u/starblayde

Bad Moons were always my go-to for painting up the Orks that I'd get as the second half of big boxes like Armageddon (all the way back to 2nd Edition thanks to having the coolest Big Boss model), but after chatting on our podcast and discussing it here we wondered if we would work out an easy, workable system for drawing on different inspirations to make our homebrew faction themes.

We went with Space Marines before, but one redditor's comment - by u/dattoffer -was so good we tried it out on-the-spot, off the tops of our heads, to be able to theme an Ork warband, using the following categories:

• A sport
• A movie or movie genre
• A colour
• A thrill (Fight, Speed, Luck, Danger, Riches, etc.)

Our choices were pretty random, but I think we came up with something fun! It would be awesome if you'd take a listen and let us know how we did: https://youtu.be/eooPmEv0q_o

Question for the experts of this sub, though, is how do you theme your Orks if you don't go for one of the major clans, and do you think this inspiration-prompt system is any good for homebrewing one?

Hey folks, a few weeks ago I shared my campaign book for The Hollow Star of Kadavah, a 2nd Edition narrative campaign framework. Thank you for all the lovely comments about the idea and the way it looks exactly like a book of the time.

Well, it has now reached Version 1.0 and the first game of the campaign kicked off... not where we are in the UAE, but (somehow, thanks to the magic of the global Warhammer community) all the way in Georgia, USA, and also with a 5th Edition Apocalypse game!

Being story-focused and light on mechanics and bookkeeping, you can use the background and lore for any edition if you want, and even create your own mystery behind what the Hollow Star is and how it plays out through your battles.

You can download the updated PDF at Itch.io, with version 1.0 now including a continental map, terrain suggestions for the battle locations and more, from: https://starblayde.itch.io/the-hollow-star

Also, you can listen to our latest podcast episode where we chat about the first game kicking off and where we are going from there, along with a wider discussion about what makes great 40k homebrew.

Hello r/4My0homebrew,

My podcast co-host and I had decided that our latest episode was going to be about the Inspiration behind Warhammer and other wargaming armies, and how we draw influences from various things inside and outside of GW when we are decided who "our guys" are going to be. Sometimes, of course, we will copy the box art or something we saw in White Dwarf or a video game, but sometimes we really want to make our force entirely unique and our own, which is where the inspiration for homebrewing comes in.

As part of our podcast, we played a little game where we take four random influences and try to come up on the spot with a Space Marine force. Our random choices, two from me and two from my co-host, were:

• A period of time in history: >!The Fall of Constantinople!<
• A song, or musical genre: >!The song/album Toxicity by System of a Down!<
• A colour: >!Brown!<
• An emotion (small choice for Astartes themselves): >!Revenge!<

We came up with >!A siege-based force, heavy on tanks and alchemical weapons, that is designed to wipe fortresses off the map as the ultimate sanction against an enemy force who really deserve it. Whatever colour their armour starts, it ends up in mud-brown of the torn up ground by tank treads, turned to sludge and muck by their various weapons. We wondered what would be best for them, either a with Cawl making them a Primaris chapter cunningly wrought from the secret Death Guard geneseed in his vaults, or perhaps Loyalist XVIth Legion (or indeed a force of Blackshields) in the aftermath of Isstvan III during the Horus Heresy. !<

One thing we didn't do, though, was actually name them! What would you consider best for a name and chapter/blackshields symbol? We'd love to paint up some cool suggestions for them for our own little podcast-inspired force.

You can listen (or not, we do this for fun and not clicks) to our discussion from 48 minutes at https://youtu.be/vnq92IJIZNk

If you wanted to listen to the whole audio podcast for the goings on at our local club, our upcoming 40k 2nd Edition campaign and our chat on inspiration, then I absolutely would not dissuade you from doing so.

Also, did we miss any major types of inspiration that you draw on for your homebrews, or did we mention something you hadn't thought of before?

It was the awesome Summer Preview that did it - one of us on the Meelas Podcast just committed to Warriors of Chaos without ever having played rank-and-flank fantasy games in his life, which led us into a wider discussion about what makes a tabletop army project viable.

For me, I'm totally going to pick up the Bretonnian force at some point, because 5th edition WFB was great. And also a High Elf army eventually, because 4th edition was great in my small child mind despite never using more of them than what came in the big box!

Which army (armies?) have you picked up practically blind, and did you end up enjoying them ,or dropping the projects?

Also, how do WoC play (and how do you counter them), because I remember Chaos Knights being the hardest hitting cavalry unit in the game?

We'd love it if you'd listen to our discussion on this topic and a bunch of other hobby stuff on YouTube at https://youtu.be/JwgaJyDRPWM, or find our other platforms through https://themeelas.podbean.com/

I have written The Hollow Star, a free narrative campaign framework for 40K Second Edition, for my local player base in Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

The campaign is set on the planet of Kadavah, an Imperial colony built upon an Eldar Maiden World. An archaeological expedition uncovers a sealed chamber, a mysterious signal spreads across the galaxy and different factions begin receiving visions of the Hollow Star. Each force can arrive with its own interpretation and objective: claim it, destroy it, preserve it or deny it to everyone else.

It is intentionally mechanics-light. Players decide what their forces are trying to achieve, choose appropriate missions and let the results create rivalries, discoveries and consequences for later games.

The campaign PDF is available here, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1912RiRTwrBHhoblhUzPL3ZC0td0lTv9X/view?usp=sharing

We also discuss launching the campaign on Episode 12 of our podcast, The Meelas, that dropped this morning. You can listen via the links below. Campaign chat starts from 15m 25s!

Listen on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LdAQ9Um1W3g

Elsewhere: https://themeelas.podbean.com/

I keep finding it amazing that 1,000 points can be just 17 models for Marines in 40k 2nd Ed, especially when a decent battle size is around 1,500 pts (a little too easy to break at 2k imho).

Anyway, here they are! For a later project to expand to 1.5k, I'm looking at working out a Techmarine, Rhino, Dreadnought and some sniper Scouts.

Added to my Tactical Squad and Assault Terminator squad, this makes 1,000 completed points of Sadboys to play in my local group's 2nd Edition games!

Getting them ready for some 2nd Ed, 3rd Ed or Liber Badab 40k games. They're 3rd Company for the red aesthetic, and 6th Squad as that might be the least important of the Tac squads - extremely on brand when I inevitably can't roll 3s to save them.

Locally we are running a Blanchitsu Challenge to paint something inspired by, or in the style of, John Blanche in honour of his legacy. Here's my effort, painted (mostly) with his Masterclass Volume 1 series from Army Painter.

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If you'd like to listen to our podcast's tribute episode for John Blanche and his influence, you can find it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/2XF74pOTrw4