Main • Fiction • About • Contact • News • Extras
The prices have gone up and the poses have become stubbornly mono. The constant cynical release of new editions, like a parade of suicidal mayflies, is now both tedious and costly. But we still love you. True, we're like that support group of women all done dirty by the same deadbeat, yet we'd take you back in an instant. You bastard.
I digress. 35 years is a lifetime. 40k has gone from mewling neonate to panicked thirty something. Right now, it's out clubbing every weekend as its youth slips through its fingers. It's worried about its pension.
Others have already moaned about the clunky rules, the legalised banditry price rises, the power creep and Matt Ward. I need not add to that pile of complaints. (Changing the name and font on all GW stores is bullshit, mind you.)
Rather, I'd like to make a modest proposal. After 35 years, it's safe to say that the ol' Grimdark model has worked well. But after 35 years, it's also showing its age, at least as GW likes to do it.
***
In short, the 40k Grimdark formula is like so.
Faction + Moral Ambiguity + Hobson's Choice + Bad Luck = Setting
Or, to put it another way, every faction does awful things, because they think it can be justified. But they also have no choice in the first place, and isn't it all shitty? Throw some kittens into the shredder, nuke a few planets from orbit, and away you go.
The problem with this formula is that it is repetitive and dull. Plus, if everyone's an arsehole and the universe made them do it, why bother engaging with them? Wargaming is about models and dice, but also immersal. "In The Grim Dark Future, There Is Only War" is an evocative sales pitch. It also implies a tough balancing act.
Somebody’s got to play the bad guy. Yet it gets boring when every faction does this. GW pursues the grimderp with wild abandon. Sometimes it gets laid on thick with a trowel as if to make up for a lack of misery in the first go. Look at how Codex: Tau became Codex: Tau Empire.
Going off piste, there's Warhammer Fantasy Battle's 1996 relaunch of the Bretonnians as knights in shining armour. But it soon dived into a morass of misery, shit and feudal tyranny in later editions as GW tried to make the Bretonnians as bleak as it could. Trying to be both grim and dark, it instead became a parody of itself.
At the heart of 40k's grimdark is the belief that darkness alone makes depth. This has its roots in the setting's 80s heyday, and parallel developments in comics. Back then, there was a belief that you could make the latter cool again by making them GRITTY. Add swearing and gore, some dubious politics, and the odd rape thrown in for good measure. Superman's dead. PRESTO! Or so the idea went.
Comics have moved on, sort of (try to ignore the fridge), but GW hasn't. If anything, it has doubled down in a way that would make most edgelords blanche.
The other issue with 40k Grimdark is its dunderheaded nihilism. It's not enough that bleak things happen. They must be seen to be necessary. No matter the atrocity, there are villages that must be destroyed to save them. There are wives of informants to be tortured by Jack Bauer. And any number of Justified Sinners…
***
Everyone does dreadful things in 40k, or are unable to stop them, or are the only good 'un in a sea of bastards. Nihilism dictates that we can never have anything but bad things. After all, that means either having an imagination, or the ability to climb out of the gutter we find ourselves in.
More, like the worst kind of American or BBC journalists, GW's media tries to 'both sides' the horror. "Well, you know, if the Ordo Malleus DOESN'T club all those cute baby seals..." This isn't Grimdark. It's fence-sitting for sociopaths.
Needless to say, such an approach to storytelling overlooks moral hazard, as Cory Doctorow pointed out. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to realise the Imperium of Man is its own worst enemy. That the Inquisition are just another bunch of murdering bastards with innocent blood on their hands. Or that every atrocity feeds Chaos more and more.
Human history is full of utter c*nts doing awful things because There Is No Alternative. For all that, the moment these deeds are held up to outside scrutiny, it's plain what utter self-serving nonsense this is.
But 40k Grimdark demands we overlook this and wallow in the misery. It's too obviously bullshit to take seriously anymore. The setting forbids the deconstruction it lends itself to. In that sense, it echoes the decline of those GRITTY COMICS mentioned earlier.
Relentless misery and pessimism are tedious and boring. Schlocky misery fests such as Eastenders is proof positive that UK pop culture is in a rut. More and more, the once subversive and ironic 40k setting resembles it. Every new edition scowls so hard, it looks constipated. The aliens are crap too.
There is a reason why depression is so everyday, and mundane. Stuck in one mood, the boredom can be horrific in and of itself. For those who are not depressed, pessimism is both far more lazy and much less forgivable. Being a cynical shit means never having to put yourself on the line, or think for yourself.
