Warhammer 40000 35 years of Warhammer 40,000 - WarCom Article

[Blindhamster]

I've been in the hobby since I was 8, I'm 34 now. So a while too, not as long as some, but still a while.

I didn't play a game till 3rd edition, just painted models before then. For me, like many others, I think a lot of the rules from 5th edition were at their best. Though I personally was happy to see armour modifiers come back, it's always felt dumb to me that weapons were so all or nothing from 3rd through to 7th, I liked the idea of damage on weapons. 8th felt like a lot of good ideas honestly, but they got a bit carried away. 9th has been a travesty IMO, the pandering to power gaming  WAAC builds, hyper tournament focused.. and the joke is, it hasn't actually managed to make a ruleset thats actually good for tournaments.

Maybe 10th will be different, but we'll see.

 

Regardless, glad to have been in the hobby for 26 years!

[Ace Debonair]

I always thought I was a second edition boy, but in actual fact my older brother's White Dwarfs are from '88-89, which is rogue trader era. I was reading them myself a year or so later, at age five, mesmerised by the bright colours and the cool models. Especially the one that had the artwork showing the different colours for the old Imperial Robots; I used to think they were the coolest thing in existence. 

Games-wise, we pretty much just played Space Crusade, Advanced Space Crusade and Space Hulk (the really old one) on and off again for fifteen years, until one day I decided I could paint those space marines to look like my White Hawks did in Dawn of War. Except I didn't dare deface such venerable models as our beloved Space Crusade Boys, so I went and bought some fancy new plastic space marines. 

That was maybe eighteen years ago now, and I still have my first space marines on a shelf upstairs to remind me how much better I've got at painting over the years. I'm still not an amazing painter, but I've definitely improved! 

I may also have gradually acquired infantry from virtually every faction (vehicles are generally harder to fit into Space Crusade) and gone way too far down the rabbit hole, but since I can use most of them for Space Crusade and similar games it's fine. 

[Stealth_Hobo]

Back in the day me and group of my friends were really into Warhammer Fantasy and me and one friend decided to give 40k a try. That was during 3rd edition. We had only a pretty small collections of minis, so our games were pretty much 'models we own', but we had fun and games were pretty balanced.

I was away from the hobby several years but became interested again in 40k at the tail-end of 7th edition, but I decided to stay far away from that game. Then 8th edition made me return again.

Edit: I did own Space Crusade when I was a kid and that's where my appreciation of yellow power armor started. 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Stealth_Hobo

[Noserenda]

Having previously played space crusade and possibly battlemasters id started picking up White dwarves when allowed, i guess at that age mostly to marvel at the pictures :D When the brand spanking new Space wolves were released it was some perfect confluence of Space marines, vikings and wolves that was like all my main interests at the time lol.

Even though my older brother had to glue the metal minis for me at the time because i was too young for superglue he was just starting to teach me Rogue trader when second edition dropped and really got me hooked on the game.

[Slave to Darkness]

*cyber hugs for all the 1st/2nd ed homies*

1 hour ago, Noserenda said:

 When the brand spanking new Space wolves were released it was some perfect confluence of Space marines, vikings and wolves that was like all my main interests at the time lol.

 

That would be when they did the Space  Wolf lists in WD a few months before 2nd dropping? 

[Slave to Darkness]

If any of you 1st ed vets are ever in Norfolk (UK) gimme a shout if your ever up for a pint of Hobgoblin and a game of Rogue Trader. 

[Evil Eye]

Well damn. I might have to get this, assuming it can be ordered online. Always had a soft spot for old rules, and Rogue Trader looks delightfully nutty. IIRC the Imperial Robots required actual logic gate knowledge to use, which might be the most genius form of balancing I've ever heard of. Wanna spam Robots? Hope you know how to programme! Guess my childhood spent playing LittleBIGplanet 2 may have paid off...

11 minutes ago, Slave to Darkness said:

If any of you 1st ed vets are ever in Norfolk (UK) gimme a shout if your ever up for a pint of Hobgoblin and a game of Rogue Trader. 

If I ever actually finish painting anything and can get this I'll let you know. I'm a 5th ed youngling (albeit one whose first rulebook was actually 3rd ed) but that sounds fun.

