This paper investigates the complex assemblage that is the rule system of Warhammer 40k matched play with a focus on participation and materiality based on the auto-ethnographic experiences of a competitive players.
Before the first dice are rolled in a game of 40k, a lot of work needs to be done. Armies need to be mustered, terrain and deployment zones set up, and missions and victory conditions need to be established. However, while all these steps, if complex, can still be done according to the matched play rules of the published game, they are not actually enough the make it possible to play a game with clear and functional rules. There are added layers of rules that are not even available from the game publisher or made by them.
One layer here are community rules. The WTC (world team championship) for example produces a rule document that is made by expert players with access to what could be seen as a council of national teams from around the world. This document gets used in most competitive events outside of the USA (in my experience) and is borderline necessary to understand to be able to play the game. Research in the legal base sizes of models and the correct way to assemble them are coming up in different areas as well, with added complexity around modified and proxy models which otherwise are a core part of the crafting hobby of 40k. Based on an investigation of 40k on Table Top Simulator (Prax, 2022) and work around game rules including political economy and media logic of games (Švelch, 2020), this paper aims to show the messy assemblage that is 40k rules and looks to discuss how to investigate it fruitfully in the future.
Author bio
Patrick Prax is Associate Professor in the Department of Game Design at Uppsala University, Sweden.
