Thanks for this. I have a few 40K armies and when involved in campaigns with friends I often find myself thinking about “am I the baddies”? My Executioners Space Marines where I named all my characters after leaders in the New Model Army. Definitely bad. My Word Bearers where all the names are puns based on the hosts of Info Wars? The worst. But my Orks where I just make up cool sounding guttural noises for names? Probably still bad, but at least they are having fun.
When I was in my first apartment, I got obsessed with 40k for a bit. Being 17, with no college in sight and a suprisingly good job, I got to spend my money on orks and make an army that was way too big. A vet next door saw we loved the game and was excited. I lived a pal from the Apache nation and had a Jewish girlfriend. Why does this matter? The dude had made a Totenkopf Marine Chapter complete with swastikas. He was not invited back in to the home.
The fascist appeal to an incredibly white coded super-humanity was always an issue, though I think games like Gorkamorka, and the rise of races like the Tau showed us EVERYONE was a bummer, but it's better to not play a Nazi.
I bought my first 40k set this week and was struggling with the fashy aspects of the game i already knew about. This is such a serendipitous christmas gift to have robert explain a lot of what i was trying to reconcile. Thank you Reverend Doctor Evans.
The idiots that put Trump on the Emperor, or Thanos, or whatever are either very stupid, or actually deeply in love with fascism (probably the second one, which is funny as all said real world fascist leaders were blithering morons).
They may as well call a spade a spade and put Trump's head on Hitler, it's what they really mean any way.
I never went further than, "the emperor is basically El Cid overstaying his welcome". It was a good enough satire, with some irony spilling over into the real world. It also gave Chaos an Ozymandias vibe that I liked. This was a really good read. Thanks Robert.
Also want to recommend you check out the novels of Peter Fehervari, informally known as the Dark Coil Anthology. He's not as approachable as other Black Library authors, but he's also by far the most talented writer in their stable. Requiem Infernal and The Reverie are fantastic, trippy, psycho-horror dives into mental illness, Chaos, and characters who must grapple with and live in an impervious fascist edifice of empire.
Peter Fehervari's work is some of the coolest I've ever read. The (poorly titled) Fire Caste was the first book of his that I've read, and so far my favourite. It's wonderfully over-the-top madness. I still need to read The Reverie.
REALLY hope to see more pieces like this and maybe even an It Could Happen Here script or whole series. Loved this. Great throwback to my childhood looking at it with a new lens. I want to hear more about the other armies too!
Robert got each of us what we needed for Christmas most, an article to distract us from the holidays. Chaos gods bless us everyone.
Great article about something you're obviously passionate about, I love your style of writing. You would KILL it if you wrote for Warhammer show.
Thanks for this. I have a few 40K armies and when involved in campaigns with friends I often find myself thinking about “am I the baddies”? My Executioners Space Marines where I named all my characters after leaders in the New Model Army. Definitely bad. My Word Bearers where all the names are puns based on the hosts of Info Wars? The worst. But my Orks where I just make up cool sounding guttural noises for names? Probably still bad, but at least they are having fun.
When I was in my first apartment, I got obsessed with 40k for a bit. Being 17, with no college in sight and a suprisingly good job, I got to spend my money on orks and make an army that was way too big. A vet next door saw we loved the game and was excited. I lived a pal from the Apache nation and had a Jewish girlfriend. Why does this matter? The dude had made a Totenkopf Marine Chapter complete with swastikas. He was not invited back in to the home.
The fascist appeal to an incredibly white coded super-humanity was always an issue, though I think games like Gorkamorka, and the rise of races like the Tau showed us EVERYONE was a bummer, but it's better to not play a Nazi.
Good Hams discussion, Robert.
Robert, between this and that youtube video I would absolutely pay money to see you write about warhammer
I bought my first 40k set this week and was struggling with the fashy aspects of the game i already knew about. This is such a serendipitous christmas gift to have robert explain a lot of what i was trying to reconcile. Thank you Reverend Doctor Evans.
https://images.app.goo.gl/oNDXUzccCRGeTUsW7
And now I know why that's the cover. Huh. Cool.
The idiots that put Trump on the Emperor, or Thanos, or whatever are either very stupid, or actually deeply in love with fascism (probably the second one, which is funny as all said real world fascist leaders were blithering morons).
They may as well call a spade a spade and put Trump's head on Hitler, it's what they really mean any way.
I never went further than, "the emperor is basically El Cid overstaying his welcome". It was a good enough satire, with some irony spilling over into the real world. It also gave Chaos an Ozymandias vibe that I liked. This was a really good read. Thanks Robert.
Hail slaanesh
Great write up.
Also want to recommend you check out the novels of Peter Fehervari, informally known as the Dark Coil Anthology. He's not as approachable as other Black Library authors, but he's also by far the most talented writer in their stable. Requiem Infernal and The Reverie are fantastic, trippy, psycho-horror dives into mental illness, Chaos, and characters who must grapple with and live in an impervious fascist edifice of empire.
Peter Fehervari's work is some of the coolest I've ever read. The (poorly titled) Fire Caste was the first book of his that I've read, and so far my favourite. It's wonderfully over-the-top madness. I still need to read The Reverie.
REALLY hope to see more pieces like this and maybe even an It Could Happen Here script or whole series. Loved this. Great throwback to my childhood looking at it with a new lens. I want to hear more about the other armies too!
I'd wager my slugga, my choppa, and all my teef Robert has an ork army with some gnarly justifications.
Between OGL drama, and Robert pushing Warhammer I already accepted my faith of investing way too much money into a new game engine.
Wow dude, I have no idea about any of this. What a cool fucking read. I'm on my way to read more of those articles you listed. Stay nerdy my friend.
ive wanted you to talk about this subject for while .really enjoyed this. kind of sheds some light on conversations i had with a friend