Themeing. I don't know if that's proper English, but it's what make this hobby so damn interesing to me. To take an assortment of painted figures and
apply fictional substance to them.
I theme alot. Exclusivley, in fact. When I see a new army list, I immeadiatley see a way to theme it-that's just the way I work. Take the Kroot Mercenary list for example.
I was reading the intro and Andy Chambers said that '...you will need alot of troops if you plan to rush into Space Marine bolter range!' or something like that. So, my mind made
the leap into making a Kroot army that has decided to hunt Space Marines to get their enhanced DNA-that means that the trophy racks would have Space Marine helmets, the Kroot would
have human flesh coloured skin, Vulture wings would be replaced by jetpacks, Knarlocs by Scout Bikes, etc..That's just what I do I suppose. The concept of playing with an amry that
has no background is an alien concept to me. I just.......can't. Alot of people can, but not me.
There are alot of misconceptions about themeing that I would like to clear up first, though.
First, despite the best attempts of Games Workshop, themeing is NOT hard. It is not something for only the experience players, nor is it something that
new players should avoid. It is simply the act of making an army more interesting and applicable to your own personal skills and preferences. It's that simple.
It can be something as small as just naming your all characters with a specific set of names from a certain ethnic group or period of history. You could just add
a different colour to normal. You could not understand the vehicle rules and just not use them, whatever. It's not hard. One of the points that I agree with that
Games Workshop says is that 'you don't need to have a three-page essay on each individual in your army' and that is true. Some of the best themed forces I have
seen have absolutley nothing written down about them, not even from the creators.
Secondly, themeing shouldn't be all about restrictions and limitations. You don't have to place self-imposed limits on army selection and troop types. A theme is
just something that remains consistent within the force. You can play with a fully-featured list that has accsess to everything and it's still themed as long as you keep
something the same throughout the force-colour scheme, names, whatever-that's a theme.
I've learnt a few things that I think make a good theme, and I've learnt a few things that don't. I'll impart with you a few specifics about themeing.
- You've got to have a gimmick. First law of advertising. ou've got to have something that people will remember. It doesn't need to be a huge portfolio of you army's fights and
history-no gamer is going to have time to sit down and read a 12 page thesis on why your guys are blue and facing the wrong way at the start of a game. You need something visual-a colour scheme, a unique conversion
of a tank or squad, something. You don't have to be an expert painter or converter to pull this off-just be consistent. If you want every squad to be a different colour, then make sure you see that idea to the end.
Don't give up on something because you think it looks stupid-I will always admire someone who saw something to the end regardless of the obstacles in their way than someone who stopped halfway and reverted to something
more 'normal'.
- Imagine, Create and then Justify. To me, this is important. Have an idea and then make the 40k universe conform to that. You've got to remind yourself-40k as we know it is only set in one galaxy in the universe.
There are several billion other galaxies out there, and if they're all the same then I'm going to eat my left hand. Games Workshop are always trying to put new spins on things to make them sell, so you should do the same
to your guys. You like the Tyranid's bio-weaponary and all the associated biological goodness? You also want to do a Marine army? Bingo, Bio-Marines. How? Errr......the Magos Biologis, having experimented on the evolutionary
potential of the alien species, have in secret begun gene-splicing with a test clone used to create Space Marine zygotes. The test-salve reached a level of awareness and fled the planet to the far and dark corners of the Imperium, where
he begun to spawn other creatures like himself, thus creating a chapter of Marines that use biological weaponary just like the Tyranids. See, that wasn't too hard. And don't just use your first idea-expand and really run wth the idea. Perhaps
the Marines were assimilated by the Hive Mind and became a Hive-Chapter? Perhaps it was the result of uncontrollable mutation due to them being a Cursed Founding Chapter? Or maybe the dark influence of Slaanesh turned the Marines into a bastard
amalgamation of flesh and armour? Think, people.
- Have fun with it. It's your damn idea. I post alot concerning themed Space Marine Chapters. I'm guilty of shooting down ideas that may have sounded good to the creator, but simply didn't work. It is people like me that you should listen to
a respect their opinions, but at the end of the day, we can't stop you. We may suggest alternatives, a re-write with our informed ideas, but we can't make you. You like something enough in this hobby to spend money on the models and time on the painting, then
just go ahead and do it.
That being said, if I see one more 2nd or 11th Space Marine Legion army, I'm going to kill you.
That's all very good, I suppose, but you probably want some ideas, and that's what I made this site for. If you see an idea on this site that you want to use, go for it. Change it as much as you want or keep it stictly to my ramblings, I don't care. If you try to claim my ideas
as your own, however, and I shall prosecute you as far as my resources will allow. I just though I'd say that now, to make things clear. Credit me if you wish, but steal from me and you will be stopped.
So, get themeing ^_^