[Slave to Darkness]

4 minutes ago, Evil Eye said:

Well damn. I might have to get this, assuming it can be ordered online. Always had a soft spot for old rules, and Rogue Trader looks delightfully nutty. IIRC the Imperial Robots required actual logic gate knowledge to use, which might be the most genius form of balancing I've ever heard of. Wanna spam Robots? Hope you know how to programme! Guess my childhood spent playing LittleBIGplanet 2 may have paid off...

If I ever actually finish painting anything and can get this I'll let you know. I'm a 5th ed youngling (albeit one whose first rulebook was actually 3rd ed) but that sounds fun.

If you want the old rules I could email them to you? If so hit me up in PM. 

[Evil Eye]

7 minutes ago, Slave to Darkness said:

If you want the old rules I could email them to you? If so hit me up in PM. 

I'd love to but you can't receive PMs at the moment!

[Noserenda]

47 minutes ago, Slave to Darkness said:

*cyber hugs for all the 1st/2nd ed homies*

That would be when they did the Space  Wolf lists in WD a few months before 2nd dropping? 

Exactly that :D 

[Slave to Darkness]

59 minutes ago, Evil Eye said:

I'd love to but you can't receive PMs at the moment!

Just deleted a ton of stuff, I havent actually deleted anything since I joined this forum lol. 

[firestorm40k]

My first contact with 40k was back in 1989,from an unlikely place: my parents accidentally recorded some TV programme after the film they meant to tape, and the programme had a segment looking at Space Hulk. At the start of 1992 my grandparents bought me the game, and over the next few months I picked up some miniatures - metal scouts, the RTB01 plastic beaky kit, and a bike with sidecar (an absolute git of a model that would not stay stuck together). I did manage to try one game of Rogue Trader style 40k with my miniatures, against a friend from school - we quickly got bored and decided the 'battlefield' (his living room floor, with VHS tapes for hills and buildings) was exploding so the armies retreated..!

Then I lost interest, and foolishly gave all my miniatures (including Space Hulk) to my cousin. I still regret doing this..! 

Then, in 1999, I'm working as a youth worker, and I was aware that there was a gaming club for young people run by another youth worker from a church hall in the town where I lived. This, coupled by my friend's brother who had some Space Marine miniatures, rekindled my interest. I bought some Eldar miniatures, their Codex, with an eye to learning about the game so I could make a contribution to that going club. Within a year I was properly hooked on 40k, I had acquired a significant quantity of Chaos Space Marines (that I painted either as Nurgle/Death Guard or Emperor's Children) - I wasn't particularly great at painting, but I enjoyed playing at the club and with my friend (who by that time was a fantastic painter - he went on to win a bronze at Golden Demon in 2004).

These were the days of 3rd Edition, and I went from army to army - Eldar, Chaos Marines, Eldar again, Space Marines, Tau (at their first release!), then Chaos Marines again (Iron Warriors). My friend had beautifully painted Dark Eldar, and then a similarly impressive painted Chaos Marine army - mainly Khorne, but he did one squad of Chaos Marines in Brassy armour with red horns, a colour scheme that would stick in my mind...

When 4th hit, I'd moved away, as had my friend, and I didn't have time to play as often. I only managed a couple of games of 4th. I didn't have as much time to paint either, though I did add Tyranids to my list of 'hobby butterfly' led armies; by this time I'd sold most of them off. 

In 2007/8, after some life changes (marriage, baby, moving back near to 'home'), I found myself with more time to paint, and threw myself in to a 'proper' army project - giving it a story, background and its own identity. I went back to that Brassy Chaos Marine scheme of my friend's, and gave it a name and a story: the Legion of Taurus were born, and would be the focus of my hobby for the next 7 years.

I also found a local gaming group, and ggot heavily involved, participating in leagues & tournaments, and running narrative campaigns (tied in to the story of my Legion of Taurus). I played 5th most of any edition of 40k. It wasn't perfect, but some good times were certainly had back then.

I carried on through to the advent of 6th, but was beginning to get a little fatigued by the continuous Codex power creep, and the seeming requirement to add new units to my army to keep up. When 7th was announced in 2014, pretty much everyone at the gaming group had decided they were a bit fed up with 40k.

