This Week in 40K Podcasting – 9/28/2012 – 10/4/2012

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

Here is this week’s top 5!

The Heroic 28s – Episode 46

Highlights:  This week the guys start the first in their two part series on Codex Blood Angels!  The guys open up the show with an introduction to their guest host Fathermapple and his gaming history.  They move on to talk about the revamped White Dwarf and their feelings on that issue and the new digital content released from GW.  They talk about the increase value in the magazine and how it is now worth the cost.  Next, the guys start their review of Codex Blood Angels, starting off with their Special Rules, which included the ‘Red Thirst’.  They then move on to cover the HQ choices of the Librarian, and all that he can add to a unit, the Chaplin, and the poor Captain who cannot take great upgrades. They then move on to each of the Special Character and what they can add to the army, focusing especially on Captain Tycho, Dante, and the great Mephiston!  Next, they focused on the Psychic Powers available to the Blood Angels; this included the rulebook powers and the powers available in the Codex.  They close out the show by covering the vast amount of Troop choices that the Blood Angels have access to, starting with Tactical Squads.  They move on to cover the Scouts, the Assault Squads, the dreaded Death Company, and the super cool Death Company Dreadnaught!

Opinion:  I am really enjoying the new ‘weekly’ format of the show, and the boys keep churning out great podcast after great podcast.  This week’s show was no exception, as the boys go through a greatly detailed review of Codex Blood Angels.  I especially like how they focused on how the army has evolved in 6^th Edition and provided some outstanding tactics to running them now.  Overall, my top pick for the week!

Deep Strike Radio – Episode 45

Highlights:  The guys are back after a bit of a scheduling conflict and they open up with what they have been doing lately in gaming and the hobby.  They move on to the news where they discussed the new White Dwarf format and the digital release of the magazine.  They then move on to discuss the Chaos Space Marine release, including the new models and some of the leaked rules.  They then move on to talk about the latest from Forgeworld, focusing mostly on the Horus Hersey: Betrayal book that is about to release, what’s new from the Black Library, and releases from other model companies!  Next up in ‘the Librarius’the guys are covering the rare Mymeara and Corsairs from the Eldar.  They talked about the Mymeara and their exodus from the Craftworlds prior to the birth of Slaanesh and their conflicts with an unnamed Xenos horror.  They move on to talk about how the Mymeara Eldar fight and what their army composition usually is.  They also hit on of their major Special Characters.  They move on to talk about the Eldar Corsairs and their history of scum, villainy, and piracy!  They then move on to talk about their fighting style, the composition of their armies, and their more famous war bands.  Next, in the ‘Armory’, the guys build lists for these unique Eldar armies.  Chase took the 1000 point Mymeara list, Chris took on the 1850 point list with a Corsair theme, and Jim had the 2000 point general Mymeara list.  Then, in the ‘Hobby Trenches’, the guys look at Big Jim’s Spec Ops Killzone rules, now available for download, and its conversion to 6^th Edition.  The guys close out the show in the ‘Briefing Room’ and this week they discuss dealing with the menace of Flyers in 6^th Edition.  They name some Space Marine, Tyranid, Eldar, and Tau units that can help deal with those devastating units.

Opinion:  What an outstanding show this week, covering some of the more rare facets of the Eldar in 40K.  As I do not have the IA book these armies are found in, it was really awesome to get the guys thoughts on them, and to be educated on what they do.  I also have been a huge fan of Big Jim’s Killzone rules, so hearing how the rules have translated over to 6^th was great, and makes me want to run a Killzone event soon!  I also found the counter-Flyer segment quite informative, and something we all might want to listen to, they are the flavor of the month after all!

