Friday, July 16, 2010

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!

5 comments:

  1. No love for World's End Radio & The D6 Generation? Far superior podcasts to all of these IMO, and have 40K content as well. (Well, not too often on the D6G, but World's End does lots of quality 40K stuff)

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  2. I have not actually listened to the show, cause I just cannot listen to myself recorded. I'm glad you at least found me interesting and worth listen too on the Gamers Lounge.

    From The Warp is a great resource for getting your Blog traffic. I'm glad I could inspire you to join up.

    @Anon, to be fair WER did not put up a new show between 7/10-7/16, so do not fall into this week in wargaming

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  3. To Anonymous -

    I completely agree with you. However, this segment is entitle "This wee in 40K, 40K being the operative word, podcasting' and D6G really have very little to offer the 40K gamer.

    As for World's End Radio, (first the did not put out a podcast this week, but..l.) while they do have weeks where to do 40K Content, you could just as easily run into Blood Bowl or Fantasy content as well. I listen to these podcasts, I am fans, but for the pure 40K only podcast, they just don't quite fit. I might make an exception for World's End though because I do love they guys and their show. We'll see how this segment goes.

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  4. @Big Jim

    Yeah, i sent my request to join FTW already. Great piece of advice. I really think the "This Week in 40K Podcasting" segment will be a hit and I'd like to get the word out.

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  5. Thank you for your rating :)

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