The white “destroy” on the first helmet is more industrial and cool than it even appears at first. I worked in the coal mines for over a decade, and we would use a white paint pen called a Mean Streak to write on metal surfaces. Like if something needed replaced or inspected. Very cool detail.
Yeah... I agree. I can appreciate the unified ascetic and theme of modern 40K but it is very... grimdark. On the other thand though that just kinda comes with the territory. In the 80's the artists and sculptors had a lot more freedom, because they were making it up as they went. Like you look at the art by John Blanch or Ian Miller and you can just see the ideas bouncing around in their heads. You can see the influence of the 70's era acid trip comics and films like Bakshi's Wizards, 2000AD, and Heavy Metal magazine. Lost some of that edge in the 90's, when they tried to clean it up for us millennial kids and the style 'bible' became pretty established over the course of that, but I gotta say I prefer the bright colours and total over the top nature of it to what we see today. Like Geoff Taylor's cover for the Eldar codex is just insanity... Like is that the roof of a craftworld in the background? There are thousands of Eldar blasting away at everything, that one Swooping Hawk has to be shooting at his friends. It's amazing.
@@imperialus1Tbf grimdark doesn't mean lack of variety. The older art actually looks more properly grimdark/gritty than the perfectly polished homogenized digital corporate art of modern 40k.
Given the size of the Imperium, or even the galaxy, there should be way more variation in equipment, appearance and fashion. I get why they want a brand look that matches the minis but it's a lot less interesting.
One of my main grips with the new Dune movies is how boring it looks. Those armor look like any generic sci-fi video-game that came out in the Recent years
Leman Russ is by Will Rees, the Rainbow Warrior and Mercenarys by Ian Miller, Imperial Guardmen and Space ork by Marting McKenna. Vampire, Dreaded Ambull and weird Space ork are by Tony Ackland
Tony Ackland is just marvelous and his orks so natural and believeable even with his weird style. I prefer his skinny orks far more than these buff powerlifting monstrosities GW is doing for 30 years. Also the guy was basicaly my window into Warhammer Fantasy to the point I reject most other artists. WFRP looks like Tony's artwork for me. It's so fundamental that I even deny John Blanche, he is perfect for 40k aesthetics, but IMO he completely doesn't fit Fantasy and rarely could grasp it well.
@@PrzybyszzMatplanety Agreed, I absolutely loved Tony's stuff in the original Realm of Chaos books, it was unhinged in greatest way. But I have to say, Paul Bonner took the Orks to an entirely new level.
Look up "Течнолог" (Technolog/"Technologist"), particularly their "future war" line. A Russian manufacturer of cheap injection molded toys from back when the Soviet Union collapsed, they got their start blatantly copying GW models (Fantasy, 40k, Heroquest), then started doing their own thing, still inspired by 40k and Fantasy. The box art and painting choices of their in-house artist was... something else.
Rogue Trader had a whole beastiary. Just in case you wanted a space vampire or catachan devil on the board. Not to make a whole army, just something for the ref to spring on people. And one was this space ghost thing. The role of a ref, almost something like a DM, is something I would see. Ideas about double-blind setup and objectives, weird terrain bits and consoles to poke at.
I love these old pictures. I’m more of a mid 90s warhammer kid but both 90s and 80s had tons of character that I really miss these days. Also - hoods at 17:30 look like proto-cawdor gang from Necromunda.
Those imperial guardsmen in the second picture, are literally armored only where it would be the least likely to sustain a fatal wound. Apart from the helmet, I guess.
I love the old 40k book so much. It felt way different from the 40k of today. I loved the lore and the art, the gritty, ridiculousness of it all. I wish they would reissue it. It's so entertaining to read, even if you had no intention of ever playing with the rules. There was so much content. Rules for different races, terrain, vehicles. It was much more open back then. The book gave you guidelines to help you make rules for different terrain, vehicles or troops. You were encouraged to use any minis you had to hand, not just the ones they sold. Chapters covering the making of scenery and buildings, you didn't buy a model of a bunker, you were encouraged to make one! I miss those days, 10 years old with my rouge trader book, my box of 30 plastic marines in mk6 armour and my poorly painted old school land raider looking like a tank from ww1. Bliss
The Guardsman art you are looking at here is part of what was traced to create ugly box art Megaman. In fact, he's a trace over of like 4 or 5 different Rogue Trader pics.
Old battletech when its about to draw a spaceship: detailed, beautiful vessel with solar sails, detailed weaponry and big engines Old battletech when its about to draw a battlemech: egg on legs
The first picture, Its a powered armour trooper, one of the few humans in power armour, there was a set of models made with the same design, tgey were not actually made for rogue trader, but sculpted by Bob Olley I think, I still have one of them somewhere, they were from 1985, pre slotta base. . Armed with laser rifles, later changed to disintegrator rifles.
Astral specters were basically just ghosts. Deamons started out as "warp entities" and wouldn't be specifically called out until the release of the realm of chaos and slaves to darkness books were released.
I remember being in my late teen/early 20s mid 90s and occasionally seeing the artwork. I found it fantastically weird, crazy busy with details, and peaked my curiosity. Stuff was strange yet cool looking!
I can't believe through the years you have never caught the film Life Force. Its a must watch classic 80s Sci-fi horror. The ending when London is getting overrun by rage filled zombie vampires is some of the best apocalyptic downfall of a city in cinema history. BTW love the old 40k art
@@SnakeWorksStudio Lifeforce is amazing, one of those insanely ambitious films that constantly throws new audacious ideas at you so even if not everything in it works you're never bored. I legitimately love that the MOST normal thing about that film is that it gives vampire and zombie folklore the Erich von Däniken ancient astronauts treatment.
i love old warhammer fantasy art because it really brought this idea of a dark fantasy setting with dark gods and zealots, all that felt really grounded but also super alive. just the sketches of zealots of sigmar and witch hunters in the dark gives me chills.
