By Robert Nowinski
“It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries The Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.
Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor’s will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants – and worse.
To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.” – Intro thing from pretty much every 40k novel
Warhammer 40k: a time of death, suffering, and dice. The tabletop miniatures game has been around since the late 90’s in one form or another, with the 10th edition of the game currently out and being used. With 27 different playable factions across 4 different groups, you have many options. But don’t worry. This article will help with introducing the game and factions as well as the hobby side of the game.
We will start with the (usually) most relatable group, the Imperium of Man, then we will move to Chaos, and finish up with Xenos.
The Imperium is what’s left of the great empire of humanity. At its peak, during the Great Crusade, it spanned across the galaxy, with millions of worlds, and billions of people. But all good things end eventually, and it did. With the betrayal of the Warmaster Horus, along with other Primarchs (leaders of Space Marines, basically demi-gods), the Emperor was mortally wounded and now sits on a chair all day, requiring wizard-like beings to die to keep his husk glowing. Technological advancements are no more and a lot of the worlds are cut off, or just don’t exist anymore.
Starting off with the most known faction in the game, the Space Marine. Giant super soldiers in power armor with guns that shoot mini rockets. They are the most common and popular army and, as such, have the most models in their range. They are a jack of all trades style faction, and with how much they have with their core range and the 6 other “special snowflake” ranges, you will have no shortage on what to play and can customize to your heart’s desire. The “special snowflakes” consist of Space Wolves (Vikings in space), Blood Angels (vampires in space), Dark Angels (medieval knights in space), Black Templars (templar’s/crusaders in space), and Grey Knights (demon hunters). They are also one of the cheaper armies due to how much stuff they have on the used market.
Next up are the other forces of the Imperium of Man. If you want to spend the least amount of money, Adeptus Custodes and Imperial Knights are for you. Adeptus Custodes are the elite of the elite, best of the best. One big thing about them, though, is their range of models have a good chunk of resin models, which cost a lot more, so be ready. But you don’t have to buy the resin models since their range in plastic is good as well. They field smaller forces than most due to their models’ high point cost, but most of them are worth the points.
I personally can’t speak on this since I play Space Marines, but I know people that do play Custodes and have seen others play them. They are tough to fight, but not as bad as Imperial Knights, who are known as a stat check due to their bulk. Knights are also cheap in terms of how many you need to buy, since for a full 2,000 point game, which is the standard, you can have as little as 4 models. They come with big guns and even bigger health pools. But, the average big Knight can be around $180, which gets you about ¼ of your 2,000 points. You also have even bigger (kinda) knights at closer to $200, but these are at least ¼ of your army or more.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, let’s look at the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Astra Militarum (the guard). Both are definitely on the more expansive side, with Ad Mec being more robotic and advanced tech focused. They were described as “Cybernetically enhanced zealots” by the only Admech player I know, Finn McConnell-Ross, a 10th grader at BHS. Meanwhile, Guard has the good old fashioned human spirit and sends as many bodies at the problem till it’s gone. Millions dead and a 95% casualty rate? VICTORY! Jokes aside, both armies field mass infantry and vehicles, with Guard being closer to what we have now, and Admech being more robotic and mechanical.
Rounding off the Imperial factions, we have nuns with guns, Adeptus Sororitas. That’s it, you like it, you will like the faction. That’s the pitch, let’s move on. Oh wait, we have one more: Imperial Agents, my 2nd faction. It is composed of a bunch of units from the smaller scale game, Kill Team as well as the 4 assassins, some named characters, and a few Sororitas and Grey Knights models. They need work, but if you like them, cool. A neat feature of Imperial Agents as well as Imperial Knights is that you can play them as their own faction, or run them as allies with other imperial factions.
Now, on to CHAOS. Chaos consists (at least tabletop wise) of the Space Marines that betrayed the Emperor, for which, just like Loyalist Marines, you have your generic version and your 4 special ones. Death Guard is all about disease and being really hard to kill, but they are slow. Thousand Sons (my dad’s faction) are Space Marines, but they can cast spells. My Dad describes them as “Relentless in their quest; powerful, agile, and focused, they dominate their environment.” World Eaters are buff close range dudes who like to run in and kill stuff with axes and swords. The newest addition to the group of models to buy are Emperor’s Children, who have stuff like sonic weapons and also like swords/knives. At time of writing, they just recently released, so not much to say about them.
Chaos also had a corrupt version of Imperial Knights, so the same upsides and downsides apply. Somewhat big price, but low model count. Demons, on the other hand, are kinda cool. You have 4 subfactions, one for each of the Chaos Gods, but they have issues with supply, and each god’s range is kinda small. But they are still pretty cool, and at time of writing, I am working on a Tzeentch Daemon army.
Finally, we come to the Xenos: aliens who have various goals and ideas, most considered enemies of the Imperium.
First, we have the Aeldari (or Eldar) and the Drukhari. Basically, elves and dark elves in space. Eldar originally made a god exist through not-so-safe-for-work things happening, and then they split up, with most of the race dead. Now they have a path system that focuses on a way of war to keep their soul safe and they have constructs that use souls of the dead to power them. The Drukhari, on the other hand, are ruthless pirates who rely on inflicting pain on others to keep their soul safe. They use boats to move through worlds and have a city in their own pocket dimension called the Webway. All Aeldari/Drukhari can use it to get around. Overall both are fast, agile, and fragile. You also have the literal clowns that are the Harlequins, but they have a smaller range than most since they are a sub part of the Aeldari army.
Next up are the Leagues of Votann: dwarfs in space with some AI that works their ships and helps lead them. They also like mining. That’s about it, just dwarfs in space with hover tech.
Necrons are metallic skeleton guys who mostly have free will. None of them have souls. They have weapons that can disintegrate people and tech older than most other races; most consider it magic. They also have the ability to just not die by coming back to life.
Now, for the T’au. According to Shannon Lampi, an employee at the local Games Workshop store, “The T’au are an empire of different species coming together for the Greater Good.” They focus heavily on shooting, with big mechs, tanks, and enough firepower to kill almost anything. They also have a few auxiliary units: Vespid (Wasp like dudes), and Kroot, who have their own range in the army and have more close combat focus and shooting.
With Orks, you can run and hit stuff and yell WAHHHHHHHHH. They are a more close combat focused army with poor shooting, and have a fleet of ground vehicles like dragsters, trucks, and cars. They also get some mech style vehicles that are as tall as knights. Then, there is the STOMPA. This thing costs 1000 points and is very big.
To wrap this up, we have Tyranids (literal aliens, kinda like Alien) and the people they infect, the Genestealer Cults. Tyranids are ever evolving alien hordes who ravage the galaxy in search of more biomass to expand. They have hordes of small dudes and giant bugs who spit things like acid or other materials. The Genestealer Cults are people who have been infected by the Genestealer tyranid bioform. They spread throughout a planet’s cities, preaching freedom from the imperium and the arrival of the Star Gods. They have work vehicles, mining weapons, and the ability to come back from the dead after units die. They are also one of the more expensive armies, similar to Admech and Guard, since they are horde armies.
There it is: a rundown of all armies in Warhammer 40,000. Click this link for a rundown on playing the game itself.
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