Tyranid Attack Oldhammer Miniatures Game from 1993

[@phuse99]

The old genestealers were these exact same sprues, I rememeber being a kid wondering why they were blue when everything else for 40k was grey.

[@foxdavion6865]

You're right about the copyright stuff. Games Workshop went through a lot of growing pains in the early 90s with most of the OG guys leaving because they didn't like the corporatisation of GW, GW themselves also didn't like the deal with Mattel; So yeah Tyranid Attack was born of GW reusing Advanced Space Crusade stuff to make a new game only they owned themselves.

[@Bl4ckBasecoat]

The stealers look so big! Really illustrates the space marine size creep over the decades since

[@AVoxintheVoid]

Absolutely love the old hammer vision of scouts, especially in the art work. Beautiful mix of medieval and sci fi

[@Kaiyanwang82]

They dared more even when derivative, and their sources wasn't trite media or 40k fanboyism, but classic sci-fi or interesting fashion and cultures. I think that the older creatives were less nerdy in an obsessive way and more classic creative and it reflects in their choices.

[@AVoxintheVoid]

@@Kaiyanwang82 oh for sure! You won't get more creative than the minds behind rogue trader and the original artists that helped to shape the universe.

[@WankerTheWetFingers]

They suck

[@cjwestphal397]

I still have and treasure this game! While I cut my teeth on BattleMasters and Heroquest, getting a copy of Tyranid Attack is what truly sent me down the path of wargaming I am still on 30+ years later. Along with the normal game, my buddy and I used to take the minis from it, turn the grid-based measurements for movement and range in to inches on an open table, and those were our first games of "40K", and the first steps into making terrain out of everything I could find. First it was just Scouts and Terminators against the various Tyranids. After that we used the lists for alternate forces in the back to add Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, to begin my first blister pack purchases.

[@vegalacerda6097]

Space Hulk for me, Tyranid Attack came later. Amazing game, less claustrophobic more savage! Poor old Biff Tundrish though eh?

[@SenatorAri]

Space Crusade was awesome. The feeling of being overwheled and your whole squad being wiped out was brutal. But even better was being able to extract with one or two left alive.

[@pcppbadminton]

Tyranid Attack was the first thing I ever spent my own money on. I got it mostly for the minis but the game itself was pretty fun too.

[@errantknight-f2z]

Bonus points awarded for mention of and noted similarity to that grand old game - Snit's Revenge!!

[@chrism7395]

Space Crusade was my gateway drug to GW, then Dungeonquest, Advanced Heroquest and then Space Marine/Epic40k...

[@taytonclait]

Kudos to keeping it together while getting in depth with the various tyranid dermal sphincters.

[@FezFindie]

Basically a tabletop version of those bio-level fleshwall stages from games like Contra or many a shoot'em'up.

[@niksatt4843]

I wonder if that is where the nightmares came from.

[@christopherschwab6525]

Many of those plastics are just re-released Space Hulk components, but the mohawked scout remains the iconic look, to me. I remember looking over the rules as an adult and thinking 'That's a lot for a kid to absorb... ?' but I love the bio-ship board. So memorable!

[@jakerubino3233]

I had the 1st edition Space Hulk way before this came out

[@wojciechgrzybek4122]

​@@jakerubino3233 both games are great. I'm 45y old and still sometimes want to play again

[@kurtpowers3842]

Yay! I still have this one. Purchased it via Mail-order back in '94. This game was very hard... =) But it came with what became the start of my 2nd Ed Tyranid army ( pre-Codex). Memories....

[@JevousGaming]

Another treasure of a game you just casually grabbed from the shelf. Love learning about these old games that I knew nothing about. Wish I was in the hobby back in the day when these were still somewhat affordable.

[@christopherschwab6525]

The closest thing I recall to this style of game "in a modern-ish suit" is probably 'Lost Patrol?' But rules-as-written it's almost impossible for the Space Marine Scouts to win, so if I recall there were people who fine-tuned the rules to sub in Terminators. (Even if I had kept the board tiles, I'd probably use the rules for the Age of Sigmar-skinned one.) That may all just be to say, 'Even things written in this decade aren't always balanced or fair or endlessly replayable?'

[@ThehulkGreen]

My father was a professional model painter for airfix, I was 13 in 93 and was well into warhammer models, a little shop in Taunton named crackers was my cave of happiness.

