Hammer and Bolter

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.

Let's get this out of the way.

The animation is substandard, which is a shame, as everything else about this series is great!

Anyone not familiar with 40K will probably struggle to understand all of the episodes, as some of them are deep rooted in lore.

The writing, sound design, voice acting and art stye are all really good.

I'm a big 40K fan and really enjoyed it, just a shame about the animation.

Yes, the animation is weak (getting better in newer episodes). Everything else is great. This is exactly the kind of stuff I have always wanted to see for WH40K.

Let me clarify: Astartes 2 is exactly what I want to see, Hammer and Bolter (and everything else on WHTV) is what I want to see in the meantime.

A lot of this stuff has never appeared on screen before. It's a massive universe, and really difficult to put on screen. Not everything has to be Astartes level to be acceptable.

GW hired talent from the community and hit the ground running. Covering as much ground, as fast as possible. A 2D anthology series is the perfect vehicle for that.

I'm not sure if any community talent was involved in H&B, but there's Sayama of course, and Richard Boylan of Helsreach fame made Angels of Death. I'm not sure who else, but some of the other shows feel reminiscent of fan work I've seen.

I'm just excited to finally see 40k making a big push to the screen. But that's not why I'm giving H&B a 9. I'm giving it a 9 because I docked 1 star for animation. Voice acting, art, writing, world building, lore, variety, grimdark brutality - everything else is great.

Because GW is so dominant in their space, I think people forget that it's still kind of a niche thing. Even dominating that space as they do doesn't mean they have the funds to snap their fingers and produce nothing but top tier CGI shows right out of the gate.

For what it's trying to be, Hammer and Bolter is a 9/10. It's really unfortunate how so many people just dismiss it due to the animation. Tell me you never cared about WH40K until Astartes without telling me.

Half the series was my cup of tea , one episode i gave up in 3 min.

I like it gave me an idea what the warhammer world is about. I knew nothing about it and i like the craziness .

Recommended.

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.