 40,000 Apocalypse. Games Workshop has had scale creep over some ranges, but even without that once you start adding Titans, Super-Heavy Tanks and Aircraft onto the table for the larger scale 28mm games, things can get a bit too crowded. Warhammer 40K Apocalypse offers rules to field even larger armies which would be way too impractical using the basic Warhammer 40,000 rules. It needs a sizeable battlefield as GW has made some really large models for it, great models, but some are nearly a foot tall. Personally I’ve seen 40K gaming tables pretty overcrowded, and the Apocalypse rules only add to this.

Epic players can easily utilize many aircraft at once, which adds another level to the game. Other than the cost benefit of the 6mm scale the amount of space needed to store your armies and the gaming terrain is less. Add in the fact that this size of miniature is much quicker to build and paint, then you are onto a winner.

Plus, larger scale games cannot use artillery ranges effectively, or as realistically as the smaller scale game pieces can. The longer ranged weapons are effectively capped. In any wargame the miniatures are only really to show where the troops and vehicles are on the battlefield. They are there so it can be seen what they actually look like. 6mm Epic models are no different. Realistically even the scaled down 6mm futuristic weapon ranges would still be way off the board, but I think that this scale ensures that discrepancies are less noticeable in game.

Initially Epic had both plastic and metal miniatures to play it with, which were improved on over time and later moved into the Specialist Games section of Games Workshop's online store. It was a sad day for many when GW ceased their Specialist Game range, in 2013, to focus on their core games. Forge World, a separate division of Games Workshop, also produced some very nice specialist resin gaming pieces, both ground and air units. The aircraft could also be used for Forgeworld's Aeronautica Imperialis game. Prior to Forge World being set up there were other companies, such as armorcast and Epicast, producing miniatures under licence. Details on them can be found here:

http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Resin_Vehicles_%26_Titans

The Specialist Games section was set up by GW around ten years earlier. GW grouped together their non-core games (40K and WHFB were the main earners), to market and develop the games, create additional rules regards them and come up with new ideas. GW basically reached out to its market and the very dedicated player community responded. That same player community were very unhappy when the decision came to close it down, as there was, and still is, a very hardcore following of the game. You’ll find a very loyal fan base across the world for Epic as well as a few of the other Specialist Games, such as Battlefleet Gothic, Bloodbowl and Mordheim to be a few. So much so, that the game actually developed even after Games Workshop moved on from it. There are various forums where you’ll find beautifully painted armies and detailed battle reports on the game from very dedicated players.

The highly playable rules that were developed by GW throughout were great, although some will argue towards one edition over another, due to the games mechanics changing, but then such opinions are nothing new. In my opinion certain things put this game amongst the best of the genre. Various Games Workshop games will have a player moving all his units and doing all the firing at once, but raises the bar with regard to this. Instead players take turns moving formations and can give them a choice of different orders, so they will react differently in the game to whatever engages them. This really adds to the tactics of the game and although simplistic in gameplay, makes the game more tactically complex. Leading to a much more fluid battlefield. There’s a wide variety of different Epic armies out there to choose from. Plus there are the official GW rules, of the varying eras, and of course unofficial rules as well. Players are spoilt for choice.

1988 showed the release of the 1st edition of Epic. It was designed by Jervis Johnson and initially consisted of the Adeptus Titanicus (AT) boxed set. Epic has had various editions over the years, gradually changing over the period and it was not even called Epic originally. That term did not appear on a boxed set, as the name of the game, until 1994. The Adeptus Titanicus game contained the rules, Styrofoam buildings and plastic miniatures to play the game. Although the first edition background fluff in the rulebook was perhaps a bit light on the ground (yeah I know, it was filled full of rules. Shocker!), it was a great game that involved tabletop battles between opposing groups of Imperial and Chaos Titans (Loyalists or Traitors). The game was set amidst the galaxy wide war that was to later become known as the Horus Heresy. Basically human civilization at war with itself with the Adeptus Titanicus rules being used to recreate the greatest Titan battles of Imperial history.

You had the stats for Warlord, Reaver, Warhound, Emperor (Imperator or Warmonger) and the Shadowsword and Baneblade super-heavy tanks. I don’t think miniatures for these tanks came out until much later though. A White Dwarf advert appeared in February 1989 (WD 110) for an Eldar Titan and Eldar and Imperial Dreadnoughts but a lot of the smaller metal miniatures only started to appear late 1990, and many can be seen in the 1991 Blue catalogue.

