This Fortnight in WFB Podcasting 6 May - 19 May

A brief look at and shout out to the top 5 Warhammer Fantasy Podcasts over the past fortnight, as well as a few that just missed the cut. I also highlight my pick of the Bad Dice Daily shows.

1 - The Black Sun XLI  

SCGT tournament recap

A fantastic episode by the problem children of the Warhammer scene. Something for all their fans here – recaps of wild nights (including, amongst much else: golden showers, searching for Viagra in vomit and the South Coast Friendly Fight Club) and a detailed run through of their games and results – big shout out to Scott “The Boss” for his 4^th place (I am officially claiming partial credit for allowing him to submarine a massive win in his game 5!).

This sort of in-depth tournament recap is something that the UK WFB podcasts have really disappointed on/stopped doing over the past year or so, so extra credit to the boys for this.

Easy choice in the end for top episode of this period.

2 - The Bad Dice 104

SCGT vs Adepticon

Coverage of Mark and Gareth’s experience at SCGT, and the full crew at Adepticon. Very good (and hopefully last, there have been a lot!) review of their experiences at ACon. The boys were treated like kings, and clearly loved their time there. I know I am not the only one eyeing up a trip over there following their experiences.

The SCGT coverage was good – covering the gaming and social side, though maybe suffered a bit both from Ben’s absence (understandable as it was) and the comparisons to ACon. The amount of things the hosts had experienced between SCGT and recording probably did not help. The cast by all accounts put out some top class Youtube coverage, so maybe the lighter content on this episode made sense – its just a pity if you don’t have easy access to video streaming – maybe they could be released as vodcasts?

This episode included a very interesting discussion on painting standards both sides of the Atlantic, and everyone’s favourite segment – Gareth’s Query Corner. Overall, another good episode from the granddaddies of the WFB scene!

3 - Heelanhammer 85

High Elf-centric chat

Supported once again by Simon-of-Hoeth, there is some interesting High Elf talk, including their initial thoughts and ideas on interesting colour schemes (if you like painting discussion on podcasts, which I personally dont– given that though, it was good). We’ll ignore the butchering of the High Elf fluff though J

One of the best segments in the re-launched podcast, “Oi Muppet”, was great yet again – this time covering pre-measuring and the things people sometimes fail to do with this tool. Something for everyone to keep in mind. It was a pity that (for obvious reasons) Dan was not too keen to discuss his games at Russhammer in too much detail – he has a fantastic way of describing games when he gets going. This podcast is industry-leading in its sound and production quality, and the segment format is a refreshing change and always worth a listen – if you are not particularly keen on any given topic, it won’t eat up too much of your time before they move on. You get the impression Dan and Wayne are enjoying themselves broadcasting live from Heelanwood studios – long may it continue!

4 - Garagehammer 72

Warmachines and Adepticon recap

In the least shocking development in years, this podcast also includes some thoughts on the new High Elves J  – I for one am really looking forward to their army book review! In this episode they give a full recap of their Adepticon games – always good to be reminded of the crazy scenarios they use! Big shout out to host David here – the step up in performance from last year is really impressive.  Finally the hosts also discuss an interesting topic – what are their top 5 rated Warmachines? I personally love this sort of discussion, which led to some interesting online debate – the sign of a good episode in my opinion. As ever this was an eminently listenable ‘cast.

5 - Pointhammer

The Boys do the UK – Part 2

Final installment of the boy’s trip to these rain-sodden isles. Good recaps of their games at the South Coast Grand Tournament, as well as the social side around it. Was good to hear they had a chance to get to London and Nottingham – though pity Johnny failed in his seemingly epic quest for shoes! Another thoroughly entertaining podcast from these guys – was great to get insight from Americans being exposed to the UK scene, and their views on everything from painting to comp.  Hope they had a good time over here!

Other notable mentions this fortnight:

Jaded Gamercast 126

High Elf lists

Our whisky-drinking hosts this time tackle High Elf list building. I find it fascination when different gaming cultures (or metas) rate different things, and as such love listening to list discussion when I disagree with vast swathes of that is said. Not everyone does though, so go in to this one with an open mind. Overall though, the hosts are as listenable as ever, another good show.

Chumphammer 15

Random chat

Another enjoyable rambling mess of an episode! The lads covered their initial thoughts on the High Elves – am keeping an eye out for their review of them. This episode was mostly rather random chat – covering upcoming events, a look at how to use greenstuff, some comp discussion and Dale’s utter failure to land a sponsor.

Pick of The Bad Dice Daily:

Each fortnight I will pick out two or three of the 10 Bad Dice Daily podcasts that really stood out for me – I thought they may be best in their own section, otherwise on a good week it could skew everything J Ben does a fantastic job keeping the content coming at such a high level – it is now a regular part of my morning commute.

1 - BDD 248 – Magic Numbers

One of the very best BDD in a while. This was a fascinating look at the magic numbers that come up over and over in the game – often obvious and yet unnoticed.

2 - BDD 245 – WWCD High Elves

Always a fun BDD subject, this time dealing with the question everyone wanted to know – what to do with HEs? Think Ben’s streak of calling (or repeating, depends who you ask J ) the early trend (or “net list” if you are being negative) will end with this one though

3 - BDD 244 – Q&A Session

Another of my favourite topics done by BDD is when Ben deals with questions sent in by listeners. Another good one here, dealing with hot button topics including such as how DoC could possibly deal with Banner of the World Dragon-wielding HEs and the stacking of the Frostheart Phoenix’s aura. 

As ever, if there is any podcast you think should be in the list, or any others that I should listen to let me know – either on here, of twitter me on @Raffazza