[Epic] A note from the 40K List - Jervis Johnson's comments on Epic 40K

From: Doug Veal <dougv_at_...>
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 1998 13:54:32 +1100

No-one seems to have transferred this yet so I thought I would do the
honours...

This little post was in response to the thread on the 40k mailing list
about a new edition of Warhammer 40000 coming out soon. I have
transferred the mail that Jervis wrote in full so that it may be read as
is. For thos of you who have read it on the other list, sorry for the
waste of bandwidth. (Oh and I removed his email address for what it's
worth..) The last part is of most significance to us... =)

Subject:
             P: Squelching Some Rumours
 Resent-Date:
             Fri, 31 Jul 1998 08:40:44 -0500 (CDT)
Resent-From:
             40k-list_at_...
   Resent-To:
             multiple recipients of <40k-list_at_...>
       Date:
             Fri, 31 Jul 1998 14:42:02 +0100
       From:
             Jervis Johnson
    Reply-To:
             40k-list_at_...
         To:
             40k-list_at_...





Gee, you guys! Reviewing rules sets that aren't out yet, I don't know...
I'm
not going to get drawn into a debate on the potential (or should that be
'portent'ial) of the next edition of 40K, but there are a few unfounded
rumours out there I thought I'd jump on quickly, so that they don't end
up
as being accepted as facts.

First off, the new plastic Land Speeder that Jez has designed can carry
one
or two heavy weapons (and we'll be doing conversion kits that will allow
it
to do a whole lot of other things beside). So all those old Space Marine
Land Speeder models will still be legal.

Secondly, although I can't say anything about future editions of 40K, I
can
say that we've no plans to make a game where a 'typical' army needs 500+
models (where *do* these stories come form?!?). A typical army as it is
now
(say 1500 to 3000 points) seems to be just about the right size to us
for a
game on an average table, though it's nice to play larger games
occassionally.

The last thing I'd like to go on about isn't so much a rumour, so much
as
some of the nonsense I've seen written about Epic 40K. First of all, I
should point out that I designed the Epic game system (though Andy and
Gav
did most of the development work and army lists), and that it is the
game
system I am most proud of out of all those I've designed. This makes it
upsetting to see people saying that GW is disappointed with Epic and
that
it's been a failure. In fact we're very pleased with the game and will
keep
on supporting it. More to the point, what we're finding now is that,
contrary to popular opinion on the net, Epic has become something of a
'cult
game' and is becoming more and more popular as time goes along (i.e. the
percentage it makes up of total GW sales is _increasing_ as time goes
along,
and is now _higher_ than percentage sales were for the old system). One
final point about Epic, just in case some of you are tempted to
speculate
wildly (I know, as if you would : )); simply because the rules system
worked
so well for Epic, it does _not_ mean we're going to 'lift it' and use it
as
the basis of a new 40K game - OK!

Hope that helps,

Jervis
Received on Sat Aug 01 1998 - 02:54:32 UTC