Before 3d printing and plastic injection sprues, GW used to make 40k conversions from all sorts of wild things- their “first” tank was actually a G.I. Joe toy.
Welcome to another 40k Flashback, where dig deep for something cool that he has or hasn’t seen before from back in the day, which according to the comic Dane Cook was a Wednesday… (maybe that reference is a type of flashback itself now that I think about it.
The First Warhammer 40k Tank Was a GI Joe Toy
A while ago I was digging through some old 40k Rogue Trader era White Dwarf Magazines and happened upon something quite interesting in issue #110 from February of 1989- the first time Games Workshop looks to have published images of a vehicle alongside their new Warhammer 40k line.
Now their first vehicle kit (the MK I Rhino) was released later that year IIRC with an article on how to convert a Whirlwind from one in White Dwarf #117.
Back to that issue though, at first, I didn’t see it, but then it clicked! It seems like the first Warhammer 40k tank was a GI Joe Toy!
Gi Joe Armadillo: 1985
A little background on why they picked it, well making huge plastic kits was expensive, and at the time they were only producing pewter miniatures. Sure Games Workshop worked with Milton Bradley to make figures for games like Space Crusade, and Heroquest, but they never directly worked for/with Hasbro to my knowledge.
So imagine my surprise when I saw the silhouette of a Gi Joe Armadillo as a Warhammer 40k Space Marine tank! The paragraph describes a “store-bought tank” being used. They did a little conversion work here, but almost just plopped the tank into an army of marines and called it good to go.What’s your favorite Warhammer model from the old days?
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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 is a panelist on the weekly 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.
