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* [[AKA-47]]: Some vehicles were quite clearly based on certain real-life vehicles:
** The Imperial Guard's Bombard siege mortars (particularly the old Epic versions) were based on Nazi Germany's [[wikipedia:Karl-Gerat|Karl-Gerät]] super heavy mortars (one of the few cases where the real vehicle is ''more'' excessive than its 40K counterpart). Their Chimera was based on the old [pre-Desert Storm] Bradley and on the Soviet BMP 1 and 2, including having Lasguns as firing port weapons. And the Leman Russ bears an uncanny resemblance to a turreted version of the British Mark I tank from WWI, though it has a laundry list of other influences including the Panther, Tiger and T-72. Forgeworld's Hydra Chimera variant looks to be based on the [[wikipedia:Ontos|Ontos]], and the Cyclops demolition vehicle is a barely-altered [[wikipedia:Goliath tracked mine|Goliath Tracked Mine]]. The ''Epic Armageddon'' Imperial Ragnarok Tank is a Soviet KV-2 heavy tank(which was a very crappy tank).
** The Basilisk with armored crew compartment is based on the configuration of gun carriers used by the Germans during [[WW 2]], such as the [[wikipedia:Marder III|Marder III]], [[wikipedia:Hummel %28artillery%29(artillery)|Hummel]], [[wikipedia:Grille %28artillery%29(artillery)|Grille]] and [[wikipedia:Wespe|Wespe]]. The Basilisk gun itself is basically a long-barreled [[wikipedia:203 mm howitzer M1931 %28B(B-4%29)|Soviet B4 Model 1931 howitzer]]. Forgeworld's cruciform base variant is based on the infamous [[wikipedia:8.8 cm FlaK 18/36/37/41|8.8cm FlaK]].
** The Thudd Gun was a copy of the [[wikipedia:QF 2 pounder naval gun|QF 2 pounder naval gun]] or "Pom-Pom" gun on a wheeled carriage.
** The Space Marine Rhino is a clone of the M113 APC; the original all-plastic Predator has a T-55 turret stuck on top. The Vindicator is based on the [[wikipedia:Sturmtiger|Sturmtiger]].
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* [[Airstrip One]]
* [[Akashic Records]]: In ''Mechanicum''.
* [[Alien Blood]]: Tau have blue blood and Tyranid fluids are generally described as "ichor". Eldar and Orks have red blood, although Eldar blood crystallizes instead of scabbing, and Ork blood used to be as green as their skin before Games Workshop [[Retcon|retconnedretcon]]ned that. The Orks are now considered green due to thick amounts of algae that grow beneath their skin.
* [[Alien Kudzu]]: Both the Orks and the Tyranids inflict a form of this on planets they invade.
** The Orks stand out, because their Kudzu are sapient...
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* [[The Alliance]]: The Tau Empire, who are the only faction with significant allies outside their own species. This being 40K, they don't always get along. And then there's the people who suspect brainwashing, and the evidence from [[Dawn of War]] of forced sterilization and concentration camps for populations that rebel...
* [[All There in the Manual]]: Numerous rulebooks, novels, magazines, supplemental sourcebooks and spinoff games with their own sets.
* [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]]: [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Chaos]] and the Dark Eldar. Conversely the Imperium is Always Lawful [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Extremist]], Craftworld Eldar are Always Lawful [[The Chessmaster|Manipulative]], the Orks are Always Chaotic [[Psychopathic Manchild|Rambunctious]], the Necrons are Always Lawful [[Omnicidal Maniac|Omnicidal]] the Tyranids are Always Neutral [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Hungry]], and the Tau are Always Lawful [[Utopia Justifies the Means|Utopian]]. All [[Alternate Character Interpretation|subject to interpretation]], of course.
** And get this: in spite of all the atrocities they commit, the Imperials still consider ''[[Knight Templar|themselves]]'' to be [[Lawful Good]]. Or at least [[Lawful Neutral]], for those who aren't Space Marines or Grey Knights.
