This Week in 40K Podcasting – 01/10/2014 – 01/16/2014

Welcome to another installment of “This Week in 40K Podcasting”

Here is this week’s top 5!

Highlights:  This week the boys take their first look at the new Tyranid Codex!  They opened up the show with some brief news, which included White Dwarf is no more and Warhammer Visions.  Next the guys gave their review of the new Tyranid Codex, starting with the initial reactions online to this Codex, and their personal thoughts on the new book. They then moved on to the army’s Special Rules – like Instinctive Behavior, Synapse, and Shadow of the Warp and the new Warlord Traits. Then they discussed some of the weapons and the bimorphs and how they have dramatically changed, and the new Bio Artifacts. Then they talked about the new Psychic Powers and the removal of access to Rulebook Powers. From there they moved on to a unit-by-unit review, starting with the HQ choices. They discussed the Hive Tyrant and some of the changes this unit took, and went on to include units like the Warriors; the loss of the models that GW removed; Zoanthropes; Venomthropes; the nerfed Tervigon; Carnifexes; the new models, and much more!  They closed out the review with their overall thoughts on the Codex, the changes made, and how it will perform on the tabletop

Opinion:  Well, in case you hadn’t heard, Tyranids dropped this past weekend and all of the podcasts are taking their crack at reviewing this rather controversial codex.  This week’s show was easily my favorite as they took the time to point out all of the major changes to the codex and didn’t sugar coat the fact that it is a bit underpowered compared to the rest of the field, and not just Tau and Eldar.  Outstanding show, I’d listen to this one first!

Highlights:  This week the boys take a very ‘Jaded’ look at the new Tyranids!  They opened up the show with what they have been doing in the hobby and gaming, which included a lot of Firestorm Armada.  Next came the listener poll and model of the week before moving on to part one of their review of the new Tyranid Codex. The review started off with their overall thoughts on the look and feel of the book, and continued with the fluff in the back story of the Tyranids.  Next were the Special Rules for the army; starting with the big changes to Instinctive Behavior, Shadow in the Warp, and Synapse.  They went on by talking about the Warlord Traits; then on to the unit choices, and the ones removed from this book – taking care to point out all of the changes that have been made, most of them not for the better. Highlights included rants on Hive Guard getting a lower BS; the nerf bat taken to the Tervigons; how useless Haruspexes are; the horribly bad Flyers; lack of Skyfire in the book; and much, much more!  They finished up with the Powers of the Hive Mind and their overall thoughts on this lack luster codex. 

Opinion:  The boys are at it again with their own brand of Codex review.  I have to say though, despite all of the jokes in-between, and some audio issue (Nathan, we’re all looking at your ISP!) there were a lot of tough-love truths to be found here.  I have always appreciated the boy’s blunt approach to these, and this one was one of their best.  If you exclude the discussions about ‘other’ games (start at minute mark 21:00) this was really a great review!

Highlights:  This week the boys take a good hard look at the new Tyranid Codex!  They opened up the show with Rob and Dave discussed Rob’s Necron Spider-star list:  how it is built, what it does on the table, and some tactics to using it.  Next, the guys return to ‘The Match Live’ where Dave and David Widley match up in a live game of Space Marines/Grey Knights versus Screamer-Star, followed by a report of the results – a great game! Next, Dave had an interview with Mark Pocock. They discussed ‘How to get into the Tournament Scene.’  Mark provided some tips on attending events – how to practice for an event, and tips for knowing your rules and much more! To close out the show Dave and Mark took their first look at the new Tyranid Codex. They started the discussion with their overall feelings on the book, which was disappointment. They then started looking at the Special Rules of the army, their Psychic Powers and Artifacts. They moved on to look at the HQ units, both named and generic, before moving on to the Troops Choices like the Warriors and Gaunts. Next up were the Elite Choices like the Hive Guard and Lictors, and it was on to the Fast Attack choice like the new Hive Crone and the Harpy. Then they moved on to talk about Heavy Support choices, and looked at units like the Carnifex. They closed out the show with the reasons why they are disappointed with this new Codex. 

