Inspiration
There are a lot of 40k and Fantasy players out there, which is a good thing, because it means we have a much easier time finding someone to play with. On the other hand, it also means that there are a lot of people playing the same army that you do. Setting yourself apart, whether to get attention or for personal satisfaction, can be a difficult thing. Sure, you can try different army lists, different ways of using your forces. Sometimes that's not enough, however. Naming your units and characters is good. A different paint scheme can be very effective. Some written history or fluff for your army also goes a long way. When you really have a feel for what your army is and why it is that way, then you will have a truly unique army. So, uh, where do you get all those ideas?
I remember reading about an author who always got asked where he got his ideas from. Since they were all in his head and very individual, no real answer would have made any sense to the person asking. So, he eventually just told them, "Poughkeepsie." Fortunately, there are ways to find inspiration, and there are quite a few places to look. So follow me, we're going to Poughkeepsie.
Canon. Let's start with the GW Canon. Bang! Sorry, not that kind of Cannon. I mean the recognized or Official body of work that GW has produced involving it's Universe. While I'll be using primarily Tyranid examples throughout, the same ideas would apply to Necrons, Imperial Guard, Lizardmen and Skaven.
Fluff. It's the history, the details, the non-rules part of these games we play. There are a lot of sources for the fluff. Check the rulebook. Not only do the races each have sections, there are bits and pieces scattered throughout the rules, little quotes and sidebars and paragraphs here and there. If it pertains to your army, read it! The Codexes, of course, have more details and lots of little tidbits, loose ends that imply there may be more to parts of the story. That's one of the things that makes 40k and Fantasy so great, all those loose ends that imply an entire universe of unknowns out there. Check out the GW websites as well. Although they have fluff primarily in the army sections of the website, they have more tidbits and quotes and such scattered throughout. And, for those of you that don't realize it, each GW website has different stuff. The UK and US websites have tons of stuff, Canada and Australia have a good amount as well. The rest are at least worth a look, but there isn't as much there. Where else can you find this stuff? Friends and fellow hobbyists love to talk about their armies and the background fluff. GW employees are typically founts of information here as well. Also check into the offerings of The Black Library. These are the books and graphic novels of our game and provide more details to enrich the universe. "Okay, now I've got a lot of information and history and loose ends and quotes," You say, "what else can help inspire me about my army and make it mine?"
Images. Look at the pictures in the rulebooks and codexes. Check out the artwork. See what it tells you about your army. Look at the models represented there and the different conversions and paint schemes. Find some that strike a chord with you. Some Space Marine players want their models to look as if they'd just stepped off the Thunderhawk in their gleaming armor, untouched by the enemy, seemingly invulnerable. Others prefer to have them battle-damaged and scarred. Veterans of hundreds of campaigns, victories paid for in blood, grimly preparing to do battle once again. Both are valid, but it gives a different feel to the army and it requires different paint schemes and conversions. Again, look at the websites. There are lots of wonderful images there, both by the 'Eavy Metal team and by various studio employees and entrants in painting contests such as the various Golden Daemons. Look around where you play. Check out the armies displayed at the store and those brought by the players. Maybe there's a good idea you can use, or an idea you want to make sure you avoid! Even if you don't incorporate any of the ideas you see into your army, it will still give you a richer knowledge of them and the possibilities.
History. Okay, so we've looked at the Officially Official sources and gotten lots of information and beautiful pictures and things. "Is there somewhere else we can look that still keeps pretty close to the official sources?" You bet. Rogue Trader, Second Edition, heck, even Third Edition. Rulebooks and codexes change. While the fluff stays more or less the same, it's not identical. There have been a few adjustments here and there, but there's also the concept of not repeating yourself. When GW writes a new codex, it doesn't just cut and paste from the previous ones, they write in the same information, but they may tell a different story to get the same idea across, or they may tell the story a little differently. Friends or local GW fanatics (maybe even the stores) may have copies of old rulebooks and codexes. Sometimes you can still find them on places like ebay as well. "Okay, that's cool, there's a lot more stuff out there than I thought, but I want more!" Easy there, partner, there are other places to look. Just check out that little thing we call the internet.
Websites. There are a lot of fansites out there about 40k. There are some about Fantasy as well, but not as many. Now, separating the wheat from the chaff can be quite a headache, as there is a LOT of chaff out there. That's the whole reason I created this website. However, when you are combing for ideas, think of it like a brainstorming session. You want as much input as possible, even if it's crap. You can judge the value later on, just take in as much as possible first. Even the websites that have lots of Ultramarine Terminators and laughing skulls can give you valuable ideas, just don't spend too much time on them.
