We have recently moved many of our past episodes to this new area and this is where you can currently find episode 1 through 40. The old links for these episodes will no longer work, but the shows ARE still available for you to listen to, if you dare!

Here are all of the back episodes that have been archived:

Episode 1 – Episode One has been recorded!
Episode 2 – The new batch. This time it’s personal!
Episode 3 – They’re after me Lucky Charms!
Episode 4 – Ramblin’ men
Episode 5 – In Soviet Russia, the Army paints you!
Episode 6 – ‘That Guy’ is naked!
Episode 7 – IA 5-7: The Siege of Vraks
Episode 8 – Show me on the model…
Episode 9 – When Disco was king!
Episode 10 – The Four ICs of The Apocalypse
Episode 11 – Imperial Armour 8: The Raid on Kastorel-Novem!
Episode 12 – Campaigns: Making battles count
Episode 13 – Fitting hobby into your life
Episode 14 – Ringing in Da Grand Waaagh!
Episode 15 – We brake for difficult terrain (listbuilding)
Episode 16 – Imperial Armour 9: The Badab War Part 1
Episode 17 – Planetstrike!
Episode 18 – GW Retrospective
Episode 19 – The Holiday Extravaganza
Episode 20 – 2010 40k Year in Review
Episode 21 – Imperial Armour 10: The Badab War Part 2
Episode 22 – Cities of Death
Episode 23 – Psykers and Psychic Powers
Episode 24 – The New Hero Hammer
Episode 25 – Tournament Preparation
Episode 26 – Adepticon, Dave Taylor, and Dan Abnett
Episode 27 – The True Costs of 40k
Episode 28 – Spearhead
Episode 29 – Avoiding 40k Burnout
Episode 30 – Stepping Up Your Game
Episode 31 – How To Do Everything in 40k
Episode 32 – Using Forge World Rules for 40k Games
Episode 33 – Gaming Etiquette
Episode 34 – Bringing 40k Home
Episode 35 – The Benefits of 40k
Episode 36 – Imperial Armour 4: The Anphelion Project
Episode 37 – Playing as a Team
Episode 38 – Da Grand Waaagh GT 2011
Episode 39 – The ICs Summer Campaign
Episode 40 – What if we ran Games Workshop?

We will work through some strategies for running smaller events with just your friends and then escalate through local, regional and national events. Over the course of Epiode 78 and 79 you will hear from some of the best in the field at all levels. We will focus on how much effort and planning it takes to run these kinds of events, what some of the logistics are for pulling them off, and what some of the major pitfalls are that have to be avoided for the event to be successful.

Additionally, we will discuss what happens after the event is all completed! The less glamorous aspects of the tear down, clean up, and follow up both offline and online, once your event is complete.

If you were ever interested in running your own event, weather it be small or large, or just curious as to what goes on behind the scenes and the process of running these types of functions, you won’t want to miss our two part series starting May 26th, 2013!

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) – 00:55:30
• IA12: The Fall of Orpheus (Part 2) – 01:59:30
• Interview with Mr. Dandy – 03:13:45
• Final Thoughts and Show Closing – 03:30:30

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• The Brush and Bolter – SPONSOR
• Spruehammer – SPONSOR
• Article on the 40k forums that inspired this topic
• IC Campaign Site
• Forge World
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland

We recommend downloading the episode as opposed to listening through the site. We seem to hit some type of process limit on days we release the episode, but it only affects people listening from the site directly.

The Independent Characters – Episode 75

As you may know, our schedule was a bit thrown off by Carls recent trip to England (for purely research purposes!) and Geoff moving.

So today we release our Special Report on Carls recent trip to England. We discuss at length the trip, Salute 2013, The Overlords, The London Game Store Scene, and finally Warhammer World.

Episode 77 has been recorded and is going through the editing process. So don’t worry, It will drop on Sunday, May 12th. But until that time, we hope you find this entertaining!

(Carl) I want to thank everyone who came up and introduced themselves to me. I found my trip incredibly fun and rewarding. Special thanks to Jason Mullins and the rest of The Overlords crew for showing me a great time! Please DO check out their show if you have not. It can be found at http://www.theoverlords.co.uk

We recommend downloading the episode as opposed to listening through the site. We seem to hit some type of process limit on days we release the episode, but it only affects people listening from the site directly.

The Independent Characters – Episode 76

We will then have Guy Haley join us for our discussion about the book, so he can provide us insights into the characters and the story. Carl met Guy while travelling in England, and we really think you are going to enjoy hearing from one of the newest Black Library authors.

This Forbidden Lore segment will air in episode in Episode 79, which is schedule for June 9th, 2013.

By the blessing of the Omnissiah was the Mars Triumphant born – from the forges of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the mighty Baneblade super-heavy battle tank comes to bring death and destruction to the foes of the Imperium. As part of the Paragonian 7th Company, Honoured Lieutenant Marken Cortein Lo Bannick commands the venerable war machine in a bitter war against the orks in the Kalidar system. As the campaign grinds on it begins to take its toll upon his crew, and old clan prejudices from the regiment’s home world arise once more. In a war which cannot be won by force of arms alone, such division may prove to be their undoing.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/baneblade.html

What is “Forbidden Lore”? Read on:

Once per month we pick a “Black Library Book of The Month”. We announce what book it is on one show and we will also then create a thread with a big SPOILER WARNING in the title in our “The Librarium” section of the boards so people can start to discuss thoughts and ideas there.

Two episodes later (so roughly one month later), pulling from the thread and our own personal reading experience, we will then have an extremely in-depth discussion about this book. This will cover spoilers about the story, which characters live, die, change, etc.

At the beginning of the episode we will announce that we are going to be discussing this book and all the spoilers for it.

We will place the segment at the END of the podcast, after the exit music, and present ANOTHER strong warning to really call attention to the fact that spoilers are coming. Then we will have a 20-30 min discussion about the book and what our thoughts were on it.

Keep in mind this isn’t a REVIEW of the book – since everyone listening or caring enough to listen to that segment will have already read it. It’s a discussion about what we all collectively read.

We really like the Black Library books and we think this will really bring home some of the “Feel like a part of our gaming group” approach we have taken.

So here is what we are going to do instead!

We record Episode 77 this coming Saturday (May 4th). We have the entire day set aside for this. After all we had planned to record what amounts to a 5+ hour episodes worth of material. We still plan to record all of that material this Saturday, but we are going to release it in two stages.

First, this Sunday the 5th, we will release a Special Report: Warhammer World Tour episode. This will likely come in at around an hour to an hour and a half in length. If you are interested in hearing about Carls tour through England and what transpired with Salute, The Overlords, the KR Multicase factory tour, the Gaming Stores in London, and finally Warhammer World. You are going to want to download this Special Report.

