17 November 2004 Once again it is just over four months since the last update. Much has indeed happened since then. The main news is however, that the ten entries for the "YE ANGELS GATHER!" competition have been uploaded and available for your viewing pleasure. The entries can be seen in the  LEGIO INFITIALIS VENIA section.

20 December 2004 The winners of "YE ANGELS GATHER!" competition have been finalised. They can be seen in the Winners section of the contest pages.

28 June 2004 OPEN FOR BUSINESS AS USUAL! It is now almost exactly four months since the last update at this Fortress web site. Much has happened since then. Following the arrival of a little shadow (now four months old) and our return home to the land of OZ to finally settle down some normalcy in life. Gone are the days of much travelling and I for one am not complaining. This year was somewhat of a milestone for this site. First of all it is now three years old. Secondly the fortress site received the one hundred thousandth hit on the hit counter. Now, this may not be a huge thing for many sites, but I for one decided to celebrate it. So, while awaiting another mega update to the content of this site, i decided to celebrate by having the second fortress mega competition, YE ANGELS GATHER!

Moving on to actual articles published, first of all we have E Tenebrae Lux,an excellent piece of Dark Angel fiction from one of the regular writers of DA fiction, Jacob Stow. This is accompanied by a historical article on the Knights of the Order by Master Toddius and Spaced Hulk. The rest of the updates relate to the modelling aspect of the hobby. In the Librarius Corona Intimus section I have the pleasure of introducing to you three Deathwing armies from three different chapters, Dark Angels, Angels of Vengeance and Angels of Redemption. Next there is a single Ravenwing force followed by six, yes, six Dark Angel Strike Forces. This section now also has a new sub section for the first Battle Fleet Gothic fleet by Nathan Bishop and for displaying Dark Angel Dioramas. Two dioramas are at present dispayed there for your pleasure. Adding to the armies displayed in this site, Custodes Umbrae Regnum section sees an entirely new collection of images displaying my Shadow Guards Army. This includes updated tactical squads which now are armed with heavy weapons and some additional fluff for some of the characters. The images are now taken with scenary and are a major improvement from the old ones. In addition the Codex Unforgiven receives a new unit, The Lion Guard. The Apothecarium Technologica section has a Deathwing painting article by Shep and a conversion article describing the construction of Azrael's Command Rhino by Urbant Army. However the ultimate contribution comes from my dear friend Matthew Hunt (aka Kurgan the Lurker) who has created a plethora of painting articles that would be most helpful to any need unforgiven hobbyist. These include simple articles on making bases for your marines and applying decals through to step by step articles on painting robes, and on painting Dark Angel, Angels of Vengeance and Angels of Retribution, Deathwing and Ravenwing marines. They are well worth checking out.

Now on to a different matter. The Eye of terror campaign by the GW was a really fantastic experience for me, especially as a few of us under the auspices of Owen Rees joined his Inner Circle and began to plan a campaign that would enhance the experience for Dark Angels players. Thus was born the Gathering of Angels Campaign. It was a rich experience for me, particularly working together with the rest of the members of the Inner Circle, based in three diffferent continents. I have to say that we were all enriched by the work we did and the outcome of the camapign. The work load however left us some what burnt out, and try as I might, I could not complete the narrative story i had created for the campaign. Well, it is finally complete and here it is in all its glory. Gathering of Angels Narrative Story This piece of fiction was written in a fashion to try and depict the massive width and scale of the conflict. Most characters make appearances in single chapters and often end falling to the enemy. Such was the carnage in the EOT that I wanted to capture the feel that no hero or villain was beyond te clutches of death. A few supremely gifted characters are seen to direct the fate of their followers in these desperate times. This is seriously the first full length piece of fiction I have written. (previously they have been either short stories or backgrounds for armies and strike forces) I am but a simple amateur trying to put in words my imagination and my creative thoughts. I have lived the campaign in my mind, trying to capture the feeling of impending doom that most characters faced in this awesome event. I have tried my best to weave a web of intrigue in this storyline, while keeping true to everything in GW history. I hope that the end result keeps up with the expectation I had for it. In addition to having the end of the narrative story, the entire story as well as its component volumes are available for down loading as pdf files. Other articles made available as pdf files are the previous historical works, namely Apocrypha Caliban and Codex Astartes Angelus Mortis. To recap how much this site has grown in size think about the following: This site now displays 56 complete armies including 15 Deathwing, 4 Ravenwing, 34 Dark Angel (including an entire section of the Shadow Guards army) one battle fleet and one EPIC army. In addition it contains 24 pieces of Dark Angel fan fiction, 13 tactica articles and 26 articles on painting and conversions. The history of the unforgiven is captured in three feature length historical fiction articles. In order to show my appreciation every single contributor has been named (either by his real or web identity) and honoured according to his contribution in the Halls of Honour, the most extensive and detailed hall of honour for a 40K site on the web. I have also revamped some of award icons. I had never been comfortable with some of them and hopefully the revised ones would do justice to the excellent contributions that you find here.