I played WH40k during the Rogue Trader and 2nd edition era. I was very fond of Rogue Trader because of how much more freedom there was. But it was also easy to exploit because there were far less restrictions to hold players back. Space Marines were a lot less stuffy with how they looked. Yes, we still had the typical chapter color schemes. But you would find official GW artwork and painted figures with camouflaged Space Marines. Hell, you found Ultramarines with camouflage. Later on in the lore, the Ultramarines are made out to be excessively by the book and ultra traditional. In the THQ Space Marine game, an Ultramarine captain is being chastised for doing things that the book does not approve of and gets snitched to the Inquisition. Honestly? Rogue Trader era depiction of Space Marines had them look more menacing and hardcore than they do today... And the ones we see in the Rogue Trader rulebook were the loyalists. EDIT: I'm also fond of Rogue Trader era because players were more accepting on having 3rd party stuff into the tabletop game. Simply put, GW models were not in abundance. Dreadnoughts, Rhinos, Land Raiders weren't exactly common. So players were fine when someone would bring in things like a 1/35 scale M113 armored personnel carrier to represent a Rhino. Or a Soviet BMP-2. Whatever. We just cleared up beforehand what the stuff on the vehicle represented, etc. A 1/35 scale tank, armored personnel carrier model kit can be found to be a lot cheaper than an official GW kit. So yeah, we were a lot more accepting. The hobby was already expensive even during those RT and 2nd Edition days. The official GW prices today are insane for what you actually get. I will concede that I really dig the Eldar vehicles that started to emerge in the later 1990s. Even a Space Marine player like me thought those looked nice.
I still have several MK6 armor Space Marines from when I was playing 40K back then. Even have some if the original Terminators that have radio antennas on top of their armor. Those antennas were easily broken off so GW eventually removed them and it became just a nub on top of the armor on the plastic bits and non existent on the lead models. They even had Orks in power armor like the Space Marines. Also we used the Gargoyle from our HerosQuest as a BloodThirster from Khorne due to it being the same model (except the base). Also still had my small Squat army many years later snd dusted them off for a table top skirmish. Of course they were no longer around and actually had other players ask me what they were having never seen them before. Ended up making two other armies (and kinda a third).
I love the old style rogue trader art, although much of it portrayed orks in a biker gang style of the eighties. I believe in the late seventies or early eighties games workshop had gained the rights to produce the Judge Dredd role playing game and board game, so much of the artwork was inspired by AD2000 comics. Many of the miniatures produced by Citadel had a cowboy biker look much inspired by the easy rider days. While space marines and imperial armies were still in their infancy, still holding on to the role playing D&D type play, than the wargame it came to be. Many, many great games, and ideas were produced through the early eighties. And not forgetting White Dwarf was still separate from games workshop and based much more around D&D. I feel we lost more than we gained, when game workshop left the eighties! Many wonderful role players and great ideas were left behind, perhaps one day we will return to those days... Forty years of role play games
Honestly as cool as the gothic grimdark look is, I almost prefer the classic utilitarian/militarist/Judge Dredd look pr whatever youd call the style of Warhammer in the earlier editions. Its crusty as heck, but awesome in its own right. It's too polished these days
There was a nice scenario in Challenge Magazine featuring a space vampire. They were one of many minor alien threats. These lads are shapeshifters and can look like a lot of people. The ref is instructed to secretly assign the vampire to one squad. The vampire simply wants to get out, and the ref is to play this vampire intelligently with this goal in mind. There was a hangar with a few shuttles, the vampire could shed its disguise and gain back its vampire attributes as the ref suddenly grabs control of a trooper in that squad who starts to leg it. None of the players know what is happening, apparently that jokaero was a vampire all along.
We’ll never get this classic era back vs the hyper stuff we have now. Not complaining, the og Warhammer art has always had a special place in my heart. Like old comic books, Judge Dredd, Marvel/Dc, The eternaught (my favorite). Pencil on paper art will always have a place in my heart vs digital.
Before I even start watching this video I have to say, just seeing that thumbnail art piece pop up in my recommendations immediately kicked off Cheap Trick playing "Reach Out" inside my head. It's just _so_ good and _so_ emblematic of the time in which it was created. Illustrators of these genres in that period were working at a time when the visual language for this sort of stuff was still being formulated, which is why it still feels fresh and unique, even if some might label it as dated.
@@SnakeWorksStudio Oh...it's an old manga, not the cringe stuff kids watch these day. You should check it out. Berserk manga. Imagine Horus+ BigBlueBerry and a big ass sword.
A lot of the Rogue Trader weapons and machinery looks really biological or biomechanical. It's a cool style that never really stuck around, at least not for the Imperium.
@@SnakeWorksStudio Sure do! also have all the Talisman 2nd edition minis + all the chainsaw warrior minis including the extremely rare Meat Machine, and all the Classic dungeonQuset minis. Modern GW sucks, I lost interesting in everything GW in the early 90s, becoming mainstream pop culture destroyed everything that was great about GW.
I like the Warhammer art style that came out right after this. It lasted during the late 90s and maybe early 2000s and then it ended with the release of the primaries marines which ushered a more colorful and clean art style that we have today.
I do a lot of drawing with pencil and paper.. calms me and lets me get ideas outta my head.. I like looking at older art for inspiration on how I wanna draw things.. way more than I do newer things.. I like drawing big posters.. never tried making money on it.. probably never will.. I only do it when I’m in the mood fr.
This was fun. Made me think about being a kid and repeatedly poring over the one issue of White Dwarf I had because I "borrowed" it from the unoccupied 3rd floor of the local hobby store (RIP).