Second, on Sunday the 12th, we will release Episode 77 as previously planned. This will include our Hobby Progress, Games played and of course our coverage of Imperial Armour Vol 12: The Fall of Orpheus!

We figured this would go down a little easier than one massive show, and prevent you from having to wait yet another entire week for the return of The Independent Characters.

We hope you enjoy both of these releases!

After our first day there, Jason and I raced to a Brazilian restaurant where we met up with Eadwine Brown (Forge World Customer Service – soon to be a part of Black Library), Alan Bligh (The incredible author behind many of the Forge World Imperial Armour books and the Horus Heresy series from Forge World), and Gav Thorpe (Black Library freelance author and former Games Workshop employee) for dinner.

Originally I these plans included Rob Sanders (Black Library freelance author) and Graham McNeil (Black Library freelance author and… really? You don’t know by now?!), but they were unable to attend unfortunately. The plan was to take all of these folks out to dinner as my way of saying “Thanks!” for all of the interviews, feedback and assistance over the last three years.

We arrived slightly late, but quickly met with Alan, Ead and Gav and started what I will refer to as an “Orgy of cooked meat”. Get your head out of the gutter. Ead had made the reservations for us and he picked the absolute right place for us to go. The food was amazing and the company even more incredible. We talked at length about Imperial Armour 12, their favorite projects, history of various wars, Call of Cthulhu (looking forward to CoC 7th Edition now!) and of course Podcasting.

As we spoke, I was constantly amazed at how much of a fountain of knowledge and ideas all three of my guests were. I have considered myself a creative person. I have run Dungeons and Dragons games as well as other Role Playing Games for over 30 years. I have come up with numerous campaigns and ideas for 40k. But these guys BLOW ME AWAY when it comes to creativity! I was loath to call the dinner at an end, but I knew these guys needed to work the next day. That didn’t stop us from staying in the restaurant well after our food was cleared.

A very hearty thank you to Eadwine Brown for setting up the reservations and joining us. Thank you to Alan Bligh for not only your countless words of entertainment, but your encouragement as well. And finally, thank you to Gav Thorpe for your fantastic works of fiction and your insight into how it all works!

The next morning Jason and I headed back to Warhammer World. Jason was meeting a friend, James from the 40k Radio Freebootaz there to play a game. (If you didnt know, the Overlords have an event planned at Warhammer World in August – check their site for more details.) I had other things in mind…

First up was the Games Workshop store. I had some orders to place and place them I did! A Malanthrope from Forge World to stand in for my Doom of Malantai, some Ultramarine Land Raider doors for my Thunderhawk, a Chaos Hell Blade along with a few other odds and ends for some of my friends that had requested things. With that completed I spoke with Paul Rudge (or Rudgie as his friends call him), a man you may not be familiar with, but you have certainly seen his work!

Paul is responsible for the overall layout and design of all Forge World books. To the improvements over the years with all of the Imperial Armour books, to the penultimate work of The Horus Heresy: Betrayal book. Paul is an amazing guy with a great vision for where these things need to go. He works with a team of editors and Alan Bligh (and now Andy Hoare if you didn’t know!) to make sure everything they turn out is the absolute best quality. I was extremely thrilled to meet Paul and he is a tremendous fan of the show! We talked at length about the show itself and finally he brought up for us his painted Crashed Thunderhawk tile for the Realm of Battle Board just recently released by Forge World. I nearly broke the bank after seeing this awesome piece. After I pay off this trip, I think one of those is coming up in my near future!

Paul then showed me his Pre-Heresy Deathguard he has been working on. I have some pictures here, but they absolutely do NOT do the army justice. He is an expert at quickly painting models so they look fantastic. The thing I noted here was how excited Paul was to show them off. Like any true hobbyist/gamer, he seemed like a kid in a candy store, showing us details and special conversions he had done. I was truly thrilled to meet Paul and I think we have started to form a good friendship. Thanks for all the laughs!

Jason and I ate a chicken sandwich in Bugmans for lunch. I wouldn’t recommend it. Go with the burgers.

After that I needed to run back up to the model museum and take pictures of the remaining stuff I had not covered, or really even looked at from the previous day. This primarily consisted of Fantasy models, and although Warhammer Fantasy doesn’t particularly interest me, after seeing some of the paint jobs on the fully painted fantasy lines, I have to admit I was tempted.

Two things of particular note here, and you can find them in the photo gallery of pictures I put up on our Facebook page. First, there was the original Peter Jackson (Director of Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit) sculpt of Peter Jackson as a hobbit. Brilliantly humorous, there were only two of these cast. One was given to Peter Jackson himself, and the other is on display at Warhammer World. Next was the “Gandalf riding his cart” figure which was created for Rick Priestly to basically shut him up and get him to stop asking for one!

My iron will held strong though and I was able to pass on buying a fantasy army while here. (Don’t laugh)

Ead was going to come meet us at Warhammer World again, but was caught up in some Black Library proofreading so was unable to make it down, but I received text messages from him throughout the day. I realized my time was drawing short and so I did a little bit of filming and snapped as many parting shots as I could before leaving. Then Jason, Rudgie and I headed out front of the building where we were given the directional tour of where each of the departments are in the buildings. Finally, we got some pictures taken of us in front of the building with the Aquilla in the background and the Space Marine statue above us. We hopped in our cab and headed to the train station to catch our ride home.

Before I go to far from Warhammer World though, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who came up and introduced themselves to me. As at Salute, many players came up to speak to me, recognizing me by voice, face, or probably just from the fact that I had spoken on the show and updated Facebook so much with my presence there. Unlike Salute though, I was amazed at how many Games Workshop employees, be they White Dwarf, Black Library, Forge World or Games Workshop “Prime” (as we call it!) introduced themselves and talked to me about their work at GW and spoke to me about the show. These are people from all over the world that have listened to the nonsense we spout every two weeks and genuinely find the show insightful, entertaining, and fun.

I was told by several people that our latest episode (the jokingly titled “Cheating on your Spouse with 40k”) was hysterical and had them laughing. Our show is a common topic of discussion after release by many of the people at the Games Workshop headquarters. I appreciate you telling me as much and Geoff and I will continue to try to present a quality program. If anything you have inspired me to work even harder.

I don’t say anything in the above paragraph to boast or brag. The reason I put it out there is to point out that Games Workshop is not the “Evil Empire” everyone makes it out to be. It is a company with many passionate and driven gamers inside of it, who are trying to make the models and games as fun as they can be for the legions of fans (like myself) that are out there. The amount of criticism leveled at Games Workshop is tremendous, but the vitriol that is thrown in their direction is often uncalled for. Hearing individuals at the “Evil Empires” company headquarters tell me that they have taken feedback from The Independent Characters into account because of the way in which those thoughts are presented is an important point and a main “takeaway” for me, from this experience. It proves to me that the goals that Geoff and I set for ourselves and the message we want our listeners to take away from our show, has been the right approach.

