The Independent Characters Warhammer 40k Podcast | Radio

Episode 88 of The Independent Characters is all about Battlefleet Gothic. While all of the specialist games by Games Workshop have been cancelled, we have had this on our schedule to talk about for quite some time. So now that it has been cancelled, we figure why not talk about it!? We have played a bit of Battlefleet Gothic lately, and while we are no experts at it, we are happy to share our experiences and talk about some of the ins and outs of the game. As usual, we talk hobby progress and games played. But in addition to that, Geoff has a very important announcement at the beginning of the show that all our listeners should hear. We hope you enjoy! Time Stamps: 0:00:00 – Show Intro and Special Message 0:18:20 – Workbench and Games Played 0:59:30 – Battlefleet Gothic: Part 1 1:46:30 – Battlefleet Gothic: Part 2 2:17:30 – Show Closing and Final Thoughts Relevant Links: KR Multicase - SPONSOR Secret Weapon Miniatures! - SPONSOR Smells Like Wargaming - SPONSOR The Brush and Bolter - SPONSOR Spruehammer

Episode 87 of The Independent Characters has us revisiting Apocalypse! Now that 6th Edition has come about and the new version of Apocalypse has been released we take a look at how it actually plays. To help us do so, we are having one of the most experienced players and GM’s of Apocalypse in Northern California! Anthony runs Norcon and regularly plays Apocalypse as one of his preferred methods of 40k. He and his group (The G3 Group) have tons of experience with massive games. We spend quite a bit of time talking about the rules changes for this new version and the Fires of Sidonia Apocalypse game some of us participated in at Endgame Oakland a few weekends ago. In addition to that, we finally release our Forbidden Lore Segment for Death of Integrity with Guy Haley! But wait, there’s more! Even with all of that, we have a new edition of The Warrior Lodge, with a whole new host of topics to discuss. This episode is not only about Apocalypse, but it is Apocalypse sized! We hope you enjoy! Time stamps: 0:0

Episode 86 of The Independent Characters is full of some great hobby content. With Geoff on holiday, we have Justin stepping in to talk about hobby progress and games played. A recent games-day at Carls house led to plethora of games being played we can talk about! The main topic of the show focuses a discussion around the much maligned Double Force Org. We talk about our experiences and thoughts about it and whether it deserves the negative reputation it has been given. Additionally, we were lucky enough to have both Jason and Jon from The Overlords Podcast while they were out here in California visiting. We took Jon on a tour of the local game stores and then Carl has a discussion with them in which we focus on the differences and observations between US Gaming (or at least California!) and gaming in the UK. We had originally intended to have our Forbidden Lore with Guy Haley this episode, but we are moving that to Episode 87 due to a scheduling conflict. We know you were waiting for it, so were we. But

Episode 85 is right around the corner and with this one, we fill our third chair with regular favorite guest Adan. But what is this episode all about The game has been changing. The introduction of 6th edition has been met with quite a lot of criticism from the tournament scene over the last year. The fast changing release of codexes and codex expansions is quickly changing the face of the game, preventing any one build or codex from maintaining a lead over another for long. We explore the impact of how this is changing not only the tournament scene, but how this is having an impact on purchasing models & armies for non-tournament gamers, as well as how it is effecting retailers. We also take an in depth look at the new Imperial Armour Apocalypse released by Forge World as well as the new release of Apocalypse Warzone: Damnos by Games-Workshop. Not only that, we have an interesting interview for you from Erasmus, the driving force behind the video The Lord Inquisitor, which has the blessing of Games Works

Episode 84 of The Independent Characters is a short one (and released early!) as we prepare for our Live Studio Recording at Celesticon. We will be releasing that episode in the next week or so. In the meantime, we didn't want to leave you hanging, so we provide you with an update on our Hobby Progress so far as well as an overview of a series of Hobby Classes Geoff attended last weekend. We also provide some tips on how you can start your own hobby classes or where to go to get involved in them. We hope you enjoy this entree before the main course gets released after Celesticon this coming weekend! We hope you enjoy! (Note: We will be providing links to pictures that Geoff discussed in our forum under the show notes for this episode in the next day or so.) 0:00:00 - Show Intro 0:05:40 - Workbench and Games Played 0:49:00 - Hobby Classes 1:32:00 - Final Thoughts and Show Closing Links: KR Multicase - SPONSOR Secret Weapon Miniatures! - SPONSOR Smells Like Wargaming - SPONSOR The Brush and Bolter - SPONSO

