Epic Battles Hail Caesar, Hannibal first impressions

This is the first of my videos focusing on the Epic battles Hail Caesar release.
I am very excited about it and looking forward to it, its one of my favourite periods in history.

[@johnmiddleton4291]

This looks to be a great period for Epic to get into. I hope they expand outwards from the Punic Wars into other ancient armies.

[@stephenmarsh8821]

They're OK. But I'm sticking with the Cromarty Forge range. STL files available in 10 and 15mm. Superior to anything Warlord going to produce.

[@Belgianbanshee]

I was planning on getting these on pre-order until I saw the middle ranks. I get the reason why the did it but for me it was a massive let-down. I think I will stick to the napoleonics and maybe later the ACW

[@Unclecthulu]

@Belgianbanshee a few people have said that about the Romans. I think cromarty forge did some in 2 ranks that fit.

[@steveholmes11]

I like the look of these. It's good to see a manufacturer with the courage to overlap round shields to achieve realistic per-soldier frontage. I can see myself using these. Not for Hail Caesar, but for other Ancients rules. Strength and Honour form the TooFat Lardies and To the Strongest form BigRedBat / Simon Miller spring to mind.

[@Unclecthulu]

Yes indeed!

[@simondrury7941]

This was the Epic release I was waiting for. Have got some sample Epic stuff but not painted anything yet, but will when I get my hands on these. Thought they might start with Caesar and the Gauls, but glad we have the Punic wars. Hope we get successors with pike blocks, sythed chariots and cataphract cavalry. Will be looking at what rules to use other than Hail Caesar though.

Getting older.Was a 1:72 gamer,did some 7 Years War in 15mm,even some 6mm Ancients.So wish these kind of models were available back then.Hands creaky,eyes failing,I’ve now started with the Peter Dennis paper soldiers.Modern gamers are so lucky with the choices available.

[@Unclecthulu]

Yes indeed, I don't go back as some but started in the late 80s and things have moved on somewhat.

[@michaelbrandt5416]

Wonder why Warlord games didn´t choose to make Roman figures from the time of the emperors, with rectangular shields and standard helmets against gallic barbarians etc. The Roman figures in this set are rather disappointing. The Celts are better looking with plenty of action moves.

[@Lochagos]

I think that they look great, personally I wont be buying into this. A couple reasons for that, there will be less support compared to 25/28mm and secondly i already started 28mm so I don't want to divide my time and money starting a new scale.

[@81Earthangel]

I always prepared the epic 6mm scale to the 28mm since you are actually able to play battles rather than skirmishes. And isn’t that the whole point of ancient, sci-fi or fantasy battle games?

[@marcinmartinus688]

Is this 15mm scale?

[@Unclecthulu]

Yep it will be

[@CTID-9320]

A wonderful roundup and little history lesson in one, thank you.

[@For_the-Emperor]

Are the rules hard to learn or pretty basic? Only rank/ unit game I’ve played was game of thrones asoiaf.

[@Unclecthulu]

I believe so. Certainly people have picked this style of fame up at the club, check out my videos on blackmpowder how to play, it's a very similar mechanic.

[@RhoIotaKappa]

Likely going to go the Peter Dennis/Paper miniatures route as well. Yes, these new Warlord scale minis are nice, but they are small and the time for painting simply isn't there.

[@Unclecthulu]

The Wofun figures always interested me. I started assembling the Trafalgar paperboys book, then got distracted by new whiney things.

[@15mmGustavus]

That's the Goddess Tanit's symbol, the other symbol I think is Baal's he's like Carthaginian and Phoenician zeus Also.. on the horizon are pigs that you can set on fire

[@Unclecthulu]

I knew about Baal, didn't know about Tanit. Which is interesting since I painted so many in 6mm

[@thediminutivesoldier]

was really hoping for caesar era romans for a starter set. I may hold off until those come out against barbarians, etc. Great channel! I subbed! Please throw one my way! :)

[@Unclecthulu]

That would be cool, I do have a soft spot for Caesar and the Gauls.

