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

** Even [[Ciaphas Cain]], one of the more pragmatic and tolerant individuals in the ''40K'' universe, is at best lukewarm towards Xenos. He's willing to cooperate with the Tau in the first novel (when it'll save his bacon), but doesn't miss an opportunity to screw them later by failing to point out an {{spoiler|Genestealer infected fire warrior}}.

*** Actually {{spoiler|He might have been TRYING to warn the Tau. The Tau were just too much in a hurry to leave the crazy humans to notice.}}

** In the video game ''Fire Warrior'', a Space Marine comments to an imperial governor that the Tau will eventually be exterminated by the Imperium, but that for the time being they aren't the primary threat, as there are greater threats closer to home (truer words never spoken, since {{spoiler|he's standing on a chaos tainted planet, unknowingly right next to the avatar of a Chaos Demon Prince}}). Yes, it is Imperial policy to exterminate all aliens eventually, but the Imperium realizes that they should try to eliminate the ones ''actively'' trying to eradicate humanity before worrying about the ones that are just neutral for them.

*** Given this setting, Humanity should be done fighting off the "actively" hostile aliens around the same time the Eye of Terror closes forever. ie Never. Doesn't mean Humanity won't shoot an Alien if available though.

* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Nearly every faction has an example; many races' ''basic close combat weapons'' have monomolecular edges, and it only gets sharper from there.

** Space Marine Sternguard Veterans ONLY carry abnormal ammo: rocket-propelled anti-armor rounds, rocket-propelled flaming airburst rounds, rocket-propelled ''vials of flesh-eating acid'', and rocket-propelled ''miniaturized fusion bombs''.

** Aside from a very few conventional laser weapons, Eldar ranged weapons use abnormal ammo: if they use ammo at all: more or less exclusively: the ninja star guns, [[Razor Floss]] guns, and guns that open holes into hell listed above are all theirs. The Dark Eldar top this with guns that shoot poisoned slivers of glass, pure distilled ''pain'', and the tortured souls of enemy psykers as ammunition.

* [[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.

** 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.

* [[Anti Air]]: Post ''Titan Legions'', aircraft and specialized AA vehicles with a rule called "Snap Fire" started to show up in ''Epic''. Not really applicable to 40K outside Forgeworld products, since most things in the sky are "skimmers" as opposed to true aircraft, and pretty much anyone can shoot at them; however, special mention does go to the Imperial Guard Hydra Flak Tank, which is better at shooting down aircraft and skimmers due to the [[More Dakka|sheer amount of lead it can put into the air]].

** Aw, c'mon now, it has a special machine spirit to auto-track aircraft too. And let's not forget the amount of lead it can put against ''ground'' targets when there aren't any fliers to kill...

* [[Apathy Killed the Cat]]: Imperial domestic policy. "Only the awkward question; only the foolish ask twice."

* [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape]]: Played straight by the Craftworld Eldar and the Tau. ''Thoroughly'' averted by everyone else, who gladly maim, torture, kill, and even ''eat'' members of their own race, and claim no moral superiority from avoiding such acts.

* [[Apocalypse How]]: Class 0-5 happen due to rounding errors on tax forms or when an inquisitor [[Its the Only Way|has to make sure]]. This sounds pretty bad until you consider that: The Tau are going to annex your world and ethnically cleanse you if you resist; the Eldar are going to exterminate you if you touch one of their ancestral worlds, not to mention they're making a new god for the final battle with Chaos; the Orks are going to make WAAAAGH! and burn the galaxy; the Necrons are going to awaken and enslave everyone; the Tyranids are going to arrive and consume the galaxy; and Chaos cannot be denied and is going to turn the galaxy into a Freudian nightmare. And that's only if the Emperor stays alive long enough, because once he kicks it humanity will be stranded without [[FTL]] travel and die slowly anyways. Enjoy your life.

* [[Apocalyptic Log]]: A few have cropped up from doomed Imperial research expeditions.

* [[Arbitrary Gun Power]]: Averted in most cases - a failed To Wound roll with firearms means the target ''was'' hit, but was wounded non-fatally and not incapacitated. A failed armor roll either means the firearm pierced the target's armor or hit them in a place where the armour couldn't protect. Since most infantry only have one wound, this means they can be killed by a good hit easily. On the other hand, there are infantry which have more than one wound. They may be very [[Badass]] non-humans which served as a more reasonable justification, but may be simply very [[Badass]] humans that play the trope straight.

