Warhammer 40,000 is bigger than it's ever been. The grimdark science fiction universe keeps drawing fresh audiences each year, yet its sprawling nature—books, games, animated series, tabletop miniatures, and more—can feel overwhelming to anyone looking to jump in. The good news: you don't need to do everything at once, and different entry points suit different interests.
To cut through the confusion, we consulted with Arbitor Ian, a widely respected Warhammer educator on YouTube, to map out the best starting paths for each medium.
Video Games: Three Strong Starting Points
If you're a gamer first, video games offer natural access points to the universe. Space Marine 2, a third-person shooter following the iconic Ultramarines faction, works as a straightforward action entry. You play as Titus battling through one of 40K's major conflicts, and no prior knowledge is required—not even familiarity with the first game. The campaign tells a complete story while layering in lore details and hidden callbacks for those paying attention.
For a deeper dive into 40K's actual world-building, Rogue Trader—Owlcat's CRPG—succeeds where action games can't. You navigate intrigue and political scheming as a daring explorer with unusual freedom within the Imperium's rigid hierarchy. The game shuffles you through Byzantine politics, alien diplomacy, and salvage operations alongside combat encounters. Crucially, it captures 40K's sense of dark humor; the setting is grimdark but also genuinely silly, and Rogue Trader leans into that tonal mix.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000, currently in development, promises to deliver the tactical feel of tabletop strategy gaming in video form, though it's still unreleased. It should eventually replace Tabletop Simulator as the accessible option for experiencing how miniature warfare actually plays.
Books: Three Novels, Three Different Flavors
Games Workshop's Black Library publishes hundreds of novels across physical, digital, and audio formats. Three recommendations cover most entry points:
The Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett stands as the traditional starting point for good reason. Following Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn over roughly 150 years, the three-book series reads like a detective thriller told in first person. You follow one protagonist and a small supporting cast, which keeps the narrative focused while establishing core lore. If you finish and want more, Ravenor—a follow-up trilogy about Eisenhorn's former protégé—increases the scope with an ensemble cast while maintaining the investigative tone.
Avenging Son by Guy Haley takes the opposite approach. It jumps into the Indomitus Crusade, 40K's closest thing to a main story arc, following multiple characters caught up in enormous battles. The book balances chaos with humor and features protagonists learning their new roles, which mirrors a newcomer's perspective. It's sweeping where Eisenhorn is intimate.
Brutal Kunnin by Mike Brooks offers something rarely seen: perspective from the orks, the setting's rowdy green brutes rather than the Imperium. It's funny, ridiculous, and focused on a single massive battle featuring incompetent technology, strange creatures, and plenty of slapstick alongside genuine stakes. If it clicks, Voidscarred—also by Brooks—extends the chaotic energy with space elf pirates.
Animation: Four Distinct Shows
Most animations live on Warhammer+, a subscription service at $6.99 monthly, though some appear elsewhere.
Astartes began as fan-made work before Games Workshop licensed it. This 12-minute piece follows Space Marines in a boarding action—tense, nearly dialogue-free, and heavy on atmosphere. It efficiently communicates what Space Marines are without exposition.
And They Shall Know No Fear appears as part of Prime Video's Secret Level anthology. It continues Space Marine 2's protagonist Titus on a new mission, striking a balance between action and creepy tone-setting. It offers more narrative scaffolding than Astartes, making it friendlier to complete newcomers.
Pariah Nexus, a three-part Warhammer+ series, delivers the broadest introduction. It shows multiple factions—Sisters of Battle, Salamanders, Imperial Guard, and Necrons—holding a war-torn world. The characters suffer injuries, trauma, and stress, grounding the spectacle in human consequence. Few pieces capture 40K's scope so completely.
The Tabletop Game: Multiple Difficulty Levels
The physical miniature game is where 40K started, but it's arguably the most complex to begin. At its core, it's turn-based strategy: models with stats move around a battlefield, and dice determine outcomes in shooting and melee. Beyond that core mechanic, pathways vary.
If the miniature hobby itself appeals—building and painting models—you can start casually by collecting whatever faction catches your eye, beginning with simpler kits before graduating to complex hero models or vehicles.
Combat Patrol offers a structured entry to actual gaming. These prebuilt armies fit in one box, contain 10 to 30 models, and use full rules without requiring list-building knowledge. You're learning the real game, just faster and simpler.
Kill Team skirmish games run even faster with roughly 10 models per side and specialized operative rules. The trade-off: you're learning a separate ruleset that's more tactically granular than standard Warhammer.
For tabletop roleplaying rather than strategy gaming, Cubicle 7 publishes two pen-and-paper RPGs. Wrath & Glory lets you assemble a team of recognizable character archetypes on missions. Imperium Maledictum, which Arbitor Ian favors, takes a street-level approach to crime-solving and investigation—essentially D&D but set in 40K's lower rungs.
The right entry point depends on whether you want action, story, strategy, collecting, or collaborative storytelling. The universe accommodates all of them.
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