Welcome to this week’s instalment of 40 Years of Warhammer. We kicked off last week with two iconic miniatures from the history of Warhammer.
This week our archivists have exhumed something very different, that’s just as integral to Warhammer as a setting and a game.
Please be upstanding for the humble skeleton.
This boney boy was part of a whole band of mates – the box came with a whopping 24 figures, in fact. Each sprue had enough parts to make four individual warriors with lots of head, arm and weapon options. This box of undead horrors marks the moment that Warhammer began to shift from a roleplaying game towards one about armies clashing in grand battles.
Skeletons are central to the Warhammer setting to this day. Soulblight Gravelord armies pack in gaggles of Deathrattle Skeletons to protect their vampire masters, while the Ossiarch Bonereapers use bits of bone to reforge osseous constructs, and the Sons of Velmorn show that even a humble skeleton can look fearsome and regal.
Odd bits of bone crop up all over the 41st Millennium, especially on Imperial armour, and the Necron Warriors take up the mantle as futuristic shambling skeletal hordes – you just can’t keep a good minion archetype down.
There will be many more classic miniatures to come throughout the year – perhaps your favourite blast from the past will resurface. Sign up for the newsletter to find out.
