This Week in 40K Podcasting – 11/20 - 11/26

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This Week in 40K Podcasting – 11/13 - 11/19

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This Week in 40K Podcasting – 10/23 - 10/29

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This Week in 40K Podcasting – 10/16 - 10/22

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This Week in 40K Podcasting – 10/9 - 10/15

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This Week in 40K Podcasting – 10/2 - 10/8

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This Week in 40K Podcasting – 9/25 - 10/1

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This Week in 40K Podcasting – 9/18 – 9/24

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This Week in 40K Podcasting – 9/11 – 9/17

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40K News: It's Alive, ALIVE I Tell You!

Well, I am back in the blogging game! The parts have been unpacked from my friends over at Tiger Direct, and they have been put together. I applied a gentle but firm amount of electricity and swearing and the new Trippe Cored PC is up and running!

I have a few artiles I was in mid-writing of that I want to finish up and post as soon as I can. A Unit break down of the Genestealer vs. the Hormagaunt. An analysis of the phases of the game of 40K, starting with the EndGame. Some of my hobby stuff, the Painting of a Gaunt from plastic to flock. A lot of stuff is comming so stay tuned guys!

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This Week in 40K Podcasting – 9/4 – 9/10

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This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/28 – 9/3

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40K News: Computer Epic Fail!

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties!

So a lovely thing happened to me this past week. My wife and kids were gathered around the family PC, a former monster of a gaming PC back in its day six years ago, when all of a sudden, it just died. And I mean, died, as in dead, for good, and un-fixable death. After some work pull the Video Card to see if it had died, to checking each of the RAM chips to see if they had failed, to determining that the Hard Drive was still good, I came to the conclusion that either my Motherboard had Fried, or the Processor.

Now, I will start off by saying that this was not a welcomed failure. The PC, while it was 6 years old, had done a great job gaming foe me and it was not until recently that its age was beginning to show. Starcraft 2! However, since it is now dead and the wife was not to upset about building a new one, my new gaming PC components are on the way. Thanks to my friends over at Tiger Direct, I have a new PC on the way!

It will have a 450W Tower with a three core, AMD Processor, 4G of RAM, a terabyte of Hard Drive storage, and a 1G HD Video Card. If all of that is geek mumbo jumbo to you, just know that I will not be able to post as much as I wanted until my new PC arrives and is built. It will be here Tuesday, conveniently on my gaming night, so I will have no 40K this week either, which is suckish!

But, soon, I'll be back on my feet and gaming again. I'll keep you posted!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/21 – 8/27

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40K News: Working is Killing Me

Hey gang, I wanted to just let you all know that my work has been kicking my butt lately. I have been keeping up with my 40K Podcasts and my weekly article on From the Warp will be posted on time. However it has killed a lot of the time that I use to think about my next posting. In fact, I have having problems thinking in English right now and not in TransAct SQL. If you get that joke, you should understand. Point being I am just super busy at work and I have a back log of articles building up that I will try to get out this weekend. So the 'ol EvilEd209 is alive and well, just grinding his gears right now.

Thanks guys!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/15 – 8/20

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http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

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Where I learned to Paint Tyranids: Beasts of War

So when the new 5th Edition Tyranid Codex dropped back in January I was seeking high and low for tips, tactics, and reviews of the Codex to determine where to go with the army and what new models to buy. I soon began to realize the potential power of the Tervigon and the endless possibilities that swarms of free Termagants running amok all over the board presented. But then it quickly dawned on me that at some point, if I wanted to go to the big tournaments, that I'd have to paint swarms of gaunts! Being pretty new to the game, having only really started when 5th Edition began, I had not quite nailed down a basic painting method yet. I had one good technique which was dry brushing, which I perfected on my Necrons, but I never really thought that the first Tyranids I painted this way were very good, and I wanted to do better.

After a few searches on YouTube I managed to find a then budding YouTube Channel based out of the UK called Beasts of War. They gave me a fantastic painting method that I had not heard of before, or more correctly never seen done before, which were the GW washes! I was amazed at the quality of this simple painting method of base coats, wash, and pick out a few details and done was capable of

Here is the video that taught me how to paint my Nids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqOowCEJNew&p=5EC99B140583ABAB&playnext=1&index=3

I wanted to give these guys full credit for the painting technique, while i was the one putting paint and wash to brush and then model, these guys showed me a simple and effective method on how to paint.

Here are some of the models I have painted thanks to this method:

Here is my Custom made Terigon made mostly from the Carnifex kit, with some spines and mandibles from the Trygon kit and one of those infested bits from the Genestealer kit:



Here are my Hive Guard:



And here is a small units of Hormagaunts:



And for the record, I just added the Baal Red wash to a 15 man unit of Termagants tonight and all they need to be finished is Bone White on the fangs and based and they'll be done too.

I'll post my progress!

Getting Back to Working Small: Painting Hoard Nids

So I have to admit it, I have gotten very lazy when it comes to painting my 'Nid. I can't help it, there are a ton of them that need painted in a 100+ model army! I do not know that I have picked up a paint brush in like 3 months. And I don't know why, I want to paint them, I just have not been motivated to paint lately. My main problem as a husband and father of three is that my hobby time usually breaks down to either play or paint, and I choose play. So, my painting time has suffered for it.

One of the things that makes me the most proud as a 40K player is not the mob of gamers that stand around my table to watch my games, or the people that say to me 'I need to learn tactics from you', it is when someone picks up my custom Tervigon or my Hive Guard and Homagaunts and look at them and say, 'WOW, what a paint job!' The problem with my army is that less then 25% of my army is painted and it is a work in progress. Well, that and I also suffer from army OCD and every month I am dreaming about a new army (This month Blood Angels) and my poor 'Nids suffer from it. While they are my primary army and the one I know the best and smash face with, I am still trying to one-up them for some reason. It is like having a super hot girlfriend at home, and looking at porn on the internet. What the hell are you doing?

I have been meaning to finish the army since 'Ard Boys. I had this sick goal of showing up to 'Ard Boys 2010 with a fully painted 2500 Point 'Nid list, which I failed miserably at. But now with Adepticon looming in a little under 8 months, I will have to have at least 1850 points+ (thanks to my duel Tervigons) fully painted if I want to play in the tournaments there.

What spurred this line of thinking for me was that last night at the game store I got to see my good friend Shawn, who I have not seen in quite some time. Shawn showed up with some of his recently built and painted Orks, and he had done some of the same techniques that I use to paint my 'Nids, base coats and washes. They looked amazing, and I found myself being quite jealous of his army. Shawn has two kids, and yet he has managed to paint a small hoard of Orks since I last saw him. Heck, I even asked him, half joking and half not, if he wanted to paint some bugs for me.

One of the things he told me that he did since he had so little hobby time to work with was work small. He said to me that most nights he only gets an hour or so to paint before wife and kids pull him away, so he works small. Pull out five guys and do skin, then do carapace, then wash, then walk away. If I were to do that, soon, I'd have a ton of models done, five at a time, and they add up fast.

For me to get where I need to be by Adepticon, I need to complete like 20 Models a month. That is not really that hard of a goal to hit. So I am going to do it. As hard as it will be, I will have to put Starcraft 2 down one or two nights a week, catch up on True Blood and Big Love in the livingroom watching and painting at the same time. If I keep up this reasonable pace, I'll be done with plenty of time to spare for Adepticon. I of course will post my progress as I go.

Thanks Shawn! You inspire me! I think we need to setup some painting nights.

Well, I will try tonight to start painting and taking some pics for you all to see.

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/8 – 8/14

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

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40K Battle Report: Tyranid Swarm vs. Space Marines 1000 Points

First I wanted to let everyone know that we had a slight medical emergency in our family that has kept me away for a bit. But things are good now, everyone is healthy, and I am back to the blog!

