Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 287 Epic and Lao Lu Change Outfits
Chen Xi calmed herself down, placed her hands on her knees, and took a few deep breaths of the cool morning air.

As oxygen refilled his lungs, he felt his violently beating heart gradually calm down, and the stars in front of him slowly faded away.

He straightened up, wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead, and gave Liu Yi a slightly tired smile.

"It's nothing, I just haven't exercised in a while, so running suddenly feels a bit strange." Chen Xi waved his hand, his voice still slightly out of breath. "Thanks for your concern, Lao Liu."

The two exchanged a few words of pleasantries by the roadside. Chen Xi declined Liu Yi's suggestion to continue accompanying her, saying that she was feeling much better and could go home to rest on her own.

Just before parting, Chen Xi suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to call out to Liu Yi, who was about to continue his morning run: "By the way, if you're free this weekend, how about coming to the club to play a few rounds of Warhammer?" His tone was much more relaxed, and a hint of anticipation flashed in his eyes. "I remember you said last time you wanted to try the new expansion pack."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yi's eyes lit up, and he readily agreed while jogging in place.

After agreeing on a specific time, Chen Xi turned around and slowly walked towards home.
-
The next day, Chen Xi arrived at the club.

The moment he pushed open the door, he subconsciously looked around, but did not see Liu Yi or any other familiar faces he used to play 40k with.

The club was rather quiet, with only two group members engrossed in an EPIC match at a long table in the corner.

EPIC is another form of Warhammer tabletop combat, featuring large-scale micro-war battles that focus on grand campaigns and massive army clashes.

Unlike the standard Warhammer game, which focuses on squad-level tactics, EPIC focuses on showcasing epic, galactic-scale campaigns.

Under this rule system, players no longer command individual soldiers, but entire legions, armored formations, or even Titan legions.

The battlefield has expanded from ordinary desktops to the entire surface of the planet, and even across galaxies.

Chen Xi approached to observe the battle and saw hundreds of miniature models densely arranged on the table.

These EPIC-specific pieces are only one-sixth the size of the standard Warhammer models, but the details are still exquisite.

Here, each tiny piece represents a complete tactical unit—it could be a five-man Astartes squad, a main battle tank, or a squadron of knight mechs.

Taking the current battle as an example, the two group members deployed three entire Astartes companies, with more than 400 Space Marines condensed into dozens of miniature pieces; the Blue team, on the other hand, assembled more than 40 armored vehicles of various types, from Rhino troop carriers to Predator tanks.

What's even more impressive is the Titan legion that stands majestically on both sides of the battlefield—each side has deployed more than a dozen different models of Titans, ranging from the nimble Warhound class to the massive Warmaster class, forming an iron wall on the tabletop.

If it were a standard-scale Warhammer model, an army of this size would probably take up the entire club space.

Just setting up these models requires a huge sand table, not to mention the nightmarish experience of rolling dice and calculating damage for each unit individually in actual combat.

But under EPIC rules, all of this becomes feasible and enjoyable—through a simplified command system and unified battle settlement, players can easily control such a large army, focusing their attention on the strategic level rather than tedious data calculations. "General! My Warhound squad is attacking from your left flank and will devour your general!" one of the group members shouted excitedly, seemingly having gained the upper hand.

Chen Xi smiled knowingly. This was precisely the charm of EPIC—using the simplest rules to create the grandest war epic.

He then greeted the two of them: "Hey, Sea Hare! Old Meng! Are you kidding me?"

"Yeah, I had nothing to do today, so I decided to play a couple of rounds of EPIC. It gets boring playing Kill Squad every day, doesn't it?" Old Meng smiled at Chen Xi and explained casually.

Compared to EPIC, where hundreds of players or even a dozen Titans clash in a single battle, Kill Squad, where there are fewer than twenty models in an entire match, can get a bit boring after a while.

However, this also touched Chen Xi, making him think, "If only there were such an army in 40k."

After all, this was a 30k legion with complete vehicles, full firepower, and the support of the Knights Family and the Titan Legion. If such a force were thrown into the battle of Rostov, it would be enough to change the course of the war.

Compared to the 30k Empire, which was rich in resources and full of advanced technology, the 40k Empire's military strength has not declined too much, and many things have been replaced by lower-level alternatives, but its overall combat level has indeed decreased.

Especially in the area of ​​large-scale warfare in Astartes, they have indeed regressed too much. The various tactics and advanced weapons of the Legion era have basically been lost by the 40k era.

Thinking of this, Chen Xi didn't know where the inspiration came from, or whether it was a revelation from the Emperor, but he invited the two of them, "Hey, Sea Rabbit, Old Meng, if there's an opportunity to go to 40k, would you go?"

"No way! Who would be a decent person to go to that godforsaken place to eat shit?" Old Meng immediately refused, then turned around and started packing up his chess pieces.

Sea Hare, however, looked thoughtful. After looking Chen Xi up and down, she casually remarked, "If I have the chance, it would be good to go and see for myself. After all, medicine in 40k is far more advanced than in 3k. If I bring back some medical technology or equipment, I could win a Nobel Prize."

"If you can really bring back the 40k medical technology, it won't just be a Nobel Prize; you could name an award after yourself," Chen Xi joked casually. He knew perfectly well that if this were to happen, the country might not hesitate to establish an award.

While the two were talking, Lao Meng had already finished tidying up the chess pieces and took out his phone to watch short videos.

Chen Xi heard a news broadcast coming from his phone: "Recently, an armored combined arms brigade of our army conducted live-fire tests on a new type of main battle tank. This main battle tank is equipped with the latest laser weapon main gun, which has astonishing power..."

"Damn, did the country dig up alien technology from behind the moon? A few years ago, laser weapons were just a concept, and now they're being deployed as main guns on tanks?" Old Meng exclaimed with a "Holy crap" expression.

Chen Xi and Hai Tu exchanged a glance and, feeling curious, leaned closer to see what was going on.

However, the video didn't only feature tanks; in addition to the Type 99A tank equipped with a laser main cannon, it also showed the army testing a bipedal walking mech.

This made Chen Xi sigh in amazement; the speed at which the gifts he sent were being consumed domestically was truly astonishing.

(End of this chapter)