That which is, our uttermost enemy.
Get pens, paper and an angry face ready to talk once again about really knowing your foe!
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So, having looked last time at why we need a foe and some tips on how choose an enemy for your army, this week we delve more into the history, the begginings and the creation of one.
So first let me ask you;
So how did you two meet?
Where instant hatred occurs, the brain never forgets.
The great origin story of that first battle or skirmish must be your most exiting tale, not only does it tell you everything about your enemy, but also so much about yourself. For instance why you painted that particular scar on your commander or why your land raider is captained by a mere human, all this could have come about because of that very first encounter.
Here, I believe there are two options that work best, both following on from last week;
First option, find your best friend, seek them out and battle out a mission, or if time serves, a campaign, write battle reports and particularily note who lives and dies, whose shoot:kill ratio is high and who causes particular problems for the oponent on either side.
These things may seem unimportant to begin with, but let us take longstrike (tau) as an example.
All longstrike is, is a take commander who never misses, and although he has special rules and you dont, if one of your tanks or units doesn´t or rarely misses (or your opponents) they can stand out in your fluff (or your enemies!)
The importance of who lives and dies is also crucial because if you have characters or even mere troops that don´t die throughout or that you never manage to kill on your enemies army, those are the men who ´tell the stories round the campfire´ as it were. Although just men, they are your vessels with which to tell your story, or in your enemies case, that unit that always eludes you, a group delved in shadowy folklore.
That last category, the one that cause particular trouble, are the ones that hate you the most, the one thatwill stop at nothing to get in your way, the Jerry to your Tom.
The most important, and the ones your commander will stop at nothing to kill or worse... capture.
The other is by playing yourself,... a fun prospect I know ...
Simply take an enemy codex and create a really nasty army, regardless of points and follow the instructions from above. Simple as, but effective.
Although this method isn't so fun, one which I would only suggest as a last resort if you live to far from friends etc, but it still works and in the long run could help you to learn rules and such, so there are positives.
How long have you two been seeing each other?
So the second thing to keep in mind links in with another previous blog post all about Timelines, to find out more about how to create a timeline and what kind of language you need for that, please feel free to go back and read that post under the tag 'Ads'
It may seem trivial, but the length of time that you and your enemy have been opposed is really important, not least because it gives you a period of time with which to work with but also with regards to other important milestones in your armies history; did the army stop you from reaching a goal? Were they a block in your way right at the beginning? Did they only become your enemy this last century because they killed your commanders wife (for instance)!
The reason that I waited until now to talk about your arch enemy and not talk about it before or with the timelines blog post was because I wanted you to already have a structured fluff before we added them. The reason for this is that hopefully there will be aspects of your timelines that are out of the ordinary or have a need to be explained, for instance your home world being destroyed or your army losing a commander or a battle.
Even if you have already figured out a reason directly within your fluff, for instance that your commander died because of an Ork invasion or that your homeworld was destroyed by an asteroid belt collapsing into your world due to a gravity increase on your planet because of a scientific mishap.
Your Archenemy can very well have been indirectly involved, in these instances it could be that the Ork invasion only succesfully killed your commander because your force had been weakened by a recent encounter with your nemesis, or that the scientific mishap only happened due to a spy sabotaging the experiment?
The question of why the time is so important is that it also calls for a burst of activity from that point to do with that enemy, as well as rich fluff before the enemy arrived explaining how your army had been prepared (or not) for the encounters before they happened.
Your timeline should always be growing, but this helps to work out when and where to put certain fluff, make sure you never write fluff about that enemy before you met them, you have to make your fluff add up, so be adamant about how long you have known them for.
Thou shalt not commit adultery
One last really important piece of information before I go.
Never cheat on your enemy.
Obviously I do not mean do not fight against other armies or write in other battles into your fluff, but be sure about who you really hate.
If you turn to your opponent and tell them about your four archenemies it will simply become unbelievable. If you had that many, you would already be dead, simple as. Keep it simple, One enemy, one hate, one arch nemesis.
Motherfluffing easy to do.
So, Enjoy the remainder of your day, Hate your enemy, Keep a close eye on your allies,
Keep fluffing things up,
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