MINI-WARGAMING: More Thoughts On the Future of Epic-Armageddon...

PART TWO - INCOMING INTERVIEW

Hi Doug,

Here are some more responses to your questions for the upcoming "Incoming" magazine interview article:

[QUOTE=darkone26,11 2005 June,08:19]
*** How do you think the news of Fanatic has affected people and in turn how did the reactions affect you? ***[/QUOTE]

Well... tough question! Of course, the constant shake-up of Fanatic has had a negative impact on the Epic fan base, but at the same time, new products have been released and there's no better way to encourage the fans to return to the game. the "Swordwind" book is as well made as the original E-A rulebook and the production values on those manuals are the highest of any GW product I've seen to date. The new miniatures are wonderfully sculpted even if the prices are a wee bit high for the market.

In my neck of the woods (I'm usually in Sacramento, California, USA), I'm seeing GW price itself out of the gaming market. I'm seeing more reasonably priced games taking the forefront of gaming like Warmachine, Flames of War and Starship Troopers. It's was a pity for GW to let Andy Chambers go. Being that GW is in decline in my area (They even cancelled the LA Gamesday last I heard!), Fanatic and Specialist Games haven't made any impression in retail gaming stores here, BUT...

There is still a huge following for Epic here in the Northern California area amongst gamers. Eric-Chern and his wonderful Epic army card site at this URL:

[URL=http://home.comcast.net/~epicarmycard/Main%20Page/Main.htm]http://home.comcast.net/~epicarmycard/Main%20Page/Main.htm[/URL]

As well as my Yahoo E-group "CA-EA-Gamers" both serve to help to organize local gamers to play E-A in local shops and get E-A games at local conventions.

Overall, the constant change at Fanatic Games has impacted me in a negative way (Uncertain of the future of Epic), but it has also galvanized me to be a part of E-A's future success.

[QUOTE=darkone26,11 2005 June,08:19]
*** There has been mention that some Gamesdays within the U.S. have ignored Specialist games, what's your thoughts on this?***[/QUOTE]

Well... as I mentioned before, I'm seeing a lot of signs of the decline of GW and its' associated games within the USA. I see the cancelling of various Gamesdays as a negative measure. I understand the need for costcutting, but a Gamesday event or a similar gaming convention is a huge way to promote the game and even have the fans largely pay for the advertizing.

I don't think the cancelling of various Gamesdays is a good sign.

[QUOTE=darkone26,11 2005 June,08:19]
*** As someone who helps with army lists and has possibly an idea of what's lying ahead, what do think will happen to Epic over the next couple of years? ***[/QUOTE]

I see two scenarios:

1. EPIC ABANDONED:
- GW decides to drop the Epic line again along the lines that Epic-40k (The last version of the Epic game that was, well... stillborn...) was abandoned. In this scenario, Epic goes underground again and becomes a fan-based project along the lines of Netepic, which has been a colossal success. I've already heard calls for fans to make E-A into a fan-driven project published on-line. I'm throwing my lot in with Jervis and Fanatic, but if the game is cancelled, I will join the fan-driven team to keep Epic alive.

2. EPIC SLOWLY GROWS:
- In this scenario, GW realizes that Jervis and Fanatic have the potential to revive their customer base by re-attracting GW's lost, older fans back to the game. GW continues to give Jervis and fanatic the funding to release new products for Epic and keep their excellent online support of games like Epic alive and well.

------

I see scenario number two as a very viable possibility and, judging from the activity on the official E-A Playtest forums, I think that the next two armies released for E-A will be "Lost & The Damned" and my "E-A Tyranid" army lists. Both have most of a line of miniatures already availible (The old Epic-40k lines...) and have very exciting army lists in development.

I hope to be a much larger part of the team developing the E-A Necron list in the near future after the "Nid list finishes the development cycle.

[QUOTE=darkone26,11 2005 June,08:19]
*** I noticed that you started a Yahoo E-group for Epic; is that E-group restricted to your part of the world or is it something for everyone no matter where they are?***[/QUOTE]

I ran an E-A game at a convention in 2004 and met a lot of Epic fans that I hadn't gamed with before. I started my Yahoo E-group as a way of organizing the Epic gaming community in my area... The forum is an easy way for players to contact each other and chat about games and whatnot. I later expanded the group to allow visiting players from other areas to contact players while visiting California to set up games and meet new friends.

Here is the charter purpose for the E-group:

[QUOTE]
Purpose: California_E-A_Gamers is an E-group organized to help GW Epic-Armageddon players all over California and the surrounding areas arrange games and to chat about local gaming issues. Visiting E-A players from Britain, France or elsewhere in the world are also welcome to use the E-group for arranging games when visiting California, USA. General E-A conversation is fine here, but there is probably more E-A chat going on over at the Epicomms forum at Epic40k.co.uk[/QUOTE]

And the URL:

[URL=http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/CA-EA-Gamers/]http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/CA-EA-Gamers/[/URL]

In a nut shell, ANYONE and EVERYONE is welcome to join and...

The more the merrier!

Shabbat Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.