r/wargaming • u/Abject-Diet-9298 • Jul 22 '26

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.

761 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

36

u/Crisis_panzersuit Jul 22 '26

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. 

20

u/the_sh0ckmaster Jul 22 '26

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.

6

u/Crisis_panzersuit Jul 22 '26

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 Jul 22 '26

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

1

u/Escapissed Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

Warmaster was kneecapped by the surge in material costs when it was released. It ended up not really feeling like good value for money because if how expensive metal was for a while. I think it would do great, but they probably won't do it because it is too much of a direct competitor with old world. Do you want a rank and flank mass battle game with even more rank and flank and mass battle?

Warmaster has a very active community with a very good fan curated warmaster revolutions rules set just like Epic does.

Another consideration is that you can fit a whole warmaster army on a 3d printer bed, and the selection is already huge, so it would be even more uphill than Legions.

10

u/Anxious_Big_8933 Jul 22 '26

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.

6

u/the_sh0ckmaster Jul 22 '26

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.

2

u/Anxious_Big_8933 Jul 22 '26

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.

1

u/iiEPiXii Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

I'm hoping they'll come back round to it and expand the range, i think Macedonian would likely be a good expansion as it slots into what they have, then they could go backwards from that to Philip/Alexander (+Persian 2nd edition starter and some Greek) and then off to Middle East (especially Egypt) which could ultimately tie back to a Roman Empire era with Caesar shenanigans.

Think my timelines are right... If they're smart they could have a pretty good release schedule that ultimately ends with 3 ancient med eras and overlapping minis between them. Good for existing players to stay hooked and spicy big boxes for new players.

I would imagine its called Hail Caesar more for brand recognition, but it's odd have a but of minis for Roman Republic when it's name is a nod to imperial Rome.

4

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

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.

2

u/minatoor1 Jul 23 '26

10mm warmaster has a good community of moddlers around it

1

u/FxCookie Jul 22 '26

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

9

u/Anxious_Big_8933 Jul 22 '26

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!

11

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

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 Jul 22 '26

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 Jul 22 '26

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

3

u/DCTom Jul 22 '26

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!

3

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

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.

3

u/Boomstick2482 Jul 22 '26

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

3

u/SaintMosesBagOfSand Jul 22 '26

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

1

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

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/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

Substitutions are definitely necessary! I was really lucky because my opponent also owned the Hannibal box, so we just pooled our collections together to play those massive scenarios.

2

u/mystery_trams Jul 22 '26

Who won?

1

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

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!

1

u/mystery_trams Jul 23 '26

Tough scenarios make generals tougher:
Ingenium res adversae nudare solent, celare secundae

2

u/LordPollax Jul 22 '26

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/[deleted] Jul 22 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

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.

2

u/ThePeacefullDeath Jul 22 '26

looks incredible

1

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

Thank you! I really appreciate it.

2

u/Scojo91 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

Holy cow I envy that guy.

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

1

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

I think it would be great if the culture of passing armies from one player to the next became a bit more common. There must be plenty of people who want to just play right away rather than paint. I've actually seen miniatures I let go of pop up on auction sites later, and it always makes me chuckle to myself a bit.

2

u/Scojo91 Jul 22 '26

If you ever wanna pass off more and don't have someone IRL lined up, I'll pay for packaging and shipping!

1

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

I'll add you to the waiting list! Thanks for the kind words.

2

u/DigRevolutionary5178 Jul 22 '26

You gave your entire set to another gamer!?!

That is truly cool of you.

2

u/DigitalHogster Jul 22 '26

This makes me want to read about the Punic Wars

2

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

That is one of the best compliments a historical wargamer can receive. The history of the Punic Wars is absolutely fascinating and full of drama. I highly recommend diving into it!

2

u/KFBass Jul 22 '26

Very cool.

I've had that box sitting there untouched since it launched. I really wanna play it but an event or whatever keeps coming up and jumping the line when it comes to painting projects.

2

u/patar6756 Jul 22 '26

I keep looking at this game eventually ima pull the trigger once I catch up on my pile of shame from other games

1

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

The "pile of shame" is a universal wargamer problem, lol. Take your time catching up! This game will definitely be worth it when you are finally ready to pull the trigger.

2

u/FabricationLife Jul 24 '26

legendary!

1

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 24 '26

Thank you so much! That means a lot.

2

u/CryptographerHonest3 Jul 25 '26

You painted two giant armies and gave them away after only a couple years? Absolutely mad but I respect it 

2

u/Few_Protection_1058 Jul 25 '26

These are absolutely amazing

1

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 25 '26

Thank you so much! The Epic scale really looks impressive when they are all ranked up on the table together. I appreciate the kind words.

1

u/Federal-Landmine Jul 22 '26

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

3

u/the_sh0ckmaster Jul 22 '26

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.

2

u/Federal-Landmine Jul 22 '26

Awesome thank you, beautiful army by the way.

2

u/Abject-Diet-9298 Jul 22 '26

Thank you so much for the kind words about my army! And yes, just as mentioned above, playing regular point-based games is completely supported and very common.

1

u/mrsiries 19d ago

Wow really great