*** To some extent, this feeds into the [[Crapsack World]] of the universe. There are plenty of instances demonstrating how horrific it is if some of those atrocities are not committed. To some extent, the Imperials generally get more opportunity to go between Good, Evil and Neutral, but rarely will not be Lawful.
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** The regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg are driven by their need to atone for their planet turning against the Emperor of Terra thousands of years ago.
** Sisters of Battle, the Sisters Repentia unit are Sisters who seek to atone for their sins by going into battle wearing practically nothing, and carrying massive [[Chainsaw Good|two-handed chainswords]].
* [[Atop a Mountain of Corpses]]-- Does—Does anything need to be said about this?
* [[Attack! Attack! Attack!]]: Orks, except for the Blood Axez, who, having the most exposure to human technology of any of the clanz, have mastered the idea that "If we runs for it we don't lose either, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!"
* [[Attack Drone]]: Widely used by the Tau. Imperial servo-skulls are also somewhat like this.
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** [[Badass Beard]]: Scout Sergeant Torias Telion.
*** Every Long Fang and Grey Hunter worth his ''must'' have one - besides, when you're a nine-foot tall genetically engineered killing machine that also happens to be a Viking Expy, there's no way your beard can't be badass.
** [[Badass Biker]]: How much more badass do you get than screaming green maniacs on ramshackle scrap-metal motorbikes laden with giant machine guns? Oh yeah, that would be the [[Super Soldier|Super Soldiers]]s on giant armoured bikes the size of cars. Or the ''evil'' Super Soldiers on ''hell motorbikes'' covered in blades and skulls... or maybe the space-elf knights on flying bikes with laser lances... or the evil space elves that can fly their bladed flying death bikes with enough skill to ''cut specific arteries''.
*** DOOM RIDER, who's basically the Chaos equivalent of [[Ghost Rider]].
*** The White Scars, which is basically an entire Space Marine chapter of Badass Bikers.
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** Imperial Guard Commissars, who are employed to keep morale up by setting a heroic example - and by shooting cowards and incompetents if necessary. Ok, maybe many Commissars have the justification of shooting fleeing men because there are a lot that can follow suit, and their infantry depend on [[More Dakka]] via their numbers to kill stuff, but...
*** Woe betide any commissar that tries this with Catachans. [[Unfriendly Fire|Commissars assigned to Catachan regiments have a disproportionately high fatality rate]], noted on the tabletop by the "Oops Sorry Sir" special rule.
*** Largely averted by the novel protagonists [[Gaunt's Ghosts|Ibram Gaunt]] and [[Ciaphas Cain]], '''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!'''. Gaunt is working with a severely limited number of troops and cannot afford to be wasteful, while Cain knows that eventually his schemes to get out of trouble will fail, at which point he would prefer that his troops like him enough to watch his back rather than aim for it. It helps that both men are basically understanding and honorable individuals ([[Heroic Self-Deprecation|much as Cain would deny it]]), attached to disciplined regiments that don't have the kind of morale problems that typically require Commissars to be [[Bad Boss|Bad Bosses]]es.
** Commander Chenkov of Valhalla routinely abuses the Imperial Guard's [[We Have Reserves|reserves]] to overwhelm the enemy with endless waves of poorly-trained, disposable conscripts. He's also been known to use his troops to clear minefields for tanks and bog enemy units down so that the artillery can shell them, and once executed a million of his own men to build a dam from their bodies. His regiment, the Tundra Wolves, has been refounded more than a dozen times in recent decades due to casualties, and it's rumored that he's killed more of his own men than he has of the enemy. And of course, since this is the Imperium, he's routinely awarded medals and commendations for quickly defeating the enemy with these brutal tactics.
** Ork Nobz also aren't above "krakkin' a few uv da ladz' 'eadz" (often fatally) in order to restore order, and Runtherdz maintain the "morale" of their Gretchin charges by having their squighounds ''devour'' a couple of them whenever they try to flee.
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* [[Boring but Practical]]: Or as close to 'boring' as it gets in the setting anyhow... all armies are able to field powerful special troops, amazing heroes and crazy war machines, but you generally cannot win without a good chunk of your army being made up of some variant or another of your standard rank-and-file troops, a fact often referred to as 'Boys before toys'.