Look Around. Getting out into the fringe, you can go even further afield. Look at the world around you. If you are making a military force, it might be useful to look at militaries around the world, both present and past. I know quite a few Guard armies that are based on Soviet or German World War II forces, and some Guard and Space Marines based on modern militaries as well. Plus you have all of history to look at. For non-humans, there can still be some human analogues, things that are reflected from the human race, they were after all, designed by human game designers. You can also look at works of fiction. Eldar or High Elf players, for example, might look into Fantasy authors such as Tolkien for ideas. Tyranid players might look at various insects and arachnids or other unusual things. Whenever I see a report or an image of a really bizarre creature, I tend to keep a copy of it in a file called inspiration. I recently read about a search for a (possibly mythical) creature called a "Deathworm." It is said to be about a meter and a half long and very thick, and it supposedly spits venom and delivers bioelectric shocks that can kill a man. It went straight to the inspiration section. There are types of wasps called Tarantula Hawks. They hunt Tarantulas, but instead of killing them, they deposit eggs inside them. When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the spider from the inside out. Ewww! Inspiration file. Octopi. Army Ants. Leeches, Lampreys, Eels, Spiders and Scorpions and crabs. Inspiration. You can also look into fiction. Try Starship Troopers or maybe the Buggers from the Ender series. H.R. Giger Aliens? Predator? Dinosaurs? Inspiration. Even if you don't directly use this stuff, letting it percolate in your brain gives you richer possibilities and a fuller experience.
Get Creative."Now we've come to grips with the massive body of sources out there, what do we do with it?" Play. Try out different ideas in your head and on paper. Maybe you want to give all your Tyranids Scientific-sounding names. Okay, start by looking up the scientific names of various animals and insects and check out the names in the various fluff you've found. Maybe you want to convey the history of your Space Marines through battle honors and buttons and awards like real militaries do. Maybe your Eldar will have runes and glyphs based off of Celtic or Nordic runes. You don't have to do the direct thing either. You can take something that is in the fluff or in reality and try to extrapolate it. One of my favorite examples is Sherman Bishop. He's a Tyranid player that has been around for quite some time and was the driving force behind a lot of the Tyranid fluff for 3rd edition. He has created a number of articles based on the concept of the Magos Biologis investigating and trying to understand the Tyranids. One that particularly springs to mind is one he wrote on how they travel. This is one of the "loose ends" I mentioned earlier. There is no official explanation of how Tyranids travel through space. Yes, they use bioships, but what propels them and do they use the warp or do they travel the unthinkably huge interstellar gulfs entirely in realspace? In his article, he takes principles of science and some of what we know about the Immaterium and the Hive Mind and the 40k universe, then makes logical assumptions based on that data. It is entirely fictional and purely conjecture, but it is well thought out and the scientific origins lend it an air of credibility. Try writing up the history of your army. It doesn't have to take a lot, just try to say who they are, where they are from and what they are doing right now. Maybe later you can add more information, like why they are there and other battles they have fought in. You can entirely make it up, or you can base it off of the games you play. In my early days as a Dark Eldar player, my primary opponent was Chaos Mike. (Hi Mike!) This being said, it made sense for me to base some of my fluff on having an emnity or rivalry with Chaos.
Model Citizens. You can bring your unique sense of your army to the fore through your models as well. Is there a particular color combination that you've seen on insects that you'd like to use for your Tyranid paint scheme? Perhaps your Eldar will be given fantasy-style elven cloaks and long, flowing hair. It can be something very subtle, like giving all your Space Wolves Blond or Red hair and Blue eyes, or it can totally stand out, like replacing all the legs on your Tyranids with Talons, or converting them to look like the creatures from the Alien series of movies. What ever it is that you choose to do, try to make it something that can be applied to the whole army. Just having one cool-looking Daemon Prince doesn't give you a unique army, but having something that visually identifies the whole army cohesively does. Find that theme or idea and then work out ways to use it everywhere, even on little things. Eventually, those little things add up and you'll have an army that gets noticed.
I hope you've enjoyed our little tour of Poughkeepsie, and that, just maybe, it's given you some inspiration as well. Have fun with it and maybe we'll meet on a gaming table someday and I can admire your unique army!
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