Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.

But the universe is a big place and, whatever happens, you will not be missed...

Warhammer 40k Rulebook¹

Warhammer 40,000 is a science fiction tabletop game invented and sold by Games Workshop. Just like Warhammer Fantasy the game is about miniature armies fighting against each other, but this time not in a fantasy but in a science fiction story background. Although Warhammer 40k is a very popular game it is not as popular as Warhammer Fantasy.

40,000 years in the future mankind has expanded its territory to many other planets of the galaxy, but they are not alone. A war starts with the alien races. A fight for power, survival, and more mysterious goals. Alliances are forged and break up again and the players of Warhammer 40k take the side of one of the races and lead one of their armies to war.

How it works

If you know nothing about tabletop games you can imagine it as a game a bit like chess, just with a lot more rules. All rules are written down in a Rulebook of several hundred pages which also contains background story about the world in which the game is set. New editions with new and reviewed rules are published every few years.

The game is  usually played between two players, but it is also possible to have more players joint in teams. Every player commands an army, but unlike in chess there is not just black and white but various types of different armies and the playing pieces are miniatures  that really look like little soldiers, creatures, tanks, aircrafts or whatever else. Which armies are used is the decision of the players. There are also a lot more pieces in the game than in a game of chess as Warhammer is played with whole troops of warriors and there quite a lot of miniatures on the field in one game. Just like in a game of chess the different figures have different abilities in how they can move and which special tactics they have, there are really a lot of rules about that and every type of model has their own strengths and weaknesses. It is up to the player to choose which types of troops they want to use and which fit best to their play style. Every single model also carries a weapon and/or is equipped with psychic powers which are used to fight against the opposing player. All psychic powers and weapons have additional rules.

The game is not played on a board but on any relatively flat surface like a big table or the floor. The battlegrounds are structured with terrain like plastic, wood, paper or polystyrene hills and rocks, forests, rivers, swamps, buildings and anything else the players can think of. If nothing else is available anything from books to office materials can symbolize any terrain that is needed, although 'proper' terrain certainly gives a better scenery for any game. But terrain is not simple decoration, it serves a purpose in the game. Miniatures that hide in forests for instance are harder to hit, while swamps or rocks can slow down the movement of a unit. For those who do not want to make terrain themselves Games Workshop and other companies sell a wide range of scenery parts.

Before the game starts the players have to decide with how many 'points' they want to play, which defines the size of the armies and therefore also how long the game will take. Each player gets a defined number of points which they can spend on their army. Every miniature in a game is associated with a certain number of points depending on how strong or useful it is. While a standard soldier who is more likely to hit his own foot than his enemy may cost about 8 points, a strong creature or vehicle can cost easily over 100. These points are used to keep even chances between players.

At the beginning of the game every player deploys their troops at their end of the table or other defined playing area. Unlike in Warhammer Fantasy units in 40k are not arranged in ranks and battle formations but in loose groups without defined shape but a maximum distance between models of one inch. They are allowed to stand in a row next to or behind each other as well as an orderless huddle. When all players have deployed their troops the actual game can begin.

As there is no board and all miniatures can move to any direction and not just in certain angles like chess pieces, movement is not measured by squares but with a ruler. Every type of troop can move a certain distance defined in their rules and every troop moves at every turn of their player - unless the player chooses not to move them. After moving, every unit can attack the units of the opposing player with either long distance weapons or psychic abilities. Every weapon also has special characteristics that define its strength, range and special rules. The player has to throw a number of six-sided dice to see how many of their soldiers have hit their target and how many hits have actually wounded their target. The points on a die that the player needs to roll to achieve the goal depends on the stats of the attacking and opposing models. Every single model has different characteristics that define their attack and defense reliant skills. If the dice show that a model has been hit, the owner of this model can again throw dice to see if the armour of the model has helped against the attack. If the armour did not protect its wearer the model loses one of their wound points (also a characteristic of each model). Once a model has lost all its wound points it is dead and removed from the game. After shooting, the player can decide to also move some models into close combat with the opponent. Again, dice are rolled to decide wounds suffered by the opponent, but unlike in ranged combat², the other player's models which are attacked can now immediately strike back. All this is done for every single model of a player at every turn. This structures one turn of a player into movement phase, shooting phase and assault phase.

There are many different mission scenarios for the game, one player might for instance defend a certain object or building for a number of rounds while the other attacks. The game is over when the objective is fulfilled.

Armies

As mentioned above every player can choose to play with one of quite a few different armies. They vary largely in background story, miniature design and in their specialities and weaknesses in battles. Some armies are better in shooting, some in close combat, some are fast, some slow, some use many weak models, some only few but strong models. The rules for every model of an army can be found in a separate rulebook for each army, which is called this army's Codex. Next to the rules and special rules and lists of all miniature types of an army, the Codex also includes background story and miniature painting guides.

