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I was on Wikipedia a little while ago, and happened to stumble across an article about a miniatures game called Laserburn, that was written in 1980. Now, apparently it was some sort of Necromunda/40k crossbreed, before either existed! The writers also apparently ended up working for GW, and influenced Rick Priestly quite a bit. I thought it looked pretty groovy, all the minis are 15mm, and while they may be lacking detail and definition, it certainly seemed like a nifty little bit of nostalgia!
Anyone (old types) heard of this relic?
Cheers

No but I'd like to. I need to add it to Starship Troopers so I can claim to have played all versions of 40k

I've got it in my bookshelf.

Played it back in '81 or so.

Also played Combat 3000/3001 (which introduced 'aliens' to the core system) which Priestly and Halliwell both worked on. They had incorporated aspects of Dune, Starship troopers AND Foundation back then, and the conection to what would become RT is obvious.

I don't know about laserburn, but i do know of : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Dredd_(role-playing_game)

but this link is better: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1098

And now you know where Imperial jet bikes, Adeptus Arbites and Judges come from. Turns out Judge Dreadd was upholding The Emperors Will and Imperial Law.

Yep.

GW published JD (RPG and boardgames) stuff back in the 80s. There are huge chunks pretty much "homaged" from it in 40k.

I've played Laserburn. I even have the rulebook and the Forces of the Imperium book. I'd love to get my hands on Imperial Commander.

It was an okay game... Sorta reminds me of Inquisitor. I like Brian Ansell's stuff, but goddamn! The evil Islamic enemy was a little much...

I've never played it, but I'd kind of like to peruse the books if I ever get the chance, just to see what 40k grew from. I might even play it, but I don't have any 15mm sci-fi minis. Maybe someday I'll pick up a Rogue Trader book too. I might actually play that, just for the nostalgia factor (plus I got plenty of 40k minis - that helps).

Yes.

Bryan Ansell wrote the basic rules. There are a lot of similarities to 40K.

It's a corrupt grimdark future where the Space Emperor is a figurehead, just a front for the real powers who are the Lords of Terra. Legions of Space Marines equipped with power armour and bolter guns fight aliens and Red Redemtionist cult members.

It's still available from http://www.15mm.co.uk/Laserburn_Publications.htm and so are the official 15mm figures.

Anyone care to do a Retro Review of it? I've heard of it before and was always curious about 40k's pre Rogue Trader days.

Apparently the progression is:
Laserburn
GW's Judge Dredd games
Some CJ articles
Rogue Trader

I for one would like to hear more.

I had the Judge Dredd boardgame and the JD roleplaying game. Neither have any significant degree of commonaliity with 40K or Laserburn. They belong to the period when GW was making some good games on licensed intellectual property. Block Wars belongs to the same era.

For that matter, there is little or no correlation between the Laserburn rules and 40K, it is the background which is suspiciously similar.

The 40K rules are basically a modification of the WHFB rules, which were published about 1982-3. I remember then coming out when I was at university.

Wow! We had (my brothers and I) some of these Imperial Troopers! I had really forgotten about them until I looked at these images!

Can't say we had the rules, though. We used them for Gamma World and such.

Really cool stuff, I'll be checking it all out. I can't wait to read more.