Written by Jonathan Lee, September 30, 2019, 7:30 PM. Tweet to: @Writerscube
It is the 41st Millennium and There is Only War
When Warhammer 40,000 is brought up, people might think of the many sometimes-great, sometimes-terrible video games. Others may think first of the popular tabletop miniature wargame and their characterful, highly-detailed miniatures. And the rest may think of the astoundingly enormous lore that can be explored—or incredibly overwhelming, depending on who you ask. That’s because there’s a metric-ton of lore for newcomers to ingest if one wanted to get the full-picture of what’s going on in the grimdark universe of the 41st Millennium. But luckily, you don’t actually need to know the whole story in order to appreciate it—it just gets better as you learn more.
I’ve covered quite a few games that involved either the science-fiction end of the Warhammer universe as well as some that take place in the fantasy side of Warhammer. But what I haven’t had the pleasure of speaking with you all about is the tabletop-side of things. Where the video games give you self-contained snippets of the affairs of the 41st millennium, it is the tabletop game and companion novels (of which there are many) that players, hobbyists, and lore-fanatics can really see Games Workshop’s fantastical scifi world in all its gritty and glorious beauty. (Warning: Depends on how beautiful you think the slow, inexorable downfall of Humanity.)
The Story Up to Now
Along with Games Workshop’s general rise, both in price tag and in business prosperity, there have been big changes with how their Warhammer 40,000 property has been evolving. Before, the story practically stagnated with the galaxy ever at war, always at the tip of the millennium. And Humanity’s always been on the edge of oblivion.
Now… Humanity is a teetering over the abyss a little. Things are still relatively around that area chronologically, but things have moved ahead by at least some. At first, there were superhuman Space Marines constantly battling the same battles across the galaxy. There are alien races and daemons. But it’s mainly centered on Humanity’s part in the grand scheme. Games Workshop has spent the past couple years pushing the narrative forward with even more Space Marine battles, new and old evils on the rise, an alien God of the Dead awakening, newer and shinier Space Marines, and even the resurrection of a demigod Space Marine Primarch.
Also, the galaxy has split in two, thanks to a hellish interdimensional rift. That rift crosses the entire galactic plane and is chockful of daemons and bad feels. And that means more problems for the Imperium of Man.
What’s Happening Now in Warhammer 40,000?
Currently, the story continues. It’s quite a pleasant surprise that Games Workshop chose not to just give fans a morsel of plot progression. Instead, they’ve opted for whole series of story arcs! For those who love their Space Marines, they have a whole slew of new models and characters. The Space Marines as a faction has evolved immensely. But the elf-like, alien Eldar, were treated to the first phase of plot movements with the “Gathering Storm” back in 7th Edition. Now, in 8th edition, the Eldar fans are getting even more goodness. New models and even more plot progression comes with the Psychic Awakening arc. This doesn’t even cover all the other factions and their personal narrative progressions. Their individual codex books are full of new developments in this edition.
What’s the Psychic Awakening?
The Eldar are up to their prophecies again. A “Phoenix rises”, a “Phoenix falls”. There are many characters that have nicknames related to the famous mythical bird. We know that much so far. That and the Eldar are busy dueling with their morally-questionable kin, the Dark Eldar. What are the stakes? Nothing we know so far. This is expected since the Eldar are a bit vague with their prophecies and intentions. But Games Workshop has already promised that every faction in the game/lore will be getting something out of the whole story arc, which is great for both lore-enthusiasts and players alike.
For those who are familiar with the games and hobby, new announced models include plastic redesigns of the Eldar Howling Banshees, Eldar warriors of martial perfection, and their Phoenix Lord, Jain Zar, the first of their warrior sect, otherwise known as Aspect Warriors. The Dark Eldar also got a new model announced: Drazhar, the Master of Blades. He’s basically the direct competition to Jain Zar, both being peerless masters in carving up their foes. Both in their lore and in the tabletop game, they are two interesting characters to follow and witness in-game.
Final Thoughts
For any readers who have been long-time fans of Warhammer 40,000, you’re probably just as happy as I am that the plot has been progressing consistently over the past few years. Before, it had taken a decade or more for a significant change. We can thank the current management for the nice change, though it seems as a trade-off, we’ve been seeing ever-rising price tags on models and games. While I’ve a bit to say on the money-issue, that’ll be for another day. For now, I’m excited about where the Warhammer 40,000 universe is going. I enjoy the Warhammer 40,000 video games here and there. But the tabletop miniature wargame has been a constant joy to me since I had first started playing.
Be sure to keep an eye out for more Warhammer 40,000 as the Psychic Awakening unfolds! At least for Games Workshop, tabletop miniature wargaming is about to get really interesting as gaming and narrative storytelling further intertwines. I’ll be covering more as events continue to develop.
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