Black Powder | Red Earth

08/20/2026

Some men, never really go home.

The bitter end of is available now worldwide, on Amazon.com

Spanning 10 books, across 800+ pages, Black Powder Red Earth Awbari is an Amazon best seller with over 10,000 copies sold to date. Pick up the books or read PDF copies on our Patreon for as little as $5 bucks.

08/18/2026

BCM9. Now with G***k magazine support.

08/16/2026

Informed by a decade of work with SMEs at Haley Strategic Partners , and Northern Red , Black Powder Red Earth 28mm was always focused on close combat at the squad and fireteam level.

The game prioritizes skill versus meta, delivering a experience where decision-making informed by hard skills will carry the match. Details without significant consequence to outcomes were culled in early Alpha builds. Everything, down to the D10 system we use (because everyone can do D10 math), is there to hone decision making and contingency thinking. This is the difference between teaching hard skills with tools vs throwing a lot of dice at wall of stats in an effort to obfuscate the possible outcome.

The hobby, of making and painting models, is just as important. There is a lot to learn about control, attention to detail, and patience in painting and building any model. There is also a tactile connection that you simply cannot get with a video game.

With NOVA Open about to kick off in just a few weeks, BPRE28mm is celebrating its fifth year in the wild with over 2000 copies sold. We can’t wait to share _NearPresent with you this year.

Pick up Black Powder Red Earth 28mm here https://www.blackpowderredearth.com/28mm.php

Pick up _NearPresent 28mm here
https://www.near-present.com/28mm.html

08/15/2026

Necessary evil.

08/13/2026

Last day to preorder tees on the NearPresent.com website. Three designs. All available in black, navy/grey, and clove/dark earth. All shirts made/sourced in the USA.

https://www.near-present.com/merch.html

Orders ship in September-October 2026.

08/12/2026

From an extremely high level, the biggest difference between _NearPresent and our previous title, Black Powder Red Earth 28mm is abstracting a kill-web vs a kill chain.

Diving deeper, _NearPresent inherits significant structure from BPRE28mm. The reason for a new title vs a second edition is the changes we've made to the system require a very different approach to the AirLand battle experience.

The Airspace phase is not just a new phase to isolate missiles and drones. It reflects the reality of smaller teams directing precision indirect fires without calling to a higher echelon. Weapons are fired from just inside stand-in range and then the launching platforms retreat from the effective range of adversary weapons.

This creates an entire potential for missiles and drones to be shot down without ever making it into the target area. There are no guaranteed UAS kills like in BPRE 28mm and the fight for control of the airspace is ongoing throughout the game.

The next big update was to enable players to mousehole their way through a fortified area, rather than being channeled through doors. If you are not familiar, mouseholing is creating a hole through a wall rather than entering through a door [detailed in Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (MCWP) 3-35.3, Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain]. This goes both ways allowing defenders to create murder holes in terrain features as the fight continues across the map.

Collaborative Combat Troops, ie Robots, provide very unique capabilities and offer significant customization allowing for dramatically different capability on the table. Everything from a faster moving robot that literally is wielding akimbo COPE Cages to a slow moving bunker that is extremely difficult to kill and can lay down massive lanes of fire–both options can work when employed creatively.

These changes were directly influenced by work with US Marine NCO and Jr NCO who were part of the USMC IBX/Force Redesign and ongoing discussion with commandos who were conducting operations in Ukraine. The world building is meant to depict the realities that these forces will likely encounter once the first few days of all-domain fighting have concluded.

08/09/2026

[ BLACK POWDER RED EARTH 28MM REVIEW ]

“These rules are something I didn’t know I wanted - but now realize that this might be the modern ruleset for me going forward. There aren’t tables upon tables, tons of random rolls, or engagement rules. You don’t have to remember statuses or keep rolling and rolling and rolling to see what happens to guys. It’s all about the action.” Goonhammer Historicals

https://www.tabletopbattles.com/black-powder-red-earth-ultra-modern-engagements-at-close-quarters-a-goonhammer-historicals-review-part-1

08/06/2026

Ember build still goes hard!!

Fully specced BCM 9” 300 BlackOut Carbine featuring our: MCMR Handguard with Mod 3 Vertical Grip, Mod 3 Lightfighter Stock with Marksman Riser, Mk2 Upper Receiver with FDE Bolt Carrier and Mk2 Charging Handle (Asymmetric), Enhanced Lower Receiver with QD End Plate, Mod 4 Pistol Grip and Enhanced Trigger Guard.

This weapon system also features a B.E. Meyers & Co, Inc DAGIR laser aiming device, and Aimpoint Inc. Duty RDS MR on our lower 1/3 A/T Mount + EOTECH 3x magnifier in a Wilcox Industries Mount set on our new A/T Riser platform.

Also pictured, a Law Zach folding stock adapter, SureFire LLC Scout Weapon Light, Surefire 300 SPS Suppressor, and a Haley Strategic Partners D3 Sling and Sling attachment interface.

07/21/2026

Spanning 10 books and over 700 full color pages, Black Powder Red Earth [ Awbari ] is now complete and available on Amazon worldwide.

A gritty, geopolitical graphic novel—BPRE Awbari depicts a proxy war between hyper-violent extremists, private military contractors, oligarchs, and a corrupt junta for mineral rights in a failing Middle Eastern state. Each intent on pursuing their own agendas. Each utterly Indifferent to the cost in suffering and human lives.

Pick up Black Powder Red Earth and start reading now or join us on our Patreon to access the entire series in downloadable PDF format for as little as $5 a month.

07/13/2026

Black Powder Red Earth [ Awbari ] is now complete.

Spanning 10 books, over 700 pages - the entire series is available in hardcopy on Amazon globally or in downloadable PDF format on our Patreon.

The story of Awbari is not dumbed down for mass markets or sanitized into an “hero takes all” action film. Awbari is a gritty war story, with no easy answers or paint by numbers moral punchline. It is not an understatement to say, this series would not have been possible without the ongoing investment from our audience.

Follow the links in our bio to our Patreon and Amazon to support our work now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GPP3B19?binding=paperback&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tpbk

https://www.patreon.com/c/blackpowderredearth