Perhaps it's easier for a shareholders' all-you-can-eat buffet like Games Workshop to wallow in nihilism. In so doing, however, it robs us of the subversion and biting wit which 40k can still have. When it's allowed to, of course. For all that, The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer is out of print. The Regimental Standard site hasn't been updated in a year.
Outside of the main game, its computer game spin-offs have more leeway, and it shows. The very promising Darktide has some wonderful deadpan wit, and one or two clever meta jabs at GW itself. But it coexists side by side with an earnest primness that doesn't realise how daft it all is. Yet if any spin-off media gets it right, and more so than the current source material, it is Mechanicus.
This knows when to be funny, morbid and eerie, and when not to. Throw in a complex, flawed protagonist in the form of Faustinius, and you can see what 40k can be, if you get the mix right. Add in some subversive moments and real pathos, and it's tempting to see this as proof my argument is wrong... If it wasn't by far the exception.
To be frank, 40k is a somewhat small 'c' conservative satire that's forgotten it's a satire. At its worst, it's like Verhoven's Starship Troopers taking itself too seriously. Or a pompous Inquisitor giving a pious sermon as he nukes a world for having too many funny birthmarks.
***
It's not like you can't do grimdark in other, better ways. From Software's Soulsborne games are very grimdark. But they are also silly, moving and self-reflective. Red Hook's Darkest Dungeon is knee-deep in the bleak. Yet it also has a knowing wit, hope, and characters worth fighting for, and shipping over.
And if you want grimdark that's neither dull nor repetitive nor stale, look at 2000 AD. Gee Dubs has been casually borrowing from them since the 1980s. In its signature strip, Judge Dredd, we have a bleak setting that's also satirical, self-aware and plain old wacky. (Did I mention the GW board game, RPG and miniatures?)
Dredd is both angel and devil in equal measure, a creation of many depths and contrasts. (Which, if you watch carefully, Karl Urban made sure to channel in Dredd's 2012 cinematic outing).
Then there is Strontium Dog, Nemesis the Warlock, Sinister Dexter, and so on. They all show how varied grimdark can be, with a little imagination.
This was something the very first edition of 40k and the likes of Andy Chambers 'got', back in the day. Alas, these lessons have been all but forgotten, even by Gee Dub's best authors (that includes you, Dan Abnett).
If you must have lurid, solumn grimdark, the scandalously overlooked Bad Company covers that, and better. Want to write stories about utter sociopaths in a mad, mad world? Tank Girl is due a dusting off. But all that means nuance, and 40k has not had this for a long time.
***
Since Games Workshop seems to be in a listening mode, however, may I make a modest proposal or 12? I am not proposing that 40k start sprouting fluffy bunny ears. Nor that there should be tea and cake in the midst of the slaughter. I propose instead a lot more creativity and inventiveness when it comes to 40k's Grimdark.
Perhaps it's too much to ask of a British company to not over rely on staples. For all that, the Games Workshop story has also been one of innovation and bold changes in direction. Sometimes this buggers up the narrative (Primaris Marines, anyone?) Or seems gobsmackingly bizarre. (Blowing up the Warhammer Fantasy world. Also, giving most of the 40k factions silly new names after 'Spotsgate'). But when it works, it works well.
With this in mind, I need to stress that, for all my complaints, GW has still given us an amazing setting that we all love. And yet it keeps buggering this up because its formula is being interpreted too narrowly.
In short, 40k needs Grimdark - with a twist.
ONE: Imagine a race that's genuinely benign and a blessing to the galaxy. Then give them traits that still make you want to run away from them, screaming.
TWO: A Space Marine chapter that is haunted by the memories that they try to forget. These grant helpful visions. But they also risk the Marines retreating into their minds forever.
THREE: A lesser Eldar god that was so forgotten and ignored that Slaanesh couldn't be arsed to eat them. Having limped and skulked through the Galaxy, it is now becoming the Chaos god of forlorn souls and the marginalised.
FOUR: A Tau sept chooses to retain its innocence and idealism, and so keeps getting burnt. Should it embrace 'reality' or is there a case to be made for optimism, no matter what?
FIVE: A disgusting race of parasites infests humanity, but learns to love its hosts, and does its part to protect us.
SIX: Two small, ragged waifs are abandoned in a large, empty house. They run through the rooms and corridors, sustaining themselves on what they can find, or catch. They hope that one day someone will return to take them home. And then our perspective changes, and it turns out the two children are the component parts of the Tyranid Hive Mind...
SEVEN: A pacifist race of aliens that can neither be killed nor conquered. Some strange force is protecting them. But they're now spreading to other worlds. How can the rest of the Galaxy stop being driven into extinction by their colonisation? (And how the hell do you represent this on the tabletop?)
