Laying Down The Lore: 40K

The second part of our extreme summary of the Horus heresy looks at three major conflicts that defined, in part at least, the course of the war. The Battle of Molech sees a knight house turn traitor at the best (or worst) moment and Horus is re-re-born… again… The battle of Tallarn, where Peter Barro, Primarch of the Iron Warriors seeks the Black Occulous and destroys a world. The battle of Beta-G...

In this episode … TREACHERY! The Horus Heresy begins in earnest as we look at the events that lead to it, if your name is Davin we don’t like you. We look at the destructive warning of Magnus, who may or may not have done anything wrong, and the subsequent purging of Prospero by the Space Wolves. We explore the background for and the events of both the Isstvan III atrocity and the dropsite massacr...

In this episode we look at the main players between the Unification War and the end of the Great Crusade. We discuss the origins and actions of the Emperor from his birth to the conquering of Terra and his understandable, but objectionable, culling of the warriors that got him there. We explore the role that Primarchs play, even after their disappearance, and the birth of the Legiones astartes, th...

In this episode, we take a summarising stroll through thirty thousand years of human history. Starting with the Age of Terra we discuss the diaspora of humanity and the generational ships they used. The Age of Technology sees the advent of warp travel, the "coincidental" birth of Navigators and the ultimate collapse of the interstellar human empire thanks, in part, to the AI-fuelled pogr...

In this episode we look at the Galaxy within which 40K is set, our own Milky Way A.K.A Gerald. We explore the 3 “realities” that share the space and discuss the importance of psychic lighthouses. We next discuss the administrative area of the Imperium of Man, the 5 Segmentae and their locations. Finally, we look at the classifications of planets and their biomes, civilisation level, and use. Despi...

This episode has two goals. The first is to detail the expansive change in the game since the mid 90s, from 3rd to 9th edition. We examine each edition in turn and look at the arrival of new factions and races together with game-play innovations. Dhar discusses how the inconsistencies and gaps within the setting have been weaved together to form a holistically, though perhaps subjectively, perfect...

In this, our second episode we look at the first two editions of Warhammer 40K. The setting launched with Rogue Trader where the setting was very much “of its time”, mid to high sci-fi with a comic book feel and the most convoluted, perhaps even fractured, ruleset which Dhar still loves. We explore the many ways in which the game evolved and look at the key releases and books. Second edition broug...

Welcome to this, our first episode! What is this? What are we trying to do? Dhar begins with trying to encapsulate the past 40(ish) years of Warhammer 40,000. We look at the explosion of content from the first, comedy named including, edition to the apocalyptic levels of lore that have been used to populate the setting. What inspired the universe, *cough* Dune *cough* Hawkmoon *cough*, and what or...

Whether you're taking your first steps into the grim darkness of the far future or you've been collecting and reading Warhammer 40,000 for decades, Laying Down The Lore is your guide to the rich history, iconic factions, legendary characters and galaxy-spanning wars of the 41st Millennium. Join 40k veteran Dhar, alongside his brother Ben and friend Cral, two Warhammer newbies, as they explore the...