I also wanted to throw a quick shoutout to Tobias, who has recently moved to Nottingham from Spain to continue his work for Games Workshop. It was an absolute pleasure to talk with you and best of luck getting your family situated in Nottingham. I am, quite frankly, jealous of your opportunity!

I am sorry that I wasn’t at Warhammer World this weekend, as the Battle Brothers Tournament was starting the following day. This is a team event and sounded like a ton of fun. Speaking of events, before I forget, there is a team of people that work at Warhammer World, whose sole job is to create and run fun events there. If you take a look at the Warhammer World pages on Games Workshops website, there is information there on how to contact them whether you want to join an existing event or start your own. I wish I lived closer, because I would be doing it all the time!

I will leave you with this final picture. There is a prize for best army list presentation at the Battle Brothers event, and a listener of the show who came up to me was eager to show me the work he had put into his list display. I haven’t ever seen anything like it, and I find it indicative of the passion that our hobby generates…

Based on his overall enthusiasm and the amount of work he put into this display, which was all built by hand and could lock with padlocks from the outside, I hope he won!

Farewell Warhammer World. I will see you again!

When I think of England, I think of towns like Nottingham, not London. Obviously smaller, but also quite a bit cleaner and more cheery. Ead Brown (of Forge World fame), met us at the hotel and we headed over to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalim, the oldest (up for debate) Inn in England. I had seen and read about this place for months now and was very eager to check it out personally. The rule of thumb in England (according to Jason) is to not order anything Mexican and avoid fried chicken, so we all settled on the steak, which was cooked really well and went great with the house beers we drank down.

Ead isn’t just a great guy, but a real historian as well. As he walked us around the Inn and the town, we were given a near professional tour and explanation of the sights. I apparently mis-identified a statue of Robin Hood as Legolas though.

We headed back to the hotel, knowing we were going to be hitting Warhammer World the next morning, which came quickly.

Where to start with Warhammer World? First let me just say that it is everything you have heard in the past and more. Think Disneyland for Warhammer Fantasy and 40k. The only thing missing were the singing dwarves and rides! By now you have all seen the pictures of the Ultramarines Rhino in the front parking area of Games Workshop. This was originally built by THQ during their Dawn of War period, and then given (sold?) to Games Workshop afterwards. When THQ built it, they painted the vehicle in the colors of The Blood Angels Chapter. GW repainted it into the iconic Ultramarines colors. The vehicles is capable of being driven, though my request to do so was politely declined. Podcaster perks only go so far it seems.

Let’s talk about the structure of Warhammer World itself.

When you walk in through the front doors, you pass up a set of stairs which leads up and to a landing. An Ultramarine statue is standing there greeting you as you reach the landing. This is a similar type of statue that you see in front of Battle Bunkers in the US. Additionally, there is a wall that shows the scale of a true Space Marine. You can stand next to the picture on the wall and see how you stack up to the scale one of the Adeptus Astartes.

As we walked into the building, I could already hear the roar of a gaming crowd upstairs. Apparently a bunch of schools have 40k clubs (possibly Fantasy clubs as well) and they had gotten together on this day for a tournament. This was during school hours for you folks in the US. I guess it stood in as their class field trip. So we were treated to a full on tournament going on as I walked into the event hall.

To the left of the first landing is the entrance to the event hall. Through a set of double doors is the actual tournament hall itself. Decorated as the interior of a castle, the hall is immense! The ceiling is two stories above and there is stage lighting which can be used for any manner of events. At the far end of the hall is a small stage where the announcers can speak over the PA System from and awards can be handed out. A giant projection screen is here where anything can be shown, but at this time the timer clock counting down until the end of the round was being displayed.

The tournament hall has an incredible number of tables, all stocked with terrain. Up front there is one row of tables which are premium tables. These have the best of the terrain you have seen displayed in White Dwarf and on GWs sites. These tables must be reserved for use. We had reservations for the City Terrain table and the Zone Mortalis table. The hall accommodates over ninety tables upon my count and likely can handle over one hundred.

To the left of the entrance to the hall are the two arched doorways that lead into the Games Workshop store within Warhammer World. Obviously this is the best stocked and most impressive GW Store in existence. Not only does it have everything (literally!) that Games Workshop sells for their hobbies, but it also stocks Forge World models. What they don’t have immediately on hand right there behind the counter, they can go downstairs and get for you! Not only that, any Forge World ordered in the store can be shipped for free to anywhere you want. You don’t even have to meet the 250 GBP minimum requirement for the shipping.

Across the hall from the main entrance is the door to the infamous Bugmans Bar. This is a pub themed in world of Warhammer Fantasy. You can sit and drink after a game, order food, chat with others, etc. They even offer free WiFi from here, so if you have a laptop, tablet or smartphone you can browse, read mail, etc. Bugmans is very comfortable, and I saw several business meetings taking place there in addition to just people lounging around. I’ll be honest though, the food was not particularly good here. It’s a bit pricey and fairly bland. The first day I had a burger (it was ok), while the second day the spicy chicken sandwich (it was terrible). You can also take drinks into the gaming floor, which they will provide you a plastic drinking cup to use. On occasion, you can catch glimpses of well known Games Workshop staff in the area. I caught up with Phil Kelly briefly for a photo op before he rushed off to his next meeting.

The Warhammer World gift shop is located right in Bugmans and I could have easily gone broke purchasing all manner of 40k and Fantasy themed items as well as Bugmans Bar and Warhammer World themed shirts, mugs, dice pouches, key chains, pens, notebooks, shirts, pocket watches, art pieces… the list goes on and on. I bought a Warhammer World hooded sweatshirt and called it a day for purchasing from there!

Ead took us up to the famous Warhammer World Hall of Miniatures after that. This is located on the second landing of the main staircase. You enter through a set of double doors into a beautiful display room lined with glass and mirrored cabinets. The floor is covered with red carpet and pieces of Warhammer Fantasy and 40k art are on display in the middle of room. This room really is awe inspiring. Words are going to fail me here, but I have put up over 750 photos of miniatures that were on display here.

The thing is, the photos just do NOT do it justice. There are details on some of these figures that just do NOT come through in photos. I tried to show you an example of the Dark Angels flyer and the marble painted on the wings, but when I look at the photograph shown here, I can tell you that as cool as it looks, it PALES in comparison to how it looks in person! While Ead and Jason walked the hall, I began taking photos, and by the time they were done looking, I was only halfway down the 40k displays alone! If you haven’t checked out the pictures from this trip on our Facebook page I would encourage you to do so. I have taken a ridiculous amount of photographs. I was truly in awe of the thousands of hours that must have gone into painting all of the models in that hall. I went back several times to look again throughout the two days that I was there.

