Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer 40,000 (informally also known as Warhammer 40K or just 40K) is a Gothic science fantasy tabletop miniature wargame, produced by British gaming company Games Workshop. Play centers around 28 mm scale (approximately 1:65) miniature figurines produced by Citadel Miniatures, which represent soldiers, creatures, and vehicles of war. The game requires a combination of tactics and luck.
Warhammer 40K is the science fiction companion to Warhammer Fantasy. Warhammer 40,000 allows for less regimental, formation-based movement, and deals with more advanced weaponry. The game is currently in its 6th edition.http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Warhammer_40,000#.UCkrpqEaMTk
Further information can be found at the lexicanum or the warhammer 40k wiki . Both are great for starters, but often unreliable in terms of detail and sources.
==Canon policy==
Mark Gascoigne:
Keep in mind Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 are worlds where half truths, lies, propaganda, politics, legends and myths exist. The absolute truth which is implied when you talk about "canonical background" will never be known because of this. Everything we know about these worlds is from the viewpoints of people in them which are as a result incomplete and even sometimes incorrect. The truth is mutable, debatable and lost as the victors write the history...
Here's our standard line: Yes it's all official, but remember that we're reporting back from a time where stories aren't always true, or at least 100% accurate. if it has the 40K logo on it, it exists in the 40K universe. Or it was a legend that may well have happened. Or a rumour that may or may not have any truth behind it. Let's put it another way: anything with a 40K logo on it is as official as any Codex... and at least as crammed full of rumours, distorted legends and half-truths.
I think the real problem for me, and I speak for no other, is that the topic as a "big question" doesn't matter. It's all as true as everything else, and all just as false/half-remembered/sort-of-true. The answer you are seeking is "Yes and no" or perhaps "Sometimes". And for me, that's the end of it. Now, ask us some specifics, eg can Black Templars spit acid and we can answer that one, and many others. But again note that answer may well be "sometimes" or "it varies" or "depends". But is it all true? Yes and no. Even though some of it is plainly contradictory? Yes and no. Do we deliberately contradict, retell with differences? Yes we do. Is the newer the stuff the truer it is? Yes and no. In some cases is it true that the older stuff is the truest? Yes and no. Maybe and sometimes. Depends and it varies.
It's a decaying universe without GPS and galaxy-wide communication, where precious facts are clung to long after they have been changed out of all recognition. Read A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M Miller, about monks toiling to hold onto facts in the aftermath of a nucelar war; that nails it for me.
Sorry, too much splurge here. Not meant to sound stroppy. To attempt answer the initial question: What is GW's definition of canon? Perhaps we don't have one. Sometimes and maybe. Or perhaps we do and I'm not telling you.
==Editions and Spinoffshttp://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Warhammer_40,000#Setting==
===Rogue Trader (1987)===
The first edition of the game (Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader) was published in the year 1987. The man responsible for creating the original rules set and the Warhammer 40,000 gameworld was game designer Rick Priestley. This original version came as a very detailed rulebook, making it most suitable for fighting small skirmishes. Much of the composition of units was determined randomly, by rolling dice.
A few elements of the setting (bolters, Dreadnought armor) can be seen in a set of wargaming rules called Laserburn written by Bryan Ansell and produced by Tabletop Games in 1980. The influence of these can also be seen in the prototype Necromunda game mechanics. Laserburn was turned into the computer game Laser Squad that subsequently evolved into the X-COM computer games.
===Second Edition (1993)===
The second edition was published in late 1993, aimed at making it easier to fight larger battles. This version relied greatly on cards, and came as a boxset including Space Marines and Orks miniatures, scenery, and dice, as well as the main rules. An expansion pack, Dark Millennium, was later released.
===Third Edition (1998)===
The third edition was released in 1998, and again concentrated on streamlining the rules for larger battles. The rulebook was available alone, or as a boxset with miniatures (Space Marines and the newly introduced Dark Eldar).
===Fourth Edition (2004)===
The fourth edition was released in 2004. It was not such a major change as between previous editions, as it did not break gamers' old army lists or codexes. The rules are available either as a separate hardcover rulebook, or in a truncated — but still usable — form within the Battle For Macragge boxset, which also includes models for Space Marines and Tyranids, scenery, dice, and templates.
===Fifth Edition (2008)===
The Fifth Edition was released in 2008. This, too, comes in a box set (with Space Marines and Orks) or as a rulebook. There were many major changes between fourth and fifth edition; however, it did not invalidate any codexes or army lists.
===Sixth Edition (2012)===
The Sixth Edition was released in June 2012 and is the current edition of Warhammer 40,000. Air support was one of the new features.
Over the years, the game has been expanded by many supplements. There has also been cross-fertilization from other games in the same setting.
===Computer games===
The franchise also had many computer game spinoffs.
*
*1992: Space Crusade (The Voyage Beyond)
*1993: Space Hulk
*1996: Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels
*1997: Final Liberation • 1998: Chaos Gate
*1999: Rites of War
*2003: Fire Warrior
*2004: Dawn of War (Winter Assault • Dark Crusade • Soulstorm)
*2006: Glory in Death
*2007: Squad Command
*2009: Dawn of War II (Chaos Rising • Retribution)
*2011: Space Marine
*2013: Dark Millennium Online
==Factions==
*The Imperium of Man
**The Imperial Guard
**The Imperial Navy
**The Planetary Defense Forces(PDF)
**The Adeptus Astartes(Space Marines)
**The Adeptus Soritas(Sisters of Battle)
**The Inquisition(Ordo Malleus, Ordo Xenos, Ordo Herecticus, Ordo Minoris)
**The Adeptus Mechanicus
**The Adeptus Custodes
**The Adeptus Arbites
*Chaos.(Each Chaos god has their own daemons and Chaos Space Marines)
**Nurgle
**Khorne
**Tzeentch
**Slaanesh
*Eldar
*Dark Eldar
*Orks
*Necrons
*Tyranids
*Tau
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Category:Franchise