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

My older brother had the 'Terminators And Tyranids' box set, which I think was these same miniatures, but without all the game components. I just Googled it, and the set in question was RTB16, released in 1991. Apparently it reuses the Genestealer and Terminator miniatures from 'Space Hulk' (1989), the Hybrids and Librarians from the 'Genestealer' expansion, and the Scouts and Tyranid Warriors from 'Advanced Space Crusade' (1990).

[@telepaten]

Fantastic old 40k art!

[@AVoxintheVoid]

I agree! Miss those days!

[@richardlovell2732]

I used to play this with my dad. Nice trip down memory lane.

[@MarcGacy]

I love the psychedelic maps! I have some of those genestealers and space marines that I got somewhere. Playing on this map with Space Weirdos would be fun!

[@samuelsanfratello4617]

Wow! I wish I had known about this game back then! Space Hulk 1st Edition was my introduction into Warhammer 40K. I absolutely loved that game! A Tyranid gene-seed was planted in my heart then and still thrives today!

[@Supreme-Mentalman]

I’ve only played this game against myself. I was going to program a PiGame version of it but it ended up being beyond my expertise. I might try to get back to it.

[@kumkitwong4621]

Literally the best GW game of its time to introduce new players to the genre! It was simple yet very exciting. My brother and I even made rules to use Orks as the boarding party. :) Best thing is that i recently started playing the new Kill Team using those derpy Tyranid Warriors and it amazed my friends to no end to see such classic models in a modern game. Haha

[@cjwestphal397]

It started me on a 30+ year hobby.

[@kharnifex]

With white dwarf, you could pretty much cross play any miniature you got in space crusade, space hulk, advanced space crusade etc, and later on use the carnifex

[@ghoulrush]

1:38 has to be one of the sickest images every created. I am pretty sure that Malcador had that as a poster in his office on Terra.

[@roger_something]

i love the artwork on this game. its so intresting.

[@buryitdeep]

Space Crusade is what got me into 40k. I had no idea the other psychedelic sphincter one existed.

[@westerncivilization]

5:56 Scythes of the Emperor? Holy shit, All Guardsman Party entire segment is a call back to this box. They even referenced the special door.

[@cognitiveresonance339]

I'll never forget the Christmas when I got this game, back in the 90s. It's the reason my first 40k army was Tyranids. I was playing them before they even got their first codex.

[@ironbomb6753]

Dude, sphincter doors were hilarious and we laughed every game at that. 😅👍

[@avpwargamer5765]

I had this game back in the 90's played it allot! Great game.

[@mortanos8938]

Oh my God, I remember this. Damn that brings back memories. I preferred the simple old design of these plastic sprues over the metal Tyranids that came after. White Dwarf 158.... that was my first ever in a looong series to come. I remember the articles about Tyrion and Teclis, Eltharion the Wolf Guard, Ragnar Blackmane, Ulrik the Slayer, Njal Stormcaller and so much more goodies, including a fantastic battle report between the good ole rivals Andy Chambers and Jervis Johnson. Andy had always been my fave, and aside my passion for High Elves and Eldar, I have always had a love for Space Wolves. What a great time that was.

[@confuzed6]

Advanced Space Crusade was my guilty pleasure game. I feel like the heavy ruleset and change to alternate dice sizes drove people back to Space Hulk. The campaign setup and method of having to split your forces up to go down different sections of the campaign map made for some excellent choices. I had hoped forever that someone would redo the combat rules to a more Space Hulk streamlined method and that the game could make a resurgence…

[@Oluabayo]

Totally agree I hope it makes a comeback.

[@thespacemarine247]

I loved the concept of Adv. Space crusade, recently tried it on Table top Simulator and it was fun, but I didn’t really play it all out. Tyranid attack how ever is a favorite.

[@JoeyJoJoJoestarJuniorShabadoo]

Tyranid Attack is basically a stripped down ASC. It ditched the strategic meta-game, uses only D6's, has much simpler combat rules, and uses the same board sections to build random boards. I played it some on Tabletop Simulator and it feels similar to Space Hulk.

[@marasmusine]

Same here! I was never really able to play a proper campaign, my brother and my friends weren't that interested. But I played it solo a bunch of times (I co-opted the solo rules from Deathwing). The tyranid warriors and space marine scouts are still in my modern 40K armies.