Ead had asked me the night before if I minded if he brought Forge World units to the game we intended to play. At first I thought he was joking and I laughed. Of COURSE I wouldn’t mind. But you will note that the folks at Warhammer World like to play a gentleman’s game, and always ask! Ead created two 1500 point lists for his Minotaurs (featured in Imperial Armour 12 I might add!) and asked me which one he should play. I told him to play the one with the most Forge World in it and so we began to set up for our game.

As it turns out, Ead has an incredible Minotaurs army completely painted and on display right there in the Event Hall! His collection of Minotaurs is simply MASSIVE, and I was in awe of how much was in the case. He simply got the key from the event staff, opened the cabinet, and began pulling models out to play with. I was aware that this drew a little attention as I began setting up my Ultramarines.

As mentioned earlier, we had reserved the most incredible city ruins table to play on. Seeing my models and Eads on this table fighting it out together was a thing of beauty. How many times have you said, upon seeing some of those pictures in White Dwarf; “I wish I could play on a table like that!”. It sounds kind of silly as I type it, but it really was a dream come true. And my opponent was one of the nicest guys I know. We teased each other over the course of the game and generally socialized as we played. Thanks Ead for a truly fun game! I hope you know I was just kidding when I called Imperial Armour 12 your personal Fandex! Many people have asked me what the outcome of the game was. Did I win or lose? It truly doesn’t matter. To me, this was 40k in the truest spirit of the game. It was two guys just having a great time. So I will leave it at that.

I have quite a bit more to cover on Warhammer World, so I will break this into two or three posts. But that’s probably enough for now. Later I will go into our Post-Warhammer World activities, and talk about the people I met there, both Games Workshop employees and listeners of the show.

Daryl is an engineer, and an expert in the manufacturing process. (For those unaware, that includes everything from the design, creation and assembly of a product, as well as the order processing and delivery of it as well.)

It is evident that a lot of thought has gone into his products. I can’t really go into too many details as I was sworn to secrecy on a number of things, but my overall impressions were raised even higher than the opinion I already had of Daryl. Not to mention that he is probably one of the nicest and most personable guys I have ever met.

On top of all that, I came to Salute 2013 this year with an agenda to speak with Daryl about his web site as well and let him know how I thought it was really hurting his business. I had sent him an email telling him as much, providing feedback from listeners of the show and people who have expressed difficulties with ordering to me.

One of the things I have always felt that the KR system struggles under, is it’s flexibility. This is both an advantage and drawback. It’s an advantage when using it, but a drawback when trying to figure out what you need to order!

Before I was even able to open my mouth to him about it, I was treated to a demonstration of KR’s new “AutoFill!” function going live on his web site in about a month. Holy crap! It is better than I could have even hoped!

Basically it works like this:

1. You select the model types and numbers, based on Army Type and game, that you want to buy foam/cases for.
2. You hit the call to action button.

The output tells you exactly what trays you want and how they fill the cardcases. If you are short of filling one of the cardcases completely, it makes suggestions based on the army you have chosen, on how to fill the remaining space.

Clean. Simple. Effective. I think this is really the answer KR needs and it will eliminate tons of confusion around his products.

Daryl also took us out to lunch at his local pub, and I finally got the whole “Friendly Pub” experience I had been expecting since coming over here! Of course I ordered lasagna, as opposed to anything particularly English, but the food was amazing and the service was fantastic.

In addition to all of that, I had not realized that KR is also putting out terrain boards and modular terrain, that function with their new line of furniture quite nicely as well. Of course along with the modular terrain will be the card cases and foam to protect them! No more chipped terrain pieces with the pink foam showing through underneath!

My day at KR was really enjoyable. Jason and I talked extensively about it on the train ride home and we were both equally impressed. Most people wouldn’t choose to spend a day of their vacation touring a manufacturing facility, but I am so glad I did.

Thanks for everything Daryl!

The Overlords rent a small place behind a church through their club dues. The building is known as “The Scout Hut” and is so named because this is also where the local chapter of the UK Version of the Boy Scouts meets. I thought the name had a clever double meaning.

I was eager to see The Scout Hut that The Overlords play at for a number of reasons. The first was that I am always interested in how clubs organize and where they play. Where I am from, we don’t really have official organized clubs, with dues and structure. I mean there are a few, but it doesn’t seem to be the majority of the way that games are played in my area. But I was interested if there was some other benefit to forming a club in my area. We had discussed creating a club based on, and supported by the show at one point. But I think we have abandoned that idea.

Secondly, I had heard about The Overlords games for years through their Podcast and I was interested to put places and names to “faces” if you will. Only so much can be conveyed through words and pictures. Seeing it in person gives you the feel and dynamics of where the group plays and how they interact with each other.

Jason and I caught a train down to a bus stop where we ran into several members of the club waiting for the same line. I introduced myself and we started talking about the upcoming team event while we waited for the bus to arrive. Everyone, as expected by this point, was very friendly and eager to chat. The bus arrived and after about 20 minutes or so, it deposited us across the street from a church. To get to The Scout Hut itself you walk around the side of the church to the back.

When we arrived all of the terrain and tables had already been set up. I think Jason had expected to be there early enough to help with this, but apparently people had arrived early and helped out. The Scout Hut itself is good sized wooden building, with wooden floors. It’s fairly non-descript. I can see how it would be used for the aforementioned Scout Meetings, but it also provided plenty of open space, an attached kitchen as well as two restrooms. Chairs and folding plastic tables (close to the kind we use at The Boiler Room) were in good supply. Pretty much exactly what you need to set up a great play area for 40k!

It was a comfortable temperature outside that day, so I am not sure if there was heating or air conditioning for the building. I could see how it could get pretty cold or hot in the building based on the outside temperatures.

I went about introducing myself and taking pictures of peoples armies and the tables, while Jason lept into action getting the place organized and ready for play. Quite a few people were arriving, and I think we ended up with somewhere in the neighborhood of 22-24 players by the time all was said and done. Many of these players were not regulars of the club, but were instead coming by after Salute because they had heard about it via the Podcast. This is a great example of how The Overlords have marketed themselves as a club through their Podcast, which was the original intent of the show to begin with. It seems to have worked as they have a fairly robust roster of players on hand currently.

Jason then put all the names of players into a hat and drew them out, one at a time, forming teams and picking the tables they would play on. I found myself paired with Keith. A newer player, but one that had gone in with “both feet” as I like to say, because virtually everything he put down on the table for his Blood Angels was a Forge World Model! And they say GW’s barrier for entry is too high…

We apologized to each other right away. Myself for being a terrible team member and he for not having the strongest grasp of the rules. I assured him we would go down in defeat together, but have a good time doing so! Our opponents were Shagga Warboss (from the show) and Chris, another player who was new that day to the club. Chris has an AMAZINGLY painted Dark Eldar army that we have watched being painted on our Hobby Progress Challenge Forums. Shagga was bringing his traitor guard “Blood Pact”. If you are familiar with Dan Abnetts Gaunts Ghosts series, you may be familiar with The Blood Pact already.

