=][= 25 YEARS OF THE BOLTER AND CHAINSWORD =][=

[Kurgan the Lurker]

Twenty five years ago,, April 19th, 1999,  6 Space Marine players came together and formed the BOLTER AND CHAINSWORD. 

 

This won't be a perfect counting but I'll do my best.....

 

It started with 2 websites joining together. Blood Saint's "The Lord's Realm" for his homebrew Chapter and Kurgan's "Liber Astartes" the web's largest repository of DIY Chapter information (at the time). 

 

We added the forum and quickly brought on 4 like minded individuals. Brother Tyler being one of them. Captain Achilles (who you might know as Ash from Guerilla Miniature Games on YouTube) to name another.

 

The forum structure consisted of 7 forums. Amicus Aedes, Painting, Liber Astartes (for DIY Chapters) and then a section for each of the big four Chapters (UM, BA, DA, SW). Back in ye olden times, being a Space Marine fan in the online forum setting was a bit rough. So we created this place originally as a haven for Marine players. 

 

The original mods roamed the site and if anyone ever received the dread closure notice you could be sure warnings soon followed. Our rules were strict but designed to foster a tight community that could give back to the hobby. 

 

We had sweet merch (kinda):

and 8 bit banners:

 

Over time the site began to grow. Adding forums for the original 8 loyalist Chapters. That then grew to include Chaos Space Marines and eventually Sisters of Battle. The site went from Space Marines only to Power Armoured only. 

 

Brother Argos came on board in 2002. 

 

We had a Sound Track:

 

Shoes:

 

Patches:

 

Dice and army transport cases:

 

 

Other sites came about in a similar vein to ours. Da Waaaagh (Orks only) and Advanced Tau Tactica (Tau only). I believe there was one for Dark Eldar as well.....though time has taken it's name from me.

 

There was a period of time were we had frequent contests (mostly painting), culminating in the GOLDEN BOLTERS. Which was a massive online painting contest including Golden Demon and Slayer Sword winners as judges. Big sponsorships and hundreds of entries. I'll see if the old entries threads are still in the archive and link them up if they are. 

 

 

2014 was a dark time. Our server suffered a massive hardware failure and the site was down for 121 days. The site was reborn in 2015 and back stronger than ever. We even had a "resurrection" themed contest to celebrate. A lot of dreadnaughts in that one. I'll have to see if I can find the banner and some images on an old hard drive.

 

Brother Argos developed the Space Marine Painter which was one of the most popular features on the site:

 

 

Eventually the site would add Imperial Guard (our armies of humanity phase) and finally growing into what you see today, a site for all things Warhammer 40,000. 

We even pranked the members one April Fools to think we switched over to being a Tau board:

 

We did our part with Games Workshop too! We play tested Deathwatch for Fantasy Flight Games and you can even see the site credited in the 3rd Edition, 2nd printing of the Dark Angels Codex (back when GW gave those kind of credits). We've even had members immortalized in GW novels (Argos and Pyriel in the Salamanders trilogy by Nick Kyme).

 

Over the years we've had over 100 moderators (I'll try and get an exact # eventually) and close to a dozen admins. The majority of whom all shared the goal of giving back to the community. 

Over the past 25 years we've had over 80,000 members sign up and we still average several thousand unique daily views. Not bad, considering we are told often that "forums are dying". 

 

So here is to another 25 years.

Now this isn't my best bit of writing and there is too much to say about 25 years in one post. So as the next few days go on I will add to the thread with more from the past of the Bolter and Chainsword. If you have something to add from the past 25 years of the B&C, feel free to post in reply. 

Thank you all for being here.

 

[Sir Clausel]

Thank you for all this. This forum is something I always come back to no matter what.

Ill raise my glass to you all and wish you a happy quarter century birthday!
For the Emperor!

[Firedrake Cordova]

Hey, you missed out the dreaded Power Mackerel, @Kurgan the Lurker   

[jaxom]

You will never know how proud I am to carry my Marines around in a B&C army bag.

[Marshal Rohr]

Best forum on the web

[LameBeard]

33 minutes ago, jaxom said:

You will never know how proud I am to carry my Marines around in a B&C army bag.

You will never know how jealous I am of you that (a) you have a B&C army bag, and (b) you have a full, presumably painted, army to carry around in it!

[Xin Ceithan]

Wow! 

Happy anniversary,  B&C! 
 

Thank you  for starting this.
Thank you for keeping this going.  

Thank you for keeping me going!
Thank  you all for being here and making this a fun and supportive place to be around.

 

Here is to the next 25 years! 

[Lysimachus]

Time is a funny old thing, isn't it?

 

I must have joined the B+C around 2002/3ish, starting off developing one of my first DIY Chapters (the Stormbringers) down in the Liber Astartes. At that time it felt like the site was this really well-established place, with veterans and longtime members, and I was just a bit of a newbie. But it turns out the whole thing was actually still pretty new?

 

Maybe I'm just getting old... 

Edited April 19 by Lysimachus

[SvenIronhand]

Hail, hail!

[Domhnall]

Excellent work keeping it going and relevant for 25 years and thank you for your hard work! 

I have been a member since 2010, and it's checked every day at work (usually more than once). 
You run a tight ship, and I think that's why it works so well for so long. 

 

Also, I'd have a T-shirt if there's ever another run of them 

[Kastor Krieg]

Damn, we need that merch back :3

 

[Doghouse]

And here's to 25 more.

 

Been here since the very early EZboard days with my first ever post being here on the B&C and it's been my home every since. Congrats to the team and thank you for keeping things running all this time when so many boards have come and gone. 

[terminator ultra]

very interesting read, I guess most forums had a rocky start

[Emperor Ming]

Happy Anniversary

 

Edited April 19 by Emperor Ming

[Bryan Blaire]

B&C will always be the greatest place to me for 40K content no matter what happens with the game itself.

 

Happy 25th, B&C, and many more to you!  Many thanks for all the Admins and Mods from beginning to end that have made this place go!

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I joined while bored on my second deployment to the Middle East.  I still count it as a great decision as I've made friends here.  I still shill the board in every other 40k social media setting I'm in.

 

Even when we as a group suffer strife, I still love this place.

[Ammonius]

Congrats to the team for 25 years of B&C! Here's to 25 more!

 

Thank you for carving out one of the best corners of the internet, and allowing us into your home :)

[DemonGSides]

44 minutes ago, Kastor Krieg said:

Damn, we need that merch back :3

 

Especially with that slick new logo!  I'd love to have some Dice with that logo as the 6.  Someone in charge contact The Baron!

[The4thHorseman]

21 year member here, I always appreciate that no matter when in the hobby I have been I have always been able to pick it back up right here at B&C.

[Brother Tyler]

3 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Hey, you missed out the dreaded Power Mackerel, @Kurgan the Lurker   

 

[Brother Casman]

Happy Anniversary, B&C!

[terminator ultra]

hey did the logo just change?

Edited April 19 by terminator ultra

[WAR]

Happy 25th Birthday to the best 40k Forum on the internet!

[Doobles57]

Happy 25th birthday B&C and many thanks to all those who have kept it going over the years. I originally joined probably 16-17 years back but fell away from the hobby (and the email addresses I used back then). Upon returning to 40k a couple of years ago this was one the first sites I sought out and was so pleased to see it still going strong.

 

Reddit, Discord etc all have their positives, but for me nothing quite works as well as a proper forum. Long may it live on.

[terminator ultra]

51 minutes ago, WAR said:

Happy 25th Birthday to the best 40k Forum on the internet!

zero bias present here

Edited April 19 by terminator ultra