This Week in 40K Podcasting – 01/03/2013 – 01/09/2014

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

Here is this week’s top 5!

40K Global – Episode 106 ***Explicit*** 

Highlights:  This week the guys open up the show by announcing their first official sponsor!  They interviewed Byron from Element Games to discuss the sponsorship.  They talked about how he started as a commission painter, offered up some great painting tips, and evolved into a gaming business.  Next, the guys take a look at some listener submitted lists and evaluate them.  This included a Thunderfire heavy Space Marine/Tau army and a Dark Eldar shooty/assault list.  To close out the show, Dave and the gang sit down to discuss the destructive power of the O’Vesa Star!  They start off by describing the basics of the list and what it is comprised of and moved on to how it is used on the battlefield.  They then moved on to discuss some of the tactics used by players running the O’Vesa star, how the list matches up against some of the top lists, and some theories on how to beat the list. 

Opinion:  This week’s show was really very good, exploring some list building with some great armies.  The highlight of this show for me was the review of the deadly O’Vesa star and all of the firepower it brings to the table.  This is easily one of the top lists out there on the circuit today, so a complete breakdown of what it is, how it operates, and the weaknesses it does have was very welcome.  Easily my favorite for the week!

Forge the Narrative – Episode 37 

Highlights:  The boys are back after the holiday break and are joined by Chandler from ‘Feast of Blades’, Mike from the ‘Nova Open’, and Matt from ‘Adepticon’!  This week the guys tackle the big questions of the onslaught of content that 40K has had released lately and how the competitive community is responding to them.  They started off the conversation about how these three big tournament organizers are looking at doing to keep everyone happy but to be fair as well.  They moved on to talk about the idea of running multiple events at their cons, some that allow the new rules and some that are more straight rulebooks events.  They discussed the TOs desires to run a good event that everyone can enjoy and how important it is to them that we, as a community, have a good time.  They have a very frank discussion about if the additions of Superheavies and Gargantuan Creatures to the game are balanced and if not, how unbalancing is this to the game?  They toss out the question flat out, ‘Is all of the material in 40K now good for tournaments?’ 

Opinion:  Where are you going to find three of the top tournaments in the county’s TOS all in one place?  This was an outstanding conversation, it really was.  We are all wondering what will happen now that Escalation, Stronghold Assault, and Dataslates are now part of the game and how the competitive community will react to them.  And while no real definite answers came from this conversation, we did glean some insight to what the guys are thinking and more importantly, why they are thinking it.  Great show guys!

Second Founding – Episode 45 

Highlights:  This week the boys dove into the world of Escalation and Stronghold Assault!  They opened up the show with what they have been doing lately in gaming and the hobby.  They also discussed some of the latest releases that have come in 40K since the holidays.  They moved on to look specifically at the Stronghold Assault and Escalation expansions to 40K, first looking at what it brought to the table with super heavies and how incomplete it really feels.  They then discussed how the community is responding to these expansion and the eternal question, will they be used or not?  They also hit on the additions of the big D weapons and how the game has changed with them not in the game. 

Opinion:  This show had some nice, light discussion about the additions of Escalation, Stronghold Assault and Dataslates to the game we all love.  I especially liked the boys views on how adding Superheavies and strength D weapons will forever change the game.  Overall, a good show!

Hitting on Threes – Episode 40 ***Explicit*** 

Highlights:  This week the boys open up the show with a discussion on how dataslates, Escalation, Codex Supplements, and more have really changed how lists will be built in 40K in the future.  They also discussed the community’s reaction to these changes, how the competitive events are reacting to these changes, and is ‘comp’ the way to go to help balance out the game?  They then moved on to look at the two new Supplements to Codex Space Marines: Clan Raukaan and the Sentinels of Terra!  They started with Clan Raukaan and the Special Rules to that army and moved on to the Warlord Traits and Relics.  They moved on to the Sentinels of Terra and covered the Special Rules, the Warlord Traits, and their Relics.  After that was another ‘Hollywood’ segment which had nothing to do with 40K at all, all about the Aliens movies. 

Opinion:  The big high point for me in this week’s show was the look at the two supplements available for Codex Space Marines.  The boys did really good job at breaking these down and discussing what they add to their respective Chapters.  The rest of the show was defiantly not 40K related, but as a big fan of that universe I still found it enjoyable.

Life After the Cover Save – Episode 94 ***Explicit*** 

Highlights:  This week the guys kicked off the show by announcing the winner of their contest.  So if you entered, check it out!  They moved on how their Christmas went, and Blake picking up Warmachine/Hordes.  Next, the boys are joined by Jon, Johnny and Jason from the Overlords podcast and they played a game of naming famous British people and fun with British culture.  Next, the guys talk to Frankie from Frontline Gaming to discuss the Las Vegas Open 2014!

Opinion:  Ok, so this week’s show, not so much 40K at all, hardly any to be honest. However hearing form the boys from the Overlords was nice and enough for me to recommend the show.  Plus the updates from the Las Vegas Open were quite interesting. 

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 73 Kill Teams, Inspiration, League and an Army list Up for Review

Jaded Gamercast – Episode 159 ***Explicit*** Firestorm Armada: Second Edition: Part 2