What makes 40k interesting to you?

[ThePenitentOne]

Quick tangent Grot, but if you're looking for a decent BL read that may be off your radar, I really liked Adrian Tchaikovsky's Day of Ascension... But then I love GSC, so it was a no brainer.

Tangent done.

[Helias_Tancred]

Space Marines. Loyalist space marines.

I love their lore, who they are and what they represent, I love their models, and they are the only faction I've collected and played, and probably will play. A lot of the other factions, while cool, just don't interest me beyond being supporting characters to the lore and armies for me to fight ;)

What attracts me to 40k in order of importance is the lore (novels), collecting/building/painting (hobby), and lastly playing their -usually- mediocre-ruled game. I still like to play, but the other two parts of 40k I enjoy more. 

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Eilio Tiberius

[Bilirubin]

First played 40k back in the late 90’s after buying our son a set. He played Blood Angels while I played Orks. Did a lot of painting and built some scenery and generally had a great time. However he grew up and discovered girls and night clubs and I had other interests so it all went on eBay.

Completely out of the blue my now 35 year old son asked me a few months ago if I fancied starting up again so we bought an Elite box set meaning he is assembling another Blood Angels army and I am now playing Necrons.

He pops round for dinner a couple of nights a week, gets a free home cooked meal and a few hours painting in, plus we are catching up on the latest rules.

People have said it must be wonderful to spend time together and bond over the game.....................no it isn’t, I just want to crush his ceramite covered arse into the dust. 

[tychobi]

My head cannon and the friends. . . mostly the friends.

[Claws and Effect]

I like the setting, the lore, and the stories. Specifically I love the lore around the Raven Guard. I also enjoy kitbashing and painting miniatures, it's very zen for me. 

The game? Not so much anymore. 9th edition is a mess, and the power creep completely turned me off on playing it.

I switched over to playing Horus Heresy about 2 years ago after giving 9th edition a fair shake and hating it. I'm having fun with Heresy, which I haven't been able to say about 40k for a while now. 

[Firedrake Cordova]

For me, it's a combination of:

• the setting
• the background (whilst it's fair to say Black Library can have variable quality, some of it is great - e.g. the Eisenhorn/Ravenor/Bequin story, Gaunt's Ghosts, Ciaphas Cain, etc)
• very nice models
• painting (although I don't get anywhere near the opportunity to do this that I would like)

If I'm being honest, though, I'm not really interested in "full-scale" 40K any more - I'm primarily interested in skirmish-scale and story-driven games, and whilst the Crusade "mode" of the current ruleset absolutely plays to that, there are some design decisions that are "not my cup of recaff" - I'm more into the "Specialist Games" line these days. Having said that, I may be old-and-grumpy, and I definitely miss the granularity of 2nd Edition - which others definitely don't - so bear that in mind. 

Edited September 20, 2022 by Firedrake Cordova

[Special Officer Doofy]

I like the over the top silliness of the setting. Knights in space with chainswords is so dumb and would never happen in 38,000 years but it's fun to think about. I like that you can play chaos, and that's all I play. I see no point in playing the imperium factions, we are all humans who are the "good guys" in real life. Well most of us are, some of you could be trouble makers.

The game is the only reason I'm in the hobby though, and it's mostly because of the popularity (which could be because of models, the quality of the game, the setting, the lore / books).

Game > Models > Setting > Fluff (books)

There are some good books out there, but for every good one there is 2 bad ones. Bolter Porn is so painful and cringey.

[Slave to Darkness]

On 9/21/2022 at 8:12 PM, Special Officer Doofy said:

I like the over the top silliness of the setting. Knights in space with chainswords is so dumb and would never happen in 38,000 years but it's fun to think about. I like that you can play chaos, and that's all I play. I see no point in playing the imperium factions, we are all humans who are the "good guys" in real life. Well most of us are, some of you could be trouble makers.

 

[NovemberIX]

The setting is pretty interesting to explore, to try and fit a story into, and the lore is deep enough, but the truth is, it starts with the bright colors and mechanical design of original flavor Space Marines.

