Angrons and Lorgars fleets are making their way closer to Terra at the behest of Horus. Unable to control himself, Angron continues to slow the pace of their mission by indulging in wanton slaughter of each and every planet they come across on the way.

As tension between Angron and his brother grows over the pace of their progress, another threat reveals itself. Will it draw the siblings together or tear them apart in an orgy of blood and destruction?

As usual, Aaron Dembski-Bowden has written a fascinating story. One that tantalizes us with the promise of hidden secrets but only reveals just enough to keep us wanting more!

The production levels here are continuing to improve on what was already excellent work in the past. This audio drama involves multiple voice actors and the talent is clearly there. The sound effects can, as usual, get a little repetitive sometimes, but this is largely overshadowed by the excellent story.

My one complaint about the story is Angron himself. Not only did I not particularly care for the voice actor that was chosen for this role, but I didn’t care for the depiction of the Primarch himself. I felt like his slip into madness was already too far along at this point in the Heresy. But what do I know? I am certain there are big things ahead for him that hasn’t been revealed to us yet.

Interestingly enough, the depiction of Kharn at this point isn’t as far down the road to madness that I would have expected!

However, without spoiling anything, I can say that I am definitely interested to see where this character goes from here. We all know how this story ends, but the journey there is looking (and sounding!) like it is going to be a interesting one.

This story seemed slightly longer than some of the previous audio dramas, and clocked in at about an hour and fifteen minutes. If you are a fan of the audio dramas that have come out before, I highly recommend picking up this one as well.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/butchers-nails.html

Krakken is a much shorter story, in fact it’s sold as an e-book only. The e-book (let’s call it what it really is, a short story) runs $2.99, but the payout you get for your money with this story is well worth it!

The story follows one Space Wolf in particular, Kvara, and you can see how the main character ties directly into the “Lone Wolf” unit with the “Monster Hunter” Saga from the Space Wolves Codex.

Where Chris Wraight could have written a very direct and simple short story, he actually layers this tale in several ways. You follow Kvara as he hunts down a mysterious creature on a water planet. But you are also party to his thoughts as he recalls not only his trials which lead him to become a Space Marine, but also the tragedy which led to his following the path of the lone wolf.

This is a short review for a short story, but to say more would risk spoiling some great scenes. Pick up this short story for a quick but exciting and thoroughly entertaining adventure!

http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/kraken-ebook.html

Not only that – We have a new Rites of Battle discussing three principles of war, and then last but not least we have our Forbidden Lore about Legion of The Damned with Rob Sanders himself! It should be a fantastic episode with lot’s of fun things to discuss afterwards as well. Look for it soon!

This episode is dropping May 20th.

This segment will drop with our episode that releases on July 1st!

http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/emperors-gift.html

The Grey Knights are all that stands between mankind and the ravages of Chaos. Since their secretive beginnings during the Horus Heresy, these legendary Space Marine daemon hunters have journeyed into the dark realms of the warp – and beyond – in pursuit of their supernatural enemies. Through an intensive regime of psychic training, new recruits are brought to the clandestine fortress of Titan to join the hallowed and vaunted ranks of the 666th Chapter. More than ever, these legendary battle-brothers must be vigilant and ever ready to defend the Imperium for the forces of Chaos are never truly defeated, and Armageddon beckons…

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.

Since Ed will be here, we are sure the banter will be witty – from his side of the mic anyway! If you are unable to attend live, don’t worry! It will be available for viewing from our Ustream Site.

You can catch all the action here at about 6pm PST on 05/11.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-independent-characters

Wrath of Iron, the latest Space Marine Battles Novel by author Chris Wraight is unlike any of the other Space Marine Battles books I have read before it. Usually, once I finish reading a Black Library book about Space Marines, I feel compelled to start a Warhammer 40k Army based on the chapter I just read about. This is not one of those cases. But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a good book. In fact, it’s just the opposite!

The Iron Hands are a particular difficult chapter to sympathize with. Their utter disregard for human life is unparalleled by any of the other loyalist Chapters. It may even rival some traitor marines! The expenditure, or even perceived waste of human life, by the commander of The Iron Hands is incredible, and it makes it hard to sympathize with the problems that the chapter has.

