Warhammer 40K, possibly the most well known tabletop war-game in the world and for good reason.
The lore (though originally a rehash of Warhammer Fantasy in SPACE) has evolved into it's own relatively unique flavor with an incredibly expansive backstory and mythology that puts much modern science fantasy to shame. 8ft tall genetically engineered space knights, ancient techno crypts that spew forth robotic undead slaves of ancient star gods and eldritch abominations beyond the realm of sanity are all part of the universe and all have reasons for fighting each other (and themselves) making no tabletop battle feel awkward lorewise.
In terms of the actual wargame, WH 40 K is incredibly fun and offers a lot of flexibility with playstyle, providing players with the ability to build an army of a few elite troopers or a massive swarm of weaker miniatures. Each army will field exotic weapons, powerful characters and vehicles which are always fun to use in game and help to differentiate between the different factions (except space marines, who mostly use the same motor pool with few exceptions).
The hobby itself is fun if your into gluing and painting and there exists plenty of opportunity to create your own personalized colors, army heraldry and theme. If your only interested in the game, it can be played with models in naked plastic at no downside to you.
Unfortunately, despite the awesome flavor and kickass gameplay, 40K is hamstrung by the shitty practices of it's owners, Games Workshop. First and most egregiously is the constant price gouging to an almost ludicrous degree. Be prepared to spend an excess of hundreds of pounds/dollars to build a proper army and even more if you want it painted and modeled right with all the "official GW hobbyist accessories". If this wasn't all, Games Workshop is notoriously bad at balancing their own game, with some races objectively more powerful than others and the most powerful army builds (unsurprisingly) being the most expensive (especially with the resin "forge world" kits which tend to be more powerful than the plastic ones purchasable in store).
I'd recommend to anyone interested in the universe and the hobby to find some friends with similar interests and play in small games that aren't a massive pain on the hip pocket first and aren't as likely to devolve into a cheese war as you both go for the most powerful army builds possible. If you like what you're doing, by all means go ahead and start buying more, but be warned, drugs are cheaper.
All in all, an amazing universe, flavor with fun gameplay and hobby aspect (if your into modeling) that is unfortunately ruined by an awful company that blatantly ignores it's fans, customers and is slowly but surely digging itself it's own grave.
Amazing setting scuttled by corporate BS
Warhammer 40K, possibly the most well known tabletop war-game in the world and for good reason.
The lore (though originally a rehash of Warhammer Fantasy in SPACE) has evolved into it's own relatively unique flavor with an incredibly expansive backstory and mythology that puts much modern science fantasy to shame. 8ft tall genetically engineered space knights, ancient techno crypts that spew forth robotic undead slaves of ancient star gods and eldritch abominations beyond the realm of sanity are all part of the universe and all have reasons for fighting each other (and themselves) making no tabletop battle feel awkward lorewise.
In terms of the actual wargame, WH 40 K is incredibly fun and offers a lot of flexibility with playstyle, providing players with the ability to build an army of a few elite troopers or a massive swarm of weaker miniatures. Each army will field exotic weapons, powerful characters and vehicles which are always fun to use in game and help to differentiate between the different factions (except space marines, who mostly use the same motor pool with few exceptions).
The hobby itself is fun if your into gluing and painting and there exists plenty of opportunity to create your own personalized colors, army heraldry and theme. If your only interested in the game, it can be played with models in naked plastic at no downside to you.
Unfortunately, despite the awesome flavor and kickass gameplay, 40K is hamstrung by the shitty practices of it's owners, Games Workshop. First and most egregiously is the constant price gouging to an almost ludicrous degree. Be prepared to spend an excess of hundreds of pounds/dollars to build a proper army and even more if you want it painted and modeled right with all the "official GW hobbyist accessories". If this wasn't all, Games Workshop is notoriously bad at balancing their own game, with some races objectively more powerful than others and the most powerful army builds (unsurprisingly) being the most expensive (especially with the resin "forge world" kits which tend to be more powerful than the plastic ones purchasable in store).
I'd recommend to anyone interested in the universe and the hobby to find some friends with similar interests and play in small games that aren't a massive pain on the hip pocket first and aren't as likely to devolve into a cheese war as you both go for the most powerful army builds possible. If you like what you're doing, by all means go ahead and start buying more, but be warned, drugs are cheaper.
All in all, an amazing universe, flavor with fun gameplay and hobby aspect (if your into modeling) that is unfortunately ruined by an awful company that blatantly ignores it's fans, customers and is slowly but surely digging itself it's own grave.