Well, the final game of my local gaming store's mini-tournament was held tonight, which pitted myself and the swarm versus David and his Lysander lead Imperial Fists. We played a Seize Ground Mission with four objective and a Spearhead deployment. David did exactly what I thought he would do and bottled up his entire army into one corner, holding one objective, and was going to make me run across the board to get him. I had a rather different strategy in mind however. His army was Lysander with a 10 man TAC squad, Las-Plas-Fist, two other evidential ten man TAC squads, a Devastator squad with four missile launchers, and a landspeader. I ran my stock list. I deployed so that I was hold an objective at the beginning of the game and was within striking distance of the other two rather quickly. My strategy for this mission was to not play his game and run across the board to be murdered. I would sit and hold three objectives for as long as I could, spitting out gaunts to double up on the number of units holding them.

I stole the first turn and in retrospect I probably should have left him go first. It would have been better for me in the end to have had the last turn. The Tervigon pooped like a champ all game, never rolling doubles and running me fresh out of 120 gaunts. Turns 1 - 3 basically involved me ducking into and out of cover and charging forward slowly and carefully with a 15 man unit of gargoyles and the 30 man squad of hormagaunts. These were distractions to draw fire away from the mass of gaunts holding three objectives. David moved the landspeader around to try and keep it out of range of the Hive Guard but basically sat there for three turns taking pot shots with missiles and lascannons. doing little to no damage. As it came to his turn 4 it became blatantly obvious to him that I was not falling into his trap and he would have to move out to at least contest objective if he hope to not lose. So he moved the two TAC squads out to try to move towards the nearest objective as Lysander and his TAC squad were being eating alive by the hormagaunts.

Turn 5 should have been the end. I held three objectives and contested the fourth. His TAC marines were taking shots at my gaunts but not doing enough damage to matter. He also managed to take out my gargoyles, which means that they did their job and drew fire. A HUGE disappointment for me were the Hive Guard this game, as they pummeled the landspeeder turn after turn and the best I could do was keep it from shooting. I needed it dead because I knew what he planed to do with it. Lysander died turn 5 and there were four remaining marines in his squad. If the game ended on turn 5, I win holding three and contesting one. It does not.

Turn 6 is about the same story. His four marines on his objective do enough wounds to finally break and kill the homagaunts, and were now holding an objective for him. His marines moved forward some more, failed charges and were sitting out in the open for me to kill. He moves the landsppeder flat out to contest an objective. So, if the game ended on turn 6, I hold 2, he holds 1 with one contested. I still win. The game goes to turn 7. I hate when this happenes.

In the end I charged one of his two TAC squads with a 30 man gaunt squad, killing 8, but could not do what I wanted to do which was wipe the squad. His final ten man squad, now 6 due to some shooting on my part, charge my tervigon produced gaunt squad holding an objective and he contested now two objectives, held one, with me holding the last. A TIE, A DARN TIE!

I will take my hat off to David, he took a situation that I thought was hopeless and managed to pull out a draw. Good play on his part. His tie, however, took him out of contention for placing, as he finished 3-0-2. Mike won his game, finishing 4-0-1, and another player I was not aware, another Mike, also finished 4-0-1. So in the end there were three players at the end with a 4-0-1 record. It went to Battle points, needing a 500 point different to pull ahead. Mike finished third with something like 3500 VP. Mike and I were each over 4000 with less then 200 points in difference in VPs. The owner gave us the option for a playoff game next week, but Mike was going to be out of country the next few weeks. We decided to call it a tie and split 1st place.

So, in the end, a free $25 gift card for the 'ol EvilEd209 which I turned into some paint and a Broodlord for the 'Nids. It was lots of fun and I am very happy with my performance. I do wish I had rolled better to blow up that darn landspeeded as the game would have been mine and sole possession of 1st would have been nice. I am not sure what comes next, a full tournament I would think, but I'll keep you all posted.

Thanks guys!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 7/31 – 8/7

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

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40K Battle Report: 1000 Point Tyranid Swarm vs. Blood Angels

So here we are at week four of the five week mini-tournament at my FLGS. This week I played one of the top players on the leader board, Greg, who was running a real nasty Blood Angels list. I have to admit that this list concerned me a bit, as he was running a 7 man Death Company Squad with a Chaplin, a Furioso Dreadnought with Blood Talons in a drop pod, a 10 man assault squad with 2 meltas and a power fist accompanied by a Captain on a jump pack with power weapon, and a second 10 man assault squad, two meltas and a fist. While the list only consisted on 31 models vs my 120 or so after the Tervigon pooped out gaunts, his units were hard! They were geared for close combat and had a real good chance of wiping squads off of the board.

I ran my stock list (1 Tervigon HQ with TS, AG, Catalyst, 2 30 man gaunt squads, a 30 man hormagaunt squad with with TS & AG, 2 Zoeys, and 2 Two man Hive Guard Squads for the Dread) and we played Seize Ground with 4 objective and a Spearhead deployment. I desperately wanted Greg to go first to ensure that I would get the charge on turn one, however he won the roll and let me setup first. Very smart. I genuinely believe that my deployment and target priority were the key to the game. I positioned the Hive guard for maximum coverage of the board to make sure I could hit that Dread when it landed, that thing can eat gaunt squads for breakfast. I also put the Zoey up front for needed synapse support, and the Warp Lance/Warp Blast powers to hit Death Company with. I intertwined all of my units of gaunts to ensure that cover saves were a plenty on the board, and I set the Tervigon back, in cover to boost the gaunts holding two objectives.

My turn one I held back, I could have charged the hormagaunts forward, but they would have been charged by the Death Company, so I made sure I was out of his assault range and dug into cover for the saves. The Hive Guard took some pot shots at the Death Company, killing one, and the Zoeys rocked them with Warp Blast, killing two more. The Tervigon hit the hormagaunts with Catalyst and pooped out an 11 man unit that I position in cover to hold an object I already held. His turn one he moved the Death Company up and took some shoots at the homagaunt squad doing 6 wounds, all of which the cover saves/feel no pain took off of the board. He drop that dread right near an objective and hit may Hive Guard with the heavy flamer and the melta, doing a wound. He held an objective with one assault squad and moved the other up.

Turn two are glorious for the 'Nids, the Hive Guard Immobilized the Dread, the Zoeys finished him off, and the second unit of Hive guard took pot shots at Death Company, doing nothing. I charged forward with the hormagaunts, taking down all but the Chaplin and one Death Company out before they could strike. They killed off four gaunts but my two major threats on the board were all but neutralized. On his Turn two his Death Company and Chaplin bought it and he moved his second assault squad up and spread them out to hold one objective and contest another.

My Turn three the remaining homagaunts slammed in his full assault squad with the Captain in it and took out five grunts. The Zoeys and Hive Guard peppered the assault squad hold/contesting two objective and knocked them down to a 5 man squad and pushed them off of an objective. It was down hill for Greg from here. My gaunt squads, the normal Termagants, never saw combat and the homagaunts and elite choices did most of the work. Greg conceded the game by turn four.

In low point tournaments such as this, say 1250 and under, hoard armies do very well and I am very impressed with their performance over the last four games. There are simply just too many wounds out there to do for low model count armies to shoot. I have been lucky with the folks I have played as most of them are running 30 model armies or under. I usually out number them 3 or even 4 to 1. And for every model they loss, it is a much larger percentage of their army coming off of the board.

So, David my friendly rival, won his game against a noob (good job!), and Mike won his as well. So here I am, one week left in the tournament sitting all alone at 4 - 0 with 4000 Victory Points. David and Mike are both sitting a 3-0-1. Everyone else has 2 wins or less and are pretty much mathematically out of this tournament. So, even if I were to lose next week, I am still guaranteed at least third place. David, as I expected, challenged me for the final week and of course I accepted. His list and tactics do not scare me. He runs a Vanilla Marine list with Lysander as his HQ. He usually has three TAC squads with heavy weapons, which, aside from the Tervigon will do close to nothing verses my hoard, and a 10 man squad with Lysander. I think that there is a Rhino or Whirlwind in my future as well, but spreading out will cure that. Like the coward that he is, he will more then likely corner himself up and make me come to him, gunning me down in a hail of bullets as I cross the battlefield. I just hope it is a 5 objective game and if forces him out into the open.

