Warhammer Community team member Eddie has painted his fair share of armies.
Today he shares his thoughts on capturing the narrative of your army and painting to a theme.
Oh boy. Starting a new army – the absolute most exciting thing there is in the Warhammer hobby.* You’ve seen the models and you’ve said to yourself “yup, these are for me”. You’ve got your codex/battletome and you’ve flicked through the lore and the rules, picking out some “must have” units, either because of that awesome synergistic in-game bonus, or because it’s just the coolest darn model you’ve ever seen and there’s no way you’re going into battle without one.
It’s the goal of many hobbyists, when they set out to collect a new army, to have an impressive, fully painted force that looks great on the tabletop. There are loads of resources out there to help you master the painting techniques you need to put pigment to plastic but, for me, the technical painting element is only half of what makes a finished army great.
I think an army of Citadel miniatures needs to tell a story – to fit into the narrative of their respective worlds and to be a captured moment in the vast history of the setting. These concepts are more difficult to articulate than raw painting tips, and I don’t think they get talked about as much. So in this article, I’m going to suggest one way you can approach creating a theme for your army and how that can help inform how you paint your miniatures.
The System
Before I embark on a painting a new army, I like to ask myself three questions to help ground them in the setting, and give me some things to think about when I come to paint them:
– Where are they from?
– What are they doing right now?
– Why do they fight?
Let’s try it out on one of the most common soldiers in the 41st Millennium – the humble guardsman. Let’s call him Private Jenkins. And let’s pretend this plucky, plastic private is the first recruit in your brand new Astra Militarum army.
On the face of it, this lone soldier looks much like the guardsmen in anyone else’s army, so how do you make him unique? Let's try our questions out and see where we get to...
Where are they from?
Well, Jenkins has to be part of a regiment – let’s say the renowned** Cadian XII. Being a Cadian, one of the most actively requisitioned forces in the Astra Militarum, he probably would have accompanied his regiment through half a dozen war zones and faced down a range of Chaos and xenos foes.
Why does he fight?
Like all good guardsmen, he fights where he’s jolly well told! Though Jenkins holds a special hatred for the forces of Chaos (they did blow up his home, after all, which is where he kept all his stuff).
What is he doing right now?
Poor Jenkins finds himself several months into a protracted urban combat against an entrenched Chaos force – of the Iron Warriors, no less. No worries though, he has his trusty lasgun and a go-get-em attitude!
With just this basic set of answers, when you come to paint Private Jenkins, you know his regiment insignia, what kind of camouflage might be appropriate, that a bit of battle damage and muck wouldn't go amiss, and what kind of basing would fit your theme. If you wanted to go the extra mile, you even have some inspiration in there for what kind of extra additions you might want to add to the base of your guardsman – the ruins of fortifications with Iron Warrior iconography on them for example, or even a discarded Mk III “Iron” helmet if you’re feeling fancy.***
Apply this constantly across your whole force, and your collection becomes more than just some cool miniatures – it becomes the brave Cadian XII, during the brutal liberation of Achellion V: infantry in worn urban camo; tanks bearing the kill markings of years of war; officers with crude bionics, replacing arms torn off by heretic chainswords; heroes all, battle-weary but unbroken, as they make another glorious advance through a twisted industrial hellscape into the teeth of the traitor guns.
In short, a snapshot into a moment in the 41st Millennium and a unified army that will look great to everyone, and mean even more to you.
That example was for Warhammer 40,000, but what about battles in the Age of Sigmar?
The Mortal Realms, if anything, provide even more chances for creative themes – even with this young setting, you have a lot of inspirational source material already available, as well as vast tracts of uncharted terrain to explore. There are, quite literally, limitless realms of possibility.
As luck would have it, I myself have just embarked on a new army for Warhammer Age of Sigmar. When I first saw the Idoneth Deepkin, I knew this was the army for me.
I also wanted an army with a unified theme that was bit unique but still fit within the narrative of the Idoneth. So I used my three-question system:
Where are they from?
The city of Lann-Saim**** – a small but aggressive Idoneth enclave, built amidst an ancient graveyard of sunken ships. The seas here, unlike the parched lands nearby, are lush and tropical, and great cathedrals of vibrant living coral have formed over the many wrecks that litter the sea floor.
Why do they fight?
The enclave of Lann-Saim raid the Coast of Tusks in the realm of Ghur, seeking the fierce souls that can be extracted of the native beasts and those who would hunt them. Their raids have brought them into conflict with various Orruk and Chaos tribes, and more recently, the city of Excelsis and its storm-forged defenders – the Knights-Excelsior.
What are they doing right now?
Right now they are emerging from the sea, onto the bone-strewn coast of the Realm of Beasts. The soul harvest has come again, and Lann-Saim’s warriors will gladly reap it.
These questions give me the narrative of my force, and a starting point to think about colour schemes.
If they’re raiding the Coast of Tusks, then the idea of bone-coloured armour seems practical (maybe made from wraithshell in the style of the Nautilar enclave). I went with a darker skin-tone than traditional on the Idoneth as well, to contrast against the coral-white of the armour.
To match the deep tropical waters, I painted the robes of my Idoneth in a mix of blues and greens, and on longer robes, I’ll blend these from one to another, bleeding from sun-dappled shallows to the ocean depths.
For the basing, I liked the idea of a shoreline – so no grass tufts or flock, but maybe the odd exotic-looking sea plant. I’ll paint these in bright colours, to hint at the verdant flora of their underwater home. Where there is living coral (on the bases of many models) I’ll keep it pale, but give it a yellow hue. This being the Coast of Tusks, the odd skull on a base wouldn’t go amiss either.*****
Idoneth kits have a lot of little sea critters that you can use on the bases. I figured the Realm of Beast, more than any other, would have all manner of weird and wonderful life, so these let me add little splashes of colour throughout the force. When I move on to larger creatures, I’m going to stick with these bright colours, with yellows and reds as the main tones, to match the coral on the bases.
I’ve only just begun on this latest project, but I’m pretty confident that if I stick to my theme, I’ll end up with a great-looking force I’ll be proud to command on the tabletop.
Anyhoo, I hope you’ve found this interesting, or even informative. If you ever find yourself at a loss for colour schemes or army themes, try asking yourself some questions about your army. I hope your army looks all the better for it, and that you have more fun painting it, too.
– Eddie
If you have any examples of your own themed armes, let us see on our Warhammer 40,000 or Warhammer Age of Sigmar Facebook pages.
* which is why so many hobbyists do it so much more often than finishing one.
** It’s a well-known fact that all Cadian regiments are renowned
*** If you have a regular friend/arch-nemesis with a favourite army, I would highly recommend building them into your narrative. “Ultramarines eh? My Word Bearers take special delight in capturing Ultramarines to use in all their arcane rituals – they make the tastiest Daemon treats.”
**** I fudged a bit of Aeldari and aelven together to make the name – I figured anything with pointy ears was fair game for language. The name means “The Water Serpents”.
***** You can never have too many skulls.