Workshop Wednesday (On A Thursday): ‘Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon’ Helps Heal A Childhood Fear Of The Apocalypse

Welcome to the table,

When I was a kid, I lived in constant, anxiety-inducing fear of Armageddon.

Growing up in a deeply religious and — frankly — very toxic environment, I have more childhood memories of the vomit-inducing fear of the “end of days” than I do of playdates or birthday parties.

The doom of humanity wasn’t some far-flung abstract concept to me. It was a constant stressor that haunted me any time I had a quiet moment to sit and think too long. I knew without a doubt that at some point, very soon, everything would end, and I would be left behind to suffer eternal torment by horned beasts in an irradiated landscape. On the flip side, the people who were far better than me (they told me they were better, and because they were the adults in my life, I believed them) would be whisked away to some utopian existence for their rest of their days.

The details of my eternal horrors came from a particularly strange cocktail of Sunday sermons, apocalyptic warnings, adults who clearly needed therapy, and random dime-store books featuring French soothsayers who died in 1566, surrounded by missiles and other assorted wartime iconography.

It was an odd youth, to say the least, one that left me with a lasting sense that at any second Armageddon could arrive and my eternal pain would begin in earnest.

So it’s somewhat hilarious to me that decades later, I found myself sitting in my home library, surrounded by my well-organized books and miniatures, absolutely delighted that Armageddon had arrived, and it was not the horned things planning on torturing me that I feared, but a brilliant collection of tiny warriors, a new book, some rad records on the turntable, and a growing sense that I had taken something back for the little kid me who needed it all those years ago.

Armageddon is no longer a prophecy of fear, dread, and isolation … It’s a battlefield you can hang out at with your friend, pizza, and a sense that you have found a little place for yourself in the world.

The battlefield is considerably more fun … Let’s get into it!

To understand Armageddon as it relates to Warhammer 40,000, it’s a world that was invaded by Orks, defended by the Space Marines, assaulted by the forces of Chaos, defended by the Space Marines, nearly destroyed, rebuilt, invaded again, defended by the Space Marines, and then invaded again.

And now, with the rad new Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon box set, we are about to go back to Armageddon as it is once more a battlefield ready to be explored by you and your friends at The Table.

Games Workshop describes Armageddon as the beginning of a new edition of Warhammer 40,000, with Ork hordes swelling in the wake of Ghazghull’s return while Space Marines launch Operation Imperator to turn the tide of battle before the world collapses once more.

For me, this new box represents a whole lot more. As a kid, Armageddon was something that would happen to me without my control. It was something adults told me was coming, and because I was a kid, I believed them. There were no dice rolls to help me, no objective markers, no chance to paint an army and decide what happened next. There was only the certainty that the sky would rip open and I would discover that I was not good enough, and that would be the beginning of an eternity of awful.

I’m not saying that Warhammer‘s version of Armageddon is not awful. People still die. Cities still burn. The skies of this world are poisonous. Monstrous aliens descend upon the civilizations of mankind, and there is nothing but war and pain.

But rather than being an awful thing I have no stake in, this is a game, and we have control. We can pick up a Space Marine or an Ork paint them, put them on the table, roll some dice, and for a few hours, Armageddon stops being something you are waiting helplessly for to happen; it becomes something you take part in, something you can make choices in, and sometimes, if the dice gods are willing, something you can win. And there is something deeply healing and satisfying about that.

Today we are talking about the Space Marines forces in the Armageddon box, which contains 23 brand-new push-fit miniatures, including a new Captain with relic shield, an epic-looking Librarian, a Chaplain with jump pack, an Ancient, 10 Intercessors, 3 Eradicators with heavy bolters, 5 Vanguard Veterans, and a land speeder.

 

Captain

The Captain’s sculpt is fantastic. He’s heavily armored, carrying a relic shield and a power sword, and he looks like he is ready to put up with a long day of being surrounded by Orks. Honestly, that is what he signed up for, and my guy looks like he is fully ready for the job.

 

Ancient

The Ancient is another mini that looks absolutely rad at the table. He’s hoisting the Armageddon banner high and clearly is ready to make a last stand or lasting impression on the incoming forces who threaten the empire of man. I really dig the face sculpt on this mini’s head, and the pose is brilliant.

 

The Librarian

The Librarian from this box set is one of my favorites. I have spent countless hours on Instagram checking out the ways people are painting this mini. The Force staff is so iconic, and the Mark X Tacticus power armor legit makes this one of the most iconic non-named Space Marine minis I have seen at the table in recent years. I have seen this mini pop up on the secondary market a ton, and I think it’s safe to say this is already a favorite of those who roll with Space Marine units.

 

The Intercessors

The Intercessors are a cool little squad that the designers over at Warhammer really did some good work on. What I love about these guys is that their armor feels like it comes from different points in history, really leaning into the meta that this battle has been fought for ages now, and the endless war has left its signature across the ceramite and plasteel.

