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Warhammer 40k)
Warhammer 40,000 (informally known as "Warhammer 40K") is a tabletop miniature wargame, produced by the British gaming company Games Workshop. The first edition of the game was published in 1987. The man responsible for creating the original rules set and the Warhammer 40,000 gameworld was game designer Rick Priestley. Later developments of the game are the work of editor Andy Chambers. The imagery and "look and feel" of the 40K world are derived from the works of Games Workshop Art Director John Blanche and designer Jes Goodwin. Play centers around 28mm scale (approximately 1:65) miniature figurines which represent soldiers, creatures and vehicles of war. The setting is science fiction (military science fiction genre).
An Overview of Warhammer 40K
Each player chooses an army from the official list (see below) and constructs an army of pewter and plastic miniatures representing the various units in that army. Rules for constructing armies are contained within the Warhammer 40K rulebook, and army-specific "Codecies" that contain specific units and rules for each race.
Play is divided into turns; with each player choosing specific actions for all of his units on his turn, and using dice to determine the results of those actions. Each match, at the onset, is assigned a set of rules and a goal (collectively called a "scenario") specific to it. The simplest of these is a basic "cleanse" mission, which ends after six turns, the victor being declared based on the control of the four quarters of the board; more complex goals can include night fights, take-and-hold missions, and various others.
Some players organise a series of scenarios (called a campaign) where two or more players fight against each other in a number of battles. These campaigns may feature their own special rules, and are tied together by a storyline, which might alter according to the results of each scenario when it is played.
Setting
The Warhammer 40,000 gameworld is most readily characterized as a gothic science-fantasy setting. The central and most popular elements of the Warhammer 40k universe are the Space Marines, futuristic versions of fantasy knights and the finest warriors of the Imperium of Mankind, a dystopian and degenerate galaxy-spanning civilization.
Since it originally was created as a sci-fi spinoff of the Warhammer Fantasy Battle game, the 40k gameworld contain many elements of the fantasy genre, for example the concept of magic and adapted versions of classic fantasy races. The eclectic mix of inspirational sources for the 40k universe include classic and contemporary sci-fi, horror and fantasy movies and television series and the works of reknowned genre authors such as Frank Herbert, H.P. Lovecraft, Michael Moorcock and J.R.R. Tolkien, medieval, baroque and surrealist art (especially H.R. Giger), popular depictions of historical settings, such as the World Wars, Victorian Britain, Imperial Rome, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
Therefore, there are countless anachronisms and juxtapositions in the Warhammer 40K setting.
Other Warhammer Games
Warhammer 40K is the science fiction companion to its sibling game, Warhammer Fantasy. Warhammer 40K allows for less regimental, formation-based movement, and deals with more advanced weaponry. Other miniature-based games in the Warhammer 40K universe include Battlefleet Gothic (a spaceship wargame), Epic 40,000 (a much larger scale war simulation, with much smaller 6mm miniatures), Necromunda (gang fighting in a large underground slum), Gorka Morka (similar gang fighting based on a desert planet, with a focus on scavenging), Space Hulk (Space Marine Terminators vs Genestealers on an abandoned spaceship - inspired by the movie Aliens) and Inquisitor (an even smaller scale fight simulation, with relatively large 54mm models).
Current State of Play
As of September 2004, Warhammer 40K is in its fourth edition. New players wishing to start playing should expect to spend upwards of $200-300 US dollars for a reasonably sized army (1000-2000 points worth of models), including costs for rulebooks, and paints.
Several computer games have also been based on Warhammer 40K, such as Fire Warrior, Chaos Gate, Space Crusade, and Dawn of War. The popular computer game Starcraft is also thought by some to have been largely copied from the Warhammer 40K universe.
Armies
Computer games
Non wargame products
Include books, comics and art albums.
Books include the Gaunt's Ghosts series by Dan Abnett.
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