I still have several MK6 armor Space Marines from when I was playing 40K back then. Even have some if the original Terminators that have radio antennas on top of their armor. Those antennas were easily broken off so GW eventually removed them and it became just a nub on top of the armor on the plastic bits and non existent on the lead models. They even had Orks in power armor like the Space Marines. Also we used the Gargoyle from our HerosQuest as a BloodThirster from Khorne due to it being the same model (except the base).
you should have shown the original emperor on his thrown drawing from Rogue Trader. My dad had that book when it first came out and I grew up with it in the late 80's and 90's. Loved reading it many times, wish he had kept it but he sold it around 2016 I think to help him retire cuz it was worth a decent amount.
Im so glad I got the "recent" limited release reprint of rogue trader, its one of those things you buy and because it takes GW 6 months to deliver I had totally forgot until it arrived in an unassuming package and was such a great surprise.
I actually own an OG Warhammer comic. Although it’s not called warhammer there’s no mistake that the super soldiers are space marines. They were modeled with the beak helmets and big shoulder armor and the distinct thunder logo that use to be used in the Emperor’s military. Unfortunately I forgot the name. Hopefully I can find it again and see if theirs more.
@ Hopefully I can find it again but I’ve left it at my home with the family since I decided to join the military. (Needed a job) theirs barely anything about it but I do know their is at least one TH-cam video on it, but you’ll probably have a hard time like I did looking for anything on it.
This art style is like Hellraiser meets HR Giger meets the "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" books. The Leman Russ one in particular is just so... macabre, with all his corrugated flesh
Absolutely want to see more weapon variety in heresy. „More weapon variety? But they have everything!“ I hear you say. Yes - but standard tactical marines get the choice of bolsters or, if lucky, Volkite. Seeing a few more options for weapons that have a function similar to a Bolger would be cool, as would more bolster patterns.
To me the art of the 90s is the apex of W40k the blend of gothic style and horror with the uniqueness of what I call Grimdarkness-barroc those illustrations full of details and different characters to the brim either depicting an entire army or a hellish landscape of the warp or a battlefield, sublime.
I would have guessed Lupercal not Russ, since the Nasal Tubes... Horus is shown with it when he changed to his newer Terminator Armor gifted by the Dark Mechanicum! Indeed Imperial Arrest. Shot on sight xD
I would love to see the old rogue trader custodes, with the pants, cape and helmet. Also the old chaos helmets from rogue trader looked metal af. Both of them deserve to be remodeled and rereleased
Funny you should mention the Rainbow Warriors. In my headcanon, they were the legion of the lost eleventh primarch and he along with most of the Rainbow Warriors were enslaved by the Rangdan, causing the Third Rangdan Xenocide. The remnant Rainbow Warriors distinguished themselves in combat, having been forced to defend themselves against their own chapter and primarch and thus the few survivors after this war were re-assigned as an Ultramarine successor chapter as an act of mercy with their true history being redacted and permanently classified to all but the Emperor himself, Malcador and the primarchs pre-heresy with the surviving loyalist primarchs opting to have their memories of the lost two erased as it is hinted at that Horus was close to one of them and the loss of such a close friend caused friction between he and Malcador and later the Imperium as a whole. Others later learned of the fate of the two lost primarchs, such as Cawl and some of the people who worked with the full retinue of geneseed samples before being ordered to stop. I may as well add that I believe II joined the Necron and was rejected by all but a few of his legion, whom I believe were the Valedictors. Of the two lost primarchs, I believe his geneseed was the one that was tainted, which affected his decision to shed his humanity when cornered and offered the choice by Trazyn to join his menagerie of exotic slaves and hope for rescue or join the Necron as an equal at the site of the ancient Necron artifact at the edge of known space. This is the primarch Trazyn 'almost' captured. I believe this very nearly caused an all-out Necron invasion into Imperium space that was quickly nipped in the bud by a large number of primarchs overwhelming and killing their transformed brother and crippling Trazyn's military strength for millenia. All events relating to it were redacted and rendered permanently classified. The Imperium later found a way to stabilize this geneseed, soon enough for the Valedictors but too late to avoid this primarch's fate.
That inquisitor work the wide brimmed hat looks like slightly like good ol' Obi-wan Sherlock Clouseau. Snd yes, at least one of the Rogue Trader artists was from Judge Dredd, which shows.
Pen and ink crosshatching is more than likely Ian Miller. For me, nothing says Warhammer like Ian Miller's work. I remember meeting him and looking at his originals at the Golden Demon in 1988.
Orks in older Warhammer are not hulking beasts. Warhammer Fantasy orcs are also on the same scale. Ork nobs are hulkier but not all orks are not nobs. Most orks you meet will be chumps. The ork artstyle was a bit similar in WFB as well. Scrappy lads closer to a human in size. You sit in a wagon and four blokes with clubs hop out but you kick them in the chin. Orks got the marine power inflation I think. They got to be musclier and bigger.
@@SnakeWorksStudioI mostly played WFRP if anything. But orcs there and orks here are extremely similar. Much more than tomb kings/necrons, empire/Imperium, elves/eldar etc. Orks did not have supertech, that much strength, any more than an inkling of psychic might. They had an absolute conviction that those lads over there are looking funny and need a wallop on general principle. I usually think of the waaagh as a constant forward motion unbothered by thinking too hard. Or by just thinking many things at the same time. The ork mob rule looked fun. If there is "enough" mates left in the mob, there is no need to panic. Like a second Ld based on unit size.
All the guns shown (except Space Marine disintegrators) are Autoguns or Auto Pistols. The've tended to look similar to Thompsons for the normal ones (if boxier and larger caliber magazines and a more straight shoulder stock), Braced Autoguns look like bulked up AK47/74s and Auto Pistols can look like a simple gun to shortened stockless short barrel versions of normal Autoguns, or like a simple pistol or more like Uzis. They can use drum magazines as well as seen on quite a few models over the decades. The hooded men could be Zealots spreading the faith of the Emperor and eradicating heretics (or what later became zealots) or a Chaos cult. The open face hood is used still on fanatic models like these.
