My friend and I are getting started in Epic after having enjoyed BFG and Bloodbowl for a couple of years. I’m assembling a Space Marine army and he’s going with IG.

The most basic of our questions is… what’s with all the lists?? We’ve been looking at the official lists, but have come across the tweaked EpicUK lists. How many people use them outside of tournaments in the UK? Would you recommend using them? For now, we’re just going to be playing friendly games in the US…. And I’m probably not going to touch the NetEA lists because that seems to be a completely different game.

With the years of accumulated advice on this forum, I don’t think I need too much more help on list creation, other than to ask about characters. What’s a good number – 2 or 3 in a 3,000pt army? Would you use a squad without a character in a different way? Captains don’t seem very common in other people’s SM lists, but it seems to be they’d be useful if you have both bike and assault squads in your army – should I?

My friend is struggling more with his IG list because of its limits (2 support formations per company, a number of vehicle types only available as upgrades or in large formations…). He likes Stormtroopers and artillery, and his early lists contain little else. I’m a little worried that we’re going to have one-dimensional battles. Sorry, at this point I’m just ranting. Actual IG question now – does a Commissar’s fearless ability do anything useful if it isn’t in a single-unit formation? And any thoughts on how to assemble a reasonable Stormtrooper-heavy list?

Hi and welcome to Epic

If you are playing with a friend and are just starting, I would start with the rules and lists from the GW site. Get familiar with the E:A system mechanics especially the use of the activation system, Blast Markers, shooting and assaults etc. And don't be afraid to ask questions here - this is what the forum is all about.

As for army and formation composition, in general formations work better and live longer if they are upgraded, but this is done at the expense of reducing the number of formations in the army. There is an intentional balanced choice between fielding a lot of weaker formations and fewer, more resilient ones. However, half the fun is trying things out to see if they match your particular play-style or not.

Do not worry about which version of army list to use providing you both choose lists from the same source - the variations are relatively small and quite subtle, and as such they will not really affect your inital 'learning' games. The differences only really come out in competitions.

Finally do consider entering competitions once you have grasped the basics as you can learn a great deal about the finer tactical points, quite apart from meeting people who also play E:A

To your specific questions

I think I answered this above. Epic-UK lists tend to be used in UK competitons, other communities have their 'favourite' lists, and there are quite a number of home-grown variations. Be aware that the points system provided is really intended for the 'tournament scenario'. Note lists are really there to provide some framework to a given situation and you are encouraged to develop your own themes.


Characters enable the Marines to rally better (Leader removes an additional BM) and to control the formation better in one respect. Commander is probably the hardest to use (and thus the least seen), but allows small marine formations to be combined to take on a much larger enemy like an entrenched IG company. There is no hard and fast rule on numbers - it is down to personal choice and your intended army strategy.


Stormtroopers by themselves are quite weak, but become much more usefull when given transport and support (Valkyries and Vultures). This allows the IG to create an 'Arnhem' style scenario of a forward assault supported by a mechanised support and artillery.

And no it won't be one-dimensional because your Marines can provide a flexible response with a focussed air-assault on particualr points of the battlefield to support beleagured garrisons - and there is no reason why you shouldn't play with mixed armies :- IG with some marine allies vs Marines with Navy support . . .But I am getting ahead of myself - master the basics first and foremost and above all,
HAVE FUN

There are two great divisions in the Epic community. There's EpicUK, and there's NetEA.

EpicUK runs the tournaments in the UK.

The NetEA does more stuff (particularly with the main rules), and is more internationally focused.

There's a lot of NetEA lists because almost anyone can make one, and so many people do. That said, there's no need to worry about them until you're a little more into the game. Sooner or later, a compilation of the current lists will come out. That'll be nice - and a lot more useful than the current arrangement, which is a little anarchic.

So, basically - use the NetEA lists, but you don't need to worry about using them yet.



The NetEA lists are the exact same game...

There are NetEPIC lists. Those are a completely different game. NetEA lists are here. NetEPIC's over on the NetEPIC webpage, mostly. Is that what you're thinking of?

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Thanks for the answers to my varied questions! The NetEA/NetEPIC thing did confuse me...

I might be a bit slow in starting. My wife and I are fixing up our first house, which is old and in need of some attention. My 'office' will be done last, and once that's done I'll have a gaming table on which to start playing!

NetEA and NetEpic are two different things. NetEA has variant rules/army lists for E:A. NetEpic, however, is a completely different game, which is based on second edition Space Marine/Titan Legions.

Welcome aboard, by the way.

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