Episode 83 of The Independent Characters sees us halfway through The Hobby Progress Challenge for 2013! Some people have completed their challenge already, some are making good progress, and others have completely fallen off the rails (Like Carl!). We talk to some of the folks who have completed or are well on their way to finishing their projects. We go behind their motivations on picking the armies they picked, determine how they kept on task, and see if they have any advice for those who have faltered... After that, we have a Warrior Lodge Segment, where our panel tackles some topic which are being talked about on our forums and the 40k Community at large! We hope you enjoy! 0:00:00 - Show Intro 0:09:20 - Workbench and Games Played 0:39:45 - Hobby Progress Challenge Interviews 1:36:35 - The Warrior Lodge 2:30:00 - Final Thoughts and Show Closing Links: KR Multicase - SPONSOR Secret Weapon Miniatures! - SPONSOR Smells Like Wargaming - SPONSOR The Brush and Bolter - SPONSOR Spruehammer - SPONSOR Wargamma

Episode 82 of The Independent Characters takes us into the deadly arenas and dangerous combats of Zone Mortalis! Zone Mortalis is a set of rules from Forge World which are free to download from their site. Within this set of rules you will find some of the most deadly close quarters combat of the 41st Millennium! Explore Space Hulks, root out enemies in abandoned mines and sewer systems, and battle against forces inside of secret Mechanicus Bases! We talk about the rules themselves, how this method of play actually works, some alternatives to Forge Worlds incredibly (and pricey!) terrain, as well as some suggestions for those playing AND developing the rules. And just when you think it's over, we pull in Black Library Author Steve Parker to talk to us about his book Deathwatch in our latest installment of Forbidden Lore! WARNING: Spoilers abound in any Forbidden Lore segment, and this is no exception! We hope you enjoy! 0:00:00 - Show Intro 0:11:05 - Workbench and Games Played 0:48:10 - Zone Mortalis: The Ru

Episode 81 of The Independent Characters takes a look at the Deathwatch RPG by Fantasy Flight Games. Deathwatch is a roleplaying game in which you take on the role of a member of the Adeptus Astartes – the devout, bio-engineered super-soldiers also known as Space Marines. After many years of exemplary service within your own chapter, you have been singled out and selected to join one of the most unique and specialized collectives of Space Marines – the Deathwatch. We have played the game and will let you know our thought around how it runs and feels, and the differences between this and our previous experience with the Dark Heresy game and system. Thanks to our friend Chad who has a lot of experience with the system and took the time to help us put it through its paces! This ties in nicely with our upcoming interview of Steve Parker (in Episode 82). Black library author of the recent novel titled Deathwatch as well. Which happens to be our current Forbidden Lore subject novel! Additionally, we have an intervi

Episode 80 of The Independent Characters covers a tremendous variety of topics. As usual, we start our with our hobby progress and (lack of) games played. But then we get right into the main course of the show. Imperial Armour 3 2nd Edition: The Taros Campaign is the first part of our two part main course this episode. We go through the changes between the 1st edition and now, and ultimately let you know why Forge World has released this new book and weather it is worth you buying or not! This is followed up by a very special edition of The Warrior Lodge, we have titled The 40k Widows Club. We have three of the wives of our players in studio to talk about how their husbands involvement in the 40k Hobby has impacted them and what problems and solutions they have come up with. As it turns out we hear from three different spectrums here. A wife who has children leaving the nest, a wife of a tween-aged child, and the wife of an infant child. We learn some interesting things from their perspective. Hopefully they

Episode 79 will complete our two episode series on the running of events. The intention of this series is not to tell you a bullet pointed list of what to bring and exactly how to do it, but to inform on thoughts and ideas around running and growing events. While this is 40k focused for our purposes, the information contained in these episodes is not limited strictly to any one gaming system. This episode focuses on Regional and National (bordering International) level events. We have quite a few guest interviews this time around, and the audio quality can vary from interview to interview. We have done our best in places to clean it up where it seems messy to us. We take our sound quality very seriously and this is why we tend to avoid doing lots of Skype Interviews. However, the value of the content presented here in Episode 79 was such that we felt it was worth some of the background hiss. We hope you agree. Not only do we have a fantastic episode lined up for you, but at the end of it, we have our Forbidde

