Our group has a core go guys that are long time Epic Space Marine players. All of us have collections going back to the nineties. The gaming for the system has been on hold, as other games have taken front stage over the last few years. However, with the news the GW was releasing a new version of the game, we all were looking forward to dusting off our armies.
There was a bit of disappointment when we found out the game was going to be limited to the 30k universe, as we all have some xenos armies. However, if the rules were good, we figured we could get by until the game was expanded or some fan made expansions were released.
There was also some frustration in the change of scale in the new game. The new game is about eight millimeter and the old game was six millimeter. We all have plenty of old models, so had no interest int he new stuff, with the exception of titans (The old imperial titans were a bit on the small side, so the new ones would seem to be a nice add in the future).
The basing would be an issue, as the old basing was on two inch strips, as the new ones are on forty millimeter circles. The “look” of the new basing is nice and gives some diorama opportunities to refresh old models. If we liked the rules, it would be an easy rebasing exercise. However, that decision would have to wait until we tried the game!
I picked up the rules online (the rulebook was only sold direct). The cards were sold out, but I found both sets at a local FLGS and picked them up. I reached out to some buddies that had imperial guard and marine armies for Epic that we could proxy for 30k and we planned on a game on our next Tuesday night gaming night.
The night came and I grabbed a little terrain and headed to my FGLS to set up the game. My buddies showed up and we organized 650 point armies from the forces available. At this point, I realized there were no guard APCs, so we just used the rhino card on both sides. Some of the other vehicles are new, so we just proxied them and used the cards for the appropriate units.
I set up the board with a whole bunch of ruins in the center of the table, with some buildings and woods on the periphery. The ruins and buildings would be area terrain that would give to hit modifiers of minus one and 4+ saves.
I chose the scenario that had both sides set up on the long side of the table, with three objective markers in the center. This would make both side have to move forward. The game was six turns long. The winner would be the side with the most markers. To have an objective, the player would have to control the ruin (no enemy units in the ruin).
The imperials had two units of infantry with APCs, two units of Lehman Russ tanks, two Baneblades and a general. The marines had three units of marines, one of support marines, one of assault marines, a unit of Sicarans, a unit of dreadnoughts, a unit of Predator tanks and a commander. The marines had more units, but the imperial units were much larger.
First, you put down orders for each unit, so both players have some idea what the other side is doing. The orders are first fire (hold), move (move and shoot), assault (move and melee) and march (double/triple move and no fire). There is also a withdraw order, but this only happens if you fail a morale check.
We set up and got to it. Both sides lined up wide and just headed forward. The system units a move-counter move system. Basically the player with the initiative moves one of their units and then it goes back and forth. The imperials were a little more aggressive and grabbed all the objectives and made the marines fight forward for them.
Shooting works the same. You pick your unit and target and shoot. You cannot split fire. All hits are based on a to hit roll for the weapon on a D6. Many weapons hit on a five, so the cover makes a huge difference. This gives units with four to hit a big advantage in my mind. Once you have your hits, you roll your saves on a D6. Since we were in buildings, the infantry used that save most of the time, as their normal save of five or six was not as good and often knocked down to the AP of the various weapons.
The infantry weapon shooting is pretty crappy compared to the tanks. However, if you have rocket launchers, you are golden. They have two modes of shooting and ignore cover. Add the range and these are no brainer choices for marines.
The tanks have multiple weapon mounts, so have two to five times as much fire as the infantry stands. They have high saves, so are much more survivable. They do cost a lot more, but I am not sure high enough.
We went back and forth with the fire and the marines had the infantry advantage with their missile launcher infantry. The imperials have the tanks though and had much better overall firepower.
Melee works about the same as shooting. You pick the fight and go back and forth until all fights are resolved. The melee has both sides rolling against one another. Most of the close assault modifiers are between zero and three. The cover helps also. Each side faces off and rolls two D6 adding their factor. The higher roll wins. Each fight is individual. If you have multiple attackers, the defender rolls against each one. However, each attacker adds an extra D6 to their roll for the odds. So, first attacker gets 2D6, second 3D6, third 4D6, etc.). So the key is just outnumbering your opponent, as an extra base will wipe out even elite troops combat modifiers.
It was also in melee where the guard had an advantage. Their infantry was not very good, but so much more numerous, making it impossible for the small elite units to charge them until they were shot down to size. However, four marine stands would be enough to take out a Baneblade super heavy tank later in the game.
Morale is simple. Once you have taken fifty percent casualties you are broken and must take a morale test every time you take a loss. The player rolls against their number. If they fail, they go on fall back and must keep moving towards the owning players board edge until they leave.
There were not too many failures in the game, as the commander rating was usually in range and had a high enough number not to fail. We ended up just taking off the few routers we had, as there was no way to recover.
We went through the six turns and the imperials ended up winning the game two to one. The tank fire was just too much for the marines and was responsible for most of the losses.
With that, we picked up and pondered our thoughts. I did a re-read of the rules, as there are always mistakes when you are learning a game. The game relies a lot on key words for units (there are pages of these in the rules). I did miss a few, but nothing too serious.
In the end, the game is rather straight forward. The mechanics work well to support maneuver and fire. each player has a lot of decisions to make as the game unfolds. The unit cards are a bit too complicated and try to simulate 40k too much. The key word mechanic is all the rage and seems to work well in the game. However, there are just too many for the new player and the player needs a game reference (the unit cards don’t provide this).
In the end, it seems you want a lot of tanks with multiple guns hitting on a four plus, supported by cheap large infantry units for melee. For the marines, it is all about maximizing your missile launcher infantry. The limited offerings in the two forces offered and lack of armies holds the game back right now. GW needs to release more units and armies quickly to make this a winner in my opinion. Let’s see what 2024 has to offer!
- Manteuffel