[@JohnMiller-yh2lj]

Haha I just played this with my son's and my grandkids this past weekend, great game brings back a lot of games I played with my kids over the years. Also I have all the other games to.

[@thrillhouse4151]

Wow you can really see the Xenomorph influence on the art, that elongated head design was all the rage for so long. 7:00. Heheh ‘sphincter’.

[@robertgebruers9519]

Superb video. I recall seeing the white dwarf adverts for Tyranid Attack but never saw the advert for advanced space crusade. My entry into the hobby was playing a neighbour’s Heroquest and then pestering my mum for advanced Heroquest. Later I bought HQ at a discount as it was winding down in popularity. My neighbour with HQ purchased space crusade but we never played it. I then used my savings to buy space hulk and got into 40k that way. Decades later I have now abandoned 40k (sold it all for a tasty price!) preferring a fantasy setting. Classic Warhammer is great but I’m not a major fan of sigmar stuff except I do like their undead models.

[@brianfpp540]

Liked and subscribed,nice channel, still got my hero quest set but picked up plenty of oldhammer on ebay...

[@pitmatix1457]

I had a copy of Advanced Space Crusade back in the day. Loved those organic room tiles (kinda reminded me of a computer game called "todd's adventure in slime world" which I had back then). Would make a brilliant Kill Team season to battle through hive ships!

[@MonsterPainter]

What a delightful examination of an old classic.

[@Mikilangelo]

Rectal examination. :D

[@kwinland]

A classic! My friends even made a 3D foam board for this game, which they ran at local (Toronto) cons.

[@toooldfortwowheels2048]

This was marketed as Advanced Space Crusade in the UK. It had all the same "organ" cards etc. I had it but was much too young to get my head around it at the time.

[@Oluabayo]

Nice, I still have Advanced Space Crusade from when I was young. Thanks so much for this!

[@intzbk1]

I still have the game but none of the minatures. When I was younger, these were an inexpenive way to collect plastic minis and it was a fun game.

[@prometheum5]

Wonderful video! Super helpful to have a nice clean example documented, Tyranid Attack seems like the least popular of the boxed games from the era and much rarer for whatever reason.

[@paulleach3612]

Necromunda was the game that drew every player in around that time. (Because it was perfect. The height of GW's powers.)

[@ricardoblikman2676]

Thats a lot of sphincters in one game!

[@CuB_sTaR]

i had this set as a kid. still have the minis. Those terminators changed my life. the tyranid warriors are so goofy

[@xavierdraco33]

I totally forgot I owned this! Still have most of it. Awesome. I think that’s how the Dark Angel became my primaries. I started with Space Crusade although I might have had Space Hulk too.

[@Cander5142]

I still love those original Tyranid models.

[@stevedeschenes9199]

I've this one to expand my first edition space hulk... never played the game as itself but the floor tiles are super iconic... wish GW make a boarding patrol board like this in the futur.

[@Gorbz]

I had this game, back in the day! Lost most of the parts over the years...

[@roryoutdoors5431]

I am Rogue Trader old this is a wonderful flashback! I had this set! As well as the original SH and Terminators & Tyranids - they were all great kits - save for the awful derpy "terminators" and the old 'Nids (which i still have a softspot for) Space Crusade was dumb and marketed to american parents! Ha ha; wish I had those genestealers still that was a great plastic sculpt!

[@Matt.Willoughby]

I hated the aesthetic of the first edition space hulk terminators with the silly aerial, they were good for converting though and now they have a unique charm. The librarian model was cool then and still is now.

[@Oluabayo]

When people ask how old I am now I am going to say Rogue Trader Old:)

[@Pitdmn]

I played a lot of Space Hulk in the early 90's. Had a blast. Still have the full 1st edition set. I own a copy of Tyranid Attack as well, but played very little of it thou.

[@robodog3571]

i remember playing this being demo'd in my local GW at release. I vaguely remember it being quite tough on the scouts dealing with tyranid warriors.

[@davidnandrin8825]

Excellent, I wasn't aware of that game ! I played a lot of Space Hulk 1st ed and all its supplements (Deathwing and Genestealer) and I miss their goofy miniatures... Thanks for the nostalgia trip !

