This Week in 40K Podcasting – 10/19/2012 – 10/25/2012

Welcome to another “This Week in 40K Podcasting,”

Here is this week’s top 5!

The Heroic 28s – Episode 49

Highlights:  This week the guys conclude their two part series on Codex Necrons!  They open up the show with some Feasts of Blades conversation followed up with a discussion on playing ‘pickup games’ as opposed to competitive games.  Next, it was back to Codex Necrons, and the guys started with a review of the deadly Night Scythe!  Next, they moved on to the Elite section of the book, covering Deathmarks, Lychguard, Triarch Praetorians, the C’Tan Shard, Flayed Ones, and the Triarch Stalker.  Then was the Fast Attack choices, and the guys focused a lot of attention on the Wraiths, which are brutal.  They moved on to the Scarabs, Tomb Blades, and Destroyers.  Next up were the Heavy Support choices, starting with the Doomsday Ark, and they moved on to the Monolith, the killer Doom Scythe, the awesome Annihilation Barge, and the Canoptek Spyder!  To close out the show the guys have a conversation about conventional Necron tactics in competitive builds.  They then covered some of the more popular list builds out there that are currently cleaning up in the tournament circuit, and the Allies that they can take. 

Opinion:  Once again the guys check in with just an outstanding podcast.  This was really the first good look at the Necron codex in 6^th Edition we podcast listeners have had, and it lived up to all of my expectations.  They guys did show some dislike for the net list of all Flyers, how during the process they offered up some really insightful and thought provoking ideas for this great army.  Just a top notch show guys, easily me favorite for the week!

The Independent Characters – Episode 64

Highlights:  This week’s show is the second part of the guy’s review of the Horus Hersey: Betrayal!  The guys open up the show with ‘the Workbench’ where they cover what they have been doing lately in gaming and the hobby.  Next it was back to the review of this completely awesome book.  They open up by covering the Space Marine Legion Crusade lists that can be built from this book.  They start of covering the ‘Age of Darkness’ Force Organization chart and how it differs from the standard 40K one.  They also cover over some of the Special Rules, Warlord trait charts, and unique wargear that are opened up by this book.  They then go over all of the new generic HQ selections available to players of the 31^stmillennia.   They move on to cover the stock Tactical Squads and their upgrades and addition weapons and the Legion Breacher Squads.  They then move on to a brief rundown of a lot of the other selections from the Fast Attack, Elites, and Heavy Support.  They move on to discuss some of the new weapons introduced in this book and their cool rules.  They then move on to discuss, in detail, the background story and some key engagements of each of the Legions featured in this book and how their story helps to forge the Special Rules for each Legion.  They start with the Luna Wolves and their tactical acumen and they move on to the World Eaters and their brutal tactics, the Emperor’s Children, and the Death Guard.  They also go over the Primarchs of each Legion and their stats and Special Rules.  They close out the show with their ‘Bang for your Buck’ rating on this outstanding expansion to your 40K game! 

Opinion:  What can I say about this show that would really do it any justice?  The two part series on this book has easily convinced me to buy a book I had sworn not to buy.  Over the last two show I have really just gotten wrapped up in the whole book, and the boys have really done an amazing job covering every facet of it.  We all love the story of the Horus Hersey, but for the first time to actually be able to recreate that on the tabletop is something I’m quite enthusiastic about.  A real pleasure to listen to guys, thank you! 

The 11th Company – Episode 137 & 138 

Highlights:  So I owe the 11^th Company one as they released two shows last week that my RSS feed did not pick up.  So I am going to briefly review each show, sorry about the mix up guys! 

Episode 137:  The guys open up the show with ‘This Week in Gaming’ where the boys cover their latest games.  This also rolled into a conversation about someone being caught with weighted dice at BeakyCon.  They then talked about the upcoming Feast of Blades event and some of their thoughts going into it.  In Pat’s Corner, Pat talked to ‘Bif-o-matic’ and they talked about the ‘Brawl in the Fall’ event he recently won with his Daemons!  He also talked to Thomas from the ‘Tyrant’s Due’ podcast and they discuss Psykers in 6^thEdition.  Then in ‘40K Miscellaneous’ the guys discuss the best competitive armies to take when traveling by plane to your next event.  This included low model count models that travel well in a carryon bag.  In ‘Tactical Terrain’ Eric talked about Rivers in 40K, and this including modeling rivers and beaches, and the rules for Mysterious Rivers in 6^thEdition.  In the ‘Community Segment’ Pat talked to Kelly, Thomas and Chip from the Atlanta 40K Series.  Next, the guys take a good look at the Chaos Space Marines Codex and some potential competitive builds for this book.  They discuss several combinations of upgrades and units that might perform will on the battlefield.  They also talk about the Codex being geared to close combat with no reliable way to deliver those units into combat.  They close out the show with their “Questions from Facebook’, where they answer questions from their fans. 