I talk about this game on Episode 125 of The Overlords – so I won’t go into too much detail here. I will say two things about it:

1. The game was incredibly fun and very close. End result kill points were 9-8
2. US Steel from Life After the Cover Save, will be happy to know I represented for the United States well this game!

After five rounds of my first game, pairing and tables were decided for the second (and final) round of the day. The original plan was that I would play against none other than Steve later that evening, but I told Jason I was running out of steam. I was dealing with very little in the way of sleep this day as the whole jetlag thing was hitting me pretty hard.

So Steve came down to the club early and we were paired up against two Necron opponents whose names completely elude me at this time. Steve is an absolute gentleman and has really been the driving force behind the Overlords for the past three years. He has just recently announced that he is stepping back from running the Podcast and the Club itself, and has passed the reigns over to others for each of those aspects of the club. But after years of listening to him on the show, I was determined to meet him in person and play with him in one capacity or another. He had brought his Grey Knight list, which if you are a listener of The Overlords, you are familiar with at this point. It primarily consists of strike squads and terminators. With that in mind we came up with cunning plan of putting 3 of the 4 objectives deep in enemy territory and deep striking all the Terminators we had into their backfield.

It wasn’t as clever as we though it would be. We worked our way through plans A, B and C. Then got almost all the way to Plan “F” (F for Table Flip), but fortunately for our opponents, we were tabled before reaching that critical moment! Absolutely NOTHING went right for us this game, except the laughter! I have never been beaten so soundly and laughed so much as it happened! Thanks to Steve and our opponents for a great game and lots of laughs. I seriously wouldn’t have changed a thing about this game either.

By this point, I was absolutely exhausted. People were wrapping up their games and I sat down to relax a bit. As I was listening to someone talk to me about how they did, my eyes blinked a couple of times and then closed for good. I was out. Asleep in a chair until it was time to help pack up all the tables, chairs and terrain and then call it a day. Jason tried to tell me of some ridiculous plan to go to a pub with Andy and John, but I made it clear in no uncertain terms that this was unacceptable! I was going back to his place and right to bed.

We got a ride from someone with a car, to the tube station and made our way back to Jasons apartment. The walk had done me some good and we spent the evening talking about the days events, until I crashed out again around 10pm with a smile on my face.

Another great day of being in London. Thanks to everyone who hung out with me today. I’m sorry I have forgotten a lot of your names… I’ll blame the jetlag.

Tomorrow would be a day of wandering London and then recording with The Overlords!

I had passed on going to Adepticon again this year in favor of a trip to the UK. Salute falls on the same weekend as Adepticon, every single time as far as I can tell, and it is a very different type of event. While Adepticon focuses on the tournaments, classes and activities, Salute is more of a miniatures gaming trade show. As you wander around the convention hall, you pass booth after booth of small to large vendors showing you their wares from just about any period in time (past and future)! Salute is put on by the South London Warlords. While they started out as a gaming club, and still are, they have clearly transcended some boundaries by growing the biggest miniatures gaming event in the UK.

The Overlords were supposed to meet around 9:30 that morning, as the doors would open at 10am. After catching the tube and making my one change of trains, I couldn’t understand how we got so lost the previous evening. It was quite easy to get where I wanted to be. Eventually, some other gamers got on the train I was on. Gamers look the same in whatever country you are in…

I arrived a bit earlier than intended, but considering that I had gotten lost the previous night with Jason, I didn’t want to show up late. The Excel Convention center, where the event is hosted, has the capactiy to put on multiple events at the same time. I quickly found the queue that was forming for Salute and struck up a conversation with some World War 2 historical gamers waiting with me. Within minutes, the line was massively long! It was a good thing I arrived early. However, I will say that the event organizers did an amazing job of keeping everything moving along and directing traffic accordingly.

We were handed schwag bags as we waited in line. I didn’t really inspect mine at the time. I was close to the front of the line, with perhaps two hundred people ahead of me, so I entered the hall and immediately began looking at The Warlords presentation table which consisted of an amazing table set for Hammers Slammers. (You can see all of the pictures I took on our Facebook page.) I’m not sure exactly what system this was for, but the presentation was incredible.

I wanted to meet up with Daryl from KR Multicase before he got too busy, so I made a direct line over to the KR Multicase booth. It wasn’t hard to find as the giant foam KR letters stood tall above the rest of the displays. I know Daryl through email and phone calls, but meeting one of our longest sponsors was a real pleasure. He is an incredibly friendly guy and was eager to show me the new line of KR Gaming Furniture we had talked about before. These tables, bookshelves, and a fold out desk (which is really clever), are really top quality pieces at a very reasonable price. They are all designed to work, of course, with the KR Card Cases, so everything fits perfectly together. I was most impressed with the 4×4 table/desk. In the UK, where space is at a premium, I can see these working really well in small houses and apartments. The 4×6 table had me seriously wondering if my wife could withstand the purchase of two of these for my game room. As they aren’t quite available in the United States yet, my wallet, and likely my life, were spared. The desks and tables are made of solid wood. No pressboard wood here! More information is coming on these soon – but seeing them first hand, I have to say I was VERY impressed.

As I stood there talking with the KR Folks, Jason found me. Jason and I had so many listeners of both our shows come up to us to say hello and talk to us about our respective shows… it was incredibly flattering. I tried to get pictures with each and every person that came up to talk to me. I have uploaded those to the Facebook page as well. If you see yourself there, please tag your photo as I am TERRIBLE with names and can’t remember them all! I think Jason was surprised at how many people came up and introduced themselves. As the token American guy on a British based Podcast, I think he stands out a bit! Everyone was very friendly. I am truly humbled by how much these people enjoy the Podcast. If you were too shy to approach and introduce yourself, don’t be! We are ALWAYS happy to meet listeners and hear their feedback.

John from the Overlords started talking about how he had not won a KR backpack. I had forgotten about that! There were 250 “Golden Tickets” placed at random in the Schwag Bags that were passed out in line. I looked in my bag and found the KR Envelope and pulled it out. “Do you just look in the envelope to see if you have a ticket?” I asked John as I produced the envelope from the bag.

John rolled his eyes as he said “If you have the envelope, you’ve won!” Chris Jones on our Facebook page had called it. The guy who didn’t need to win a KR backpack more than anyone, had won. As it turned out I DID need the backpack after all. I redeemed the coupon for the bag and used it to carry the stuff I was acquiring throughout the day! However, we will give this backpack away on the show when I return home as well.