The Titan models had different guns and close combat weapon arms to add some detail to the models and retain interest in the game. You could easily customize your Titans and there were also campaign rules. The FASA Corporation had launched their 6mm scale BattleTech mecha warfare boardgame earlier in 1984. That was also a military science fiction wargame. You controlled large robot looking war machines (Mechs) and due to it being a very good game it was becoming very popular. I believe Games Workshop put out the Adeptus Titanicus boxed set to counter this, as at that point, if there was any market or niche for miniatures, then GW was on it.

The original Adeptus Titanicus rules were then followed by various White Dwarf expansion articles. The first being in the White Dwarf 108 December 1988 issue which discussed Titan colour schemes with Honour Banners in a nice Eavy Metal article. The following WD 109 January 1989 had rules for Armoured Vehicles, such as Land Raiders and Rhinos, and also Reavers and Warhounds. There was also an advert for Jes Goodwin’s Reaver and Warhound class Titans. Over a prolonged period, all the way up to WD 197 May 1996. White Dwarf produced various expansion articles giving various optional rules, army lists and the games organizational charts. Epic is going to be revisited by GW, but you can see a list of all the articles for the early editions on this page here:

https://www.hiveworldterra.co.uk/clanbertram_archive/GW/Epic_SM_TLart.htm

1989 showed further development of the genre with the release of Space Marine (SM). The box was actually titled: Space Marine Epic Battles in the Age of Heresy. So I assume this phrase is where the name, that everyone refers to this game as, starts to come from. Both the Adeptus Titanicus and Space Marine games could be combined or played on their own. Space Marine added plastic sprues of infantry and small vehicles and also had folded card buildings with styrene roofs, which packed down easier unlike the prior ones sold. Epic became more of a mass combat system and started to form into the game that it is today.

The Space Marine game was designed by both Jervis Johnson and Rick Priestley. I believe that it was set in the 30th millennium (30K) and this box actually had the term Heresy on it. SM featured warring factions of Space Marines in the civil war which was a clever move, as the costs to machine the moulds for two separate factions with different troops and vehicles would have been substantial. That investment may not have paid off, if the game did not sell, but to have the same miniatures representing each side kept the costs down for only a few words in the background storyline. This early version of Epic was a bit complex, perhaps leaning towards a Warhammer 40K attitude, with individual models on a 5 man infantry base having multiple weapons and firing repeatedly. Rather than them being dealt with as a single squad.

1989 gave players the Codex Titanicus supplement book which contained rules for the Ork and Eldar (Space Elves). Codex Titanicus corrected minor issues with incompatibility between the previous Adeptus Titanicus and Space Marine games. It brought together various rules that had been published in White Dwarf magazine. Such as the refined rules for Epic scale infantry, by Jervis Johnson and Mike Brunton, shown in WD 110. It also included some new rules as well, such as a campaign system and had various full colour data counters, order cards and templates. This compilation was advertised in WD 116 August 1989 with plastic miniatures for the Orc and Eldar models.

Citadel brought out various Epic Battles boxed sets of plastic miniatures for the game from this year through 1990 and 1991 running into the 2nd edition. These sets consisted of the Warlord Battle Titans, Epic Chaos Horde, Eldar Legion, Epic Eldar War Host, Epic Imperial Guard, Ork Horde, Epic Ork Invasion, Epic Stompers, Epic Space Marines, and Squat Warriors.

1991 showed the release of the 2nd edition of Epic, which was titled: Space Marine Epic Conflict in the War-Torn Universe of the 41st Millennium. A bit of a mouthful so I can see why people ended up just calling it Epic. The game (Space Marine 2, SM2) was developing, with revisions to the rules that removed a lot of the complexity from the prior basic system but added substantial special abilities. This set included the ever popular Space Marines with Land Raiders MKI, Rhinos and an Imperial Warlord Titan MKI. It also included Ork Battlewagons and Eldar Falcon Grav-Tanks. Players had to wait a few years for the Titan Legions boxed set though, as that didn’t come out until 1994. The boxed sets full title was Epic Titan legions Gigantic War Machines Clash in Epic Conflict, and the rules (Codex Titanicus) were written by Andy Chambers.This contained enhanced rules for Titans, an Imperial Emperor-class Imperator Titan miniature, 10 Imperial Knights, 2 Ork Mega-Gargants, and 12 Ork Bonebreaka tanks.

