History Warhammer40000 / W40kTropesQToZ

* SwissArmyWeapon: Obliterators again.

* {{Redshirt}}: Though not specifically called out as such, this tends to emerge from the gameplay mechanics. The wound allocation rules (barring special exceptions) allow the player who controls the unit being hit to designate which models in the unit fall in combat when the unit is attacked. Inevitably, it will be the models without special options, wargear, or abilities, who [[TakingTheBullet Take The Wound]] instead of the more important ones.

** The Ultramarines are a chapt

* Satan: Horus was the favorite son of the God Emperor who rebelled against him and took one third of the space marines with him. Sound Familiar?

* VapourWear: Dark Eldar Wyches practically wear ''anti''-clothing.

*** Then their are the penal legions, who is just a bunch of convicts told to charge the enemy and die as a form of execution.

* RageHelm: For the Space Marines, their faith is their shield, their fury is their sword, and rage is their helmet.

* SerialEscalation: How much [[MoreDakka Dakka]] can the Ork Mekboys put together [Answer: never enuff]? How much [[MoralEventHorizon more evil]] can we make the [[AbusivePrecursors Dark Eldar]]? How loud can Kharn scream "'''BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!'''"? How big of a BigBad can CiaphasCain, '''[[FakeUltimateHero HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!]]''', defeat through a combination of dumb luck, skill and [[IndyPloy fast thinking]]? How much bigger can the [[HumongousMecha Titans]] and various Planet Killing guns on Imperium ships get? Just how much [[ItGotWorse worse can things get]]? How much more TropeOverdosed can this setting get? It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the setting pretty much ''runs'' on SerialEscalation.

* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: The Ork hierarchy tends to work this way, ditto the Dark Eldar and Chaos: if you succeed in killing the previous Warboss/Archite/Lord, the former officeholder clearly didn't deserve the job.

*** Dark Eldar: You think the Craftworld Eldar are bad? Try their Dark Elf-esque EvilCounterpart. They ''still'' practice the same depravity that led to their race's fall. Sadistic in the extreme, need to [[YourSoulIsMine feed on others' souls]] to avoid their own being devoured by the Chaos God Slaanesh. Worth noting that unlike the Craftworld Eldar, who could be considered [[JerkassWoobie Jerkass Woobies]], the Dark Eldar have ''no'' excuse for their depravity. They actually '''choose''' to be [[CompleteMonster Complete Monsters]].

** Imperial Commissars also do this to leaders who they deem as weak or ineffective.

* RubberForeheadAliens: Eldar resemble tall, thin humans with pointy ears. Also, Tau are just stocky grey humans with funny feet and faces. {{Justified}} and {{Lampshaded}} in Xenology.

* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: Health care for military veterans and Imperial nobles is so good that just about anything short of having one's brain destroyed is survivable. Spectacular advances in surgery and [[{{Cyborg}} augmetic enhancements]] allow just about anyone to live for two hundred years or more, and that's assuming you don't splurge on a mechanical coffin that can preserve you for millennia. Of course, if you're ''not'' a veteran or noble, this trope is brutally, horribly averted.

* UnpleasableFanbase: every new version of the rules and codices will have a sizeable portion of the fanbase throwing their arms in despair and ranting about how Games Workshop has just ''totally'' ruined the game ''forever''.

* RecycledInSpace: Began as a RecycledInSpace version of ''{{Warhammer}}'', which predated it by four years, but has over time diverged from it. Now contains a RecycledInSpace of nearly every fantasy and SF trope imaginable, turned DarkerAndEdgier to a ridiculous degree and armed to the teeth.

* RuleOfPerception: According to [=40k=]'s What You See Is What You Get rules, if a particular upgrade or piece of wargear isn't somehow visible on a model, the model can't claim to have it. This encourages players to come up with interesting conversions[[hottip:*:(pronounced "spend more money on toys")]] to represent these upgrades, particularly in the case of things like veteran skills and other non-physical traits.

** Commander Farsight was a prominent leader of an Empire's military forces. He eventually led some of his brethren in a rebellion against the powerful ruling cast, who's whims most Tau serve their entire lives. [[StargateSG1 He is also known as O'Shovah.]]

** Chaos: [[CosmicHorror Extra-dimensional malevolent gods and daemons]] that are capable of crossing into the physical realm and [[TheCorruption corrupting the minds and bodies of sentient species]]. Four principal Chaos Gods and countless lesser deities and daemon princes, served by billions of cultists and thousands of ancient daemon-corrupted {{Super Soldier}}s who rebelled against the Imperium during a galaxy-splitting civil war ten thousand years before the setting. [[CardCarryingVillain Unquestionably evil]], delighting in murder and depravity. The four main gods are born from the emotions of hope, love, bravery and acceptance; this should tell you most of what you need to know about 40k's place on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism.

* WasteOfTimeStory: Well, it's a ''tabletop game''.