@@SnakeWorksStudio Look at the Necromunda tabletop game. Autoguns are still around. Also the current 10 man Astra Militarium Cadian Shock Troops box sold by GW on their website has them using Autoguns with two Meltaguns as special weapons. Also have a look at the current 40K FPS game Darktide where 6 models of Autoguns and one model of Auto Pistol are used. They'll never be the top tier guns in 40K but the simplicity in mass manufacturing for equipping masses of troops or even crudely making them in a black market underhive shop means they'll never stop being used. GW still uses them just like that so you'll see them in criminal gang settings (Necromunda, Darktide where you play a redeemed convict fighting for the Inquisition), Astra Militarum units that aren't highest priority and so on.
I more or less can field a squad of original LE2 Imperial Space Marines as well as a squad of the anniversary ones. I have 4 original LE2s and a good 4 or 5 of the anniversary ones
@SnakeWorksStudio It was (is?) a monthly graphic magazine. Lots of adult themed cartoons (for lack of a better term). Some of the artists were American, others were European.
So the very first picture…it actually looks like a tiny snake is in there. The white reflections on the eyes look like fangs and there is a tiny dot of color above where the eye of a snake would be.
Ahhh takes me back to late nights with the Rogue Trader rulebook. Know all these pictures and about every detail. The picture of the old genestealer with this kinda squid-face thing was odd. Also there was a picture of two marines accosting a punk who'd sprayed the phrase "Marines ol" on the wall. I have always ALWAYS been desperate to know what the full sentence would have said.
To see more Oldhammer 40k art, check out the playlist HERE: th-cam.com/play/PLHkZacvv71XnH6RFaQVO7RVwXJGfSWFTh.html
lol the last thing i expected was to see big Mike make an appearance in the episode...
@@commentingisdangerous7530 who is big Mike?
You can only see these eyez, you'llnever knwo what's inside!! :D
Old Warhammer screams Judge Dredd and Heavy metal magazine.
Yeah... This man's references are on the weak side. Might be due to age...
yeah those elbow pads on the twins very Dredd
Google: Nemesis the Warlock, find 20k
true
Exactly. I love the art, but given it's context it's not really original. Still nice thou
Don't forget the old Dark Angels cover where Azrael is Tony Montana from Scarface in Power armor.
_"Say hello to my little friend, Fallen!"_
That wasn’t Azrael, it was a Black Templar
Anyone who falls to chaos is a cockroach.
The white “destroy” on the first helmet is more industrial and cool than it even appears at first. I worked in the coal mines for over a decade, and we would use a white paint pen called a Mean Streak to write on metal surfaces. Like if something needed replaced or inspected. Very cool detail.
I did not know this. That is a great detail.
I love the sheer insanity and creativety of this old artwork, nowadays everythings just so dull.
Yeah... I agree. I can appreciate the unified ascetic and theme of modern 40K but it is very... grimdark.
On the other thand though that just kinda comes with the territory. In the 80's the artists and sculptors had a lot more freedom, because they were making it up as they went. Like you look at the art by John Blanch or Ian Miller and you can just see the ideas bouncing around in their heads. You can see the influence of the 70's era acid trip comics and films like Bakshi's Wizards, 2000AD, and Heavy Metal magazine.
Lost some of that edge in the 90's, when they tried to clean it up for us millennial kids and the style 'bible' became pretty established over the course of that, but I gotta say I prefer the bright colours and total over the top nature of it to what we see today. Like Geoff Taylor's cover for the Eldar codex is just insanity... Like is that the roof of a craftworld in the background? There are thousands of Eldar blasting away at everything, that one Swooping Hawk has to be shooting at his friends. It's amazing.
@@imperialus1Tbf grimdark doesn't mean lack of variety. The older art actually looks more properly grimdark/gritty than the perfectly polished homogenized digital corporate art of modern 40k.
Given the size of the Imperium, or even the galaxy, there should be way more variation in equipment, appearance and fashion.
I get why they want a brand look that matches the minis but it's a lot less interesting.
Expanding popularity reduces creative risk and waters things down.
One of my main grips with the new Dune movies is how boring it looks. Those armor look like any generic sci-fi video-game that came out in the Recent years
Leman Russ is by Will Rees, the Rainbow Warrior and Mercenarys by Ian Miller, Imperial Guardmen and Space ork by Marting McKenna. Vampire, Dreaded Ambull and weird Space ork are by Tony Ackland
Tony Ackland is just marvelous and his orks so natural and believeable even with his weird style. I prefer his skinny orks far more than these buff powerlifting monstrosities GW is doing for 30 years.
Also the guy was basicaly my window into Warhammer Fantasy to the point I reject most other artists. WFRP looks like Tony's artwork for me. It's so fundamental that I even deny John Blanche, he is perfect for 40k aesthetics, but IMO he completely doesn't fit Fantasy and rarely could grasp it well.
@@PrzybyszzMatplanety Agreed, I absolutely loved Tony's stuff in the original Realm of Chaos books, it was unhinged in greatest way. But I have to say, Paul Bonner took the Orks to an entirely new level.
Thank you for providing the names, I was a bit disappointed he didn't.
Look up "Течнолог" (Technolog/"Technologist"), particularly their "future war" line. A Russian manufacturer of cheap injection molded toys from back when the Soviet Union collapsed, they got their start blatantly copying GW models (Fantasy, 40k, Heroquest), then started doing their own thing, still inspired by 40k and Fantasy. The box art and painting choices of their in-house artist was... something else.
It's going to be that way again and it becomes better than the corrupted original.
