Epic Space Marine Battle Report!

So with my new found focus on 6mm goodness I've managed to fit in yet another game of Epic: Space Marine (second edition) with my regular opponent. 

There is no greater fun than fielding an entire Space Marine chapter and so once again we went huge win the size of this game... with total forces at around 7000 points per side which allowed me to field both my newly completed Terminator and Veteran Companies for my Flesh Tearers.

I also took four Thunderhawk gunships for some serious air power coupled with the vital ability to rapidly deploy troops around the battlefield.

I also took the opportunity to field a fair few special characters who would act as both Force multipliers and lynchpins for my huge army.



My opponent’s force was more land based and so he used the extra points to field yet more land raiders and armour! This meant his force was durable; fast moving  and able to dish out huge amounts of firepower.



His force mainly consisted of the azure troops and vehicles of the Ultramarines Chapter who were supported by the noble red clad Blood Angels of Baal.

Meanwhile my own army of Adeptus Astartes was assembled from the secretive, green hued Dark Angels of Caliban and the ferociois burgundy armoured warriors of the Flesh Tearers.

The battle itself was fought over a vast ruined cityscape which represented a large Imperial conurbation locates on an industrialised world somewhere in the Eastern Fringe.

There were a large number of tall buildings spread across the table which both obscured line of sight and allowed the fragile infantry stands some hard cover.



The game itself was suitably swift and brutal; with the extensive armoured forces from both sides rolling forwards to engage each other in the centre of the battlefield. Meanwhile the slower moving infantry squads charged into nearby buildings to seize objectives and set up firepoints.

One thing that stood out during this game was the usefulness of fast moving light formations such as bike squadrons. On paper these units seem fairly pointless, but on the tabletop they are nasty! They can punch through opponents flanks and eliminate reserve units and artillery formations with ease; but their real use is as psychological weapons. It’s hard not to feel under pressure with an enemy bike unit rolling around your rear lines and inevitably you’ll have to pull resources from somewhere else to deal with them! 

The game only lasted a total of three turns but by this point almost all the units had been decimated on both sides. 

The highlight for me was a huge melee that took place by one of the central objectives that at one point had twenty stands all pummelling each other into the ground!

For the first two turns of the game I was in the lead through some really lucky shooting from my Predator company and my Devastators. However this all changed in the last turn thanks to an aggressive counter-strike from the Ultramarines who managed to drive out one of my assault formations and take an objective from me.

This swung the balance and my foe snatched victory from me at the last hurdle!! But I didn’t care; it had been a great game and I had loads of fun.

Once again Epic has proved itself to be a fast moving; engaging and tactically challenging game that holds players interests for the duration of a gaming session! We both had and absolute blast and have scurried off home to paint buckets more 6mm troops!