The Beard Bunker

When the plastic steam tank came out, I didn't much care for it. The details, particularly the decorations on the hull, are over-chunky and just look plastic as hell. It's a fun (if complex) unit in the game, but my dislike of the the kit with all the bells and whistles meant that I never really looked at the kit again. Original chunky bits ahoy! Credit: Games Workshop. Used for illustrative purposes only. Several years later, my friend John T burned out on a big Empire project and just straight up handed me a huuuuge pile of Empire kits, including a steam tank. He's a generous man. I think that was probably over a decade ago now, but every now and then I delve into the Cairn of Imperial Opportunity and pull a treat out. Now once you've got a mini, you start thinking about how to use it. The thing about this kit is that, as with so many GW kits, if you just don't glue half of it on it looks better. To my eyes, at least. While I'm still not sold on the chunky fil

Drop pods might not be a concept unique to space marines, but dear god is the Astartes take iconic. I imprinted on them as a teenager, but still: I've always loved their design, was overjoyed when we got a plastic kit for them, and fully gutted when primaris marines came along and weren't allowed to use them. Drop pods are such a key feature of how marines assault a planet that some previous editions (prior to us having an actual kit) let you deploy all your infantry via deep strike, representing a drop pod assault. So cool. Imagine my delight, then, when it was announced we were allowed to use them again.* Just one problem: I'd given both my drop pods to Jeff in 8th edition so he could use them for his firstborn Blood Angels. Sadly for Jeff he's pretty much stopped using his marines, caught between preferring the proportions of the new sculpts and the play style of the older units. Being the lovely man he is, he gave my drop pods right back to me. Sure, they were red n

The wargaming hobby really does bring out the ambitious madman in me. This time, I've decided to do the thing that GW only flirted with in the most Stygian depths of the Covid lockdown: I've written a solo/co-operative mode for Warhammer 40,000 in which the players pit their armies against a swarm of Tyranids. I'm writing it for Goonhammer.com, whose editorial team keep letting me get right up on my bullshit. It's also been facilitated by having access to Tom's impressively girthy pile of Hive Fleet Kraken beasties . It's early days so far, with just the one test mission available to play, but over the coming weeks and months I intend to have a growing variety of missions for people to try their hand at. If you've just picked up the Leviathan box and don't know what to do with all those Tyranids, I humbly submit that this is one potential answer. Rather than repeating myself here, I urge the curious to click the giant Tyranid face below, or indeed just g

  "Ol' Yellatoof and his squighog boyz are a tuff bunch. Dey 'ave to be to get one of dem squighogs to mostly do wot dey want dem to do. Those gitz also 'ave to be tough enough to deal wit me and me bioniks after dey get chomped on by dem squigs. Oh, and dey are pretty good in a scrap as well"  - Doc Basha on Yellatoof Yellatoof and his squig, Daisy The Orks were painted in the standard  manner The undersides were a dry brush of Zandri Dust, Screaming Skull, and Pallid Wych Flesh over the brown undercoat. The top sides were Mephiston Red, Evil Sunz Scarlet, and Wildrider Red. I added a little Bugman's Glow around the lips. The tongues got a basecoat of Khorne Red with a wash of Druchii Violet The eyes were picked out in yellow and the teef in Rakarth Flesh, Agrax Earthshade Wash, and highlighted with Pallid Wych Flesh. The most important boy The whole gang These guys came together real fast and where a blast to paint. I've got another box as reinforcements

My biggest problem with the Primaris range when it first came out, which held me back from making the shift for a long time, was a lack of anti-tank weapons.  At the start, the only thing I seriously considered to be an anti-tank gun, was the lascannons/las-talon on the Repulsor.  The only other options were plasma, and for all that it might have worked in the rules, I really hated the idea of a crowd of Hellblasters hosing a tank to death with hundreds of tiny shots.  It reminds me too much of the Starship Troopers film, which is not the vibe you should be getting from elite Space Marines.  Thank you 10th edition for killing that off, the tyranny of plasma as the uber-weapon is over! Image Credit: TriStar Pictures, used without permission for illustrative purposes only. Eventually GW brought out first Phobos Eliminators, then Gravis Eradicators, then a wave of vehicles followed, and the range was filled out quite nicely.  That said, there has always been a gap in the range, that of st