Jason and I made our way to the Black Library booth where I was surprised to see Chris Wraight amongst our companions from the previous evening! Chris and I had talked the year before at Adepticon and he, like his colleagues is incredibly friendly and outgoing. He provided me with a signed copy of Blood of Asaheim for us to give away on the show. More on that when I get back.

Guy Haley and John French were looking a little rough around the edges from the previous evening, as was Eve (Now known as “Jazz Hands”) but we chatted for awhile and I told Guy we would head over to the KR booth with him when he was done with his signing period.

I then swung by the Forge World booth to see how Ead was hanging in there. He holds his alcohol better than the rest of us apparently…

Walking around Salute was truly impressive. There are so many miniatures dealers and small companies popping up all of the time. Of course many of these were not 40k related but they were impressive! Dropzone Commander looks fantastic, and their display which incorporated their new cardboard buildings and cityscape mats was really incredible. It was above their booth at an angle, and since the scale of their models is so small it made it hard to see. But that’s what the binoculars were for! They had the binoculars there at the table and when looking through them at the display, you got the feeling you were looking at a massive battle taking place through the eyes of someone in the field. It was really great fun!

I had heard about the game Ronin on a recent episode of Worlds End Radio and wasn’t particularly interested. That was until I saw the models at the Ronin booth! These are FANTASTIC! If you are into Japanese mythology at all, this might be the game for you. Ronin is a skirmish game, the models are reasonably priced, and the detail and character of the figures is amazing. It is definitely worth your time to check out and take a listen to the Worlds End Radio episode that is covering it. I know I am going to go back for a second listen now.

The passion of people involved in the miniatures gaming hobby is impressive. On numerous occasions I would stop to look at a Civil War, World War 2, some fantasy or science fiction based table display and be approached by the people that put it together or were playing a game on it. They were all very friendly and eager to tell me what was going on or answer any questions I might have had. I have a lot of respect for anyone so passionate about what they do.

Last but not least, Maxmini had a really nice display and a model I had not seen before. Their version of The Great Unclean One. Both impressive in size, and reasonably priced (for such a model), I decided to go with this model instead of the Forge World one. I like to have my army look unique, and I haven’t seen anyone in my area with this particular version. It’s going to be a great addition to my Nurgle force and it looks really fun to paint.

By 4:30pm, Jason and I were absolutely wipe out. Walking around the concrete floor all day was exhausting and our feet were killing us. There were plans to meet up with The Overlords at the local restaurunt/pub “The Fox” where we had an area reserved. We arrived to find Overlords and listeners already deeply engaged in conversations. I met more fans of the show, was handed more alcohol and jumped into many conversations. This was fantastic fun and I want to thank the guys from The Overlords for setting it up.

Again, I was unable to keep track of everyone I met. There were just too many people and the alcohol induced fuzziness doesn’t help that much. I am creating an album on our Facebook page specifically for people we met. Please go and tag yourself there. This will help me to talk about it on the show later!

The developers of Battlescribe arrived and began drinking with us as well. I apologized to John from Battlescribe for not returning his email, which was languishing in my inbox for the last month, and assured him we would get him on the show to talk about his product and why I should stop using his competitors!

I finally had to start refusing the drinks people were buying for me. In my younger days I could have continued, but the older version of Carl cannot do that two nights in a row.

With that Salute 2013 was over. I am incredibly happy I came and attended. To all the new friends I have made; thank you! Everyone has been amazing and supportive.

Jason and I made our way over to my hotel, where I grabbed my bags and we then hopped back on a train to Jasons place. Thank you to Jason and his wife Megan for putting me up for the next few nights. It has made this trip much more affordable, but also has been a lot of fun.

The next day would be a team event at The Overlords Scout Hut…

I crashed in my hotel for about four hours, woke up feeling pretty refreshed. I got ready and then met up with Jason at the nearby Train station.

Being from California, where we drive everywhere, I was in for a bit of a shock. For those who have never been to London, it has an AMAZING public transportation system. The backbone of which is the London Tube. Basically an interconnected system of railways that run on a frequent schedule. You can get anywhere in the city by this system and once you figure out how the maps for it work, you are set!

Jason and I headed out to the Ibis Hotel which is located near The Excel Center, where Salute would be the following day. We met up with a wonderful group from the Forge World and Black Library teams, which included, but was not limited to; John French, Eadwine Brown, Guy Haley. Names you might recognize…

John French is a Games Workshop employee who has recently released his first full length Black Library Novel, Ahriman: Exile. Thats simplifying his influence quite a bit though. He has also helped with the writing of some of our favorite Forge World books, such as The Baddab War and the more recent, Horus Heresy: Betrayal. We covered his Black Library novel in a recent Forbidden Lore Segment. Unfortunately, being a GW Employee and not a freelance Black Library author, John wasn’t able to join us for the segment on the show. But meeting up with him in person finally was a real treat as we got to discuss aspects of the novel that we either agreed or disagreed with in our coverage. John is a consummate gentleman and just an incredibly fun guy to talk with. I consider myself lucky for having gotten to know him! As much as we had feedback for John in our coverage of his novel. John had feedback for us in regards to our recent episode about White Dwarf. I loved having this ongoing coversation with him and it was great to hear his thoughts on the subject as someone from inside the company.

Eadwine Brown has been a great friend over the last couple of years and to finally get to meet him in person was a real honor. We have missed each other numerous times and aborted Adepticon visits to failed plans to meet at PAX. You are most likely familiar with him if you have ever ordered anything from Forge World. He currently runs their Customer Care and shipping center. His Team is responsible for making sure you get your models and if there is a problem, resolving it. He also reaches out to you every week through the Forge World mailing list. So if you receive those weekly Forge World emails about what has just been released, he sent it to you! Like the rest of the group I am going to refer to here – Ead is a real gentleman and has a wonderful sense of humor. Jason and I found ourselves in hysterics many times that evening as a result of his running commentary. I secretly idolize him, but I am beginning to think he suspects…

Showing up slightly late to the dinner table was Guy Haley. Guy has recently released his first full length 40k Novel – Baneblade. I had no prior knowledge of Guy, but as we started talking I immediately grew to like him very much. He was eager for me to read his new book (which he signed for me!) and hear my feedback. We will absolutely be having Guy join us on an upcoming Forbidden Lore. During the evening, Guy explained his frustrations with his massive Ork army constantly breaking when he transported it in old GW cases and how he had plans to purchase a case from a company that rhymes with Thunderdome. The table went silent as people told him that he was breaking my heart. I promised to introduce him to Daryl from KR Multicase the next day at Salute and show him, what I think is, a better option…

I’m clearly going to forget some names here, but in addition to the above mentioned folks, we had wonderful conversations with Eve (“Jazz Hands”), Chris, Mal… and at that point it gets fuzzy. You see, I don’t drink often. So when I do, I don’t have much tolerance for it. So after we left the restaurant, hit a nearby pub, were ushered out of that at closing, and then back to the hotel for more drinks (including John French’s “C’mon Carl just one more beer!” invitation). Jason and I stumbled our way to the Tube line to try to get me back to the hotel.

