History Warhammer40000 / W40kTropesQToZ

** Orks, when not united under a WAAAAGH and if no other potential adversaries are present, will eagerly and happily beat the tar out of each other. This is the main reason why, despite their overwhelming numbers they haven't completely taken over the galaxy.

** {{Inverted|Trope}} with the Necrons as well. Having forfeited their biological bodies millions of years ago, any killed Necron is impossible to replace. Luckily for them, Necrons are notoriously ''hard'' to permanently destroy.

* WeaponOfChoice

* WithUsOrAgainstUs: The Imperium, the Tau. The rest [[KillEmAll generally don't even bother to ask]], and even the Imperium [[FantasticRacism generally only bothers to ask if you're human]].

* {{Technopath}}: Eldar are and know it, Ork Meks are but don't, and the Adeptus Mechanicus ''think'' they are.
** They may even be-- certainly they are in the tabletop spinoff ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy''. The amount of ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve going on here is [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane deliberately ambiguous]].

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* UltimateEvil: The Emperor and the Chaos Gods all get this treatment to varying degrees. The C'tan ''used'' to be this before being retconned to having been defeated by the Necrons (and the C'tan-serving Necrons were just particularly damaged).

* {{Superweapon}}: The dial on the setting has been turned [[UpToEleven so far past eleven]] that what would be superweapons in any other setting are just weapons, but it is nonetheless {{Invoked}} by the means by which one can enact Exterminatus. Ranging from basic [[OrbitalBombardment planetary bombardment]] by guns the size of most settings' small spaceships, to specific planet-cracker or viral ordnance which either crack the planet down to the mantle or turn everything organic into a high-flammable biological slurry, the whole point of Exterminatus is that by the time [[GodzillaThreshold you need to use it]], you need to be ''absolutely certain'' that '''nothing''' can defend against it.

* TankGoodness: Naturally, taken UpToEleven. Every race has its armoured death machines, but honestly the Imperial Guard Armoured Companies are the ''kings'' of this trope. '''TANKS FOR THE TANK GOD, TREADS FOR THE TREAD THRONE!'''

* TrainingFromHell: Pretty much the only training there is. The only way they can top it is by having people trained ''[[UpToEleven inside]]'' the universe's hell.

* UpToEleven: '''''Everything.''''' And often to twelve, thirteen and [[strike:several]] [[strike:over nine]] forty thousand.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: A lot of people, and even media for the game itself, refers to the {{Space Marine}}s as being "genetically enhanced". Actual game-fluff makes it clear that this is inaccurate; "bio-augmented" would fit better. A SpaceMarine is created by surgically implanting artificially engineered organs into their body; though some of these do play havoc with the Marine's body-chemistry (the Ossmodula, for example, which causes the skeleton's dramatic mutation), no actual tinkering with the DNA occurs. This is intentional, since it allows the Space Marines to skirt around that religiously mandated "no tinkering with Man's Holy Genetic Code" law-- from a genetic viewpoint, a SpaceMarine ''is'' still perfectly human.
** The confusion is probably the result of the term "geneseed" being thrown around; this is apparently the clone cells needed to grow new copies of the various bio-implants needed to make new Marines, but it still implies an actual genetic modification. The term itself is actually derived from the fact that geneseed is actually partially based on the genetic code of a Chapter's Primarch, which just muddies the waters even further.

* WhosLaughingNow: Everyone else's thoughts about Guard players when the Guard finally got a good codex.

** In the background material, the Astra Militarum are the go to example as they're millions if not billions strong and span across Imperial space as they come from any planet the Imperium can collect people. The problem is their weapons and armor pale in comparison to many of the forces they fight against, so they often only have weight of numbers on their side. They do make up for this with quantity ''and'' quality of cavalry and heavy armor, but this foes only so far when you have to rely on infantry for the most important tasks or static defenses. The Militarum do have their own specialist infantry units (such as the [[HumanSubSpecies abhuman]] [[OurOgresAreHungrier Ogryns]], the elite Tempestus Scions, and unique elite regimental units like the Cadian Kasrkin and the Death Korps Grenadiers) who are much smaller in number but much better trained and equipped than their rank-and-file comrades.

* RecycledInSpace: Began as a RecycledInSpace version of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', which pre-dated 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. And then the 6th edition literally makes the game rules-wise into Fantasy Warhammer in SPACE!

** The general tone of the setting has shifted quite a bit over the years. In the original ''Rogue Trader'' rulebook, the Imperium had a ragtag, ScavengerWorld feel (still present but not to the same degree). In fact, the whole thing had kind of a ''Film/MadMax'' [-[[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]-] feel to it. The copious amounts of black humor and irony that marked ''Rogue Trader'' have also been downplayed over time.

* TrivialTitle: ''Warhammer 40000'' was originally just ''Warhammer'' RecycledInSpace, but now the franchises are noticeably different. Warhammers are still used, but just by certain characters of a faction or two, and the current present is the very beginning of the 42nd millennium (much as they retcon things back).

* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: Life on board Imperial Fleet ships is this trope RecycledInSpace.

** Fantasy's dwarves ([[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame are standard gruff fighters and miners]]) who distrust and dislike magic due to its potential for corruption. They use runes instead, which aren't as powerful but are far more reliable and less likely to lead to madness.

* TheStormbringer: Njal Stormcaller passively makes the weather around him get worse every turn, at first slowing movement or reducing visibility until every enemy in range is getting pounded by lightning bolts every turn.

* WarfareRegression: While different factions have different themes and specialisations, melee combat is a big part of the setting with most forces having access to dedicated close combat tropes. The in-universe explanation is a mixture of tradition, religion, resource management, access to a high level of personal protection equipment and the fact that massed manpower is far easier to come by than high tech ranged weapons. The out-of-universe explanation is that many fans consider close combat to be far more entertaining to play and read about.

** The tau also arm their infantry with energy weapons, but thanks to the tau advantages in tech these are some of the deadliest man-portable weapons in the setting. Tau infantry weapons fire droplets of superheated plasma that expand as they travel, and are capable of destroying light vehicles.

* WarIsHell: For most races, most of the time. Occasionally, however...
** WarIsGlorious: Comes up as well.