=][= HEROES OF THE LEGIO =][=

[Brother Tyler]

By now, most of us have seen the various badges that we've earned for our participation here at the Bolter & Chainsword. Each of us earns achievements, most of which garner badges, for participating in the community. These include things like starting topics, posting replies in discussions, creating gallery albums, uploading images, receiving positive reactions (LIKEs and THANKS), giving reactions, etc. You'll also see badges for longevity, identifying when a member has been here for 1 year, then 5 years, and then five-year increments. All of these are automatically awarded by the site when the behavior/milestone is reached.

In addition to these, there are a number of badges that are manually awarded based on non-standard behaviors. Many of these are tied to the imagery of the site's mascot, the Legio Bolter & Chainsword, a special Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.

One of these badges is that for a Hero of the Legio. This badge is only given out by the Administrators, and only to members that have contributed significantly to the site in terms of the nuts and bolts of keeping the site running (as opposed to hobby content and the like). Basically, these members' contributions have been vital to the site's ability to support the community.

That's the badge at full size (all of the badges are that size, but they display much smaller).

The following members have been awarded this badge:

BLOODSAINT
Way back during the 3rd edition of the Warhammer 40,000 game, Bloodsaint saw a need for a place for fans of the Space Marines to get together and discuss the faction. He also created a lot of the key themes and imagery of the site that continues to influence the site's appearance, including the concept of the Legio, the skull motif, Inquisitor Impetro Respondi (that's the guy you see in the image we use when locking topics), and Atticus Rage (our resident doomsayer). Basically, without Bloodsaint the Bolter & Chainsword wouldn't exist.

Kurgan the Lurker
Recruited by Bloodsaint as assistant Administrator way back when, Kurgan the Lurker has been a mainstay of the site whose contributions are far too numerous to list here. He created the original Liber Astartes, a database site dedicated to listing all of the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes (we co-opted the name for our DIY forums) and he wields the dreaded power mackerel (for those that ask stupid questions). He has also been instrumental in each of the site updates over the years.

Brother Argos
When Bloodsaint had to step down, Brother Argos stepped in and took the site over, transferring us from ezBoard to Invision and footing the bill out of his own pocket for quite a few years. His expertise also applied to keeping the site running (and restoring it when it went down). In addition, he was one of the key forces behind the painters.

WarriorFish
Originally serving a staff position as one of the inaugural Moderati of the Astra Militarum site (after we expanded to include the Emperor's Hammer), WarriorFish moved up from the ranks of the Moderati to become a technical Admin. His technical expertise was instrumental in cleaning up the Mongotruck infestation that was troubling the site and he has been a prolific participant in the hobby side of the site.

sibomots
When our previous efforts at updating the site stalled, sibomots stepped forward and offered his services. His technical expertise and dedication to the site ensured that the update went smoothly. As a result, we were able to update from outdated software (over ten years old) to the latest version of the Invision software. Without him, Emperor only knows if/when we would have updated our software.

This is just the initial list of members earning this award. The astute among you will notice that all of these members are/were members of the Administratum. Bloodsaint and Kurgan the Lurker have retired to the ranks of the Moderati Cedo, and Brother Argos remains an admin in an advisory capacity (especially since he owns the site ). While sibomots currently serves in the Administratum group, that is to support the ongoing upgrade efforts and he will revert to the Sacristan group in the near future. To be fair the members of the Administratum and Sacristan groups are most likely to earn this award simply because of the nature of what they do and the behind-the-scenes work that goes into keeping the site running. Despite this, anyone has the potential to be awarded this badge, regardless of group. We have only the vague requirement of "tangibly contributing to the ongoing welfare and functioning of the site" (tentative verbiage - I just wrote that down to describe the concept ) and a great deal of subjectivity for earning this badge.

There are also some other badges that we'll tell you about soon, and some of you may have already done what it takes to earn these badges (and we'll have a process whereby you can stake your claim so that we can award them).

In the meantime, you should be thanking each of the members above for all of the hard work that they have done, sacrificing their time and effort (and money) to provide a place for all of the members of the community to come together.

[GodEmperorOfMankind]

Thanks to all mentioned, and yourself of course brother Tyler! 

[JaM_TW]

Thanks Heroes!  So glad to see that the B&C still endures, it's one of those sites that I keep on visiting. Thank you for that possibility.  

[Evil Eye]

Oh this is a cool idea! Hope to see more cool badges given out to the awesome guys and girls of the B&C, and on a more arrogant note I hope I can do something important enough to get a shiny medal/squig/gemstone or whatever of my own.

 

(If you get that reference, you're the real G.)