Podcasts

For as long as I've been back into playing 40k I've been listening to some of the many Podcasts that are out there in the extended 40k community. Here's some information on the ones I like to listen to.

40K Radio : Currently off the air due to a long saga which I won't go into here. However, I hear that one of the sponsors, Battlefoam, is going to be buying the show, watch this space! This was the daddy of the 40k Podcasting scene, the older shows were great but it lost it's way somewhat in the most recent 10 shows or so. It's all still well worth a listen if you can find any of the old shows on iTunes or Podcast Alley. Typically the show would contain a "this week in gaming" section, codex overview, tactics and hobby tips along with beer fueled humor, interviews and contests.

The 11th Company : This is my favourite podcast at the moment, it's presented by a great panel of knowledgeable and experienced 40k players and is frequently insightful and genuinely interesting. Typically they focus on strategy and tactics and have regular interviews with players from all over the world. They are also doing a fortnightly codex countdown ranking the strength of the codices from weakest to strongest.

I think the thing which really makes this podcast stand out from the crowd is the professional way in which it is presented and the way that they truly appreciate the impact of a local meta-game on how we listeners relate to their experiences. You have to listen to an episode or two to appreciate this; when I first listened to it I, and quite a few other listeners, just could not believe that they did not rate Predators or Landspeeders. However because they broadcast and eloquently justified their position in relation how how their game is played locally it has really opened up my eyes to the fact that there a real differences in the way 40K is played both nationally and internationally.

A very worthwhile way to spend your time!

World's End Radio : This is an Australian Podcast and it covers all of the Games Workshop games, including Blood Bowl and other specialist games. Luke and JJ, the hosts, are very entertaining and the podcast is always interesting and stays focused. They frequently record at tournaments and interview the players and tournament winners. Their insights into the Australian tournament scene, with particular reference to how the composition system works over there, are very interesting and they've also done some good hobby features that are worth a listen.

40K Warcasting : I would say this is one of the more easy listening podcasts, the mood is light, the show is split into three or four distinct sections and the hosts, Kelly and Shrek, stay focused on the topic in hand. It makes for a very enjoyable and entertaining listen, it's not the most informative of the podcasts but you won't mind.

Dice Like Thunder : A purely 40k focused podcast with probably the coolest name of our group and certainly one of the better ones to listen to. The presentation is generally good, though the conversation can, and does, board the off-topic train at regular intervals which will probably lead to you getting confused occasionally. It also makes the podcast a lot longer than is strictly necessary but as I have a relatively long commute I really don't mind that!

I think the hosts could be seen as somewhat polarizing, I know I've sat there listening to their conversations thinking that they really don't know what they are talking about which is a concern when they pitch themselves as competent tournament-style players. However, my recently acquired appreciation of local meta-games has allowed me to mellow on these issues a bit, and while they do get some things wrong, it's only very occasionally. Frankly we all get things wrong from time-to-time but most of us are fortunate enough not to do it on the record!

Again this is worth a listen but if you're easily offended or highly opinionated you may want to skip it. I should also mention that they have a very good website and forum with a number of home-brew rules developments to bring the older codexes up to date.

Imperial Vox Cast : I find this to be very similar to Dice Like Thunder (DLT) but again, thanks to the differences in their local play-styles it comes at similar topics from a different enough angles to make it a worthy addition to your podcast library. I think that these guys are slightly less opinionated than the DLT crew but really there's not a lot in it, the production quality is fair and the show, while broken up into two or three sections, frequently loses it's structure which can make the discussions hard to follow. Generally though I pick up something interesting from every episode I listen to and the hosts keep the show entertaining so you don't mind the frequent tangents!

The D6 Generation : Not a 40k podcast, they refer to themselves as a general gaming podcast, but, in my opinion, one of the finest podcasts out there full stop. The hosts, Russ, Rafe and Craig are really entertaining and very knowledgeable, they each have their own editorial segments, they review a game (usually a board game) every episode, there are guest sections and typically do a section or two on something relating to gaming in general like technology for example.

A really good podcast and very entertaining with occasional references to 40k!

There are some new kids on the 40k block which I'm going to check out soon, if you want to go take look you can find out more about them at the links below:

The Gamer's Lounge
Tabletop Hooligans
The Independent Characters