The Beard Bunker

Charlie: Don't be fooled by my name and photo above; this is Mark's final post, as promised in our farewell to him last week ( click here for that ). Only Mark could've made a post about his own impending death this humorous. It's about the hobby from the perspective of a dying man, and since we're all mortal, this seems relevant to all of us. I'd like to spin this intro out for longer, because  I keep feeling like just one more sentence might convey the sense of bewilderment and sadness here at the Beard Bunker, but I already said my piece last week, and this is Mark's post, not mine. Without further ado, here it is. You, sir, are metal. Mark : This will (hopefully) be the Beard Bunker’s first post from beyond the grave. If you are reading this, I am dead.* Deader than a can of spam. Deader than the moshpit at a Coldplay gig. I imagine that the Beard Bunker personnel will be keen to keep this as the last postmortem post for a while, probably for...

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...

We here at the bunker often talk about the hobby butterfly. Like the butterfly we are drawn, powerfully and inextricably toward something beautiful and all consuming. It takes over our hobby desire so completely. We throw ourselves into that project and immerse ourselves in its beautiful nectar. For a short while. Until we catch the alluring scent of the next bloom and we find ourselves floating towards that next shiny thing. So then what happens to all those forgotten flowers? All those neglected blooms? All those undercoated Orks? They sit on shelves, or packed into cardboard boxes stuffed under the stairs. They slowly gather dust, hoping for the day when they will feel the sweet caress of a brush and given their time in the sun. When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils I’m certain, if you are anything like me, this will be a familiar story. You will have those projects that started with such zeal only to wither and dry out like daffodils left on th...

This is a shameless plug post. I make no apologies for it. I recently had the pleasure of finding a new independent games shop in Middlesbrough: Asgard Wargames. I'm a big fan of businesses setting up in town/city centres – I think that towns should be places for people to go and interact and do all those human things that just don’t really, well, work in retail parks or on the internet. Anyhow, I found out about Asgard from the Faeit 212 blog. (If you’re a wargamey person and haven’t come across Faeit 212 here it is: http://natfka.blogspot.co.uk/ ) Faeit 212 runs a ‘blog exchange’ and one of their chosen blogs was about starting up a games store. Imagine my astonishment to discover that this little Indy start-up was in my very own Middlesbrough. I work nearby so the very same day, I waved goodbye to the circus and popped down town.  Gilkes Street's Premier Wargame Supplier The owner greeted me, he was a thoroughly pleasant and engaging chap,...