• Dreadnoughts. I. LOVE. Dreadnoughts
• The modular weapons systems
• All the different rhino variants bring me massive joy, especially all the different whirlwinds and predators
• Who doesn't love a good Land Raider? Especially the Ares!
• Call me crazy, but I like Storm Talons and Ravens in all their weird dimensions glory
• and yes I actually like Centurions too (though not the helmets)
• The way the Tempest fits in with the rest of the Land Speeders, or the way the Javelin, Scimitar Jetbike and the heresy era Outriders
• The Bubble Turrets of the heresy,
• Imperial Knights, cause giant mecha are always cool!
• Berets on Tempestus Scions
• And the Taurox being "roight tanky innit?"
• Bolter, Flamer, Grav, Melta, Plasma, and volkite Pistols
• All the above as Predator turrets (sans the non existant bolters)
• and the occasional game, which is really a chance to take pictures to further the fluff of my DIY army.

[Arikel]

I came into 40 K with 5th edition and Assault on Blackreach. I love 40K as a setting, and love the rule books, codexes, and various other games(Space Marine, Dawn of war computer games, box games and the roleplaying game books) just for that aspect.  Never really got into the novels though, I burned out on tsr novels and starwars expanded galaxy stuff back when I was younger and not really into game novelizations anymore. I really enjoy pretty much having free reign to create my own chapter and section of this dark unhappy universe, as it is so vast and full of secrets you can do just about anything you like. The models are excellent and really draw you into the various factions they represent and have only been getting better since then. I enjoy sitting back and creating the models and their backstories, getting to flex some artistic parts of me that don't have much outlet otherwise

I love how games can tie into your army fluff, if you are into that, which is a big part of what keeps me coming back. In one of my very first games I ever played, my company champion, lone survivor of his command squad, laid low a carnifex with his sword and earned himself a name and a title (Gregor the Giantkiller). There's also my Dreadnought Bobertus, who was so terrible at anything in games that his story is that he is actually the remains of an inept scout. The scout squad he was part of got annihilated breaching some fortress door, and the Apothecary gathering the remains actually marked his bloody corpse as the Sergeant in error. Thus Bob the Terrible was accidentally interned into a dreadnought to keep botching things up for eternity, instead of the hero who deserved that honour. I'm sure others have similar stories about their lil dudes as well.

[Scribe]

As my hobby bandwidth has shifted the last few weeks, I have put additional thought into why exactly I continue to look at 40K.

The rules, are a bloody mess.

The lore, is increasingly not to taste.

The perception of how that lore is being understood by the wider community, continues to sour.

So I thought, "What is it you are still plugged in for, you've been looking at this stuff for over 20 years..."

Warning: Navel Gazing.

At the highest most superficial level, the satirical over the top grim setting of 40K is pretty much pure greatness for a young kid. Super Soldiers? Cool Aliens? Space Elves? Giant Robots? Judge Dredd? A dead man on a Soul Engine killing thousands of people every day just to keep the lights on? Killer robots? Beings coming back from literal hell?

I struggle to think of what is the most over the top aspect of the setting. Is it the word of 1 person being able to damn a world to literal destruction? Is it bio-weapons that can strip a planet of life in hours? The various fleets of aliens? The battles themselves? All of it may as well have just been dumped straight into my teenage veins.

The art of the 3rd edition "Big Black Book" was formative. It laid the foundation of what would come to be in my eyes quintessential 40K.

I mean just look at this. Standing atop the bodies of his brothers, the banner is not allowed to fall, as he dismissively fires at the enemy with the world burning around him and the faithful preaching amongst the flames in the background. "Yes!"

This style, continued through most of the 3rd Edition.

These are what stand as 'righteous'...

Who is the good guy?

We could go for hours, but seriously, there is a reason GW is pulling from this era.

3rd Edition - Contents.