** Taken to ridiculous extremes with Commissar Yarrick, who is apparently a normal human pushing 70 and can not only survive three consecutive blasts from a fusion gun, but still get back up and give the opponent a [[Power Fist]] to the face.

*** And a bit infuriating as in-lore flak armor is actually extremely good, capable of dramatically increasing the survivability of the wearer against anything shy of a bolt pistol.

** Some psykers use Force Weapons which can kill any model which suffers an unsaved wound and doesn't die (like a multi-wound model for example) after a successful psychic test.

** The ''Second Edition'' Earthshaker Artillery Gun had a fun special rule that even if the impressive set of dice for its AP roll failed to beat the target's armor, you would ''still'' roll a D3 on the vehicle's location damage table; since most vehicles had at least three hit locations and the blast marker would hit all of them, it was ''statistically likely'' that any vehicle hit would be at very least crippled by the shot regardless of whether the round actually penetrated the armor.

** Taken to extremes with some weapons mounted on Titans in Apocalypse. In a game where most weapons have Strength ratings from 1 (puny) to 10 (bunker-busting), Titan weapons can have a Strength value of D: short for "'''D'''estroy everything under the blast marker automatically" (and some of these weapons use a blast marker that's a full 12" in diameter). Apocalyptic indeed.

* [[Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence]]: The Emperor already has.

* [[Asskicking Equals Authority]]: Ork "society". It is said that a powerful enough Ork warlord uniting all of the galaxy's Orks could [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomp]] every other faction. This is also how Space Marines get promoted, and how champions of Chaos gain renown.

* [[The Atoner]]: Cypher and the Fallen Angels, also the Lamenters, Executioners, and Mantis Warriors chapters along with every chapter that's been on a pentient crusade ever and (most of) the Craftworld Eldar.

** 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.

** 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.

** 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.

** It should be noted that the Space Wolves (Space Vikings) make extensive use of: Fenrisian Wolves (around twice the size of most wolves today), Blackmaned Wolves (even bigger) and Thunderwolf Cavalry, who are entire units of supermen on wolves the size of Canis's... and then of course, they have viking werewolves in powered armour...

** They also call themselves [[Space Wolves]], their Primarch Leman Russ was literally [[Raised By Wolves]] (after climbing out of the volcano he landed in), and their home planet is [[Norse Mythology|Fenris]]...

* [[Big Book of War]]: The ''Tactica Imperium'' and the ''Codex Astartes''. ''The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer'' would be this - it's actually pretty useful in some places, containing useful and informative tips such as how to make a frag grenade into a booby trap, how to field-strip and clean a lasgun, and how when you are on guard duty you should '''NEVER LEAVE YOUR POST EVER''' - were it not otherwise full of outright lies,er, uplifting Imperial propaganda.

** As a sidenote: The Tactica Imperium is regarded with near-religious reverence by the Imperial Guard, and its description as occasionally self-contradictory and best used as a rough guideline even suggests similarity to the Bible.

** Some of the artwork floating around shows the Space Marine [[Large and In Charge|Primarchs]] using variants on the aforementioned chainsaw swords that make the ones used by regular Marines look quite ''puny'' (especially considering that the Primarchs are generally accepted as being even bigger than your "average" eight-foot tall [[Super Soldier]]). An excellent example can be seen here with [[Imperial Fists]] Primarch Rogal Dorn, holding a [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/File:DORNBABY.jpg chainsword so wide a person could probably hide behind it].

* [[Big Good]]: Deconstructed with the God-Emperor for the Imperium of Man; while he most likely ''was'' the [[Big Good]] during the [[Horus Heresy]], nowadays, he's basically been rendered as little more than a shriveled-up husk, only serving as little more than a symbolic figurehead, meant to keep the Imperium from fully collapsing in morale and structure, and the primary icon of religious worship by his subjects, to counter the corruptive daemonology of the Chaos gods.

*** According to the descriptions of his earlier life in the background, it's likely that he ''was'' a few of these dictators.

** Aun'Va, eldest and wisest of the Ethereals, serves as this for the Tau.

* [[Breast Plate]]: The Sisters of Battle tend to wear rather...form-fitting armour. All Eldar Howling Banshees also wear armor with noticable bosoms: including, presumably, the male ones. Some Eldar Guardians also have these.

* [[Breath Weapon]]: Tyranid bio-plasma, certain daemons and daemonhosts.