Episode 138:  This week the boys are joined by Mike Brandt and Doug Johnson from TableWar and they open up the show with ‘This Week in Gaming’ where they discuss their latest games.  Next, in ’Tactical Terrain’, Eric is back with the third part of his Mysterious Terrain series and this time he is talking about Mysterious Objectives.  He goes over their rules, offers up some cool ideas on how to model them, and hit on the Nova Open terrain for 6^thEdition.  Next, in ‘Pat’s Corner’ Pat discusses the RTT he recently attended at Hit Point Hobbies where he took his Daemons and won first place!  He then interviews Patrick who took Necrons to the RTT, and they talk about his results.  Next in the ‘Segmentus Obscurus’ segment, Melonhead is back and he and Kevin discuss the new CSM Codex, focusing mostly on the Chaos Spawn and the other Fast Attack choices.  Then the guys got back to talking about the new Chaos Space Marine Codex, and this time each of them run down what they think a competitive CSM army would consist of.  Next, Mike led a conversation about how Tyranids are still competitive in 6^th Edition.  He runs down his standard list and how he runs his bugs on the table.  They close out the show with their “Questions from Facebook’, where they answer questions from their fans. 

Opinion:  Covering two shows in the same week can be difficult; however the boys always find a way to make it easy for me!  There were great interviews from the top down.  Eric, from Tactical Terrain has really put out some stellar contest and made me rethink all of my terrain ideas.  And Mike Brandt talking about Tyranids was just an amazing view of a book many regard as bad.  Two great shows, I would catch them both!

 

Preferred Enemies – Episode 39 ***Explicit***

Highlights:  This week the guys are focusing on the new Chaos Codex and discussing the Marks of Chaos.  They open up with how marks work and the loss of the icon model.  They then give the details of how each mark works and what it does to a unit with one.  They started with the Mark of Khorne and all of the fun it adds to a unit.  This also included some Khorne characters and Daemon Princes, focusing a lot on Kharn, and the effects of the marks on them.  They move on to cover the Mark of Nurgle and their psychic powers they have available.  They also hit on the characters and of course Typhus and Plague Zombies!  They then go on to discuss the Mark of Tzeentch, hitting on the effect it has on units like Cultist Marines, the Daemon Princes, and of course the awesome Ahriman.  The guys then run down the psychic powers available to the Tzeentch Psykers.  They then moved on to talk about the Mark of Slaanesh, and what it does for standard units, Lords, their Icon of Excess, and of course Lucius!  They also look at the Noise Marines and the new rules for them and the psychic powers available.  Next, they have a conversation about using certain marks, and which units would benefit best from certain marks.  They close out the show with their hobby progress, as usual. 

Opinion:  This was really an interesting way to look at the new Chaos Codex.  While some focus on the units or tactics in the book, the guys took a different approach and looked at how the Marks can be used.  And I appreciate that very different way to look at it.  This is a really good education on that Marks and I highly recommend it for everyone!  Good show guys. 

Hitting on 3s – Episode 9 ***Explicit***

Highlights:  This week the guys open up the show with some off topic stuff before moving on to what they have been up too lately in gaming and the hobby.  In the next segment the guys discuss the latest rumors out there on Black Templars, the new Tactical Squad, Assault Squads, bits and flyers, and Dark Angels rumors.  Next the guys take a closer look at the new Chaos Space Marine Codex where they do a comparison between the CSM units and their Loyalist counterparts.  They started off with the Predator versus Havocs and moved on to CSM Terminators vs Obliterators/Mutilators, CSM Terminators vs Loyalist Terminators, Havocs vs Long Fangs/Devastators and much more.  Next up was a review of the new Fantasy Flight Games RPG, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta.  In the next segment, Bryce and Ben join the show to discuss the recent Doubles Tournament they played in.  They run down the missions for each round, give some details of their games, and discuss the final outcome of the event.   This also included some commentary on a poor sport at their event.  They close out the show with an interview with Bryce and they discuss his hobby history and his blog Dissenting Dice. 

Opinion:  Two weeks in a row and the guys have made my top five.  There is just something about this show I really like.  In this week’s show it was the side-by-side comparisons that really got me thinking.  The guys pose some interesting arguments and debated good units versus bad.  I was really impressed.  Now yes, there is a block of time in here that is non-40K material, but it was not so intrusive that 40K was not the main topic of the overall show.  I like what you’re doing guys!  Nice work!

Honorable Mentions – All great podcasts that just missed this cut this week, but you should still check them out, in no particular order:

Signals from the Frontline ***Explicit***  Chaos, WoC discussion, Dark Angels, Forgeworld rumors and much more!

Jaded Gamercast – Episode 99 ***Explicit***  Building a good CSM list for each of the four gods and Undivided,  

Skard – Episode 17  Look at the CSM Codex and a rant directed a BoLS

El Pee and the Man – Episode 48 ***Explicit***  Tactical Movement and the latest FAQs

The Deployment Zone – Episode 24 ***Explicit***  Celebrating One Year!  CSM Codex, Piracy and our hobby and the Iron Kingdoms RPG