Looks like it’s time to break out the games again. Though, if you’re one of thousands of people around the world who play Warhammer, you probably never put it away in the first place.

Warhammer 40,000, a tabletop game set in a dystopian fictional universe, is not new. But a pandemic-fueled frenzy for science fiction and fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons has introduced it to a whole new group of players.

Often referred to as Warhammer 40k, the game is played on tabletop terrains with models that players assemble, modify and paint. The game itself requires a lot of arithmetic, as well as a rule book, dice, measuring tape (to determine a character’s range of motion) and an optional laser (to ascertain a clear sightline to attack). The costs add up fast: Acquiring and readying enough new models for a proper game can run a player upward of $400.

But those costs don’t seem to be a deterrent.

Warhammer 40k is the most popular property made by its parent company, Games Workshop. Its popularity has helped the company’s stock price, which has risen by more than 60 percent in the last two years.

Celebrity players, including Ed Sheeran and Ansel Elgort, have drawn more attention to the game. Shayna Baszler, a WWE wrestler, has sported several costumes modeled on imagery from the Warhammer universe.

The actor Henry Cavill mentioned his hobby of assembling and painting Warhammer figures during a recent appearance on “The Graham Norton Show.”

“Can I come over and play?” asked Tom Holland, Mr. Cavill’s fellow superhero actor and guest on the show. “It sounds amazing.”

For longtime Warhammer players, the new embrace of the game has been a welcome surprise.

“Warhammer has always been this closet nerdy game that people just play with their weird toy soldiers and it’s like, ‘Why are adults doing this?’” said Nick Nanavati, 27, a professional Warhammer commentator who founded a coaching company for competitive Warhammer players called Art of War. “And it’s becoming more of this mainstream type of thing where nerd culture is becoming a lot more accepted by the public.”

Though the Warhammer universe is expansive and complex, it’s not necessary to understand all of its rules and lore to appreciate the game.

“If you want to build models, you can just build models,” Ruby Guest, 25, said in a Zoom interview.

Ms. Guest, the daughter of Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest, is a longtime Warhammer fan. When she was in high school in Los Angeles, she and two classmates who called themselves “the nerd herd” led a successful campaign to throw a Warhammer-themed prom.

Warhammer’s first rule book was published …….

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/25/style/warhammer-game.html