Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 has just announced its 11th edition, and the paramount tabletop game is continuing to grow more popular than ever before. As the universe of 40K continues to expand, former designer Jervis Johnson explains that just one reason for the game’s unbeatable popularity is due to the fact that its very broad.
Speaking to FRVR to promote his upcoming tabletop miniatures game DreadBall: All Stars, Johnson explained that Games Workshop “never anticipated” 40K would become as big as it is right now. After the early years of trying to get Blister Packs into shops—which Johnson recalled being a major upset to miniature retailers at the time—the hobby is now a worldwide phenomenon with an Amazon Prime TV series in the works and dozens of video games releasing all the time.
Johnson explained that some of 40K’s early popularity came from the dystopia of Britain and British media when the tabletop game launched. “You know, that time in the 80s, you’re looking at things like it’s quite a dystopian period,” he said. “Comics like 2000AD were very popular, Judge Dredd, you’ve got a lot of stuff like that.”
However, as the game has continued to evolve, Johnson explains that a major part of its success is because “its very broad”. While the iconic Space Marine may draw in the most players, the wide berth of factions that players can pick up and learn—from Astra Militarum to the T’Au to the Death Watch—means that almost anyone can find something they want to play as within the grimdark universe.
“That’s part of the fun of the 40K game,” Johnson told us. “As a hobby, once you start to get into it, it’s very broad, and there’s going to somewhere or another where you think: ‘This is the best, this is the best thing, I want to collect this because I love the lore and I love the background.’”
Even when it comes to the iconic Space Marine, Warhammer 40,000 has a multitude of Chapters to choose from, and players can even create their own Chapters as long as they select a parent Legion’s rules. Johnson admits that this flexibility of allowing players to create within the world is also a huge reason behind its popularity as the game becomes the players’ world as soon as its in their hands.
While the game’s newfound popularity is much grander than ever envisioned, 40K was still a huge seller for its medium when it launched. “It came out of the gate and it was an instant success,” Johnson said. “Moreso than anybody had thought it was going to be, and it’s always been like that, that trajectory has just kept going. There’s just something about it. I think it’s particularly to do with the background, the look, and the story of 40K that raises it up a level.”
Warhammer 40,000 likely doesn’t have something for everyone, but it does have a lot to offer. Yes, the tabletop game’s Space Marines take the spotlight the vast majority of the time, but Games Workshop’s vast universe has more to uncover than many might believe, and that broadness is certainly core to the game’s longevity.
