It’s time to party like it’s 1999! Come see the First Land Raider Crusader in METAL and PLASTIC!
Hobby Manaic’s, we’re going Doc Brown for this article and unboxing, drum roll please, a Land Raider Crusader that’s roughly 15 years old.
Regardless, this is a venerable kit that for us veterans is near and dear to our hearts. It was a mainstay in many armies back in the day and made a big splash in Armageddon. A friend of mine had one laying around and asked if I wanted to do a video about it and I was like, “Yeeeeeees, I haven’t seen one of those in years!”
This kit is an old 3rd edition box set and comes with both plastic and metal pieces. Back in the day metal was actually cheaper than injection molded plastic so this kit had both. The Hurricane Bolters, Assault Cannon, and precariously perched / notoriously difficult, Multi-Melta are all Metal. (Did you see all those big words? Pretty sure that’s a triple word score)
On one hand this kit brings back a flood of fond memories; on the other hand this kit was a hobby nightmare. This kit was ridiculously hard to keep together. Similar to the Eldar Falcon which had the metal prism bit and made it completely unbalanced, this kit’s metallic pieces made it so you had to weight it down with a quarter or a nickel underneath the turret to make it sit flush.
However, the actual pintle mount was plastic, which meant that the piece snapped due to the weight of the metal multi-melta.
A lot of people just glued it straight down and had fun with it.
The hurricane Bolters where also a nightmare; right where the pieces connected you had to drill them out and pin them. The ammo crates had fiddly little feed lines and they would always break under the slightest pressure.
I was constantly yelling, “No don’t touch my sponsons!” and then it would just fall apart from the wind. If you squeezed too hard it seemed like the entire sponson would just disintegrate.
Regardless, the variant was great, the amount of fire power was amazing. We didn’t have things like invisibility, AP2 blasts was a big thing, lascannons were a big thing, life was hard. The game was brutal. You didn’t want to get rolled up on by this thing. This was a nightmare for many armies.
You’ll notice the Asian text up in the corner, I think it’s Japanese, I don’t think they ever officially went into China, they might have been in Hong Kong, but they pulled out in the mid 2000’s.
A lot of people have told me that the Tau was made specially for the Asian market in 2001. Of course, I don’t have any support evidence so think what you will. All I will say is that it makes sense to me.
I believe this is Matt Hudson’s Army featured on the box, which was predomiately featured in Codex: Armageddon back in the day. You can also see the old Mark 1 Razorback with metal turret on the side.
It also had this armor on the side called ablative armor, which was sold separately. A lot of folks would put those metal skirts on the side of their rhino’s which made them weigh a ton because they where actually metal casted pieces that was attached to the side. Don’t get me wrong, the tanks looked WAY doper with than just the Mark 1 Rhino smoke stacks.
The Land Raider plastic kit came out in the summer of 1999 if I remember correctly and then GW transitioned in 2002 to the Rhino Mark II. So either way the Land Raider and the Rhino are both almost 15-20 years old. However, I feel like GW’s going to get more longevity out of the Mark II design because they can keep up with these elements now electronically.
Inside, there are a lot of familiar looking pieces; the land raider hasn’t changed. The plastic might look a little different, it looks a little lighter; I can’t tell you if it looked that way back then or if it’s because of the age.
The pieces inside, aren’t very interesting, if you’ve put a land raider together you’ve seen them already right?
However, what is cool is the old style instruction manual.
It’s an in-between 2nd and 3rd edition manual. When this instruction manual was made Bill Clinton was still president, the information super highway was being born, a lot of crazy stuff was being done. Chances are this was laid out not with a computer.
Looking at the hurricane bolter, I remember having to drill out each piece with a pin vise because it had to connect to the feeds in the rear while connecting simultaneously to his bracket that is thin and super fragile.
The metal assault cannon on the other hand was not a nightmare. It went together very easily. Sometimes the top plate would pop off but overall very well done. The plastic top and low center of gravity meant you didn’t have to worry about it.
It was a great kit for what it was all those years ago. I have so many fond memories of putting it together.
Next up the metal pieces:
To see something like this old hurricane bolter might take some new hobbyists aback. You had to clip the metal pieces of the sprue and assemble them together. This stuff was all spin cast in vacuums that looked like little film reels (in case you were born after 1999 this is what film is) it was room temperature-vulcanized rubber (RTV). They would spin cast it by pouring the molten pewter in the middle spout hole and then spin it. Then the pewter would just spread to the edges via centripetal force and fill completely.
It was cheaper to do it this way that it was to actually produce 100% plastic kits. Remember GW didn’t have that LOTR money yet to upgrade all their tech yet either.
This kit sold for about 50 bucks and now it’s 85 bucks. Going up 35 dollars over 15 years seems a little steep. Eventually because of the LOTR money, (and pewter rising in price thanks to china) they went back and updated this kit over to plastic, adding the Redeemer variant as well.
My old Black Templars Army before I added The LRC to it
Regardless the early 2000’s was a really magical time. It’s part of the whole magical time that we talk about at the Long War. I hope you enjoyed this 40k flashback.
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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 also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), 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 1980s, 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.