I'll more then likely drop the Hive Guard and add in two units of Gargoyles, bolstering my numbers to over 120+ at the games start. I am taking a gamble but I just do not see him being able to do enough wounds before I get there and eat his whole army.

I'll let you know how it all ends!

40K Tactics 101: How to Get a Hive Tyrant a Cover Save

So, the question came up on the podcast Life After the Cover Save (http://lifeafterthecoversave.wordpress.com/) on "how to give a Hive Tyrant a cover save". One of the guys over there was having an issue keeping his Flying Hive Tyrant alive because it is so hard to give it a cover save. And with the codex deciding to nerf this unit by not giving it an invulnerable save, the crucial Tyrant and the advantages he brings with him in Hive Commander or Old Adversary are dying before you ever get to use them.

In my years of playing Tyranids within the 5th Edition rule set I have found quite a few clever ways to get your Hive Tyrant that life saving cover save:

Method 1: Large Area Terrain (Flying or Walking)

I know that this is the most obvious way to do it, but do not be afraid to start of your Monstrous Creatures in cover, forests work just fine for me because pine trees come up to the guys chin, if you are afraid of that Alpha strike. Or, better yet, hide the big guy being a building and completely obscure him, and make it hard to even see this guy at all.

Method 2: the Tier system:

This one is a bit more complicated, but can easily protect a walking Tyrant. First, look at your army list and pull out the units of medium size, say your warriors, ravaners, hive guard and the like. Bump those models base-to-base together and right in front of your Tyrant. Then, take your smaller units, say the millions of gaunts that you have running around and throw them in front of your mid-range size bugs to give them a cover save as well. Now, you can be a real jerk (and I like being a real jerk) by then making sure that the small units are also 50% or more in area terrain or being cover themselves to provide the whole mess with at least 4+ cover saves all around!

Method 3: The Gargoyle Wall:

This one is a bit harder to pull off and could be considered modeling for advantage, or more correctly picking out the right models for your advantage, as you do not modify the standard GW model for this trick. First, remember that if running a winged Hive Tyrant, no matter how big the wings are, they can not be used for Line of Sight to the models. Read the line of sight rules!

I love the new plastic gargoyles, they are great looking models and a lot of fun to use. In each box of models comes two particular models where the gargoyle is almost completely head over tail with its wings spread out as far as possible. In this same box are two gargoyles who are flying as low as the model will permit them on the flying stand, where the very top of their wings come up tot he bottom of the wings of the previous gargoyle. If you were to line up three or four of the high flying, covering as much of the Hive Tyrants upper body as I can gargoyle right in front of the Hive Tyrant, and run about three or four of the low flying models, you can most certainly pull of a cover save with a large unit of gargoyles in front of the Hive Tyrant.

So guys over at Life After the Cover Save, there is my response, three solid, easy to use tactics to provide a Hive tyrant with a cover save. Sadly though, despite all of these tricks and tips, the Hive Tyrant with only 4 wounds and no invulnerable save it simply to fragile. It is still possible to gun down your Tyrant in one round of shoot from a strong Alpha Strike army like Leafblower IG for example.

I hope this helps, let me know!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 7/23 – 7/30

Just a reminder, "This week in 40K Podcasting" will be available over at the blog From The Warp first thing Saturday morning:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2010/07/this-week-in-40k-podcasting-723-730.html

I cover a ton of podcasts this week, so be sure to check it out!

40K Battle Report - 1000 Points Tyranid Swarm vs. Space Marines

So we moved on to week three of my local games stores mini tournament this week, with my 5-year old professional dice roller in tow. First, I learned a few things last night about the tournament itself, largest piece of news being that this would be a five week tournament and not four. Also, that there is enough money in the pot to place three players, with first still having a hefty prize (well, hefty enough for a $5 entry fee loosely run tournament). This is good because I think it will help spread out some of the winners some and hopefully will have a clear cut winner in the end. And, after last night's results, I am really happy to hear that I'll have the chance to furthr increase my lead.

Now, on to the game. The way this tournament is being run is as a challenge league, in that you must accept any challenge that comes to you or suffer the loss. Weaker players (those with lower records and victory Point counts) call the challenges, to prevent stronger players from praying on the weak to win. So this week, as soon as my son and I walked into the door, Sam sees me and yells out, "I challenge EvilEd209!" There is a bit of a giggle that runs through the room, but I smiled and humbly accepted.

You see Sam is relatively new to the game, in fact I think that I was his 10th or 11th game total last night. And I do not like to brag, I really don't, but I am considered to be one of the top players in my area. So for Sam to call me out in front of my kid was pretty brave. Stupid, but brave.

The game wasn't really much of a game at all, as it was more a teaching session then anything else. Now, normally I would throw a game like this as to build the confidence of the new guy and keep him interested in the game. However, this was tournament play, with money involved and prizes. And my kid was there watching Daddy and you don't want to seem like a loser in front of your kids, now do you?

I still helped him out, I basically countered my own deployment by helping him with his. I gave him a basic strategy to go with, told him what units were his biggest threats and the best ways to handle them. I did almost everything but tell him turn by turn, shoot this, move here, do that. But once turn one began, the teaching stopped.

I am not going to give you a blow-by-blow of this game here today because, well it was a comedy of tactical errors on his part that lead to him being wiped off the board by turn 4. I did, in the interest of sportsmanship and being a nice guy, feed him a few units to murder and feel good about, but this game was never in any question.

The real news here is that the other top players in the tournament (the 2-0 players) all tied in their games. Two of the guys, Mike and Greg, Played each other and it ended in a tie and David, my friendly rival, managed to tie a game to one of the new guys. So at the end of the day, your good 'ol friend EvilEd209 was sitting on the top of the pile at 3-0 with 3000 Victory Points. Next week I got challenged by Greg, on of our better players, so I will not be newbie bashing next week. But, if I did the math right, if I manage to beat Greg and finish week 4 at 4-0, there is no way I can not place in the week 5 finale.

Thanks to Sam for a fun game that was mostly just for laughs. Sam said that he wanted to see how good I really was and why everyone up there speaks my name with fear. Why does everyone call me Evil in the first place. Well Sam, now you know. In a couple of weeks the tournament will be over and I will let Sam beat up on me and maybe earn some of that back. As long as no money is involved, I don't care about losing.

DLT: The Soul Drinkers

The boys over at Dice Like Thunder (www.dicelikethunder.com) are at it again and are adding some more fun, fan generated material to help make your 40K experience just a bit more interesting. This time around is "Loyal Traitors", A Soul Drinkers Codex. Well Codex in part. This Home Brew Codex basically allows you to take selections from Codex: Chaos Space Marines and Codex: Space Marines, having the special characters and special rules located in the the "Loyal Traitors"

The Fan-Dex is really a lot of fun and there was a great amount of effort put into this 'dex to make it feel right for the Soul drinkers. Rich and Dan should be commended for their work. It is something that my local gaming club will be play-testing soon. I highly recommend it.

You can check it out here on the Dice Like Thunder website:


http://www.dicelikethunder.com/files/DLTSoulDrinkers.pdf

"This Week in 40K Podcasting" is Moving!

Well, it is official folks and I can now talk about it. The very popular and sometimes controversial segment of "This Week in 40K Podcasting" is getting a new home. Starting this coming Saturday, July 31th, 2010, and each and every Saturday there after "This Week in 40K Podcasting" will be posted on the very popular blog site From The Warp (http://www.fromthewarp.blogspot.com/). I am very excited about the move, as it represents a really big opportunity for me to get the word out and have a much larger audience to hear my thoughts. Not to mention that Ron is giving me such a huge signing bonus! Wait, that was a joke... oh man!

But seriously, the segment will remain the same, just be posted to a different site. My blog will still be here and I will still post to it often. It is just this segment that is moving.

"This Week in 40K Podcasting" really has grown to mean a lot to me in the short time I have been doing it. It really is the first thing I have done in the 40K community that I feel is actually contributing to the advancement and betterment of the hobby. It is something that is completely original and something that no body out there is currently doing. I'm proud of that.