Episode 78 begins a two episode series in which we discuss what goes into, and how to run events. While this will include tournaments, this is not limited to just that style of play. Over the course of these two episodes (78 and 79) we will discuss the thinking behind running events, how to avoid problems that may pop up and how to make your event more successful. We will start off by talking about smaller events, on a personal and local level, and then move into regional and finally national level events. We will have guests that include some of the best in the field and hear their thoughts as to what goes into the event and how you come out the other side unscathed! As usual we lead off with some hobby progress and games played, and devolve into a little bit of arguing about the new Eldar and pricing. We hope you find this topic insightful, informative and inspirational! Show Timestamps Show Overview and intro – 00:00:00 The Workbench & Games Played – 00:07:00 Running Personal Events – 00:51:00 Running

Episode 77 sweeps through the sector as we cover Imperial Armour 12: The Fall of Orpheus. This is the latest book from Forge World that details a massive Necron invasion (cleansing?) of The Orpheus sector and pits the soulless androids against The Death Korps of Krieg and The Minotaurs Chapter of The Adeptus Astartes! Of course, we have been gone for some time from our normal programming, so we have a massive section of hobby progress to cover (well at least one of us does!) as well as games we have played in the intervening time. This includes Carls visit to San Diego to attend The Broadside Bash. And finally we speak with James Hakola, but you may know him better as Mr. Dandy. He has an incredible new line of resin terrain that we think you are going to be interested in! We hope you are glad we are back, because we are back with a large episode for you to gorge yourselves on! Show Timestamps Show Overview and intro – 00:00:00 The Workbench & Games Played – 00:05:35 IA12: The Fall of Orpheus (Part 1) –

Episode 76 of The Independent Characters addresses the topic of Cheating on your spouse with 40k! We all know someone who has a significant other who is Gamer Intolerant. We go over some tips and tricks to keep your love affair with Warhammer 40k going while keeping those closest to you in the dark! We also spend quite a bit of time discussing hobby progress, games played, Zone Mortalis and the new Tau. To top it all off, we have our fifth outing of The Warrior Lodge, where we discuss everything from the state of the Warhammer 40k game, the new Tau (again!) to favorite moments in tournaments. It should be noted that we stated our next show would not be until May 5th due to Carl touring England (and more importantly Warhammer World), but we should have said May 12th. However, you can still hear Carl soon as he will be guesting on The Overlords 40k Podcast while he is in London! Be sure to follow our Facebook page and front page of The Independent Characters as it will be receiving frequent updates on Carls jou

Episode 75 of The Independent Characters addresses the problem of Identifying your Warhammer 40k Playstyle. To help us out with this, we have our good friend Josh joining us for a good portion of the show. So often players aren't having as much fun as they could have with 40k because they are playing armies or builds within armies that go against the nature of the way they enjoy playing. We set out to identify a few of these different type of playstyles and hopefully point players in the right direction. As the curse of Episode 74 appears to have been lifted, we also have a tremendously long Hobby Progress and Games Played section. There is a lot of good content here though, so we think you will enjoy! Last but not least we discuss the Bay Area Open and some of the struggles this premier 40k GT had in their 2013 outing. We hope you enjoy! Show Timestamps Show Overview and intro - 00:00:00 The Workbench & Games Played - 00:09:35 Identifying your 40k Playstyle - 01:03:10 The Bay Area Open - 02:18:40 Final

As mentioned on our Facebook page, our front page and our forums, this episode seems to have been cursed with a run of bad luck. So instead of our planned topic of Identifying your 40k Playstyle, we are just releasing the Warrior Lodge segment of this episode to tide you over until we record Identifying your 40k Playstyle in Episode 75. Sometimes things just take a turn for the worst and you have to roll with the punches! But we will be back, and better than ever in episode 75. We hope you enjoy! Show Timestamps Show Overview and intro - 00:00:00 The Warrior Lodge - 00:07:20 Show Closing - 01:03:30 Links: KR Multicase - SPONSOR Secret Weapon Miniatures! - SPONSOR Smells Like Wargaming - SPONSOR The Brush and Bolter - SPONSOR Spruehammer Forge World Games Workshop The Black Library Endgame Oakland

