The new Epic box has been released with 2 forces (Space Marines and Solar Auxilia) and 2 Warhound Titans as well as the full rulebook. Unfortunately there was no scenery included, but this is also available separately.

Epic (then Space Marine) was my first mass-battle game after playing Heroquest and Blood Bowl and I was hooked. With it being released in a new format this weekend I jumped on the pre-order and picked mine up from SCN hobbies this weekend (Saturday).

I have learnt from other ‘Epic’ style games (including Warmaster) I need to use a simple colour scheme that is quick to do, otherwise I fall into delays like I have with Napoleonic Epic from Warlord Games (soooo much detail!!)

So, I am starting with the Solar Auxilia and my intention is to make them quick to do… but first assemble!

4 Leman Russ Battle Tanks

These tanks come with a range of options for hull mounted weapon and for the turret, but I went with Battlecannon and 1 Vanquisher Battlecannon and Heavy Bolters to protect them from close assault. The turrets are meant to be painted and kept separate, so I’ll try that initially.

These come on one sprue with 4 tanks; although there is a lot of detail and small bits – be careful about losing any pieces in the carpet. Some of the bits are very close to the sprue (the tracks/sides for example)… it is starting to get difficult to remove pieces now!

2 Malcador Battle Tanks

These were great and easy to put together, again coming on one sprue., although the engines exhausts at the back are a little fiddly with 3 small connections. The turret isn’t glued so has some movement (although I’m doubtful this will last once undercoated). Once again I’ve gone simple here with Vanquisher Battlecannons and 3 Heavy Bolters (front and both sponsors).

4 Armoured Sentinels

There are 2 each of these on the ‘main’ sprue for Auxilia (also with the troops and Ogryns). The bodies and legs went together really well, but the missile launcher pods are ‘left/right’ versions, which of course I missed and I am sure I got some wrong!

4 Charonite Ogryn

There are two poses here, but with such small models it’s not really a problem. There are definitely some Ogryns in here under all the mechanicals bits and gizmos; so I’m not certain how I’ll paint these but we’ll see how it goes.

Solar Auxilia Infantry

The rest of the troops look good on sprue with no connections on the main models (except the standard bearer, who I will clip before spraying).

Undercoating

I undercoated the models with a black primer to help me cover any gaps… I was tempted to use contrast paints, but I recently used them on some Warlord Games Bolt Action Soviets so I fancy a change.

First colour – Leadbelcher (Drybrush)

My first step was to Drybrush all the models in Leadbelcher to pick out the weapons and some of the detail.

Next Steps

My Solar Auxilia are linked with my Blood Angels (so no guessing what I’ll be painting the other half of the set-in) so I’ll be picking out some of the detail in red tomorrow when I can get in some good lighting and actually see the detail (I’m getting too old for his scale !!)