Where does the time go?

It feels like yesterday I wrote up our plan for the first half of 2026. Upon further inspection, it was in fact NOT yesterday but over one hundred days ago! This will not stand – we have been insanely busy in the clubhouse with multiple club members multi-league drifting and our tireless Bolters at Dawn Staff expanding our store and club offerings. This blog post is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the goings on because our most beloved Discord is our primary communication hub. So get on over there, make sure you’ve un-muted us and definitely muted all those other servers you’re in, and tap into the HYPEST tabletop experience basically in the world.

We’re going to be touching on league updates, club membership and store upgrades, and closing with our communication changes. Oh and a little upcoming event postscript. Without further ado, time to get going!

League Updates

As stated above, this is the tip of updates. I am glossing over some incredible narrative moments, plot progressions, and COMPLETE HOBBY RAGE on display across The Old World, Age of Sigmar, 40k, and Horus Heresy (including Legions Imperialis)!

Age of Heroes (The Old World)

On the Path to Glory are a host of armies that have progressed from Battle March to the Grande Melee of 1750 points currently. Coming up are doubles on May 30th and then the big finale on June 13th! Mike B. has been shepherding both experienced and new players through this escalation league and what a journey it has been. Along the way, missions have incorporated elements like baggage carts, rivers, and roads!

I’m going to make sure for each of these sections to touch on just how hard your Bolters at Dawn Staff and Officers are working out there. Whether it is exploring new hobby techniques (at scale), in the lab hammering out the rough edges of rules (also at scale), or guiding players through the intricacies of a narrative campaign (extra scale), it takes real effort to make quality experiences! Case in point, learning about making rivers with a small test batch:

Makes it all worthwhile in the end – narratively dope armies, painted up to an incredible Bolters Ready standard, on a gorgeous and thematic board. What more is there? Welllllllll, more of that for sure because I personally can’t get enough and I’m thinking you dear reader just may be in the same boat. Mark those calendars and get in those games of The Old World!

Primal Ascension (Age of Sigmar)

Our well known and steadfast AoS lead Devon H. has steered the narrative league into its final phase. The Amberbone Crown calls to armies, haunting their dreams of complete domination of the violent fields of Ghur! The story is HYPE and you haven’t had this much fun playing AoS before – there are all new mission mechanics specifically designed for Primal Ascension, so check it out the packet here.

And players have embraced the violence, to say the least.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE: Coming up on May 31st is another experience you can’t get anywhere else: SIGMARPOCALYPSE in the GRAND FINALE of Primal Ascension! We ran this ruleset at BOLTERCON 2025 and it’s so very extremely back for another go in the clubhouse. Make sure to sign up using this form and review the battleplan and rules … and RAGE with us in Discord in the run up to May 31st!

Cataclysm in the Abyss (40k)

Absolute pandemonium in the Calixis Sector – the dread hulk Malik’s Damnation has appeared and basically everyone is blowing everything up. The Stygian system and the planets around the Hazeroth Abyss have seen all manner of warfare and a wide assortment of factions. We played Boarding Actions in Phase 1 and Incursion in Phase 2, split amongst three teams with very different objectives.

We had to do a ton of work for Boarding Actions, so shoutout to Joe B. for putting in the work so we have dope walls to match these incredible armies on display!

In addition to the literally soul-crushing hobby ask, it also takes a really long time to set up these boards. Worth it in the end (missions are hilarious), so make sure to get those games in (and get those Battle Scars oops I mean upgrades).

Those original three alliances have fallen apart (exploded) in Phase 3, with the lines being drawn around the fate of the hulk (and other clandestine goals) and two teams squaring off. We’re playing BOFTH Boarding Actions and Strike Force games in Phase 3 and there has never been a better time to join up! You can read all about the situation on the Cataclysm in the Abyss main site, join up your roster in Administratum, as well as keep tabs with the latest on our scoreboard. The current situation below:

The Silent Front (Horus Heresy) and The Shattered Forge (Legions Imperialis)

Alex T. has been at the helm of our dual system campaign The Shattered Front / Forge which has seen battles from Zone Mortalis to full on tankpocalypse in the clubhouse. The violence will continue until… well, it will just continue ok?

