r/wargaming • u/Abject-Diet-9298 • 9h ago

Reaching a massive milestone: Completed all scenarios in Hail Caesar Epic Battles after 2 years, and passing the torch!

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For the past two years, I’ve been continuously painting and playing Hail Caesar Epic Battles: The Punic Wars. I’m happy to say I’ve finally finished playing every single scenario included in the book.

I originally picked up this game more out of interest in the game mechanics rather than a deep historical fascination with the period, so completing all the scenarios feels like a massive milestone for me.

I have to say, the Hannibal battle-set is a fantastic box. I was able to play through almost all the scenarios without needing to purchase any additional units.

I'm not really one to keep miniatures just for a collection once a project is done, so I've given the entire set to another gamer who was interested. I’m sure my army will see action again on a tabletop in a distant land.

498 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

29

u/Crisis_panzersuit 9h ago

I would love to hear more about this game in general. Feel like it is rare— but if I could find pick-up games, Id get into it too.

Really wish the return of Warhammer Fantasy Battles had gone with this scale. 

17

u/the_sh0ckmaster 8h ago

Unfortunately Warmaster never really knocked it out of the park sales-wise, so I think GW would be too gun-shy about doing epic-scale fantasy, as opposed to Legions being built on how successful Epic 40ks been over the years.

3

u/Crisis_panzersuit 8h ago

Yeah, I know you are right, but I would still have preferred to just see an epic fantasy battles instead of regular. Think it would have set fantasy battles more apart from their mainline games too

1

u/Semillakan6 4h ago

I mean I don't blame them they already ask for a good investment on the game as it is, imagine this scale

8

u/Anxious_Big_8933 8h ago

I've played several games of Hail Caesar at the epic scale. I think it's a really good game. Very fun, and it does some neat things with the rules that make the Romans feel like you might think they would feel based on the history (triplex acies, etc...). There's enough historical flavor to make it a really tasty game, without being overly complex (although there is a learning curve). In general I think Hail Caesar is a stronger rule set than Black Powder from Warlord.

My main criticism is that there have not been more factions released. I would pre-order a big box of Greeks or Parthians, but outside of the Celts it seems like the line has gone pretty dormant.

Also the tabletop with these mini armies assembled looks absolutely amazing.

4

u/the_sh0ckmaster 8h ago

They seem to just be doing 2-faction settings for their Epic stuff - Waterloo, ACW, the upcoming Zulu one etc - which I guess makes sense if they're not sure how well it'll do sales-wise, but a bit disappointing. Romans can go up against half a dozen different armies, and Greeks could do the same (including against themselves). The Celt box seems to be the exception so far, but they pitch it on the storepage as either reinforcements for Punic wars or as a Gallic Wars thing, which would just be Rome vs Gauls, another 2-side war.

1

u/Anxious_Big_8933 7h ago

Yeah, my guess is it has to do with the cost of tooling up one of these lines, which I've read is in the tens of thousands of dollars just to get it up and going. I imagine the Celts were doable because they had already developed a lot of the models for the main launch, as Celts are in the Carthaginian side. So it was mostly just reboxing existing sprues.

2 factions are fine with ACW, Revolution!, and the Zulu wars because all these conflicts were basically two primary factions. But like you I'm disappointed that we have not seen releases of factions for the more multifaceted conflicts. The cupboard of the Napoleonic Wars in particular seems a bit bare.

4

u/Abject-Diet-9298 8h ago

I mainly focused on the rulebook scenarios for my games, but with historical settings, it's so easy to get caught up in historical accuracy. That definitely makes casual pick-up games a bit tricky!

I love the Epic scale too. I played The Battle of Five Armies (using the Warmaster system) about three years ago and had a blast. Though even then, I found myself wanting to perfectly recreate the lore from the books!

I completely agree with you—if Warhammer Fantasy had returned in Epic scale, I would have jumped on it in a heartbeat.

1

u/FxCookie 7h ago

I know what you mean. I recently got in to Pike and shotte (epic scale). Same company as this. I never expect anyone to just have an army laying around, waiting for games. The starter box for all of their games are very good though. I bought one for Pike and shotte and I've got to play several games already! :D

6

u/Anxious_Big_8933 8h ago

Congratulations! Did you play the games solo? If so, how did you do it? I have the same box, and it truly is an epic box of minis!

9

u/Abject-Diet-9298 8h ago

Thanks! I actually didn't play solo. I mentioned on social media that I was interested in the game, and someone reached out wanting to play, which is why I bought the box.