I would love to know more but I cannot find anything about this anywhere. Know where I can find more info?
@@GreenSpleenSubmarine i'd suggest the Kinamania channel with subtitles, he covered these in one of his documentaries.
Playing with "Технолог" miniatures during childhood was one of the reason i've jumped into warhammer in the first place
Rogue Trader had a whole beastiary. Just in case you wanted a space vampire or catachan devil on the board. Not to make a whole army, just something for the ref to spring on people. And one was this space ghost thing.
The role of a ref, almost something like a DM, is something I would see. Ideas about double-blind setup and objectives, weird terrain bits and consoles to poke at.
I love these old pictures. I’m more of a mid 90s warhammer kid but both 90s and 80s had tons of character that I really miss these days. Also - hoods at 17:30 look like proto-cawdor gang from Necromunda.
I thought the exact same, as soon as those hoods popped up I was instantly reminded of House Cawdor
Imperial Army in Powered Armour, Power Armour wasn't limited to the Astartes in 40K
There were far less restrictions with the hobby back then. I even had a Dark Angels captain with a Shuriken Catapult.
Those imperial guardsmen in the second picture, are literally armored only where it would be the least likely to sustain a fatal wound. Apart from the helmet, I guess.
That’s oldhammer thinking for you lol
I love the old 40k book so much. It felt way different from the 40k of today. I loved the lore and the art, the gritty, ridiculousness of it all. I wish they would reissue it. It's so entertaining to read, even if you had no intention of ever playing with the rules. There was so much content. Rules for different races, terrain, vehicles. It was much more open back then. The book gave you guidelines to help you make rules for different terrain, vehicles or troops. You were encouraged to use any minis you had to hand, not just the ones they sold. Chapters covering the making of scenery and buildings, you didn't buy a model of a bunker, you were encouraged to make one! I miss those days, 10 years old with my rouge trader book, my box of 30 plastic marines in mk6 armour and my poorly painted old school land raider looking like a tank from ww1. Bliss
Bolt Thrower introduced me to this era of 40k artwork and it's been all downhill ever since! \m/
The Guardsman art you are looking at here is part of what was traced to create ugly box art Megaman. In fact, he's a trace over of like 4 or 5 different Rogue Trader pics.
15'25" is an ork by Paul Bonner who also painted the incredible Ork Space Pirates. His work is among the best ones in Warhammer history.
Old battletech when its about to draw a spaceship: detailed, beautiful vessel with solar sails, detailed weaponry and big engines
Old battletech when its about to draw a battlemech: egg on legs
The first picture, Its a powered armour trooper, one of the few humans in power armour, there was a set of models made with the same design, tgey were not actually made for rogue trader, but sculpted by Bob Olley I think, I still have one of them somewhere, they were from 1985, pre slotta base. . Armed with laser rifles, later changed to disintegrator rifles.
omg dude I only half ass like Warhammer but your sense of humor has you a new sub.
Thanks! You are very kind!
Astral specters were basically just ghosts. Deamons started out as "warp entities" and wouldn't be specifically called out until the release of the realm of chaos and slaves to darkness books were released.
I need to get hold of those books
Paul Bonners art has always been fantastic, I loved his work in Waaargh the Orks
I remember being in my late teen/early 20s mid 90s and occasionally seeing the artwork. I found it fantastically weird, crazy busy with details, and peaked my curiosity. Stuff was strange yet cool looking!
I got into Warhammer in the 90's and I remember looking at the games workshop magazines over and over 😂.
Do you still have an interest now?
I can't believe through the years you have never caught the film Life Force. Its a must watch classic 80s Sci-fi horror. The ending when London is getting overrun by rage filled zombie vampires is some of the best apocalyptic downfall of a city in cinema history. BTW love the old 40k art
I plan to watch it soon! Lots of people recommending it!
@@SnakeWorksStudio Lifeforce is amazing, one of those insanely ambitious films that constantly throws new audacious ideas at you so even if not everything in it works you're never bored. I legitimately love that the MOST normal thing about that film is that it gives vampire and zombie folklore the Erich von Däniken ancient astronauts treatment.
i love old warhammer fantasy art because it really brought this idea of a dark fantasy setting with dark gods and zealots, all that felt really grounded but also super alive. just the sketches of zealots of sigmar and witch hunters in the dark gives me chills.
Do you have any posters of it on your walls?
@@SnakeWorksStudio god i wish i had some posters of that, but unforunately no
The first image reminds me a lot of the awesome art of Juan Gimenez
I played WH40k during the Rogue Trader and 2nd edition era. I was very fond of Rogue Trader because of how much more freedom there was. But it was also easy to exploit because there were far less restrictions to hold players back.
Space Marines were a lot less stuffy with how they looked. Yes, we still had the typical chapter color schemes. But you would find official GW artwork and painted figures with camouflaged Space Marines. Hell, you found Ultramarines with camouflage. Later on in the lore, the Ultramarines are made out to be excessively by the book and ultra traditional. In the THQ Space Marine game, an Ultramarine captain is being chastised for doing things that the book does not approve of and gets snitched to the Inquisition.
Honestly? Rogue Trader era depiction of Space Marines had them look more menacing and hardcore than they do today... And the ones we see in the Rogue Trader rulebook were the loyalists.
EDIT: I'm also fond of Rogue Trader era because players were more accepting on having 3rd party stuff into the tabletop game. Simply put, GW models were not in abundance. Dreadnoughts, Rhinos, Land Raiders weren't exactly common. So players were fine when someone would bring in things like a 1/35 scale M113 armored personnel carrier to represent a Rhino. Or a Soviet BMP-2. Whatever. We just cleared up beforehand what the stuff on the vehicle represented, etc.