EIGHT: The Inquisition encounters an "Anti-Pangloss", a force or being who keeps the 40k galaxy in its wretched state. They could kill it, but this means the Inquisition no longer has a reason to exist. What happens next? And what happens when everyone else finds out?
NINE: As a powerful psyker dies, they undo every mindwipe in the Imperium. They also give everyone a full knowledge of Chaos, the threat it poses, and how to fight it. Hilarity ensues.
TEN: Imagine a Golden Age sci-fi setting. Here, cigar chewing anti-heroes, Dan Dares, Doc Savages and femme fatales fight off an alien invasion. Then it turns out the evil aliens are... The Imperium!
ELEVEN: Earth's hitherto extinct wildlife begins to reappear across the galaxy. Once docile xenos animals are now attacking and killing humans. Terra itself appears to be healing - at the cost of the planet's fortifications and infrastructure, and the Emperor himself. Is the Imperium, and mankind, being erased from the galaxy by resurgent nature?
TWELVE: The entire galaxy acquires a laugh track. This often kicks in at the most inappropriate times. Where is it coming from, and who's finding the non-stop carnage so hilarious?
THIRTEEN: Spirits of the unjustly slain and the wronged come back to haunt the galaxy. What do all the factions do when their sins come back to haunt them? How do they react to the realisation that all the terrible things they have done have backfired, or been for nothing?
FOURTEEN: Several factions are forced to live side-by-side in a vast space hulk, cut off by warp storms. How do they manage to get on, and what sort of society develops?
FIFTEEN: A serial killer is murdering scores of Space Marines. This includes Captains, Chapter Masters, and Heroes of the Imperium. At first, Chaos is blamed. But it turns out the traitor legions are also being targeted. Who is the culprit, and what is their motive?
And so on. I do admit to seeing grimdark as a sub-branch of weird fiction, and a kind of (at times po-faced) gothic satire. My attempt to put a gyrinx amongst the psyber-ravens (so to speak) is in that vein. My ideas are there to shake up the 40k grimdark rather than remove it. To provide a new angle or twist on a worn-out formula.
***
Then there are other possibilities. The Black Library publishes crime and horror novels set in the 40k universe. But what about other genres, and sub-genres? Slasher horror is a natural fit. So are westerns/samurai movies, fairy tales, road movies and maritime tales (in SPAAAAAACE).
40k is already a Greek and Shakespearean tragedy just waiting to happen. Don't forget kaiju epics, or good old fashioned Tokusatsu. The Eldar Harlequins are already THERE, right down to the dramatic pre-fight poses. The Power Rangers to Space Marines pipeline is, meanwhile, long established.
For the more adventurous, crazier ideas beckon, if only to see what the end result might be like. What would a 40k take on a telenovela or soap opera be like? A sit com? Chaucer's Canterbury Tales? A children's TV show? Dare I say it, even a Jane Austen-esque comedy of manners, or a rom com? If you're feeling bold, we know there's porn in the 40k universe. What is that even like? Dare we even imagine it?
***
To close, I should go back to the two moments I realised how much the 40k setting meant to me. It was in the early 90s. In White Dwarf, I read about the final stages of the Horus Heresy, and the heroic last stand of the Iyanden Craftworld against the Tyranids.
This was not escapism, or even wish fulfilment. It was about standing against dire odds, to keep going no matter what, but to never forget there is a cost, and that it must be paid, no matter how steep. To lose everything and have your heart broken into 1,000 pieces, like Khaine himself. To still cling on and keep going, because that is the real victory, the real triumph.
Pedro Kantor's greatest victory wasn't crushing the Emperor's foes. It was picking up and carrying an exhausted woman because, feck it, it was the right thing to do. Staggering to their feet for the umpteenth time is what makes the Iyanden Eldar heroes.
And that is what 40k is about, or should be about. Strip away, for a moment, the eight foot tall ubermenschen in power armour. Forget too the field executions by over-zealous commissars. The creeping horror of Genestealer and Chaos cults. Set aside even the Galaxy's worst dad fucking up his already messed up sons even more. 40k's real themes are grief, loss and learning how to mourn, but to also heal. To dare to carry on.
Nothing is more bleak than light at the end of the tunnel. Because you still might not make it, no matter how hard you try. And yet, maybe just this once you can. And that is the truest expression of grimdark there is.
Or you can have Orks going WAAAAAAARGH! and punching everyone. That works too.
[ENDS]
© Alexander Hay 2022-2024