The Imperator and Orc Mega-Gargants were totally overpowered and could take on an entire army on their own. You’d need a sizeable game to utilise this Mega-class army choice fairly and only two races had the availability of this size of vehicles. I’d see these as unbalancing for a fair game but you’d have a lot of fun with them. GW moved away from them later on but did put in stats for them in the later 4th Edition Armageddon rulebook in 2003. These were not included in the army lists in that book, with good reason, but were shown in the Collectors model section in the appendices. You find the Imperator with a long list of weapons, damage capacity 18. and 8 void shields. Hmnnnn, I can see why GW edged away from this class of vehicle. 

There were also some excellent supplements for the Space Marine second edition game that were brought out throughout this period, which greatly expanded the other factions forces. These were the boxed expansion sets, Armies of the Imperium (released in 1991), Ork and Squat Warlords (released in 1992), Renegades, for the forces of Chaos and the Eldar (released in 1992) and the Hive War Tyranid supplement (released in 1995). These included all the rules, tokens, Epic army cards and templates needed. In 1993 there was also the White Dwarf Presents Space Marine Battles source book. This full colour publication was mostly a collection of reprinted White Dwarf articles all in one book but still worth the money to have it all collated in one place. 

Space Marine 2nd edition was one of Games Workshop’s most popular gaming systems in the 1990s, and I can fully understand why. The amount of miniatures available expanded massively for this edition of Epic, with a huge wealth of choice to arm your preferred faction. Excellent page here, showing a huge amount of the models available:

http://www.galactic-intrigue.com/epicollector/Pages/2-Catalog/Catalog-Overview-Frames.html

Resin vehicles and Titan miniatures can be found on this page here:

http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Resin_Vehicles_%26_Titans#Monolith

The 2nd edition rules were later expanded on by the diehard fans and this created the unofficial NetEpic rules, but more on that later.

1997 brought the 3rd edition of Epic. This was designed by Jervis Johnson and Andy Chambers. It was released as a boxed set and was titled: Epic 40,000 Massive Armies Clash in the 41st Millennium, but unlike all the prior editions it was released as a single set of rules. The name clearly set it 10,000 years after the prior editions Horus Heresy era. I assume the third edition game was not as popular with the original fans of the game and I guess was not taken up by new players, as it was only supported by Games Workshop for about 6 months before being withdrawn. The designers believe that this edition’s rule set was the best they ever came up with, as this simpler edition leaned more towards use of good tactics rather than luck and special abilities.

There were three books, the Armies Book, the Battles Book and the Rulebook. Although they were in colour they were pretty thin compared to what had come prior, being close on A5 size, so I can imagine people thinking that they had been shortchanged. The available detachments were also thinned down in detail and perhaps oversimplified. For many players, Epic was all about the different unit types and choice of weapons available for them. This streamlined ruleset, greatly reduced special abilities that were now available but being simpler, did lead to faster gameplay though, which was clearly the overall aim of the games designers.

Third edition did introduce the blast markers though, which was a stroke of genius. These were very simple but effective little explosion tokens that looked really great on the battlefield. They were placed near units to show how that formation was doing in the game. These units were affected depending on how much firepower was directed at them, which denoted how many they received. These markers then proportionally reduced that units combat effectiveness. The rules referred to them being used to show the combined effects of heavy suppressive fire, infantry units being forced to take cover, damage to vehicles, confusion on the battlefield, explosions, mayhem and all the other calling cards of war. This really added to the game mechanic.

Another notable change was the troop base size. Up to this point the infantry were on 20mm by 20mm Epic square plastic bases, but the third edition then changed them to 12mm by 40mm. These later plastic bases were much slimmer and longer. This did raise more than an eyebrow for people who already had a square based army. It looks odd if you’ve got half and half in your army, and once the troops were glued in with plastic glue, there was just no way you could rebase them. Both bases could be played in game, but it is said that you’ll find there was a minimal in game advantage with the slimmer longer bases.

