This Week in 40K Podcasting – 07/04/2014 – 07/10/2014

Welcome to another installment of “This Week in 40K Podcasting,”  Here is this week’s top 5!

The Independent Characters – Episode 104

Highlights:  This week Carl and Justin are joined by Josh and they kicked off the show with an introduction to Josh and his gamer credentials.  They then moved on to some announcements, which included the conclusion of the first half of the ‘Hobby Progress Challenge’.  Next, it was on to the ‘Work Bench’ where they discussed what they have been doing lately in the hobby and gaming.  The main segment was another edition of ‘Show of Force’ and this week the guys look at the Chaos Daemons!  They started off by looking at the historical record of where this army came from, in the real world, the ‘Realms of Chaos’ book set way back in Rouge Trader.  Next, the guys talked about the 4^thEdition Codex/Armybook which covered both games of 40K and Fantasy and was the first time the Daemons were a fully fledged army.  They then talked about the current 6^thEdition Codex and how it felt like it completed the Chaos Space Marine army.  Then, it was on to background story on the Warp itself, the background on the four god of Chaos, and what exactly daemons are in the material world.  There was a ton of great, metal, material here!  They moved on to talk about the most notable battles in which Deamon incursions take place and played a big part in the material world.  They next discussed the rules in the current Codex including the Universal Special Rules of the book, including Demonic Instability and some of their top picks of favorite units found in the book.  They then discussed some of the supporting supplements that are available out, including the Apocalypse supplements, Altar of War missions, the awesome line of models from Forgeworld and much more.  They closed out the show with a discussion on why someone would want to play this army and some final thoughts on Black Library novels. 

Opinion:  It is a show like this one that really get my 40K juices flowing!  This show reminded me what it was that I love about this game, and that is the rich background fluff.  The guys did an amazing job going deep into the history of Chaos and Daemons.  I appreciated the real world history lesson as well, but without a doubt the background on the Chaos Gods was clearly the runaway winner of this show.  A phenomenal show, I cannot recommend this one enough, easily my favorite of the week! 

The 11th Company – Episode 201 

Highlights:  So the guys finally gave up on the silly naming convention and leapfrogged the historic episode 200 all at the same time.  They kicked off the show this week with ‘This Week in Gaming’ where they discussed Neil’s big move to the DC area, work on the NOVA Open FAQ, a brief look at competitive Orks, and what games they have been playing lately.  Next, the guys rolled into a roundtable discussion on early FAQs for 7^th Edition.  This included ‘Gate of Infinity’ out of combat and the return of the Necron Catacomb Command Barge rules and how do they really work now?  For the CCB they discussed the 3+ invaluable save and does it convey to the barge, the Ever Living roll on both, the size of the token for the CCB, and can the barge join units as an independent character.  They moved on to talk about Imperial Knights moving through terrain, the wording around the term Target and how it applies to ‘Invisible’ units, and all of the fun that can be had with rules and words!  They also talked about the Daemon’s Chaos Mark rule and the Psychic Focus rule and can you get Psychic Focus on a separate tree, can a unit joined by an IC on a Bike be pinned, line of sight on a model and determining if a model is or is not 25% obscured.  They closed out the show by answering questions from their Facebook fans!

Opinion:  This week’s show was a nice break from the 7^th Edition rundown to discuss some of the hot topic items out there today.  All of the topics hit on this week were interesting, including the Ork release and what they are feeling about it early on.  Personally, I am happy to hear that Necrons are back in vogue, as I love that army!  All of this show, top to bottom, was totally worth a listen to.  Great work guys!

The Heroic 28s – Episode 98

Highlights:  This week the guys are fresh back from Texas GamesCon!  They kicked off the show with a few announcements, the trip to back from Texas GameCon and the nightmare of I-35, and some overall off the rails fun!  They moved on to what they have been doing lately in gaming and the hobby.  This included a Rooster Teeth convention for Chumby, campaigns, games played, the emergency disembark rule and more.  Next, the guys sat down to talk about the amazing experiences they had at Texas GamesCon!  This started off with painting before the event and all of the fun before the official events on Friday.  Then it was on to Saturday and the first really big event of 7^th Edition.  They talked about this 6 game event, 4 on the first day, how the missions were set up and how they were scored.  They had a good conversation about how far away the game of 40K has come from competitive play and that in order for this game to still be played at that level, it will take a lot of help from the TOs.  They moved on to talk about what armies they saw there at the event, the comp system, and moved on to discuss each of their games.  This included some of the high and low points of this tournament, including a lot of Knights on the table, how to resolved social situations the right way, and their thoughts on the Daemon Factory list. 