** Unless you get your pieces off E-Bay. The market's saturated.

** Depend on what army you play. If you play World Eaters, you can get two squads of Khorne Berserkers and Kharn the Betrayer for about 50 bucks and have a pretty decent 500 point army.

* [[Chainsaw Good|Chainsaw Is God]]: Warhammer's love of chainsaws can be summed up in this quote:

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

* [[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".

** Eldar Phoenix Lords as well, for certain definitions of "maniac."

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Ork Madboyz at their most harmless. At their ''[[Power Born of Madness|least]]'' harmless, however...

** Similarly, the Armageddon Steel Legion and the Death Korps of Krieg are Coat Helmet (Gas) Mask.

** Interrogator-Chaplains. There's a reason they're named that. Especially be careful of the ones with many black pearls.

** The [[Night Lords]] legion has a special fondness for this.

* [[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]].

* [[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.

** 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.

** Eldar are colour coded to the extreme- not only does each army have their own colour schemes, but each DIFFERENT KIND of soldier has their own colours- orange for Fire Dragons, green for Striking Scorpions, blue for Dire Avengers, and so on...

*** Though for their part, the Tau do not see it this way. According to the [[Novelization]] of ''[[Fire Warrior]]'', they see imprisonment-as-punishment as an (ironically) alien concept. Those who deviate from the right and just path are poor misguided people worthy of sympathy and help. If said sympathy and help involves some [[Culture Clash|"tough love" in a re-education facility]] then so be it.

* [[Custom Uniform]]: Many examples for minor characters and squad leaders, such as Imperial Guard commissars and techpriests, and Eldar warlocks.

** Lampshaded by a White Dwarf article that supplied rules for "Movie Marines", depictions of Space Marines based on the how they might appear in an in-universe war film. Basically turns every Marine into a Hive Tyrant and every Bolter into an Assault Cannon, and they're about 100 points each.

** In the ''[[Space Wolf]]'' novels, Ragnar and co. fight off what we can estimate to be 40 odd genestealers [[Too Dumb to Live|in close combat]]. In-game, that many Genestealers spell a one way ticket to rending claw ''buttrape'' for anything short of a super heavy tank.

* [[Deadly Doctor]]: Mad Doks and Apothecaries are fully qualified and lethal combatants with their medical equipment.

** 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.

* [[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]], Tyranid mycetic spores, Tau Mantas, and Ork roks.

** Also, Exterminatus!

* [[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...

** 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]].

* [[Divided We Fall]]: Common among the Imperial armed forces, governments, the Inquisition, etc., much to the Imperium's detriment.

* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]: Several Dark Eldar as of the new codex, including Lelith Hesperax, Urien Rakarth, the Mandrakes, and a few of the Hellions and Scourges.

* [[Do Not Go Gentle]]: The Eldar and Imperium are entire ''races'' in the middle of this.

* [[Doomsday Device]]: Lots, in every form imaginable, from sucking planets into Hell to simply breaking them apart from the inside out.

* [[Drop Pod]]: The most common way for Space Marines to enter combat.

* [[Drop Ship]]: Many, the best known being Space Marine Thunderhawk Gunships.

** Taken to the next step by Eldar Striking Scorpions, who have a [[Chainsaw Good|chainsword]] in one hand, pistol in the other, and mind-activated gun mounted on their helmet. Half a step to the left are the classic Dark Eldar Incubi, who trade the chainsword and pistol for a double-handed glaive, but keep the head-gun. (Modern Incubi do away with all forms of dual wielding whatsoever in favor of [[BFS|a single, massive two-handed sword]].)

* [[Duel to The Death]]: Common in the Imperium and Dark Eldar; ''extremely'' common, if informal, among the Orks.

* [[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]] 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.

** Almost each of the Space Marine chapters have at least enough secrets to fill a tomb or two. Special mention goes to the Dark Angels, who are more than willing to kill members of the Inquisition to hide their secret (which is similar to killing a judge at your own trial) and are so secretive about it within their own Chapter that it would make [[Church of Happyology|Happyology]] seem like an open book.

* [[The End of the World As We Know It]]: This age of mankind has been dubbed ''The Time Of Ending'', since it is believed that humanity will either be extinguished, or it will evolve into a brand new species.

* [[The Eternal Churchill]]: The Imperium lives by this trope. Though individual worlds may enjoy centuries of peace, the Imperium as a whole has been fighting a war for survival on a hundred thousand fronts for ten millennia.

