the Dark Eldar, cousins of the Eldar who ritually torture other beings to stave off death, as the Chaos God Slaanesh will claim and destroy their souls should they permanently die.Possessing extremely powerful psychics, they are a dying race who nonetheless wish to preserve what little is left of their formerly proud legacy. the Eldar, humanoid aliens patterned after the High Elves common to fantasy fiction.They wish to rebuild their long-destroyed Empire and reclaim their former organic bodies, and will destroy all other sentient life to do so. the Necrons, skeletal robots whose race is patterned after ancient Egypt.the Tau, a young, idealistic race that wants to unite the races of the galaxy under their rule, through whatever means necessary.The Imperium is in a continuous state of war with a number of hostile forces: Despite its size and power, the Imperium teeters on the brink of collapse due to a combination of escalating war, corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency, and technological stagnation. Mankind has settled more than a million worlds across the galaxy, most of which are ruled by the Imperium of Man, a brutal theocratic regime united in its worship of the supposedly immortal God-Emperor of Mankind. Most stories are set in the 41st millennium, 38,000 years in the future. The Warhammer 40,000 game takes place in a science-fantasy universe, whose extreme dystopianism inspired the word 'grimdark' - from the game's tagline, 'In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war' - as a shorthand for similarly ultraviolent or amoral fiction. The Warhammer 40,000 setting is used for several tabletop games, video games, and works of fiction, including licensed works published by Black Library, a subsidiary of Games Workshop. The game's miniatures are produced by Citadel Miniatures and Forge World.

The background and playing rules of each faction are covered in the game's rule books and supplemental army 'codex', along with articles in the Games Workshop magazines, White Dwarf and Imperial Armour. Its various factions and races include the Imperium of Man, a decentralized yet totalitarian interstellar empire that has ruled the vast majority of humanity for millennia, the Orks (similar to Warhammer Fantasy Orcs), the Eldar (similar to Elves in Warhammer Fantasy Battle), and Daemons (very similar in both the Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy Battle universes, although the precise natures of their creation and existence vary slightly), among others. Warhammer 40,000's space-fantasy is set in a fictional universe in the forty-first millennium. Many game and hobby stores host games, and official tournaments are held on a regular basis, such as the Throne of Skulls.

Battles may last anywhere from a half-hour to a whole weekend, and battles may be strung together to form campaigns. Play is turn-based, with various outcomes determined by tables and the roll of dice. The models are physically moved around the table and the actual distance between models plays a role in the outcome of combat. The players then decide upon a scenario, ranging from simple skirmishes to complex battles involving defended objectives and reinforcements. Each player brings a roughly equal complement of units to a tabletop battlefield with handmade or purchased terrain. These figurines are collected to compose squads in armies that can be pitted against those of other players. Players can assemble and paint individual, 28-millimetre (1.1 in) scale miniature figures that represent futuristic soldiers, creatures and vehicles of war. The game is in its seventh edition, which was released on May 24, 2014. Expansions for Warhammer 40,000 are released periodically which give rules for urban, planetary siege and large-scale combat. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics. Warhammer 40,000 (informally known as Warhammer 40K, WH40K or simply 40K) is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science-fantasy universe.

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