Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer 40,000 is set roughly 38,000 years from now, in a far future that is anything but a utopia. The galaxy is one vast battlefield where a dying human empire, the malign gods of the Warp and a host of alien races wage endless, merciless war. There is no happy ending on the horizon — only the next battle. Fans lovingly call that grim, gothic, darkly funny tone the “grimdark”.

It is also one of the richest fictional universes ever built, spanning thousands of novels, video games and nearly forty years of tabletop history — and every miniature you paint is a piece of it.

New to the setting? Read our beginner’s guide to the 40K lore →

The Imperium is the largest human civilisation the galaxy has ever known — a million worlds bound together by faith, fear and the light of the Astronomican. At its heart sits the Emperor, worshipped as a god and kept alive only by the daily sacrifice of thousands of psykers.

Holding this crumbling realm together are its warriors: the transhuman Space Marines, the countless soldiers of the Astra Militarum, the golden Adeptus Custodes, the zealous Adepta Sororitas and the cyborg priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Mighty — but never enough. The Imperium is always one disaster from the dark.

Meet every Imperial army in the 40K factions guide →

Ten thousand years ago the Emperor still walked among mortals, set on reuniting the galaxy under one banner. To lead his Great Crusade he created the Primarchs — twenty superhuman sons — and from their gene-seed raised the first Space Marine Legions.

Then his favoured son, the Warmaster Horus, was seduced by the Ruinous Powers and turned half the Legions against their father. The galaxy-spanning civil war that followed — the Horus Heresy — ended with the Emperor mortally wounded and interred upon the Golden Throne. The Imperium has been fighting the long defeat ever since.

Beneath reality lies the Warp: a roiling ocean of raw emotion and psychic energy. Within it dwell the four Chaos Gods — Khorne of war and blood, Nurgle of plague and despair, Tzeentch of change and ambition, and Slaanesh of excess. They hunger endlessly for mortal souls.

Their servants are the Heretic Astartes of the Traitor Legions, numberless cultists and daemons beyond counting, forever pouring from the Eye of Terror to corrupt and consume. Chaos is less an army than damnation itself — with, it must be said, some of the finest paint schemes in the hobby.

Humanity is far from alone, and few of its neighbours are friendly. The ancient, arrogant Aeldari and their sadistic Drukhari cousins were old when the galaxy was young. The undying Necrons are stirring from sixty million years of slumber to reclaim their empire. The brutal, ever-cheerful Orks live only to fight. The all-devouring Tyranids drift in from the void between galaxies to consume whole worlds, while the upstart T’au Empire preaches unity and progress — at the barrel of a plasma rifle.

You don’t need to know any of this to start. Pick the army whose models make you think “I want to paint those” — the stories will find you soon enough. Space Marines are the classic first army and the best supported, but every faction on this page has a starting point.

Still unsure? Grab a boxed set — miniatures, rules and dice in one — or take our faction quiz, then browse our build and paint guides. Welcome to the hobby.