So I took a break. I did other things - some serious, grown-up things like get a career-related qualification, and move to our forever home. I tried other hobbies like building some Lego... and a home cinema in a shed at the bottom of our garden 

I kept an eye on what GW were releasing, what was happening with 40k. But nothing tempted me back until the announcement of Kill Team in 2018; it immediately grabbed my attention and imagination. No need to build massive armies and cart them everywhere; small forces meant less miniatures to paint; smaller focused allowed for more focus in narrative; plus I still had miniatures I could use. This was the era of 8th, but I didn't feel the need to go back to 40k proper. I just didn't find the idea of painting another full army that appealing.

Then the pandemic hit, and 2020 was mostly spent in lockdown. With more spare time on my hands, a thought occurred to me - why not paint an army using those Space Marines I still had spare in boxes? Do it as a speed challenge - see if I could finish it before the lockdown ended. It took 6 months in all - longer than I expected - but I had done something I never thought I'd be doing again: paint a full 40k army. Since then I've painted 2 more full armies (Death Guard and AoS Nighthaunt), and am currently batch painting 3000 points of Heresy Imperial Fists. And I have miniatures set aside for at least 4 more armies after that..!

2021 and things came full circle - I ended up involved with another gaming group aimed at young people. After putting out feelers on local social media to see if there was any interest in a gaming group locally, a local youth worker saw my post and responded saying 'why don't you do that at our youth centre?' Funny how things seem to cycle round, 20 years later.

As the members of the group are mainly into 40k, I've supported and encouraged them, organising team games and a Combat Patrol League, helping them to learn the rules (where I can), and to learn the other (more important? ) parts of the hobby (painting miniatures and building terrain from recycled packaging )

So over 30 years of at least being aware of 40k, and over 20 years being a keen 'hobbyist'; with the pile of unassembled and unpainted miniatures I have, I think it could well be another 20..!

Tl:Dr - I had some RT era stuff as a teenager, but didn't get seriously in to the hobby till 1999. I played 5th Ed most of any edition, had a break from the hobby at the end of 6th, came back for Kill Team, and now help run a youth-oriented gaming group. I enjoy painting more than ever and will carry on for as long as I can! 

[Slave to Darkness]

36 minutes ago, firestorm40k said:

Snip

Your lucky having a group near you, my local (non GW) group is full of *insert the worst gamer you can imagine, now times that by 8365 and your half way there* I was only there for 20 mins and I had to nope the hell out. Makes me miss the crazy types I used to game with in Liverpool, damn the Scythe and Teacup did a bangin bacon and cheese butty as well. People in Kings Lynn need their heads checking. 

 

There is a community centre literally 50 feet from my flat, but I have no idea who to contact in regards to hiring it , no info outside, no contact details or anything, now that I think about it Ive never seen anyone go in or out, but I have not exactly been staring at it all day to notice anyway. Would be nice to get a decent group up and running there, I know tons of people who avoid the other group and dont go into the local GW. Would be nice to throw dice with (or at) M@l!ce, top geezer, when we realised were both Frater it was bro hugs all round. 

[Craig]

13 hours ago, Slave to Darkness said:

Your lucky having a group near you, my local (non GW) group is full of *insert the worst gamer you can imagine, now times that by 8365 and your half way there* I was only there for 20 mins and I had to nope the hell out. Makes me miss the crazy types I used to game with in Liverpool, damn the Scythe and Teacup did a bangin bacon and cheese butty as well. People in Kings Lynn need their heads checking. 

 

There is a community centre literally 50 feet from my flat, but I have no idea who to contact in regards to hiring it , no info outside, no contact details or anything, now that I think about it Ive never seen anyone go in or out, but I have not exactly been staring at it all day to notice anyway. Would be nice to get a decent group up and running there, I know tons of people who avoid the other group and dont go into the local GW. Would be nice to throw dice with (or at) M@l!ce, top geezer, when we realised were both Frater it was bro hugs all round. 

I'm in King's Lynn too. If you ever start a casual group would you drop me a pm?

I remember hitting up Empire in Norfolk Street back in my early teens during the 2nd-3rd era.