Warhammer: The Horus Heresy Is Historical Wargaming! You Just Didn’t Know It!
December 9, 2023 by warzan
"I have a story to tell you, and in the words of the legendary Frank Carson - ‘It’s a cracker!’"
Yes, you read that right. This was a statement I recently read on Facebook (I’ve been frequenting parts of the Warhammer Community I haven’t interacted with for several years) and yes, I thought it was a joke too. But, that statement was uttered with all the dryness and condescension you might expect from an old and set-in-their-ways Napoleonics aficionado.
Warhammer: The Horus Heresy - Legions Imperialis | First Impressions
Warhammer: The Horus Heresy - Legions Imperialis | Assembling The Miniatures
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Apparently, any true 30K wargamer knows and accepts this and if you think otherwise...you have their sympathy and indeed contempt in equal measure.
Now, like many of you reading this most likely, my gut reaction was to dismiss this topic and move on. But I haven’t moved on; I can't move on. There is something so compelling about this take that I had to explore the idea further.
Background Information & Research
Over 600 books have been published in the Warhammer universes and 30K has some of the largest and most detailed tomes of them all. This is without mentioning the huge ongoing sagas of the Great Crusade, The Horus Heresy, and The Siege Of Terra.
These books detail the battles, the regimental structures, key personalities and warriors, the politics, individual stories, and vivid accounts of engagements - everything you would hope for as a researcher of a historical conflict.
Now, compared to the published library of books relating to The Great War and World War II or even Napoleon (who has 10,400 books focused on him; effectively a book every week since his death!), this library of information is quite small. But, let's compare it to the Northern Crusades 1147-1290, the Soviet-Japanese War 1945, the Anglo-Zanzibar War 1896, and the Third Punic War 149 BC-146 BC. The background information for the conflicts of the 31st Millennium stacks up quite well.
As a side note, Romans apparently operated their siege engines in the buff! I'm not sure why it has a giant fist. Honestly, I’m not sure I want to know but based on the period we can safely say it's an Imperial Fist! Boom Boom!
Complexity & Data
Within the archives of available information exist huge swathes of data and technical information covering formations, equipment, battle tactics, and strategies. Almost every detail you could want likely exists somewhere, possibly in a long-unpublished book on a dusty shelf somewhere.
These stories and accounts have been rolling out in publications for the last thirty-odd years, with many of the books now considered very rare.
This level of technical detail is likely only available to wargamers and researchers of wars within the last 200 years or so.
Many of the historical and ancient conflicts have so little detail on the technicalities that we have to use educated guesses to try and work out what equipment they had and how it was used, never mind formations and fighting tactics.
No Room At The Grimdark Inn
I think the argument the commenter was making was, "Look, this is pretty set in stone. All the detail is there, so stick to what's there and don’t deviate." Now, I doubt that's the stance of the majority of 30K players, and if it is... well, wait until they get a load of me!
You're not coming in!
I don’t like anything about the stance taken here. Let me first be clear on what I consider an important point. The Horus Heresy is not a historical game and I think as a community, we need to be a little more careful with our references here.
The historical games we research and play represent humanity's mistakes and the price we pay. No conflict ever came out of the right decisions being made. Somewhere, someone always chose the wrong path which led to death and violence. We cannot understate the importance of taking a moment in our pursuit of this part of the hobby to remember that there are lessons to be learned and mistakes that should not be repeated but unfortunately often are.
So, I think it's a mistake to use the historical label in this way and while gaming can be fun and lighthearted, we are privileged to be able to indulge in historical gaming and with that comes a certain responsibility to remember from time to time the real human cost of it. In turn, maybe we can then do our bit to see if we can help humanity act better in the future - we all have our part to play in that, however small.
I am the keeper of the gates. Now, it would be crass to assume that the commenter meant anything about the historical nature other than "everything is already detailed, so stick to your lane!" This is a position that indeed needs some consideration and that will be the topic of my next article so keep an eye out!
What do you think?
"Over 600 books have been published in the Warhammer universes and 30K has some of the largest and most detailed tomes of them all..."
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"The historical games we research and play represent humanity's mistakes and the price we pay..."
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I think seeing it as historical is slightly off because it depends how you actually see historical games. Use history or your heresy books as a guideline to play good games and get a flavor for a period be it real or imaginary and enjoy it. No one playing a game with model soldiers is ever accurate in anything. But what history be it fiction or real is a good basis for inspiration and if one small part of the story jumps out to you to focus on be it the battle of Hoth in starwars or the battle of… Read more »
Its an interesting, but I think naive take on their part. Even GW acknowledge that in a galaxy spanning conflict there are gaps within which to game. Want loyalist nightlords? Go for it, it happened – we just haven’t gone into too much detail.
However, I think it always comes down too…
“These are my toys and I shall play with them as I will, and there will be ‘pew pew’ noises on occasion… even if the model has a bolter.”
