In Relation to REAL Armies...

[eldargal]

Er, no, thats really incredibly simplistic. For a start the Eldar are not particularly oriental, Jes Goodwin has said so himself. They take some inspiration from the Orient, but much more from a huge swathe of Old World cultures. The Praetorian IG are Victorian, not 20th century, the Vostroyans are really more 19th cenrury Russian than 20th etcetera etcetera. Necrons have as much in common with Egypt as Orks do, they aren't Tomb Kings.

[Grabula]

I'd argue that not just the Black Templars but all space marines in general share a small resemblance to crusader armies...heavily armed and armored knights that seemed all but unstoppable to the "little man" of the time.

[Mr.Pickelz]

Wouldn't the Orks be more like the Viking raiders?

[Nosmo75]

40K:

Cadians are apparently based on 20th century United Nations forces, with the name having been taken from 'Canadian'.

Vostroyans are pre/post/during Russian Revolution.

Valhallans are Cold War USSR.

Steel Legion are WWII Germans with their focus on armoured companies.

The Death Korp of Krieg are WWI Germans with their focus on attrition and trench warfare and artillery.

Mordians are France (I believe they still had those caps in WWII, so possibly WWII era France?)

Catachan Jungle Fighters are the USA during the Vietnam War.

Tallarn Desert Raiders are Middle Eastern guerillas.

Space Marines in general are crusading knights.

Space Wolves take influences from Vikings and other warrior cultures.

Blood Angels take the vampire myth from Eastern Europe, and possibly some Christian themes, when Sanguinius is taken into account.

Dark Angels are alike to cults and secret orders like the Freemasons or the Illuminati.

Ultramarines and Imperial Fists have inlfuences from the Holy Roman Empire.

White Scars are based on Mongols and other quick-moving cavalry-based armies.

Raven Guard are like modern day black ops (just look at that picture of the RG Scout in Imperial Armour Volume 8, and tell me they aren't =P).

Iron Snakes draw a lot from Ancient Greece and Sparta.

Tau are akin to modern day Japan/China: a terrible civil war followed by huge technological advances.

Eldar draw inspiration from B-movies and 1950's/1960's science fiction, but also draw inspiration from Eastern warrior temples.

Dark Eldar are... erm... I cannot think of a real-life analogue for the Dark Eldar. Elves are from myths, technology-that-seems-to-be-magic is Arthur C. Clarke, and wanton murder, slave-taking and essence-drinking is similar to vampire myths. I suppose the slave-taking could be similar to armies like Persia who pressed their slaves into battle (Grotesques), but it's a bit weak.

Necrons are based veeeeeeery loosely on Ancient Egypt. In my opinion, they are based more on this mythical alien culture that science fiction would have us believe helped the Egyptians to build the pyramids, with the difference being that the Necrontyr didn't seem to recruit/create any races to help them in the War In Heaven (but that would make for some interesting fluff, imo), they just wiped out everything the Old Ones created.

Tyranids are based on the xenomorphs from the 'Aliens' series, but could be said to be an analogue for nature/disease in general.

Orks share similarities with science fiction films like Mad Max, and Road Warriors with their rusty, ramshackle machines and love of speed, but do not seem to have had a significant amount of real-world inspiration.

[Nosmo75]

Fantasy:

Orcs are based on football hooligans and Pics (the ancient Scots)

The Empire is based on Europe in the Middle Ages, I believe. With a bit of Victorian steam technology and a Renaissance-esque focus on invention.

Bretonnia are based on medieval France and Arthurian myths.

Warriors of Chaos are loosed based on all Germanic invading tribes, but mainly Vikings.

Lustria and the Southlands are based on Mayan/Aztec culture.

Tilea is based on Renaissance Italy.

Estalia is based on Spain (probably during her pirate days, but I can't be sure)

Albion is based on Celtic Britain and Ireland.

Cathay is based on, erm... some time in Chinese history (feudal?).

Nippon is based on, erm... some time in Japanese history (feudal?).

Araby is, obviously, based on Arabia and Arabian myths.

The Marauder tribes near Cathay are based on the Hun.

Ind is based on India.

Dwarfs are based loosely on Yorkshire miners, apparently, but their culture draws a lot from Tolkien.