As the league winds down, keep those peepers peeled for one-day events with stories that fit into the progression around the CX-2 research center, the Nyx outpost, and the planet of Arcus.

Want more HH and LI in your life? Get in the Discord, check out our events on the main site, and look at this picture if you dare:

I know, right?

Club Membership and Store Upgrades

Back to those tireless Bolters at Dawn Staff – busy to the point of absurdity! As our club grows, so does our need to automate certain things. In order to continue growing, we need to not only offer more of those unique (and HYPE) experiences but also expand our offerings (also to keep the lights on ykwim).

First up, we’re going to be asking our club members to scan in with Servitor Fidelis! We’ve been beta testing with our esteemed club supporters who are also sporting a special golden keychain to commemorate and thank them!

Over the next few weeks we’ll be announcing the Club Leaderboard, where we’ll be tracking the members who have the most consecutive weeks scanning into the clubhouse. The reward? A super secret prize at BOLTERCON 2026! In our upcoming privacy policy announcement you’ll be glad to know we are not tracking any personal information, will never sell what we do have, and only retain the bare minimum to make the leaderboard work. We use Discord and Patreon for the rest of the integration with Servitor Fidelis (as long as they keep working and we don’t have to make our own.).

So the next time you’re in the clubhouse, please ask a staff member about getting yours. As the testing continues, you’ll see more features being added when you scan in. Entrance music, mayhaps? And a quick Patreon note: annual billing is now available. We’ve been waiting to be approved for this feature and many of you have asked about it. Hooray, the time has come!

Next, the store has GROWN with a big upgrade to our Games Workshop stock. This is only possible through the patronage of our club members and the community who make supporting us a priority. Like all local game stores, we are constantly running out of space! Through sheer force of will, it all fits (for now).

Our web store reflects our in-stock items, that way you can always know what’s available. We’ve done away with the ordering via the web for things in the Games Workshop Stockist program – instead check the list of what we can order and shoot us an email. We are infinitely grateful and appreciate your patronage because it helps keep the lights on and the clubhouse rockin’! If you play other local game stores, make sure to spread the monetary love there also.

We still do our weekly preorder for Games Workshop, which happens in advance of the Saturday preorder they do. Basically we get the Sunday Preview article on Warhammer Community, then get the prices and put up our preorder on the web store in a special preorders section. We have a narrow window, basically until Ptuesday afternoon, to tell Games Workshop our preorders. This is why we close ours up at noon. This process locks in those items ahead of the Saturday preorder for the masses, so it is an important process for us! Which leads me to my next topic…

Communication Changes

Reflecting on the last almost EIGHT years of using Discord as our primary means of communication, the one thing that stands out to me is just how instrumental it has been in our growth. From the hobby streams of the lockdown, to PAINTING PTUESDAY chats, to the endless memes and stream of communication, it really has been a core component. But, as with the club and store, that growth comes at a price and we must always be doing what’s right to keep growing and delivering. THE PEOPLE DEMAND THE HYPE and we will make it happen.

The dark side of Discord’s growth more generally is how many servers people are in, how many notifications they get, and how much useless feature-creep has us all drowning. The solution is to mute everything, and I am with you on that! Our very high signal-to-noise ratio is lost in all the rest, so things like our Games Workshop preorder announcements, league updates, and event announcements are landing with decreasing frequency to our important community and club members.

Why am I writing this? Because we don’t have a full plan yet – Discord is and will remain central to our communication and coordination. If you’re reading this, take a moment to make sure you can at least get our announcement notifications and store notifications. We do them only when it matters – no noise all signal, baby. But the lack of a plan doesn’t mean we aren’t actively working on it. Is it Patreon notifications? Is it firing up an email list? Smoke signals?

Plenty more to come on that front, so as always keep those peepers peeled.

PS

Don’t forget to save the dates for BOLTERCON 2026:

We’re wrapping up the schedule and vendor plan this month, then tickets will be on sale shortly after.

And, coming up on July 18th we’ve got Kenny Boucher back in the clubhouse for another painting class in his Next Level Painting system! No previous classes required, which is exclusive for Bolters at Dawn members. Check it out and don’t miss the class by signing up today.

Whew, that’s enough for now. Until next time!