This presentation draws on an ongoing research project exploring how Warhammer 40,000 fosters community, creativity, and social connection within contemporary gaming culture. Conducted during a research fellowship at the University of Groningen, the project combines participant observation at local Warhammer groups with analysis of online fandom discourse to examine how hobby practices create belonging across both physical and digital spaces.
Early findings suggest that many hobbyists use miniature painting, gaming, and lore discussions to cultivate meaningful social bonds, creative expression, and forms of positive masculinity. At the same time, women and non-male players describe subtle and overt forms of exclusion, particularly when their presence challenges dominant interpretations of canon. The recent online backlash surrounding debates over female Space Marines contrasts with the more complex and often contradictory dynamics observed in local play spaces.
By examining the gap between online discourse and everyday hobby practices, this presentation argues that Warhammer 40,000 functions not only as a gaming subculture but also as a significant site of identity formation, emotional support, and community building. Finally, it reflects on how these findings are informing the Monsters and Minis Mars analogue project, which explores whether miniature painting and collaborative roleplaying may support wellbeing and team cohesion in isolated and confined environments relevant to future long-duration space missions.
Author bios
Dr Tara B.M. Smith is an interdisciplinary researcher in religion, popular culture and space. In exploring representations of the world, she focuses on a range of media, with a strong focus on science fiction. Currently, Tara is working at the Leverhulme Centre of Humanity and Space at the University of Leicester, UK on her project To the Moon and Back will use science fiction media to support education about space amongst young people and develop methods to promote communal living in diverse astronaut groups. Her previous postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University (2024) Blood for the Blood God!, explored the religious aspects of Warhammer 40,000 lore and demonstrated how painting miniatures can support positive mental health. Tara completed her PhD, The Praxis of Science Fiction: Pedagogies for Social Change, at the University of Sydney, Australia (2022). Tara is the Project Manager of the Korean Institute for Astronauts (KIFA) where she supports a diverse team of academics researching the future of space travel. Outside of academia, she can be found exploring thrift stores and mudlarking with her husband Luke in the Midlands or reading fantasy novels at home with their two cats Thomas O’Malley and Momo.
Lars de Wildt studies how popular media produce worldviews. He has written about religion in videogames, conspiracy theories on social media, 9/11 narratives in comic books, the apocalypse, awkwardne(rd)ss, colonialism, and birds. Currently, his main, NWO-funded project is about how Western games adapt to China (Veni, 2025-’29). For more, see larsdewildt.eu.