Rulebook Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition Rulebook

Codices Space Marines • Blood Angels • Dark Angels • Space Wolves • Chaos Space Marines (1st) • Chaos Space Marines (2nd) • Imperial Guard (1st) • Imperial Guard (2nd) • Catachans • Orks • Assassins • Tyranids • Eldar • Craftworld Eldar • Dark Eldar • Witch Hunters • Daemonhunters • Tau • Necrons

Campaigns & Supplements Armageddon • Eye of Terror • Cityfight • Index Astartes • Chapter Approved (2001 • 2003 • 2004)

Look at that line up. Now yes, we have have clearly had factions rebooted, revitalized, and redone, but thats 3rd edition right there, and that "Chaos Space Marines (2nd)" is the holy of holies. The 3.5 Book. Need I say more? Index Astartes? City Fight?! The Eye of Terror campaign?!

This stuff is rich, fertile soil, and it has been the bedrock our the game in my view, ever since.

That's just from an art stand point. The tales being told in those books, or WD articles, set the next 2 decades in motion.

Index Astartes? Well the Heresy books kicked of...well a whole setting, and those books pulled straight from those articles to get the framework in place. There is a direction line from IA to the modern FW books, and the HH plastic range of today.

The EoT Campaign? At this stage its more myth, than memory, but if you were there? If you played in it? Well, that will last a lifetime, and my 3.5 World Eaters? We took skulls!

Now, if you want to get into the real navel gazing?

What is this setting, really putting out there for you to think about? What are the limits of one man's ambition? What act's are justified, no matter how dark? What hypocrisy is acceptable, what means, for what ends? And that is just the smallest slice of the Emperor alone. Novels can be written on such things, and have been. The whole of the HH series may pivot on those points in the last 2 books.

What is it, for a culture to become so self absorbed, so depraved, so willfully self destructive, that it spawns a literal God, which feasts on their souls?

What level of hate is required, for a race to enslave itself, offer up their own souls, to empower "Gods" to defeat their foes?

What desperation is required, to inflict tortures upon your own peoples sons, mutilate them in mind and body, only to send them out as monsters to die for your desires?

What is it to be a young race in such a setting, trying to grow and reach out and find nothing but spite and horror?

You are not forced to engage with these questions, they are not part of the rules of the game, but they enrich the setting to the point where the game can in fact become extraneous.

 

You can play the game.

You can collect and paint models.

You can write/read/discuss the literature of the setting.

You can contemplate the setting, and what it says about the characters within, and us as well as a species.

We can do any, or all, or even likely none of these things, but we can still enjoy the setting.

 

That is what makes 40K interesting, to me.

[Slave to Darkness]

That Templar holding the banner NEEDS to be made into a mini. 

[Snazzy]

I think it is the sense of ownership that GW has cultivated.  Early White Dwarfs always had a "we're learning, too" vibe.  Thier bat reps had little stories to describe something like an attack sequence, or failed leadership check.  There were pictures of the team playing that were pulled back, with the table and office equipment in the background.  That was like pulling the camera out on a movie set and showing how the magic is made.  I met US White Dwarf staff at a Games Day in the 90s, and it always stuck with me that GW's corporate were made up of 2nd gen fans.  It gave me the impression i still have, that the game, the setting, the community is a product of fan participation as much as anything.

 

You have to build your collection, but you also get to build your collection.  Your army can be Your Dudes.  Your painting style, your conversions, your background fluff.  These are things that we take for granted now. 

 

The other thing is that all these years later, when i go to a convention or tournament i get really spun up.  Socializing with other players is great.  Seeing their collections and joking about this giant thing we are all involved in still has that grasp on me.

[Magos Takatus]

Scribe has raised an interesting point, I was speaking mainly about the lore that inspired me but I think I respond more to images than to written passages, so this is the art that has kept me going since 1994.

Spoiler

Two tech priests, apparently discussing the xenos head floating in the specimen tank. It's a science fiction trope but here it is different. The faces of these "scientists" are in shadow, their intentions are unclear.  Their tattered robes covered in arcane runes and skulls giving them an intimidating, almost alien presence. Their bionics vary from an almost human hand to parts almost resembling industrial equipment, to religious trappings like incense-burning censers and holy script held in place with wax seals. The surroundings are also far from a sterile laboratory setting with hanging cables, jets of steam and more decorative skull sculptures. Since I first started exploring Games Workshop as a hobby this piece of artwork has never been far from my mind.

