This Week in 40K Podcasting – 12/13/2012 – 12/20/2012

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

Here is this week’s top 5!

The Heroic 28s – Episode 56

Highlights: This week the boys are celebrating their two year anniversary and Christmas! They opened up the show by talking about their feeling on the past year of podcasting. Next, Kenny has an interview with Newbie Nate, an old cast member who is coming back for the anniversary show to talk about why they started the show in the first place. They also talked quite extensively about the trials and tribulations of running a podcast for two years. They finished up with their goals for the next year. Next, Kenny and the boys had some fun with some ‘Overlords’ style theme songs for each of the hosts and a 40K trivia segment where the boys named the weapon based on the profile. They also had some fun with a Google translator and anagrams with army names and special characters. Next, Cory has a review of the latest Black Library book by Graham McNeill called Angel Exterminatus. Up next Sandman Mike leads a conversation about how competitive can a list be and still be considered ‘fluffy’. He runs down the list he plans to take to his next tournament and the staff evaluate it for if its fluffy-ness! Then, Kenny and the guys take a stab at their own Narrative Battle Report, similar to how the Turn 8 podcast does it. He covered the lists involved, the setup of the table, and the mission and deployment. They then moved on to the dramatization of the battle, followed up by a review of the game. To close out the show, Uncle Buck took over the show with questions for the staff from their Facebook page.

Opinion: First, I want to congratulate the Heroic 28s for two years of 40K podcasting! I have listened to every single episode (save for the lost episode 4) and have really enjoyed watching the show evolved into the great podcast it is now! This week’s show stood out among the rest this week for me as it allowed me to reflect on another year of podcasting. Plus this show was a ton of fun to listen to; I particularly liked the conversation on completive and fluffy armies! Nice work guys!

The Independent Characters – Episode 68

Highlights: This week the guys are joined by Jeremy and the show is completely dedicated to battlefield terrain! The boys opened up the show with an introduction to Jeremy and he discussed how he got into gaming and his art projects. Then it was on to the ‘Work Bench’ where they discuss what they have been doing lately in gaming and the hobby. Carl also took a moment to review the digital content available from GW. Next, the boys move on to their conversation about battlefield terrain. They open up by discussing the importance of good looking terrain for your war gaming experience. They then move on to discuss some of the rules around terrain, such as cover saves and movement through it, mysterious terrain and more! They next talked about the premade terrain available out from companies like GW, Forgeworld, Laser cut MDF companies, and much more. In the next segment, the guys discussed building and storing terrain. Jeremy opened up by talking about some of his award winning terrain project. They talked about using foam insulation and some of the tools that make this process easier, priming and painting foam it, and some pro tips for the correct texture. They then moved on to discuss the best methods for storing and moving your terrain. They closed out the show with another ‘Forbidden Lore’ where Carl interviewed Graham McNeill and they discussed his books The Imperial Munitorum Manualand Angel Exterminatus.

Opinion: This was just an outstanding show this week, hitting on a topic that oddly enough hits close to home for me. Right now I am in the process of upgrading the tables and terrain in my basement, so this show arrived just in time for me. The number of tips, tricks, and advice I received from this show was endless and invaluable. Not to mention the interview with Graham was awesome, as I am a huge fan. A wise man once said, ‘If Graham McNeill re-wrote the menu at Denny’s, I’d buy it!’ Great show gang!

The 11th Company – Episode 145 & 146 

This week the guys hit us with two awesome shows of 40K goodness before the end of the world, so I’ll review them each briefly here:

Episode 145

Highlights: This show they opened up the show with what they have been doing lately in gaming, and this included Neil, Pat and Steven attending the charity ‘War for Tots’ RTT event at Hip Point Hobbies. Next in the ‘Segmentum Obscurus’, Kevin is back with Tactical Terrain Eric and this week they discussed terrain in the tournament environment, and this included the inclusion of mysterious terrain. Next, Dave from 40K UK is back with another segment and he and Franco discussed a lot about the UK meta-game and what the trends seem to be on the tournament circuit in 6^th Edition. Next was a great topic of ‘Over/Under Rated’, covering strategies/tactics and units that fall into this category. This included reserve manipulation, psychic powers, beast models, Flyer lists, Necrons overall, and much more. They closed out their show as the usually do with questions from their fans.

