I’m starting this. No rules, just a thread for ALL 40k related stuff.
I don’t play the tabletop, some of the games are cool. But the LORE is absolutely fantastic and keeps me hooked. HARD
I very much enjoy listening to youtube lore stories and long form discussion and breakdowns of all the grim dark.
I personally, have a massive interest in the imperial side of the universe, the other races, the chaos, etc i find interesting, but the rot and decay of the 40k humans i find incredibly compelling. The whole history from the men of iron, the horus heresy and the current state of the imperium, is bloody awesome
The dropship massacre as part of the HH is my absolute favourite story. The story of Dis Irae the traitor titan is phenomenal
I am the same. I have never played the tabletop game, but I am fascinated by lore and have played a lot of the PC games going back to the first Space Hulk. My favourite BTW is Inquisitor Martyr. But my first exposure to ‘Space Marines’ was the GamesWorkshop boardgame ‘Talisman’, circa 1985’. One of the expansion packs included a Space Marine as a character you could play.
There are quite a few (official) CGI short films available on youtube. I think I have seen most of them
I have also read a few of the books (there are literally hundreds of the bloody things):
The first three Horus Heresy books (technically 30K)
Space Wolves Omnibus - Space Wolves are my favourite ‘Legion’. Ragnar FTW.
Ultramarinessmurfs Omnibus - Started good but kinda lost the plot for me when the two main protagonists travelled to Medrengard on a ‘demon train’.
A couple of the short story compilations - one of which includes the origin story of the Grey Knights
The first three Ciaphas Cain novels - as close to humour as you get in the 40K universe
All the Eisenhorn novels - Rumour has it the on again, off again live action series that Henry Cavill wants to produce is based on the the Eisenhorn books. NB. Cavill is a huge 40K fan, paints his own miniatures and everything.
Excellent work @Harry_Bumcrack I had a feeling you would be first to comment,
I find myself drawn to the Salamanders, Who are as close to the “good guys” as it gets in the the imperium. but also have a sick facination with the Cadians and the Death korp of Krieg
I am very much invested in the Astro Militarum. I like the whole…throw them at them until they stop throwing them back ethos.
I had a great story read to me the other day about a group of guardsmen, fighting chaos, that had the honor of a titan joining the fray and its weapons fired from above cooked and deafened half the legion. I love it.
I also love the whole hive world system. layers of decay, thousands of years old. its just so interesting, all those trillions of lives.
I own a 40k rule book or two, and I am also kinda morbidly fascinated by the universe.
I don’t play the 40k tabletop game either, but I do play one of its fantasy counterparts, Age of Sigmar.
My main problem is that I rarely can enjoy the bad guys, and 40k, well, ONLY has bad guys.
But I got interested and bought that rule book and two figurines to try and find an army and a paint scheme for the least evil faction in the universe, the Tau. (They would still be the bad guys in almost every other universe).
The lore really leans into the “Grimdark” (naturally, the term originates in 40k), but for me it just too often goes a step too far, which - together with the not too stellar writing - causes the Grimderp effect.
I mean: It kinda is the literary equivalent of a Manowar music video, it becomes its own caricature at times.
But it is fascinating, because it is so exaggerated to the extreme that it makes you think about those principles.
Honestly, I think it’s intentional, as there’s not a lot of mass appeal to true grimdark. Also I though the neo-gothic architecture elements were over down until I visited Edinburgh and realized they were just staying true to the sources. St. Giles Cathedral and the Walter Scott monument fit right into any Imperial city.
Oh, I couldn’t agree more. There is nothing thought provoking in any of the novels, a lot of the characters are so OTT they are actually caricatures. Probably why the novels I have actually enjoyed the most are the Ciaphas Cain stories because it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Finally, I am among others who enjoy 40K lore but haven’t played tabletop. I have several 40K novels, sourcebooks, and the sort. I’ve painted several miniatures, but I couldn’t sustain the hobby because collecting can be quite expensive. My grim dark exploits have taken the form of PC games, starting with the Dawn of War series. Currently, I’m between Rogue Trader and Battlesector. I dabbled with Space Hulk Tactics but couldn’t wrap my head around the mechanics of the game.
One of my favorite YouTube channels is Baldermort’s Guide to Warhammer. Please share any others you guys like so I can check them out.
As for my favorite factions, I love Adeptus Astartes and the T’au.
can’t find the right word
“For the Emperor!”
“Only in death does duty end.” “Even in death, I still serve!”
“By the blood of Sanguinius!”
“No pity, no remorse, no fear!”
Justicar Tancred, of the Grey Knights: “I am the Hammer. I am the sword in His hand. I am the Gauntlet about His fist. I am the Bane of His foes and the woes of the treacherous. I am the End.”
“In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.”
If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. SH has always been one of my favorite IP’s, everything from tabletop through the original PC games, to the modern SHT. If you like the lore/concept, Space Hulk:Deathwing is very atmospheric FPS (horde shooter), that lets you stop around in terminator armor blasting things to bits (or shredding them with lighting claws if you prefer).
So I will admit I have played the tabletop, but that was way back in 3rd edition. I’ll snap a picture of my bookshelf with all my codex’s when I have a minute tonight. I haven’t played TT in decades literally though. I gave away 99% of my models over the years and I honestly never had more than a 1000pts at any one time really. I didn’t have the time to ever build big armies. I have sated my gaming needs with the various PC titles over the years, and lots of reading.
If I can find it, I should still have a circa 1999 WH40K lore codex, that was a collection of White Dwarf articles, short stories, etc that was all in one giant .txt file that circulated the early web. Very different to the mass of excellent fiction available today. I also have a pretty good size collection of vintage White Dwarf, that I bought for very cheap when the comic store I use to game at was trying to clear out back stock. I believe I have the issue that introduced Rogue Trader and started it all off.
I’m not surprised (well I kinda am?) that it is still commanding a premium price for a game that has been out for as long as it has.
Like I said, my fave 40k game and anyone who likes ARPGs needs to play this. Vaporising Nurglings with a bolter on full auto and HE rounds as they try to swarm you is soo satisfying…
Love the setting of 40k, dabbled with it back in far flung early days when it was called warhammer 40k rogue trader and it was small squad based and you only had dwarves (squats) elves (eldar) imperials (humans) space marines and orcs
No tyranids (they were gene stealers and non playable) I don’t even think chaos was part of the first edition rules
Games workshop did some other really good titles, there was banger judge dredd rpg and paranoia, a good sci-fi comedy game
But back to 40k love it … if anyone here hasn’t tried the rogue trader rpg on pc …I can throughly recommend it, it really gets the lore and the “grim dark” of 40k