* [[Boring Invincible Hero]]: Every faction tends to get this treatment in its own codex, in a manner appropriate to the race (EG the Space Marines tend to emerge triumphant against overwhelming odds, the Imperial Guard tend to win through attrition and great loss of life, the Orks tend to win by being [[Crazy Awesome]], etc.). Conversely, if a faction appears in someone else's codex, it usually means they're getting [[The Worf Effect|Worfed]].
* [[Bowdlerization]]: The game's second edition. Much of the Imperium's nastiness was downplayed or went largely unmentioned. Inquisitors and Imperial Guard [[Commissar|Commissars]]s were described as heroic individuals. Commissars even lost the ability to restore unit morale by means of [[You Have Failed Me|summary execution]]. These issues were all ''[[Darker and Edgier|brutally]]'' redressed in the third edition.
* [[Brain Bleach]]: What you'll need after reading ''[[Old Shame|Space Marine]]'' (the tabletop game, not the new video game). Or some of the stuff on [[Image Boards|/tg/]].
* [[Brain Food]]: Space Marines and Tyranid Lictors can gain some of a creature's knowledge by eating its brain.
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* [[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|Terminators]]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.
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* [[Chunky Salsa Rule]]: Game mechanic: Instant Death.
** Quote from the 5th ed. Codex: "It can be imagined that the creature is vaporized, burned to a pile of ash, blasted limb from limb, or otherwise mortally slain in a suitably graphic fashion."
* [[Character Exaggeration]]: The Imperial Guard's leaders are generally considered [[General Ripper|General Rippers]]s who care very little about their troops because [[We Have Reserves]] by fans, as well as Commissars being complete sadists who will kill Guardsmen at the drop of a hat. Naturally, the Imperium doesn't encourage death - the 3rd edition 2nd Imperial Guard Codex says itself "A good general does not lead an army to destruction just because he knows it will follow." The Imperium just has lower standards of 'pointless' compared to us. However, that is usually done for [[Gallows Humor]], and helps them say ''Warhammer 40000'' is a [[World Half Empty]] very well. Which it still is.
** It's understandable that Guardsmen lives are treated like that, considering most worlds where guardsmen are recruited from they're actually considered an exportable product rather than living human beings.
* [[Child Soldiers]]: Yet another way the factions in 40k violate the Geneva Convention.
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** The [[Night Lords]] legion has a special fondness for this.
* [[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|Attack Drones]]s.
* [[Colony Drop]]: ''[http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33310 Deconstructed]'', if you can believe it, but also used straight on occasion. "In close consultation with his advisors, Orkimedes determined that the best solution to the tactical flexibility of Imperial forces was to drop big rocks on them." A surprisingly common Ork technique to both deploy close to the enemy [in fact on top of a portion of them] and weaken aforementioned enemy.
* [[Colour-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.
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* [[Combat Medic]]: Space Marine Apothecaries, Ork Painboyz, and pretty much anyone else with a medkit or the equivalent.
* [[Combat Sadomasochist]]: Worshippers of Slaanesh and most Dark Eldar.
* [[Combat Tentacles]]: Tyranids mount these on everything from [[Mook|mooksmook]]s to ''[[Awesome but Impractical|spaceships]]''.
** The Slaaneshi weapon aptly named "Lash of Torment".
* [[Comes Great Insanity]]: A rich tradition among leadership figures within the Imperium, from Horus to High Lord Vandire. Generally, reforms follow in their wake to stop similar incidents happening. For example, after the Horus Heresy, the Space Marine Legions were divided into smaller Chapters. In the case of Vandire, no-one was ever allowed to become both the head of the [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|Administratum]] and the [[Church Militant|Ecclesiarchy]] again. And the Ecclesiarchy couldn't keep men-at-arms. [[Amazon Brigade|Which they got around]].
