Podcasts - The New Talk Radio

I'm posting this to give you some insight to all of those podcasts that have popped up. I typically listen to the Warhammer 40K content ones, but most veer off to other topics. The podcasts I'm going to cover are: 40K Radio, The Independent Characters, Guts 'n Gears, Infinity O-12, Imperial Vox Cast, and Forge the Narrative.

Let's start with 40K Radio.  This is the granddaddy of the bunch.  I listened to this podcast before Battlefoam took over.  It was a bit controversial with their guests, but the personalities were fun to listen to as well as the banter they had between each other.  When Romeo and Battlefoam took it over, they've had peaks and valleys in terms of performance.  The worst was when one of the hosts couldn't deal with the subject matter and it felt like the whole thing was going to come to a halt.  Fortunately, some cast updates and returnees, as well as the new 6th edition and a more consistent agenda has helped right the ship.  This podcast is strongest when discussing the background information, the hobby ideas, and branching out to other wargames as a comparison.  Most of the hosts are GW fan boys, but there has been more discussion on other games as well as alternative sources.

The Independent Characters are a Bay Area podcast and part of the West Coast group of 40K podcasts.  They are a group that tries to stay in touch with the tournament scene and trends that are being played in 40K.  At the same time, they are mostly garage and store players.  They have had experience playing in tournaments, but they seem to prefer to meet the players and not necessarily play in the tournies.  They do a good job of reviewing the Forge World set of books as well as the Black Library books. 

Guts 'n Gears was a UK podcast dedicated to Privateer Press and it's games.  Primarily a Warmachine and Hordes podcast, they had branched out to include the Iron Kingdoms Role-Playing Game and the various Privateer Press boxed games.  They're format usually included a chat with the Privateer Press author of the various books, modeler, No Quarter Magazine, etc. to capture the intent of the new models or storyline being introduced.  A feature I wasn't a fan of was the battle reports.  Audio battle reports miss something in translation and isn't as well executed as it could have been.  Guts 'n Gears has not been recording in a while.

Infinity O-12 is a sponsored and dedicate podcast, run out of Battlefoam, for Corvus Belli's Infinity the Game. Corvus Belli and Battlefoam teamed up for this podcast.  It's still relatively new and the format is still trying to find its footing.  Usually there's a review of the models being released, a review of the new books, and the development of tactics for the various scenarios.  This is a recommended podcast since there a tidbits in tactica and future releases that would help look past the pacing of the podcast.

Imperial Vox Cast is a 40K podcast from San Diego.  This is not a podcast that I regularly listen too, but it does have guests visit and it provides the occasional insight that has been useful.  If this can be added on to the list of podcasts to listen too, I do recommend it. 

Forge the Narrative is a new podcast that doesn't seem to know what it wants to do.  The name is ironic enough since it typically has been a discussion or round table about the tournament scene and tournament news.  The hosts are all tournament players and the discussion usually falls into the rules interpretation and the best way to devise an army list.  Narrative games are not usually discussed, but the tournament scenarios, list design, and practice dominate a large portion of the podcast.  They are short podcasts, so they would get a recommendation from me for a change of pass podcast.

These are the podcasts that I carry in my iPod Classic.  It is a time investment to pay attention to that many podcasts.  I would recommend picking the game background of interest and give it a whirl.  If I had to pick my top 3, it would be 40K Radio, Infinity O-12, and the Independent Characters.  Guts 'n Gears probably would have kicked 40K Radio down the list if it wasn't shut down at the moment.