Necron Invasion
Necrons are a fixed part of the 40k universe, and most people probably don't remember a Grim Dark Future without them. They were around since the early days, but more design-wise. The Chaos-Androids from Space Crusade / StarQuest are clear predecessors of the later Necron design, but the Necrons were properly introduced to the game mere months before the end of the 2nd edition in White Dwarf 217 and 218 (January and February 1998 - German issues #25 and #26). In the third edition they should shine, with a full codex in 2002 along with proper plastic kits.
But in this "small" time frame in 1998 from January to September (because in October 1998 the third edition dropped) all we had were a few pages of units for an entire army. Because all you could place were the only HQ choice they had, a Necron Lord, the regular Necron Warriors along with scarabs and the Destroyers for support. That was the entire armylist. We even had some Immortal sculpts, but now rules for those.
Imperial Fists – Land Raider Proteus
There is this lovely project of Imperial Fists of the 2nd edition, and I was looking for something heavy to bring along. And back in the day, there was this heavy chunk of plastic, the original Land Raider battle tank. While originally released as a pack of two for Rogue Trader, this tank was repacked as a single kit for the 2nd edition and received a nice vehicle data card, released in the Dark Millenium supplement to the starter kit.
But I am honest. The design of this kit didn't age well, compared to the Rhino for example and the updates to the tanks based upon the Rhino chassis made them last quite long. A bit different to the Land Raider who got a replacement with the 3rd edition and a new plastic kit. The new Mk III / Phobos Pattern Land Raider was too distinguished from the 90s design, so this would be out of the question. While I struggled to become acquainted with the old design, a second problem - the price of the OOP kit took that decision from my hand. You can barely pick up one for less than 50 EUR, more likely 70 EUR and above and there's usually something missing. And replacing those parts is rather tricky.
Imperial Fists – Supremacy Force
With the last puzzle piece added to the collection, I have the core of what I "need" to recreate the Imperial Fists Supremacy Force from the very last moments of the 2nd Edition of Warhammer 40k.
This bundle was 65 GBP / 249 DM back in the day (that massiv uppricing in Germany, as the 65 GBP were only about 190 DM - anyhow the German price was EUR 127,31, or EUR 179,39 with inflation) when it was released in August 1998 and introduced in White Dwarf issue 224.
Oldhammer – The Hunt – 2021 status
While consolidating and taking stock, I made the decision that I wanted to keep the scope of my collection to the mid to late 90s Games Workshop miniatures. I narrowed it down to certain projects and evaluated, which to complete or sell off.
The original idea was to write about "the hunt" for Old- and Middlehammer, which I started in 2019 with a brief introduction on how to start your project and to scope it. The ongoing process of sourcing your stock / the needed miniatures was covered in two more articles, one rather generic with basic information and another focused on the Imperial Guard. From there I went on and covered the progress, introducing the individual units, with detailed information on design, alteration, prices and so on - for example with Chaos Space Marines. And all that went more or less well until early 2020.
It is not that I lost interest on continuing the series or stopped the projects. It is primarily due to the fact, that the circumstances have changed so much, that it is rather difficult to write about something, like price values or suggestion, that aren't reliable or useful at the moment up until the unforeseen future. And it is not a single incident, more a rather unlucky combination of multiple things, that lay heavy on our small niché hobby.
The missing piece – Imperial Fists Captain
Finally! I was able to get my hands on one of the miniatures that I've been searching for, for such a long time - the Imperial Fist Captain (the cloak backpack is simply an addition by me).
Sisters of Battle – Order of the Sacred Rose
The Sisters of Battle have come together, and I store my projects while gathering them in these sorting boxes. But this isn't a good overview, so while sorting out and taking stock, I decided to set up sheets for my projects that I can manage in photoshop and see which units go together, even after a break or being distracted by some shiny new stuff.
Warhammer 40.000 – Sisters of Battle assemble
How did the filling of the gaps go? Not bad, patience and a broad network really paid out with this one.
I was able to buy two SoBs with heavy weapons from one seller, an unbuild immolator (whoop-whoop!) and priest from another one and Martin / Zigor, a good friend of mine from the Tabletop Rhein Main (you might remember my coverage of their convention - The Multiversum) made me an offer I couldn’t refuse on a bulk lot of SoBs.
Warhammer 40.000 – Going for the Sisters of Battle
There's new about the Sisters of Battle! Because only a few days after I found my sisters I saw a lot offered in one of the boards, that would supply me with most of the things from my wishlist and even some more blisters. That could come in handy for trades, but would mean additional work as well. We managed to agree on a trade, which wouldn’t drain my monthly hobby budget and even reduce the stock (or at least wouldn’t just let my lead pile grow).
Only problem, the Immolator is too new and I was missing some of the heavy and special weapons. So to get a proper overview, I went on SoLegends and consultated the codex, to see which models and units were available and what I might be missing.
Oldhammer Khorne Berzerker
We have the undivided squads set with Chaos Terminators and regular Chaos Space Marines. Let's take a look at some Chaos Space Marines with a dedicated mark of a chaos god. And of course that has to be the mark of the most powerful of them all - KHORNE!
There are multiple ways to do so, you could give the mark to regular CSM, choose a chapter devoted to the Blood God or go full in, with the renegades of the World Eaters. Back then, they were not yet Khorne Berzerkers, but "regular" very frenzy CSM of the XII legion.
These Worldeaters (sic) got a mono-pose plastic kit, and depending on which year we're looking at different metal miniatures.
Oldhammer Chaos Space Marine Squads
To add more core troops to the project, I decided to go get two squads of Chaos Space Marines to support the CSM Terminators. When they were released in 1996 (a bit later 1997 in Germany), the regular "goons" of the Chaos Space Marines were available as metal and plastic kit, at the same time.