* [[Commissar|Commissars]]s: Fielded by the Imperial Guard in all their CommieNazi [[Bling of War]] (including the [[Putting on the Reich|black and silver]] [[Commissar Cap]]). Their job is to shoot the undisciplined, the heretics and the cowardly to keep morale high. In ''[[Dawn of War]]'', this is not only a valid tactic but an essential one, as using [[You Have Failed Me|Execute]] temporarily increases the firing rate of all nearby infantry. In fifth edition they will summary execute the squad's leader if the squad fail's a leadership test, when assigned to command squads this can cause much more harm than good.
* [[Commissar Cap]]: [[Trope Namer]], and not entirely restricted to Commissars - a few regular regular officers and the odd Inquisitor wear similar hats, and some Orks love looting them.
** In fact, Nork Deddog, a (comparatively) super intelligent Ogryn bodyguard was rewarded a [[Commissar Cap]].
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** [[Creepy Twins]]: "[[Mystery Science Theater 3000|These two girls, they make quite a pair. They both come from your worst nightmare. They will haunt your soul forever, and now when you see pink you're gonna think, 'we're doomed'. They are agents of Satan...]]"
* [[Creepy Monotone]]: Necron Lords, and techpriests of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Servitors are independently creepy and monotonous.
* [[Creepy Souvenir]]--Many—Many warriors keep skulls of their slain enemies, some in shrines, some carried around with them.
* [[Crew of One]]: Played straight by the Space Marines, averted by the Imperial Guard.
* [[Crippling Overspecialisation]]: The Eldar's [[Planet of Hats|Hat]].
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* [[Dark Action Girl]]: Lelith Hesperax and [[Shout-Out|Kruellagh]] [[101 Dalmatians|the Vile]].
* [[Darker and Edgier]] with respect to the regular [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]], which was fairly grim to begin with.
** It uses this [[Egregious|egregiouslyegregious]]ly, one might say.
* [[Dark Is Evil]]: The Dark Eldar and The Black Legion.
* [[Dark Messiah]]: Horus. A lot of Word Bearers seem to have delusions of this, too. The Emperor of Mankind was [[Alternate Character Interpretation|either]] this or a straight [[Messianic Archetype]] whose plans were brutally subverted by the power-seekers and paranoids who took them up after he was forced to become one with the furniture.
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** Taken to extremes with the Terminator and Ravenwing Apothecaries of the Dark Angels. The former can take a missile launcher, Lightning Claws, or a Thunder Hammer. The latter is mounted on a bike with Flamethrower or Plasma Gun options.
* [[Dead-Man Switch]]: The facilities imprisoning a planet's psykers before they can be carted off to Terra usually have one. In case of any trouble, all held psykers are instantly gassed. Considering how much trouble "any trouble" can evolve to when you deal with several hundreds of untrained and unsanctioned psykers, this can be considered a wise precaution...
* [[Death From Above]]: Jump infantry of every shape and size (half a ton of armoured super soldier approaching your face at terminal velocity, anyone?), Space Marine [[Drop Pod|Drop Pods]]s, Tyranid mycetic spores, Tau Mantas, and Ork roks.
** Also, Exterminatus!
* [[Death Glare]]: Common in the artwork.
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* [[Death or Glory Attack]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Death Ray]]: Rays which ''cause'' death, rays which ''fire'' death, rays which ''eat'' death, and rays which are fired ''[[Grim Reaper|by Death]]''.
* [[Death World]]: One of the more common [[Single Biome Planet|Single Biome Planets]]s.
** The whole setting is one big [[Beyond the Impossible|Death]] ''[[Everything Trying to Kill You|Universe]]''.
* [[Decapitation Presentation]]: Happens a lot.
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** Horribly subverted, of course, when about half of them decide that they're not so friendly after all.
* [[Defector From Decadence]]: The Craftworld Eldar and Exodites, before the Fall of the Eldar. Turned out they were right...
** Also, [[Soul Drinkers|in their novels]], the Soul Drinkers Space Marine chapter. Except the Decadence is the [[Designated Hero|Imperium]]. After a [[Gambit Pileup]] gone badly wrong, they decided that the [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|Obstructive Bureaucrats]]s, [[Corrupt Church]], and ignorant, terrified populace couldn't possibly be what the Emperor wanted.