Opinion:  I have to say that there has not been a lot of news from the events of Texas GamesCon, so this podcast was the only places I was able to find anything about what happened there.  The guys did a great job covering the event, including all of the fun they had there, and their thoughts on competitive 7^th Edition events.  I happen to always enjoy the boys’ commentary and this was just a lot of fun to listen to this week.  Outstanding job guys!

Jaded Gamercast – Episode 183 ***Explicit*** 

Highlights:  This week the guys continued their coverage of the Ork Codex with my personal favorite, the list building show!  They kicked off the show with what they have been up to lately in gaming and the hobby.  They moved on to the weekly listener poll which looked at the new 7^th Edition Codex layout and if people liked it or not.  Next, it was on to ‘Model of the Week’ and this week they looked at some new Firestorm Armada models.  Next, it was on to the second part of their review of the Ork Codex.  This included a change to look at this book again and see if their thoughts have changed at all.  They feel the Codex is a bit dry however it is still very viable and will win games in 7^thEdition.  Nathan built an 1850 point list which featured a Warboss, a lot of Boyz, Grots to camp on objectives, Stormboyz, Bikers, and some Mek Guns!  Lange went for a very similar list which featured deffkopta, added some Trukks and called it a day.  They then moved on to some commentary on the codex itself, hitting on how good the Mek Guns are in comparison to the rest of the Heavy Support choices, the Stormboyz being the hands down choice out of the Fast Attack slot, and the lacking of a physic presence despite the Wierdboy.  Nathan then discussed a list he tried to build focused on the Speed Freaks theme, which included Boyz in Trukks, Bikes, and how the list just didn’t work due to the poor rules for the Trukks and the Mob rule.  They discussed that Heavy Support choices seems set on Mek Guns, the Elites are not good, Stormboyz are awesome, and there may be an argument for some good Fast Attack choices. 

Opinion: This week the boys continued on with their outstanding coverage of the Ork Codex.  When they do a Codex Review, my favorite show is usually the army build shows.  This one was not an exception, as there was a lot of interesting information to be found in here.  Their thoughts on this army have quite thought provoking, thanks for the show guys! 

Forge the Narrative – Episode 58

Highlights:  This week the boys are all excited by the new Orks and all of the fun they are having with them!  They started off by talking about the viability of Ork Turkks, which moved on to a discussion about fearless units and Gaz, and more.  They then moved on to talk about a lot of the stand out units, such as the Mek Guns, Battle Wagons, Big Meks, the really cool wargear, and the ‘Greentide’ formation.  They then started to play with some list ideas like the best way to equip a Battle Wagon for ramming.  In their second segment, they guys debate if the formations found in the new 7^th Edition codices moving forward will suffer from not having the ‘Objective Secure’ special rule and that Battle Forged armies will be the big thing in 7^th.  This lead to a great discussion about people chasing the army of the month has lead to less than stellar painted armies.  They fear that people are not taking the proper amount of time to hobby up their armies!  They moved on to talk about MurphCon coming up and their practice for the ATCs!  Then, Chandler from Feast of Blades randomly dropped in and talked about their regional and invitational event this year.  This included how they are trying to balance out the power level in the friendly event. 

Opinion:  As in previous week’s, the show had some really great points to be found.  I really like the conversations on the new Orks, what can be run for them, and some ways to best equip them.  I also liked the conversation about getting ready for the ATCs and Chandler’s drop in.  Pretty good content guys, this one felt a little more on track this 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, List Reviews, Tactics, and Rants!

Masters of the Forge – Episode 7 The Star Eagles!

40K Global – Episode 123 Franco’s Gamer’s life story

Hitting on 3s – Episode 46 Really poor audio, hosts leave the show, and Narrative Gaming

Life After the Cover Save – Episode 111 ***Explicit*** Campos and getting into this great hobby!

Wolfkin Podcast – Episode 15 ***Explicit*** What should be legal or not at a competitive level, the Rumor Mill and Lords of War in the Codex, and much more!

The 2nd Wave Podcast – Episode 19 Tau Empire Codex Review Part 1

The Loaded Dice Podcast – Episode 6 Review of the new Ork Codex

X-Wing Podcasts – And if you’re looking for a few good X-Wing Podcasts, please check these guys out!

The Kessel Run Brought you by the Heroic 28s!

NOVA Squadron Radio Your home for tactical X-Wing discussion!

Scum and Villainy The Team Covenant X-Wing Podcast

The X-Wing Podcast Ben Curry & Ben Johnson’s UK Show