Epic Planetstrike/Death from the Skys

[Dropship Pilot]

Hello all,

Trying to regenerate interest in the local (San Diego, California) area in Epic Armageddon.  To that end, I am hosting a 6,000 point epic game on a large scale featuring the scenario 'Death from the Skies' which should be more fun than a tournament game for people that haven't played before.  It is a cross between planet strike and the siege rules.

Has anyone played out this scenario as published on the GW website? 

The Defense lasers reducing the initiative of spacecraft worries me since for each defense laser (1 per thousand fielded, so max of 6 in a 6k game) that no starship could pass an initiative test.  Do the attackers just get screwed if the lasers don't get suppressed in the first turn?

Any players who've tried this your input is welcome.

[nealhunt]

I'm not familiar with the scenario.  The only "Death from the Skies" I could find on the GW site is in relation to the new Blood Angel stuff.  Can you post a link, or the URL?

[Dropship Pilot]

Absolutely.  First off, my apologies, there was a misspelling, but I posted it to the Scribd website.  I always liked the last two pages of this article.

It should be "LOOK to the skies" not "death".

http://www.scribd.com/doc/47965423/Lookskies-Epic-Planetary-Invation-Scenario

[Dropship Pilot]

And it seems that Tactical Command has beaten me to it:
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20131

However, it still stands that if I get 6000 pts of say Imperials vs. 6000 pts. of Orks for just a punch 'em up fun game on two tables (say 8ft by 6 ft) at my local hobby store to drum up support for epic (ie people walk by and say "wow, people play epic around here!  Can I play?") I wanted to check to see if anyone had actually played out the scenario for playability.

I see that if all the defense lasers are functioning in a 6000 point game, than the leadership of any spacecraft in play will be zero to start with.

Just checking with the worldly Epic players out there.

Cheers, and best wishes to all you Australians suffering through the Cyclone.  Stay high and dry.

[nealhunt]

I have not played that scenario, but I played one very similar to it where the defense lasers had AA (TKd3) and the attackers' goal was to destroy the defense laser installations before the follow on planetfall assault.  That was followed by a scenario where the number of surviving lasers provided bonuses for the defender.  It worked well and I don't see any reason this one would not.

As far as the -1 to spacecraft initiative, you are correct that larger point games are going to make it increasingly difficult for the attacker to use spacecraft.  The attacker must use aircraft and air assaults to kill as many installations as possible before their spacecraft is supposed to arrive.  With close to 2:1 points ratio at the beginning of the game, the attacker should be able to take out several installations in quick succession.  However, the number of installations remaining is still likely to scale with the total point cost of the forces.  You'd need to adjust the army selection accordingly.

If you're doing a demo, though, that's a non-issue.  Just pre-determine the forces and set the number of installations yourself.

[Thinking Stone]

Hello,
Although not an Epic player myself (being poor and living in a distant country...), I think that Epic is an excellent companion game to Battlefleet Gothic. If you look in the rules for BFG, it suggests planetary assaults use either Epic or Warhammer 40K rules. Unfortunately, every assault point you score is worth 2,000 points in WH40K, but only 400 pts in Epic. This makes Epic a much more viable choice to represent such cinematic moments (not that 40K doesn't have its place, for example, a small force is infiltrating the enemy command post and must destroy the enemy leader or a raiding party is tasked with taking out a critical supply chain that will determine the victor of the war...). I think that this is perhaps a good way to consolidate interest in your area, since Epic can be used to provide characterful scenarios (in the way the original rules seemed to guide the reader) and can be more easily balanced for such uneven battles (that is, giving players a chance...). People always find it cool that they can link battles in one game system to other game systems.

Specifically for the scenario, a good way to evaluate the effect of these turrets might be to imagine what might be happening in the space battle above—this provides an additional story-like element (which new people will probably like, especially when combined with a solid and sensible ruleset such as Epic) and helps players get into the feel of the mission. I would suggest that in some invasions, the preponderance of defence lasers does reduce the effectiveness of space vessels, but I always thought that their primary function was to prevent the landing of troops (which they do by shooting them and their parent space vessels). So, in such a planetstrike, the attacker would have a vanguard attacking the defence lasers. In other invasions, though, it might make more sense to scale the effects of the lasers with points/number of space vessels?

Just some (hopefully) helpful food for thought. Our prayers with those in Australia and all over the world in difficult weather.

[Dropship Pilot]

Hi all, continuing with my desire to bring back Epic in my area with a fun scenario involving a massive planetary assault.  The dropship from Codex Adeptus Titantiucs in 1988 was my inspiration.

If you want to see a partial log, you can see it here:  DROPSHIP POWER POINT





The Scenario LOOK TO THE SKYS!