* [[Eternal Engine]]: Adeptus Mechanicus Forge Worlds are described as being planets covered in these. Or as planets that ''are'' these.

* [[Everything Is Better With Monkeys]]: The Jokaero.

* [[Everything Trying to Kill You]]: Non-video game example: the setting in general, life on a Death World in particular.

* [[The Evil Army]]: The forces of Chaos, the Dark Eldar, and the armies of the Imperium on a bad day (or under a bad leader).

** The <s>[[Dune|Navigators' Guild]]</s> Navis Nobilite.

** The majority of the Imperial Guard is designed around this trope.

*** "[[The British Empire|Praetorians! First rank FIRE! Second rank FIRE! Independent fire at will!]]"

** ''[[Gaunts 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''.

** Horus himself is the most prominent example at hand. An incredibly talented, charismatic and powerful leader, Horus was, essentially, tricked into rebelling by being shown a future where (so he thought) he had been forgotten (along with all the other traitor primarchs) and the Emperor was worshipped as a God. Ironically / tragically, this was in fact that future that his very rebellion would create.

** The first Eldar Striking Scorpion Phoenix Lord, Ahra, left his aspect shrine to journey through the Dark Eldar-inhabited Webway, and is HEAVILY implied to be the Dark Eldar special character Drazhar, Master of Blades. The Dark Eldar have a unit called Incubi, which are supposedly composed entirely of fallen Striking Scorpions and their descendents.

* [[Fangs Are Evil]]: Averted with the Space Wolves and the Blood Angels. Played horrifically straight with Chaos Space Marines and the Tyranids.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: "Beware the alien, the mutant, the heretic." The Imperium of Man is rabidly and xenocidally human-centric, but considering that the Eldar view every other species as mindless pawns to be manipulated, the Tau are divided into genetically "pure" castes based on their physical specialisations, the Orks tend to "crump any o' 'dose gits what ain't Orky enuff!" - including ''other Orks'' - and everything else is trying to kill everything else, it's fairly understandable.

** The Orks started life as a caricature of British football hooligans.

** In the ''Dawn of War'' series, the Tau are characterised by distinctly Asian accents, which rather coincides with their Taoist philosophy and rather [[Animesque]] designs. They're also commonly seen as Space Communists for their "Greater Good" philosophy.

** Both the Necrons and the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marines show ancient Egyptian influence in their design.

** The Kroot have a very Aboriginal Tribal feel to them, using relatively primitive weapons and warbeasts rather than the high-tech weaponry of every other race (and it's not like it's hard for them to get the equipment either, they just simply don't want it because it's too flimsy).

* [[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.

** To the point that the rogue chaos god Zuvassin is, for the most part, the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Murphy's Law; he doesn't so much as give his worshippers orders as much as just let them loose, because if he actually were to give orders, they would find some way of messing them up.

* [[Final Solution]]: Exterminatus is a disturbingly popular problem-solving tool.

** On the tabletop, [[Five Rounds Rapid]] is ineffective. Five ''Hundred'' Rounds Rapid, on the other hand...

** Star-gods and a few nasty T8+ creatures are utterly immune to most small-arms fire in-game, due to the rule that if a weapon's strength is 4 or more less than the toughness of the target, it can't hurt them (and the standard firearm is usually Strength 4, if not less). They also have a helluva lotta wounds to withstand anything that can hurt them.

* [[For Doom the Bell Tolls]]: The Bell of Lost Souls is located atop one of the highest towers of the Imperial Palace, and tolls once whenever a truly great hero of the Imperium dies. It is said to be audible on the other side of the planet.

** It is hinted at in the fluff that the bell tolls for every Space Marine that died in service to the Emperor. It must be ringing nearly all day and night if that is true.

* [[For the Evulz]]: Dark Eldar, and Orks pretty much have this as their main motivation. [[Alternate Character Interpretation|A number of the Chaos worshippers, too.]]

* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: For the story, no matter what new threat shows up and no matter how much its power is hyped it will ''never'' mean the end of the Imperium. In real life, whenever an army gets a new codex they will definitely win the battle report in the White Dwarf magazine or at least a second chance if they lose the first battle.

* [[Forever War]]: That should be obvious by now.

* [[Four Is Death]]: The four chief [[God Is Evil|Chaos Gods]], [[The Corruption]] distilled. Massively powerful warp entities, each a reflection of one survivalist emotion as present in the collective subconscious of all sentient beings. Each has their own set of daemonic creatures and corrupted followers. Similarly, the surviving C'tan number four: [[The Chessmaster|The Deceiver]], [[The Grim Reaper|The Nightbringer]], [[And I Must Scream|The Outsider]] and the [[Deus Est Machina|Void Dragon]].)

* [[Fragile Speedster]]: Taken to extremes by the Eldar; taken to ''ridiculous'' extremes by Dark Eldar.

* [[Friendly Enemy]]: Ghazghkull Thraka, to Commissar Yarrick. The feeling is ''not'' mutual.

** Orks have a word to describe this: "Skumgrod" roughly translates to "Favourite Enemy." Or "Best Friend." This is the Ork psyche in a nutshell.

 

== G ==

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

* [[Garrisonable Structures]]: Tabletop 40K was doing this long before [[Video Game|Video Games]] 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.

** The Imperial Guard are so aware of their [[Redshirt Army]] status that the commissar unit was developed specifically to address their [[You Have Failed Me|morale problems]].

* [[Geo Effects]]: Placing units in or behind pieces of terrain can greatly increase their chances of survival thanks to various rules for movement, shooting, and close combat.

* [[Ghost Ship]]: Space Hulks. Also some Eldar vessels, albeit more as "ships crewed by ghosts" than the traditional sense.

* [[Giant Flyer]]: Winged strains of the larger Tyranids.

* [[Giant Spider]]: Giant ''robot'' spiders, no less, in the form of Necron Tomb Spyders, and a [[Humongous Mecha]]-scale variant called the Tomb Stalker, which is more of a Giant Centipede.

** The Tyranid Hierophant biotitan has elements of this as well, combined, of course, with reptilian features.

* [[Glass Cannon]]: Eldar put emphasis on the "cannon", Dark Eldar on the "glass".

*** 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.

* [[Golem]]: Eldar wraith-constructs.

** 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.

** 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]], 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''.

** 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.

 

== H ==

* [[Hand Cannon]]: Imperial bolt pistols, plasma pistols, and inferno/infernus (melta) pistols, particularly the versions wielded by Space Marines. Ork sluggas also qualify. Other races tend to be a bit more... restrained when it comes to their sidearms.

** Laspistols, [[Fan Nickname|or flashlights]] ''technically'' count by a great abuse of technicality that will surely land this in the YMMV tab, because, while the weakest weapon in the setting, a laspistol can easily liquefy/explode any organic matter the beam hits. Why weren't they mentioned before? Well, firstly they're ''the weakest weapon in the setting'' and everyone calls them flashlights. And it has as big a case of [[Overshadowed By Awesome]] as the rest of the [[Imperial Guard]], because... well, look at the above pistols. And the [[BFG]] versions which weren't mentioned because they could deserve their own page. And the artillery pieces. And so on.

** Notably, 40k is one of the only settings where the energy weapons can be considered Hand Cannons.

** Notable as well is that these energy weapons don't go pew, but krak! as the beam vaporizes the air in its path, also causing the weapon to actually have kick as well.

* [[Happiness in Slavery]]: Brutal aversions abound, but there is one straight example: The Chapter Serfs of the Space Marine Chapters. They fill all positions in a chapter not involving leadership or infantry combat, and are better trained and equipped than any non-Astartes. The Space Marine Chapters, in turn, recognize the skill and dedication of their serfs, and chapter serfs are full members of the chapter cult, and enjoy a better lifestyle than all except the richest citizens of the Imperium.

* [[Harmony Versus Discipline]]

** [[Magic Versus Science]]: The battle against the Warp and Chaos (which is for all intents and purposes the "magic" of the setting) is one of the most central plot points. Faith is also used, but ridiculously large calibur guns and energy weapons also help. Of course Chaos can and does corrupt technology by stuffing demons into it. There's all sorts of scientists fallen to Chaos too since new ideas generally open someone up to the influence of the Warp and who wouldn't be slightly curious to see how it all works. The most known faction of those is the Dark Mechanicus who use more forbidden technologies like [[A Is]] and bio-tech to make very powerful potent weapons. The idea also comes to light when one considers the Tau, who stick entirely to technology and do their best to ignore the presence of sorcery and faith as active forces in the galaxy. The result, among other things, is that their ships move at a snail's pace compared to everyone else, since powerful sorcery is necessary to travel the Warp. On the other hand, the Necrons also eschew the Warp, and in fact have troops specifically to shut down psykers. Their technology involves using the Eldar Webway.

