Warhammer 40k Core Book

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.

The galaxy writhes in the mailed fist of all-consuming war. The Imperium teeters on the brink of annihilation, beset upon all sides by heretic warlords, daemon-summoning witches, and rapacious alien empires. The Great Rift sunders the void, a ragged wound torn through the heart of the Emperor's realm and bleeding madness and mutation across all.

In every star system and upon every planet, battle rages more fiercely than ever before as loyalists, heretics, and aliens tear reality itself apart in their war dominance. Every day the flames rise higher – this is a more terrible era than ever before, for there is no peace amongst the stars…

The Book
This 280-page hardback book is an essential guide to Warhammer 40,000, and contains everything you need to know to collect, build, paint, and play with Citadel miniatures in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium.

You'll find an overview of the Warhammer 40,000 hobby in all its aspects, core rules for playing out battles that range from small skirmishes to massive Onslaught games, and an in-depth introduction to this rich and ruinous setting through immersive lore, stunning illustrations and photography, and an evocative look at each of the factions waging war in the far future.

THE WARHAMMER 40,000 HOBBY
The book opens with an introduction to this amazing hobby through its four keys – Collect, Build, Paint, and Play. You'll find out how to start your collection of Citadel miniatures, learn how people build and paint their models, and get suggestions to tools and guides that will help further. You'll also begin your journey as a commander with a look at how, where, and why players engage in dynamic tabletop battles of Warhammer 40,000, an example Battle Report between two armies, and an explanation of different styles of play – self-contained Combat Patrols, competitive Chapter Approved games, and narrative Crusade campaigns.

DARK IMPERIUM
This expansive lore section provides a doorway into the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium. It is a far-distant future dominated by an oppressive and corrupt Human empire, its crumbling borders defended by doomed heroes and imperiled by threats from both without and within, its history marked by ignorance and carnage and the laughter of thirsting gods.

The first part of this guide explores the decaying Imperium and the galaxy in which it resides – the long-dead God-Emperor who sits eternal on his Golden Throne, the High Lords and Adeptus bureaucracies that rule in his name, the fanatical Ecclesiarchy which preaches the Imperial faith, the secretive Ordos of the all-seeing Inquisition, and the post-human Space Marines who fight battles no other could endure. You'll also discover the hellish dimension known as the warp, which fuels psychic mutation and interstellar travel, the mad Gods of Chaos who rule its infinite depths, the blasphemous cults that serve them, and the Great Rift that splits realspace itself in two.

There's also a double-page galactic map, highlighting vital planets, systems, war zones, and warp storms.

The second half delves into the history of the setting, from its myth-shrouded past to the apocalyptic clashes of its present. You'll find a timeline of Humanity's development through the Ages of Terra and Technology, the Ages of Strife and Darkness, all the way to the Age of the Imperium. You'll explore the superstitions that fuelled the Imperium's worship of lost technology and its fearful hatred of aliens and mutants, the Great Crusade through which the Emperor sought to unite Humanity, the Horus Heresy that set the galaxy aflame, and the millennia of war and loss that shaped the Imperium.

Finally, you'll enter the Era Indomitus – marked by the opening of the Great Rift, the birth of a new God of Death, and the revival of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman. Even as the new Lord Regent's Indomitus Crusade strives to reunite the dying Imperium, a