50 Fun Facts About Warhammer 40k

In what year was the first edition of Warhammer 40,000 published?

It was subtitled Rogue Trader.

Games Workshop, the maker of Warhammer 40,000, is headquartered in which English city?

All UK operations moved to the Lenton headquarters in 1997.

40k was conceived as the sci-fi counterpart to which earlier Games Workshop game?

The fantasy game came out in 1983.

Which word for a subgenre of speculative fiction derives from the game's tagline?

The line is 'In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war'.

Which Games Workshop division publishes the setting's novels?

It began in 1997 with the short-story magazine Inferno! and moved to novels in 1999.

Games Workshop was founded in 1975 by Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson and whom?

It started out making wooden boards for backgammon and Go before distributing Dungeons & Dragons in the UK.

Games Workshop's newsletter Owl and Weasel was replaced in 1977 by which magazine?

It is still going today.

Games Workshop joined which stock index in December 2024?

The company relocated to Lenton, Nottingham in 1997.

Which figure-making company did Games Workshop help fund in 1978?

It was based in Newark-on-Trent.

Who designed the original Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader?

He later founded Warlord Games and co-created Bolt Action.

The game's creator cites Dune, Paradise Lost, 2000 AD and which horror writer as major influences?

The Emperor himself owes something to Leto II from God Emperor of Dune.

Who first added the Chaos Gods to the Warhammer setting?

Priestley then reworked them, thinking Ansell's version too close to Michael Moorcock.

The idea of daemons as human nightmares given form came from which 1956 film?

The Horus Heresy story itself deliberately parallels the fall of Satan in Paradise Lost.

The Imperium's ban on artificial intelligence was inspired by which novels?

As in Dune, it followed an ancient war against thinking machines.

Roughly how many worlds does the Imperium of Man comprise?

It has existed for over 10,000 years as an authoritarian techno-feudal theocracy.

What is the name of the psychic beacon generated by the Emperor's mind?

Starships use it to navigate the Warp; he has been on life support for ten millennia.

What is the source of magic in the 40k universe?

Individuals with a strong link to it are called psykers, and the Imperium rounds them up.

What is the Space Marines' formal name?

The Imperial Guard are the Astra Militarum and the Sisters of Battle the Adepta Sororitas.

How many hearts does a fully developed Space Marine have?

They also have three lungs and an extra kidney, all grown from implanted gene-seed.

What is implanted in a recruit to turn them into a Space Marine?

New gene-seed grows in Marines' own bodies and is harvested surgically for the next generation.

How many original Space Marine Legions were there, two of which are 'redacted' from Imperial records?

Nine Legions turned to Chaos and followed Horus in the Heresy.

How many Legions rebelled against the Emperor during the Horus Heresy?

The civil war of the 30th millennium is the subject of Black Library's biggest series.

Which Primarch returned to lead the Imperium and launch the Indomitus Crusade?

The Eye of Terror had split the galaxy in half.

The Primaris Space Marines were introduced with which edition?

They are taller than the older Firstborn Marines and wear Mark X armour.

The Space Marines' Land Raider tank is based on which real vehicles?

The rhomboid hull and side sponsons give it away.

What is entombed inside a Dreadnought walker?

It is a cyborg walker, not a robot, and the occupant is in there permanently.

Terminator armour first appeared in 1989 in which spin-off board game?

Marines fight genestealers in narrow corridors.

Which Imperial Guard regiment is based on World War One Germany?

Cadia is the other famous regiment.

Which faction is often described as the female equivalent of Space Marines?

Their formal name is the Adepta Sororitas.

Orks were primarily inspired by what?

They have Cockney accents and start wars purely for the fun of it.

What makes ramshackle Ork technology actually work?

Enough Orks believing a red vehicle goes faster makes it go faster.

Ork biology is a combination of animals and what?

They reproduce by spores, which is why an Ork-infested planet is almost impossible to clear.

The Aeldari travel the galaxy through what network?

The Craftworld Aeldari and Drukhari are the survivors of a fallen empire.

What are the two major surviving Aeldari sub-factions?

The Asuryani live on Craftworlds; the Drukhari are the sadistic Dark Eldar.

Tyranid technology is entirely what?

Their ships and weapons are purpose-bred living creatures linked by a hive mind.

Which artist's work inspired the visual design of the Tyranids?

The Alien designer's biomechanical style is all over them.

The Necrons are an ancient race of what?

They have no psykers but field C'tan shards and crypteks.

The T'au seek to unite other races under which ideology?

They are the only playable faction that integrates other species into their society.

Which T'au group operates the starships and aircraft?

Fire fights, Water trades, Earth builds and the Ethereals lead.

The Leagues of Votann are based on which fantasy race?

Also known as Squats or Kin, they happily use artificial intelligence, unlike the Imperium.

Which author wrote the Gaunt's Ghosts and Eisenhorn novel series?

William King and Nathan Long wrote Gotrek and Felix for the fantasy side.

Which studio developed the 2004 real-time strategy game Dawn of War?

The campaign follows the Blood Ravens on the planet Tartarus; a Definitive Edition arrived in 2025.

Who is the playable protagonist of Space Marine 2?

The Ultramarines lieutenant returns from the 2011 original to fight Tyranids and the Thousand Sons.

Space Marine 2 was developed by which studio?

It was released on 9 September 2024 by Focus Entertainment.

Darktide, released in 2022, is a spiritual successor to which series?

Fatshark made both.

What prompted the 'Warhammer 40,000' prefix to be added to Priestley's title shortly before launch?

Games Workshop worried customers would confuse the two, and marketed the new game as a spin-off of Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

Which Space Marine Chapter featured on John Blanche's box art for the 1993 second edition?

The second-edition starter set pitted Space Marines against Orks and went on to define the lore's character until eighth edition.

Which part of the turn sequence did the tenth edition (2023) eliminate?

Tenth edition also replaced the Morale Phase with 'Battleshock' tests and capped each army at six stratagems.

Which studio acquired the TV and film rights to Warhammer 40,000 in December 2022?

Vertigo Entertainment worked with actor Henry Cavill to secure the IP before taking it to the studio.

What table width does the tenth edition (2023) rulebook recommend for a game?

There is no fixed board or grid: players build their own terrain and measure distances in inches with a tape measure.