We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

While I have been playing Warhammer 40k for the past 30 years, it wasn’t until the last year or so that I really got interested in the Horus Heresy. Sure, I’ve read all the lore and been fascinated by the Traitor Legions and the Loyalist Legions, and I’ve read all about the Emperor’s last days on Terra, but I never really paid attention to the game of The Horus Heresy. So when I started looking for resources about The Horus Heresy, I quickly found a lot of sources pointing in one direction: the YouTube channel, Leaky Cheese. This channel is focused almost entirely on Horus Heresy content, particularly the models for the game, and it has been very instructive (and entertaining).

I got to interview the man behind Leaky Cheese, and I’m excited to provide the conversation below.

Wargame Explorer: What originally got you involved in wargaming?

Leaky Cheese: School friends! When I was 12 one of my mates got a copy of the Napoleonic wargame Charge! Or How to Play War Games (1967) from his Dad. We went and bought some 1/72 Airfix figures from the model shop (anyone remember Beatties?) and started playing the game. We had a lot of fun but what really grabbed my imagination happened a year later. Another friend brought a White Dwarf magazine into school form one morning, and with it’s Space Marines, Orks, Eldar Pirates and Chaos Renegades, we were completely bitten by the wargaming and miniature collecting bug. I suppose I should also add that prior to that fateful meeting with White Dwarf, I’d been fascinated by the comic 2000AD. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader was heavily influenced by certain stories and art from that comic as well so it was a perfect fit to my interests of the time. Oh yes, this all happened back in 1987-88!

WE: What made you take the plunge into YouTubing?

Leaky Cheese: It happened around the time I became interested in YouTube as a platform for viewing content. I’d seen a few videos about Forge World models (e.g. TemplarsCrusade01, Sup3rSaiy3n) and thought to myself “You know, I could give this a go. I’ve got lots of models and ideas for videos. Plus, I’ve got some good experience of public presenting and this new smartphone has a decent camera.” So I made a video talking about a Thanatar model I’d built, sharing it on YouTube and seeing what happens. Then I got distracted by other stuff and came back to it a few months later and was surprised the video had got a few views and my channel had picked up a handful of subscribers. That emboldened me to do some more videos and and the channel grew from there.

WE: What about the Horus Heresy draws you to it so strongly?

Leaky Cheese: The Horus Heresy draws me in on many levels.

Firstly, it’s an origins story of how the 40K Imperium came to be. The idea that the tumultuous events of one decade had consequences that lasted for ten millennia fascinates me. Human and prehistory (both personal interests) are littered with brief periods of intense change that are followed by eras of stability, so I appreciate the heresy background as an expression of this phenomenon.

Secondly, it draws heavily on the book Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness (1988) which first described the Horus Heresy and gave gaming rules for the Traitor Legions in 40K, and I played a lot of games using this list as a teenager so heresy has a strong nostalgia for me. As importantly, the modern heresy game is set in the 31st millennium, the late great Alan Bligh clearly used this book as inspiration and, on some elements, even a direct source… if you ever wondered why heresy World Eaters have a blue and white colour scheme, Slaves to Darkness has the answer.

Finally, Forge World created an incredible miniature range unlike anything Games Workshop group had ever produced before. Their resin model approach allowed them to bring models to market far more quickly than GW could have done in plastic and also create all sorts of specialty and niche models as well. The Mechanicum was a ground breaking miniature range and they along with the Custodes paved the way for Games Workshop to introduce their 40K successors in mainstream plastic ranges (Adeptus Mechanicus and the Talons of The Emperor).

WE: You do a lot of product reviews on your channel. Do you have a favorite model? Why?

Leaky Cheese: Haha, you noticed? I’m a firm believer in acquiring and building the models I review so as to be able to give as honest and balanced opinion as I can. As to favourites that’s hard as I’ve been fortunate enough to review so many models that are really impressive. But if you were to catch me off guard I might just say the Gal Vorbak squad by Steve Whitehead, hand sculpted miniatures at their very best. Future collector’s pieces I’d say.

WE: If you could make a change to any wargaming IP, what would it be and why?

Leaky Cheese: This one is easy, I’d allow Primaris Space Marines in Warhammer 40,000 to use any transport vehicle like other units from their army. Only being able to use two specific vehicles as transports is the silliest rule I’ve ever seen in a wargame. It was blatantly put in to boost sales of the new vehicles and nobody likes it. I’ve even written a short story mocking how nonsensical the rule is!

WE: What makes you pessimistic about the hobby?

Leaky Cheese: I’m an optimistic person so generally see the wargaming hobby as being in a great place at this moment – there has never been so much choice and quality on offer to us and it’s an exciting time of growth. I suppose my concern at this time is for people to have positive experiences in the hobby given all the online interactions that go on in the modern world. There are narrow slices here and there in the online hobby world that are defined not by what they are for, but what they are against. I’ve seen how these have a denigrating effect on some people, particularly those new to the hobby, and it puts them off permanently or leaves them feeling marginalised just because they’d like to do the hobby in a particular way, or worst of all, due to who they are. Thus I believe it’s important for every part of wargaming to have creators who are positive and welcoming. This can be a real challenge if a given game has acquired a negative tone around it’s online interactions and communities.

WE: What makes you optimistic about the hobby?

Leaky Cheese: The wargaming hobby has never been bigger than it is at the moment – there are a huge number of games available and an even greater selection of miniature ranges to support these. I do believe we are in something of a golden age of the hobby at the moment led by the stunning growth of Games Workshop’s offerings that began in 2017. Now, the hobby is bigger than just GW but there’s the saying the “a rising tide lifts all boats” and their success spills over into other areas by bringing new people into wargaming who can then explore interests. For example, the BattleTech wargame and miniature ranges are undergoing a recent renaissance, riding a wave of interest borne out of the Mechwarrior Online video game. On top of that, we are on the cusp of 3D printing breaking through on a mass market scale. This technology will create even more opportunities for miniature creators to craft, produce and sell their models by removing the traditional costs associated with manufacture. A whole series of factors have aligned together at the same time, something that can only spur on new models, games and creativity in the coming years. Oh yeah, and there are rumours of a new Horus Heresy boxset coming out and that exciting for my own hobbying.

WE: Are there any artists, YouTubers, or other wargamers who you fell don’t get enough attention? Who are they and why?

Leaky Cheese: I could shout out so many people here but I’m just going to pick two talented modelers and painters I know on Instagram: Bees @voiceofkosh and Nicholas Vogt @nicholas_m_vogt have both kindly undertaken painting commissions for me and their talent and creativity is well worth checking out.

Thank you so much to Leaky Cheese! Take some time out of your day to check out his channel: