Before there was Forge World titan and other BIG vehicles that hobbyists dreamed about were made by Armorcast! Do you remember these models from the 1990’s?
These guys where strictly a licensee and in the 1990’s they made the big stuff. Until Tony Cantrell came along and said, “yo dawg, I can do this.” And the rest is Forge World’s history.
Before that fateful turn of events Armorcast was available IN the local game stores. You could buy a Warhound titan off the shelf; it was 80 bucks and I couldn’t it afford it back in my high school days. My money was being spent on things like beer and gas. Regardless, it was a magical time. The rules weren’t as ironed out as they are now but Armorcast was the first.
You’’ll notice the email was an .edu because at the time universities where at the forefront of technology. The Armorcast guys were from California and I never met them. They’re aer still around though…
These where made from bolts and washers, when you made this you literally had to bolt on the head. It was crazy but it worked!
This was the original Warhound pattern on top and the Imperial Reaver which was based on the “Space Marine Game” which then became “Epic Space Marine” and then just Epic, and so on and so forth. People would see the smaller version of these and then say, “hey, I want that bigger 28mm version”.
Also, inside the original Baneblade, which was a lot smaller than the Forge World version. I had this, but I had to put a down payment on a car and I had to sell them. I was sad. But then they made plastic version and all was right with the hobby world again.
Regardless, this book is full of some amazingly retro kits, like the Eldar Towering Destroy Knight, the Ork Battle Wagon and the Ork Great Gargant. These aren’t as elegant as the models we’re seeing today but for being the first, they were so fresh.
I preferred the Ork Battlewagon, the Armorcast version; these are the size they should be, not the big box thing we have today right?
The Ork Gargant is a massive layered cake of resin channeling Jabba the hut like nobodies business. This thing towered above just about everything but a Phantom titan.
Inside you’ll also find hobby ideas and mail order catalog. What’s a mail order catalog? Well, it’s this paper thing you’d wrap in a paper and enclose a money order, also made a paper to buy things. There was no digital ordering back then… it was a wild and wonderful time.
To see the entire hobby rant hit the video and hop into the cat tub time machine with me!
The First 40k Titans Weren’t Forge World? – RETRO
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About the Author: Rob Baer
