Welcome back Hobby Maniac’s, today we’re jumping into the way back machine and checking out the first plastic Space Marines on sprue from Rogue Trader.
This is not the 1988 box, I don’t have that one, however this one is still super retro because it’s the 1991 reprint of the classic that came our BEFORE Second Edition 40k hit.
This is a small box, nothing like what you’d see on the shelf today.
We’ve been hearing that we may see a reprint or a release of the classic RTB-01 sprues, for Space Marine day. So, what I also wanted to do was compare these old guys to the Betrayal at Calth Marines because they’re Mark VI but more importantly from the Rouge Trader/Pre-Hersey era days as well.
This is a 10-man box set, check the old Accessory sprue.
You can certainly see that it’s not the best look compared to today, but you can really see that this is the inspiration for a lot of Forge World’s stuff. The rocket launcher, the paint ball gun (Or Marker Gun if you’re serious about it) and the right handed power fist; which was the only right handed power fist for a long time. You can even see the various arms and additional rockets.
For it’s time, this was ground breaking. Yes, it looks cute, but for the year it came out this was the good stuff. Of course, 30 years on it looks junky sure, but I assure you for it’s time this was amazing. You’ll notice the squatting legs, which a lot of people would combine with the power fist; like the tiger uppercut before there was a tiger uppercut.
Then we got the beakie heads because EVERYONE was beakie back in the day. A few attachments that you could put onto your bolter, some combat knives, bolt pistols and some bolters. That was it folks, Just over and over again on 5 other sprues.
Compared to the Calth set, minus the super efficient computerized layout, the legs are similar. The pads are alike, but perhaps only in design and not quality. The flamer, missile launcher are both quite similar. From this comparison I think the idea that GW can computerize it’s old beakie sprue and update it isn’t too far of a stretch.
You might think, oh, GW will never invest in a sprue and only make it available in it’s stores. But then, riddle me this, what about that Command Land Raider and the Command Rhino that’s only available at Warhammer World? Granted, that’s a much more expensive kit, but when you’re at a 30-40 price point you can surely move more units right?
I hope they give these out to FLGS’s as well as the Games Workshop stores, to get everyone onboard with something as monumentus as a possible Rogue Trader kit re-print.
Now that they’re getting back into tournament scene, they’re asking for FAQ help, I think they’re trying to move the hobby forward. I hope they don’t’ take a step back and say, “oh, this is only available at our stores”. Right?
They didn’t keep the 25-year anniversary kit exclusive to their stores; they allowed the independent stockiest to buy some for a certain period. So, hopefully whatever comes out on April 16th we’ll see more of that.
Well, that’s it for today’s 40k Flashback I hope you enjoyed it!
Comparing Rogue Trader Marines to Calth – Flashback
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About the Author: Rob Baer