I have a few folks I'd like to thanks for all of this. First, and of course I want to that Ron, the owner of From the Warp for finding me and believing that this little weekly article was worth it to put on his blog. Second, I want to thank all of the 40K podcasters! I mean really guys, you do a good thing for the community, you entertain us, education us, and make us realize that 40K gamers are everywhere! Your podcast have opened our eyes to a much larger and greater 40K Universe. Thank You! I would also like to thanks Bill and Jay over at the podcast Gamers Lounge. I was inspired to start this blog by listening to there show and I want to give credit where credit is due. And I want to thank fellow blogger Big Jim (http://galaxyinflames.blogspot.com/) for telling me all about From the Warp on an episode of Gamers Lounge. He gave me the idea to sign up with them and look where it got me. A Weekly Article with them. Thanks Jim!

So, I will have an introduction article go up on FTW sometime this week and the this Saturday, I'm so excited, will be my first big post. Watch for it guys.

And thank you!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 7/17 – 7/23

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 7/17 – 7/23

So here we have yet another installment of This Week in 40K Podcast for the week that was, July 17th-23rd, 2010. This has quickly become my favorite this to write during the week. Something that was mention to me via email was that some of these podcast do have some harsh, adult language. So, please be advised, listen to these casts before you let your kids hear them! I have marked the podcasts with adult language Explicit.

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Dice Like Thunder Episode 95 – Rating 4/5 **Explicit Language**

You’re home for all things AWESOME started off by poking some fun at yours truly! That’s right, the ‘ol EvilEd209 got mentioned less the 30 seconds into the first segment. I am a good humored and sensible person, and I love the guys and the show. And starting a weekly article that rates 40K Podcasts I realize is opening myself up for some pokes. So thanks guys for being the first to poke me… I mean.. um… you know I what I mean.

But to be clear for the readers, I am a war gamer and enjoy all of the games that DLT mentioned, however this segment is entitled this week in 40K podcasting, focusing on the 40K part, and the points they lost last episode were for the non-40K game talk. I have to admit, that each time you guys would mention Fantasy, I would smile! I felt like the star of the first segment. Thanks Guys! Don’t change a thing!

They went on to name the winner, David, of the Horus Hersey Board Game “Theme Song” contest, of which I am eternally jealous of and wish I had some musical talent, but I don’t. They moved on by mentioning a new London based 40K Based podcast, the Overloads (www.theoverlords.co.uk) which is gaining some attention. I will be adding them to my listening list and will critic as needed. In fact I missed them last week and will be adding them to this week’s segment to make up for it, sorry guys! They made mention of some of the home-brewed material that DLT has put out there for the fans. If you have not had the chance, check it out, they are worth it. I recommend the missions book, which I use on a regular basis. They also dropped a mention of Rankings HQ (www.rankingsHQ.com), for tournament players. I have not attended a tournament yet that has used it, but the season is still early.

Next up was a discussion on “Why 5th Edition is Not Awesome”. They discussed older codices being used in the new rule set, not all of the 5th edition codices being balanced with each other (hello Tyranid Codex), laughable FAQs and some of the standard arguments of no models for units with rules in the codex. Lastly they go over the craziness of the Blood Angels FAQ.

The second segment is the real jewel of this episode, an in-depth overview of the Assault Phase, continuing with their tips and tactics of the game as a whole. As a Tyranid player, this segment got a least three re-listens as the boys went over all of the nooks and crannies of the Assault Phase. They give you a ton of tips on how to dominate in the Assault Phase, or how not to be dominated, and what to watch out for. Very well worth it! They seem to subscribe to the same theory I do, if I roll a bucket of dice at you, even if you go before me, I still win! They even give the tactics of why NOT to shoot before you assault. They end it out with a list of great Assault units and how to use them. They are starting some threads over on their forum about great and horrible Assault units. Feel free to chime in; I know my 10 point homagaunts (Adrenal Glands and Toxic Sacs) will be getting a vote.

The last segment closed out with some shout outs, some other podcasts that hit on non-40K related material, and an Under Rated (no Over Rated this week) of Abaddon. The man is a god, deal with it. There is no rating for him! They reminded us of the “Name My Army” contest for Dave, dave@dicelikethunder.com. Contest will run until the first week in August. And of course took one more jab at me before show’s end… making me smile.

Overall, a great podcast that ‘happened’ to mention me and the blog as a running gag! You would have gotten the 4 rating even with out it guys, great job, but thanks again and I hope I was fun to mess with!

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The 11th Company Episode 26 – Rating 3.5/5

The Myrtle Beach Wild Bunch started off their podcast with a conversation on Tournaments, Comp systems, and house rules is reference to fixing the broken things in 40K. One of the things I liked about this segment is why it is in Tournament Play there is a “By The Book” feel to the rules, and that House Rules, Fixes, or FAQs are not permitted. I really do believe that it is possible to have the 40K community at large help to fix the broken or older codices to get them back to the competitive level, and they hit on this a lot. Personally I’d like to see Neil’s fixes for my beloved Necrons and see if they had play-tested it.

Next, they moved on to Pat’s Corner where he had an interview with Mike Collins, a member of Team Wales in the ETC. They talked about what armies the Wales Team will be bringing and their basic strategies. I think it is interesting that two teams in the ETC are bringing Necrons, with monolith spam of course. I also think it is interesting how the Europeans seem to feel that the United States might not be prepared for this tournament, and that they will not do well their first time out. And that they were building lists as if they were under some sort of comp system, and bringing weaker lists. I strongly disagree. With the team that we have assembled, I am sorry Europe, but these guys are going to do well and will bloody you’re noses. If they are not in the top 5 teams, I’ll be strongly surprised. I loved this interview because it got me all worked up over the ETC and I wish I could attend. I feel like a World Cup fan now! USA, USA, USA!

The next segment was a short unit highlight of the Termagant from the Tyranid Codex. Personally, I can not have a Termagant without a Tervigon, and they agreed, so to look at the unit alone is not a fair comparison. As I have noted in my review of the Codex, they are many synergies that make this codex work, and the Tervigon/Termagant combo is a must for my armies at least. Overall a good review!

The next segment was an interview with James Hakola, the owner of mrdandy.com and wargamma.com, websites dedicated to alternative models for 40K and other modeling needs. Both are great sites to find models that GW has not gotten around to making just yet. James gives a brief history of his model making career and how he got to where he is now. It was an interesting interview and gave out some good information on the “Battle Wolves”, an alterative model for Thunderwolves, where there is a great need for now. He also does “Drop Pods” for space aliens. Good looking model too! He finished up with the process of how the models are made.

The last segment is the first part of a two part Codex Countdown: Orks. The first thing I will say about this segment is that I did not care for the fact that it was broken up into two segments. I know, I know, I understand the argument that people put up there for short podcast vs. long podcasts. There are two kinds of podcast listeners, the ones who have the time to listen to a 4-Hour Megasode, and those who don’t. That some people like to burn podcasts to CD and listen to them in the car and 4-Hour episodes can not be done unless you edit them yourselves. But I do not have that problem and most people I know in the podcast community do not either. Most listeners have iPhones, or MP3 players that can handle a 4-Hour long podcast without any difficulty. So overall I was not happy to learn that this segment was being broken up into two pieces.

However, on with the review as is. I happen to be one of the people that believes that the Orks still or a top tier army and it was as if Neil had read my mind as he started the segment. Again, while some people might not agree with how the gang feels Orks are most effective, I happen to be an 11th Company believer. Long before I heard of this podcast, I was advising my Ork playing friends to play them basically just like they tell in this segment. And damn me for doing so, because hoard on hoard, Orks beat Tyranids.

Overall, it was another good podcast from the 11th Company. That broken up Ork segment has left a bad taste in my mouth but other then that a great cast. I am one of those people who loved 40K Radio’s Codex Overview segments and those were broken up over several shows, so I guess I can get used to this if this is their new format. We will see.