Both base sizes have advantages and disadvantages other than this though. The square bases can be aesthetically turned easily in gameplay, where the slimmer and longer ones tend to look odd when they needed to move and were shunted to the left or right. The square bases were sometimes a tight squeeze to push in the troopers, where the slimmer longer plastic bases had properly sized positions with slightly larger holes than the plug that filled them. The square bases had the troop positions bunched together in an X shape, which made it difficult to paint certain troops. Where as the slimmer longer bases had them all virtually in a straight line, so were easier to paint, and it has to be said these bases look nicer when ranked up. The square bases also had little room for the larger troop types who did not fit on there as well, as the positions were too close together. The longer bases didn’t have this issue as the positions where the troops were placed in them was more random, giving each representative trooper more room. GW did a slight positional variation in these later bases which made them look better when they were all lined up, rather than going into battle in perfect regimented lines. The square bases always had the exact same points of entry for each trooper to be put in.

The boxed set also included plastic Space Marines, Rhinos, Land Raiders MkII, and Whirlwinds. It also had the opposing force of Orks and included the Battlewagons, Stompas and a cardboard Gargant for them. The boxed set also had some really great damaged Gothic buildings scenery, that had multiple levels. Which up to this point was the best that Games Workshop had done in this scale. 

Various diehard fans of Epic were not over enthused with changes made for the third edition Epic rules. Due to this they got together and expanded on the 2nd edition rules which created the unofficial NetEpic rules, not to be confused with Net Epic Armageddon (Net EA). NetEpic was, and is, a collaborative non-profit work. This is a work only intended for personal use and cannot be distributed with any intention of profit. It was done through the NetEpic discussion group which was founded in January 1997. There have been various updated versions of the NeteEpic rules and they are available for free at the Epicentre website here:

http://www.netepic.org/

You’ll see the NetEpic 5.0 Core Rules which I believe are from around the 2005 year. Don’t quote me on that though! The work for this project was Coordinated by the founder of NetEpic Peter Ramos. You’ll also find the NetEpic Gold (NEGold) rules on there, which is the later colour version of the 5.0 Core Rules and NetEpic. This updated version is a Nexus publication and dated 2009. It comes with artwork, improved layout and spellchecking (the prior version mentioned the Slaan, but for a free resource, there’s no complaints here). A worthy resource and well worth a read. These rules have been solidly built by the hard core fans who have a loyal dedication to the game. You’ll find various information but none of it is endorsed by Games Workshop Limited and it is completely unofficial. Armies in these rules include the:

Adeptus Astartes Space Marines.

Adeptus Mechanicus covering Imperial Knights and Titan Legions

Adeptus Militaris which covers the Imperial Guard who form the bulk of the Adeptus Terra.

Adeptus Ministorum which is the the Sisters of Battle and the Frateris Militia.

Chaos known as the Excommunicate Traitoris.

Eldar, Space Elves by any other name.

Exodites, non industrialised native Space Elves. 

Dark Eldar, the evil ones.

Eldar Knights, armed walking machines.

Orks, the greenskins, basically anything Orkoid from Snotlings up to the big Orks themselves. 

Squats, Space Dwarfs as they were once known, were Human settlers on high gravity planets who adapted, either that or they were genetically tampered with.

Slann, an ancient race who first seeded humanoid life to the galaxy.

Tau, high tech but weak in close combat, their alliance with the savage mercenary Kroot add muscle to their faction.

Tyranids, Bugs that will strip planets of all resources.

Various changes were made from SM2, which include a full alternating system for players having their go. A snapfire option which fits in well with this alternating system. Titans being more effective with regards to enemy infantry units and a cost system for them so the more gear your field them with, the more expensive they’ll be. The revealing of orders only being done as that unit activates. So they are hidden until that point, which adds to the fog of war, rather than the enemy having advance knowledge of what’s going to happen and thus planning accordingly. A Superheavy damage table and also revised pinning rules, which stops huge Titans being pinned by a single unit that just would never have that kind of firepower.

1998 saw the Epic 40,000 Firepower magazine. This only ran for four A5 sized issues, the first of which contained previous articles that had been in the Citadel Journal and White Dwarf magazines. Firepower was followed by The Official Warhammer Epic 40,000 magazine. This ran for ten A4 sized issues. These magazines came out under Fanatic Press. This was the label which published various hobby magazines that were dedicated to the games that Games Workshop had put under the Fanatic games Division. This division was the precursor for the Specialist Games Range.

