WH40K

Warhammer: 40,000

I will use this page for all things 40K

My first memories of Warhammer: 40,000 were whilst playing Warhammer Fantasy Battles (probably second edition) and there was a buzz that Games Workshop was going to bring out a 'space version' of Warhammer.

The first Citadel Miniatures began to appear. There were space troopers, orcs, dwarfs, skeletons and 'space marines' with pointy nosed helmets.

When the hardback book was launched in 1987 I was really excited. White Dwarf Magazine had been previewing it for months and I could not wait to get hold of a copy. However, when it arrived it was both amazing and disappointing! The book was excellent quality with some colour artwork and great background material but the rules were terrible!

The rules were very much based on a single squad as a skirmish game. The mechanic involved equipping your men with various weapons and equipment - sometimes on a percentage chance basis and at very odd 'fraction of a point' basis.

At this point I already had several squads of troops assembled and ready for battle. And as a young teenager I wanted to field 'all I had' on the table. These rules were not what I was looking for.

For the next few years my gaming concentrated on Warhammer Fantasy Battle and a few other classic Games Workshop Games but Rogue Trader was never really played by me.

A few years later the buzz was that there was going to be a second edition. One which would allow for more miniatures to be tabled in a game......

Second Edition was released in 1993 and I could not wait to get a hold of a copy. The 'rules' now came in a 'starter box set' which contained everything needed to get going. Plastic miniatures, dice, templates, card scenery and more. The two armies featured were Space Marines and Space Orks.

There was again excitement and disappointment. The rules were apparently very close to the skirmish game Necromunda and so they were really only usable for games involving a couple of squads. By now my collection of Space Marines had grown to several squads and I wanted to field as many as possible,

At this time my Space Marines were Ultramarines. This was because of one single photo in Rogue Trader and at the time this was not a well known chapter!! My personality is such that I would not have chosen them if I had known what they were to become.....