My problem with Grimdark

I played a ton of 2nd Edition Warhammer 40,000. I definitely played more 2nd Ed. than any of other versions combined. The box had a rather large banner exclaiming, "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war." Thus the term "grimdark" was born.

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only codex creep.

For the uninitiated, grimdark means a setting that is dark and edgy, even nihilistic, perhaps. The setting of 40K, even in its RT-era form was dripping with grimdark before we knew what it was. The imagery in the book, especially that drawn by Ian Miller with its jagged, black forms, medieval Space Marines and vicious Orks with Stahlhelms all lent credence to that.

"Bandersnatch Squad has taken Objective Jubjub most frumiously! Execute Battle Order Callou, variation Callay!" 

The early descriptions of the Emperor of Man and the daily tithe of 1000 human souls is of course at the heart of grimdark.  Rick Priestly's introduction cements the nihilistic intent of the setting with the reminder that the armies of the Imperium campaign on thousands of worlds with casualties in the millions. "After all, the universe is a big place. And no matter what happens, you will not be missed," he admonishes.

The path of grimdark is unrelenting. The release of the Realms of Chaos books were even more instrumental in layering on additional coats of grimdark. Now, whatever threats alien races posed to the Imperium of Man, they were insignificant compared to the threats posed by the gods of Chaos and their exploitation of inevitable human weakness and general entropy.

Kinda like my resolution to stop eating McDonald's.

Of course, another cause of the cancerous decay of Humanity came about in the form of the bio-weapons known as the Tyranid. Their infestation of human settlements (and Ork, and Eldar) via Genestealers was also implacable and unrelenting.

Essentialy there's no hope for anybody. It's one big shit sandwich and we're all gonna have to take a bite.

As the number of editions mounted, so did the depth of the grimdark. "Necromunda," a standalone game set in the 40K universe, has grimdark in the title. The idea of gangs fighting to the death over the scraps of the upper-class betters is quite bleak. The hive world of Necromumda is a microcosm of the larger 40K universe. Things are as good as they're going to get. There is essentially no hope for any of us. It's raw survival. Nothing more.

Raw survival means having all the catnip you can smoke.

I don't like nihilism. I want my heroes to have purpose. I don't like to be reminded of the cruel, cold realities of  the universe. Nihilism is antithetical to my being. Sure, there are descriptions of heroic actions. They're usually last stands. They usually end with "and then the entire regiment was destroyed by an exterminatus order from an Inquisitor who happened by."

It's just not for me. Even worse are the extremes that they've taken the Chaos and Imperial stuff. Skullz and spikez, skullz on spikez, spikez on skullz, it gets to be a bit much.

If you type "a bit much" into an eBay search, this is what you get.

One reaction to the grimdark is to make light of it in a particularly trollish fashion. I endorse this approach. I can only hope some fanboy has a coronary having to play against and maybe even lose against such a novelty force at a tournament. Tournaments are another thing altogether, best served in a separate blog post.

Bonus victory points for causing an epileptic seizure in the opposing player.

Another antidote to the grimdark is to play Tau, I suppose. They seem pretty optimistic on the surface. Plus they take design cues from anime, which is a good thing, in my book.

Prototype Tau models.

In some regards, Helsreach is my own safe haven from grimdark, without rejecting the 40K background altogether. I don't have to worry about corruption from Chaos or Tyranid infestations or piles of skullz and spikez and all that. I can play with old skool Space Marines and my band of ne'er-do-wells. Heck, there might even be a deodorant stick hover car in my future.