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In a counterpoint to the other thread that is grinding away at decades of questionable decisions, I thought I would try to kickstart a bit of Christmas spirit’s d host the positive counterpart.

For me it’s most definitely Indominus Pattern tactical dreadnought armour. You know stuff is about o go down when the Terminators are warming up the teleport pad

Close second are Eldar aspect warriors. Particularly from the original design and concept art, but the more recent renditions have been pretty good too.

Yeah, the classic Terminator squad is definitely up there at the top of the list.

Shoutout to Eldar Jetbikes though. I love 'em.

The aspect warriors are one of the most aesthetically pleasing and coherent concepts in 40k.

I think it's partly because Bill King and Rick Priestley sat down and created craftworld background in one go, giving it a single vision and tying it to celtic mythology along with many asian warrior influences.

It's a testament to the cohesiveness of their background that GW have not managed to add very much to it, because it's so complete.


I have also always thought that the Dwarf slayer concept is one of the best ideas GW have produced. It's a unique spin on warrior culture and shame that is only in WFB. The idea that no matter how dishonoured you are, suicide is still unacceptable and only death in battle where you're trying hard not to die will satisfy honour, is a very cool philosophical concept.



I'm also partial to the engineered society of the orks and how their orkology evolves overtime to create a favourable environment for the emergence of the orks. It's the ultimate shake and bake, fire and forget self perpetuating warfare system.


The nightmare of the administratum, accounting errors causing mass starvation, the munitorum etc are all great themes.

Killa Kans.

BEST? Freaking heck I can't choose just one!


I'm going to say the 4th edition redesign of Tyranids. Just that whole moment.

The 1st generation of Tyranids were honestly neat and I liked them. Walking zoanthropes; gaunts, warriors with ribcages showing their guts and all. however by 3rd edition they were feeling rather small. However whilst there were some great models in 3rd edition - gaunts, warriors and a few others established designs that we stuck to till this day; the Tyrant, Carny and a few others took a very different direction.

I've often thought that 3rd edition almost felt like there were two Tyranid designers who operated on their own along similar lines; but created very different looks.

4th edition focused in on one style and its a style I loved then and still love now as its grown to be THE Tyranid style.



Actually let me pick out one Tyranid - The Norn's. Both forms are awesome and I say that both from their design visually and scale wise. Whilst everyone kind of wanted a "Knight sized" model; I've come to really appreciate that the Norns are "big but not too big". They fit on a table; they fit in a case; they are almost as big as you kind of "practically" want to go with a model.

Couple that to awesome looks and they are just such a fun all round model.

The Master of the Ravenwing Jetbike. I bought one, painted and loved it as only a single adult man who was recently separated from his fiancé can love a pewter model.

There are plenty I really liked over the years, but the one that springs to mind first is the plastic wraithlord kit. Such a joy to assemble and convert, and the model itself is amazing.

Great idea for a thread, very wholesome!

Funny Terminators were one of the first things I thought of. Power armored super soldiers are a good idea, but had been seen before, the walking tanks of terminators however really brought them to the next level.

But I still think a lot of the magic was the idea that you are making "your" army, not just reproducing pictures in the rule book. You were encouraged to create your own fluff, your own name, your own color schemes. I started buying books in the RT days long before I had the money for any models. I loved books that showed toys and household items turned into wonderful things, I'm still happiest when I find some oddball item and say "I can make something of this".

So pages like this are what sold me.

I like WHFB giants from 4-6th edition. Lots of fun, useful, not overpowered, great for conversions

Fanatics. Some brilliant sculpts and a delightfully crazy concept.

Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun.

Old Typhus.

These two literally made me start 40K.
Still a shame Typhus got a huge downgrade when moving to plastic.

Falcon grav tank. Such an awesome mini. Especially considering its age. Late 2nd a lot of things were chunky and awkward. It was the exact opposite. And even today, it holds up well. Rules-wise it’s often been overshadowed by the Wave Serpent, but that’s because the WS normally gets some busted rules

It’s the reason I collect Eldar.

I want to say the Brian Nelson Ork Boy as it's my favourite, but I think the "best" is probably the Tactical Marine right? It's what got most of us into the hobby!

Even though I've never bought one, the Heldrake.
I liked all the Dinobots tbh.

I think they really show that the Traitor Legions and other CSM really are the monsters from hell. A pilot can reasonably counter another pilot be it human or Xenos, but a literal full on fire breathing dragon? That's next level hard-core.

2nd Ed. Orks. The whole army.

1) Chain Rokkits. Instead of launching 4 rokkits at a single target, we'll just launch 1, and have it drag 3 more. When it goes off, it'll launch the next one. It was like firing a barrage except instead of flipping the blast Template, you scattered it from the previous location.
2) Pulsa Rokkits. Tired of the enemy having shields? What if, and hear me out, we launched the actual Shield at them?
3) Shokk Attack Gun. We've made Snotlings the most feared creature in the universe.
4) Looted Vehicles. Still a thing, but not like it used to be.

Mention: I don't believe he showed up until 3rd, but the Ork who strapped a Battlecannon on to his bike.

The Leman Russ. IG was my first army and I still have my original Russ from the battleforce in my first purchase.