Episode 73 of The Independent Characters sees us exploring the dark corners of an even darker universe as we delve into Dark Heresy the Role Playing Game! Much of our background comes from roleplaying games and we have waited quite awhile to cover this game. We were fortunate to get one of the former authors of the game, and former host of the Dice Like Thunder Podcast, Mack Martin, to run us and a few friends through an adventure to add to our experience with the game, prior to recording. Dark Heresy is a roleplaying game based upon the universe of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000. In Dark Heresy players take on the roles of Acolytes of the Inquisition, aiming to uncover and combat the enemies of mankind, be they aliens, heretics or mutants! On top of our usual Workbench and Games Played segments, we discuss the setting and background of Dark Heresy, give an overview of the rules, and talk at length about the product line and support that Fantasy Flight offers. If you have enjoyed the writings of Dan Abnett

Episode 72 of The Independent Characters takes a long and hard look at White Dwarf of the past, present and future. Over the years White Dwarf has provided endless pictures and articles about the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k Hobby (as well as other Specialist Games by GW). However, in recent years the magazine has come under a high amount of criticism that it is nothing more than a "Catalog for GW". Additional criticism generaly points to how the magazine in the past was so much better than it is today. White Dwarf has recently gone through an update of their magazine, and we have recently come into possession of a HUGE amount of back issues thanks to our buddy Ken. So we thought this would be the perfect time to put the magazine to the test. Was it truly better in the past, or do we look back at the official magazine of Games Workshop through rose-tinted glasses? We answer that question as well as provide hobby progress updates and games played over the last two weeks. NOTE: Our Forbidden Lore Segment

Episode 71 of The Independent Characters starts off with a lengthy Hobby Progress and Games Played segment. We then focus on our topic of the show, which is how to meet new players and introduce them to your gaming group. Also, we talk about how to be a new player to an established gaming group. We will discuss the do’s and don’ts of meeting new players (safely) and evaluating whether these people play the style of game that you like to play. A Warrior Lodge segment hosted by Geoff this time around, includes a panel of all new guests we will see what some of our local gamers think about the topics we have cooked up for them this time around. Additionally, we have a short interview with Jay of Spruehammer. Jay and Simon are following the gamers dream, and opening a game store! In the process of doing so, they went down to Games Workshop Corporate HQ in the US and took a tour of The World of Battle and the GW factory and facilities there. We talk to them about what their impressions were. We hope you enjoy! Sho

It is once again time for our Independent Characters Annual Year in Review. This time we are obviously talking about 2012 and how it stacked up for Warhammer 40k and Games Workshop. This was, of course, the 25th Anniversary Year of Warhammer 40k and we will take a look back at every release from Games Workshop, Black Library, Forge World, Fantasy Flight and any other licensee of Warhammer 40k over the past 12 months. Does it amount to a 25th Anniversary? We will let you decide, but of course you came here to listen to our opinion about it! As usual we have some hobby progress to report, however with Carl being sick over the holidays he ended up cancelling out some of the games he had planned to play in. We aren't short of topics in this episode though and we think you guys will enjoy yelling at us through your stereo/iPod/Computer/MP3 listening device of choice, as we walk our way through our first episode of 2013. Thanks for spending another year with us. We wouldn't be here without you! We hope you enjoy! S

Episode 69 is a veritable buffet of content. After our standard Hobby Progress and Games Played segments, we talk briefly about some of our New Years Resolutions as they pertain to Warhammer 40k. We also go into some detail around the 2013 Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge. We had a lot of people asking us to do it again, so we have! Our second segment of the show is an overview and in depth look at the Campaign Expansion, Crusade of Fire. Geoff and Carl have a lengthy discussion around this expansion, where it succeeds and where it falls short. Immediately after that we have a close look at the latest offering from Forge World. Imperial Armour Vol 1: Second Edition – Imperial Guard. This is a pricey but huge book bringing not only the original Imperial Armour Vol 1 into 6th Edition, but also consolidating every Imperial Guard vehicle from all current Forge World books into one comprehensive volume. And finally, The Warrior Lodge is back for a second round of topics for discussion. We have broug