A 1/35 scale tank, armored personnel carrier model kit can be found to be a lot cheaper than an official GW kit. So yeah, we were a lot more accepting. The hobby was already expensive even during those RT and 2nd Edition days. The official GW prices today are insane for what you actually get.
I will concede that I really dig the Eldar vehicles that started to emerge in the later 1990s. Even a Space Marine player like me thought those looked nice.
Old space marine were more similar to sardauker from dune than what are today. I bet inspiration vame from that. I miss that version of them too.
I still have several MK6 armor Space Marines from when I was playing 40K back then. Even have some if the original Terminators that have radio antennas on top of their armor. Those antennas were easily broken off so GW eventually removed them and it became just a nub on top of the armor on the plastic bits and non existent on the lead models. They even had Orks in power armor like the Space Marines. Also we used the Gargoyle from our HerosQuest as a BloodThirster from Khorne due to it being the same model (except the base).
Also still had my small Squat army many years later snd dusted them off for a table top skirmish. Of course they were no longer around and actually had other players ask me what they were having never seen them before. Ended up making two other armies (and kinda a third).
The radio antenna ones are the space hulk plastic ones! They were always broken lol.
It is an inquisitor in 18:10. He’s the legendary Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau. Yes, according to official lore that was his name, google him up.😄
I’ve heard of him!
Really reminds me of old Shadowrun art, something like a street mage or shaman.
0:07 looks like alien space jockey with a cyclon space helmet to me with hints of dune (just a dash of sardukar spice!)
Everyone one of those in that list are awesome
I love the old style rogue trader art, although much of it portrayed orks in a biker gang style of the eighties. I believe in the late seventies or early eighties games workshop had gained the rights to produce the Judge Dredd role playing game and board game, so much of the artwork was inspired by AD2000 comics. Many of the miniatures produced by Citadel had a cowboy biker look much inspired by the easy rider days. While space marines and imperial armies were still in their infancy, still holding on to the role playing D&D type play, than the wargame it came to be. Many, many great games, and ideas were produced through the early eighties. And not forgetting White Dwarf was still separate from games workshop and based much more around D&D. I feel we lost more than we gained, when game workshop left the eighties! Many wonderful role players and great ideas were left behind, perhaps one day we will return to those days... Forty years of role play games
Honestly as cool as the gothic grimdark look is, I almost prefer the classic utilitarian/militarist/Judge Dredd look pr whatever youd call the style of Warhammer in the earlier editions. Its crusty as heck, but awesome in its own right. It's too polished these days
There was a nice scenario in Challenge Magazine featuring a space vampire. They were one of many minor alien threats. These lads are shapeshifters and can look like a lot of people.
The ref is instructed to secretly assign the vampire to one squad. The vampire simply wants to get out, and the ref is to play this vampire intelligently with this goal in mind. There was a hangar with a few shuttles, the vampire could shed its disguise and gain back its vampire attributes as the ref suddenly grabs control of a trooper in that squad who starts to leg it. None of the players know what is happening, apparently that jokaero was a vampire all along.
The art styles look like a mix of Judge Dread and Mech Warrior.
We’ll never get this classic era back vs the hyper stuff we have now. Not complaining, the og Warhammer art has always had a special place in my heart. Like old comic books, Judge Dredd, Marvel/Dc, The eternaught (my favorite).
Pencil on paper art will always have a place in my heart vs digital.
Before I even start watching this video I have to say, just seeing that thumbnail art piece pop up in my recommendations immediately kicked off Cheap Trick playing "Reach Out" inside my head. It's just _so_ good and _so_ emblematic of the time in which it was created.
Illustrators of these genres in that period were working at a time when the visual language for this sort of stuff was still being formulated, which is why it still feels fresh and unique, even if some might label it as dated.
The imperial guards in the second picture looks like they are wearing pajamas
Those two guardsmen look suspiciously like the perry twins 👀
i think the green on the armor is supposed to be like patina on copper or whatever.
20:39 I can almost HEAR that Squat saying 'Rock and Stone' 20 times in a row
That second art they have mega man’s helmet, and similar boots to
like the megaman box art? or his sprite in game? that Box art was amazing
@@SnakeWorksStudio a bit of both the helmets are more like the Japanese design tho
Shows 2000ad and eagle comics and warhammer all had that british punk feel,so good.
I love all the pink influence
Punk!
4:40 That’s one helluva GIF clip opportunity
4:45 is also great out of context
I don’t know how to do that!
I relly love all of that old artwork , 6 : 48 is fantastic .
Old WarHammer is just Berserk world setting with more fire power, A LOT of fire power
Is berserk a movie or another game or something else?
@@SnakeWorksStudio a japanese version of medieval fantasy
@@SnakeWorksStudio Oh...it's an old manga, not the cringe stuff kids watch these day. You should check it out. Berserk manga. Imagine Horus+ BigBlueBerry and a big ass sword.
@@heavensfield494Warhammer predates Berserk.
@@heavensfield494 Warhammer is older though
Love this old school art. Sort of a Heavy Metal vibe, and a much more gritty feel than today's art, which is also great in it's own way.
A lot of the Rogue Trader weapons and machinery looks really biological or biomechanical. It's a cool style that never really stuck around, at least not for the Imperium.
Indeed it is great! Rogue trader era 40k is the best era.
Do you have any RT minis?
@@SnakeWorksStudio Sure do! also have all the Talisman 2nd edition minis + all the chainsaw warrior minis including the extremely rare Meat Machine, and all the Classic dungeonQuset minis. Modern GW sucks, I lost interesting in everything GW in the early 90s, becoming mainstream pop culture destroyed everything that was great about GW.
I like the Warhammer art style that came out right after this. It lasted during the late 90s and maybe early 2000s and then it ended with the release of the primaries marines which ushered a more colorful and clean art style that we have today.
The second edition stuff?