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Imperial Vox Cast Episode 30 – Rating 3.5 /5 **Explicit Language**

Your light in the darkness of the Warp, this week the Bill, Tor, and Dawson do another one of their “Versus” podcast, Daemons vs. Space Wolves. They open up the show with their hobby and gaming talk for the last few weeks. They play-tested their 1,000 point tournament lists, and tried out the missions to tweak their armies based on the results. There is some real good Space Wolf tactical discussion in this section, so keep your ears pealed for it. This is usually my favorite part of their podcast, as you can tell these guys are hard tournament players and play each other just as hard at all times. Some of the best gems of the podcast can be found in the opening 30-minutes of the cast. This was no exception.

They move on to the next segment and the main portion of the show where they build one army to face another, in this case Chaos Daemons vs Space Wolves. Now, I would first like to say that I do not build my armies to beat any one other army; I usually build all-comers lists, tournament style, and so do most of the people I play with. So these podcasts where they take two armies and face them off and build lists to fight just each other I really do not care for. And the reason for this is: who build their armies that way, seriously? While these segments are loaded full of great tactics, and will give you a good overview of both armies, they are tactics for a very limited range vs such-and-such an army, and overall very narrow in their vision of other armies.

The guys do go into a great level of detail on both armies and if you play these armies I highly, highly recommend it. They have some great tips on what to build, how to build it and what upgrades to give each unit. Of course, if you see these armies at your local game store, I would also highly recommend that you take a listen just to get an overview of some of the big time units of each army and what you might see on the table. They even go as far to have a partnership with my man Phil Johnson (www.thebrokenforge.com) and have links to his retail site where you can buy the discussed armies at a discount. A very cool option!

So, while these “Versus” podcasts are my least favorite from an otherwise outstanding podcast, this one was still pretty good and earned a pretty high rating for me. The content on this podcast, even though on a subject that I do not agree with, is so outstanding that it makes up for my dislike of the segment. I play against both armies regularly and it was good to hear some of the things that I could be seeing in my next tournament.

They finish out the show with a great piece on Tactics vs. Strategy, and how your tactics should never supersede you strategies for victory. A really great piece and well worth the listen.

Good job guys, looking forward to your next podcast.

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The Independent Characters Episode 8 Rating 2.5/5 **Explicit Language**

Carl and Geoff start off by saying that this week’s show really didn’t have much of a theme or structure, which is always something that makes me cringe to start off a podcast. They move on to what they have accomplished in the hobby in the last two weeks. They do go over some good hobby stuff on the GW washes, which I have used, use now religiously, and absolutely love. They do give you some pretty good painting tips, but I have always had an issue with painting tips by audio only. I really think these guys should put together a few YouTube videos on painting. They did go on to a few battle reports, starting off with Geoff’s Drop Pod Salamander’s list. They took the approach where Geoff talked about his hobby stuff then his battle and then Carl talked about his hobby stuff and then battles.

I think it would be better if the both talked hobby, and then they both talked battle reports. It would be more streamlined. That being said, Carl’s recalling of games that happened two weeks ago was poor, and ended up with of lot of “I’m sorry, I don’t even remember the result of the game, let alone what units my opponents used, but here is what I remember.” I can understand not being about to remember ever detail of a game, heck I have played so many that I can’t recall a vast majority of the games I have played. But I’d never use these games as ‘content’ for my podcast. If you intend to do a battle report on your blog or in your podcast, take notes! I do!

The next segment had two special guests, “Blitz” and “The Professor” hosts of the Battlezone Podcast (http://thebattlezone.libsyn.com/) who attended a gamer-get-together tournament with the crew and friends of the Independent Characters. They go in detail on the “Escalation” style tournament that they had just completed and the scenarios that they ran. The tournament sounded like fun and it gave me a few ideas on what to run next at my LGS tournament. The whole segment was basically one big battle report with some interesting conversation.

The last segment was basically what they hoped to accomplish in the next two weeks of hobby time. This is mostly regular stuff and nothing too exciting. They finished off the show with a review of their “Deep Strike” event, a gathering of 40K gamers. A really cool idea of getting together with the local gamer who they did not know and just hang out and talk 40K. Their review was all to brief for my liking and I wish they would have gone into much more detail. They also recapped their little mini-tournament one last time, and some other projects they had in mind. They posed the question if they should be 40K game only content or 40K universe. My vote… 40K Only Guys!

Overall a content light show, it was ok, but not their best work.

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The Overlords Episode 4 – Rating 1.5/5

Okay, for starters I owe these guys an apology as their podcast was out last week and should have been reviewed in last week’s segment, but I just missed it. Sorry guys! Now, fair warning, these guys are in London so it will take you a few listen to get used to the accent if you’ve not heard it in 40K before. But it is worth it to get used to it.

Steve and Paul had a special guest in studio (or in the garden for this show) Annie on their show this week. And as we all know a female gamer is as rare as an albino unicorn, and thus, super hot! Mix in that British accent and, well, she worth a listen to at least!

They start off the show with some brief news, the guys have started a Twitter Account for the show, and so all interested parties should sign up. They posted their local gaming club’s rules on their site and they are available for download. They move on to some brief Fantasy news, which I could have done without. But they did not get into the game at all, just the templates and dice which or out which could be used for 40K. So no foul. They go on to some Forgeworld and Black Library releases, and the dry rumor mills. Everyone is waiting for Dark Eldar to be officially announced far as I am concerned. They do move on to a good topic about how GW waits until the last minute to announce their new model and army releases, while other companies have that as public knowledge well in advance. I happen to agree with the boys on this one and that GW really is running their release schedule a little too tight to the vest. They move on to a mail bag section and the first email they hit on was about their previous podcast’s sound quality. I couldn’t agree more. I know that they are just getting started so I usually cut some slack for the new guys on sound and content. That being said, I think they did a good job this week sound-wise and maybe they should tape in the garden more often!

They move on to the next segment where they talk about bringing new players to the game, and the “Fluff” or story player of 40K vs. the modeler or builder bring the player into the game. They interview Annie, an Eldar player, about how she got back into the game of 40K. She moves on to tell us why she chose Eldar over any other army in the 40K universe. The conversation moves on to their prep work for what sounded like an escalation league at their local Games Workshop store (I’m jealous BTW). They guys sound like they really have not delved into the competitive end of 40K too much, which they are aware of, and are worried about getting spanked in the league.

They move on to their last segment, the “flavors” of 40K, straight up rulebook 40K, Planetstrike, Apocalypse, Cities of Death, Spearhead and Battle Missions, or the expansion games to the base 40K. They go over their experience playing Apocalypse style games and how there has to be a lot of prep work done in order to make the game enjoyable. They mention their light contact with Cities of Death games, and how it changes the game mechanics back in 4th edition Cities of Death have made it into the 5th Edition game with line of sight and cover saves being as abundant as they are. They move on to some of the “Fluff” games that they had set up and some of the weird and fun games they had made up to play.

Overall, this show was really, really light on content. I know these guys are just getting started and are nervous when the mic gets turned on, so I am willing to see where the podcast goes. If I could offer up some advice to the hosts of the show:

“Your podcast has a great start, but you need to give us, the listeners, more reasons to want to listen to you each episode. Interviewing your buddies is okay, but how about going deeper into their armies, tactics, strategies, and fluff behind their army. You need to offer something that we want to hear. What makes a good podcast is doing something different, be original, give me some reason not to listen to something else. I wish you the best of luck!”

So, that is it for This Week in 40K podcasting.

Got a podcast all about 40K, or mostly 40K that I am not listening to? Let me know. I'll be happy to add you to my listening schedule! Disagree with my rating? Post comments for that too!

Don't Be That Guy: The 40K Coach

Okay, so we can all admit it. You've done it and you know you have! You've walked by a game going on at your local game store or gaming club and seen a player who clearly needed just a little bit of help in their game. Maybe that player is new to the game, or just inexperienced, or playing against one of the better player in your area and is grossly over matched. And as an experienced player, and the friendly guy/gal that you are you offer up a quick tip. You actually open you mouth and give just a bit of advice on that game that you have nothing to do with.

