🎙️ Listen now: Spotify

In this episode of the “Grown Men Playing With Toys” podcast, Erik and Steve do something they probably should have seen a therapist about first — they apply the science of birth order psychology to the entire Warhammer 40K universe.

The guys break down the stereotypes of oldest, middle, and youngest children and then systematically sort every faction in the game into one of those three buckets. Spoiler alert: some feelings may have been hurt in the making of this episode.

Along the way they tackle:

• The Big Three — why the Imperium, Chaos, and Xenos super-factions map almost perfectly onto the birth order archetypes, and why it works both in lore AND on the tabletop
• Daddy’s Best Boy — The unambiguous oldest child of 40K and why everyone else is basically wearing their hand-me-downs
• The Forgotten Middle Children — They’re here but didn’t think anyone noticed
• Youngest Child Energy — They’re trying so hard to outshine their older siblings while also enjoying (expecting?) being babied by GW.
• Lore vs. Tabletop — why several factions have a split personality depending on whether you’re reading the books or rolling dice
• A formal apology to Cousin Josh — just kidding, there isn’t one

Whether you’re a firstborn who color-codes their army list, a middle child who plays Orks while munching on a choice crayon or two, or the youngest who expects GW to buff your faction at every dataslate — this one is for you.