The available armies range from humans to ancient alien races, from Space Orks and insectoid agressors to the corrupting forces of Chaos. Some armies rely heavily on infantry, others are specialized on artillery. Some have many vehicles and machinery, others consist of alien creatures. Choosing an army is a matter of the taste of the player and depends on design, background stories and army specific rules.

A typical game is played with armies of between 500 and 2000 points. How these points are spent is up to the players, one may choose to use few very strong units while the other may decide for masses of weak soldiers. In addition to soldiers there are also buildings and other defensive structures on which the player may spend their points. Unfortunately some models in game turn out to be a lot more valuable than their point values suggest while other models are a lot less useful than they were intended while the rules were written.  As new rules are published only every few years these flaws remain and are not updated for a relatively long time.

Basically the units of every army are chosen from lists of  five different types: Headquarter, Elite, Troops, Fast Attack and Heavy Support. Unlike in Warhammer Fantasy the maximum number of models in an army is not infinite but every unit type can only appear by a maximum number in an army. Larger armies may double the amount of each troop types. While some armies have special rules that allow them to get more troops of a certain type  the standard configuration allows the following:

One or two Headquarter choices. These are usually very strong models that have special abilities and stand out of the mass of other miniatures also in design. A headquarter usually consists of one powerful model with or without bodyguards.


- Up to three Elite units, these are also more powerful than ordinary models and usually come in small groups or fight solo.


- Between two and six standard Troops. They make up the main part of an army, often simple foot soldiers and usually have the most models per unit (anything from about 5 to about 30).


- Up to three Fast Attack units, which are models that move faster than others as they are for instance mounted on bikes, jetbikes or wear jet packs.


- Up to three Heavy Support units, very often these are tanks or other battle machinery, but also models which are equipped with especially powerful weapons.


This means that the minimum size of a standard army is one Headquarter and two Troops, while the maximum size of a smaller army consists of 14 units, while large armies may double this amount. This does not tell how many miniatures are in the game. One unit may consist of anything between one or 30 miniatures, depending on the rules about this unit.

Miniatures

The miniatures for playing Warhammer are produced by Games Workshop's company Citadel. Every army has its own special design that makes it easily recognizeable on the battlefield. Most models can be bought online or in real world shops from either Games Workshop or retailers - it's always worth to compare prices, also with online shops of different countries. Most miniatures come as multi-part plastic kits that have to be assembled and painted by the players. Only few miniatures consist of just one part and do not have to be assembled. Assembled and painted models can be found on ebay and shops of miniature painters (usually for high prices if they are painted well). Until 2011 Games Workshop also sold white metal models which were usually done for special characters like Elite and Headquarters models, but now all of them are made in resin. Games Workshop said the reason for this was the high price of white metal, but the resin miniatures are now more expensive than the old metal models have ever been. Metal models can still be found on ebay.

Just like the rulebooks the design of miniatures also changed with the years. The very first miniatures look quite poor in the eyes of today's customers they usually became better and more detailed over time. Many miniatures are also not used and produced anymore because they got deleted from the rules. Although they have no use in the game anymore some of these miniatures are still searched for by collectors and sold for high prices.

Quite a few units and characters that appear in the game have never been produced as miniatures by Games Workshop. Some of them are sold by Games Workshop's company Forgeworld, which also produces new miniatures and writes special rules for them. Some other companies also offer miniatures that can be used for this purpose. There are some miniatures which can not be bought at all. Here it is up to the player to build miniatures themselves or convert other miniatures to get the right look for the character.

As every model has to be bought, assembled and painted, collecting a complete (and painted) army takes quite some time, money and many hours of work. For starting a new army Games Workshop offers boxes with different unit types called 'Battleforces'. A Battleforce usually is much cheaper than buying the included models separately and in many cases really is a good start for an army. In some cases unfortunately it is wasted money - it depends on the army and their current rules. With the change of rules and a new edition of the rulebook it is usually also necessary for the players to review their army setup and make changes - which often includes buying new miniatures. For people who are new to the game every new edition of the rulebook also brings a new starter box, which contains two small armies of different races as well as dice and other essential equipment.

History of the game

Warhammer 40k was origninally a spin-off of the Warhammer Fantasy game. The first edition of Warhammer 40k was published as 'Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader' in 1987. It was designed as a game for short battles with few miniatures. The whole game was rather like a mixture of tabletop and a role-playing game like Dungeons and Dragons. Rules for the armies of  various races can be found in the Rule book, but separate Codexes did not exist yet at the time. It also included races like space dwarves that are not featured anymore in the persent day game. In the late 1980s and early 1990s various additional books were published, including new army lists, rules and background story. New races became available during that time, while others disappeared.

