This Week in 40K Podcasting – 11/23/2012 – 11/29/2012

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

First, I want to apologize for the two week absence of the article.  With the Thanksgiving holiday and a fairly big software rollout at work I have been extremely busy and nowhere near my MP3 player! Now, here is this week’s top 5!

Highlights:  This week the Overlords clock in with a massive 4 hour show!  They are joined by Christina and they open up the show with the latest in 40K news, including the Hobbit release and new models from Forgeworld.  They then moved on to talk about what they have been doing lately in gaming and the hobby.  Next up in ‘From the Trenches’, Christina leads the segment on the Sisters of Battle.  She first discussed her experience with Sisters before moving on to the HQ units, including the undying Saint Celestine!  They moved on to the very limited Troop choices and the Elite choice, including one of my favorite the Sisters Repentia!  Next it was on to the Fast Attack choices like the Seraphim and the Heavy Support choices like the Exorcist!  The guys then asked Christina some questions about the Sisters, including what Allies work best with them.  They closed out the show with an interview with Robey Jenkins where they discussed 6^th Edition.  This goes back to episode 57 where they discussed their hopes for 6^th versus what came to be with the new edition.  This included the new Overwatch and Snapshot mechanics, the addition of new tactical decisions based on unit and model placement, random charge distance mixed with Overwatch, and Fortifications!  They also discussed the question of if 6^th Edition is better or worse for the tournament scene.  To close out the conversation, the boys talked about 40K at lower point values.  They finish off the interview with a conversation about MiniCon 2013!

Opinion:  What a way to come back after a two week hiatus for me was a great show out of the Overlords.  First, they focused on a little seen army on the Tabletop in the Sisters of Battle with a great addition of Christina!  I really liked her evaluation of the army!  The second big segment of the show was also quite interesting as I remember episode 57 and all of the wish-listing we all were doing when the whispers of 6^thEdition came out.  I was pretty interesting to see what did and did not come to pass.  Overall, a great show gang!

Second Founding – Episode 18 ***Explicit***

Highlights:  This week the guys have no news to announce, however they did cover what they have been doing lately in gaming and the hobby, which included the Adepticon sign up frenzy!  Next up, the boys had an interview with Feast of Blades winner Alex Bessinger and Ken Brunner and they talked about this year’s Feast of Blades event.  They covered how they got into the hobby, their tournament level play style, the lists they took to Feasts of Blades, and their impressions of the event.  They then move on to a round-by-round review of each of their tournament games and go over their overall feelings of the event at the end.  They also talked some about how they feel 6^th has changed the landscape of the tournament scene and has breathed some life into Codices long thought dead, and what point value is best in 6^th.

Opinion:  The guys just keep churning out great shows and this week they put the spot light on Alex Bessingger, who has now made the dreaded Chaos Daemons with Flamers list quite famous.  I wonder if 3 years from now his name will rank up there with our own Nick Rose in the halls of infamy.  In any case I found every facet of his interview fascinating.  He did a great job of breaking down his list and his performance at the event.  Great show guys, I listened to it twice already!

Highlights: This week the guys continued their multi part series on the Chaos Space Marines Codex.  The opened up the show with some announcements before moving on to discuss what they are thankful, as it is Thanksgiving here in the USA.  Next the guys continued their coverage of the CSM Codex, starting with the Elite selections.  They cover, in detail, the Chosen and some of the great tactics that come with this unit, Possessed, Terminators, the Hellbrute, and Mutilators.  Cult Marines were covered in the previous show.  They closed out the show with the Fast Attack slots, starting with new and improved Chaos Bikes, moving on to the now useful Chaos Spawn, Raptors, Warp Talons, and the awesome Helldrake! 

Opinion:  While I have not reviewed in in my absence, this really has been a pretty complete look at the CSM codex, which I have truly enjoyed.  The boys did a great job covering it so far, and I look forward to the last and final installment of this multipart review. Check them all out!

Highlights:  This week the boys are covering the Mayhem Octoberfest event that they recently attended.  They open up the show with a quick overview of how they feel did at the event and discussed what armies they ran.  They then move on to talk about some of details of the games that they played and how they were won or lost.  This also included an interesting discussion about winning a tournament and the effects after, knowing that you won one makes playing in them less pressure sensitive.  They also have a great conversation on how great Prescience is from the Divination Psychic power tree.  They then focused on James Taylor’s event, as he ran Tyranids and took 1^st at Octoberfest.  He also discussed his list in detail and talked about some of the tactics he used with it. 

Opinion:  This was my first listen to this show and I have to say I was quite impressed!  First, the shot is loaded with top tournament level players from the UK and each of them will surely provide quite a bit of insight to the competitive meta of the UK.  For this show, my favorite part was James Taylor’s section where he talked about one of my favorite armies, the Tyranids, and how he was able to win the event with a codex that has new life in 6^th Edition.  I will be keeping an eye on this show, and so should you!

Highlights:  So in case you didn’t know, Chris has recently left the show and Chase and Big Jim are taking votes on who should take the vacant third chair.  These shows were the casting auditions of their top nine candidates.  They are leaving the decision making up to us to decide, as we can email in our votes.  The first candidate was Camille from Germany, and they open up with some of his gaming history and his favorite army in 40K.  They move on to discuss the history and the functionality of the Bolter and its various types of ammunition.  Next up were candidates Jordan, Christina (that’s right a girl!), another Jim, Don, Lee, J.R., Dee and Snora.  They all cover the same subject matter, how they go into gaming and discuss the Bolter and its ammunition.

Opinion:  Ok, so the overall entertainment value of these three shows was somewhat lacking, as they basically covered the same material nine times over.  However it was interesting enough that each look at the iconic Bolter was just a bit different from each other to keep me listening.  For me though, I was closing listening to the chemistry with the host so that I could cast a proper vote.  And for the record, Dee has my vote with a close second going to Christina, as we do not have nearly enough women in the hobby or the podcast community.  Looking forward to seeing who you guys choose!

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

Life After the Cover Save – Episode 58 ***Explicit***  Hobby Progress, Blake’s Gaming, and listener FAQs

Jaded Gamercast – Episode 104 ***Explicit***  Dan Abnett’s Pariah, Model of the Week, The Hobbit, and GW Stupidity Check!

Signals from the Frontline ***Explicit*** The Hobbit, DA Black Templar and Tau Rumors, and more! 

Skardcast – Episode 22  Tournament Recap and Updates