[@marsmech]

I think I remember seeing this box in my comic book store in the 90s

[@sapien82]

played this a couple times in the 90's at warhammer club

[@JEKAZOL]

Looks good! Nice painting too.

[@Vinterloft]

wow I actually have those exact Genestealers. Still use them to this day

[@SingleTrack66]

I had forgotten that my mate had this game… I’m not sure if we ever played the actual game. But the minis got used in 40k for sure

[@ja37d-34]

Love that game.. My buddy bought it as we started 40k.. To get the bugs.. But we played the game too and it was really fun - and hard! Simple but fun!

[@cjanquart]

I had some questions and suggestions and Jervis wrote back; I told him about my tactic of using the melta bomb on a Tyranid Warrior to clear a route get to the last objective/organ.

[@TubeYouKanal]

Thanks for the video! Just imagine, someday a company will make such board games again, which are based on the style of the 80s and early 90s. Like NWA Powerrr makes wrestling again like back then

[@productionIEL]

Oh man, love this video! I remember seeing this game box at the local games store when I was a wee kid, but never seen what was inside it. Thanks!

[@themainman2827]

This is the kind of minigame that could come inside the White Dwarf back in the days when it was a fun and interesting magazine and not just a sales catalogue.

[@jamesgodfrey1322]

White Dwarf the DM and player friend get during the week and next weekend you had your ready to run adventure

[@namdoolb]

Had space crusade back in the day, plus an expansion that I can't remember the name of. If I recall rightly it had more of the necron looking robots, & some kind of supersized dreadnought. The space marines got heavy weapon platforms I think (tarantulas?). Don't recall ever owning advanced space crusade or tyrannid attack, but I definitely remember most of those minis. (Big yes on the scouts, terminators, librarians, genestealer hybrids, and tyrannid warriors. Genestealers obvs too, but i feel like that genestealer sculpt was absolutely everywhere in the 90's.) Like I said, I don't recall owing much past og space crusade. I picked up rogue trader more or less at the start of the 90's and moved on to 2nd Ed 40k from there. & as a teenager with limited disposable money I couldn't buy into stuff like that when I was trying to get 40k armies together.

[@hippienixon2329]

Oh man between the 50% chance of falling to your death and the brain slug those are some rude random events. I like the idea of keeping things moving via reshuffling the board tiles, but could see how that could be a pain to do on your gaming table.

[@ericgrider5855]

I own Advanced Space Crusade and enjoyed many hours of game play. Thanks for showing it's bother game. Yes, many jokes about the "sphincters"

[@Kindlesmith70]

Damn memory lane right here.

[@ChristianVonCarmian40kVtuber]

I still use those scouts in my 40k games, they are getting another run out tomorrow

[@manweller1]

Omg this takes me back a bit

[@roryoutdoors5431]

Just realized I still have the heavy bolters! I tore them off the scouts when I was a wee lad with the intention of using them on my cardstock baneblade (the white dwarf plans!)

[@benwooding1311]

I had and played Advanced Space Crusade many times. It was a good game. Very similar to what you just described but there were definitely a few differences. I don't recall the random placement of map tiles for example, instead it was the Tyranid player who built the map in private using mini tiles and the space marine then had to explore the full sized maps.

[@fistimusmaximus6576]

Had this aswell as a kid, loved the look and style of the tyranid warriors. imagine if they adopted the original style with the current skill level...

[@-Benedict]

Very cool. Given that some of the models are already clipped and/or assembled, you may as well build and paint the rest. It only qualifies as a museum piece if it's mint.

[@Mikilangelo]

I agree

[@MartynStanleyAuthor]

I had Avanced Space Crusade. It was a whole game system really. If you had a lot of extra models you could make it really interesting. The exploration worked quite well, but the game was very complicated. It did occur to me you could play a decent game by using the boards with Advanced Space Crusade Exploration and 9th ed 40k rules for the encounters. Possibly, I never tried it yet.

[@Bobyoudontneeemyname]

Well now i have to model a dermal sphincter.. love the old nid models

[@zombiedad]

I loved the classic games. I really enjoyed HeroQuest, space hulk and advanced space crusade but was enamoured with Necromunda around this time and have no memory of tyrants attack

[@beveledblade]

I started the hobby with Snits Revenge as a child.

