Those sneaky gits are fast!
Our beardy survivors don’t really get a break do they?
I want to thank you guys again for all the positive comments so far.
It really helps us a lot. 
One of the reasons we started out with such a fast paces action chapter was to avoid the “dwarves in a tavern telling jokes” start of the story. Nothing wrong with that. But we wanted to do something different. We also try to avoid lengthy character introductions and explanations of the setting to keep the momentum up and keep readers guessing.
So far we’ve got quite some detailed analysis and questions
but it seems a bit too much to go into them all here.
We’ll come up with a way to give some more background lore soon if the demand keeps up like this. 
For now… this might interest you The future is bright, the future is orange!
Teb
You bet it does, Teb!
Laddy seems to know a lot about the bugs anatomy and how to kill them instantly. Also he has an awesome aim considering this is the second bug he killed with a single shot to the head (brain?).
Or was the assault drone not really dead?
I suspect the pacing would feel totally different to read the first several pages all in one go, as opposed to two pages a week. Often for this sort of comic I’ll leave it for a couple of weeks and then read several pages at once. It definitely gives that feeling of continuity.
Just discovered Beardy Bastards – what a fantastic comic. It is absolutely one of the best sci/fi books I’ve come across.
Sorry I missed some but life got hectic. And when that settled down I had to kill me a virus again! Long story short I ripped it’s bleeding heart out with minimal damage to my system.
On to the page! Again, you’re brilliant. Still, I get you’re response to avoiding the anime look. Sometimes a subtle push is much better than a shove. I think where you’ll find success in what you’re aiming for is giving the dwarves a more complex facial structure muscle wise. Right now they feel serious, but very, VERY static. The girl’s reaction is kind of a good example. Either plays shock or fear (probably both) but too few parts of her face move. A couple of even marginally raise eyebrows might lend a ton more expression to it without going “kawaii”, then again given the squinty nature of your dwarves that could be a fear response in her. I also notice a love for close ups. If you intend to keep up with them in the action parts I have to say you WILL need to make a few more parts of their faces move. Otherwise from a visual point of view these guys are gonna look dull really quick, still glad to see the attempt though Teb! Means you take input! Alot of artists brush off even helpful criticism with a flurry of verbal poo, glad to see you don’t.
Another fun note. I know you’re no weapons expert at all but somethings strike me as odd. Does our dear Mr.Goggles as I’ll leave him for now to avoid spoilerrifics, have any training from some kind of military? I just notice a few quirks, A) he seems to jerk his head up from each and every shot down the scope if just to talk, most sharpshootes rely entirely on their partner for full awareness in combat (in this case, Mr.Goggles Senior) and stay focused on their task, in this case saving the poor lass from giant bug monsters. B) A gun like that has recoil most of the time, especially given it’s design, these ain’t dainty fairy guns but real sluggers that have to some serious kickback, so just to point his entire stance is wrong. Any rifleman I know will tell you never (as in NEVER) rest your rifle in the nook of you’re arm like that. Always snug it into your armpit to help steady it and use your body to help take the recoil. Shotguns can break your arms when hipfired at a bad angle or even as he’s holding it. If this little monster has anywhere near the power It seems to that is some hella kickback. I suppose you can explain this one on dwarven strength but its gonna smarts later when the bruises set in his arm. And finally C) That’s one quiet gun ain’t it? From the (hard to spot) magazine I’d say good ol’ slug thrower, I just nitpick this one because of no noise at the shot. If I remember Thekki’s handgun (oh screw that HANDCANNON) had a very hefty noise factor. And Mr.Goggles has no suppressor (also nicknamed a silencer) to muffle or outright mute the sounds of a high power rifle going BANG! Again it’s the small details. You’re doing spot on but tiny bits like that add (or can be used to take away mind you) realism in science fiction. The stuff like no noise in space because of the airless vaccume where sound can’t carry and such.
Also for when(or even if) you get to them, if you want a more hard sci-fi take on them: Energy weapons are just plain FUNKY when you think about the science behind them. If you want one that makes a big honking energy beam of distintregating (or just plain melty) death go with plasma. To get that classic “blob” or “stream of death” effect I’d say contained field magnetics shaping the release of plasma or even just a plasma “bullet” in which the tip is just a very small but nasty plasma charge. It’s mostly just superheated gas so figure out how to direct or deliver it. And lasers? Just remember those things are beams of VERY intense light (as in I melt your face off intense), These are much easier but their damage AIN’T like starwars, these suckers burn holes that are instantly cauterized by the heat in organic targets, Most depictions I’ve seen have a very interesting “misting” of blood as the wounds are sealed shut almost as fast as they happen. And yes, you can cut something in half with these, but lasers are perfect percise weapons and take time to burn through a target. And the weapons heat buildup tends to be an issue, most fire a burst of light to compensate for overheating. Also never have travel time unless you talk space battle (see example:The speed of effing LIGHT baby!), Also anything reflective can beat or resist a laser, hell some old table tops used Aerosol mist grenades to vastly reduce laser damage, the mist refracts the light or somesuch to the point it dissipates. eitherway it makes lasers crap and I thought it was pretty valid given the laws of light. Yes I’ve had a few debates on the function of theoretical weaponry of the future.
