The Beard Bunker

With the news that Jeff's coming up to Oxford in October,  and  that he's finally bringing his Word Bearers to battle, we decided a week-long campaign was in order. Everyone's now desperately preparing things. Most of them are preparing miniatures like normal hobbyists, whereas I, dear reader, have been doing nothing but Photoshop for the better part of a week. My poor eyes.

The Battlezone Fronteris: Nachmund box spoke to me. "I could be a forward operating base for your space marines," it said. A credit card fuge immediately followed. Look, I know space marine FOBs are supposed to be brightly coloured lego bricks that fall from the sky, but this felt like a good fit for basic, prefab structures that (a) have narratively useful self-contained objectives and (b) could also fit other contexts, making it more multi-use. Which, given the price of GW terrain, is kind of a must. If you're wondering about whether you, too, would like this terrain in your life, this post will endeavour to offer some useful information.

The thing about campaigns is that one can be daunted by the perceived work involved, and yet anyone who's played in a good campaign knows how much a narrative link from one game to the next really brings games to life. If you're a regular reader you'll know we have a persistent sandbox for our 40k games called the Eridani Sector; it's less a campaign than it is a setting. Individual campaigns occur within that sandbox, and become part of its history. When coming up with the individual arcs it's fun to think of big, ambitious conquests of populous worlds, integrating ground combat with fleet actions, Kill Team, Aeronautica Imperialis, and whatever else. Sometimes you just don't have time for that shit. This is where the nano campaign comes in. Three games is technically enough for a beginning, middle and end, so when my friend Dan and I realised we both happened to have a week off work at the same time, we made a point of booking a trio of 1K games, and decided w

 A six month ork-painting bender left me in the mood for something altogether more crisp and defined. My skills seem to have atrophied somewhat during that time, and I found myself making all sorts of mistakes I wasn't previously making, but ultimately I have emerged with my first new space marine since February: Cobalt Scions Chapter Master Tiberius Drusus. Today's post will cover the modest conversion and magnetisation work, some notes on the painting, and (of course) the lore: who is Drusus, and why is he full of doubt? Conversion work The word 'conversion' might be a bit of a stretch, but: some green stuff work was needed to fill in the socket on his exhaust vent left by forgoing the servo-skull. It's cool and all, but I felt it made the model's silhouette too messy. Helmets are sensible things for sensible people, but for characters in particular I do love being able to see a face. The face that comes with the kit is compellingly brutish, but not right for

Today’s post will be a break from the grim dark future to take a look at the grim dark past. Last November I starting on building up a collection of 6mm Napoleonic (mini) miniatures. I had done some 28mm but wanted to capture the truly epic scope of that period in warfare and not need a cricket pitch size space to game on. The only way to do that is to go with smaller models. I ordered a starter bundle from Baccus6mm and got stuck in.  I’ve been doing the 6mm stuff in between Admech units just to break things up and keep it all fresh. Since I can turn out a battalion in about 45 minutes (personal best was 34 minutes for a cavalry unit) it was ideal for those shorter hobby sessions. Only have a couple of hours after work, hammer out a couple of units and get the satisfaction of completion.    I have finally got the point where I have managed to finish two roughly equal forces, one British and one French. I also have added a few buildings and a gaming mat into the mix. My intention is to

When Black Squiggoth's best frontman Buzzy Buzzborn returned from his dynamite fishing trip and arrived at the Wurrgong Stage, he gawped at the devastation he found.

  It is fair to say that all Drukhari are masters of nastily applied mayhem and violence. But even amongst that excessively stabby breed there are some who could be considered "professionals" at it. These are the Incubi, elite, mercenary bodyguards and warriors with a dedication and focus that makes them the equal of any temple of Aspect Warriors amongst their Craftworld kin.  And dayumn do they look good doing it. I love the whole Drukhari range but the Incubi were just knocked out of the park. Covered in trophies and the shattered spirit stones of defeated Aspect Warriors they just ooze professional nastiness. As they are "Blades For Hire" I toyed with the idea of having them in another colour, but I just loved the green too much. Also I wanted them to be emphatically part of the Kabbalite force so green a go-go. Weirdly the part I agonised over most on these was the horns. Darker? Lighter? Same as the armour? They caused me all kinds of trials and tribulations. I