2000 (June) saw the release of the Adeptus Titanicus II (AT-II) rules. They were designed by Gav Thorpe and completely replaced the rules for Titans. Jervis Johnson wrote the introduction for this redux of the ruleset and said, of this latest system, that it would restore Imperial Titans to their rightful place as the kings of the Epic battlefield. He believed that these newer rules were much better than what he had produced earlier, making Titans more interesting to use and hard as nails! I could be wrong but I think you'll find that these AT2 rules appeared in the Epic 40,000 Magazine (and were later shown in the Fanatic magazine issue 85).

The well respected Jervis Johnson is credited with the game design and the development of this edition of the game was conducted in an open way. This was done with what could be classed as a Beta version of the rules being published on the Epic Playtest Vault and feedback then being garnered from gamers via the playtesters forum. This allowed substantial involvement of gamers. Army champions co-ordinated playtesting and revision of the army lists which was discussed on the Epic forums. Unlike previous editions and many other GW games this edition of Epic uses specific army lists that represent how an army was fielded in a specific military campaign. There are official datasheets and Epic tournament game army lists for Speed Freak Orks (Da Kult of Speed), which is an Ork army favouring bikes, the White Scar Space Marines, the Black Legion Chaos Space Marines, and The Lost and the Damned Chaos Cultist army. Clearly the fourth edition of the rules relied heavily on feedback from the fans during its development and the living rulebook was made available for free via GW's Fanatic Games Division website.

The second rulebook released for the fourth edition was the Epic Swordwind supplement. This was released as both a physical book and a PDF. Swordwind contained the full army lists for an Imperial Guard Seige regiment (the Baran Siegemasters Imperial Guard Army), the most warlike Biel-Tan Eldar (Biel-Tan means the rebirth of ancient days), and Warlord Snagga-Snagga's Feral Ork Horde. Due to the different rules produced over the years various vehicles no longer fitted in properly with the latest list. Cleverly Games Workshop got around this by putting in the Swordwind expansion rulebook a section regards the classic miniatures of the past, entitling it the Collectors models section. This was rather good of them to think of their older gamers, who’d already invested a lot of time, money and effort into their Epic armies. The rules in this section explained how you could use older models with the fourth edition rules, informing that the actual aesthetic design and look of the vehicles had changed but the actual function was the same. It did actually refer to Imperial scholars giving different names to Eldar vehicles when in fact they were just from a different school of design. A clever way of saying that the Death Stalker was now a Fire Prism, a Doom Weaver was now a Night Spinner, a Tempest was now a Scorpion and a Warp Hunter was now a Cobra. Other models were not included in the Biel-Tan army list but GW gave a full chart as to what they could count as and also some weapon types were allowed for in this section as well.

The official rulebook and the Swordwind supplement were made available for free by Games Workshop on their site. Initially the rules were kept updated for a period and errata and FAQ’s were published, but later the PDFs were taken down along with everything else regards the game. Which is a shame, but if you look about on the internet you’ll still find them on some fan sites. At the time of writing this, it’s not an IP issue, as they were freely available, and GW just chose to not host them anymore. Unlike some other stuff you might find on salubrious sites, which just leaves me thinking, take the time to buy the rules and support the game. To own an original book, just has so much more value. Not the cost issue, but more the physical touch and interaction with it. There’s a difference between value and cost, and that only becomes more apparent with time. The age of the book, and the age of its reader.

2004 saw the release of the aformentioned Fanatic magazine. This combined the various previous games specific magazines, such as the Battlefleet Gothic Magazine, Exterminatus (Inquisitor), Necromunda and The Official Warhammer Epic 40,000 magazine, into one publication. This only had ten issues as it was then distributed digitally as Fanatic Online. Fanatic Online was understandably where paper magazines were headed (although you can't beat paper in my eyes) and was a free online magazine with articles on Games Workshops Specialist games division. It ceased in 2008 (at around issue 98) and information related to the Specialist Games was moved over to Games Workshop's official website.

Clearly Epic is a great game judging by its popularity even after the cessation of miniature production and all official support for it. Some good sites out there. Be sure to check out the Specialist games forum that can be accessed from this site here:

http://www.specialist-arms.com/

That site has links to the Specialist Games Fanatic Magazine. They were given special permission by Andy Hall to host all content that first appeared in Specialist Games Fanatic Magazine that, at the time, had not already been transferred over to the main Games Workshop site. As I mentioned earlier, information has since been removed from GW's site, but who knows what the future brings,....

