Games Workshop, the British company behind the tabletop war game Warhammer and its futuristic counterpart Warhammer 40,000 (also known as Warhammer 40k), is now worth in the region of £3.75 billion. And it counts among its fans celebrities like Henry Cavill, Brian May and the late Robin Williams.
The original Warhammer (known as Warhammer Fantasy Battle) was a fantasy tabletop miniature war-game. Released in 1983 it featured J.R.R. Tolkien-esque orc, goblin, dwarf and elf characters. A few years later, Games Workshop launched a science fiction version of the game, Warhammer 40k, where many of the fantasy races were re-imagined for a futuristic science fiction setting.
Historically, many fans of science fiction have looked down on Warhammer 40k as something of a niche interest, the darker, grimier cousin of the clean-cut American franchises of Star Wars and Star Trek. But things are starting to change. Warhammer 40k is now so much more than a simple tabletop battle game. It is a whole universe of rich and diverse characters of great depth, and it is supported by a body of literature.
