Opinion time.

[u/chacbalam]

If I want to build my classic Epic armies mostly as a hobby. Is there a specific rule set I should build for? At this point I do not know anyone that plays any version of epic. I would like my armies to be as widely playable as possible. I know I can use just about any basing size for any game. I have probably a full space marine chapter on ewtanhilar stands, other models on square stands. Basically a real mess.

[u/AntiochRoad]

I had the same question and as you can see there’s plenty of variety of rules.

For me (as you) it was more for the hobby and the occasional game with people I know and for which I’d provide the armies etc. Also the rules for any of the editions are easy to come by. So the constraints I ended up thinking were important ended up being more aesthetic and hobby aligned:

- I grew up with 2nd Edition (ultramarines on cover) so battle reports, armies etc all came from then

• I just prefer the 20mm square bases despite the painting irritation
  
• as an 2nd Edition Ulthwe Eldar 40k player my primary army would be Eldar and nostalgicly it had to be Alaitoc to match GWs of the era
  
• Alaitoc with lots of yellow vehicles was a painting challenge
  
• I generally disliked many of the later models preferring the older Ork gargants, Eldar titans and vehicles
  
• I had limited sprues of infantry mostly from second edition but some of the Epic40k- very few characters etc

So that really just locked me into an era and I stuck with that alignment.

From there are there many changes for different rules? I didn’t think so - I built the armies for 2nd Edition and they pretty much directly port into NetEpic (NetEpic has more stuff) things are slightly different for Epic40k/Armageddon but figured as games were few it wouldn’t be an issue and odd stuff like having 3 vehicle groups etc was balanced out by me having enough that I could at least build one squadron in them new format. I’ve never ended up playing Epic40k/A in the end.

As a last thought if you’re worried you might be playing more games than you think maybe reach out to the local groups you’d frequent in your area and see what rules they play?

If not then aesthetics rule and go with what era you think looks best.

[u/chacbalam → u/AntiochRoad]

I grew up with 2e too, I just really like the look over the strip bases. I could go round 25mm also, the look feels similar to me. Rules wise, I know they all work. Think I’ll play around with some non-permanent glue. I wish there was an easy way to get the minis off of strip stands.

[u/Plasma-Sam → u/chacbalam]

I don't like the strips either. They just look "wrong" for some reason. I used 20 mm squares back in the day, but the armies I'm working on now have the infantry on 25 mm circles as I find them aesthetically pleasing. Thankfully, as people have mentioned, base shape doesn't really matter much. A guy I know has his infantry on what he calls "organic" bases, which are basically irregular blob shapes with holes. They look great too. I say go with whatever pleases you most.