There are also the Net Epic Armageddon (Net EA) fan rules. Don’t confuse these with the NetEpic rules. The Net EA rules can be seen here:

http://www.net-armageddon.org/

Net Epic Armageddon is the ongoing development of the game and has grown out of the fans input. The 4th edition Epic Armageddon rules utilised a lot of feedback from players in the development process and the rules, which are often referred to as a living rulebook, were made available for free via GW's Fanatic Games Division website, prior to it all being removed. Anyway, these rules are still available, and developed as the fans from the Tactical Command site will continue to add to them to balance army lists and include rule updates and errata. This as a whole is now referred to as Net Epic Armageddon, so a lot of gameplay and further discussion on feedback has resulted in this rule sets game balance, as it stands at the moment.

Games Workshops Official Armies for Armageddon would be the Chaos Space Marines (The Black Legion), Chaos mortals (The Lost and the Damned), Eldar (Biel Tan Craftworld), Imperial Guard Armageddon Steel Legion Mechanised Regiment, Imperial Guard Baran Siegemasters Regiment, Orks, Orks (Feral), Orks (Speed Freek), Space Marines, Space Marines (White Scars), Tau Taros Campaign (found on page 282 of the Imperial Armour volume 3 book which deals with the industrial world of Taros Campaign).

The Net EA site then has its own Army list Compendium (at time of writing version 2014-01-14). This includes army lists for Epic which cover various factions from the Warhammer 40K universe that are not in any official Games Workshop publications. It is well laid out with General special rules, that can relate to various armies, and Common special rules that specifically relate to a certain faction. Also the army lists are split up into three categories which are: 

Approved lists. These are tournament ready and should be balanced against any other army in the General Tournament scenario. These armies have been fully playtested with substantial game time and input from a large number of players. They are considered to be very fairly balanced against the others on the Approved list.

Developmental lists. These should be balanced for a good tournament game, but have not had as many playtest games. There may be the opportunity for a certain type of player to work out a combination or specific set up that might far outweigh other armies or give an unfair advantage in game. Research is still being done on these.

Experimental lists. These are armies that are still being worked through and even lesser researched than the Developmental lists. They are not for tournament play and may well have issues with game balance and fairness. Many more games, and player input, will be needed to move them up through to the Approved lists. If they make it to the Approved Lists, they may well be radically changed to ensure a fair game for all involved.

Approved Epic Army Lists would be the:

Chaos armies (13th Black Crusade Black Legion Army, Stigmatus Covenant Cultist Army).

Dark Eldar army (Kabal of Pain's Way).

Eldar armies (Biel-Tan Craftworld and Alaitoc Craftworld).

Imperial Guard armies (Steel Legion, Baran Siegemasters, Death Korps of Krieg, and Minervan Tank Legion Armoured Regiment).

Necron army (Scarab Conflict).

Orks armies (Ghazgkhull Mag Uruk Thraka’s War Horde, Burning DeathSpeed Freeks and Warlord Snagga Snagga’s Feral Ork Horde).

Space Marine armies (Codex Astartes, Salamanders, Scions of Iron and White Scars).

Tau army (Tau Third Phase Expansion Force).

Developmental Epic Army Lists would be:

Adeptus Mechanicus armies (War Gryphons Titan Legion, Adeptus Mechanicus Planetary Defense and House Hyperion Knightworld).

Chaos armies (Vraksian Traitors, Death Guard, Emperor’s Children, Thousand Sons, World Eaters and Red Corsairs).

Eldar armies (Ulthwé Craftworld, Iyanden Craftworld, Saim-Hann Craftworld, Iybraesil Craftworld Crone World Raiders, Yme-Loc Craftworld and Fir Iolarion Titan Clan).

Imperial Guard army (Cadian Shock Troops).

Inquisition army (Adeptus Ministorum). 

Ork armies (Blood Axe Kommandant Ug Skragga Morkrump’s Korps, Kolonel Rommelz’s Blood Axe Mercenary Ork Warhorde and Albork Orkstein’s Gargant Big Mob).

Space Marine armies (Black Templars, Blood Angels, Raven Guard and Space Wolves).

Experimental Epic Army Lists would be:

Chaos armies (Alpha Legion, Daemon World, Khorne Renegades, The Bloody Hand).

Eldar armies (Biel-Tan Great Court of the Young King).

