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I was showing my friend my codex, and he asked why there where no dark-skinned humans. Hes NZ Moari, and wants to have an imperial guard army that looks like the Moari battalion of the second world war.

It's not that there are no dark skinned humans, it's just that they're not represented. After all, all members of the Eavy Metal team are white, it makes sense that they would paint their models with a caucasian skin tone.

racial diversity is not going to be a strong point in a universe that focusses on the wholesale slaughter of millions and grimdark death millions of years in the future.. also which codex are you referring to? if you look at the IG codex there is a black dudes on pgs 15, 38 and an asiatic horseman on pg 44, also all spacemarines in the salamanders chapter are black.. dont know about WHF though.. im tired of people trying to make this argument paint them that way if you really want it so bad

 Somedude593 wrote:
racial diversity is not going to be a strong point in a universe that focusses on the wholesale slaughter of millions and grimdark death millions of years in the future.. also which codex are you referring to? if you look at the IG codex there is a black dudes on pgs 15, 38 and an asiatic horseman on pg 44, also all spacemarines in the salamanders chapter are black.. dont know about WHF though.. im tired of people trying to make this argument paint them that way if you really want it so bad

Yeh pretty much this ^

Also Talarn Desert Raiders are middle eastern. Also I'm pretty sure GWS encourage you to make your own Chapters and Regiments where you can pick anything from armour colour to skin colour, weapon choices to special characters and so much more...
This thread will derail fast as its usually viewed as people going out of their way to get offended.

Read this thread

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/478428.page

I'm sure this one will be a repeat of that one, and generally every thread ever made over this topic.

 Somedude593 wrote:
racial diversity is not going to be a strong point in a universe that focusses on the wholesale slaughter of millions and grimdark death millions of years in the future.. also which codex are you referring to? if you look at the IG codex there is a black dudes on pgs 15, 38 and an asiatic horseman on pg 44, also all spacemarines in the salamanders chapter are black.. dont know about WHF though.. im tired of people trying to make this argument paint them that way if you really want it so bad

I don't know if Salamanders are so much "Black" as in "Their skin has been irradiated heavily enough that they have mutated a jet black skin tone that also causes their eyes to glow blood red".

I guess if by black you mean Black, and not Dark Brown, then sure...

Tallarns are not truly middle eastern....they are based off the SAS who fought in the desert against Rommel. There are some guys who were def modelled after Middle East figures, but the regular Tallarns do not reflect the look of any real Middle East militaries

GW artwork. I'll just leave this here.

Also, I've always heard that Tallarns are supposedly inspired by Lawrence of Arabia rather than either actual Middle Easterners or British SAS. Although I guess it's quite possible that it is a mix of all three, albeit not skinwise - Tallarn itself wasn't always a desert world.

I do have diversity in my armies. I have painted several dark skinned Space Wolves.

Even my Orks have diversity with my purple Ork unit

Racial diversity requires more paint.

Because the majority of players are white.
Because the majority of those don't actively consider the need to have a member of each variation of homo sap (that a further 40,000 years of changes can engender - bear in mind that humanity has changed a lot in the previous 40,000 years to now.).

They aren't being actively exclusive of the "race" card (in 40k, humanity is ONE race - excepting the mutants, the abhumans, the freaks and witches), they just don't think it's that important.

For 40k, the racial type of whole planets will be the same, as opposed to countries or districts.
10,000 years of isolation will breed out minorities.
But, on the other hand, if the minority becomes a majority, you'll end up with a different planet-wide population type.

As for WHF, pitchforks....

 Necroshea wrote:
Read this thread

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/478428.page

I'm sure this one will be a repeat of that one, and generally every thread ever made over this topic.

Indeed. Someday people will learn to use the search function.

No 'Oh Look, It's This Thread Again' meme yet? You're slowing down, Dakka.

Because it's in the future...



Kidding but there are plenty of dark skinned people and no reason why he can't make a battalion out of them.

Of course it's easy to fall into politically incorrect stuff such as a player who wanted to make an IG penal battalion entirely out of black guys who held their guns sideways.

Imagination and balls are the limit...

There's tone of ethnic diversity in 40k fluff. Tabletop representation by GW is a different matter, they're not like barbie dolls that need to be in every color for the kiddies to understand diversity.

Keep in mind that if you want to paint your Guardsman black....You can do so.

