Introducing... Warhammer
Call me a newb to this whole Warhammer / Space Marine concept thing - but the lore is just so fantastic and inspired - even today. Originally published back in 1987 as a companion piece to the Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the franchise today seems cooler than ever. The concept of religious fanaticism and high-powered Space Marines in the 40th Century seemed to just click so well at the time, and its influence can be felt so many years later with hundreds of copycats lining up the market.
I actually never really cared for this universe until only recently thanks in part for my friend who showed me some of the books relating to the universe, as well as seeing a few sessions of folks playing the highly successful PC game Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War.
"In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war."
War is fun, especially in science fiction, none more so for this universe. I've only read/heard bits of the franchise's epic scope, and how each race such as the Imperium of Man and the Orks, and even the later additions such as the Tau, the Necron all vie for power... but its all pretty heady stuff and I can't wait to read in my spare time.What is really awesome about Warhammer 40k is its iconic Space Marines. These guys are the genetically modified supersoldiers with oversized shoulderpads, armed with flamethrowers and high-powered rifles ready to "cleanse" the galaxy of heretics and enemies of the Emperor. But beyond Warhammer, the very idea of supersoldiers has influenced much of modern media - inspiring countless franchises in video games, novels, comics and television. Poppular franchises such as Starwars (ARC Troopers), Halo, Gears of War, Unreal, Starcraft have all taken this idea and twisted it as they saw fit.
"Uber Soldat"- Supersoldier is a term often used to describe a soldier that operates beyond normal physical human limits.
- Supersoldiers are common in science fiction literature, films, TV programs, computer and video games, but have also made appearances in other related genres, such as military fiction and spy fiction.
- Many depictions of supersoldiers treat them as shock troops or heavy infantry, although others feature them as elite commandos or special forces personnel.
- Supersoldiers are usually heavily augmented, either through eugenics, genetic engineering, cybernetic implants, drugs, brainwashing, an extreme training regime (usually with high casualty rates, and often starting from birth), or other scientific and pseudoscientific means or a combination of any of those.
if you really want to get into the epic background of warhammer 40k, read the horus heresy novels...all of them
they are the best written that i have ever seen and i read a LOT of books.
revel in the mayhem...i mean war.
I've been staving off getting completely sucked in the Warhammer universe. I was first introduced through the recent PC games of all things, and I eventually bought some of these weirdly dark and violent comicbooks. They're okay, but if you really recommend the Horus Heresy series, then I'll have to go check it out. Thanks!
if your really into 40k like you say, and art i suggest you actualy pic up the table top game, its rather expensive but its also fun, just buy one squad of space marines to start, and as for teh horus heresy those are some of the best books they have, but i also suggest the ultramarines and spacewolves novels as well good stuff
Bah. No thanks, matt. My friends were really into that back in high school, but I never really got it. Now, I walk by some stores and I see guys with these cool little WH40K figures carrying tape measures and stuff... but something is telling me "Don't. Don't you dare!"
I'll stick with the novels - if I can find the good ones that is! I have read some of those gruesome Black Library WH40K comics, and they were a lot of fun.
yeah ..
warhammer 40k is really great stuff ..
i also read some books and i'm really sick of science fiction stuff!
normally i hate all that ork stuff!
but wh40k is better! tanks, guns, laser rifles, predators, hellfire tanks .. such great stuff! and all that dysutopic scenario .. i think its a really imagineable future ..
whatever, i like! but maybe its also cause i'm german and like a lot all that "death in battlefield as greatest glory" stuff! and warhammer gives me that!!
I'd still suggest going for the tabletop with the understaning its a HOBBY game. Half hobby half game, not entirely either. I've since quite playing but still advocate people not interested in actually playing picking up some of the cooler models to paint up and keep around. (Or buy painted if their skills lack) I keep around the newer mini gun Terminators, a dreadnaught, and a few random pieces from army's I didn't play just for their coolness sake.
wow you should get some of the codexes they are great to and tell you the backrounds and other storys that explane what they are and how they think. like my favoret team the impiereyal gaurd THE HAMMER OF THE EMPORER
Yeah, I've got a few stores near my place with lots of Warhammer 40K enthusiasts. It's a good thing that science fantasy is well and alive with this franchise. God knows we need more of this stuff out in the market. One can never have too much inspired dystopian futures in their media...
Minor correction - the universe is set in the 41st MILLENIUM, not the 40th CENTURY (which would be Warhammer 4k). And yes, it's the 41st millenium, in the same sense that you could call this USA 2k - it's the 21st century, but only twenty centuries have actually passed. So to speak.
Hi,
Scifi is in my blood and I have followed scifi with Asimov and Frank Herbert to name a few, the ideas and concepts... beautiful. Then there is StarWars - visually very gratifying... and then I stumbled onto WH40k when I was in London as a fresh graduate... I remember being sucked into its world! To this day I am still stuck in the Eye!
Like you I only got interested after the Dawn of War games.
I would recommend Dan Abnett, and CS Goto as some of the better authors if you like the novels.
CS Goto writes about the Blood Ravens. For Dawn of War II, its Chris Pierson.