@@SnakeWorksStudio I actually got the dates wrong, I am talking about the art style starting in the 4th edition and it ended in the 7th edition.
0:20 my brother in Christ, plastic Auxilia came out before the video did.
Yeah! Some of these have been in the can a while waiting for a release slot!
@@SnakeWorksStudio Oh damn, that's crazy.
6:27 this is now Leman Russ Abbott. At least he isn’t all stupid Wolf Wolf Wolfy Wolf cringe.
Not a fan of the newer Wolf mcwolf stuff?
@@SnakeWorksStudio a hairy dog toothed marine called Wulfgar riding a giant wolf… too much wolf, tipped them over to meme territory.
It's wolfin' time!
Reminds me of 2000ad comic art in the 80's
I do a lot of drawing with pencil and paper.. calms me and lets me get ideas outta my head.. I like looking at older art for inspiration on how I wanna draw things.. way more than I do newer things.. I like drawing big posters.. never tried making money on it.. probably never will.. I only do it when I’m in the mood fr.
It has that early 2000AD quality to it. Sure it was low budget, but that's what made it good. Nostalgic :)
Did you read the 2000AD comics? I've never read them but had a friend who was heavily into them.
The 80's had a wild style that's since been lost to time
just found ya Channel and subbed love your video style very informative cheers mate learnt some stuff
This art leaves the imagination going - love it!
I think the cross hatching style is great its like somebody on scene didn't have anything to record what they were witnessing and so they drew it.
Like a remembrancer!
Old fantasy art is sick regardless of franchise but this is pretty stellar
Yow, that leman russ goes hard!
Fantastic isn't it!
@@SnakeWorksStudio definitely is! Does Games workshop print like an art book or something with all these art?
This was fun. Made me think about being a kid and repeatedly poring over the one issue of White Dwarf I had because I "borrowed" it from the unoccupied 3rd floor of the local hobby store (RIP).
I still have several MK6 armor Space Marines from when I was playing 40K back then. Even have some if the original Terminators that have radio antennas on top of their armor. Those antennas were easily broken off so GW eventually removed them and it became just a nub on top of the armor on the plastic bits and non existent on the lead models. They even had Orks in power armor like the Space Marines. Also we used the Gargoyle from our HerosQuest as a BloodThirster from Khorne due to it being the same model (except the base).
you should have shown the original emperor on his thrown drawing from Rogue Trader. My dad had that book when it first came out and I grew up with it in the late 80's and 90's. Loved reading it many times, wish he had kept it but he sold it around 2016 I think to help him retire cuz it was worth a decent amount.
Im so glad I got the "recent" limited release reprint of rogue trader, its one of those things you buy and because it takes GW 6 months to deliver I had totally forgot until it arrived in an unassuming package and was such a great surprise.
I actually own an OG Warhammer comic. Although it’s not called warhammer there’s no mistake that the super soldiers are space marines. They were modeled with the beak helmets and big shoulder armor and the distinct thunder logo that use to be used in the Emperor’s military. Unfortunately I forgot the name. Hopefully I can find it again and see if theirs more.
Look it up and let us know! it sounds very interesting.
@ Hopefully I can find it again but I’ve left it at my home with the family since I decided to join the military. (Needed a job) theirs barely anything about it but I do know their is at least one TH-cam video on it, but you’ll probably have a hard time like I did looking for anything on it.
Ah the early marine art, is the reason why Orks in the 40k universe still refer to space marines as beakies. Tear comes to my eye.
This art style is like Hellraiser meets HR Giger meets the "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" books. The Leman Russ one in particular is just so... macabre, with all his corrugated flesh
Anglo Saxon poetry.
The best poetry.
Absolutely want to see more weapon variety in heresy. „More weapon variety? But they have everything!“ I hear you say. Yes - but standard tactical marines get the choice of bolsters or, if lucky, Volkite. Seeing a few more options for weapons that have a function similar to a Bolger would be cool, as would more bolster patterns.
The Aquila cap your wearing is dope, where can we buy one?
It came from an old games shop about 10 years ago. Not sure if they are sold anymore?
To me the art of the 90s is the apex of W40k the blend of gothic style and horror with the uniqueness of what I call Grimdarkness-barroc those illustrations full of details and different characters to the brim either depicting an entire army or a hellish landscape of the warp or a battlefield, sublime.
I love all the crazy little details on those old busy pieces
That old fifth element looking Saturnine armour is creepy and fascinating
I would have guessed Lupercal not Russ, since the Nasal Tubes... Horus is shown with it when he changed to his newer Terminator Armor gifted by the Dark Mechanicum!
Indeed Imperial Arrest. Shot on sight xD
My favourite is the Imperator vs the Gargantua
the rainbow warrior pic is by Ian Miller
mercenaries, also by Ian Miller
Illustrations 3, 5, and 11 are attributed to "unknown", but I'm almost certain they are done by artist Ian Miller.
Soul vs Soulless. It’s that simple.
They gazed too long into the warp
For warp read stock market
I would love to see the old rogue trader custodes, with the pants, cape and helmet. Also the old chaos helmets from rogue trader looked metal af. Both of them deserve to be remodeled and rereleased
lol 80ties space marine looks like lad i use to work with
He does!!
Love this guy
The guy in the thumbnail?
Funny you should mention the Rainbow Warriors. In my headcanon, they were the legion of the lost eleventh primarch and he along with most of the Rainbow Warriors were enslaved by the Rangdan, causing the Third Rangdan Xenocide. The remnant Rainbow Warriors distinguished themselves in combat, having been forced to defend themselves against their own chapter and primarch and thus the few survivors after this war were re-assigned as an Ultramarine successor chapter as an act of mercy with their true history being redacted and permanently classified to all but the Emperor himself, Malcador and the primarchs pre-heresy with the surviving loyalist primarchs opting to have their memories of the lost two erased as it is hinted at that Horus was close to one of them and the loss of such a close friend caused friction between he and Malcador and later the Imperium as a whole.