The thing is I’ve never seen anyone in the 30K Community ever say you can’t do a loyal or traitor version of a Legion. Maybe loyalist Word Bearers is a bit of a stretch but you can justify it and that’s about it. You even see people with Pre-Heresy colour schemes and no-one has an issue, these guys were on garrison duty and never got around to repainting their armour. There’s even an entire fan fic called the ‘Dornian Heresy’which flips the Legions and has Dorn turning traitor. The difference is the Dornian Heresy people are fully aware and upfront… Read more »
Good article @warzan ! Now here’s a quote: “ The historical games we research and play represent humanity’s mistakes and the price we pay. No conflict ever came out of the right decisions being made.”
As for whether 30k is a “historical game” as the facebooker says, sure: from the point of view of 40k. It is not a historical wargame, however. It’s set 28 milennia in the future. It’s science FICTION. Says the man slowly sliding into middle age and discovering napoleonics…
Just wondering whether people playing games set in the first or second age of Middle Earth also see it as historical wargaming ?
Whilst I can see where this idea of 30k being ‘historical’ 40k comes from, I personally think its no different to any other setting with a detailed lore and narrative. Whether it is 30k, Star Wars, Battle Tech, Lord of the Rings etc., there will be people who want to get the details of how they paint and game to match the setting as close as possible. Whilst this motivation is also seen in historical wargaming, it is more a mindset of the hobbyists, not a specific feature of the sub-genre of pushing tiny soldiers around a table.
As a historian, history teacher, and wargamer that statement that 30k is historical is asinine and insulting. I saw polling data yesterday that 20% of Americans 18-29 believe the Holocaust is a myth. Student regularly try to tell me the earth is flat, Rome never actually existed, and aliens are behind most of human history. They actually believe this. This comment might just mean stay in your lane and everything is settled in 30k lore but it still pisses me off because our society as a whole is so historically illiterate. People need to learn and understand history to understand… Read more »
“Look, this is pretty set in stone. All the detail is there, so stick to what’s there and don’t deviate.” I think it’s important to remember that this is basically a strawman and the guy didn’t actually say this. Plenty of people have loyal traitors and traitorous loyalists. The entire idea of a “Shattered Legions” force was literally a ‘do your own thing’ way of playing and although GW hasn’t made rules for them yet they were a thing last edition. You can’t change the story of Calth but you can and many people do have forces based on their… Read more »
What a weird and bizarre world we live in, it is the argument I would expect @warzan to be making and defending not been against. This frankly highlights a few things and opens some discussion, first and foremost for fictional settings IP is important and well set IP is even more important, companies who do not curate it and allow rogue actors to mess it up are experiencing massive decline. Secondly there is a discussion on what “Historical” gaming really means? If the whole point of playing historical is to recreate a point in time as close to what it… Read more »
Certainly 30K has the feeling of a historical wargame, and that’s the way a large portion of that actual community of dedicated players and hobbyists like it. Things are defined, the details are there, and it’s respectable to follow those details. I think what I like best about the 30K communities mindset is, they don’t take any guff about it either. You don’t like that it’s a fantasy-historical wargame, they’re happy for you to take a hike. You’ve got some argument that you disagree with their approach, they’re happy with you going off and doing things your way someplace other… Read more »
Hmmn! interesting , says Bob wearing a scuttle helmet, field grey greatcoat and hiding behind a rubber plant (anyone getting the reference gets a no prize!). Its not history , not matter how they dress it up, no one is going to get a degree or phd on the Horus Heresy , or Battletechs 4th Succession war. what it is a extensive background for people to put some story to the reason their wee little men are fighting on the dinner table/carpet or sandbox. Its been going on since the old HG Wells and Fletcher Pratt days , when fictional… Read more »
@warzan I have to apologize here, no its been a bit since you raised this, but on rethinking about it, for something I’m planning for my L.I project , I see what you were actually trying to get at in your article. You were not saying it was an historical wargame as such but, if the perspective player is getting into the Mindset of 30/40K and wants to be true to the genre, then the mindset is very much that of an historical game. It involves the same degree of research and sometimes the various codex’s when out of print… Read more »
I feel like this argument is a little pedantic. Horus Heresy is obviously not a “historical” wargame in the sense of real human history, but it’s certainly a game of historical fiction. When my friends and I were looking at getting into Legions, we had a glut of research material to help us decide on armies. We wanted to do Prospero at first, but there were no titans or guardsmen present. We thought about the Imperial Palace, but I wasn’t keen on any of the loyalist legions fighting there. We ended up settling on Ultramarines and Word Bearers, because there… Read more »
I don’t agree with the notion that all wars were started for the wrong reasons, some simply had to happen and there really weren’t any good choices at the time. Many were forced on people or nations who had no intention of going to war but had to to defend themselves or avoid some other disaster. Regarding the Horus Heresy, I enjoy most of the novels, they’re actually not bad at all and can stand beside many classic Sci-Fi novels, but they are going perhaps a little overboard with the level of detail and rigidity of the canon. It is,… Read more »
The layout and style of the books is definitely inspired by historical reference and I think that is intentional. However, it is not historical games that that are to blame for the pedantry and button counting, it is aspects of their communities.
Horus Heresy certainly has worse gate keeping on creativity and accuracy, from my limited exposure, than any historical game I have encountered. I could make a cheap jibe about the 40k community but that would be unfair to the majority.
Gaming rule no 1 does apply here though, don’t game with dicks.