Remember when I talked about a galaxy torn by war with no hope of things getting better? Remember “Warhammer 40,000”? The franchise I covered pretty recently? Well, I had to come back with a new episode about it because I’ve been interacting with the media, community and hobby a lot. Honestly, I think I judged too harshly in my original episode when I didn’t know as much about the topic. I’m Connor, and welcome to Shortwave Sci-Fi.
So, what’s on my desk and workbench this week? As far as miniatures go, I’m still trying to design a perfect color scheme and design for my custom Space Marines. I’m also applying a solid base coat to a larger miniature I’m working on, slowly but surely. I’ve also been reading “False Gods” by Graham McNeill, which is one of many books that explain the story of how the galaxy came to the war-torn state that it is during the events of the board game. This series is called “The Horus Heresy” and I find the books to be well-written but complex at the same time. Hopefully I’ll be starting on some new troops by the next episode.
For anyone just now joining me on this topic, Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop game using miniatures made by British company Games Workshop. It’s about our galaxy in the far future, once conquered by humans, now at war with many different species and races of all different types. Earth, or Terra, serves as a homeworld for the authoritarian, religious armies of the Imperium of Man. Their legions of Space Marines undertake brutal missions and crusades to reclaim their territories and fight the forces of Chaos, the embodiment of evil. But the thing is, everyone involved is evil, just to different degrees. The story is way too complex to explain in a few minutes, but I find it to be very interesting, so I highly recommend checking it out.
As far as my firsthand experience goes, I haven’t actually played the tabletop game yet. I’m working on buying, building and painting an army of Space Marines, specifically the Salamanders chapter. They use fire often in combat but are also the kindest chapter of the Marines towards humans. When not fighting, these eight-foot-tall men in metal suits live alongside humans on their homeworld of Nocturne. I just think the idea of that is kind of funny. Games Workshop actually encourages fans to make up their own stories and customize their miniatures however they like! Because of this, I made up a battalion within the Salamanders and a whole backstory for them, which I’m somewhat proud of. The cost of building an army is difficult to estimate, though. I have a few Space Marines from starter sets I received for the holidays, and a Redemptor Dreadnought, a decent-sized troop with heavy weapons.
To give a rundown of my custom battalion, they’re called the Amethyst Guard. I created them because I wanted to integrate purple elements into the design of my Salamander troops while still keeping it somewhat faithful. They were originally a large mining crew sent by their leader Adrax Agatone to find ancient artifacts deep within the ground of Nocturne around the 32nd millenia. These artifacts would supposedly lead the Salamanders to their original leader, the immortal Vulkan who disappeared shortly after the Horus Heresy concluded. However, the mining team was seemingly swallowed whole by the planet itself during a huge tectonic plate shift. They were stranded in isolated caves that were abundant with only one thing – a strange type of amethyst that was stronger than their armor. They survived underground for centuries, repurposing their mining tools into weapons and emerging on the surface centuries later to rejoin their force.
Honestly, I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point. Even though I did an episode on Warhammer before, I wanted to make an updated episode now that I’ve gotten into the hobby more. Despite what I said before, many people in the 40K community are very welcoming to newcomers, and I recommend visiting the Games Workshop store in Chesterfield. I’ve found that the staff and players there are very helpful for people like me who aren’t quite sure what they’re doing. I want to shout out Nick specifically for teaching me the basics of painting! Honestly, the store locator will show you all stores nearby that are authorized to carry Games Workshop products, so if the main store is too far, there’s no worries! Thank you all for listening. Make sure to share this episode if you enjoyed the content! I’m Connor with The Globe, and I’ll see you next time.
Music: ‘Dark Cyberpunk’ by FreeMusicLab, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Link to Source. (Note: trimmed for length).