For those that don’t know, the Iron Hands seek to replace the “weakness” of their flesh by augmenting themselves with bionics. This is a flaw in the Iron Hands psyche, as the further they modify themselves, the more of what is left of their humanity, is surrendered. This is the crux of the conflict within the Iron Hands themselves. It is made even more tragic, by the fact that their Primarch Ferrus Manus, sought to rid himself and his sons of their compulsive addiction to bionics.

While Wrath of Iron deals with a conflict between the forces of Slaanesh on the planet Shardenus, this is really just the backdrop to the interactions of the Imperial Guard and forces of the Titan Legion under the command of The Iron Hands. To that end we see the story unfold from the perspective of many different people. From infiltrating loyalist forces, the commanders of The Imperial Guard, to the mysterious Mechanicus leaders of The Titan Battlegroup Praxes and the multiple personalities within The Iron Hands themselves, we are treated to many interpretations of the prosecution of the war on Shardenus. As with many books that take this sort of approach, I found some stories to be much more engaging than others, but when you step back and look at the whole picture that is painted by the end of the book, you can’t help but be moved by some of the stories.

This is not the “Feel good book of the year”, but it isn’t supposed to be. This is 40k Fiction in it’s purest form. And no one escapes by the end, no one escapes unscathed, or unchanged as the case may be.

If you are enjoying the Space Marine Battles Books as much as I am, you are definitely not going to want to miss this one!

http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/wrath-of-iron.html

Not only will we disuss our hobby progress and games played leading up to Adepticon, but we will then go into details about the Adepticon 40k Friendly event, the Team Tournament that Zach and Geoff participated in, and the our coverage of the finals!

To add to all of that, we have an interview with Black Library author Chris Wraight (Battle of The Fang, Wrath of Iron) AND Rob Sanders (Atlas Infernal, Legion of The Damned).

The audio is slightly lower than intended in this episode as we are getting used to a new way to record the show, but we are nearly there! Our next epsiode should have perfect audio. Certainly we have made tremendous improvements recording from Skype – so for once Zach doesn’t sound like he is halfway across the galaxy!

Due to a scheduling error with Rob Sanders, we have rescheduled our Forbidden Lore on Legion of The Damned to Episode 53, but don’t worry, he will be joining us for the entire thing! We can’t wait to hear what insight he has into this fantastic book!

Show Timestamps

• Show Overview and intro – 00:00:00
• The Workbench & Games Played – 00:07:00
• Adepticon 40k Friendly Event – 00:56:45
• Interview with Chris Wraight – 01:52:45
• Adepticon Team Tournament – 02:09:30
• Adepticon Championship and Finals – 02:50:40
• Interview with Rob Sanders – 03:17:50
• Show Closing – 03:38:30

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• Model Bits – SPONSOR
• Forge World
• Games Workshop
• At Ease Games (San Diego, CA)
• The Rusty Scabbard (Lexington, KY)
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle
• Frontline Gaming

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 52

Not only that, we have an interview with Black Library Author Chris Wraight about, amongst other things, his new novel – Wrath of Iron.

Then to cap it all off we are going to have our Forbidden Lore segment for Legion of The Damned! And who better to join us than the author himself… Rob Sanders!

It’s going to be a great episode and we hope you enjoy it. Episode 52 will drop on 05/06/2012.

There were parts of the story that really bothered me, for example, the main character; Sarpedon grows spider legs at one point which during a schism in the Soul Drinkers Chapter, results in half the chapter thinking the new appendages are blessings from The Emperor. Really? As farfetched as the 40k universe is, even this was a stretch of my suspension of disbelief.

After that first omnibus, I found myself not really interested in The Soul Drinkers story anymore. However, from time to time I would pick up a new book of theirs when I had nothing else to read and I would push my way through it. Ben Counter has some good writing ability and his description of action scenes was compelling if nothing else.

So when I started reading Phalanx, I really didn’t have too high of expectations for the book. To be honest, I read it a piece at a time in the Hammer and Bolter monthly e-magazine. Well it has now been released as a full length novel.

Now that I have spent all of this time writing the premise for the review, let’s get to what I actually thought about Phalanx itself.

If you have liked the Soul Drinkers at all, even a little bit, you will like this novel. This ultimately appears to be the finale of The Soul Drinkers story. To be honest, Ben Counter has written a HELL of a conclusion to the entire series. This may in fact, be the best novel in the entire series!