"Hey, you know if you move here, he'll have to run through area terrain to get to you and you'll attack first in combat." Or, "if you shoot this instead of that, it would help you do this." It is usually just a quick nugget of knowledge that really will not change the game in any way, and his opponent really could care less because they know they have the win secured. But you helped out a fellow gamer and expanded his/her knowledge of the game just a bit more. You feel good about it, you helped someone.

But there is a time, a place, and a time limit on such interventions to a game. If the game is just a pick-up game and has no real meaning to either player, most players are open to a little advice. Heck, if his opponent is a veteran and crushing the guy anyway, a little advice to the new guy to make the game a bit more of a challenge might even be a welcomed intervention. Because how much fun could it be to beat down a guy who barley knows how to play the game. Now, of course if your "advice" turns into you playing the guys army for him, well this could be an unwelcome "butting in" on your part, and really rude to both players.

I have done coaching games myself. These games are usually for the new guys, to help him with just the bare bone basics of the game. What do you roll to hit? How many dice? What do you roll to wound. Things like that. But in this game, the opponent is fully aware that I will be there to help out the new guy (and he knows to lose), and usually my advice during the game trickles off as the game goes on so that the player can learn on their own. But these are special cases, in most games coaching can be an unwelcome interruption.

However in League, Campaign, and certainly tournament games this is a HUGE faux-Pas and in some case can be considered cheating! I recently posted an article recanting the tale of my second week mini-tournament win over my friend Andrew. The part I left out was his brother, David. David is a much better player then his brother, and David and I have a bit of a friendly rivalry going. So when he found out that Andrew and I were slated to go head-to-head that day, David was right there to over see the game. He helped Andrew with his deployment, and some of the moves he made. But at one point, David began whispering to his brother plans for the next turn. Foul!

Now I know, it is just a small, $50 in store credit prize on the line, but this was a tournament game. And coaching is real close to cheating as far as I am concerned in this situation. So when the whispering started, I in my best joking tone, was like "Hey, how many guys am I playing here?" David got the hint and backed away from the table and allowed the game to finish without further interruption. David, of course, does not want to see me in the finals as he has only beaten me once in tournament play. So I am sure he was hooping his brother could steal a win and knock me out of contention. Or maybe he was just trying to help his brother out, offering friendly advice to a weaker player. Either way, this was not the time nor the place to coach a player. David got the point that I did not appreciate his intervention in a tournament game.

The point of this story is, we all want to help, and that is okay. Some of us are just better at the game then others and feel our experience can help bring those player up a level or two. But make sure it is okay with both player to offer up that help. And in tournament play, back away from the table and keep your advice to yourself! Let the two people playing the game determine the outcome. Lets face it, we are all there for fun, but there is money and prizes on the line. I had a similar experience at 'Ard Boyz this year, where the eventual winner of that day had approached my table and started a conversation with his buddy, my opponent, during the game. At first it was innocent, but as soon as the conversation turned to the game at hand I stopped it cold. I did not know the guys, so I did not know if my joking tone would work. So I was firm but fair, "Hey man, I know he's your friend and all, but we are playing in a tournament and coaching at the table could be considered cheating. Why don't you watch the game from over there, and your friend can tell you how it turned out." He got the point and I won my game without his interference.

So, lesson of the day, advice if fine in a friendly game but try to refrain from butting your nose in where it is not wanted, or for too long. And in case you didn't know, tournaments are always off limits!

When dealing with the 40K Coach, simply point out that you are playing your opponent, not him, and that coaching could be considered cheating. Most players do not like the idea of being called a cheat and will back off. I hate to use that dreaded C word, but it is what it is. And surprisingly, most people are afraid to use that word too. Not me.

40K Battle Report - 1000 Points Tyranid Swarm vs. Space Wolves

So, on to week two of the 4 week mini-tournament at my local game store. This week the swarm met with a rather broken Space Wolves army. My opponent, Andrew, had some rather bad luck in the previous week and lost one of his two Vindicators for the game which he subbed in a Grey Hunters squad for, one unit of Grey Hunters did not come on the table until turn 2 and one did not come on until turn 3. His army consisted of three units of Grey Hunters with two meltas and a Powerfist, a Dreadnought with Autocannons and heavy bolter, one Vindicator, and his HQ with the Grey Hunter Squad on the table, which was a named character I can not remember at his time, and means very little to this report. I ran my stock list, A Tervigon HQ, two, 30-man termagant squads, a 30-man Hormagaunt squad, a unit of Hive Guard, a Unit of Zoanthropes, and sitting n for the second Hive Guard squad, I went to the side bar and pulled a Gargoyle squad. We rolled Seize Ground with 5 objective with a Pitch Battle Deployment. We did a good job of scattering the objective all over the board (a mistake from my opponent) and I set up first.

With so many models I really was able to setup so that every unit in my army would get a cover save as they advanced, which turned out to be a key to the game, and was holding 3 objective to start the game to his one. He boxed up the units he deployed and put the Vindy, Dread, Grey Hunters and HQ in cover in one corner of the board, the furthest away from most of the objectives I might add. He stole first turn and his tactics went right out the window. I thought he was going to run a Marine gun-line on me and make me come to him through a hail of bullets. However on turn one he moved the Vindicator out of cover to take a pot shot at some gaunts (allowing it to be in charge range of my Gargoyles who had adrenal glands) which only manged to kill two thanks to cover, moved his HQ squad out of cover to move toward the closest objective, and moved and shot with the dread, killing a handful of Gargoyles.

My turn one consisted of a lot of maneuvering to control objectives, as I knew I'd have an easier time holding objective with that many scoring units on the table and his three total. I also moved the hormagaunts into cover but within charge range for turn two on his HQ squad, Tervigon spitting out more gaunts, and charging the naked vindicator with Gargoyles and blowing off the main gun. A huge victory for me. I figured the gargoyle for dead anyway, so to take out one of the two major threats on the board to my army on turn one was sweet.

His turn two was alright, he walked on the other Grey Hunter squad but was too far out of range to do anything with them. He moved the Vindicator in order to wipe out the gargoyle and had some really bad dice rolls that managed to leave three of them still alive. His HQ Squad hunkered down on the objective and rapid fired into the Hormagaunts, killing only 4 thanks to cover saves and Feel No Pain from the Tervigon. 75% save ratio is awesome! And the dreadnaught moved closer to my gaunts which were on an objective and backed up by the Zoanthropes. Huh? My thoughts exactly!

My turn two was brutal. Zoeys stunned the dread, Trevigon pooped more which were left behind to hold an objective, and used Catalyst on the hormagaunts, 30-man squad was left behind to hold another in cover, and the gargoyles turned to shoot and assault the HQ squad. Hive Guard were still out of position to do anything and just ran. On the assault, I cleared out all but the HQ and a melta from the squad holding his lone objective by charging with two dozen angry hormagaunts. By the end of turn two I was holding four objectives and contesting one, his HQ squad was on the verge of dying, and he was pretty much out of the game.

There was some clean up on turn three, his HQ squad bit the dust, his last Grey Hunter squad in reserve moved in too close to the hormagaunts (foolish), his out of range Hunters moved and shot the termagants holding an objective in cover to no avail, and dread just sat there drooling. My turn three the horagaunts assaulted the new Hunters and won combat, Hive Guard cleared out the dread, Zoeys dropped AP3 small blast templates on ten marines, killing 7, they broke, and my now 4 gaunt squads were holding 4 objectives soundly.

At this point, Andrew had gone through enough and wanted to forfeit the game. However, by the rules of the tournament, if he chose to do so he would yield to me all 1000 victory points and have to roll to see if all of his units would come back in for the next game. He figured the game for a total loss anyway and gave it up. His dice were kind and only one unit of Grey Hunter will not be back next week, which he would have switch out for the now repaired vindicator anyway.

So, in review, again I could not be happier with my performance. I took my 5-year old son along with me this week as these are short games and we are limited to one per week. All I can say is watch out Vegas! This kid can roll some dice, and did a good job for Daddy rolling to wound.

Standings: 2 - 0 with 2000 VP, sitting in first. Now, three other people are at 2 - 0 right now so I suspect I'll be playing one of them next week. I'll keep you posted!

