Hammer and Bolter

Hammer and Bolter does a great job in rendering the grim, hopeless universe of Warhammer 40,000, but can't hide some of its biggest flaws.

The episodes range from self-contained adventures of unnamed characters to events that intersect major plot points and figures already established in the books, and I think Farside Features completely nails the atmosphere in each episode, mixing the over-the-top essence of each situation with a subtle hint of dark humour.

When it comes to visual quality, Hammer and Bolter mixes static background paintings with moving characters, much akin to the "saturday morning cartoons" many of us grew up watching - a choice that not everyone will like, but isn't a flaw per se.

However, it is easy to see how some episodes rely too much on the story and too little on the actual animation, resulting in something that looks more like TV comics than actual "cartoons", and might be underwhelming for some viewers.

However, every episode, even the most flawed, has some redeeming quality. I would say Hammer and Bolter is worth a watch.

If you dont know any of the lore or haven't read the books etc you probably wont understand a thing that is going on. The animation is nothing to shout about. It is just random stories that have nothing to do with any other episodes in the series.

If you know nothing about Warhammer 40k then dont waste your time with this.

It's a different animation style and one which allows GW to produce much more content as it's far cheaper than the styles in Astartes or Angels of Death. It's the kind of thing I've dreamed of since I got into 40k in the mid 90s so I'm loving it.

Some of the stories that are covered are interesting but it's more of an audiobook than a TV show. Hammer and Bolter has the quality of a animation without any animators.

As another review said, and I think it's valid, is this it at times feels more like a slideshow than actual animation.

Each episode is a different story sometimes they are fun other times they are very serious so the tonal shifts are all over the place. Apart from the fact that they are all in the 40K universe, there just isn't enough of a through line of character to explain it as an anthology. Angels of Death is better and shows how bargain basement this is but that's hardly perfect either.

Most fan films for Warhammer are better than this.