11 February 2004 Once again the Dark Angel commanders continue to excel in their duties. This time it is Strike Force Obadiah, a surreptitious force operating in the eastern fringes.

Inrelation to the hobby of 40K and the Fortress site I have added a few more Fortress banners at 300 x 100 pixel size for use by anyone who so wishes, particularly in the B+C chatboard as it complies with their requirements. They are shown below and will be left permanantly in the Links and Submissions section.

22 February 2004 FINAL UPDATE The last messages to the unforgiven forces are being sent out. The Fortress of the Unforgiven will go in to hibernation for the next four months. My computer gets shipped away by sea to Australia tomorrow and I move from Birmingham through London and Singapore to return to the land that I now call home, Melbourne, Australia. In the meantime life has indeed changed a lot in the past few days with the addition of a bundle of joy on the 15th of February 2004.

Inrelation to the hobby of 40K and the Fortress site I have added a few more Fortress banners at 300 x 100 pixel size for use by anyone who so wishes, particularly in the B+C chatboard as it complies with their requirements. They are shown below and will be left permanantly in the Links and Submissions section.

When we re open await the next Fortress competition and some rare and substantial prizes for the winners.

11 February 2004 Once again the Dark Angel commanders continue to excel in their duties. This time it is Strike Force Obadiah, a surreptitious force operating in the eastern fringes.

So there you have. The Fortress site's Mega Update to mark both its thrid birthday and also its silence for the mext three months. But one thing you can be assured of, it will never remian silenced! Thanks you.

Now on to a different matter. The Eye of terror campaign by the GW was a really fantastic experience for me, especially as a few of us under the auspices of Owen Rees joined his Inner Circle and began to plan a campaign that would enhance the experience for Dark Angels players. Thus was born the Gathering of Angels Campaign. It was a rich experience for me, particularly working together with the rest of the members of the Inner Circle, based in three diffferent continents. I have to say that we were all enriched by the work we did and the outcome of the camapign. The work load however left us some what burnt out, and try as I might, I could not complete the narrative story i had created for the campaign. Well, it is finally complete and here it is in all its glory. Gathering of Angels Narrative Story This piece of fiction was written in a fashion to try and depict the massive width and scale of the conflict. Most characters make appearances in single chapters and often end falling to the enemy. Such was the carnage in the EOT that I wanted to capture the feel that no hero or villain was beyond te clutches of death. A few supremely gifted characters are seen to direct the fate of their followers in these desperate times. This is seriously the first full length piece of fiction I have written. (previously they have been either short stories or backgrounds for armies and strike forces) I am but a simple amateur trying to put in words my imagination and my creative thoughts. I have lived the campaign in my mind, trying to capture the feeling of impending doom that most characters faced in this awesome event. I have tried my best to weave a web of intrigue in this storyline, while keeping true to everything in GW history. I hope that the end result keeps up with the expectation I had for it. In addition to having the end of the narrative story, the entire story as well as its component volumes are available for down loading as pdf files. Other articles made available as pdf files are the previous historical works, namely Apocrypha Caliban and Codex Astartes Angelus Mortis. To recap how much this site has grown in size think about the following: This site now displays 56 complete armies including 15 Deathwing, 4 Ravenwing, 34 Dark Angel (including an entire section of the Shadow Guards army) one battle fleet and one EPIC army. In addition it contains 24 pieces of Dark Angel fan fiction, 13 tactica articles and 26 articles on painting and conversions. The history of the unforgiven is captured in three feature length historical fiction articles. In order to show my appreciation every single contributor has been named (either by his real or web identity) and honoured according to his contribution in the Halls of Honour, the most extensive and detailed hall of honour for a 40K site on the web. I have also revamped some of award icons. I had never been comfortable with some of them and hopefully the revised ones would do justice to the excellent contributions that you find here.