Ok I’m done flooding ur comment boxz Teb, Waiting eager for more dwarven whupass next week! Also I love the dynamic of those two.
Just a note: the gun in question is probably based off this one:
wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Lasgun
(Just as the whole comic have designs borr… er… “infuenced” by the 40k universe)
And Lasguns are
- Not a sniper weapon, even if they’re scoped as such
- Have nasty damage despite having almost no kick, as it is a pseudo-laser weapon
- Is outclassed by just about EVERYTHING in the 40k universe. EVERYTHING.
Mr.Goggles Jr there is not just a good shot, he’s an insanely LUCKY shot to be able to hurt the Tyr… er… Alien Bugs as thoroughly as he had.
This page threw me off a little, I thought it was page 17 for a moment.
Yeah you’re right, but if you’re reading continuously you won’t notice…after all there is little time progress between those panels…
Ploeppsen is right. Time between the comics is mere seconds.
This is the pacing I was talking about earlier…not to confuse the speed that readers are going through the comics but the time span represented in comics and between them story-wise.
This is quite tricky to get right so if readers are interpreting it differently then I intended I’m glad to hear about it.
And Radnommerz, I was already wondering if you’d given up on detailed analysis of these silly bastards
About holding the gun “correctly”. He’s shown in between shots and is indeed (very nonchalantly) lowering his gun every time he speaks. The combination of a bushy beard, bulky shoulder pads and squat build makes an aiming pose look awkward from certain perspectives . Just like the expressions I’m still very much learning how to effectively present our hairy heroes.
I also didn’t want to “drown” the comics with shooting noises when you don’t see someone actually shooting.
But with such close range and eerily precise shooting I can understand you’d think a silencer is appropriate.
I think it even makes the precise shots of Brokk even more logical and just “cooler“…so I might add a silencer when I have the time.
And no laser weapons…yet.
While cutting lasers fit the mining theme perfectly I find that projectile weapons compliment dwarves well.
The solid materials and weight would feel comfortable to them I’d imagine.
So I just discovered this comic. And am going to stalk it for life. Dwarves fighting aliens? Instant favorite!
IDE worry about the “mining” element being incorporated more with cqcombat more than with ranged weaponry (for example a pneumatic-sledge or a blade that is somehow composed of a high energy or heat source for ease of making bug sushi, albeit originally intended for cutting rock/earth)
I’m surprised none of our bearded heroes has done the classic dwarf custom of “boom, covered in —- gore *taste*” as is usually done in many dwarven moments of gratuitous violence.
I have to admit I like the emphasis your putting on the “subtle” difference from standard humans in terms of proportion as easily noticed in that last frame. The most anyone would move out of battleready in a lull when expecting imminent attack is a few inches, and our rifle toting (bad***) buddy there has obviously done just that. Seeing as the butt of his rifle is still very close to his shoulder (which I find safe to guess is roughly under the edge of his beard to the side of his pauldron-esk shoulder guard)
Keep it going man, haven’t detered me yet and I’ve gotten picky about what I’ll wait to read.
Oh by the by, current u.s. “standard” .50 cal sniper rifle (while being the equivellent of a small cannon, and the size of one) has little to no recoil when fired due to implementation of some fancy science developed relatively recently, yet it will still completely disembowel anything it makes impact with…
*rainbow* the more you know
Just realized I didn’t show tge exple I was thinking of here’s a link to something similar
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett_M82
The “fancy science” in question (the simple explanation) is a spring-like something located behind the bullet, usually in the rifle butt, bracing the firing pin assembly. When the bullet goes off, the spring (and not the rifle it is inside) is the one getting pushed, dissipating the force somewhat evenly instead of focused at that one moment.
Of course, anyone knowing Newtonian physics will know that means less killing power for the bullet… but for small arms accuracy trumps killing power anyday.
…
Then again, the target is a multi-meter high monstrosity with bone armor and large curved sharp bits…
OKm serious necropost here, but the Barrett is not anywhere near recoiless, it manages that recoil by being nearly 30 lbs, being gas operated ( which bleeds off a small amount of the propellant gas from the barrell to operate a piston and rod assembly to unlock and cycle gthe action), a muzzle compensater, which redirects propellant gas from the muzzle to provide thrust against the recoil, and the fact thatg the rifle is fired from a bipod firmly in contact with the ground or other solid surface. The bulk of the recoil is taken by the ground instead of the rifleman’s shoulder. It’s still very impressive.