Episode 146

Highlights: This show the boys opened up as they usually do with ‘This Week in Gaming’ where they discussed the games that they have been playing, and this included a lot of list building theory from the cast. Next, Pat had an interview with Liz and they discussed the Daemons list she is bringing to the Bay Area Open. They also talked about how she got into the mostly male dominated game. Next up the guys take a close look at the right way to run a charity event. They first go over some of the things that they did not care for at their last charity event, thing that make the games themselves not fun to play. They also toss out a few great ideas on how to keep the event competitive and profitable for the charity. Tactical Terrain Eric then has an in-depth review of the new Walls of Martyrs set, from Games Workshop. He also discussed options for making your own trench line out of foam. They closed out the show once again by answering questions from their fans, which included a great rant by Alan on rumors on the internet.

Opinion: There was so much 40K goodness in these too episode that it’s hard for me to narrow it down, but I’ll try. I was a real big fan of the ‘Running a Charity Event’ segment. I, myself, have a charity I really want to run an event for (the JDRF for those curious) and this gave me quite a few tips for that future event. Also, the ‘Over Rated/ Under Rated’ segment was really informative as well. Check both of these out, heck it’s the end of the world, you’ll need something to listen to!

40K UK – Episode 55 ***Explicit***

Highlights: This week the guys clocked in with another monster 5+ hour show! They open up the show with the return of the Big Fight! They first run down the list of new Characters they will be in this round of the Big Fight. They then move on to the first of the preliminary fights between Njal from the Space Wolves and a Flying Hive Tyrant from the Tyranids! In the end, the boys review the loser of the fight in detail. Next, in ‘War Stories’, BJ joins Dave and Franco to discuss the latest from Oxford. This included a look at BJ’s Space Wolves list and how he is running it in 6^th and how well it has been doing against some of the competition there. Also, both Franco and Dave took the opportunity to talk about their lists as well. There was a load of random tactical talk in this section that moved from subject to subject. Then, BJ had an interview with TJ and they talked about his Space Marine/ Eldar list that he recently played at the Oxford Gaming club. Then, in the Tournament Report, Franco reports in from the road with Dave as they are on the way back from the ‘Blog Wars 4’ Tournament! They ran down each of their lists, the missions at the event, and a game-by-game review of their performance at the event. They also had some interviews with their opponents of each round. Next, in the Q&A-Team, Dave, Franco, and Rob Madeley answer some questions from their Facebook fans, which included Tau in 6^th Edition. They closed out the show with an interview with Matt Robertson who finished 3rd at the recent Heat 3 of the UK GT circuit and they discussed his Chaos Space Marine list.

Opinion: Another monster of a podcast that took me two days to get though, which is saying something as I usually burn through three a day. First, I am really excited that the Big Fight back, however, Dave eating during the segment was a huge distraction. It’s a huge pet pev of mine, one which I found too distracting to enjoy the segment. Yuck! The other segments were all ‘eating sounds’ free and outstanding. Great work, but eat off mic guys! Thanks!

Imperial Vox Cast – Episode 88 ***Explicit***

Highlights: This week’s show is dedicated to the rare but fun Three Player Game! Bill, Dawson, and Mike opened up the show with what they have been up to lately in gaming and the hobby. This also included a tournament that Dawson attended recently and detailing with cheating at a tournament. Next, the guys talk about the best ways to play a three person game. They open up first with some of the ways to playing a three person game, such as the Free-for-All, the 2 on 1 match up, and the GM style narrative game where one player can affect the game. They then talked about some ideas for the best way to play games such as these, including not ganging up on one player or having the GM be fair to both players playing. Next, the boys discussed the 3-Player game that that had just played, covering the lists that they used and how well the game went. They also discussed some ways the game could have been better.

Opinion: This was a great topic to go over because all to often we try to shoehorn in rules that were meant for two players into a three or more player game and it never quite works out. There were a lot of great tips in here which I plan to use. Good work guys!

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

The Deployment Zone – Episode 28 ***Explicit***  – It’s a Chaos Christmas, Best and Worst releases of the year, and Horus Hersey: Betrayal

Signals from the Frontline ***Explicit***  News, DA Rumors, List Review, and much more!

Jaded Gamercast – Episode 107 ***Explicit***  Model of the Week, Pro Painted armies winning best painted, the Hobbit movie and more!

Skardcast – Episode 25  Tournament Details and Gaming Psychology: Realistic Players

Southern Inquisition – Episode 4 ***Explicit***  CSM Review and more!

Battle Plan Roll 6s – Episode 13 ***Explicit***  Rumors, Running Campaigns, power creep and much more!

Hitting on 3s – Episode 13 ***Explicit***  Interview with Robert Lopez, Evo Tournament, and more!

I want to wish everyone a very happy holidays, podcasters and readers alike. I also need to let everyone know I will not be posting an article next week due to the holidays. Pending on how the first week of the year goes, there may not be an article then either, but I plan to do one as of now.