This Week in 40K Podcasting – 03/28/2014 – 04/03/2014

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

Here is this week’s top 5!

Seize the Initiative – Episode 3

Highlights:  This week the boys dive into the topic of ‘Building for Scenarios’.  They opened up the show with what they have been up to lately in the hobby and gaming.  Next, it was on to the main topic, and the first scenario they discussed came to them from the Broadside Bash.  They talked about how similar the missions are including the stock deployment of Dawn of War, how the Objectives are set, and how they would build armies to play under these conditions.  They also discussed the comp scores that your opponent will give out and how they would build lists to not be hit hard on their comp scores.  They moved on to talk about missions released by the ‘Forge the Narrative’ podcast that were driven to reward players for more traditional army lists.  This rewards players with points gained during the game, and not necessarily wins or loses.  They discussed what they would do to play under these conditions.   

Preferred Enemies – Episode 73 ***Explicit***

Highlights:  This week the boys are discussing Formations and their effect on the game.  They opened up the show with the news where they discussed the epic fail of the Void Shield Generator release by GW.  With a limited edition resin kit that they oversold and now is no longer available.  They then discussed the complete shutdown of any source of social media available to GW or Forgeworld, and what a horrible idea this was.  They then moved on to a Product Review of the Apocalypse Warzone: Damocles!  This supplements included the Tau and the Imperial Knights and they covered all of the cool battles found in this book.  Next, the boys moved on to the main topic of the show, ‘Formations and their effect on the game’.  They started by looking at the two latest formation releases, the Helbrute and Tyranid formations.  They cover the very interesting rules, and in the case of the Helbrute, the new models released and how good looking this model is.  They then discussed their hopes for formations and what GW could do with this to help improve some ailing codices.  They closed out the show with an update on their hobby progress. 

Opinion:  I think we all can agree we are at the point with GW that no one has any idea what is going on.  This is a very hot button topic in the community right now, and the effects of formations as a whole on the game are clearly monumental.  The guess did a great job covering these and what they do to alter the game we love.  I did like that they also reviewed the Helbrute formations and the Damocles expansion.  Overall, an outstanding show this week guys!

The 11th Company – Episode 196

Highlights:  This week the boys are joined by Jesse Newton from Team Stomping Grounds and review the Imperial Knight Codex!  They opened up the show with ‘This Week in Gaming’ where this discussed the games they have been playing lately.  With the time off the boys had, there was a lot to cover, including tournaments, MTG, and much more.  Next, in ‘Tactical Terrain’ Eric was back and this week he continued his ‘Stronghold Assault’ discussion.  He talked about the different Fortifications available in Stronghold Assault and how these can be assembled in offensive, defensive, and mixed combinations.  He also discussed practicing your deployment with your Fortifications with each deployment so you know going in how you plan to place these.  Next, the boys have a very tactical look at the new Imperial Knights Codex.  They start off with a review of some of the stats of these models and some of the clarifications that have come out.  They then moved on to the shift in the meta these models have and what they think overall will happen on the competitive scene.  This included bring them as allies and running them as a stand-alone army.  They then moved on to counter tactics to the Imperial Knights and how to defeat these monsters. 

Opinion:  Very happy the boys are back from illness and family time to get back to recording.  Eric’s Tactical Terrain segment was quite interesting and I liked his approach for different ways to look at adding formations to your army.  And of course the complete (albeit brief, through no fault of their own) review of Codex Imperial Knights was what I was hoping for.  I also enjoyed having Jesse on the show, I had dinner with him at Killadelphia last year, and he’s amazing and a brilliant 40K player.  Tossing in my vote for more Jesse on the show! 

Noobhammer – Episode 39 ***Explicit***

Highlights:  This week Jason and Nate opened up the show with some news, where they covered the release of the Imperial Knights!  They covered some of the rules for the models, how excited they are about the models, the Escalation rules that come with them, and some of the fluff around the Knight Houses, and the book being released by Black Library called ‘Knights of the Imperium’.  They moved on to talked about what they have been doing lately in gaming and the hobby.  Next, they had a full review of both the new White Dwarf and Warhammer Visions!  They cover the weekly White Dwarf first and cover all of the 32 pages of content, included the new releases, new articles, and the Jervis Johnson article.  They then talked about the Visions magazine and all of the gorgeous artwork found within.  They then did a review of the Black Library audiobook, Prospero Burns.  They closed out the show by announcing the winner of the Horus Hersey boxed game contest. 

Opinion:  So this show did seem a bit dated, with a review of the first White Dwarf and Visions, as I am sure those have been out for some time now.  However these reviews were still great and worth going back to listen to.  I also like their look at Imperial Knights and all of the insanity it introduced to standard games of 40K.  Good show guys.

Highlights:  This week Teri (one of my favorite people!) and Mat Damon join the show and they opened up the show with some nationally televised hockey fun!  They moved on to what they have been up to lately in the hobby and gaming.  They moved on to talk about last week’s listener poll, ‘which model is stupider: the Bebop Truck or Skull Dozer?’  They discussed the restrictions of the 40K fluff being frozen in the 41^st and how it really doesn’t allow for new tank designs in the 40K fluff.  They then moved on to ‘models of the week’ where they talked about the release of Horus and the Salamander expansions from Forgeworld!  They then responded to a ‘beginning of the end to GW’ email from a listener which sparked a fantastic conversation.  They discussed GW pulling away hard from social media outlets, the shift to a more money-making policy rather than a gamer policy, the great IP and the worst way to represent it on the table, and more.  They also talked about how GE has mismanaged their IP, their game, and do not seem to be taking the right actions to survive in modern business.  They closed out the show with ‘Something Shiny’ where they talked about the movies they are looking forward to seeing this summer. 

Opinion:  This show, while fueled by some alcohol, was still full of some interesting points on the current state of 40K and GW.  They hit on a lot of aspects of GW business, from selling their IP, and the rapid release schedule, to rules mismanagement, and more.  Plus, Teri was on the show and she’s awesome!  Great show guys!

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, Adepticon, List Reviews, Tactics, and Rants!

Life After the Cover Save – Episode 102 ***Explicit*** Interview with Geoff Robinson of Star Craft and 40K fame

The Deployment Zone – Episode 53 New Releases everywhere!

Screaming Heritic – Episode 59 ***Explicit***  Gaming Updates, Kickstarters, keeping up your painting motivation and more

The Inquisition Podcast Changes at GW, new Astra Millitarum, and more