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Legions Imperialis: Return of the Epic

Yesterday saw the announcement of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis or the return of Epic back into the fold.

Legions Imperialis is a new game of small (or epic) large scale warfare. This is not quite Epic as we remember it, as the scale is the same as (the new) Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis. This does mean though that all those legacy epic armies are not going to be compatible. They’ve not completely forgotten the Epic games of old.

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.

There are some really nice new miniatures, and the advances in design and manufacturing shows in the preview photographs.

I think the downside maybe that, is these models contain lots of parts. I quite liked how in the olden days the models were complete on the sprue. The kits from Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis do contain a lot of parts. Yes it makes the models more detailed, but it also makes it a bit of a modelling challenge.

I like how they describe the boxed set contains 223 miniatures.

There are a whopping 223 miniatures in the box, split between Space Marines, Solar Auxilia, and Titans. That’s 106 Space Marine infantry and walkers, five Space Marine tanks, 104 Solar Auxilia infantry and walkers, six Solar Auxilia tanks, and two Warhound Titans with brand-new plastic weapon options.

Well, 210 of those are infantry models. You get eleven tanks in total. True that the 210 figure incudes walkers and dreadnoughts.

Personally I would like to have seen more tanks. I do like the Malcador tanks, something we never saw in Epic.

All the models look really nice.

I do wonder what new models for this game we will see released. Will we see a Capitol Imperialis for example, that would be great.

They did say in the preview page:

All of the scenery that was released with Adeptus Titanicus is also returning for use in Legions Imperialis, with more to follow.

So we will probably see some new scenery sets, wonder what they will be?

I am pleased to see this release and I do think it will be one I will pre-order. I am apprehensive about how much it will cost to build an army, but that is just something I will have to accept. Back in the day (we’ll the 1990s) I managed to get a bunch of Epic stuff in a series of sales at Games Workshop at really low prices. That I doubt we will see again.

Of course this is Warhammer: The Horus Heresy, so we’re not going to see any Xenos armies I would have thought. I would like to have seen new Ork models in this scale, a Great Gargant would have been nice. Ah well one can dream.

40K Ork Trukk with Krooz Missilz

Decided that I would reboot a conversion idea I had for a 40K Ork Trukk with Krooz Missilz.

Many years ago I made a simple conversion to create an Epic Ork Trukk with Krooz Missulz (aka an Orkish version of the Imperial Deathstrike Missile Launcher. The model is built using a Flakwagon base, a firing platform from a Pulsa Rokitt and the Krooz Missulz? Well it’s a 40k scale Fighta-Bommer Missile.

In the most recent versions of Warhammer 40K there are no models and no rules for this kind of weapon. However there were rules for Apocalypse some years ago for what looked like a Krooz Missilz, but was described as a Pulsa Rokkit.

The (scratchbuilt) model used for the data sheet was much larger than the original metal Pulsa Rokkits from an earlier edition of Warhammer 40K. Those metal ones were much more like the Epic version.

I had planned to make a 40K version of this rocket many years ago. However like many projects it got shelved and I never made much progress with it. Having found some of the parts I decided to restart the project.

I am going to be using one of my unfinished Ork Trukk models as the platform for the rocket.

The flatbed doesn’t have the sides, so can be used for this, or other Ork heavy weapons.

The base for the missile part of the model will be the fuel tank from a 1/300th Academy Space Shuttle model kit.

In the kit, the rocket boosters were attached to the fuel tank. The rocket boosters were separated and will be used as different kinds of Ork rokkits. The fuel tank was then ready for conversion.

You can see how large the fuel tank is compared to the trukk.

I did though first, using a Grot Bomb Launcha firing frame, mock up the Ork Trukk with Krooz Missilz.

This was working for me. I wanted to Orkify the missile, so started to add details using spare parts from various kits and some plasticard and plastic struts.

Pleased with how it is looking, but the missile needs a lot more work.

Basing the Titans

I have been browsing the web, Instagram and Twitter looking at how people have been basing their Adeptus Titanicus titans. I was a little surprised by how many people were using Epic models and scenery.

The new Adeptus Titanicus is a different scale to the original Adeptus Titanicus (and Epic) with a figure scale of roughly 8mm compared to the 6mm of Epic. In other words a third larger!

However I knew I had a box of old Epic 40000 ruins sprues somewhere in the garage and went to hunt them down. I was a little surprised by how many of them I had in the box.

So I took some of the ruins and affixed them to the bases that came with the titans, focusing initially on the Warlord Titan and the Reaver Titan (as I had constructed their legs so had an idea of where I could put the scenic items.

I also used some plasticard strip, as well as a few spare parts I had from one of my Ork Aeronautica Imperialis model kits.