Moving on to actual articles published, first of all we have E Tenebrae Lux,an excellent piece of Dark Angel fiction from one of the regular writers of DA fiction, Jacob Stow. This is accompanied by a historical article on the Knights of the Order by Master Toddius and Spaced Hulk. The rest of the updates relate to the modelling aspect of the hobby. In the Librarius Corona Intimus section I have the pleasure of introducing to you three Deathwing armies from three different chapters, Dark Angels, Angels of Vengeance and Angels of Redemption. Next there is a single Ravenwing force followed by six, yes, six Dark Angel Strike Forces. This section now also has a new sub section for the first Battle Fleet Gothic fleet by Nathan Bishop and for displaying Dark Angel Dioramas. Two dioramas are at present dispayed there for your pleasure. Adding to the armies displayed in this site, Custodes Umbrae Regnum section sees an entirely new collection of images displaying my Shadow Guards Army. This includes updated tactical squads which now are armed with heavy weapons and some additional fluff for some of the characters. The images are now taken with scenary and are a major improvement from the old ones. In addition the Codex Unforgiven receives a new unit, The Lion Guard. The Apothecarium Technologica section has a Deathwing painting article by Shep and a conversion article describing the construction of Azrael's Command Rhino by Urbant Army. However the ultimate contribution comes from my dear friend Matthew Hunt (aka Kurgan the Lurker) who has created a plethora of painting articles that would be most helpful to any need unforgiven hobbyist. These include simple articles on making bases for your marines and applying decals through to step by step articles on painting robes, and on painting Dark Angel, Angels of Vengeance and Angels of Retribution, Deathwing and Ravenwing marines. They are well worth checking out.

New Item Icon

Honoured Link Icon

Down Load icon

The first major change is to introduce three new icons to the web site. The most useful one is the New Item Icon which will be seen next to the latest updates so that visitors can easily see which of the myriad links are new. The next one is the Honoured Link Icon which will be seen placed in some pages of certain articles. These link back to the contributor's own web site and is given only to those who have contributed very sigificantly to this site. The final icon is something the hobbyists may well appreciate.and that is the Down Load Icon.This allows you to down load pdf versions of selected text articles. More articles will gradually be available for download.

28 January 2004 FORTRESS MEGA UPDATE A belated Season's Greeting's to everyone! It has been more than four months since this site was updated and I profoundly apologise for the delay. In approximately five weeks this website would be THREE years old. It has grown from a small site intended to display some of my models in to this little monster which I hope has helped enhanced the hobby of WH40K specifically to the Dark Angels players. Much is owed to the gamers and hobbyists who have constantly supported my endeavours here as well as the numerous and high quality of contributions that keep pouring in to this site. I must admit, real life has taken a toll and this and the more complex nature of the projects undertaken by the keeper of the Fortress, has meant that the updates have gone from weekly, to monthly to quarterly in the last instance. Sadly, life goes on as I will be finishing up my work in Birmingham at the end of February and returning to Melbourne, Australia in April. That means that my ability to update this site and be creative in the Dark Angel way would be severely limited. That really is my main regret. As a parting gift for the loyal Dark Angel fans who have supported this endeavour, I have here, the largest update the fortress site has ever seen. Not only is it high in quantity but also in quality, with famous names like Matthew Hunt, Fred Reed, Nathan Bishop, Jacob Stow and Owen Rees all contirbuting. So, on to introduce the Fortress Mega Update.

YEAR 2004: YEAR OF HOME COMING This is a record of the evolution and progress of this web site based on the documented updates, thought processes and events. I hope it may act as a record for posterity and as an idea of how this site evolved from a simple place for displaying my images of the Shadow Guards Army to one that hopes to be the ultimate resource site for the Dark Angels.

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MEMOIRS OF THE KEEPER

This is a competition unlike anything else you may have seen. Click on the banner above and see for yourselves. The complexity of the competition is matched only by the simplicity of entering it and the brilliance of the prizes. Enter the comp, you will not regret it.

28 June 2004 OPEN FOR BUSINESS AS USUAL! It is now almost exactly four months since the last update at this Fortress web site. Much has happened since then. Following the arrival of a little shadow (now four months old) and our return home to the land of OZ to finally settle down some normalcy in life. Gone are the days of much travelling and I for one am not complaining. This year was somewhat of a milestone for this site. First of all it is now three years old. Secondly the fortress site received the one hundred thousandth hit on the hit counter. Now, this may not be a huge thing for many sites, but I for one decided to celebrate it. So, while awaiting another mega update to the content of this site, i decided to celebrate by having the second fortress mega competition, YE ANGELS GATHER!

20 December 2004 The winners of "YE ANGELS GATHER!" competition have been finalised. They can be seen in the Winners section of the contest pages.

17 November 2004 Once again it is just over four months since the last update. Much has indeed happened since then. The main news is however, that the ten entries for the "YE ANGELS GATHER!" competition have been uploaded and available for your viewing pleasure. The entries can be seen in the  LEGIO INFITIALIS VENIA section.