"Wonderful world of fluff" Back to the Future

Good Morrow all,

I do hope you are all enjoying a fantastic day.

First off, I do apologise for my absence, I have no excuse other than that I encountered a family emergency here and due to the size of my family it took quite a while for us all to deal with the news.

But I am back and back I am for good,

Today we talk about credibility; making your listener or reader believe your story and how to believe it yourself.

So let us get back to the future.

So far we have talked on a variety of topics, from how to structure your timeline to creating names (And In Practice blog post is coming to further the knowledge of this but it is going to be a little while coming.)

But todays topic is a lot more about mindset than writing or creating; for instance when you are asked about your army or when you tell people, how do you get people exited or interested too? A sign of a good story teller is that when the story is over the listener has questions.

So today we work on the way you present your army and the story behind it.

First thing is first, let us have a look at how your models reflect your fluff.
To explain I am going to to show some work in progress that is close to hand, although not finished I believe it can explain the idea better than words alone.

So this here is my 'Corvu Flokke' or in other words, my Stealth Team.
This is such an easy conversation starter, having scratchbuilt models enhances your story and makes people have to ask you about your army. A simple 'What is that / are they??' Can open the can to your whole army. Just makes sure your models make sense, although my Army is 90 percent converted / scratchbuilt everyone has the correct weaponry. In terms of these models I had make a bit more effort in terms of not knowing how to deal with the 3+ Armour save, but that is all in the fluff which can be found at the bottom of the page.

The second method is to have lots of short stories, no more than three or four minutes, that tie into your army. For those who read my very first 'In Practice' post will know a little about my core story which everything is based on, but what about the army? Just like in real life every single miniature represents a different character, whether they be a mighty daemon slayer or a teenager fighting thier first (and possibly last) battle, they still have a life to tell of.

Now please do not get me wrong, I don't suggest you sit down with each and every miniature and write out a story for each, because let's face it, most armies consist of lots of very similar models and likelyhood is you will forget every one and if not, you will forget who is who.

But this is where modelling comes into the equation, I suggest that for every squad in your army, you designate one model (and that model does not necersarily have to be the leader) to be your "fluffy one."

This means that the character who would stand out anyway, get a boost as well because of his / her back story.

For instance;

Llen Doeber

"Llen Doeber is a brilliant example of the culture within the mercenaries of the Yor'Corvus. Born to a Human mother and a Tau father, he took on the genetic traits of the two giving him a keen eye and a strong body. Over the years he matched this by developing a sharp intellect and a mind and skill for battle.

On his eighteenth year his mother and father departed for battle and failed to return, he dedicated his arm and life to becoming an "Erztu" (for game purposes a Pathfinder.)

He took up his mothers gun and pledged himself to the telepathy section of the genetic program, here he was given what little mental traits and training he needed to become an Erztu, a warrior whose job it was to get close to the enemy and telepathically mark out enemies and communicate thier location to allies within the army.

His abilities since then have grown beyond what is required and he often shows power far above his status."

This simple story explains the story behind himself, his squad, the genetics and breeding programs and explains his wargear. Simple short, but extremely useful. On top of this, it keeps your opponent distracted if it is interesting enough... food for thought...

Finally I mentioned before, we need to spend a small amount of time talking about you, the writer.

first and foremost, before you tell anyone your story and your fluff, you need to believe in it. I of course am not talking about believing it actually happened or anything like that. but more along the lines of being happy and sure of your story before you tell anybody what you are doing. This stops confusion and stops you from changing details every time you speak to people, although you could add things, small things, to add flavour, made sure you don't change major details that will throw people off and stop them from listening to your ideas.

Belive it yourself, and so will they.

Anywho, now I must depart and say my goodbye for now, but I hope you enjoyed todays wonderful world of fluff and I look forward to hearing what you guys have going on as usual.

Have a nice day, and get writing,

Ads

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So here we have the first preview of fluff that I have been writing behind the scenes with a view to creating a codex (or at least the fluff side of one) using the Tau rules.

Although this is not perfect and still has some work to go before release I thought I should show you my first draft of one of my 'Flokkes' which will be used as opposed to Stealth Suits;

Corvu

This flokke is one that is covered by many secrets for their ranks are filled only with brothers (or sisters) of the misch whom have come back alone, whose flokkes have been eradicated in battle but were gifted enough to have hidden themselves or blended with their surroundings enough to escape themselves to fight another day.

Many of those within their ranks do not speak, and to each other there is never a word spoken. This much is due to the powerful telepathic bond that they share.

Upon return from their fateful battles they are taken into a yearlong training, alone.

They are genetically enhanced in body and in mind and in some cases have mechanical implants added to their physique to enhance their abilities.

The Corvu are powerful telepaths who share all only with each other and nothing is hidden from them, however if they please they can hide almost completely from your sight even if they are standing beside you.

These corvu are often deployed to worlds via short range teleportation to scout the area and gain knowledge before battles and even at the end of their training they are sent to a world where a battle is occurring in order to test their skills, they make no contribution to the battle around them, their mission is only to learn to hide in plain sight.

Though the Corvu are powerful warriors along they travel into battle in groups of three wielding powerful cannons held by strong genetically enhanced limbs or mechanical devices.

Their missions are unknown to the rest of the army with the exception of the one who sent them and they often deploy in a very different way to the rest of the army, finding themselves behind enemy lines before the enemy even know they are there.