Warhammer 40,000/Tropes/A to H: Difference between revisions

* [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp]]: And occasionally [[Call a Smeerp a Rabbit]].

* [[Canis Latinicus]]: Conventional rendering of High Gothic; e.g., Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Mechanicus. "Imperium," however, [[wikipedia:Imperium|is an actual Roman word]], according to [[That Other Wiki]].

* [[Can't Argue with Elves]]: ...but you can shoot them in the face. Foul Xenos.

* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Soylent viridians are [[Soylent Green]], "Sly" Marbo is John [[Rambo]], the Black Templars possess [[Monty Python and the Holy Grail|a holy hand grenade of Antioch]], and the Necrons are effectively an entire army of [[Terminator]]s, among others.

* [[Car Fu]]: Tank Shock.

** The 5th Edition rules allow you to ram Tanks into other vehicles, which can potentially take out several enemies at once.

* [[Card Games]]: There's been a few actual card games released based on the 40K universe. One could also easily count ''Second Edition'' and earlier editions of ''Epic'', which came packaged with a whole dead forest worth of cards, counters, templates and assorted other bits and pieces, sometimes including entire ''decks'' for mechanics like the Winds of the Warp or things like the Imperator and Mega-Gargant templates and counters which were entire mini-games in their own right.

* [[Cargo Cult]]: The Imperium of Man combines this with [[Ancient Astronauts]] in an interesting fashion, as the overwhelming majority of the technology they use predates the incident that put [[Messianic Archetype|the Emperor]] on life-support, and maintenance has become more of a religious ceremony than anything else.

{{quote|[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Quotes_Space_Marines#J "Problems? Problems? There is no problem I cannot solve with this..."]}}

* [[Chandler's Law]]: When in doubt, have another Tyranid/Ork/Chaos/Necron invasion.

* [[Char Clone]]: With his customized silver-helmed red Battlesuit and [[Mysterious Past]], Commander Farsight is most definitely A CHAR.

* [[The Chessmaster]]: Ongoing manipulation contest between the Chaos god Tzeentch, the C'tan Deceiver, and the Eldar Seers. Chances are, ''any'' major galactic happening is going to have at least one of them cackling "just as planned".

* [[Cold Sniper]]: Vindicare Temple Assassins.

* [[The Collector of the Strange]]: Chaos, the Orks, and the Dark Eldar collect the skulls (and occasionally other body parts) of their enemies as trophies. The Imperium collects the skulls of particularly pious servants for use as relics and [[Attack Drone]]s.

* [[Color-Coded for Your Convenience]]: Space Marine chapters, Chaos Space Marine legions, Eldar craftworlds, Ork klanz, Tyranid hive fleets, Necron tomb worlds, Tau septs: practically every major army has a set of color-coded subdivisions, and many of these have associated composition themes and stereotypes. Only the Imperial Guard defy color-based pigeonholing, and even they have certain color schemes they tend to favor.

** Space Marines especially; many chapters feel that adding camouflage patterns to their armor would be "[[Honor Before Reason|dishonoring the colors of the chapter]]," and intentionally dress in bright and highly-visible colors so that their enemy can see them and quake in terror at their approach.

* [[Cyberpunk]]: Many hive worlds tend towards this. The [[Gaiden Game]] ''[[Necromunda]]'' is a good example of the aesthetic.

* [[Cyborg]]: While there are "realistic" bionics, senior Mechanicus adepts often approach full-body conversion in their attempts to remove every trace of "weak flesh". Also Cyborks, Orks who suffered from particularly grievous injury or a particularly enthusiastic Painboy, and acquired lots of bionik bitz as a result.

 

== D ==

* [[The Federation]]: The Tau Empire, who ironically would be the ''bad guys'' in most settings. In 40k, they're the ''idealistic'' ones.

* [[Feel No Pain]]: Necrons, Orks, Space Marines, Nurgle, Thousand Sons, the Dark Eldar if they kill enough people. Don't even ''ask'' about [[Too Kinky to Torture|followers of Slaanesh]]...

* [[Fetus Terrible]]: The offspring of the Genestealer-subverted.

* [[Feudal Future]]: The Imperium, Ork empires, and Saim-Hann Craftworld being the most prominent, though most interstellar organizations eventually exhibit shades of this. Justified in all cases by slow and unreliable interstellar communications and travel.

* [[Future Imperfect]]: Given that the setting takes place 10,000 years [[After the End]], this is pretty much a given.

* [[Future Spandex]]: Imperial Assassins wear uniforms that are quite literally sprayed on: the substance (called SynSkin) comes in large aerosol cans and provides whole-body protection from various airborne toxins and temperature variation whilst allowing the skin to breathe properly, but only if applied directly to naked flesh.

 

== G ==

* [[Galactic Conqueror]]: Too many to count. Some evil, some ''really'' evil.

* [[Garrisonable Structures]]: Tabletop 40K was doing this long before [[Video Game]]s did. In the case of more "open" buildings such as ruins, typically the general [[Geo Effects|terrain]] and [[Take Cover|cover]] rules are used, but in the case of more "closed" (as in it is hard or impossible to place models inside of them) structures, more abstract rules exist for determining how many models can fit inside, where the fire points are and how many of them there are, where the entrances and exits are, etc.

* [[General Ripper]]: Imperial officers are generally this, or [[Colonel Badass]]. Sometimes both.

* [[Genius Bruiser]]: A wide variety, although who, why and to what extent vary wildly depending on the setting. Of particular note, perhaps, is [[The Emperor]] himself - who is/was clever enough to construct his own Webway Gate, design Space Marines, develop Force Weapons (at least, the current Imperial variety) and command the Great Crusade, and was badass enough to personally kick the crap out of pretty much anyone in the setting. His [[Praetorian Guard|Adeptus Custodes]] and Space Marines are a close second - in particular, the Tech Marines, and any Space Marine who survives long enough to gain some experience (notably, Dante of the Blood Angels, Logan Grimnar and Bjorn the Fell-Handed of the Space Wolves). Each faction has their own representatives, as well - Fabius Bile, various Mekboyz (though they have more of the bruiser than the genius about them, they are a damn sight smarter than the rest of da boyz), various Eldar...the list goes on.

** Much of Inquisition, given that investigation is a big part of the job.

* [[Hive Mind]]: The Tyranids.

* [[Hive Queen]]: Tyranid Synapse Creatures.

* [[Hollywood Atheist]]: The Tau take this one so far it turns back on itself and they become [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]]. The Emperor is portrayed as one as well; in one story he goes to the last church on Terra with the express purpose of destroying it, but not before he's broken the faith of the [[Good Shepherd|priest]] living inside and offered him a chance to join the new Imperium.

* [[Hollywood Tactics]]: Generally averted by most races, barring the odd Imperial Guard regiment. Both thoroughly embraced and thoroughly subverted by the Orks, who actually ''make it work''. Played straight in some comics and game cutscenes, though.