Second Founding – Episode 14

Highlights:  This week the guys open up the show with some announcements before moving on to their hobby progress and games played.  The boys then move on to talk about the latest news, including Gamesday UK, the Horus Hersey: Betrayal release and the enormous cost for the book and the models, and the new Chaos Space Marine Codex and models.  Next, the guys move on to the main topic of the show, finding alternative models for Imperial based armies.  They start off with the Imperial Guard and run down companies out there producing miniatures that make great looking ‘Guard’ infantry models.  Some of these companies included Pig Iron Miniatures, Victoria Miniatures, Dreamforge and their ‘Titans’, Mantic Games, Chapterhouse Studios and much, much more!   They then move on to talk about companies that are producing cool alternative to Space Marines.  This included companies such as Puppets War, Cybor Miniatures, Kromlech, Anvil Industries, Micro Art Studio and much, much more!  Next the guys have an interview with Chris Borer, multi-Golden Daemon and Slayer Sword award winning painter, and they discuss how he got into miniatures painting.  He moved on to talk about competition level painting and how he learned how to do it, and what it takes to be a painter of that caliber.  They also had a conversation about casting resin and the quality of Finecast.  The guys close out the show with an interview with Muggins from the Fresh Coast 40K blog and they talk about their event, Foodhammer! 

Opinion:  This was really a top-notch show this week with two great topics!  I am always on the prowl for great ‘alternative’ models and bits, and to have a complete rundown of some of the premier model companies to find these at was immensely helpful.  But the best was the interview with Chris Borer, a name I had heard on more than one occasion as a top painter.  To be able to hear his brain being picked for painting tips was the best part of the show!  Great work guys!

The Overlords – Episode 110

Highlights:  This week the guys punch in with a massive 4+ hour show!  Jon and Jason, open up the show with the news, which included a wealth of releases from Forgeworld, the new look White Dwarf, the new Chaos Space Marine codex, and more.  In a new segment called ‘Observations from the Frontline’, the boys briefly discuss a recent event they attended and the Hyperious Missile Launcher, the Inceptor rule, and small arms fire.  This moved into what they have been doing lately in gaming and the hobby.  Next up was a prerecorded segment with Steve and Ciaran where they talked about Gamesday UK 2012.  They talked about their overall experience at the event, including what was being shown there, the games they demoed there, the Horus Hersey: Betrayal preview, the Golden Daemon and much more!  They close out the show with a review of the recent Team Tournament event that they attended at Maelstrom games.  Steve, Ciaran, and a few other Overlords recorded live at the pub after the event, and they have a look back at their games.  They talk about each of their opponents, their lists, and their overall performance at this 6 game event.  They also reflect on the use of Imperial Armor books at the event and if it was just too much. 

Opinion:  This was a pretty good show overall, and had two really good segments I particularly enjoyed.  First was the first-hand review of Gamesday UK 2012.  So very few of us will ever be able to see a Gamesday, thanks to GW’s contractions on them, so to get a good overview of one was just great.  And the large team event at Maelstrom sounded like a quite competitive event, and the boys did a good review.  I do wish they had gone through their lists, but if you listen you can pick up what everyone ran.  Good job guys!

Noobhammer – Episode 24 ***Explicit***

Highlights:  Jason and Nate are back and recording live from the Lancashire Wargaming club.  The guys open up the show with some news, starting off with the large Finecast release from GW and a review the Black Library Fantasy novel, ‘Luthor Huss’, and ‘the Primarchs’. Next, the guys have a look at the new Dark Vengeance box set.  They review each model in the set, model-by-model, and this included the Limited Edition Chaplin model.  This included a review of the new mini-rulebook.  Next, the guys have an interview with Chris Wraight from the Black Library.  They talk about how he got into writing for the Black Library, some of the challenges to writing for such an established IP, and what some of his upcoming projects.  Next, the guys discuss Nate’s first game under the 6^th Edition rule set as Nate ran his Orks in a 4-man team game.  He discussed the list that he ran, the lists they ran against, and how the game turned out.  This included what he learned from his first time playing the game and how important model placement is in this edition. 

Opinion:  The boys this week turned in a pretty good show.  The interview with Chris Wraight was easily my favorite, as I am a big fan of his work.  Hearing about the Nate’s first 6^th Edition game was good too, although I believe there were some big mistakes made on how the psychic power Invisibility works.  I posted a comment in their show notes.  But overall, a good show gang!  

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***  First impressions (and first place to hear!) of the Chaos Codex and interviews with DuelCon Overall winner!

The Eternal Warriors – Episode 45 ***Explicit***  Pathfinder RPG, New CSM release, other games, and more!

Jaded Gamercast – Episode 96 ***Explicit***  Black Library Expo, Sisters of Battle review, Chaos Space Marine Reference Sheet and listener emails!

Skared – Episode 14Interview with Black Library Author Chris Wraight