The premise has the Soul Drinkers on trial in front of The Imperial Fists (as well as many others), aboard their massive star fortress The Phalanx. The story literally has everything in it! Betrayal, suspense, action…

Even if you haven’t read a few of the predecessor novels, this is a good one to pick up and finish off the series with. You will want to be familiar at least anecdotally with The Soul Drinkers series, so I would highly recommend going back and reading at least a couple of the early works by Ben Counter.

The book is ultimately a good read but stands amongst many other better Warhammer 40k Novels, so in the end it really is pretty standard for 40k fiction, but it’s still pretty enjoyable!

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

Aaron Dembski-Bowdens latest release, The Emperor’s Gift is a very different book than I am used to from Warhammer 40k fiction. The first thing o…ne notices is that the book is hard covered. The art, is not presented on a dust jacket, but is instead displayed right on the cover. It just bears mentioning that the packaging of the book is slick and impressive.

While the central focus of the story revolves around Hyperion, a Grey Knight warrior of Squad Castian, and is in fact, told from his first person account, it goes much deeper than that.

When most players of 40k and fans of the lore around it think of Grey Knights, they think of incorruptible, heroic, space marines. This book, which leads up to the first war for Armageddon and then explores quite a bit beyond that, tears the veneer off of that perception.

The book of course is full of fantastic action scenes, in which battles take place in unique and interesting locations, against a myriad of horrifyingly powerful enemies. But the real story here is what takes place after Armageddon. You get a detailed look into the inner workings of The Inquisition, The Grey Knights, and how these two forces work together and chafe under those arrangements.

Unlike the previous Grey Knight novels, written by Ben Counter, this story is one of sadness and frustration. And while the Grey Knights may be incorruptible, they are certainly not infallible.

And ultimately, you learn why the Wolves of Fenris hold The Inquisition in such disdain. It is rare that a story has two very likeable sides, working at cross purposes and pulls it off with such believability (if such a word can truly be used in the Warhammer 40k universe) and authenticity. But this story does it, and does it well.

This is another great novel from one of The Black Library’s best. If you are at all a fan of Aaron Dembski-Bowdens previous works, you will love this book as well. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. In this case you can’t go wrong. When The Emperor’s Gift releases in June, be sure to pick it up, you won’t be disappointed.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/emperors-gift.html

Can Aaron Dembski-Bowden do no wrong?

This is an older book by the aut…hor, but Cadian Blood is a fantastic and exciting read. Full of enjoyable heroes and villains, I found myself unable to put it down, but dreading that the end of the book was coming all too fast.

Admittedly, I am a real fan-boy of Typhus (He is my favorite 40k villain!) but this is one of the few stories I have read that has him featured in it, and never before with such glorious description. The portrayal of The Herald of Nurgle is so vile and loathsome you wish he took up more of the book than he does! Both he and his Death Guard feature prominently in the story, and you quickly realize why they are such formidable opponents.

The other stars of this novel are the Cadians. I have gone on record saying how much Imperial Guard really do not interest me in 40k, but I found myself close to going and picking up an Imperial Guard codex after reading this depiction of these soldiers. I have a new respect for the coolness of the IG (storm troopers in particular!), and especially the Cadians. These soldiers are portrayed in truly impressive fashion and the banter between them is sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, but always accurate.

Oh and did I mention it also contains one of the most exciting fleet battles I have ever read in a Warhammer 40k book? I didn’t? Well I did now.

The end of the book comes way to soon, but it is a satisfying end when it arrives.

Cadian Blood is difficult to find in paperback, and usually you will pay some good money for it. But it is EASILY available on eBook format through The Black Library. If you don’t have an e-book you can download the software to read them for free. I will say that this is exactly the kind of Black Library offering that should make you purchase an eBook reader.

I have just finished reading an advanced copy of Aaron Dembski-Bowdens, Void Stalker, and I can tell you that come this May, you are in for a treat of …epic proportions!

For those of you who have not read the two predecessor books, Soul Hunter and Blood Reaver. You are missing some of the best Warhammer 40k fiction out there. Aaron brings the Chaos Space Marine of the Night Lords to startling life in this final(?) book of his trilogy. These are true Anti-Heroes. While you like them, you hate yourself for doing so, after you see what they achieve on their old home world. ADB has crafted some truly unique characters here.