Others later learned of the fate of the two lost primarchs, such as Cawl and some of the people who worked with the full retinue of geneseed samples before being ordered to stop.
I may as well add that I believe II joined the Necron and was rejected by all but a few of his legion, whom I believe were the Valedictors. Of the two lost primarchs, I believe his geneseed was the one that was tainted, which affected his decision to shed his humanity when cornered and offered the choice by Trazyn to join his menagerie of exotic slaves and hope for rescue or join the Necron as an equal at the site of the ancient Necron artifact at the edge of known space. This is the primarch Trazyn 'almost' captured.
I believe this very nearly caused an all-out Necron invasion into Imperium space that was quickly nipped in the bud by a large number of primarchs overwhelming and killing their transformed brother and crippling Trazyn's military strength for millenia.
All events relating to it were redacted and rendered permanently classified.
The Imperium later found a way to stabilize this geneseed, soon enough for the Valedictors but too late to avoid this primarch's fate.
The tumbleweed refused to tumble but was more than willing to prance.
That inquisitor work the wide brimmed hat looks like slightly like good ol' Obi-wan Sherlock Clouseau.
Snd yes, at least one of the Rogue Trader artists was from Judge Dredd, which shows.
3:20
The rat from Stronghold has went into space
@@eternalsphereoflight9004 what is stronghold? A tv show?
@@SnakeWorksStudio A video game, you don't even know...
Wood needed milord... 😢
Pen and ink crosshatching is more than likely Ian Miller. For me, nothing says Warhammer like Ian Miller's work. I remember meeting him and looking at his originals at the Golden Demon in 1988.
It was always dangerous to drive with him since he insisted the safety cones were a slalom course.
Orks in older Warhammer are not hulking beasts. Warhammer Fantasy orcs are also on the same scale. Ork nobs are hulkier but not all orks are not nobs. Most orks you meet will be chumps.
The ork artstyle was a bit similar in WFB as well. Scrappy lads closer to a human in size. You sit in a wagon and four blokes with clubs hop out but you kick them in the chin.
Orks got the marine power inflation I think. They got to be musclier and bigger.
I really like the old ork style!
@@SnakeWorksStudioI mostly played WFRP if anything. But orcs there and orks here are extremely similar. Much more than tomb kings/necrons, empire/Imperium, elves/eldar etc.
Orks did not have supertech, that much strength, any more than an inkling of psychic might. They had an absolute conviction that those lads over there are looking funny and need a wallop on general principle. I usually think of the waaagh as a constant forward motion unbothered by thinking too hard. Or by just thinking many things at the same time.
The ork mob rule looked fun. If there is "enough" mates left in the mob, there is no need to panic. Like a second Ld based on unit size.
All the guns shown (except Space Marine disintegrators) are Autoguns or Auto Pistols. The've tended to look similar to Thompsons for the normal ones (if boxier and larger caliber magazines and a more straight shoulder stock), Braced Autoguns look like bulked up AK47/74s and Auto Pistols can look like a simple gun to shortened stockless short barrel versions of normal Autoguns, or like a simple pistol or more like Uzis. They can use drum magazines as well as seen on quite a few models over the decades.
The hooded men could be Zealots spreading the faith of the Emperor and eradicating heretics (or what later became zealots) or a Chaos cult. The open face hood is used still on fanatic models like these.
It’s interesting because nowadays we hardly see any auto guns
@@SnakeWorksStudio Look at the Necromunda tabletop game. Autoguns are still around.
Also the current 10 man Astra Militarium Cadian Shock Troops box sold by GW on their website has them using Autoguns with two Meltaguns as special weapons.
Also have a look at the current 40K FPS game Darktide where 6 models of Autoguns and one model of Auto Pistol are used.
They'll never be the top tier guns in 40K but the simplicity in mass manufacturing for equipping masses of troops or even crudely making them in a black market underhive shop means they'll never stop being used.
GW still uses them just like that so you'll see them in criminal gang settings (Necromunda, Darktide where you play a redeemed convict fighting for the Inquisition), Astra Militarum units that aren't highest priority and so on.
I more or less can field a squad of original LE2 Imperial Space Marines as well as a squad of the anniversary ones.
I have 4 original LE2s and a good 4 or 5 of the anniversary ones
That pic reminded me of the French art found in 1980s Heavy Metal.
Was that an old comic?
@SnakeWorksStudio It was (is?) a monthly graphic magazine. Lots of adult themed cartoons (for lack of a better term). Some of the artists were American, others were European.
4:41 I saw that smirk... 😂
Love the video
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
18:41 You mean Michael Obama
So the very first picture…it actually looks like a tiny snake is in there. The white reflections on the eyes look like fangs and there is a tiny dot of color above where the eye of a snake would be.
I thought that was Super R-Type music in the background. 👍🏻
You have good ears!
Ahhh takes me back to late nights with the Rogue Trader rulebook. Know all these pictures and about every detail. The picture of the old genestealer with this kinda squid-face thing was odd.
Also there was a picture of two marines accosting a punk who'd sprayed the phrase "Marines ol" on the wall. I have always ALWAYS been desperate to know what the full sentence would have said.
I grew up with that rulebook too, as an American, it was pretty rare to see.
18:09
Hat guy might be Inquisitor Obi-wan Sherlock Clouseau
I think you might be right!
The games that IGN and Sweet Baby are complaining, for me is a sign that those game are actually a good game and that I should look into playing it!
10:30 imperial assassin....on the right.. my guess anyways
Also, fun videos, sir🤘
The celestial specter reminds me of the Gorn from the original Star Trek
Good spot! It might have been the inspiration