[@mrhax4464]

This was the first GW game I ever bought, my friends and I had a great time playing it. Though I had one friend who never got tired of making endless sphincter jokes.

[@walt_man]

Fantastic old plastics! Really show's that GW had some good quality top tier back then. Now's it's a lot more equal.

[@markusnehles2910]

swooping hawks are still the same minis 🤣

[@tennetrynighthawk3844]

Some of those old proto-tyranid parts would be amazing for custom model kitbashing, you know, if they were more readily availuble and not highly collectable and valuable. Especialy that warrior torso with the wasp like stinger on it.

[@incredibleflameboy]

I've just reached the end of priests of Mars and feel like the whole assault on the explorator boarders (with modified ork servitors defending the stations magos and machine spirit) is heavily based on this just by how it's written.

[@jackalbackcrafts]

I'm kinda glad there's a simpler game that uses the same art and tiles as Advanced Space Crusade, was researching it a little while ago and it seemed way too complex for the likes of me. The exploration cards and modularity of the board remind me of Betrayal at House on the Hill :D

[@longone844]

Ah man. This brings back so many memories. I remember getting those paint sets with the Space marines or plague guard in there. Subscribe for the memberberries.

[@josephskiles]

Looks like a lot of fun

[@AlphaAlex1]

Ah heck yeah. I remember this. Personally I preferred Space Crusade (not to be confused with space hulk) for my space marine alien fight board game. Glad you mentioned it. BTW I have that episode of White Dwarf still.

[@mikewhitaker2880]

would love to have some of these OLDER games that helped spawn 40K and its glory... to me the older editions of the game had WAY more character and flavor... that and 2nd Ed Chaos was always fun to run, specially when one spent 1200 points on the Chosen squad alone... if it EVER survived long enough to reach hand to hand combat, well... like the old rules of a Tyranid Mycetic Spore army, it could be broken both ways and still be fun

[@thehivetyrant74]

I've played it a lot back in the day. Simpler and less tactical than Space Hulk, marines needed to be extremely lucky in order to win. This set formed the core of my 2nd edition Tyranid army because, as it is usual for these games, it was cheaper to buy this entire game than get the Tyranids separately. I think I have painted a dozen of them "double-decker" warriors. ;)

[@Kaiyanwang82]

It also struck me that a kid that had this and space crusade basically had a SM army. captains/sergeants, heavies, tacticals, scouts, termies and a librarian!

[@GamingGuardians]

Space Hulk first edition is why I love the Tyranids and Dark Angels. Tyranid Attack proved the Imperium doesn't stand a chance in 10th Edition because the xenos threat won every game.

[@Mystyx-Sama]

My God, I miss all this. Thank you for going over all this. My nostalgia, and childhood were beyond pleased. I'm having a lot of trouble sleeping, so this hit the spot right now. Also, anyone ever tell you that you sound like Norm MacDonald? lol Subbed

[@oldhammered]

The Norm MacDonald comparison is news to me, but I suppose there are worse things! Glad you liked the vid.

[@RW77777777]

humanity's greatest scourge kangaroos w/swords

[@oldschoolfrp2326]

Psychedelic cartoon body horror in space, quite the alternative to the grimdark Space Hulk

[@OldHobden]

I loved that game

[@Jules72Bear]

This was super fun

[@leehamilton7788]

Never heard of this. Geez uk got the coolstuff😊

[@DzinkyDzink]

These helmetless warpainted spacemarines with landsknecht drapery are rad as fuck! C'mon, Gdubs, this has to be at least a character in a Kill Team unit.

[@davedogge2280]

yet another GW game I've never seen or heard of and I was in my early 20s then

[@joadams8022]

Being a fan of Advanced Space Crusade and Space Hulk, I picked up Tyranid Attack back in the day. Sadly it was just a way to sell through old components from those games- basically on the same level as Mighty Warriors and suchlike.

[@TheChzoronzon]

Conquering the sphincter is TIGHT!!

[@dkupke]

Tyranids are probably the figure line that’s come the furthest. Those old miniatures were so ridiculous looking.

[@Tom_Quixote]

They looked better than the modern ones.

[@deleonfrancis60]

You can modify those structures and 3D print them and use them for kill team rules

[@emchamberlain]

Reworking of Advanced Space Crusade. Many hours lost to that.