 

Spoiler

This is a piece that has stuck with me for decades too. Some images of Space Marines portray them as noble paragons fighting against impossible odds but this one feels different. Earlier artwork of the Blood Angels were glittering power armour in red, gold and silver but this one piece is of a quite different tone. Crumbling monasteries, twin moons and swarms of bats flying out of the misty night. If the first image is turning a science fiction trope on it's head, this one is almost revelling in b-movie horror influences.

 

I'm no longer well versed in Blood Angel lore but Mephiston is an interesting figure to me, seeming to be both the hope of the Chapter to resist their genetic curse but there is something supernatural and sinister about him. I've never read a novel about him but I would like to. 

 

Spoiler

This one no longer has quite the same effect due to years of scale creep but it was a powerful reminder how intimidating the Space Marine Dreadnought could be. Surrounded by a conflagration the Dreadnought is uncaring, pausing it's advance briefly to fire at unseen foes. Capturing the moment of the Multi-melta powering up, this image is probably what made me like melta weapons so much, and (along with Dawn of War) cementing my love for Dreadnoughts. That heraldry is probably blowing in the wind created by the firestorm this machine has wrought.

 

Going from one scorching encounter to another...

Spoiler

There's a good reason I've collected Avatar of Khaine models over the years. I still haven't assembled my plastic beastie but I'm itching to do so when I get an opportunity. I will be leaning into my Eldar Army and it's pile of shame into next year. Anyway, it looks like mist and smoke seem to be a common theme in these images. 40k artwork is often a central figure with hundreds of people in the background but the images I've picked have been a lot more focused.

 

 

I've tried to pick pieces of art that are more personal to me and avoided Codex or rulebook covers despite the 1st/2nd edition painting of the Crimson Fist's last stand being a huge influence to me. I could probably go on for hours finding images that are the epitome of 40k to me but trying to articulate myself so that what I'm typing makes sense is actually quite exhausting today. I hope seeing these pictures again (or even for the first time for some?) is inspiring to you as it is to me.

[Brother Lunkhead]

What Brother Scribe said.... I couldn't say it better, so I won't even try

[Brother Christopher]

Unfortunately, to me, the question should rather be “what made 40k interesting.” I started my proper interest in 40k about 5^th edition and the intensive phase continued through 6^th. Later, I haven’t had much interest in the game, but still continued to enjoy the concept of the setting, collected and occasionally painted miniatures and grabbed a couple of games each edition.

Apart from my first exposure to the setting in video games, the things that dragged me into 40k were the lore snippets and artworks in codices from past editions. Basically, much of what Brother Scribe so competently wrote applies to me.

With the present, mainstream and oversaturated 40k, especially in the context of GW’s aggressive marketing and product pushing, there is very little that makes 40k interesting to me. With bitter regret, I find myself disinterested in 40k.

I have been gradually losing interest over the years and am not able to pinpoint a moment or a reason for this. I think that to me, the main issue lies with the unnecessary development of 40k as a universe. I much preferred it in the ‘old days,’ when much of the lore felt more encyclopaedic, with a degree of vagueness and mystery about the events, settings and characters. Back then, there was a fascinating snippet or two paragraphs worth of lore describing a battle, campaign or event. Now, we can have 5 books which make things definitive… add a somewhat unnecessary granularity and take away the mysticism or room for interpretation or speculation.

The present deluge of media feels overwhelming. Just like with the Marvel films and series, I feel that there are too many books, articles, games, videos, and whatnot to keep track of and to have a grasp of the setting. It doesn’t help that much of what is created isn’t… particularly good. Sure, it’s okay by sci-fi, 40k-nerd standards, but I particularly found the books to be lacking in comparison to other genres or other settings.

Luckily, nothing can change the sense of wonder and immersion in a Warhammer 40k of old. I don’t need to be up-to-date to enjoy the setting. What made it interesting mostly boils down to 40k being an almost blank canvas: a roughly sketched framework, comprising of many tongue-in-cheek references to our history and pop culture, for the unspoken stories which might take place in this vast setting, as well as the grandiose scale of everything, including the implications of the goings on: the ethical choices, the moral consequences, the cultural differences between cultures and species. All of this further boosted by some truly atmospheric, captivating black-and-white artworks.

