This week, I want to talk about creating a mood for your army. It's one of those things you feel when you look at an army standing there on the table. They just look like they belong somewhere in a distant world or that they really do fit the background we know about them.
When I came across this Legion of the Damned trooper post by The Lair of the Breviks talking about his epic OSL fail, the first thing that struck me was the amazing mood he created with the color scheme. Did he fail at the OSL application, yes he did... but he succeeded elsewhere.
Do you know what he did do that so many people struggle to create? He created an absolutely great mood for this guy. The dark armour, the glowing runes and eyes... the high contrast between the few bone areas, metals and the dark blue of the armour. The muted and simple base to set the model off.
Did he hit all the technical benchmarks? Nope.
Did he come away with a great looking mini? Absolutelly.
Sometimes it's ok to not get it all perfect. It's ok to mess something up or not do it as well as others do. It's not always technical skill that makes an army look great on the table. Does it help, sure, but there's more to it than that.
Creating a mood for your own army can be done any number of ways from basing to a unique painting style, palette choice, this list goes on. Don't get caught up in the technical aspects all the time... sometimes it's better to do it so it looks good and not worry about how it would be in the "real world."
Make sure to check out the other Hobby Focus Articles too!