* [[Defictionalization]]: [http://thq.com/uk/features/show/6258 Look! A Rhino. A RHINO. Our game developers are building METAL BOXES, the cowards. The FOOLS!]
** [[Tome of Eldritch Lore|The Liber Chaotica]] has been published as a [[Sourcebook]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|on the]] [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos Gods]]
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* [[Detect Evil]]: Psykers can sense the presence of Chaos. Chaos itself is supposed to have a smell somewhere between rotten flesh and sugar.
* [[Deus Est Machina]]: Taken literally by the Omnissiah, and almost literally by the Void Dragon. Then there's the part where they might be the same being...
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Daemons, C'tan, and other [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]s ''can'' be defeated, if only by [[Death in All Directions|throwing absolutely everything at them]] - but destroying the physical form of a daemon only banishes it back to the warp for a while, and the C'tan merely need to fashion new necrodermis bodies.
** Hey, they're not always that hard to kill. An [[Badass Normal|ordinary human]] took down one armed with nothing but a melta and a chainsword, while backed up by a squad of marines. Admittedly this was out of the ordinary, in a firmly tongue-in-cheek take on the universe, by a character who was both [[Born Lucky]] and a [[Badass Normal]].
* [[Diesel Punk]]: Everything runs on magic gasoline caled "promethium". Admit it, 40k is just diesel punk with spaceships and [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]s.
** Well, ''nearly'' everything. It's been said in fluff that the Leman Russ uses a multifuel combustion engine which can be adapted to run on almost anything that burns, so you could potentially have a [[Steampunk|coal-powered Leman Russ]].
* [[Disney Owns This Trope]]: Games Workshop released an expansion called ''Space Marine'' to the original ''Adeptus Titanicus'' game (the scale now called ''Epic''). Come the re-release, the ''entire game system'' ended up being released under the ''Space Marine'' name, with Games Workshop picking up a Registered Trademark for "Space Marine." Figures for ''Aliens'' will acknowledge this trademark on their packaging if you look, despite that ''Aliens'' came out the year before the original ''Rogue Trader'' book.
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* [[Emperor Scientist]]: The Emperor, appropriately enough.
* [[The Empire]]: ''The "good" guys.''
* [[Empire with a Dark Secret]]: The Tau Empire has a few skeletons in its closet. The Imperium of Mankind has entire ''mausoleums''. To go further, since they inadvertently created ''an entire Chaos god'', one of the most terrifying forces in the Galaxy (and in this case, the [[Squick|Squickiest]]iest of the four), you could say the Eldar have an entire ''necropolis''. The other sides also have dark histories; they're just more honest about them.
** Incidentally the same with the Necrons. Considering they gave birth to nearly a whole legion of god-like beings that are nothing but pure narcissistic malice, and lost their free will and souls to said beings, it could be said they have entire Tomb Worlds of skeletons (Pun intended). Probably only kept a secret due to the fact that they can't talk.
*** Games Workshop just retconned quite a bit of Necron history with the new Codex; now, instead of being puppets of the C'tan, the Necrons ended up [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|blowing said beings into thousands of itty-bitty shards]]... AFTER using their help to defeat another, even more powerful foe, and attain immortality. With the C'tans no longer being the driving force, Necrons now only want their universe-spanning empire back. Or in one case, only want artefacts for a museum.
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*** "[[The British Empire|Praetorians! First rank FIRE! Second rank FIRE! Independent fire at will!]]"
** ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' for ''Sharpe'' in the beginning, though they've moved away from that and become more original. Similarly, [[Ciaphas Cain]] ('''HERO''' etc. etc.) for ''Flashman''.
** Necrons seem to be an army made up entirely of [[Terminator|Terminators]]s, complete with a special rule entitled [[Catch Phrase|"We'll Be Back".]]
** The Arbitrators [[Judge Dredd|are the Law!]]
*** Amusingly, this went full circle, with the ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' movie featuring Judge Hunters who brazenly ripped off the Adeptus Arbites uniforms, which themselves were ripoffs of the original Judge uniforms.
