I've been through the battle with an Army with no name

So not only do they not have a name, they don't seem to have an icon or logo either. Or at least one that is easy to find. Until I looked in the Epic Warpath rulebook - and every army list has the name of the army on the left hand (even) pages, and the name and logo on the right.

So Epic Warpath has finally started shipping, and due to the tariff situation, they have prioritized the US. I got mine on Friday.

I really like the idea that they had base pledges where you pick the army (armies) you wanted instead of the same static pair in the upcoming 2 player starter set. What (very) little I've played of Firefight has been Asterians, and I've always liked the creepy Nameless (yes, when they hit that stretch goal I had to upgrade my pledge to get both). In fact my current KoW Trident Realm uses a LOT of nameless models in it (and when I can find it), the background sheet talks about them (and the sunken city or R'yleah (yes, it is Cthulhu themed).

Of course I could have written up about the book, tokens and building sets, but I was more excited by the teeny tiny miniatures (having seen the nameless sprue at Gencon helped a bit there). (In one of the kickstarter updates (#46) they already showed the sprue (and I think they have shown them for all 8 factions).

front

back, EWP Nameless, 9980010204

Once again these are were manufactured in Poland by Archon Studio, and are simply fantastic. I just think it is kind of funny that the back of the sprue has all the model numbers - these are actually VERY important (for all the armies, not just the nameless).

Now I'll be honest, I have never had a 10 mm game before (I played one game of Warmaster many years ago, but my friend provided everything).

Mantic has not released the stl files to those who backed them (and it was such a great deal that I got ALL of them (even for the 6 factions I don't otherwise have).

One thing that the kickstarter did was to show details of all the factions in the initial push, with either art or a render of the models on the bases. This so you could see exactly what you were going to get. Then they added each faction as the stretch goal for it was beaten, even having a menu on the left of the page to go directly to each faction.

Except for the Nameless. Now they were only unlocked with the day before the kickstarter ended. One thing the one page previews (from update #36) for most of the factions did was show the actual models - on the bases. The original one for the nameless only had that for 1 reinforcement unit - and 7 of the units just had the artwork from the Deadzone equivalent, and 4 of the brand units just had concept drawings.

In update #42, they also put out the Nameless Faction Guide 2.0. I'm not sure if non-backers can see updates, but I grabbed a copy of it. This doesn't show the based minis, but it does how the number of distinct models of each, and a couple of other pieces (such as the little guy that goes on the base of the Feromite Prime (the only HQ on the hard plastic sprue).

I was very relieved to finally find this (I may read the kickstarter updates, but I rarely pay a lot of attention to them). Of course I had already gone through the process of attempting to determine what each of the units were on the sprue, and how many went on a base.

I also did not realize that the new bases for EW were double sided - four models on one side, two on the other.

What I didn't notice until I started putting some models on the base, is the 4 model base is NOT symmetrical - the distance between the holes in one direction is 3mm, but 5mm in the other. This is easiest to see if you turn the base 45 degrees - trying to use it as a diamond shape, and it is not the regular diamond you would expect.

This can make a difference with models that stick out a bit - I definitely suggest you play with them a little bit to see how you think they best fit on the base.

Now how do you know if a unit has 1, 2 or 4 models to a base? If it is only 1 per base, then it will NOT use these new bases - and either include a flying base, an mdf base, or the old mantic round bases with the round hole (for the original Warpath / Deadzone models). Also, models that are one to a base (or maybe no base at all) do NOT have the round base circle at the bottom of the mini.

Also note that the basing circle on a some of the minis is slightly larger - as are the holes on the 2 side of the base - so the smaller based minis are 4 to a base, the larger ones 2 to a base.

So how many bases of each mini will I have. For this, look at the playstyle sheet above - for each unit in the Hard Plastic Core Army, it will have the number of BASES for that unit you get in the box. Each box contains six identical sprues, so divide that number by 6 to see how many of each model shown will be on the base, and how many are on the sprue. (So the top left core plastic unit shows 4 models, and these are Assassins X12. So there are 12 bases in the box (so 2 bases per sprue). There are 4 unique poses (from the picture). 2 bases per sprue means 8 models per sprue (2 of each). (The one exception (at least for the Nameless are the swarms - these only have 2 unique models (the inker and scuttler), but there are 2 of each on the sprue. Lastly, the army list in the book will indicate how many bases are in a unit. It took me quite a bit of time to figure out how many fit on a base (until I noticed the size difference in the circle), and how many bases of each unit (until I found the updated Play Style sheet, which makes things so much easier).

