Today gamers we are headed back to 1989 to the birth of the big bad Spartan Terminator Transport. You won’t believe its original model!
Today we step back to November 1989 and White Dwarf 119. It was a jam-packed issue with everything from 40K Orks, to Nurgle, to Battleship Gothic (a Battlefleet Gothic’s predecessor). But we are here to look upon an origin story. This issue gave us the Spartan. Not a model mind you. Back then GW would often throw out rules and give you instructions on how to convert the model yourselves out of their existing kits.
There was only the Land Raider kit to base the Spartan off of, but that just part of the hobbyist challenge.
The OG Spartan Rules
Note the origin story of the Spartan, set during a daring assault of the Horus Heresy. At this time, the Spartan was designed to carry Terminators and wasn’t the super armed version we would get decades later in 30K. It was an open-topped El-Camino made for the bulky Termy suits. But the resemblance to the modern kit is unmistakable!
Clearly an Ultramarines El Camino… Just add Terminators.
Also, note that rules for disembarking Terminators at high speed! Watch your step big fellas!
The Spartan Model
Now onto how to build one of these bad boys for your army:
Yes, you used the tracks from the Land Raider flipped over, and a hull using bits from the Rhino sprue, and a LOT of plasticard, plus some slotta-bases here and there. Last but not least, don’t forget the original Spartan identification logo. You could paint up one of those on your current Spartans for that little bit of 40K nostalgia. Onto the finished model:
Tony Cottrell’s original masterpiece. Loving it!
2012 Forge World Revives the Spartan
23 years later Forge World brought the Spartan back in extra thick chuncky resin, alongside the fancy leatherbound Horus Heresy hardbacks. It was based on the previous resin Land Raider Proteus kits and basicaly “stretched” out like a limo. Its not an exact match for the lines of the original Rogue Trader 1989 version, but the family resemblance is there. I especially note the jutting forward angles of the assault ramp compared to the original. It lost the open topped, but gained double the lascannon firepower. Not a bad tradeoff.
Forge World resin Spartan 2012 version
2022 Age of Heresy Plastic Spartan
Still if there’s anything we know about us 40K hobbyists – we are NEVER satisfied. Having the resin Spartan wasn’t good enough! In our grimdark hearts, we really wanted a proper mass-market plastic kit. We had to wait only ten years – practically nothing in GW timeframes. It’s pretty much identical to the resin one once you paint it up, but is WAY lighter. Yes we know – a purist can tell the difference.
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2023 Legion Imperialis Plastic Spartan
And now it’s time for the cherry on top for the Spartan. If we can have a big plastic one, that means we can have cute teensy plastic ones as well. We all know those Legion IMperialis players would demand Spartans of their own, and GW delivered in 2023. What a trip the Spartan has taken from such humble White Dwarf kit-bash roots over 34 years!
Even Legion Imperialis gets in on the (teensy) Spartan action.
~Anyone have any sightings of these ancient primogenitors of the Spartan line?
Dad, Gamer, Publisher, Pilot, Texan. All games all the time since junior-high.
I started BoLS Interactive in 2006. I’m a lifelong tabletop & RPG gaming enthusiast, and internet publisher working to entertain and inform my readers every day.
I’ve been playing RPGs and Tabletop Games since the 1970s. I’m been playing and covering Warhammer and Warhammer 40K for over 35 years.