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* [[Gaiden Game]]: The various [[Spin-Off|Spinoffs]] listed in the introduction.
* [[Galactic Conqueror]]: Too many to count. Some evil, some ''really'' evil.
* [[Garrisonable Structures]]: Tabletop 40K was doing this long before [[Video Game|Video Games]]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.
* [[Gatling Good]]: Consider the Assault Cannon, a gatling gun which can cut through light vehicles. Next, consider the Punisher Gatling Cannon, a gatling gun the size of a main tank cannon that can slaughter entire squads of light infantry at a time. Then the Vulcan Mega-Bolter, a gatling gun the size of a ''whole tank'' that can mow down armies. Now look at the Hellstorm cannon, a gatling gun the size of a ''skyscraper''. And that's just in the Imperium. Yep, 40k ''likes'' this one.
* [[General Ripper]]: Imperial officers are generally this, or [[Colonel Badass]]. Sometimes both.
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* [[Glass Cannon]]: Eldar put emphasis on the "cannon", Dark Eldar on the "glass".
** The [[Everything's Better with Monkeys|Jokaero]] combine this with [[Lethal Joke Character]]. They wear technomagic rings on their fingers that fire beams that can do ''three different types of ranged damage'', but they die just about as easily as you'd expect unarmored space monkeys to.
*** Taken to extremes by the joke army build known as the "Barrel of Monkeys".<ref>Take Inquisitor Coteaz, who can take Jokaero as troops. Spend ''all'' the rest of your points on Jokaero</ref>. You will murder your way across the tabletop, provided you keep up the pace and not give the other guy an opening because the second you do he'll turn you into Swiss cheese.
* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: ''Everyone'' seems to have these.
* [[A God I Am Not]]: The Emperor, despite what his worshippers say.
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** Ironically, the guy tried to make sure that he wouldn't. It didn't work. Far worse than he would [[Alternative Character Interpretation|publically admit]] to liking.
* [[God Is Evil]]: Taken to an extreme.
** Tzeentch: [[Chessmaster]] god of change, mutation, manipulation, sorcery, [[Magnificent Bastard|Magnificent Bastards]]s and the long game. Daemons take the form of mutated horrible things which squirt hellfire from every orifice; followers are usually mutated-beyond-all-recognition sorcerers, or automatons reduced to dust sealed inside armour. Odds are high that everything going on in the entire ''galaxy'' is part of his [[Xanatos Roulette]]. Reflection of the emotion of ''hope''.
** Nurgle: God of decay, disease, corruption, entropy, maggots and [[Body Horror]]. Daemons take the form of potbellied maggotridden monsters of barely-held-together rotten flesh, mortal followers aren't much better. Apparently has a sense of humour, and is called ''Grandfather Nurgle'' by his followers, who see him as a [[Nightmare Fuel|kind and loving god.]] Born from the emotion of ''despair''.
** Khorne: God of rage, violence, war, [[BFS|oversized weapons]] and the [[Axe Crazy]]. Daemons take the form of spiky muscular freaks covered with blood and brass, usually holding really big axes. Followers are uniformly psychotic axe-waving [[Blood Knight|Blood Knights]]s, although this may be something of a [[Flanderisation]] - earlier background material described Khorne as the god of martial prowess, not just blind, screaming bloodlust. Khorne embodies the emotion of ''rage''.
** Slaanesh: God of pleasure, excess, indulgence, [[Sense Freak|Sense Freaks]]s, [[Fetish Fuel]] and [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]. Daemons are [[Stripperiffic|bizarrely sensual]] things ranging from [[Horny Devils|seductive siren-creatures]] absolutely ''covered'' in breasts to enormous worms with [[Nightmare Fuel|prehensile tongues]] which are...also covered in breasts. Accidentally [[Squick|squickedsquick]]ed from the decadance of the Eldar, its birth destroying most of their civilisation in a galaxy-wide [[Mind Rape]]. Slaanesh embodies the emotion of ''desire''.
