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About this publication

Origin and intent

This publication makes the Epic 40,000 rules texts easier to use. All the best content for the game in one place, and in a range of outputs so that you can pick whatever suits you best.

This publication is entirely unofficial and not endorsed by Games Workshop Ltd.

I hope my efforts help you to get more out of this great game, with less confusion. Long live Epic 40,000!

Eric Weston

Source materials

Main books from Games Workshop:

  • Epic 40,000 Rule Book (soft cover, released with boxed set, 1997).
  • Epic 40,000 Battles Book (soft cover, released with boxed set, 1997).
  • Epic 40,000 Armies Book (soft cover, released with boxed set, 1997) .

Other publications from Games Workshop:

ClosedArticles from Epic Firepower magazine issue 1
  • Adeptus Mechanicus Detachments (page 5 to 9).
  • From the Battlefront — Official Rule Amendments and Errata (page 12 to 15).
  • Warriors of Justice — Adeptus Arbites (page 16 to 19).
  • Air Superiority (page 20 to 27).
  • Epic 40,000 — The Director's Cut (page 32 to 34).
  • Squat Armies (page 35 to 46).
  • Princes of Chaos (page 78 to 86).
ClosedArticles from Epic Firepower magazine issue 2
  • Supreme Warriors (page 4 to 13).
  • On the Wings of Death (page 14).
  • For the Emperor! (page 17 to 23).
  • Refight: Last Stand at Glazers Creek (page 24 to 26) — with some minor edits for clarity.
  • Questions and Answers (page 27 to 35).
  • Sword of the Eldar (page 39 to 43).
  • Big guns never tire (page 46).
  • Legio Tormentum (page 50 to 54).
  • Greener is Meaner! (page 66 to 70).
  • Terror and Death (page 72 to 78).
  • The Hand of Fate! (page 79 to 83).
ClosedArticles from Epic Firepower magazine issue 3
  • Fist of the Imperium (page 7 to 13).
  • The Imperial Guard (page 14 to 20).
  • Alternative Guard (just the tweaks from page 25 for the 'Option 3' Imperial Guard Infantry Detachment).
  • Liber Tacticus (page 26 to 28).
  • Ordo Malleus (page 31).
  • Questions and Answers (page 32).
  • Attack of the Tyranids (page 39 to 49).
  • Bug Hunt (page 54 to 57).
  • Children of the Kraken (page 58 to 61).
  • The Green Machine (page 62 to 66).
  • Penal Legions (page 78).
ClosedArticles from Epic Firepower magazine issue 4
  • Medic! Imperial Support Units (page 5 to 6).
  • Tribal Gathering (page 17 to 19).
  • Epic Siege (page 23 to 28).
  • Fortification (page 29 to 31).
  • Imperial Tunnellers (page 34 to 36).
  • The Thinking Man's Abattoir (page 41 to 47).
ClosedArticles from Epic 40,000 magazine issue 1
  • Getting Started Mini-Scenarios (page 25 to 26).
  • Pitched Battle (page 30 to 33).
  • Mailbag — missing the points (page 40 to 41).
ClosedArticles from Epic 40,000 magazine issue 2
  • Vehicle Variants (page 10 to 12).
  • Leman Russ (page 14 to 16).
  • Third Wave (page 24 to 27).
ClosedArticles from Epic 40,000 magazine issue 3
  • Path of the Eldar (page 20 to 22).
ClosedArticles from Epic 40,000 magazine issue 4
  • Its' All in Your Warhead! (page 18 to 21).
ClosedArticles from Epic 40,000 magazine issue 5
  • Destroyer Leman Russ Variants (page 17 to 18).
  • Allocating Hits (page 21 to 22).
ClosedArticles from Epic 40,000 magazine issue 6
  • Lightning — Imperial Fighter (page 2 to 3).
ClosedArticles from Epic 40,000 magazine issue 7
  • Warmonger Titans (page 10 to 11).
ClosedArticles from Epic 40,000 magazine issue 9
  • Tau part 1 (page 12 to 15).
  • It's All in Your Warhead, Part II (page 20 to 22).
ClosedArticles from Epic 40,000 magazine issue 10
  • Tau part 2 (page 20 to 21).
ClosedArticles from The Citadel Journal magazine issue 21
  • Machines of Destruction (page 72 to 75)
ClosedArticles from The Citadel Journal magazine issue 34
  • Slaves to Darkness (page 30 to 37).
ClosedArticles from The Citadel Journal magazine issue 35
  • Knights and Dragons (page 36 to 39).
ClosedArticles from White Dwarf magazine issue 209
  • Ready for Battle (page 33 to 39).
ClosedArticles from White Dwarf magazine issue 210
  • The Emperor's Tarot (page 48 to 49).
ClosedArticles from White Dwarf magazine issue 211
  • Waaagh! 'Ere come da Orks (page 34 to 41).
ClosedArticles from White Dwarf magazine issue 214
  • The Hand of Fate! (page 64 to 65).
ClosedArticles from White Dwarf magazine issue 215
  • Chambers of the Horned Rat (page 88 to 95).
  • Are You Experienced? (page 96 to 98).
  • Flak Attack! (page 99).
  • Final Thoughts… Suggested Points Limits (page 99) — added as a note at Armies.
  • The Eternal Crusade (page 102 to 107).
ClosedArticles from White Dwarf magazine issue 218
  • The Coming of the Great Devourer (page 80 to 85).
ClosedArticles from White Dwarf magazine issue 224
  • Lords of Battle (page 72 to 75).

Changes I've made

For the most part, I have not edited ambiguous or cumbersome sentences — the wording of the rules is exactly as originally published (with some rare exceptions, mostly for technical reasons, or the odd correction I couldn't resist). I did make some other changes where it was necessary for effective single-sourcing or to provide a good experience with the HTML formats:

  • Left out many images and short stories, to save effort and to keep file sizes down.
  • Made some headings more self-descriptive and unique, and added links between related topics. Together, these changes make it easier and faster for you to find and check related information when you need to.
  • Made some keywords stand out more, and made some capitalisation more consistent.
  • Adjusted the structure, especially in the HTML formats. This makes it easier for you to find and digest the rules.
  • Made some content collapsible/expandable in the HTML formats. This reduces visual clutter while keeping rules or notes handy.
  • In some cases I've repeated short pieces of content so that you that don't have to flick back and forth between topics to check a rule or table.

Many of the source files I worked from are poor quality scans which make it difficult to obtain correct text via difficult for optical character recognition software. I do a lot to tidy up imported content, but I'm only human and some errors do get through. Please ignore minor typographical errors, but let me know about bigger problems. If you find a mistake (or if you have an idea to improve this publication), I'd like to fix it — let me know about it at https://thehobby.zone/issue-tracker.

Or, feel free to discuss with me in the Epic 40,000 Facebook groups (see Further resources). I look forward to your feedback.

Future direction

My overall intent for this compendium is to mirror the best of the original content, with the minimum of changes (and some comments or notes where necessary to highlight problem areas). I think it is also worthwhile to add some useful content away from the main body of the rules (such as at Further resources).

I added most of the original published content to this project during the 'beta' release phase (that is, prior to 'stable' release version 1.0.0). I continue to make small improvements and add more content when I can, so over time I publish occasional updates and increase the version number as appropriate.

I also harboured a desire to start a separate project to rework the text, to improve the usability further, and to tweak or extend some of the rules. Others expressed a similar desire, and we now have a community project for this — if you're interested, see epicremastered.com.

Version: 1.4.0 | 30 December 2023 | Spotted a problem? Got an idea? Let me know at: https://thehobby.zone/issue-tracker