Warhammer 40,000 Second Edition

As I mentioned in my previous post (which you likely haven't read since you are probably reading these in reverse order), I was introduced to Warhammer 40,000 during its Rogue Trader days.  However, I didn't get wrapped up in the hobby till second edition.  This is really the edition where Games Workshop codified W40K as we more or less know it today.

Effectively, all of that clutter from the original rule book, White Dwarf articles, and the various expansions were cleaned up and organized into three source books (plus the Codex Army List pamphlet).  Its impressive to see how thin the army lists were back then.  This is before the first codexes rolled out, of course.  For example, the entire Tyranid list consisted of Hive Tyrants, Warriors, Termagants, Genestealers, Carnifexes, Genestealer Patriarchs, Genestealer Magi, Genestealer Hybrids, and Brood Brothers. Have of that--the Genestealer Cults--are not longer with us.

 

These books came as part of a box set based around the Battle for Armageddon and included space marine and ork miniatures, cardboard scenery, and some cardboard counters.  In my next post I will include some of my painted miniatures from the box set.  In the meantime, Garfy over at TaleOfPainters recently posted a series of articles showcasing a second edition box set that he recently acquired and painted - definitely check it out.

 

After my initial encounter with W40K, I had set it (and all gaming) aside during high school to focus on school, work, and especially having a good time at night someplace that wasn't in my parents' basement.  Roleplaying and whatnot just didn't fit into my busy social life.  However, when I went off to college I met some folks that played W40K.  Unlike roleplaying, you don't need to meet on a fixed schedule to play wargames (unlike roleplaying games) and this fit my ambitious work and social schedule.

 

Flipping though the second edition materials it was an easy decision as to what army I was going to play - Chaos. As I mentioned in my previous post, Bolt Thrower's "World Eater" was (and is) one of my favorite songs of all time.  When I discovered that World Eaters were actually a legion of chaos space marines I was absolutely floored.  Even more so when I saw their aesthetic.  The drawing of Kargos Bloodspitter from the Codex Imperialis remains one of my favorite W40K illustrations.  I thought, in a game devoted to nihilistic warfare in the absurd far-future, why would you not play these guys?!? 

 

I also really like the quote that goes with that illustration: "Though the gates that stand between the mortal world and the immortal Realm of Chaos are now closed to me, still I would rather die having glimpsed eternity than never to have stirred from the cold furrow of mortal life.  I embrace death without regret as I embraced life without fear" (Kargos Bloodspitter, Champion of Khorne). The sense of majestic doom and damnation captured in that quote has long since been weeded out of the fluff pertaining to the World Eaters, for the worse in my opinion.  I am not a big fan of the current portrayal that has them as one dimensional mindless killers.  I instead like to envision the World Eaters as emblematic of the slippery slope of war and violence in general - the more you become surrounded by it, the more you must embrace it at any cost, the more you embrace it you lose who you once were.  That to me is the essence of the followers of Khorne, beings that were so enmeshed in war and violence that they no longer had any reason to exist other than to revel in death and destruction.  I think whoever came up with the idea that these guys went berserk because their primarch hammered some junk into their head took things in the wrong direction. 

 

Incidentally, that drawing of Kargos Bloodspitter was the inspiration for a character in Aaron Dembski-Bowden's books.  Although I don't like the concept of the butcher's nails, I think Dembski-Bowden otherwise does a good job portraying the World Eaters of the 31st millennium.  I will probably write more about what I think of his work later. In the meantime, I think he is easily the best writer in the current Black Library camp

 

Anyways, back to me and my newfound love of chaos in the mid-1990s. As it turned out, not only did I think the World Eaters had the best aesthetic of any army in W40K, they were also allied with the best daemons.  The drawing of the Bloodthirster from the Codex Imperialis is phenomenal.  The sure size and over-the-top gothic detailing is fantastic (skulls and skulls and skulls and skulls. . . ) and I love the daemons that ride on his wings. Its just a shame that GamesWorkshop has never produced a Bloodthirster miniature worthy of that drawing (excepting the ForgeWorld miniature of course).

Back in those days marines and daemons were still one list and so I was set. World Eaters and their daemonic buddies.  Now I was just going to need to learn how to paint. . .