Come tag along on another trip in the cat-tub time machine! Today, we’re going deep, deep back in history to bring you another 40k Flashback!
2001’s Chapter Approved book was a very interesting book because it was sorta the foundation that cemented the bridge between second and third edition which was a much faster game and therefore the rules needed a tweak.
Games Workshop was very responsive back then with the base game as there was 3.5, 4th edition, and vehicle trial rules, which all went away when 5th edition came out IIRC.
Chapter Approved was collected by Andy Chambers; this is the second book of the Astronomicom. A lot of the rules, FAQ’s, and letters to the editor where wrapped up in this book. It shows the dedication of the team to keep track of everything back in the day, which were really starting to see again now in 8th.
You’ll notice the Sisters of Battle and the Necrons,
And yes, Sisters have always been the redheaded step-children of GW with less attention rules wise than their brother’s the Astartes, it’s not new.
Death Company, which was a really rough and competitive list, and an Imperial Guard Armored Company which let you bring a lot of armor with a lot of Strength 10 (that was boogeyman back then) you weren’t playing around if you brought that list.
Jervis Johnson wrote this and it still gives me nightmares…
They also had a bit in here about the Crux Terminatus. In the transition between 2nd and 3rd a lot of people stopped taking Terminators because they weren’t very durable. So they needed to added in a invulnerable save, which they did via the Crux Terminatus rule in this book (collected from a White Dwarf). There’s a lot of other different things in here like smoke grenades which actually provided line of sight blocking.
I really like this color page which showed us all the books there were in print when this released for nostalgic reasons.
They had plenty of rules clarifications for lots of models like the Land Raider.
They also came out with a bunch of Dark Eldar upgrades for them because the rules team realized they weren’t punching at their weight.
Even the graphics, like this one for the last chancers, had rules!
Here’s Ancient Helevectis that you could get with the Skulz program, and he was pretty cool all the way around!
The first version of Chaplain Cassius and Veteran Captain Invictus was also in here and had some neat rules to boot.
For even more, some cat-shenanigans and a siri-apperance, check out of the video!
2001 a Chapter Approved Odyssey – 40k Flashback RETRO
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures. Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including the Adepticon Team Tournament and American Team Tournaments, and is on a first-name basis with almost every major company in the space.
He’s all gaming all the time. With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. He advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1908s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
