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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 12:46 am
Posts: 27069
Location: Edmond, Oklahoma USA
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Hi!
Well, its been a while since this question has come up. Would of made for a good flame war 7 or 8 years ago...  
Most people who like or play SM2/TL have long since migrated to NetEpic.
NetEpic is a fan based modification of the SM2/TL rules. It updated, streamlined and added all the new units that GW has put up since the game was put to rest in 1997. This is the short answer. If you want a detailed response of the differences and how it plays, then let me know and I'll give you the verbose version.
A "best" version is highly subjective. There are only subjective responses depending on what you like and dislike. They are ALL worth picking up and learning, they are ALL fun and worth teaching and learning to play. Only when you have experienced all of them can you reliably say whats best for you. It perhaps is not a wholly satisfactory answer, but it does capture the whole spectrum of feelings regarding the versions.
As for advatages and disadvantages here is my take:
SM/AT first edition:
Advantage:
For titan versus titan battles it IS still the best. No version has come close to capture the feel of such type of combat. If this is your interest, then this is the ruleset for you.
Several rules which still havent been bested by any version (rules for missions, experience and buying over the point limit)
Disadvatage: since this started as a titan only game then evolved to include more units the coordination of rules mechanics between the two parts is clunky, inelegant and doesnt work to well. Large battles are a nightmare to run and complete. Also it is an incomplete system, many missing units and some armies were not totally dne (no aspect warriors for example).
SM2/TL
Advantages:
If you like big battles, this is the system to play. I've managed up to 40k per side and still finished the game before the sun went down. Units are very large and thus capture that epic "feel". The amount of "minis on the table" seems to be going down in later versions. tabletops in this version look "full" or "epic".
The basic rules are VERY simple. The core booklet has about 16 pages of rules (please read is disadvatages below regarding special rules).
Army construction with army cards: simply STILL the best most efficient method of army construction. You can through together an army of almost any size under 15 minutes.
It is the only COMPLETE system ever made for epic. Let me define complete, it means that ALL rules for ALL armies and units were released officially by GW in forms of rulesbooks. All other systems have never reached this point since they got their support pulled or in case of Epic A, their lists of in the development stage and have yet to be released.
The last system where squats exsist as a separate SUPPORTED entity.
In short this is the system which all others are measured by. It was the system of epics golden age, where it had the most support and players. This is a fact whether the system itself suits individual tastes or not. This system ran a total of 6 years. The longest running version (besides NetEpic )
Disadvanatges:
Too many special rules. It suffered from rules bloat. Many were added by people with little expereince in epic and they were poorly thought out and test and sometimes contradictory. Even though the basic mechanic is extremely simple the amount of add-ons is staggering..
Rules were spread out over too many books and WD articles. A cohesive attempt to bring them into one unified set of rules was never done. Also later expansions sometimes substituted older rules thus making it even more confusion.
"line 'em up and charge!": there were no well developed rules for scenarios and such, thus the battles were repetitive and just going after "objectives" dull. While scenarios and such are possible and mentioned in WD, they were never integrated with the main system.
Restricted army construction and model usage: While some consider it an advantage the way this system regulated what could be bought and how the army was constructed, the amount of units need to present fieldable units according to the army cards was onerous on the player and you wound up with many "extras" that you could not use since the amount of units need for the unit didnt match GW's packaging of epic minis. Unlike later versions where you could use these extras due to their point systems, you were stuck with no use units under this system.
Epic 40k
Advantages
Most streamlined, elegant and rapidly playable of all epic systems. You want a quick game with few minis on the table this is it. No endless special rules or exceptions.
Good representation of fliers. I really loved how they handled this (fliers under SM2/TL were an afterthought and poorly integrated). I think its the best system made for them.
Last self contained game in a box, all you needed was there (although not complete in my definition, see disadvantages below), very newbie friendly presenatation and execution.
Some of the best minis ever produced are from this era.
Disadvantages
The streamlined nature came at the price or the armies individuality and character. Mechanics-wise there was not much to tell the armies and units apart aside from the actual minis used. While "bland" is a matter of opinion, enough people shared this opinion to kill its commercial appeal. The reasons to this are as many as the gamers themselves.
Incomplete: Squats were eliminated, chaos lost many "characterful" units. While the book had "get you by list" that were usable this game never evolved enough to flesh out all the armies and units that exsisted under SM2/TL. Note that under firepower magazine most of these misiing units and armies did try to reappear, but it was too little too late. In the case speciafically of squats, not very good in capturing the character they had under SM2/TL.
In spite of this, it is still the most complete effort, second to SM2/TL and definitely more self contained.
Epic A
Advantages:
The only version to be designed with close feedback from the gaming community. This is extremely important, since it designed a game that had some guarantee that the fanbase would like.
Tries to conciliated the axis of detail vs streamlining and has succeeded to a good degree.
Disadvantages
Still incomplete, though playtesting and online support are on thier way in remedying this, with GW's offical stamp, or not.
Having not played it since its creation phase I am not competent to comment on actual play or any holes in the mechanics. I leave that to our resident experts.
I left out NetEpic, since that I can reply to separately if you're interested.
Primarch
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