The world's first academic conference dedicated to all things Warhammer
The Imperium of Man routinely lobotomises and augments criminals and heretics to create “servitors” who then serve as soldiers, labourers, and even computers. For the Imperium, this is an enhancement and a repurposing of supposed ‘undesirables’ into helpful tools. This talk engages with the figure of the servitor in Warhammer 40,000, and explores how it …
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 …
Gender representation in Warhammer fiction has been controversially discussed for decades. The issue has also featured prominently in scientific work, as well as in previous iterations of the Warhammer conference (e.g. Anjou, 2024; Keenan, 2025; Meriläinen, 2024; Naylor, 2025). A key conclusion from this previous work is that, particularly in earlier Warhammer fiction, female characters …
Since the inception of the modern fantasy genre by J. R. R. Tolkien, fictional languages have been a common element of fantasy and science fiction literature (e.g. Tolkien’s Elvish languages and Klingon). As narrative devices, they facilitate worldbuilding by making fictional settings more believable. Both Warhammer Fantasy (The Old World as of late) and Warhammer 40,000 …
For a game to be successful, it must generate interest in its target group. To be successful for a long time, this interest must also be kept up for a long time. This is usually done by creating new content, for example, new adventures to play or additions to the game. At the same time, …
The universe of Warhammer 40k seems to have reached the stage in the permanent war for pure survival that Carl Schmitt would understand as a completely political world. Friend and foe can be clearly distinguished as a dichotomy inherent in politics. The distinction is clear, even clearer than in the Middle Ages, armour, weapon and …
The humans that inhabit the grim future of the 42nd Millennium live under oppression so dire it borders the comical. Indeed, the level of ‘grim dark’ terror and repression that Imperial citizens are subjected to is commonly understood to be satire of existing repressive ideologies. It follows then, that the Imperium is in a nigh …
The struggle for power between states to ensure survival and other vital interests is a foundational component of realism, the oldest and most influential theoretical paradigm in the study of international relations (IR). Currently, academics and scholars alike are fiercely debating the merit of realist arguments regarding the role of NATO policy in the onset …