The Beard Bunker is returning to its weekly format

We shifted to monthly posts in October 2024 amidst what I nebulously referred to as "spectacular real life events" for a number of the Bunker's contributors. The monthly posts let the Bunker maintain a weak pulse, and gave us time to consider what to do with the site going forwards. That thought process is still ongoing, but - for now at least - things have calmed down enough that weekly posting should be manageable.

Won't you tell us what happened?

Sadly for the curious, I shall remain nebulous the things that happened to my fellow Bunker dwellers. It's not my news to share. For my own part, in the first half of this year, my job has some dramatic developments, then my mother in law unexpectedly died, at which point my job got even more crunchy for a few months. Happily my job's now calmed down again, and we're some months on from the death. Life is sort of normal-adjacent, albeit with heightened emotions.

Thoughts on the Beard Bunker's future

This website was started with the intention of showcasing the kind of narrative-heavy gaming we'd like to advocate for in an online space often dominated by matched play content. Somehow we have been doing that, fairly consistently, for over 13 years.

As time has gone on, I've found more things encroaching on the time I need to work on Bunker content; my occasional Goonhammer projects are often ambitious, and I've taken on charity work that also eats time. I'm paid for the former and see real value in the latter. So where does that leave the Bunker in my priorities? Should we open a Patreon/Ko-fi? Should that involve creating a community space? Is that something we sensibly have time to do?

These are all questions to be discussed with the other Bunker members, but for me, I think the Bunker is a space in which I can write whatever wargaming content I fancy, and think might be of some interest to someone. If I ever get to the point where it feels like an obligation, I should stop.

I think the one thing that doesn't need discussing is the question of what sort of content we put out. Ultimately it's always going to be what we enjoy writing: a mix of hobby blogs and tutorials, stories/campaign logs, and occasional gaming resources for people who like their Warhams cured just the same way as us. We'll be producing the latter next week when we put out datasheets for three Space Marine characters in Gravis armour.

Have you still been hobbying during the pseudo-break?

Enthusiastically. It's helped me cope over the last few months. There are some projects which will get a post of their own, since I suspect I have something  useful or amusing to say about them, but here's a few which I think can just be enjoyed as minis:

Birthday Bro

Our good friend Boris (he of the mad stained glass windows post) recently turned 40, and so I offered to paint him a 40K infantry character of his choice. He immediately picked Ahriman, which is perfect, since a special character might not be dressed exactly the same as the rest of the army. It's an impressively complex sculpt, and unusually for a character comes on three small sprues (as opposed to the usual one or two). So say hello to my first and probably last Thousand Sons mini:

I did have fun with it, using a lot more colour fades than I would usually employ, with the purple robes going all the way from blue in the recesses to pink on the highlights. Conversely the blue armour has purple in the recesses.

For one reason or another I think I used every part of the colour spectrum on this mini. Seems appropriate for the Changer of Ways. You might be thinking there's no green, but you'd be wrong: the silver has a very slight green glaze in places.

Terror troops? No thanks

This year has seen a big push on my Cobalt Scions. Harvey has dangled the possibility of GMing a narrative campaign for my Scions and Tom's Raven Guard in January, and while I clearly have more than enough minis to participate in this, the format of deploying your units to different engagements on the map really does supercharge my urge to have more stuff. As I write this I'm finishing off the 3 snipers I need to finish Squad VIII, which will bring me to 90 marines painted, plus characters and support units.

Among the most recently completed units is a full ten-man squad of Reivers. As the company grows, it feels wise to ensure it can cope with any given situation. The Reivers plug three holes: deep strike, melee, and stealth. One niche I didn't particularly feel the need to fill, however, was terror troops. Astartes are already terrifying enough, and it doesn't really fit with the Scions' more diplomacy-led vibe. To that end, an eBay job lot of Infiltrator helmets enabled a headswap on the whole squad to tone down the standard look.

Sergeant Agarion's helmet has been painted in a more muted red than usual. Of course, it's still a terrible idea to paint one's officers' helmets a different colour, but the Imperium is proudly built on bad ideas. At least this gives Sgt Agarion more opportunities to demonstrate his superior stealth skills.

Every member of the squad has a grappling hook stowed on their belt, ensuring WYSIWYG compliance.

It's good to be back

There's no way of knowing what the future holds, and we are all temporary creatures, but hopefully for the time being: normal service is resumed. If you're reading this, I very much hope you have had a less 'interesting' year, and that the people who you cherish know just how much you love them.