I would paint my minis with more racial differences... if I knew how Seriously, Caucasian's so easy to do well - Elf Flesh + Ogryn Flesh wash. I'm not sure how I'd get a convincing dark skin tone.

As for racial diversity in 40k - it's there, just less clear if you're looking specifically for blacks. Imperial Guard cover pretty much everything in-Codex. Those who argue otherwise may have a point, but more likely are just trolling.

I have a friend who has a Black skinned Ordo Malleus Inquistor.

This thread again? It seems to pop up every so often here. There are Dark Skinned people in 40k, I'm not going to bother listing them. And you always have the choice to put them in your army like I have.

The most commonly-seen humans in Warhammer Fantasy are from the Empire, which is based on the Holy Roman Empire, Bretonnia, which is based on Arthurian myth/medieval France or England, or Kislev, which is based on medieval Russia. The most commonly seen humans in 40k are the many varieties of Space Marines, which barring the White Scars and the Salamanders tend to be based on elements of European mythology/history, the Cadians, which are subject to a lot of jokes about being Canadian, and the Catachans, which are based on American troops in Vietnam. There were few to no black people in any of these situations.

In the lore, however, we do have Araby (Africa), Cathay (China), Ind (India), and Nippon (Japan) in Warhammer Fantasy, and Tallarn (Middle East) in 40k, as well as Inquisitor Toth (black dude) in one of the Dawn of War games, so it's not that there are 'no black people' so much as it is 'none of the poster armies have black people'.

More importantly: who cares?

In a universe that's crowded with aliens and endless dangers, mankind has more important stuff to do than worry about skin colors.

Plus racism in 40k is "Pointy ears! BURN!" rather than "Different skin color! BURN!" anyway, so it's not like anyone pays much attention.

Furthermore: WH40k is game. A game mostly played by...

...white people. It's easier to identify with people of the same skin color. Thus you sell more stuff.

 htj wrote:
No 'Oh Look, It's This Thread Again' meme yet? You're slowing down, Dakka.

There you go.

 Sigvatr wrote:
Furthermore: WH40k is game. A game mostly played by...

...white people. It's easier to identify with people of the same skin color. Thus you sell more stuff.

If I'm not white and play 40k, does that make me a MEGA minority?

 AnomanderRake wrote:
The most commonly-seen humans in Warhammer Fantasy are from the Empire, which is based on the Holy Roman Empire, Bretonnia, which is based on Arthurian myth/medieval France or England, or Kislev, which is based on medieval Russia. The most commonly seen humans in 40k are the many varieties of Space Marines, which barring the White Scars and the Salamanders tend to be based on elements of European mythology/history, the Cadians, which are subject to a lot of jokes about being Canadian, and the Catachans, which are based on American troops in Vietnam. There were few to no black people in any of these situations.

In the lore, however, we do have Araby (Africa), Cathay (China), Ind (India), and Nippon (Japan) in Warhammer Fantasy, and Tallarn (Middle East) in 40k, as well as Inquisitor Toth (black dude) in one of the Dawn of War games, so it's not that there are 'no black people' so much as it is 'none of the poster armies have black people'.

i would agree with everything here, except the Vietnam bit...
there were loads of Black and Latino troops fighting in Vietnam...
it was actually a big bone of contention over there, as it was felt that the white kids with money could all hide out in college to avoid the draft, while the poorer communities all got scooped up and dumped in the jungle...

that said, darker skin tones are a nice change from painting pale skin...
Guard would be the most diverse, but many Space Marine chapters recruit from a variety of worlds and cultures...
Sons of Dorn had some interesting cultural differences between recruits, and gives a good reason to vary the skintones the army...

cheers
jah

Its all in the paint. I have black Neophytes.

 ShatteredBlade wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:
Furthermore: WH40k is game. A game mostly played by...

...white people. It's easier to identify with people of the same skin color. Thus you sell more stuff.

If I'm not white and play 40k, does that make me a MEGA minority?

Kinda given that the majority of players are in the UK and europe as 40k only really stretched across the pond about a decade ago now in any big way, before that i never saw it in any Florida gaming or comic book shops i used to visit when i was on holiday back then it was mostly battle tech.

But nothing at all stops you painting your miniatures any damn ethnicity you like.

There are no dark skinned humans in 40k because you have not painted any. So it's your fault, OP.

I believe it is also considerably harder to paint realistic looking darker skin tones, which might explain why there are less models with darker skin. As for pictures and drawings in codices, I can't say.