 

Vanguard Veterans

The Veterans come in swinging with jump packs, chainswords, power weapons, and that “here we go again!” attitude that brings me joy. These guys have that aggressive energy you want from a Space Marines unit. They make me want to speed-paint them because I just want them on the table, mixing it up as quickly as possible. For every hour of painstakenly painting the Librarian, these are the opposite side of that coin for me; I just want them in action, hitting anything that moves as hard as they can over and over and over again because that is what these Veterans do best.

 

 

Chaplain with Jump Pack

Decked out in the classic Chaplain Wargear, the Chaplain was showcased in the animated trailer for Armageddon, and they for sure did him justice. I really dig the massive tome on his belt and the fact that he is laced with purity seals. That means he is ready for whatever horrors are going to come clawing their way out of the Warp.

 

 

Eradicators with Heavy Bolters

I love the new Eradicators, as they are now not only great at blowing up tanks, but they also have a new ability that lets them target massive hordes of lighter targets. This really works for me because it plays into the cinematic meta of Space Marine 2 or Secret Level; we get to see our Space Marines chopping up the opposition in the most delightfully big gun way.

 

 

Land Speeder

I love Land Speeders because while they lack the durability of the more armored Storm Speeder, the Land Speeder feels like someone said “What if we put an engine on a gun?” It feels very Ork-coded, even though it is a very Space Marine kind of thing. The Land Speeder rules because it’s fast, nimble, and with the Purgation Run ability, it can get in and out quickly enough to make it worth having in your points.

The thing that keeps coming back to me as I look at my army coming together is the history behind it all. These Marines aren’t arriving on an untouched world. They are deploying on Armageddon — a world that was central to the War of the Beast. This broken, battered, wrecked planet that Angron, Ghazghkull, and countless others have tried to break.

But Armageddon survives. It endures. And that’s because of the Space Marines.

Demons show up. Send the Space Marines.

Orks get crazy and call a Waaagh. Send the Space Marines.

The galaxy is burning down around us. Send the Space Marines.

This is where the childhood relationship with the word Armageddon comes back around, and all of this trauma hopefully is going to make sense.

I used to imagine Armageddon as something enormous and uncontrollable. Something that would crash down on me and deliver me to an eternity of pain and hardship. Now, decades later, I am sitting in my library, full of my books, my snacks, and feeling somewhat at peace as I fiddle with my paintbrushes and decide what to paint next.

It’s my choice. I’m deciding if I’m going to use a sponge or a brush. I’m deciding what head is going to go on which mini. I’m deciding whether their armor is clean or covered in ash and grime from this broken but still very much alive world of Armageddon.

As an adult, I’m looking back through the webwork of time and taking the thing that once represented helplessness and dread, and turning it into something I control and have a say in.

That’s a pretty rad thing for a hobby to do if you ask me.

I know my Ultramarines may not be the weirdest units in Warhammer. I know they may not be seen as the most interesting faction in 40k. But they are the guys who show up.

They represent persistence. They embody the belief that no matter how bad things get, someone is going to stand in the breach. Someone is going to be there even when the skies are burning, when the world is falling apart, when the odds are awful, and everyone else is telling you that you’re not enough and are bound to lose.

Maybe that is why these minis mean a little more to me than I ever expected them to.

Because if you’re still here … even if your hands are shaking, if your paint strokes are rough, heck, if you’re learning how to hold the brush all over again, or how to roll the dice, or looking at how you fit into this beautiful, fun, strange, freeing hobby, you are already doing something way more important than you realize.

You’re pushing back against the horrors, both old and new.

You are out here saying, “Here I am. I’m still here. I’m at the table … and I’m ready to play.”

And if you’re one of those weird, wonderful, broken people who doesn’t quite know where you fit in this world, I hope you find a place here too.

Because that’s what the table gave me. Not an escape from everything that happened before. Not a way to ignore everything around me. It’s something far better.

This is a place where I can sit down, make something my own, and meet people who understand that sometimes you don’t need to fix somebody. Sometimes you just need to sit beside them and hand them a brush, a slice of pizza, or some dice, and say, “Here, let’s build something together.”

That’s what my Ultramarines represent. Not perfection. Not invincibility. Not even victory. My simple, basic, blue boys are imbued with the magical power of just showing up.

And sometimes, when you’ve spent your whole life afraid of the end of the world, there is something incredibly powerful about sitting down at a table and deciding that, for today at least, Armageddon is not a thing that happens to you, not a horror that you can’t escape; it’s something that you, your friends, and the dice are in control of … and you get to tell the story together and decide how it ends.

Until next time, on our next outing we are going to get into the other half of this box, the Orks, and trust me when I say this, it’s going to be fun!