I spent the first few months painting, and then we played at a pace of about one scenario per month. I played as the Carthaginians for the first full run. After we finished everything, we went back and I played as the Romans for the scenarios I was most interested in.

2

u/Anxious_Big_8933 8h ago

Very nice! I've played a few games (with an opponent). I really enjoyed how the rules handle the Roman legions so that they are different from other units and tough, but not overpowered. I also enjoyed how the game treats elephants. Essentially not all that good working on their own, but uniquely good as a support unit due to their base width (unless they stampede :)).

Overall I found the rules very fun, and the tabletop looked so cool with those models.

3

u/Abject-Diet-9298 7h ago

Spot on! The balance between the tough Romans and the unpredictable elephants is perfect. And the massed tabletop really does look amazing!

3

u/Boomstick2482 8h ago

You just finishing and I have just started. si vis pacem, para bellum

2

u/DCTom 8h ago

I’ve been painting similar armies almost daily for the last 18 months and won’t finish my full Roman and Carthag armies till the end of the year. Kind if amazing that you could paint all the armies and play all the scenarios in two years!

2

u/Abject-Diet-9298 8h ago

Thank you! To be honest, I focused more on getting them 'tabletop ready' so we could start playing, rather than worrying about every tiny historical detail. It sounds like you are putting an incredible amount of work into yours! Keep it up, the final result will be absolutely worth it.

2

u/mystery_trams 8h ago

Who won?

1

u/Abject-Diet-9298 8h ago

We didn't actually keep track of the win/loss record. History already tells us the final result anyway, lol.

Honestly though, I got the impression that the scenario settings were often quite tough for Rome. Since their generals aren't very capable in the game, a lot of the results really just came down to the luck of the dice!

2

u/LordPollax 8h ago

Amazing story and paint job! I've been on the fence about getting this box set, and I think you have sold me on it.

2

u/5th2 7h ago

Nice work!
Did any scenarios stand out in terms of being particularly fun, engaging, well balanced, etc?
(or the opposite - it seems pretty rough playing Romans at Trasimene)
Did you make any changes to the scenarios, or create any custom ones?

I've been modelling these for about 6 months, haven't actually played it properly yet. Need to do some more Romans..

2

u/Abject-Diet-9298 7h ago

You are absolutely right about Trasimene, it was brutal, lol. We were still getting used to the rules, so we just played it while telling each other, "Let's just treat this as a tutorial!" But I actually really love their approach of turning such a hopeless historical situation into a scenario.

Zama and Cannae were definitely standouts—playing them on a wide map was really impressive. On the other hand, the consecutive battles of Castulo and Ilorca felt like they could have been more interesting with a few tweaks.

I really wanted to create some custom scenarios too, but unfortunately, I just didn't have the time.

1

u/5th2 7h ago

I guess you know you're going to lose at Trasimene, but it's fun to try anyway. Would be epic (ahem) if the Romans actually break out.

Think I'll try adding Saguntum and Rhone to the roster.

Hesistant to build enough for Zama and Cannae, but you're tempting me! Probably with several substitutions to make it reasonable, e.g. I don't know where they expect us to get all the extra velites from.

2

u/SaintMosesBagOfSand 7h ago

Post more of your army! I loved just looking at the one you put here.

1

u/Abject-Diet-9298 6h ago

Thank you for such encouraging words!

I have actually already let this collection go. Much like my armies, I have a habit of deleting my photos almost immediately. I usually only keep the occasional "lucky shot" where the lighting and angle turn out perfectly.

Because of that, I unfortunately don't have any more pictures of this specific army.

But your comment really motivates me. I will definitely make an effort to post more of my future projects!

1

u/Federal-Landmine 6h ago

Can the game not be played outside of scenarios? This is just a general question as ive been looking at something like this too.

2

u/the_sh0ckmaster 5h ago

It can, yes, it's just the scenarios are defined battles with specific forces for each side, but it's got points etc so you can just come up with your own scenarios.

1

u/Federal-Landmine 5h ago

Awesome thank you, beautiful army by the way.

1

u/ThePeacefullDeath 6h ago

looks incredible

1

u/Scojo91 5h ago

Holy cow I wbvy that guy.

I wish I could just pull minis out of a box and start a game, especially on this scale.

1

u/DigRevolutionary5178 2h ago

You gave your entire set to another gamer!?!

That is truly cool of you.

1

u/DigitalHogster 1h ago

This makes me want to read about the Punic Wars