[@Unclecthulu]

That would be cool, I do have a soft spot for Caesar and the Gauls.

[@seanbissett-powell5916]

You could probably get away with using these in this scale. The differences in equipment were pretty marginal, the main issue is that people think Caesar's legionaries looked the same as Early Imperial with lorica segmentata and rectangular scuti. The reality is that they still used the oval scutum (possibly slightly smaller, but with no surviving examples that's up for debate), the only real difference is that they used lorica hamata (mail) in most cases, had dropped the chest-protector plate the Punic era hastati had, and seemed to have used floppy plumes or none, with less of the upright feather plumes. Trim some of the plumes off and paint them like principes and for all intents and purposes you'll have a Caesarian army.

[@thediminutivesoldier]

@@seanbissett-powell5916 thanks!

[@rcspaintservice]

Are there decals for the shields?

[@Unclecthulu]

I would be surprised if some suitably sized 15mm or 10mm decals could not be found. I will be on the hunt at Cannonade in a few weeks to see what is available.

[@TheRendar]

Excited about these! Can’t wait to preorder it all. Thanks for the video

[@Richard-jp7wz]

Great video. Thanks

[@lexiwilson9501]

Good overview, thanks.

[@klasclaywood2667]

I love all the Epic Battles stuff

[@johnclarke9498]

Looks good are the shields got decals, silly question i know, nice video 👍🎲

[@Unclecthulu]

I don't know, but found it easy to paint in 6mm

[@kartchner7]

never have played ancients. I have always put it as too much more work to add a period, armies time for painting etc. That said, Epic scale makes it so much easier with a big box with both armies in it, and the scale is much more playable and paintable for larger armies than 28mm. I am really glad they picked Punic wars. It seems much more exciting than barbarian bashing. I am really excited for it, and will add my third epic scale army!

[@Unclecthulu]

I played 28mm hail caesar the other week and enjoyed it, I will do a wee video about it. You say 3rd epic system which one didn't you pick up??

[@kartchner7]

@@Unclecthulu I skipped the napoleonics sets. I have avoided getting into Naps overall due to a myriad of reasons. I already have too many time periods and at the time they came out, i was still really busy with the ACW set. I have almost bought them twice, but when ECW came out, I put it off for another year. I really love the pikes in the ECW set. Now epic ancients have pushed them off the table. I honestly have been trying to avoid the whole Napoleonic thing anyway. It seems to be the period that if you want to pick a fight with someone across the game table, go naps. I will probably jump in eventually, i enjoy the epic scale so much.

[@thestoicsteve]

Thanks for your take on this upcoming range. I haven't bought into any of the previous Epic sets but this one will have me parting with cash I think! I am intrigued by what you have done for this period in 6mm as you say. I will have a search on your channel now!

[@Unclecthulu]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYjCY5VmdrqIfqcsi=qlkO6vopU-Y7kZfG to get you started,

[@davidwasilewski]

Why oh why do they insist on making them in 40mm long strips? Makes a unit footprint really big, somewhat defeating the advantages of playing with smaller scale miniatures imho.

[@Unclecthulu]

I think it helps with the look and feel of the units. We have played alot of epic ACW now at 3 strips a standard unit and that is the sweet spot.

[@davidwasilewski]

@@Unclecthulu 120mm frontage in line? That’s like a warhammer regiment in 32mm scale! Each to their own of course.

[@steveholmes11]

40mm has a long gistory as a "standard" frontage in ancients. Break that at your peril.

[@davidwasilewski]

@@steveholmes11 yes but in games like Warmaster and Warmaster ancients, units tend to stay in columns and therefore have a 40mm frontage and a 60mm depth, but in black powder the units seem to fight in lines?

[@Edward-Plantagenet]

@@UnclecthuluI must have missed that! Are they 40mm long strips? All the other Epic releases are 60mm strips.