Close second to the Land Raider. Finally got my first Land Raider last month when I went to Warhammer World.

genestealers are one of the best models GW ever made. they've had many different variations over the years, but even the old Space Hulk models are still great. it's a solid design which takes the obvious Alien influence and turns it into something which still feels distinct. how many other models have an entire faction built around them!

i'm also going to second aspect warriors. my girlfriend plays eldar, so we have all the old models kicking around, and they're just fantastic to hold in your hand and look at up close. the eldar range really hasn't changed much since the start, and that's because they got it right the first time

and as someone who really likes modeling and kitbashing, i also wanna shout out inquisitors. inquisitors are the most fun thing to kitbash, in my experience. the old weapon options that the kit had give it such freedom, and the concept in-universe can really be anything. i love picking up old random metal models and figuring out how to fix them into an inquisitor. hopefully, we get a modern kit for this at some point, or maybe they just bring back the full game

What’s the best unit ever created for Warhammer of any flavour?

Space Marine tactical squad. Created and carried the game over decades, the company is bought on happy buyers of that units in its various iteration. Ranging from the original RT ones and ending with peak technological versions of it like the BA Tactical Marines box. There was no better and more important unit in the game that ever existed.

shortymcnostrill wrote:
There are plenty I really liked over the years, but the one that springs to mind first is the plastic wraithlord kit. Such a joy to assemble and convert, and the model itself is amazing.

It is a lovely kit and unit. Also if you can get to it, will be sold for £10 on the Combat Patrol unit artworks form Hatchette. Not sure of the issue it will be in, but worth looking out for.

I'll shout out the BSS and the Deathwatch oldmarines for having more options than any other kit that I've yet encountered.

But I think I'm going to go with the Triumph of Saint Katherine; seldom has a unit so epitomized the spirit of its faction.

 Gert wrote:
Even though I've never bought one, the Heldrake.
I liked all the Dinobots tbh.

I think they really show that the Traitor Legions and other CSM really are the monsters from hell. A pilot can reasonably counter another pilot be it human or Xenos, but a literal full on fire breathing dragon? That's next level hard-core.

Whilst I maintain that the Helldrake still needs a tail - I would 100% be behind GW doing a warped machine-dinosaur army. I kind of hope that with GW setting the ground work for having 4 Chaos Demon themed armies being the norm (we'll likely find out once EC get released); I'd welcome them doing the same with the new Warpsmith character built around a corrupted mechanicus style force. They've got a good few spiders/dinosaurs/dragons and other models to already get it going.

I think with Vashtorr, Lord Discordants, Warpsmiths, Obliterators and the 4 newer Daemon Engines all in plastic (yeah the Defiler as well but it's too similar to regular vehicles IMO) you've got a good pool to choose from now for doing an army based on a Hellforge.

 Akar wrote:
Mention: I don't believe he showed up until 3rd, but the Ork who strapped a Battlecannon on to his bike.

Wazdakka was in the second ed Ork 'dex, but never got a model.

Big big fan of the Death Korps Grenadiers and the 3rd ed metal Stormtroopers

SM predator probably, always thought these metal boxes looked rad

Ork Boyz.

No stress. No worries. No fear of failure. Just fightin’ and drink’ and more fightin’

You either get ‘Arder, or you get Ded. Either way, it happened from getting in a fight, so you’re well happy.

In love the newest version of Avatar of Khaine for Aeldari. It was such a pleasure to tinker about with and paint plus it's done well for me in battle.

Goblin Wolfriders. Ten to a box.
Could be gobbos, undead dire wolves, chaos hounds, chaos dwarf hobgoblins, Middenheim wolves, anything. Best box ever!

The Imperial Knights box wasn't bad either. Eight to a box. Could be Vamps, Chaos knights, Middenheim, whatever. Even weak human imperial knights. Strong second best.

Two wolf rider boxes, two imp knights boxes, and you're half way to an army. Several armies.


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Other than that, Chaos Spawn.

They say "yeah, whatever you can melt or glue together, from sprue pieces or leftovers", and so you get free units, in a horribly expensive hobby. They don't have to be good (they actually kinda are in TSons), they're free. Best unit ever!
Every chaos army gets ~195pts of free units. No wonder they're so seductive....

Original Necromunda Escher. Gorgeous Miniatures sculpted by Jes Goodwin. Very much a product of their time but they still hold up today.

The art and fluff that accompanied them was great too and though there are obviously parallels to Dark Elf Wyches, the Escher were certainly a new addition to the 40k universe.

only coming from IG I have a lot of love for the older Sentinel and the simple chimera. So much options to convert. Wheeled chimeras, Chimeras with the turret in the middle, Chimerrax, Chimedon, Chimero, all the Artillery pieces, MedEvac Chimera etc. etc. etc.
And similarly that one Sentinel kit could build so many variants (a lot of weapons options, closed top, caged top, no top, windows open/closed, Catachan or Cadian heads etc.) and you always had quite a lot useful parts left over without the kit getting too expensive was great. And then the Powerlifters and the like and all the options you could come up with yourself...
I'm usually a "one of each model" kind of collector, but I got 7 Sentinels...