Everyone’s a Winner at Warhammer 40K (or, at least not a loser)

Abstract

Warhammer 40,000 (W40K) is a non-digital strategy war-game involving the tactical manoeuvring of miniature figurines on a 6' by 4' tabletop. These figurines are painstakingly assembled, painted and often modified by players to accord with the game's backstory. Our research explores the ongoing success of W40K in the face of ubiquitous and pervasive computer technologies and presents the results of post-match interviews with players. One element of the W40K experience that we found striking was the capacity for players who lost matches to rationalise their failures into a narrative of success, one that underplays the importance of winning and prioritizes other aspects of the W40K experience. Drawing on Paul’s (2012) notion of rhetoric, wordplay and games, we argue that the modelling and painting, time and money constraints, engagement with W40K's themes and narratives, and the battle itself can be linked to the post-match accounts given by players in which they construct narratives of success and portray themselves as ‘winners’ even though they lost the battle.