** [[Order Versus Chaos]]: There is no real Good vs Evil. Although there are some individuals who could be considered good, as a whole the sides are basically Bad vs Worse. However, Order does come off as a slightly lighter shade of black most of the time.

* [[The Heartless]]: Daemons of Chaos; Dark Eldar, especially mandrakes.

* [[Healing Factor]]: The entire gimmick of the Necrons and their "We'll Be Back" special rule, C'tan with their Necrodermis "skin", and certain Tyranid monstrous creatures. To a lesser degree Orks, who routinely survive anything <s>short of</s> including decapitation.

* [[Hell Gate]]: The Eye of Terror, the Maelstrom, Van Groethe's Rapidity...

* [[Hell Hound]]: Khornate Flesh Hounds. Also, to a lesser extent, Dark Eldar Warp Beasts. The Imperial Guard also have a tank ''called'' the Hellhound, which is armed with a [[Kill It With Fire|flamethrower]].

* [[The Heretic]]: The Ecclesiarchy, the Adeptus Mechanicus, and the Space Marines all have different ideas of what constitutes heresy, but all three agree that worshiping Chaos fits the bill.

* [[Heroic Safe Mode]]: A core tenet of Eldar Aspect Warrior training.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Generally how the nice people in 40K die if it's on their own terms.

** To quote von Remus from ''[[Damnatus]]'': In this universe, one is either sacrificed, or sacrifices themself.

** How do you get rid of crime on a planet? Why, become [[Death Note (Manga)|a terrifying serial killer who kills all the other criminals, down to jaywalkers]]. At least, that's how the [[Batman|Night Haunter]], Primarch of the Night Lords, chose to go about it. Is it really surprising he fell to Chaos?

** Really, you can apply this to the whole of the Imperium. It helps that in some cases, they are fighting ''actual monsters''.

** Three of the main characters in the ''[[Ultramarines (Film)|Ultramarines]]'' movie are voiced by the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Superman (Film)|Superman]] II'', the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Equilibrium]]'', and the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[V for Vendetta]]''. Appropriate, really.

** Wow, [[Mass Effect 2|Zaeed]] is narrating the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHu4Na0lsd0 trailer] for ''Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millenium Online''!

** Epitomized by the Dark Eldar city of Commorragh, which doesn't even exist in the material world; but is hidden in the "Webway", a sort of interdimensional labyrinth that exists between the Warp and the material world.

** They can be very sociable...to other Eldar. Everyone else, not so much.

** Inspired by the Imperial Guard, Blood Axe Orks typically wear camouflage patterns, rather than the vibrant clan colors favored by other Orks. The problem is that what most Blood Axes consider to be "camouflage" is still brightly-colored and garish by human standards; only the Kommandoes have really figured out how to do it properly.

* [[Hive Mind]]: The Tyranids.

* [[Horny Vikings]]: Space Wolves are Vikings IN SPACE, though they don't wear horned helmets - those are reserved for Chaos Marines (and members of the Wolves' 13th Company, who have been in the Warp for 10,000 years and occasionally had to scavenge gear from dead Chaos Marines).

* [[Horse of a Different Color]]: Mutant horses, cyber-horses, cyber-boars, giant lizards, daemons that look like slugs, daemons that look like ''metal rhinos''...

* [[Hot Blooded]]: [[Authority Equals Asskicking|Shas'O]] [[Hot Blooded|Vior'la]] [[Badass|Shovah]] [[Ace Custom|Kais]] [[Overly Long Name|Mont'yr]] aka [[The Strategist|Commander Farsight]] has this ''right in his name''. He is also [[Memetic Mutation|A CHAR]].

* [[House Rules]]: If you and your opponent agree to them.

* [[Humanity Is Superior]]: Which is why everything else should be [[Kill It With Fire|killed with fire]].

* [[Humanoid Aliens]]: Pretty much every main race except for the Tyranids. Lampshaded in ''Xenology''.

* [[Human Resources]]: The one resource the Imperium has in unlimited amounts, which tends to lead to... [[We Have Reserves|wastefulness]].

** This is hilariously lampshaded by some Hive Worlds claiming Imperial Guard troopers as their prime (and sometimes sole) export. This is also the case with Cadia, which apparently does nothing else other than pumping out battle-ready babies (although their effectiveness is no better than any other world in-game).

[[Category:Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)]]

[[Category:W 40 k Tropes A To H]]