The Beard Bunker

In this post, I’ll be questioning the value of having a special rule for (almost) every unit in a wargame. This is intended largely as constructive criticism of Games Workshop, and specifically the 8th edition of 40K now that we’ve got pretty much the full set of codexes. Let me preface this with saying that I’m a fan of the current edition - it’s had me playing a game I’d not really been into since 5th edition! I imagine there will be many who disagree with my overall point, and I’ll be happy to discuss at length in the comments section if that’s the case - much like the surprisingly impassioned (and, in one anonymous instance, straight up troubling) responses my post about  female primaris space marines . Of course, the odds of this post being as divisive are essentially nil. See what you think. What do I mean by special rules? I’m making the assumption that anyone reading this knows what I mean by the term special rules, be they ‘universal’ special rules, faction-specif...

So it’s 2019 (It’s been 2019 for a while – Ed.) and what better time than the beginning sort of the beginning of the year to reflect on all the wonderful things that happened in 2018. Like many in the Beard Bunker, 2018 was the year of getting some of my bigger projects off the table and into the display cabinet. In particular, and following my moderate success with a Panther , I could finally start seriously using the airbrush – and for me, 2018 was the year of the airbrush. First up, I got two ‘Nauts finished. Dorkanaut Borkanaut I also gave them something to carry around and effectively started a Blood Axe faction for my Ork army at the same time.  Mek My first Camo Skorcha & Doc Dakka and Dakkaer Overheat? Never?  The Badmoon Nobs / Flashgitz are conversions I built for a campaign that finished in 2010. There's nothing like finishing something just in time, and this was nothing like finishing somethin...

We've begun a new year, and what better time than this arbitrary milestone to turn over a new motivational leaf and  do some exercise clear more hobby backlog? Every time I post pictures of some newly-finished Fantasy minis, I feel the need to justify the square bases. This is clearly a self-imposed need brought on by years of staying current with GW's games; it's not like the Warhammer Community team send ninjas to round off my bases in the night and torch the movement trays. That'd be uncharacteristically aggressive of them. Today's helping of square bases provides further reinforcements for my Empire collection . As usual, I've attempted to distract from the very basic techniques used on the troops themselves with an ambitious banner. (Hints on doing your own can be found here .) Of course in order to figure out what to paint on the banner, I had to figure out who these guys are. On maps of Hochland, there is a military base right in the middle o...

The beast looms large, but hides in crevices. It is found in the darker depths of the house. If one digs too deep and sees its true scale, the knowledge can crush one's spirit. Often it is best to run. Only the mightiest of brush wizards can jump into the abyss and emerge triumphant, but I'm no wizard, I'm just a hobbyist, and there's only one way for me to fight a Backlog of Morgoth: cut off little bits, again and again, until I  smite its ruin upon the hobby station . Hmm. A tad overblown, that. Let's get prosaic. When 2017 began, I took an oath to focus almost exclusively on eroding my hobby backlog instead of buying new stuff. Boy did I pick a tough time to make that decision. Little did I know that Games Workshop were about to drop 40k's 8th edition all over our collective faces, and then follow it up with a relentless tide of new hotness that made me feel like a crack addict being thrown into the stock room of Drugmart and being told to keep my hands i...

Greetings fellow bunker dweller! We're all doing a bit of a 2018 retrospective before launching in to the inevitable hobby glee that will be 2019, and now it's my turn! Casting our minds back to the early, early cold days of 2018 we were in the frozen depths of Frostgrave: Critterwatch episode 1 took in these cuddly characters While my borderline offensively bruising warband grew Still very much enjoying Frostgrave as a game, it's ideal to pick up for a spurt of games. Advance the personal narrative of the wizards and then put it away again for a while. It's also a place for me to park random fantasy miniatures and monsters that I like the look of but have no other purpose for. Hurrah for collecting facillitation! The oh-gods-why-so-long-to-paint bikers The real meat of 2018 though was once again the Blood Angels, I had another burst of BAngles keen and this translated into a few new units bringing me ever closer to a full company of psycho vampir...

Howdo all! A new year brings you all a new contributor to the Bunker.  I'm Andrew, also Andy, and other less appropriate names on occasion.  I'm not entirely new to this malarky, having been blogging for a decade now over at Iron Legion , but as life changes I find I have so little time to maintain a blog myself and so I'm in the process of shutting it down.  You can however see a lot of my previous hobby over there, and soon there'll be a post of my own personal highlights in case you're interested. Charlie and the Bunker crew were generous enough to give me a home here as an occasional poster, so you may or may not be seeing more of my progress. As an opener, and in keeping with the idea of what I have done this year, here is what I have been up to - I made some pointy-eared tree huggers >:) Obligatory core - Glade Guard and Dryads (I really like the Dryads - they are very good models and so very easy to paint, I plan to have more) Lord...