One major point to pay attention to is that each unit (in general - I'll talk about exceptions as I get to them) is represented on the sprue by a single capital letter (in this case A - G ).

So we will go through the sprue and models (most are one piece, but not all, and those may not be obvious how to assemble them). (Mantic REALLY needs to, at a bare minimum, include the playstyle sheet in the core plastic box and the resin reinforcement box. (For those of use getting STLs, we can print out as many of any model as we want, not just what is listed in the resin box). Or if not the entire sheet, at least the picture of what and how many are in each of these boxes - the rule book does NOT have pictures of the units - so going straight from the sprue to the armylist is at the very least confusing, even for people who know the army (because they have brand new units that never existed before. For people who are buying these are retail, it is unlikely they know what a Toxomite, Phrakatid or Gorgon are, or how to tell them apart (and even the playstyle sheet fails on this one). (I know this game is aimed at experienced gamers, not beginners, but this is still something that should be addressed).

Hopefully it will be in the retail version - because we ARE NOT getting retail boxes in the kickstarter shipment.

Cute, and has a sticker showing what is in it. (Also, these do include 1 mantic point (in the flaps at the top of the box). The box contains the six sprues for the army and the bases for them.

So lets look at the models in detail, going in alphabetical order on the sprue. I'm going to mark up the picture of the sprue to show you where all the parts are for each unit as we go.

A - A is for Assassins (X12). Cute there - but they didn't continue with this (so the Exocites are not on E ( they are F), and the Gorgon is not G (it is B)).

render from kickstarter update

Since there are twelve bases of 4 models in the box, that means we have 8 models, as marked above (and 2 units (of six bases) per box).

A side note - I have seen some people who have their sets talking about painting them on the sprue to make it easier. As I said earlier, I have never done a 10 mm game before - I do think that speed paints will be wonderful here (though for my large scale nameless models I have liked using Turbo Dork color shift paints (I've been using these since they first came out, in the small dropper bottles with the lids whose tops would break off if you tightened them too much (now they have extra large 22ml bottles (4D glasses is still my favorite of the line, though Shell Shocked is also awesome, and I have gone through a lot of People Eater (because it is purple for those of you that don't get the reference ) because I use it for all the tentacles on my Trident Realm of R'yleah army (and there are a LOT of tentacles)).

I don't know if it is better to paint them on the sprue or not, or even how you should base such tiny things (my usual (and some how this has become a "thing" according to Mark Z and the Mantic Universe Podcast) sand, brown paint and tufts (at least for DEMO armies Mark!) may be too big and coarse for this tiny things. However for you dear reader, I am cutting the models off the sprues and gluing them to bases (at least one sprue) - I may try both methods then (once I get to actually painting them).

I like that these are fully attached to the sprue by the underside of the base - no snipping off on the actual model.

A1, A2, A3, A4

I started these in a square, but felt they fit better in a 'diamond' shape (this is where I found out that the base is not symmetric).

And of course I like to compare old to new models when I can. So here is the assassin from Star Saga / Deadzone vs a base of them for EW.

Moving on, B is for Gorgon, of course

I apologize for this crappy picture - however the only pic I can find is on the playstyle sheet, and trying to blow it up just fails.

B1 - bottom of carapace. The hole is for a flying base stand

B2 - top of carapace

B2 - front of top of carapace

B3, B4 - legs/flippers/spikes

B5 - Head

B6 - gun

gluing carapace together - left a bit of a gap unfortunately. However this is on the underside (slightly), so it may not be noticeable after painting and glued to a base

face glued to the front of the carapace

Gun fits into space on the top. This (IMHO) is a bit too detailed on both the gun and carapace - so it does not fit as well as it should.

Ok - so most of this is straightforward and easy. And then the fins/legs/spikes - whatever they are. They go underneath from the little picture on the playstyle sheet. But where exactly. I fiddled around quite a bit to find a place where they seemed to fit. They have small notches - but I think these are too shallow and indistinct (as opposed to the gun mount, which is too detailed). There is no obvious bump that these fit into.

