Every week on Warhammer TV, subscribers can look forward to some fantastic, exclusive Warhammer shows and this week is no different. The gaming team have a real treat in store which should have all the veterans out there smiling. Over to Nick to explain…
Nick: We’re always looking out for ways to play great games for Warhammer TV, and inspiration for an awesome game is always just round the corner. Last Season, Josh and Simon hosted Arena of Death in which the Horus Heresy Primarchs duked it out.
But the huge display board they played on had originally been built by the Warhammer Design Studio for Necromunda as a backdrop for their photographs. Look how amazing this board is…
Wouldn’t it be cool to play a game of Warhammer 40,000 on it, we wondered. Corridors, bulkheads, debris… if we were going to do anything, then we wanted to recreate the classic Games Workshop board game Space Hulk by sending squads of Terminators to clear out a Tyranid threat.
But it was a conversation with Studio bigwig Andy that sealed the deal. That man has an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure Warhammer knowledge and we love him for it. When I mentioned our plans, he said “Oh, like that Space Hulk campaign in White Dwarf in the early nineties? The Ultramarines clearing out the Nautilus Spire! I’ll find the magazine… hold on”.
The exact setup is in White Dwarf issue 138 from 1991: Ultramarines sent into the Nautilus Spire on Necromunda to cleanse it of a Tyranid infestation using the Space Hulk rules. It was all too perfect. We had to recreate it, but the only difference would be that we’re playing it using Warhammer 40,000 rules.
So along with co-host Josh (who is younger than that issue…), I adapted those rules, notably using blips made from wooden beads to represent a readout of approaching Tyranids on the Terminators’ auspexes,* rolling on a table to see what it was that popped out of the darkness.
After a few practice games, we tweaked the rules for advancing, charging and Battleshock a little too – it was a real back and forth with both of us wanting to make sure the game was cool, cinematic and fun. And in Terra’s name, it was that and more. The final game was a desperate struggle for the Terminators to push through and release nerve toxins into the Hive to kill off the aliens, just like in the original campaign back in ‘91. You really should go watch it!
That’s not all coming to Warhammer TV this week. Scribes & Scriveners is back with another fantastic in-depth chat with Black Library author Robert Rath. He and Alex discuss his best-selling novels The Infinite and the Divine, The Fall of Cadia, and Assassinorum: Kingmaker, touching on his process, his fondness for Assassins and the sheer scope of the Warhammer 40,000 setting,
Thanks chaps! A new show debuts this week: in Armies of Renown, Ed talks to Nick about his Ultramarines collection. Want to see these shows, a host of others and some incredible Warhammer animations? Make sure you subscribe to Warhammer+ catch it all.
* This is a core mechanic of Space Hulk.
