Why Do a “DIY” Regiment?

Our foe is well equipped, well-trained, battle-hardened. He believes his gods are on his side. Let him believe what he will. We have the tanks on ours.— Gen. Andreas Carnhide on the eve of the Liberation of Lyubov One of the joys of wargaming is a well-painted army with a compelling character that suggests a …

The Good, the Bad, and the Imperium

Recently, GW affirmed that "Warhammer is for everyone" and that the Imperium of Man is satirical and not an "aspirational state." GW was responding to a fringe of the Warhammer Community that has reinterpreted the Imperium as White supremacist fantasy. Of course, any right-thinking person is opposed to racial or religious discrimination and equally opposed …

Designing a Homeworld

Congratulations! You are now the Chapter Master of a Space Marine Chapter, Commander of an Imperial Guard Regiment, Canoness of an Order of Sisters of Battle, or what have you. The first thing you should do is decide where your army comes from. If you are stuck for a name, you could use the name …

Navis Noblite

The Navigator Houses For over twenty thousand years, the unique breed of mutant humans known as Navigators has guided Mankind’s vessels through the Warp. The early history of the Navigators has long been forgotten, save perhaps by the most venerable ancients of the Navigator Houses, though it is doubtful that even they remember everything accurately. …

The Adeptus Mechanicus

With its foundations stretching back to before the Horus Heresy, right back through the Age of Strife to the Dark Age of Technology, the Adeptus Mechanicus is the oldest institution in the Imperium. In fact, it is so old and the power it wields so great, the Adeptus Mechanicus is more akin to an allied …

Structure of the Imperium

The Imperium is a rather diffuse structure. The Imperial Court on Terra is a distant, almost mythical place. The Imperial structure that means the most to the average Imperial subject is the Great House. The House rules the world or hive upon which the individual subject lives, the nature of the Lord of that house …

Commissars

Training Commissars A Commissar is a political field officer in the regiments of the Imperial Guard. They have the duty to maintain the morale of the troops on their massive campaigns, often in the face of staggering casualties. The Commissar is empowered to use any means necessary to ensure the moral safety and purity of …

Phonetic Alphabet

The phonetic alphabet assigns code words to the letters of the English alphabet acrophonically so that critical combinations of letters (and numbers) can be pronounced and understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by vox regardless of their native language, especially when the safety of navigation or persons is essential. The paramount reason …

Figure Scale

Okay, so you've been a wargamer forever and you want to do conversions from plastic model kits, Christmas Village accessories, or some other non-traditional source. Will it be compatible with your gaming stuff? Short of taking a figure with you to size against it (not always practical) you need to understand what the various scales …

Female Marines

Making a Female Space Marine The reasons for the creation of female Space Marines are largely the sole knowledge of the Chapters themselves - to commit such a crime against the Machine God and the Emperor would require incredible circumstances just to consider it. Indeed, if such an option is considered at all, as the …

The Frugal Gamer

One thing that always frustrated me as a gamer is my eyes are always bigger than my budget. I am very good at coming up with cool army lists but they require things like 8 Space Marine drop pods ($400 at GW prices) or a dozen Valkyries ($720 at GW MSRP) or a squadron of 3 Salamanders ($115 not including shipping!). …