This Week in 40K Podcasting – 04/04/2014 – 04/10/2014

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

Here is this week’s top 5!

The Heroic 28s – Episode 92

Highlights:  This week the guys covered the Chaos Space Marine Codex, and all of its expansions!  They kicked off the show with some announcements before moving on to their games played and hobby progress.  Next, the guys decided to re-cover the Chaos Space Marine Codex!  Since the last time they covered this book some supplements and formations have been released to add on to this book.  They started off by discussing how their opinions of this book have changed since they last reviewed it, which included how the book plays now and how it has changed as the edition has evolved.  This spilled over into a conversation about the 30K stuff from Forgeworld.  They then covered the Special Rules, Warlords Traits, Marks, Artifacts, etc. and how what they would like to change to make them work better.  They then moved on to discuss some specific units that have like Biker Lords, the Troop choices, the Elites, the awesome Fast Attack choices, and the Heavy Support.  Next, they discussed how the supplements have help to improve this Codex, starting with the Black Legion and all of the awesomeness found in there!  They then covered Codex Crimson Slaughter, the chapter found in the Dark Vengeance box set, in a full review.  They closed out the show by looking at the Hellbrute Dataslate. 

Opinion:  I really enjoyed this week’s show as it was a great review of the CSM are like today.  With all of the expansions and dataslates, it has been kind of tough to keep up and this was a great place to do it.  And this was a great look at Crimson Slaughter and the Helbrute Dataslate which I had not had the chance to read just yet.  Overall, my favorite for the week. 

40K Global – Episode 117 ***Explicit*** 

Highlights:  This week the guys continue their coverage of the 40K GT Finale!  They opened up the show right where they left off last week on day two and games four, five, and six.  They refreshed our memory on the details of the event, some discussion about the ‘Imperial Guard’ releases upcoming, and then reminded us of the lists that they took to this event.  They then moved on to Franco’s and Josh’s round-by-round evaluations of each of their last three games, including the players and lists that they faced, some blow-by-blow analysis, and the outcome of the games themselves.  This included a great conversation about playing a little faster at an event, finishing a game on time, and steps that can be taken to ensure this happens.  They also had an interview with James Ramsey and he and Rob discussed the Tyranid Codex and how competitive they really are.  While they are not the top tier, they can still duke it out in the mid-levels with the best of them.  They ran down each unit in the book briefly expressing what they think is good and what is not so good.  Josh managed to come out on top and finished 1^st place at this amazing event! 

Opinion:  I am a huge fan of the boy’s review of tournaments and all of the great nuggets of tactics and strategy that can be found in them.  This one also hit on the topic of ‘slow play’.  This is something that on occasion you have to deal with in a tournament and I loved the idea of a time sheet.  This is a great compromise and a good way to ferret out those who use ‘slow play’ as part of their battle plan.  And James’ thoughts on the Tyranid codex were pretty fascinating.  Overall, a great show again guys!

The Overlords – Episode – 148 ***Explicit***

Highlights:  This week the guys are soon off to Adepticon and are joined by Steve and Ciaran!  They opened up the show with news and the release of the new Astra Militarum and Militarum Tempestus!  They then moved on to some local news and what they have been up to lately in the hobby and gaming.  This included the excitement about the upcoming Salute 2014, Jason and Ciaran’s preparations form Adeptiocn, and Jervis Johnson’s column in the latest White Dwarf.  This kicked off a discussion about creating house rules and adaptations of the rules to make them more what you want, targeting the competitive community to balance their own rules.  Next, in ‘Smells Like Tactics’ the boys revisited their deployment strategies and this week discussed ‘Aggressive Deployment’.  They gave some examples of what this looks like, some of the benefits from doing this, and how this can also expose your army in some ways.  In the next segment, the guys discussed adding environmental rules to your 40K gaming.  This included new house rules for indoor night fighting, Slime Rivers, death worlds and much more.  Then, Jason had an interview with ‘Masters of the Forge’, the upcoming podcast featuring some of the staff of Deep Strike Radio along with new comer Adam.  They discussed the new show, what they are about, and what the format is going to be like.  They also discussed what it took to make a podcast and all of the things they needed to make this all happen.  They closed out the show by responding to a listener email for help building a Blood Angels list. 

Opinion:  This show had quite a bit to enjoy this week!  First, the conversation about Jervis’ was an interesting one.  It does make me wonder how close the competitive community is to write/errata their own rule set by which to play this game at a competitive level.  I believe there are some great gaming minds out in the community and that we all could come together and fix this game. The topic of adding environmental conditions to the game was just pure fun.  And personally I was excited to hear from the ‘Masters of the Forge’ podcast.  I have been looking forward to that one since DSR died.

Forge the Narrative – Episode 45 & 46

Highlights:  This week the gang is recording live from Adepticon!  They kicked off Episode 45with their day one of the 40K Championships!  They had a rough first day, and they talked about some of their games.  Paul talked about his game against Ben Mohile and they had a great discussion about Win-Loss versus Battle Points at big tournaments.  ‘Goatboy’ joined the guys and talked about some of his games as well.  Then, Shane the ATC Tournament Organizer joined the show to discuss that event as well.  In Episode 46 they were joined by Max Dubios from ‘Hellfire Painting’ and they talked about their Adepticon Team Tournament experience.  They continued their conversation about Win-Loss versus Battle Points at big events.  Juice then talked about the big Tyranid turnout at Adepticon this year. 

Opinion:  I covered both shows this week because they both were just two halves of the same show.  These shows overall were just a lot fun.  I do wish the boys had gotten a little bit more in-depth in their games and what the tournaments were like.  But maybe we will see that in a future show.  But aside from that, a fun show from a fun event!

Highlights:  This week Dan and Gene from the Trapped in the Basement podcast joined the show!  They kicked off the show with what they have done lately in the hobby and gaming.  They then talked about their ‘weekly listener poll’, ‘has GW jumped the shark?’ (Thanks for the shout out guys!).  They moved on to the model of the week, and this week they looked at Astra Militarum and Militarum Tempestus releases of the Hydra and the Wyvern.  Next, they moved on to their review of the Space Marine Codex Supplement: Clan Raukaan!  They fist covered their impression of the book before moving on to Special Rules like ‘March of the Ancients’, the Warlord Traits, the Artifacts, and more.  They then gave their final thoughts on this book and how often they think they will see it.  They closed out the show with their next weekly listener poll! 

Opinion:  Dan and Gene from Trapped in the Basement were great additions to the show this week.  I loved the guy’s commentary on the new Imperial Guard (we all know we are still going them that), but the in-depth look at Clan Raukaan was even better.  Definitely worth checking out.  Looking forward to hearing Nathan’s reports from Adepticon next week. 

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, Post-Adepticon, List Reviews, Tactics, and Rants!

After Ullanor – Episode 6 Decent of Angels Part 1 & 2

Trapped in the Basement ***Explicit*** See Jaded Gamercast!

The Inquisition Podcast Millitarum Tempestus and the Astra Millitarum Releases

Wolfkin Podcast – Episode 6 New IG and Tournament Talk

Hitting on 3’s – Episode 43 ***Explicit*** Imperial Knights and 3D Printing!