After seeing if I could find other pictures (so far no), It appears that there was a slight protrusion on either side for these (see below).

The advantage of HIPS is you can pretty much effectively glue anything anywhere. Plastic cement softens the pieces, and then when it hardens they are fused extremely well. Plus these appear to be monstrous shellfish - so it really won't matter if these aren't in the right place. Go wild!

Fins underneath

Full model with fins on either side, going for a bit of a swim through the air.

This is already a huge post, and we are just up to C.

C is for Faromites. This includes the Faromite Prime, in case things didn't get confusing enough. Especially with the little guy (what the hell is that anyway) that goes with the Feromite Prime.

Feromites render from kickstarter update

Feromite Prime render from kickstarter update

Feromites are circled in Red, Feromite Prime in Maroon

So how do you tell the Prime from the other Feromites? Without basing, look at the back of the model - the prime had a large ridge down their back, while regular feromites just have a slight bump in their shell. (Does anyone else remember when these were just the Hard Guards in Dreadball (vs. the Sticky Guards - which don't seem to have made the transition into the normal army for either Deadzone or Epic Warpath.

C2, C3, C4, C5

C1, C6

So of course comes the comparison picture. I've used all my Hard Guards (and the couple of Feromite Primes) in two regiments of Placoderms (ah, remember when we used to be able to take them as hordes. And then they got ensnare as well for a brief shining moment when they were the coral reefs that all other armies would crash upon) (I figure heavy infantry De 6+, these big guys with shells worked pretty well). I did do some conversions (basically arm swaps) to add even more tentacles!

Feromite comparison

I only had a couple of the prime models, so they are each in the 'unit leader' postition.

Feromite Prime comparison

So here is one of the units of Placoderms made from Dreadball Nameless Hard Guards, with a newer Feromite Prime in the front (to the left of the banner).

Oh, and both my units are ALL METAL, and heavy as hell (compared to so much anymore).

I had banners on many of my units (I like armies that carry banners to distinguish units from each other) - all of them had symbols from the Cthuhu mythos.

Ok, it is from the back - but doesn't that look like a wall of De 6+?

Next up is D - for Riflemen (or is that Riflesquids?). Like the Assassins, there are 8 on the sprue for 2 bases - 12 bases in the box, so 2 units. Very simple - simply cut off the sprue and glue to the bases.

Riflemen render from kickstarter update

D1, D2, D3, D4

Compared to the Deadzone / Star Saga version (which only had the single sculpt)

I used these as a troop of Heartpiercers in my army (I also used a troop of gunslingers)

The easiest of all the models is E - for Slug. It is a transport vehicle (and despite the gun on top, it doesn't have a ranged attack). It can hold 2 bases, and comes in units of 3 (so you get two units). You can also take 1 as a command transport for your Feromite Prime.

Again, the only picture of this is from the play style sheet

Technically as a vehicle, it does not require a base. However the box comes with 20 bases, so 6 for the slugs and 12 for the Toxomites/Phrakatids still leaves 2 extra.

F is a bit strange (similar to C, but worse) because it has 2 units - both the Swarms and Exocites.

swarms render from kickstarter update

exocites render from kickstarter update

I'm using the swarm models (Scuttlers and Inkers) for my tidal swarms in my Trident realm army. One troop of scuttlers and one troop of inkers.

F1 - Swarms (Scuttlers)

Honesly these are VERY disappointing sculpts - they are nothing but blobs, not little 4 legged spider like creatures.

F2 - Inkers

The little octopus inkers are much better

I think for my army I will do separate bases of each type, rather than mixing them together.

Scuttler copmparision to the ones I am using for my tidal swarm

Inker comparison to the ones I'm using for my other tidal swarm.

Tidal Swarm troop (Inkers)

Tidal Swarm troop (Scuttlers)

The exocites are then F3 and F4.

F3, F4

The final letter on the sprue is G - for Toxomite and Phrakatid. These are the same model, one with ranged attacks (Toxomite) and the other close combat oriented (Phrakatid). There are two on the sprue, and a unit contains 3 bases. So the box makes 2 units of each (or 1 and 3, or even 4 of just the one). Because these are the same model with options, it actually means there are some extra bits left on the sprue.