** Gork and Mork: the ork gods of Cunning Brutality and Brutal Cunning (The subtle distinction being: one hits you when you're not looking at it, the other hits you really hard when you are. Orks have fought wars over which god is which). Reflection of...er...everything [[Axe Crazy]] in existence? By the way, those two kinda qualify as nice ones, or at least [[Comic Relief]] ones.
** Then we have the C'tan, who are almost as good as the Chaos gods themselves on the soul eating and reality warping front.
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* [[Good Is Boring]]: Fortunately, there's very little of it around.
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: The Salamanders fight not for glory, but for the people. Hurting civilians is a [[Berserk Button]] for them, which a chapter master found out the hard way. Outside of that, they're ruthless in battle and are an entire chapter of [[Scary Black Man|scary black men]] who like to burn things.
** Also the Space Wolves, an entire chapter of [[Chaotic Good]] [[Boisterous Bruiser|Boisterous Bruisers]]s who are scary enough to convince the ''[[State Sec|Inquisition]]'' to change its operating policy.
** Tau rule can seem restrictive to people not accustomed to it, but the Tau inhabitants like it quite a lot. Even the humans are probably better off than they would be in most other places.
* [[Good Shepherd]]: A [[Corrupt Church]] the Ecclesiarchy may be, but there are a few Imperial preachers who legitimately care about the common folk of the Imperium. You're more likely to run into [[Sinister Minister|the other variety, though]]
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** In the case of the Dark Reapers and Maugan Ra, this is directly from the Nightbringer. The Eldar Aspect Warriors are all embodying a single aspect of Khaine, the Eldar War God; the aspect of the Reaper is a direct result of Khaine getting a bit of the Nightbringer stuck in him.
* [[Grimmification]]: First-edition Rogue Trader ''started off'' as a spectacularly grim and horrible place where the good guys were insane thugs and war and horror dominated everything. [[It Got Worse|It got much, much, much,''much'' worse]].
* [[Guilt-Free Extermination War]]: pretty much every single race has a reason to exterminate every other race and has [[Plan|plansplan]]s to do so.
* [[Guns Akimbo]]: Cypher and Sisters of Battle Seraphim, mostly. Dire Avenger Exarchs can have this too.
* [[Gun in My Pocket]]: Plenty of examples of models holding their guns in, shall we say, suggestive ways, but kings of this trope are the old Ork Gargant and Imperator Titan models, both of which featured rather unfortunately placed trouser cannons.
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** While Hollywood Tactics are typically averted both in written fluff and in the game itself (again barring Orks,) it is quite commonly depicted in artwork made for the game. A very common theme is to show two opposing armies of huge size standing in lines and firing at each other from practically point blank range with no cover and no room to move laterally. [[Rule of Cool|It looks very dramatic]], but such battlefield situations almost never occur on the tabletop or in a narritive.
* [[Holy Hand Grenade]]: The Grey Knights have an array of weapons specifically for battling the daemonic spawn of Chaos. The Black Templars have the actual Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
* [[Homage]]: Tonnes and tonnes of 'em, some minor, like planets named after Games Developers or deodorants, some much more major. The best example of a major homage would be the Necrons, started as a clear and blatant homage to the ''Terminator'' films: mysterious robotic skeletons, who carried on trying to kill you even if reduced to crawling torsos with no legs, and a special rule called "I'll Be Back". Later changes [[Retcon|departed from this]], focusing more on their image as impossibly ancient servants of even more impossibly ancient monsters. Essentially now a bunch of [[Ancient Conspiracy|Ancient Evil]] [[Determinator|Determinators]]s with rather too much scalpel imagery, they maintain the robo-skeleton and "I'll Be Back". "I'll be back" has since been redubbed resurrection protocols and their fluff has moved them further than a simple Terminator [[Expy]].
** In what may be a twisted homage to the original Terminator's flesh gradually getting messed up to reveal the robotic endoskeleton (as well as a reference to the Aztec deity Xipe Totec), Necron Flayed Ones invert this: they start as machines that then ''drape themselves in the flayed corpses of their victims''.
** Horus' betrayal began while recovering from injury like [[The American Revolution|Benedict Arnold]].
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