Of course, after Jason deposited me at the West Ham rail station to catch his own train home. I realized, as I danced from foot to foot, full of beer, that my train wasn’t coming. The bright sign that said “Out of Service” was the obvious indication that it had stopped running for the evening.

“How far could it be?” I asked myself. And proceeded to walk in what I thought was the direction of my hotel. As I walked I started sending text messages to Geoff about how awesome the Forge World and Black Library guys were. Ten minutes later Jason called my cell to check on me and I explained the situation.

“You need to go back to the train station and get a cab dude.” He said.

“I can walk from here. I’m sure I can figure it out.” I replied.

“Let me put it this way. You are in Oakland right now.” Jason translated for me.

“I’m now walking back to the train station.” I said as I turned around quickly.

Oakland, California is not a place I want to wander around in at 2am in the morning. Apparently neither is West Ham London.

I was able to grab a cab back to my hotel, which was a LOT further than I realized. I crashed out on my bed, exhausted but really excited about how this trip had started! The next morning would be Salute 2013, where I would get to hang out with many of The Overlords and finally meet Daryl from KR Multicase in person, after a 2+ year Internet friendship and business relationship…

Thank you to everyone for letting me spend the evening laughing and drinking with you. It will go down as one of the highlights of my trip.

If you are reading this post and you are NOT looking at our Facebook Page – you are missing out on some great photos and posts about what is currently going on. Please do join us there!

These guys put on the BEST narrative type events in the area (In my opinion). You can see from the video and photos of their latest event, just why Geoff and myself enjoy playing with this group so much. They are demonstrating exactly how awesome Warhammer 40k can be in a non-tournament environment!

More information about the G3 Santa Cruz group can be found here: http://www.g3santacruz.com/site/

However, before I knew it we were booked for a trip to Chicago to go to Adepticon. And before I could even really process THAT fact, we were asked by Matt Weeks of Adepticon, to cover the finals of the Championship Tournament, live! This required an immense amount of preparation and planning on our part and was really outside the scope of my original intention of attending the show. It didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked, but we pulled it off and The Independent Characters actually received quite a bit of praise for doing such a good job.

The next year, we were asked back. This time we upped the ante. Multiple camera angles, wide screen, lapel mics (which required a bit of convincing of the staff that it would be worth doing)… and finally an amazing amount of fan support for our efforts. This resulted in making the trip much more affordable this time around.

However, Warhammer World was always in the back of my mind. But it was SO far away… travelling across the United States is one thing, but taking myself to another country entirely was quite another. As I began to discuss with my wife what I would like to do, it took the form of a family vacation. However, we quickly realized that the cost of this vacation would exceed what we were really willing to pay. Hawaii, which is our vacation destination of choice, was much more affordable and warm! (my wife doesn’t like the cold!)

So it seemed as though the dream was going to die there. Until my incredibly wonderful wife said “Well if we can’t all go. You should go do it alone.” I think I asked her to repeat herself a couple of times.

Thus the planning began for The Great Crusade! I hoped to make a significant trip out of it, and since I was not burdened with anyone else on this trip. I could go where I wanted, when I wanted, and see the things that interested me the most, without fear of guilt for not paying attention to my family. Truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

My journey begins on April 18th, when I fly out of San Francisco International Airport and arrive on the 19th in London, England with my Ultramarines safely tucked in my KR Multicase backpack!

Here is the rough itinerary of what I will be doing:

• April 19th – Arrive in London in the AM. Drink with some Forge World and Black Library folks in the evening after they prepare for…
• April 20th – Salute! What appears to be an AMAZING convention/trade show! I will be attending with several members and listeners of The Overlords!
• April 21st – Gaming with The Overlords! A Team event that will last all day at their gaming club!
• April 22nd – Tour London during the day and recording with The Overlords at night! I have guested on many Podcasts over the years, but this will be the first international one I attend in person! We already have some interesting topics lined up for this discussion.
• April 23rd – Visit the KR Multicase Factory! A sponsor since the beginning, Daryl from KR is a great guy and has agreed to show me around their facility.
• April 24th – Take a Train to Nottingham in the evening.
• April 25th – Play all day at none other than the gaming Mecca… Warhammer World! I will even get to hang out and play a few games with a some friends I have made from Forge World.
• April 26th – More playing at Forge World. This much time there just MIGHT be unhealthy. I will take that risk! Then I will take a train back to London to spend the last two days with a family friend before heading home.

Somewhere in those dates of the 23rd – 25th, I plan on taking a few of my new friends to a dinner. Maybe I will even get to rub elbows with a few famous (infamous) GW employees.

Not many people in the world get to take such a trip with so much potential in it. With that in mind, I plan to heavily document this experience. I will be tracking everything via Video, Photos and Blog entries. You will be able to find every update about my trip here, under The Great Crusade category on our main website. If you have any interest in this at all and you are not a member of our Facebook page yet. You may want to become one. The fun begins soon…

While I doubt you are as excited as I am about this adventure, I hope to demonstrate for everyone how much fun it really is, and maybe share that experience with you a bit. If you have any special requests of anything you would like to see or hear about while I am on this journey. Let me know here and I will see what I can do!

Until then.

For The Emperor!

All of that and we haven’t even discussed Hobby Progress and Games Played yet! (Of which there will be MANY!)

As Carl is travelling to London and Nottingham over the next couple of week, Episode 77 will drop on May 12th. It’s still a little ways off, but it’s already shaping up to be one of our best episodes ever!

So stay tuned…

On the edge of the Segmentum Tempestus, the Orpheus Sector has stood as a bulwark against the outer darkness for millennia. Forged in war and preserved by the blood of the Imperium’s soldiers, it has stood against the privations of the Orks from without and the treachery of the Ruinous Powers from within, but now a new terror has risen that is beyond anything it has faced before.

From their cold tombs beneath forbidden and dead worlds rise the Necrons of the ancient Maynarkh Dynasty. Tainted by madness and abominable hunger, undying warrior-legions and the fearsome war engines of a lost age strike without warning, seeking to exterminate the humans that now infest their former domains. The Space Marines of the Minotaurs Chapter and the relentless armies of the Death Korps of Krieg stand ready to defend the sector, but can even these forces hold before the nightmare that has come to Orpheus?

