Or just bite your knee.
The Warhammer 40k second Edition was my first contact with the whole Warhammer 40k universe. (StarQuest does NOT count here)
Ok, ok. StarQuest (or Space Crusade, as the Rest of the World might know it as) was my first contact with the whole thing that is Warhammer.
Oh, what a joy the game was. It was AWESOME. We played it for years. Hundreds of times. Made up new missions, added the available add-ons. Till somebody found out the glitch with the armor. Yepp, no armor in close combat. Not at all. Go get your rulebook. Read the passage about melee fighting. *Facepalm*
But back to Warhammer second edition! I found out, that there was a game based on StarQuest. And it had its own magazine, the White Dwarf. Just to find out, that it was the other way around. StarQuest was based on Warhammer 40k. I had to have it. Had to play that. When StarQuest with the limited board space and the limited number of figures was fun, what fun must Warhammer be ?
I found it around christmas, at a family shopping trip and my 15year old self was not allowed to buy the new starterbox, as the parents were unnerved of the way to the "weird store" and did not see the whole picture. They did not understand what was so awesome about those little plastic men, all in the same pose with some cardboard scenery. But I did. I had to scrape money together over month, after finding the box in the only store around that was carrying GW stuff. The store was 40 kilometers away and I had problems to get the money together for the ride there alone.
And I came back. But the store was gone.
They had moved location. But did not leave a note for me, where to find the new location. It was 1996, there was no internet and the White Dwarf that I had with me, just showed the old location. I had to go home without the set I ached for, just to wait for the next white dwarf with the new adress, that did not come for over 2 months. Yes the WD was a bimonthly magazine here, at that time. Why didn´t I use the phone book? Sorry, I did. There was only the old adress in there, and the information-phone-service was no help at all, because they changed their name as well! They renamed their store from "Comic Art" to "Zapp", I learned in the next White Dwarf.
Ok, Birthday had come, Birthday money as well. So lets give the mission "Box full of plastic men" another chance! And I did it. Found the store, found the box, bought the box and was doomed.There it was, a whole box full of plastic. But I did not know that the set was missing tools and paints. Ok, had to raid my parents household for tools. My first tools: A simple kitchen Knife (called Kneipchen here), borrowed mum´s nail file and some clippers from dad´s tool box. Glue was all-purpose adhesive. The Codex Imperialis Book was my new companion. And I fell in love with the squats. (Oh, and the picture was blatantly stolen from wh40k.lexicanum.com) I read their story hundred of times, about their strongholds, their travelling keeps, their clan structure. I made up army lists with the included Black Codex. Just to find out, that they were not available anymore. Nope. Time-lapse.
Games Workshop never brought them back. But there is hope. They are back. They received worthy model material in the form of the new released irondrakes set. The spikey rat pack did it. And I´m jealous that it was not my idea. It is so simple. Just swap the arms for some scout arms, add some extra bitz, here we go. Perfect. They look brilliant.
Ok, I have to buy one box of Ironbreakers and two boxes of Scouts plus some bitz to realize one squad of 10 men.... ahm... squats. But guess what? I don´t care. I CAN HAVE SQUATS !