The 2nd edition of the Warhammer 40k Rulebook was published in 1993. It came in a box set of Space Marines and Orks. The rules of the 2nd Edition were still very complicated and designed for small battles. They very much resemble the rules for present-day Necromunda. Along with the Rulebook the box contained a book called 'Codex Army Lists' which explains rules for Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Squats (space dwarves), Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, Chaos Demons and Chaos Space Marines. Also included was the 'Codex Imperialis', another rulebook with background information and 'Wargear', which talked about weapons used in the game.

In 1993 the 'Codex: Tyranids' was the first separate rulebook for a Warhammer 40k army. It was followed by Codexes for various other armies during the next years. These first Codexes included a lot more background information than later editions.

In the 3rd edition of the Rulebook, published in 1998, the rules were simplified and the game was made more accessible and opening it to a wider audience. It was now also possible to play bigger battles than with the difficult rules of the first editions. The background story is a lot darker than in the previous books. Just like the 2nd edition, the 3rd Rulebook was followed by new Codexes for all armies. New additions were the armies of Dark Eldar, Tau and Necrons.

Only few changes were made in the 4th Edition of the Rulebook as published in 2004. The book was available seperately or in reduced form in a box with Space Marines and Tyranids. It was followed by the release of updated Codexes.

In 2006 the expansion Cities of Death was published. It was a separate book with additional rules for battles in urban environments.

The 5th edition of the Rulebook was published in 2008 and was again available either seperately or in a box with Space Marines and Orks. This edition brings a few changes of rules and additional rules for specific situations in the game. The background information covered in the 5th edition is more detailed than previously. Many but not all Codexes have again been updated after the release of this edition.

In the same year the expansion Apocalypse was published. This was again an additional rulebook but this time for battles of a much larger scale than the usual games with armies of over 3000 points and options for a few players joining one game. It offers special battle formations for all armies, none of them would be possible with the normal rules.

The expansion Planetstrike was released in 2009. Planetstrike features battles between two players, one being the attacker, the other defending their planet. The defender can set up the terrain in any way they want to best secure their base while the attacker can strike with powerful orbital attacks. Both players have different options to set up their armies.

The newest change (at the time of writing this Entry) was the 6th Edition Rulebook published in 2012. This rulebooks brings a standardisation of the psychic abilities of all races  and more rules for aircrafts as well as larger armies. All new Codexes are now in full color and bound in hard covers.

The Hobby

Just like Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40k can be a very time consuming hobby. Depending on the care a player puts into assembling and painting their army this alone can consume hours after hours of time. The games themselves - depending on scenarios and army sizes involved - can also last for several hours. Warhammer 40k (like other tabletop games) is also not a cheap hobby. Although bargains can be made on the internet, the initial setup of an army can cost between 100 and 200 Euros, later additions not included. Shop prices outside of the internet are usually a lot higher. People who speak English also have the advantage that Games Workshop sells their products in the UK to a much lower price than anywhere else in the world, prices in Euro for instance can be almost twice as high, so ordering from the UK is almost always worth the additional cost and waiting times for a parcel.

Because of the constant changes of rules and additions of new miniatures, armies have to be adapted and improved all the time, so collecting a Warhammer army is in fact a task that never stops. It has to be said that compared to older miniatures they constantly got more detailed and of better quality, but also more and more plastic was used instead of metal. Of course Games Worksop also sell their own Warhammer 40k themed rulers and dice and other gaming materials next to their own range of paints, brushes, glues and everything else a gamer could need - or not.

People who play Warhammer often come together for games in regular intervals. Some have private playing groups while others play in so-called Games Workshop Hobby Centers, which are basically shops that also offer finished terrain for playing, places for painting and shopkeepers who can advise people on how to do things best. Players who want to go a bit further find official tournaments and painting competitions. Various internet forums are of course also dedicated to the topic of general tabletop and Warhammer 40k.

Games Workshop's 'Black Library' has published many books set in the Warhammer 40k universe which written by various authors. Each book is usually focuses on a certain race or important fighting unit or important battle. Players can here find out more about their favourite characters. There are also various spin-off games like Battlefleet Gothic - a spaceship tabletop; Necromunda - a skirmish tabletop; Inquisitor - a more role-playing like game; or Space Hulk and Space Crusade - both board games. For computer gamers strategy games like the Dawn of  War series and the action shooter Space Marine are available. A Warhammer 40k themed MMORPG was also planned but will not be realised.