Imperial Armour Volume Twelve: The Fall of Orpheus, written by Alan Bligh, is a mighty 232-page, full colour tome, packed with lavish maps, colour profiles and photographs. The horrors of the Orphean War are recounted in detail, alongside a new variant Necron army list – the Dark Harvest – which represents the tainted Maynarkh Dynasty, and full rules for new Necron units such as the Night Shroud Bomber, the Canoptek Acanthrites and the mighty Tomb Citadel.

The book also contains a new Death Korps of Krieg army list – the Assault Brigade – updated background, units and characters for the Minotaurs Space Marine Chapter, as well as rules for numerous Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine units.

Imperial Armour Volume Twelve: The Fall of Orpheus is available to pre-order now, for despatch from Friday 3rd May.

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 journey to the Mecca of 40k!

We will miss you probably more than you will miss us though. So we will see you in about a month.

Show Timestamps

• Show Overview and intro – 00:00:00
• The Workbench & Games Played – 00:06:00
• Cheating on your spouse with 40k – 01:06:20
• The Warrior Lodge #5 – 01:30:00
• Final Thoughts and Show Closing – 02:19:10

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• The Brush and Bolter – SPONSOR
• Spruehammer – SPONSOR
• Article on the 40k forums that inspired this topic
• IC Campaign Site
• Forge World
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle

We recommend downloading the episode as opposed to listening through the site. We seem to hit some type of process limit on days we release the episode, but it only affects people listening from the site directly.

The Independent Characters – Episode 76

From simple strategies for acquiring new models without arousing suspicion to advanced techniques for gaming at Secret Gaming Speakeasy Dens, we will discuss how to get your game on while challenged by a spouse that isn’t gamer friendly!

We also have a lengthy discussion in the games played section about our first foray into Zone Mortalis on Carl’s new premium Forge World board. And to top it all off we have our fifth installment of The Warrior Lodge!

This episode will drop on April 7th.

Note also that this will be the last episode to drop until May 12th, at which time we will return for Episode 77: Imperial Armour 12 – The Fall of Orpheus!

During this time we will still be providing great content on our main website (theindependentcharacters.com) and our Facebook page as Carl travels to the UK, hangs out at Salute with The Overlords and makes his way up to Nottingham to hang out at Warhammer World!

We gained a lot of momentum throughout (and beyond) the contest and it really helps the show get the exposure we are looking for. So thank you again.

We have drawn a winner, and that individual is…

Ryan Baxter of Florida, USA!

Congratulations Ryan! We are shipping the book out to you today.

If you didn’t win, we are running more contests in the near future for other great prizes (though truth be told this is a pretty awesome prize) for Facebook likes as well as iTunes reviews. So keep ‘em coming. People who have already liked our Facebook page or left us reviews are always entered into these types of contests regardless of when they did it!

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 Thoughts and Show Closing – 02:54:30

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• The Brush and Bolter – SPONSOR
• Spruehammer – SPONSOR
• Article on the 40k forums that inspired this topic
• IC Campaign Site
• Forge World
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle

We recommend downloading the episode as opposed to listening through the site. We seem to hit some type of process limit on days we release the episode, but it only affects people listening from the site directly.

The Independent Characters – Episode 75

Several things caught my eye, but in particular one of the pieces that stood out were the Lava Pools. These are a very simple concept, but an effective one. Though they are titled as Lava Pools, they would make excellent toxic pools, or Tyranid Digestion Pools as well.

I bought a couple of them immediately upon seeing them. They are sold in a pack of three of them, with the largest measuring about 7 inches by 4 and a half inches, and run $12 USD for the set. They come unpainted, but each one I purchased was entirely free of flash or mold lines.

The pools appear very easy to paint up, no matter how you decide to do them, and are striking when you see them on the table. I now have three sets of them and scattering them around a table will make for a dangerous and fun battlefield.

I cannot recommend these enough. they are very nice pieces for a great price. I have picked up several other pieces from him and I will be reviewing each of those in turn. This is really indicative of the rest of his work though. It is high quality and there is extreme attention to detail.

You can find them here:

http://www.mrdandy.com/wargamma-lava-pools/

5 out of 5 stars!

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

We recommend downloading the episode as opposed to listening through the site. We seem to hit some type of process limit on days we release the episode, but it only affects people listening from the site directly.

The Independent Characters – Episode 74

Tomorrow we will release The Warrior Lodge portion of the show, which is a 1 hour segment along with an intro and closure. Episode 74 will be a short one, clocking in at just over an hour.

Episode 75 will have us picking up the topic of Identifying your 40k Playstyle (Which was originally slated for Episode 74). We actually have more to talk about now that so much time has passed anyway. So this episode might turn into a lengthy one. It will also include some interviews with some exciting vendors we spoke to from The Bay Area Open.

We apologize for the delay in topic. This has really been one disaster after another with this episode! However, we did not waste the time we were together this evening. Geoff and Carl talked at length about some new ideas for the show, and came up with a great two-parter show we think you guys will love! We have shows scheduled out through October at this point… so there is no shortage of material!

So please bear with us as we try to patch the holes.

Our good friend Kevin has provided us with an amazing prize for one lucky listener of The Independent Characters, and here is how you can be that lucky winner:

Like our Facebook Page.

That’s it. All you have to do is go to our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/theindependentcharacters and click the “Like” button. If you have already done so, congratulations! You are entered into the drawing already.

When we reach 2000 “Likes” on our Facebook page, we will randomly select one person and send* them a brand new copy of the Warhammer 40k 6th Edition rulebook collectors edition. The pictures included below are pictures of the actual copy you will receive. This incredible book comes in a slip case that opens up to reveal panels of artwork. The book itself, is of amazing quality with the print number (3275/4000) right on the inside cover.

This book has been sold out since shortly after the release of Warhammer 40k 6th Edition. Sure you can occassionally find them on eBay or other sites, but this is the only way you are going to win one for free.

Thank you again, Kevin for providing this INCREDIBLE prize. You have no idea how hard it is for us to give away!

Good luck to all who have, or will, enter!

*Note that we will pay up to $20 USD in shipping fees with the winner paying any additional balance on shipping. This should cover sending the book to most destinations. Unfortunately, some destinations are quite expensive for us to send prize support to.

Our apologies for the delay. We take our schedule very seriously around here. So we do everything we can to make sure each episode is on time. But sometimes events happen that are out of our control and this is one of them. In fact, this is the first time we have missed a deadline due to illness. I’m honestly surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

We had a couple of options. We could have thrown the Warrior Lodge that will be included in this episode out as bonus content to tide you over. We could have rushed to get a group of scabs in there (I mean… friends) to stand in for Geoff. But honestly, who could really fill those shoes?

So we decided to just delay it a few days and do a rush edit job on this episode and throw it out to you on Wed the 13th!

Thanks for your patience.

Carl and Geoff