Also, it’s not that I’m against novelty and new products/works. It’s just that most of it doesn’t captivate me the way the old stuff used to do and still does. A prime example of something exceptional was the Astartes short animations which worked really well and captured the atmosphere of ‘the old 40k.’

While I cherish the memory of the lost 40k and build my current involvement in “the hobby” around that nostalgia, I can’t rid myself of a sense of loss and sadness that so much changed, making the setting less enjoyable for me.

This is natural, however. Particularly since, from a business standpoint, 40k had to develop and adjust to (or create a) new, younger audience. As the responses in this thread show, for reasons obvious and unexpected, simple and complex, the perception of 40k and what’s interesting about it appears to very much be a generational thing.

[WARMASTER_]

@Scribe I’ve come to a lot of the same concussions why I love this setting, Great post!

[gideon stargreave]

1 hour ago, Brother Christopher said:

I think that to me, the main issue lies with the unnecessary development of 40k as a universe. I much preferred it in the ‘old days,’ when much of the lore felt more encyclopaedic, with a degree of vagueness and mystery about the events, settings and characters. Back then, there was a fascinating snippet or two paragraphs worth of lore describing a battle, campaign or event. Now, we can have 5 books which make things definitive… add a somewhat unnecessary granularity and take away the mysticism or room for interpretation or speculation.

 I agree with you here, it's why I don't read the books, and most of my lore is in fact other people's headcannon from the vibrant inq28 etc scenes. My current project is a war in heaven era narrative painting project, based in part on the Dark Crystal. It's been really fun planning out ideas that by necessity do not include most of the races of 40k, and working out what eldar / necrontyr / Krorks might be like

[TheWarmaster]

The setting. 

[ShibeKing]

I really like space elves and dudes in power armor.

 

 

[Doghouse]

After 30 odd years it's become a huge part of my life and enabled me to work with thousands of people over the last few decades. The online presence really allowed me to reach out and influence others and share ideas which still seems crazy to me even now.

Since eighth edition changed the lore I've struggled with the setting and 9th basically killed the game for me but it's the people that keep me sticking around. 

[Emperor Ming]

1 hour ago, Doghouse said:

After 30 odd years it's become a huge part of my life and enabled me to work with thousands of people over the last few decades. The online presence really allowed me to reach out and influence others and share ideas which still seems crazy to me even now.

Since eighth edition changed the lore I've struggled with the setting and 9th basically killed the game for me but it's the people that keep me sticking around. 

Almost word for word me as well

 

Only 20 years in the hobby for me thou

 

If 10th is more of the same, then its gonna be a real dilemma for me

[Lazarine]

I love the lore, and the immense scale of the setting. There is a feeling that 10,000 years of 'future history' has taken place, with most events either obfuscated or forgotten by the time period most of the fluff has been written down. On top of this, with the problems inherent in travelling the Imperium and communicating between planets within the same sector, we can choose the scale of the part of the universe we want to inhabit.

 

I love the freedom to make the game our own and use the inspiration from the Codexes to craft our own backgrounds. In the 34 years I've been playing, it has been great to create new subsectors and look at time periods only briefly mentioned in the lore. This is the element that has always kept GW heads and shoulders above its competitors.

 

I've tried a lot of other games over the years, but they've always felt smaller and the progressive storylines always get disappointing after a while, so I hope that the setting doesn't become too focused on the final 2% of the timeline.

Edited December 5, 2022 by Lazarine

[conscriptboris]

All roads lead to the lore, and the fact I discovered it in my childhood. Ive tried other games, they never last, and some had by far better miniatures or game mechanics. Its not that it 'just has' lore, its the Lore it has. 

 

Since the 'Bellasarius' Primaris changes of Lore, I have struggled with the hobby. I focus on HH and Badab, maybe the hobby will die in me, the further the Primaris line continues. Who knows.

[Pacific81]

The rules..

 

..

...

 

I joke !!!

 

The setting; background imagery, miniatures, coming together to play with likeminded individuals.

I am finding modern fluff is increasingly at odds with my own understanding of how the 40k universe should be, but the times they are a changin', and I just surround myself with dead or older versions of the various games systems and pretend its not happening!