To be Judged...This Week in 40K Podcasting

So I received a massive response to my new weekly segment, "This Week in 40K Podcasting". It is, by far, the largest response this blog has ever received so far. By the large amount of traffic to the site, emails, hate mail, and mentions on podcasts, I think I am on to something. I am truly and greatly appreciative of all of you! Thank You so much for making this a success!

It is the first thing I have done in which I feel I can really contribute to the 40K community, something that no one else is currently doing. I love 40K podcasts, I listen to all of them and often more then once. I am not only passionate about them, but knowledgeable as well. I am a big fan of all of you and I wanted to show my gratitude for what you have done for us, the fans. I really feel like I am on to something with this segment and I am looking forward to where this could go.

The number one question I received this weekend from podcast hosts, fans of the site, family, friends, that creepy neighbor of mine, was "How are you judging these Podcasts and what is the criteria you are looking for?" So I felt that I should give you exactly what I am looking for an what tips the scales from a 3 to say a 5 podcast for the week. Clear the air, shall we say. I consider a 3.0 to be an average score, and a 5.0 to be the greatest podcast I have ever heard, and a 0.5 to be the single largest waste of my time in the history of my life. So a rating of 3.5 or 4.0 is not bad, it is good, really good in fact.

First, a weekly rating IS NOT a judgment on the podcast as a whole. It is a judgment of that individual podcast. Not everyone brings their A game each podcast, heck, even Star trek had some real crappy episodes. So do not view a week's review as an overall judgment of the cast, crew, or quality of the podcast as a whole. It is just that, a critic of that week or installment.

1) 40K is the Key ) I know that this is hard to believe, but a lot of podcasts out there billing themselves as 40K podcasts, delve into heresy by discussing other games! I know, it shocks me too. In all seriousness through, I am a gamer. 40K is not my only game. I play the F word, shh.... fantasy, and Firestorm Armada, and Dungeons and Dragons (although we converted to Pathfinder almost a year ago), and I used to play Battletech, and a whole mess of other games I am ashamed to mention on this blog. My point being, as a gamer, I love that the other games like Flames of War, and War Machine, or whatever get mentions on 40K Podcasts. But I am taking it purely from a 40K stand point. If I were looking for 40K content, how does this podcast measure up? How relevant was the materiel this week to the game of Warhammer 40,000? If you go into a 30 minute discussion on Fantasy, or Flames of War, I will enjoy it, but it's not 40K. And there for not relevant to "This Week in 40K Podcasting"

2) Content) - What does your show bring to the table this week? Does your show have a direction? A theme, segments that make sense and have something to give the listener? Do you do battle reports, overview of Codices, tactics, strategies, rumors or news? Or does your podcast sound like the average discussion around the table at any local game store or gaming club? Anybody can do a 40K podcast, and I mean it, anybody. A $3 mic and free audio software with a site to host you and you're off. Its basically that simple. But not everybody can be entertaining, can give the listener something worth the download. In the real restate world it is all about location. In podcasts, it is all about content. If your podcast is 3 hours long but is just you a your buddies talking 40K with no real direction and a collection of random thoughts, broken themes, and inside jokes, well, it has no content, despite its size. But if you have something prepared, a direction, and provide a service and entertainment to the listener, then you're golden. Content is a big factor in my scoring. 40K Content that is.

3) Audio Quality) I realize that not everyone out there has the disposable income to have a full blown recording studio in their basement dedicated to their podcast. But like it or not, audio quality is the number one factor in anything you listen too. The podcast could have the best content, amazing tactics, the cure for the common tournament loss, but if you can't hear it, or it is edited poorly with a bunch of garbled or weak voices, well, then it sucks! A few podcasts out there use the one open mic method of podcasting, which I understand, but will in the end produce a low quality product. Voices that are too far away from the mic to hear or a ton of background noise that makes it hard to listen to. Or some folks use Scype to have host come in from somewhere else. Sometimes this works, sometimes it is a horrible mistake. Point being, if you sound professional, you get professional. If you sound hobby, then you get hobby. Nothing personal, but if i have to play it back three or even four time to hear what was said... then it will get a low rating.

4) Other) This is my Wow factor. Did the podcast blow me away? Did they bring something I have never heard before or do something out there that no one else is doing? If so, they get credit for it. If not, no harm no foul. This is where the 5.0 ratings will come from.

That is about it. My goal is not to offend any of the podcasts or the hosts. I want to make friends with each and every one of you who step in front of a mic and put yourself out there, not make enemies. They are all taking brave steps to put their voices out there for our entertainment, asking nothing in return (well, almost all of them are asking for nothing). I applaud them all. I am a fanboy of each and every one of you! I would love to hang out with you, roll some dice, drink some beer, have some fun. To the Dick Like Thunder Crew, I'll be at Adepticon this and every year hence forth, I'd love to play you, hang out, be on the cast, chill at the bunker. I'd be honored to have Rich beat me down like I stole something from him! To the Independent Characters, I wish I had known about you like three weeks earlier then I did, because I was in San Fransisco and would have loved to hang out. To the 11th Company, I am planing next year's family vacation specifically to Myrtle Beach so that I can see you guys and girls!

To all of you, you are are all aces in my book. Please do not take a weekly podcast review as a judgment on you personally or professionally. Take it for what it is, a fun little segment to let the rest of the web know about you and the great work you are doing. And if you had a crappy show this week, and let's face it if you did, you already know it.

So here to to them all, I hope you all keep doing what your doing and entertaining us!

This Week in 40K Podcasting - 7/10 - 7/16

So here is the week that was in the 40K Podcasting web-o-sphere for July 10th - 16th, 2010


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11th Company Episode 25 - Rating : 4/5

The Myrtle Beach Wild Bunch released a gem of a podcast for their Episode 25 this week. They open up the show with an interview with Nick Rose, AKA Darkwynn from Bell of Lost Souls, and the founder of the dreaded 'Leafblower' Imperial Guard power list. Nick is wanted in 23 States for murdering all other power lists in their local gaming areas, so this interview must have been hard to lock down, with Nick on the run now. The interview was great, save for the guys in the background that kept playing the 'Imperial March' song every time Nick spoke about his IG list. Nick is part of Team America who will be playing IG in the upcoming ETC, European Team Championship. I am not sure what the foliage will be like in Gremany in August, but I hope the leaves in Germany are ready for Nick's Leafblower, because I suspect a lot of bare trees will be in Nick's wake!!! Good luck man!

The gang then moves on to the real star of this episode, a one hour discussion of all of the 'gray area' rules in the 40K Rulebook. I found this to be the most interesting part of the podcast. It was really cool to hear how other players rule on those weird rules or situations that occur from time to time in 40K. This segment is worth at least two listens to get everything and commit it to memory! Awesome Job Guys.

They close the show with a followup interview with the Tournament Organizer (TO) of the Nova Open, Mike Brandt. They go over some rulings on their FAQ, as they will not be using the INAT FAQ from the boys over at Adepticon. It was a good interview an worth a listening, but since I can not make it to the Nova open this year (although next year looks doable) I was not nearly as interested. So, if you're planing to attend the Nove Open 2010, worth listening to.

Overall, I am a huge fan of the 11th Company Podcast. It is just the kind of Tactically minded podcast that gets my 40K juices flowing!


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Dice Like Thunder Episode 94 - Rating 3.5/5

Your home for all things AWESOME! Started off their show with complaints about the release of 8th edition Warhammer Fantasy in their Mecca of the Chicago Battle Bunker. And then move on to the release of the 8th Edition FAQs and how they were released with the new rulebook. Yawn. They managed to save the segment by making a big push for open play-testing of all GW games to try to break it before you release it with codices and the rulebook. Exactly how I feel there GW! I'd love to be a public play-tester!