Opinion:  This week saw the return of ‘the Match: Live’- one of my favorite segments. I really like hearing the guys’ thought process on what they are doing in a game and why. The interview with Mark was also quite enlightening. If you’ve not experienced the tournament scene yet, there are some good pointers for you. The review of the new Tyranid codex was alright. I am really looking forward to a more complete review with some time to digest the book. 

Highlights:  This week Carl, Adon, and Justin ran down the year that was 2013!  They kicked off the show with the ‘Work Bench’ where they discussed their latest hobby progress, some games played, and some New Year’s Resolutions for their hobby. Then it was on to their first segment in the ‘Year in Review.’  They did this in a month-to-month rundown of what was released from GW, Forgeworld, and the Black Library. The highlights included Dark Angels, Chaos Daemons, Tau, Imperial Armour 12, Adepticon, and Eldar. In the second segment they covered July to December. The highlights included Apocalypse, Space Marines, and the Black Templar roll-in; as well as the West Coast Podcast Alliance meet up, Farsight Enclave, Horus Hersey Book II: Betrayal, Inquisition Codex, the Dataslates, Escalation, Stronghold Assault, and much more! They closed out the show with some predictions for 2014 and what they hope to see this year.

Opinion:  In my opinion, the is ‘the’ year in review show to listen to, without a doubt.  This is the most complete history of the year that was in 40K in all facets of the hobby – from the standard GW releases, to Forgeworld, and the Black Library. Plus, they hit on most of the big events of the year. This is a great place to really see how much has changed in a year of 40K. Great show guys!

Highlights:  This week, as usual, the guys opened up the show with ‘This Week in Gaming’ where they discussed the games they have been playing during the week. This included Alan’s great 40K loss, Pat’s accounts of a local RTT (where he ran Screamer Star/Flying MC Circus), and more thoughts from Neil on how to correct or run competitive play.  This was followed by ‘Tactical Terrain.’ Eric addressed how some of the recent changes in 40K can easily be helped with better terrain on the board.  This included the addition of more Line of Sight blocking terrain on the table; how to make better LOS blocking terrain; and a section addressing the question: “does this actually help balance the game?” Up next the guys had a discussion focusing on reviewing 2013. They talked about the big changes that came with the year, and what impact they had on the game. This included Necron Flyers, the Heldrake FAQ, Tau, Eldar, Daemons, digital releases, Escalation, Stronghold Assault, and more.  To close out the show Eric is back with another ‘Mind War’ segment. He talked about ‘How to read Your Opponent.’ This included conversations about personality types, and how people respond to stress.    

Opinion:  This week’s show was a typical 11^th Company show, I really liked this week’s Tactical Terrain and some of the theory behind adding more LOS blocking terrain to the table.  Their year in review was good, brief but good, and the ‘Mind War’ segment was quite interesting.  Overall, a good listen!

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*** General Gaming News, Rumors, List Reviews, Tactics, and Rants!

Skaredcast – Episode 74 Escalation Warlord Traits, New Tyranids, and more

Screaming Heretic – Episode 54 ***Explicit*** Year in Review 2013, GW Changes, and much more!

40K Radio – Episode 71 New Tyranid Codex Review

The Overlords – Episode 142 ***Explicit*** Year in Review 2013, Life After the Cover Save interview, and the basics of Narrative Gaming.

The Deployment Zone – 50 ***Explicit*** Triumph and Treachery expansion for Warhammmer Fantasy

Death or Glory – Episode 28 ***Explicit*** New Tyranid Codex review!

So, that is it for This Week in 40K podcasting, thanks for reading. Got a podcast all about 40K, or mostly 40K that I am not listening to? Let me know about it, [email protected] and let me know about it.  Also you can find me on My YouTube Channelfor Battle Reports, Tactics, Reviews and more! Disagree with my review? Post comments for that too!