This is the Warlord Titan base.

This is the Reaver Titan base.

Overall I quite like the bases. The next step will be adding rubble and sand.

Picked up a Thunderhawk

So I kind of dithered slightly, but this morning I changed my mind and picked up an Aeronautica Imperialis Adeptus Astartes Thunderhawk Gunship from my local FLGS.

Designed to operate in both planetary atmosphere and the cold void of space, the Thunderhawk Gunship combines the roles of orbital troop lander, heavy gunship, and bomber into a single, brutally effective aircraft. Sturdy and well-armoured, Thunderhawks deliver their Adeptus Astartes passengers into the very heart of raging battle, and provide fire support with a truly fearsome array of weapons afterwards. These iconic vessels have come to be feared as the harbinger of doom by the enemies of the Imperium of Mankind.

The box contains two sprues to make up the model. There are a fair few parts as one would imagine for a kit of this size (even if it is a tiny plane). The model is very well detailed. It does make me think that would GW ever decide to re-issue Space Marine or Epic40000 (as in WH40K ground combat) but in the new Adeptus Titanicus scale? Part of me thinks they won’t, it could possibly cannibalise sales of (proper sized) Warhammer 40000.

Another thing is that the pricing of the models would be quite extorinate compared to previous versions of Epic. The original metal 1997 Epic40000 Thunderhawk was £7.00, whereas this plastic kit has a list price of £26 nearly four times as expensive. Yes it has been over twenty years, but even so this means we would be paying £5 for an Ork vehicle and £10 for a Land Raider if GW ever did go down a path of making vehicles and infantry for Adeptus Titanicus.

I will be painting my Adeptus Astartes Thunderhawk Gunship as a Grey Knights Thunderhawk as discussed in this earlier post.

One can dream…

So over the last week we have had Warhammer Fest Online.

Last weekend as I looked over the list of live shows, it was apparent to me that what I was most interested in was, would there be new Orks for Warhammer 4000, what would be revealed on Thursday for the boxed games and what would be the BIG mystery on Saturday.

Well we found out on Saturday that the mystery was a new edition of Age of Sigmar.

I am guessing exciting for players of Age of Sigmar, for me not so much.

I was hoping we would see the return of the Old World and Warhammer. We know from previous reveals that this was in the works and I am intrigued to see what this new (old) game looks like and what the models will be like, especially as we have seen massive jumps in model detail and development since the end of Warhammer back in 2015.

I was secretly hoping that we would see a relaunch of Epic in the (new) Adeptus Titanicus scale, but that was a far out dream… Well one can dream….

Epic Kult of Speed

Epic Orks streaming through the ruins of an Imperial City.

Epic Manticore

The Manticore, also known as the Manticore Rocket Launcher, is a self-propelled rocket artillery piece used by the Astra Militarum that is based on a variant of the Chimera armoured personnel carrier chassis.

This Manticore was painted many years ago for Epic 40000 (so well before Epic Armageddon as well).

These were quite fiddly models to glue together. I remember getting the rockets stuck on my fingers a few times…

It was a pity that when we finally saw the 40K scale version, it wasn’t anything like this.

Legion Javelin Attack Speeder with Missile Launchers

I always liked the original Space Marine Land Speeder, which a version, the Proteus Pattern is available from Forge World.

Larger and more heavily armoured than the common pattern of Land Speeder, the Javelin Attack Speeder is a nigh-irreplaceable relic of a bygone age of technological mastery. Gravitic nullification plates, the secret of whose production and maintenance have long since been lost, allow the Javelin to mount an array of heavy weaponry more akin to a heavy tank destroyer than a nimble Land Speeder, allowing them to make pinpoint strikes on enemy armour or infantry with devastating lascannon or missile barrage. Those Chapters of Space Marines whose histories stretch back into the grim days of the Imperium’s founding may, if they are fortunate, still possess a few justly revered Javelins within the sanctified depths of their armouries.

This version is similar to that original, but reminds me of the plastic Epic version.

Dirtside Rules

Nice to see one of my favourite rule sets of all time, Dirtside II available for free download.

I played Dirtside quite a bit in the 1990s and even put on a display game for it at Salute one year. I much preferred it at the time to the Epic rules which were around. Though when Epic40000 was released I did start playing those rules for a while.

Dirtside II is a rules system for playing combined-arms ground combat with miniatures in a science-fictions setting.

They were first published in 1993 by Ground Zero Games.

They are now available as free download from the GZG website.

Dirtside II – Part 1

Dirtside II – Part 2

Dirtside II – Part 3

Dirtside II – Colour Cover

Dirtside II – Counter Sheet

Here is an article I wrote for Dirtside.