STAR FOXES: DESIGNER'S BIO

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Name
Troy Arakaki a.k.a. Kitsune

Home World...err Town
Waipahu, Hawaii

Occupation
Art Director, Graphic Designer

Marital Status
Married with two children (and two fox-like dogs)

Hobbies & Interests
Miniature wargamming (well, duh...), Miniature painting/converting, computers (to include gaming), sci-fi, fantasy, animation (especially anime), action films, technology, dogs, Battlebots and my Son.

Bio
I've been gaming for about 20 years now, starting with RPGs of every type and moving to miniature wargaming about 18 years ago. My first GW game was Warhammer 40,000, Rogue Trader where I first playing the Tyranid slave race of the now non-existent Zoats.

Since that time, I've also played Necromunda (Delaque & Genestealer Cults), Warhammer Fantasy (Skaven & Lizardmen), Epic/Space Marine/Titanicus (Eldar & Tyranids), and Battlefleet Gothic (Imperial Navy, Space Marines, & Tyranids).

I am fortunate to have a regular gaming group that meets every Monday night (thanks Other Realms for sponsoring it *plug* *plug*) and have met a lot of great gamers/people and made friends over the years because of this hobby.

Chapter Origins
When I first started playing 40K, I didn't initially start playing Space Marines, in fact I played anything but them. At that time the majority of people that I gamed with were playing Space Marines and I resisted starting an army then simply because I wanted to play something different from everyone else. So my initial armies were everything but human; Zoats, Tyranids, Pirate & Craftworld Eldar, Black Legion Chaos Space Marines, & Genestealer Cults. For years I battled against the Emperor's Finest until about 1997 when Jes Goodwins Space Marine Scouts were first released. That did it. I now had to start a Chapter of my own.

But where to start? I knew that I didn‚t want to play an existing Chapter (too many others were already playing them) and so needed to create one of my own. Besides, its more fun that way. I knew that I wanted to have Space Marine Scouts figure prominently in my Chapter, but was stuck on how exactly to create a theme for them.

It was due to the suggestion of a good friend and gamer at the time that I might want to base them on the RPG that we were all playing at the time. The campaign and its characters were an excellent source as the personalities of most of the key characters were already developed. The main character that I was playing at the time was of the ranger/forester class and a few of the NPCs were also of the same type. So the whole scout based theme started to come together.

My other sources for theme and ideas came from personal experiences and background. My ethnic background (Okinawan/Japanese, Cherokee, and Caucasian) all found its way in some part to the development of the culture and history of the Star Foxes, as well as my association with MI. All of this came together over time and has changed over the years in small ways, especially during the transition from 2nd to 3rd Edition.

I've gotten lots of comments over the years (both positive and negative) but mostly have had positive reactions from those I've gamed with. The 'Foxes have gotten even more exposure since their Codex was posted back in 1999 on my website Stealth Mode and have even made a couple of appearances at the GW Grand Tournament- Seattle 2000-2001.

I usually will play them without any of the additional special rules that were created and find that they still maintain a personality of their own when compared other "Vanilla" Marines". For example, they have a reputation of being able to make a higher than average number of cover saves when they are in a piece of forest terrain (all without the help of any special rules). This has led to my local opponents coining the phrase "The forest is their friend" and mumbling this under their breath whenever the 'Foxes make those critical cover save rolls.

All in all, they have become one of my favorite armies to play, probably because of the personal work, history, and character that went into their creation. I hope that you can find something here that you like as well and it helps to inspire your own SM Chapter creation.

-Kitsune

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Stealth Mode. Copyright © 1999-2003. Troy Arakaki. All rights reserved.
Revised: January 07, 2003.