The world's first academic conference dedicated to all things Warhammer
The realms of analog and digital games show us how mechanics affect our immersion at both a macro and micro level [Juul, 2005]. Here comes into play what Clint Hocking called ludo-narrative dissonances [Hocking, 2007]. This clash between the realms of intra- and extradiagetic elements was apparent since the earliest days of wargaming. Already in …
In the grim darkness of the far future, there is a surfeit of narcissists (quite apart from a host of other psychopathologies). Drawing on the existential-phenomenological model of narcissism developed in “Das unersättliche Selbst (The Insatiable Self)” (Arnold/Fuchs 2026), I will first give a brief overview of the spectrum of narcissistic behaviour and its core …
This paper aims to examine the heraldic system of Bretonnia in the Warhammer Fantasy universe and its relationship to historical medieval heraldry. Bretonnian heraldry occupies a central place in the faction’s visual and narrative identity, functioning not merely as decoration but as a structured language expressing fealty, and chivalric ideals. The presentation first explores the …
Technological stagnation is as common a fantasy trope as elves and goblins, whether it be the Warhammer World, Middle Earth, or Faerûn. Such settings are usually stuck with technology roughly equivalent to that of the Late Middle Ages (c. 1200-c. 1500): knights, castles, perhaps early gunpowder. Sometimes, this conservatism belongs only to particular species, such …
“There can be daemons in a secular cosmos, Garviel. Just as long as we understand the use of the word.”– Warmaster Horus, Horus Rising One of the primary contributions of Bruno Latour’s scientifictional text Aramis, Or the Love of Technology, is the methodological conceit of allowing non-humans to ‘speak’. This method of generalized symmetry gives …
This paper argues that the setting of Warhammer 40000 is an example of modern epic storytelling that replicates the essential functions of archaeological deposition and classical myth-making. I draw from studies of archaeological reception, classical reception, and themes established in The Siege of Terra: Saturnine to argue that each edition of the tabletop game and …
In a 2025 post courting retail partners, Games Workshop boasts of their range of 14 different miniature-based ‘games systems’ (GW 2025); the post also mentions how their hobby materials (e.g. Citadel Paints) are the ‘ideal complimentary product’ to said games. Here, I argue that GW is wrong: this hobby material isn’t merely complimentary to, but …
Warhammer 40,000 plays with miniatures as much as it does with contradiction. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the dreadnought: This animate, gun-laden sarcophagus of the Astartes marks a mainstay on tabletops and a powerful symbol of the Imperium’s refusal to grant peace, even to its own dead. However, despite such glaring grimdarkness, a …
Since its first founding Games Workshop has been an adaptable company: constantly evolving to exploit new markets, pivot to new products, and finding new growth in a niche industry. Through remarkable creativity it has created unforgettable games and through cool commerciality it has become a world-leading cultural export and financial powerhouse. Business innovations such as …
A surface-level reading of the Adeptus Mechanicus presents a grimdark vision: the transhumanist project has failed. The aspiration to elevate humanity beyond its bodily condition and discard everything that does not conform to pure reason appears fundamentally at odds with the techno-theocratic structure of the Cult Mechanicus.
This presentation argues that Warhammer 40,000 is best understood not as a fictional setting but as a governed techno-social system: an environment sustained jointly by industrial production, rules governance, publication rhythms, narrative canon, and audience interpretation. Mould tooling, codex releases, balance dataslates, campaign books, and fan discourse are all constitutive elements of the world.
Across the West, male loneliness is rising. Rates of isolation, social withdrawal, identity questioning and suicide continue to grow. A cause for this may be that men are finding it difficult to create deep friendships linked to shared purpose and spaces where vulnerability can exist alongside entertainment. This means men must struggle emotionally in private.
The representation of the Thousand Sons Legion in the Warhammer 40,000 universe incorporates elements that contemporary scholarship on Western esotericism (Antoine Faivre, Wouter J. Hanegraaff) identifies as characteristic of the esoteric tradition. Rather than borrowing isolated occult motifs, novels reproduce fundamental cosmological, narrative, and cultural structures underlying Western esotericism. The study examines Graham McNeill’s “A …
Paradox and hypocrisy are endemic to all of Games Workshop’s worldbuilding. They form a central tenet to a world where a player can inhabit any contrasting viewpoint with their choice of allegiance and collection. To unravel these ideas there is no better place than Noah Van Nguyen’s Godeater’s Son, a novel which perfectly encapsulates Age …
The language of Warhammer 40,000 is not merely an addition that exemplifies an imperial culture based on authority, militarism, and metaphysical threat through lexis. It is deeply connected to the universe and transcends the media it originates from.This talk analyses how the franchise’s grimdark language style emerges from recurring lexical patterns: pseudo-archaic diction, military terminology, …