Time Flies: 2024 Rolls Along & We Roll With It
We rested on our laurels through the end of 2023 holidays to prepare ourselves for what 2024 has in store. At this point we’ve crushed the first quarter so the time has come for reflection and chakra alignments. The schedule looms over us but our hobby will is strong and our collective hype will carry us to BOLTERCON in the fall (definitely probably). Today we’re going to talk about the upcoming events: 40k Long War Doubles Event, Horus Heresy Skirmish, and King Ook’s Royal Rumble for AoS. Also we’ll cover the recent Golden Bolter Character Competition winner and a brief discussion about the later half of the year – BOLTERCON 2024???
Everybody’s so afraid they could die, but they never once said “thank god we’re alive”
Warhammer 40k: Long War Doubles
If there is one area we here at Bolters at Dawn love to spend time it is in the narrative development realm. The 40k doubles event, inspired heavily by the folks over at The Long War, was skipped over for BOLTERCON 2023 and plopped directly in the middle of 2024. By creating a marquee and protected time for it we are hoping people will dive in and embrace maximum narrative with their partner. The winners from 2022 had a book-based list – what will be your inspiration?
Set aside some time (maybe in the new reading nook?) and review the Player Packet for the details! I will lift an excerpt directly from it because at this point there are way too many things left for me to type about:
Please be aware, we are looking for lists that have a compelling story and reason to be on the battlefield. This is not a competitive event and the awards/scoring reflect that. You shouldn’t be thinking: “ok, ok ok, not super extra competitive but I should bring some busted GT meta bullshit because I have no chill and only have value as a person if I destroy the reason to live from my opponent.” Players should be shooting for lists to be thematic and fun to play against. During player scoring it is encouraged that you score your opponents fairly but honestly to reflect the desired composition for this event. Lists are due a week before the event and we will be rejecting lists that obviously violate the color of this event. You are on notice!
Each team needs just one ticket for the pair: grab a partner (target rich environment in our Discord), grab a ticket, get to work, and come down to the newly expanded clubhouse on May 4th to let the hypeness wash over you. All proceeds will go into prize support from our friends over at Monument Hobbies, Games Workshop, and Huge Miniatures.
Not to alarm you – that’s about 45 days (forty five DAYS / one thousand HOURS) from this moment of my typing this. HAHAHA my heart rate just went up…
Horus Heresy Skirmish
Personally I went from thinking The Horus Heresy was a game system that only existed in the list-building phase to personally witnessing several actual games being played – and played well! As the clubhouse expands, we have plenty of room for those 6’×4’ table enjoyers that play HH to build on their momentum. Our very esteemed Hype and Morale Officer has set up a narrative HH event with a bunch of fun scenarios and rules for you all to pile in on.
I’ll lift a bit from the packet as a taste sampler:
As the galactic civil war grows to cover planet after planet, the vanguard of the legions are seeking footholds in their various theaters of war. Skirmish actions take place across the galaxy as the legions deploy their forces. The goal of the skirmish game is to replicate smaller forces moving ahead of the main legion to engage the enemy and set up forward operating bases. It will promote faster gameplay with lighter forces.
There will be a prize for most thematic force by popular vote and a prize for best painted army by popular vote. Check out the Player Packet for all the info and don’t forget to get those tickets before all the spots fill up!
Age of Sigmar: King Ook’s Royal Rumble
From our Czar of Occasional Corrections and Knowledgeable Stances we have another wild AoS event scheduled – King Ook is out there and demanding a grand melee for his amusement. Who is this royal antagonist and what role will you play? A snippet to tease your interest:
A dark king summons champions of the realm to do battle! Join us for hero based gladiatorial combat in the Age of Sigmar ruleset. You’ll pit a force consisting entirely of heroes from your favorite Age of Sigmar faction against monsters, undead monkey warriors, and enemy teams. All to win the favor of King Ook so you can participate in the Grand Melee at the end of the day.
Here is our Propaganda Enforcement and Needful Information Secretary’s very intense rendition of King Ook. Please feast upon it with your eyes and be amazed:
Doesn’t that get your hype and morale absolutely ELEVATED? Rhetorical question – no need to answer because I know you know the answer. Player Packet and details will be coming soon, so make sure to hit up our Czar of Occasional Corrections and Knowledgeable Stances if you just can’t wait any more.
Golden Bolter Character Competition
Along with the regularly scheduled monthly hobby goals with The Most Dangerous Game, we hold short term hobby competitions called The Golden Bolter. Each competition has a theme and this first one was for a single character model. The model must be at most primed to start (timestamped picture), and then completed during the assigned month (another timestamped picture). Our beloved community then votes, and the winner gets all the glory and trophy to commemorate the victory.
Our winner in February was QCG – (John) who painted up a glorious diorama of Corax blasting some heretical nerd. Check out the pics of this awesome project:
The saying is “a picture is worth a thousand words” and I don’t know if that’s enough for me to describe how well QCG – (John) did here. Considering also this was undertaken inside a month makes everyone’s contributions that much more indescribably impressive. Take a gander at all the contestants at our polling page for the competition and get in on the next round coming up in April by joining the Discord and making yourself known!
The Second Half of 2024
The magical window of time has come to a close where we can revel in the memories of BOLTERCON past and not yet panic about all the things we need to do for BOLTERCON future. The Bolters at Dawn machine marches on and BOLTERCON 2024 is ramping up:
We have expanded the event yet again and are preparing for lots of big events! Mark those calendars for November 14th through 17th, 2024, right this very instant. The exact timing will come together in the next several weeks, but be sure that we’ll have 40k and AoS Gas, big Horus Heresy stories, Kill Team, The Old World, etc etc etc. Plenty more news to come, so stay in touch by following our blog and joining our Discord.
Did you know our store and clubhouse have expanded? We have even more room to host events during our regular hours, which can be found (along with our inventory) on our store site. Adepticon is here, so the store and clubhouse will be closed the 23rd and 24th of March. Come see us in Chicago instead!
LAST BUT NOT LEAST – are you interested in a 40k crusade? Please send me a DM in Discord if so. The second half of 2024 is getting pretty full and we want to gauge interest in adding even more hype to an already hype-heavy calendar.
Thanks for reading and see you out there!