Inquisition army (Ordo Hereticus).

Imperial Guard armies (Catachan Death World Veterans, Elysian Drop Troops Regiment, Harakoni Warhawks, Saranes Expanse Imperial Crusade).

Necron armies (Nalsaran Incident Necron Attack and Dyrrachium III Necron Tomb World)

Ork armies (Gobgutz Badfang’s Stompy Onslaught, Sun-Tzork’s Grotling Waaaaaagh! Grommelz’s Furst Affta-dem Korps and Kolonel Sandork’s Blood Axe Clan). 

Space Marines armies (Apocrypha of Skaros, Dark Angels, Grey Knights, Imperial Fists, Siege Assault Vanguard).

Squats / Space Dwarfs armies (Thurgrimm’s Stronghold and Demiurg Consortium).

Tau armies (Farsight Enclave Eradication Force and Fio’Ka Armoured Strike Force).

Tyranid armies (Hive Fleet Onachus, Hive Fleet Leviathan and Genestealer Cult).

I have to say thank you and full respect from all those that were involved in putting all those details together. Much appreciated by many, and definitely not time wasted. So if you are interested in playing Epic, and why wouldn’t you be, then there are various rule systems for you to try and there are likely to be more in the future.

Another system is the Heresy Epic Battles in the 40K universe version 2.0 (updated March 26th, 2005) rules, that were created by Peter Ramos. It’s a simplistic system which a game needs to be, else you’ll get bogged down in details with the rulebook weighing you down. These rules have a simple core but give detail on differences between units and there is a unit formula and skills cost points calculator document for you to create your own units. The Heresy rules cover most GW Epic scale armies and were created as a pet project by Peter Ramos and operate using a D10, which personally I think is a great idea. Personally I believe that some sort of percentage system in any wargame gives a wider scope for fairer differences between different units, and their capabilities. Rather than converting to another table, although I don't know how the multiple dice rolling would go! This D10 system was a step in the right direction as wargames appear to be knee deep in D6’s! It was initiated mainly to give a platform to try new things without trying to change the Net Epic rules too much. At time of writing the Heresy rules are in the process of being updated, and quite a bit of them will change. Heresy does not belong to the Net Epic family of games as the mechanics are quite different and there may be even more differences once any changes take effect. It is not a widely used rule set, but who’s to say how popular it may become. Well worth a look.

If you are looking for a really great site for discussion on everything Epical, from rule queries, forces available, miniatures, painting, anything at all, then go to the Tactical Wargames forum here:

http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/index.php

That about sums it up at the time of writing for the different rule sets out there, but Games Workshop are revisiting their Specialist Games so likely you'll be seeing a new edition edging its way into GW's Warhammer shops. I'm sure that there will also be many new Games Workshop Citadel or Forge World miniatures and larger models for the game. I believe these will be scaled down from the Warhammer 40K and perhaps 30K universe. As GW has already spent the time necessary in developing these designs already, to produce them in a smaller size will be easy. Perhaps some subtle differences in the smaller details, such as weapon barrels which might be too weak if not oversized slightly. A good way around this would be to have the weapon barrels made of steel or brass rod. That way Forgeworld and Games Workshop could just produce the end pieces of the guns, such as the flash eliminators. Resin has a tendency to bend, and this can be addressed with a hairdryer and patience, but personally I can see myself down the local model shop for various sized bar with a modelling drill in hand.

Time saved in the development of the miniatures will hopefully see full resources put into the rules and army lists so that players get a fair, proportionate and highly playable game experience. As I said earlier, the whole game for me is the movement and tactics. The inherent draw for me to Epic is the fact that you can have huge armies on the table, yet weapon firing distances are more realistic. Scenery and movement in the game becomes so much more and the overall tactics of the game (dependant on what rule system you use), really make it what it is. GW are well known to gradually size up miniatures over time. Warhammer and Warhammer 40K are clear proof of this. Personally I thought the last issue of metal miniatures was the perfect size, just right for great detail, and you could get masses on the table. I could go on, but likely very few people are reading this far down the page. I’ll just add that likely the new miniatures will be produced in both plastic and resin so that war can continue, as it always has!

Regards the above links, thank you to the individuals involved for taking the time to make that information available for people. An excellent and detailed resource.

SHOP LINK:  Hygienic Porridge Miniature Emporium  Thanks for looking.

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