Dark Elves are supposed to have similar aspects to celebrities and rock stars (y'know, getting away with murder, taking drugs etc)

High Elves are similar to the aristocracy in several ways.

Wood Elves are like hippies, but they might being drawing inspiration from ancient forest-dwelling tribes in what we now call Europe.

Ogre Kingdoms are based on caveman/Stone Age culture with most Ogres living a violent 'might is right' tribal existence.

Vampire Counts are based on the Eastern Europe vampire myths.

Tomb Kings are based on Ancient Egypt and their mythology.

[Sam]

@ Nosmo

I would say the Catachans have more in common with the NVA than the US forces in Vietnam. The NVA were more at home in the jungle and more prone to use traps and guerilla warfare than the US.

[fuzzbuket]

. Orks are analogous to Glasgow...

l0l classy :P

now i have to get the brawlin orks diorama off GW and convert some hoodies,addidas tracksuits, and rangers/celtic shirts :P

[Cyberscape7]

Blood Angels= Red Cross. Know its not an army, but it makes sense...

[FirBholg]

Part of the problem with attempting to directly correlate 40k armies with historical forces is that a lot of it has evolved over time. Mostly, 40k take concepts and feels from all over history (and fiction/pop-culture) and mashes them up to create something interesting.

Eldar have a certain amount of Japanese flavour in terms of looks (hell, some of the original craftworld Eldar were converted to sashimono-like back banners), but in terms of background there's more of a Celtic feel there (via Warhammer Fantasy elves, which are themselves heavily informed by Atlantis myth/fiction and Moorcock's Melnibone) - for what was essentially originally elves in space, they're really rather well-developed and interesting!

Space Marines (in look, at least) were originally based off of the Warhammer fantasy Chaos Warriors. There's obvious parallels with Rome and the Ultramarines, and there's certain Germanic elements to the Imperial Fists (honour duelling).

The Imperial Guard were originally more Napoleonic in feel (look at the artwork on the original plastic Guard box set, for example), though the Imperial Guard in the 90s was probably the biggest proponent of direct parallels with historical forces (Rough Riders of Attila, etc).

I would say the Catachans have more in common with the NVA than the US forces in Vietnam. The NVA were more at home in the jungle and more prone to use traps and guerilla warfare than the US.

Agreed and seconded - they're kinda like a crazy mix of both sides of the conflict (plus the giant Deathworld scorpions, of course).

Hell, I kind of see the Tau having parallels with the Roman Empire, in that they use auxiliaries from the races they've conqu- uh, 'brought into the fold'...

Chaos is largely based on the writings of Moorcock and Lovecraft's circle, and as for Necrons (ignoring Terminator, of course) I've always seen them as more Mayan than Egyptian - sure there are the 'scarabs', but the look of the monolith is far more cyclopean than Egyptian, and hell, they have a troop type called 'Flayed ones'!

[MaltonNecromancer]

Dark Eldar are... erm... I cannot think of a real-life analogue for the Dark Eldar.

In terms of real-world analogues, they don't really have them, being more closely linked to various fictional villains. The haemonculi are a mix. They're based on Clan Tzimisce from Vampire: The Masquerade, as well as the Cenobites from Hellraiser. Urien Rakarth is quite clearly inspired by Vampire characters like Velya The Vivisectionist and Sasha Vykos. The Grotesques are similar to Tzimisce in Zulo form, and the Wracks are Szlachta. You've then got the Hellions who are clearly inspired by the Green Goblin from "Spiderman".

Useful info on Tzimisce:
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzimisce[/url]
[url]http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Tzimisce[/url]

Orks are obviously inspired by football hooligan culture. They had a supplement caled "'Ere we go!" for goodness' sake! Generally, historical human armies invade and dominate for power, territory, to assert dominance, etc. So do most of the 40K armies. But Orks don't. Orks are the only ones to do it entirely for a laugh... like football hooligans, who riot purely for the sake of enjoying a good fight. During the late 80's/early 90's when 40K was first around, football hooliganism was big news in the UK, so it's not surprising that it influenced GW (who were always fairly tongue-in-cheek with the fluff at the start) to do the Orks as a black comedy version of it. Even the way the Orks invade planets is the way hooligans travel - "Show up on a big bus wiv all yer mates. Kick sum teef in." The fact their phonetic accent is quite clearly estuary English only seals the deal.