James Glasco is one dedicated Warhammer 40,000 fan. "I've been in the Warhammer hobby since around 1999 or 2000", he says, and "I've never been able to move on from the older editions". Glasco still actively plays Warhammer 40k fifth edition and Warhammer Fantasy sixth edition, he's collected "Every rulebook, army book, codex, and expansion released for those editions". But what to do with that substantial game library? "At some point it hit me that instead of just storing all of it, I could build a dedicated reference terminal" - and that's just what he did.
"The new releases are great", Glasco reflects, but when it comes to retro Warhammer 40k, "Those rule sets and model ranges just feel like peak Warhammer to me". He adds "There's a weight and nostalgia to them that I can't let go of". His vision for the reference terminal was "Something physical and immersive", "A console anyone could walk up to and use to explore how Warhammer felt during that era".
The terminal he's built contains every Warhammer 40k Codex, Warhammer Fantasy army books, core rulebook, FAQ, for fifth edition 40k, sixth edition Warhammer Fantasy, the Lord of the Rings strategy battle game, "And as a bonus every Horus Heresy, Gotrek & Felix, and Ciaphas Cain audiobook". And though it looks like an extremely comprehensive hack of a tabletop , "The entire machine was designed from scratch".
"I started by designing the entire cabinet in TinkerCAD", Glasco says. "There were a lot of trial-and-error iterations before I finally landed on a structure that worked the way I envisioned". With the structure of the cabinet sorted, "I tracked down the artwork, logos, and backgrounds I wanted", and "Edited everything in Photoshop to get the look right, then used Adobe Illustrator to properly scale and fit the graphics to the cabinet panels". "After printing the artwork, I mounted it to the panels and sealed everything under laser-cut clear acrylic for protection", he explains, for "A clean, durable finish".
"On the digital side, I scanned every physical rulebook, army book, codex, and expansion I own, one by one", Glasco says, and "Once those were digitized, I built the actual interface using a PC stick mounted inside the cabinet". That was the longest part of the whole process. "I experimented with several different approaches before, oddly enough, building the entire interface in PowerPoint", until with "Custom modules, shortcuts, and layered navigation, it eventually became a fully functional terminal-style system".
He continues: "All the books were loaded as image files so that when a user selects one, it opens instantly in fullscreen through IrfanView". And he "Handled audiobooks similarly by loading the MP3 files, creating custom shortcuts, and wiring the buttons so that selecting a title launches it in a fullscreen audio player". Then "Finally, I used JoyToKey to map the joystick and physical buttons to navigate the entire interface".
"Getting everything to launch cleanly, stay fullscreen, and navigate smoothly through the joystick took the most time and experimentation", Glasco says, because "I didn't want it to look like a PC running programs in the background, I wanted it to feel like a true standalone kiosk". "Hiding the computer layer completely was critical", he continues. "No visible taskbars, no file explorers, no system pop-ups - if anything broke immersion, the whole concept fell apart".
Incredibly, this is just the first prototype. "I'm currently designing a full-size, standing arcade cabinet that would function as a complete Warhammer archive", which will contain "Every edition of Warhammer 40K and Fantasy ever released, along with specialty games like Necromunda, Warcry, Kill Team, and others", plus "Every single issue of White Dwarf, from the very first release through the current edition". And if that sounds ambitious, he's not finished: "I'd like it to include some of the lesser-known Games Workshop projects as well, such as the Will of Iron comic series and the Warhammer Historical rule sets", plus "Allow access to the current Warhammer app so users can reference modern rules and codexes".
And "On top of that, I'd like it to connect to Warhammer TV for media access and include select video game emulators". "The idea is that someone could plug in a controller and play classic titles like PlayStation 1 Space Hulk or PlayStation 2 Fire Warrior directly from the cabinet", he explains. "It would essentially be a full Warhammer command terminal spanning the entire history of the hobby". He's even exploring "An AI system preloaded with every edition's rules, FAQs, and errata", with the hope that "During a game, you could press a button, ask a rules question, and receive an edition-accurate answer instantly".
If he hadn't already made such a stunning prototype I would call that goal hubris, but Glasco is clearly a very skilled tech priest. If he wants to build a functioning STC system, I don't think there's anything to stop him!
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