A key document in the history of Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader - White Dwarf Issue 100

Looking at how 40K developed post launch of Rogue Trader and via the example of mobile terror that is the Dreadnought! “Fear God and dread nought” (1st Baron Fisher, 1909)

(Image - An Imperial Robot smashes into a unit of Orks from 40K Rogue Trader pg.118. Photo is mine. On the opposite page as stats for Imperial Dreadnoughts, which live on even now as the amazing Venerable Dreadnought!)

Welcome! In this post I’m going to take a brief look at an example of how ideas that were developed in 40K Rogue Trader then evolved afterwards. 40K overall is a great example of how an IP develops and evolves year after year. So White Dwarf issue 100 came out in April 1988 - that is around 7 months after the release of 40K Rogue Trader itself. (Of course the points at which the staff actually write the pieces cited here would be before these as the editorial, layout, printing and distribution phases take time!)

So what I’m looking here is the concept of the Dreadnought! Here’s a teaser image from the inside cover of WD100.

(Image - Inside cover of WD 100 showing Eldar Dreadnoughts. Photo is mine. Note: In a current 40K army, this role can be taken by Wraithlords or War Walkers)

Dreadnoughts are the term originally a type of battleship popular in navies around the early 20th century, hence the quote:

“Fear God and dread nought” (1st Baron Fisher, 1909)

The term also pops up in a few other contexts including the name of a Star Trek novel and a wargame from 1975, so it is a term in common use, mostly naval. What 40K Rogue Trader does is use that term to now refer to a battlesuit, so going landward - and so it brings with it the connotations of armour and mobility:

(Image - 40K Rogue Trader pg.119. Photo is mine)

But this is a basic outline for the concept. But it is a cool concept and worth expanding on, which is what happens in WD 100 it that Rick Priestly returns to the concept and does a hugely expanded version of Dreadnoughts over 12 pages.

(Image - WD 100 pg.67. Photo is mine)

In doing so he gives us a fantastic updated way to use them in the game, one that becomes more versatile and that reflects the traits of three of the covered factions; Imperial, Eldar and Ork. At the time, I was playing with an Eldar army so got the new Dreadnought model (and the War Walker) and loved the build-point system Rick had written, which was almost a D&D type character creation process to make your dreadnought. The higher build points that Eldar were allowed (as a more technically advanced faction) meant I could make them optimally lethal war-machines and I’ll admit I min-maxed them into pretty deadly killers. For example I’d only give them 1 strength (to save build points) but arm them with something like a chainfist so in melee they did a huge amount of damage anyway.

Interestingly they were also able to be equipped with power-field generators, which seems like echoes of the later Titan-combat dynamic.

Also of note is the Ork Dreadnoughts and how the form they took was based on the silhouette of the machines from the cover of 40K Rogue Trader.

Great stuff!

Also related:

• A key document in the history of Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader - White Dwarf Issue 92

• Another key document in the history of Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader - White Dwarf Issue 98

Thanks for reading!

(Image - WD 100 inside, back cover showing three rows of three dreadnaught armour colour schemes for Eldar, Imperial and Ork. Photo is mine)

Note! There is more about this project here. The direct chat for this project is here. You can comment here or find me on BlueSky.

Also note! This book project is a personal one and not affiliated with any company that, in my day job, I work with or partner with.