They move on to the Rumor Mill and talk about the upcoming Dark Eldar coming in October and Gray Knights in December with Necrons possibly in March. Then on to an article released on BolS about the Hyper-Build 40K Armies, hearkening back to the 4th Edition min-max days of to min troops and all hammer units. They move on to a conversation about the big guys over at BOLS writing articles about and how SPAMing units is not fun. I find it interesting that the guys responsible for the SPAM lists out there are now trying to tell people, yeah, this will win but it is not fun to play against. Well then don't tell people how do to it! I complained about it, see a previous post for my rant.

They also do a brief Overrated and Under Rated and a Review of a new Black Library Book, "Way of the Warrior". They then move on to the real meat of this episode, the Second Segment is an in-depth look at the Shooting Phase of the game. A lot of great advice and tactics to be found here. Listen to it three times, totally worth it!

The third segment started off with a "Pimp my List" for a Tau army out of Japan. So good insight into an army screaming for a new codex. Maybe Next year Tau!

***Contest Alert*** Pick My New Army

Pitch a new army to Dave of DLT, send him a pitch for a new army to start and win a free blister and a DLT T-Shirt. Rules are non-Imperial army. You all know me, I am pitching Tyranids! Deadline will be for a Month from Contest Announcement.

Dave@DiceLikeThunder.com or Go To there Forums Under the Contests Section

Another Good Episode for the DLT Crew!


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The Gamers Lounge Episode 11 - Rating 3.5/5

The Gamers Lounge this week Featured Big Jim as a Special Co-Host (who, insistently had better sound quality then the hosts) from the Blog-O-Sphere. My first impressions of this cast was to turn the volume down as the sound quality was pretty poor. A warning to those listening. That being said Big Jim was pretty engaging and worth listening to.

Fair warning that there is some Non-40K related topics discussed which is why it gets the rating that I gave it. Winner was announced for the Malifaux contest, one in which I did not get the chance to submit to and now I am damned disappointed in myself for.

The main subject for this week's Podcast is fan generated material for your game (We'll go with 40K for our purposes). They go over some good sites to find fan generated material, hitting our friends over at DLT, and some of the Bell of Lost Souls material. They also hit on the fan Generated FAQs like the INAT FAQ and why the fans must generate FAQs for a game they company created.

They then moved on to fan generated Codices and Army Books, and how 40K Players have a huge dislike for fan generated Codices in tournament play but in Fantasy the Chaos Dwarves is a fan generated Army Book that is accepted in tournament play.

The last section was one that I really enjoined, as they interviewed Big Jim and why he started his blog (http://galaxyinflames.blogspot.com/). It was as if I was listening to myself, really. Why he started his blog, how frustrated he was with the net forums and getting no usable responses or flamed. He even gave me the idea to join From the Warp and get the blog's name out there.

Over all the guys put on a good show, and it was really fascinating to hear from Big Jim. When listening to the show, know that it is not a fully dedicated 40K Podcast, but it is still worth the listen.

They do mention that the host will be going into summer sessions and the both Bil and Jay will be preoccupied during this time. However, they have pre-recorded some shows that are in the can and will be released during this down time.

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40K Radio - Episode 001 Rating 3/5

So 40K Radio made it's return to the podcast airwaves this week. This new iteration of 40K Radio proclaimed itself to be a high quality, new formatted and structured podcast with a new feel and new attitude. However, the very first thing I want to say is that the quality of the audio was not what we have come to expect from 40K Radio. If nothing else, Spencer knew how to put on a high quality sounding podcast (even if the content was garbage at times), maybe they should have taken some advice from him before releasing this. Not only were the mics off a bit, but at one point Romeo was talking and scype was cutting in and out and you couldn't hear him. Glad this was just the run through and I hope they iron out they issues before August when the show is supposed to start up for real.

This first episode wasn't really an episode much at all. It was basically an introduction to the new crew. George Miller in Flordia and Rick in Arizona (Battlefoam employee) with a floating third seat at this point, today filled by Romeo from, you guessed it, Battlefoam. It sounds like they are going to run this podcast via scype, with Rick dialing in from Arizona and not being directly in-studio in Flordia with George. This has a real impersonal feel to tell you the truth and the biggest change to the show's format. It feels weird to me to have a guy in one room and another guy 2500 miles away in another room talking and calling it a podcast. One of the things the the old 40K Radio got right was the three person, in the same room format. You always felt like you were right there in the room with Spencer, Scott, and Phil or Chipley. This feels a little artificial too me. The scype issues make it worse.

Overall, the show was okay. Nothing spectacular as it was a trial run with some audio quality issues and scype issues. Most of it was a tribute to the old podcast and an infomercial on how the show is going to be run and what content they are going to hit on. The new shows will release on the 1st and 15th of every month. They mentioned more then once that there would be stronger prize support and better 'Boota only content, which, if true, might make me want to buy my 'Boota membership back. They promised that if the show started to turn a profit, they would increase their prize support for their fans. They want interviews, hobby info, and everything that was 40K Radio, like the News, Codex Overviews, Hobby U and the like.

George promised to go back over some content of the previous version of 40K Radio that did not get a fair shake, and directly mention the Tyranid Codex. I am really looking forward to that. So the show did what it was supposed to do. It got me interested in the crew, excited for future episodes and looking forward to the next one. We will see if they pass or fail the internet critics.


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40K Warcasting Episode ??? - Rating 0/5

Where are you guys? It seems to happen every year to this podcast. Summer comes and 40K Warcasting shuts down, completely. I think it is a school thing for these guys by it is hard to stay a fan of a show that bills itself as a top end 40K podcast and posts nothing for months. Or weird things about the next show is being taped in May with nothing after... in July now! Get it together guys. Post something stating on break for the summer, or something like that. I love your show guys, but get it together.



Well gang, that was the week that was in 40K Podcasting.

Got a podcast about 40K that I am not listening to? Let me know. I'll be happy to add you to my listening schedule! Disagree with my rating? Post comments for that too!

The New 40K Radio Episode 1: My Review

Ok, so this will also appear on tomorrow's This Week in 40K Podcasting, but I just had to get it out there for all of you as soon as possible.

40K Radio - Episode 001 Rating 3/5

So 40K Radio made it's return to the podcast airwaves this week. This new iteration of 40K Radio proclaimed itself to be a high quality, new formatted and structured podcast with a new feel and new attitude. However, the very first thing I want to say is that the quality of the audio was not what we have come to expect from 40K Radio. If nothing else, Spencer knew how to put on a high quality sounding podcast (even if the content was garbage), maybe they should have taken some advice from him before releasing this. Not only were the mics off a bit, but at one point Romeo was talking and scype was cutting in and out and you couldn't hear him. Glad this was just the run through and I hope they iron out they issues before August when the show is supposed to start up for real.

This first episode wasn't really an episode much at all. It was basically an introduction to the new crew. George Miller in Flordia and Rick in Arizona (Battlefoam employee) with a floating third seat at this point, today filled by Romeo from, you guessed it, Battlefoam. It sounds like they are going to run this podcast via scype, with Rick dialing in from Arizona and not being directly in-studio in Flordia with George. This has a real impersonal feel to tell you the truth and the biggest change to the show's format. It feels weird to me to have a guy in one room and another guy 2500 miles away in another room talking and calling it a podcast. One of the things the the old 40K Radio got right was the three person, in the same room format. You always felt like you were right there in the room with Spencer, Scott, and Phil or Chipley. This feels a little artificial too me. The scype issues make it worse.

Overall, the show was okay. Nothing spectacular as it was a trial run with some audio quality issues and scype issues. Most of it was a tribute to the old podcast and an infomercial on how the show is going to be run and what content they are going to hit on. The new shows will release on the 1st and 15th of every month. They mentioned more then once that there would be stronger prize support and better 'Boota only content, which, if true, might make me want to buy my 'Boota membership back. They promised that if the show started to turn a profit, they would increase their prize support for their fans. They want interviews, hobby info, and everything that was 40K Radio, like the News, Codex Overviews, Hobby U and the like.

George promised to go back over some content of the previous version of 40K Radio that did not get a fair shake, and directly mention the Tyranid Codex. I am really looking forward to that. So the show did what it was supposed to do. It got me interested in the crew, excited for future episodes and looking forward to the next one. We will see if they pass or fail the internet critics.