Set some time after the events of Blood Reaver, Void Stalker picks up with Talos in command of what is left of the Night Lords and the stolen ship, Echo of Damnation. More has transpired with the two (willing?) human slaves, Septimus and Octavia as well. Some of which might just suprise you.

Finally, the premonitions and visions of Talos, The Prophet, The Soul Hunter, come to light. Does everything happen as he has forseen? I will leave you to see for yourselves, but I can guaranteed you will not be disappointed!

This book is chock full of great action scenes to be sure. But more than that, it is full of complex and enjoyable dialogue and character development.

This is one of those Black Library books that is a “Must Buy”. Fans of this series, and 40k in general, will speak of it for years to come.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/void-stalker.html

You will be able to watch the event live here:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-independent-characters

Broadcasting of the event will start at 6:00am (CST) on Sunday April 22nd. We will cover all 4 rounds of The Championship – so be sure to tune in and check it out!

We apologize for the delay in announcing the winner of this contest. It’s Carl’s fault.

You may remember that we asked contest entries to detail out the Warhammer 40k Independent Character that you think should have won the Best Independent Character status in The Golden Thronies. Entrants were to tell us how they used him (or her) or how he (or she!) was used against them, that makes them feel that IC should have won.

Here was YoungAbrahams entry that won the contest!

Greetings good hosts of the Independent Characters Podcast,

It is with regret and disappointment that I must correct your selection of the “best independent character”. As I am sure you are aware, your transmissions reach the Tau Empire with somewhat of a delay, but I wrote this as soon as I was aware of your “thronies error”.

As you will recall, you selected “Vulkan He’Stan”, a misguided and superstitious zealot of the Imperium’s God-Emperor, as your “best independent character” in the current Warhammer 40,000 game, citing his incredible utility, versatility, and value. The correct answer of course, is the honorable Aun’O’T’au’Acaya’Va’Denta, may his life be eternal and his words known by all. Although as loyal citizens of the Tau Empire, I should not have to explain the reasoning of this selection to you, but I will elaborate in case there is any confusion.

Let us begin with the price of the mighty Aun’O. He clocks in at 205 points, fifteen more than He’Stan’s paltry 190, so quickly does his superiority become clear. This is because the Tau understand the commitment they must make to their commander, and in this case the commitment is a number of points that could easily buy you two of just about anything else in the codex, or indeed just about any special character in the game.

However, it must also be noted that you are not paying 205 points for Aun’O alone, as that is not the Tau way. His already incredible value (he is ever generous!) is boosted by his two loyal, and mandatory, body guards. They are the fiercest close-combat fighters to ever be trained by the Tau Empire, which means they are only slightly worse than an actual assault unit. You might assume they have power weapons, so they could actually hurt something, but obviously if the Tau had perfected that technology, it would be on every Crisis Suit ever. Instead, they are equipped with ridiculous looking axes, designed to lull the foe into a sense of security before attacking with a mighty strength of five! And, should even one of his guards fall to enemy fire, it gives the wise and gifted Aun’O an excellent opportunity to fail a morale check and begin retreating, if he deems it the best course of action. It was once suggested that that if Aun’O has bodyguards of this quality, he should have maybe a dozen of them so they could actually get something done. In his infinite wisdom, he declined, for that would not be sporting to the short-sighted foes of the Empire.

The wargear of our beloved Ethereal is equally magnificent, and its power is difficult to encapsulate in mere words. You might assume that you would get some sort of offensive capability in a character that costs as much as a battle tank, but that is not the way of the Aun’O. Indeed, how would the brave warriors of the Fire Caste feel if their ethereal was forced to fight alongside them? Instead, he has a magic walking stick, a symbol of his total authority. In addition to shielding himself and his guard with a 4+ invulnerable save, which is so impressive that an armor save would be redundant, it also boosts their toughness to a mighty five! As a small aside, it doesn’t boost it in the good way, like crisis suits, but the weak way, so the whole unit could be easily doubled out by an assault cannon, or heavy bolter with psybolts, or a large template of nearly any kind or origin. However, as only the most unspeakably incompetent of commanders would allow his beloved ethereal to come under fire at all, this should never be an issue.

The special rules of the supreme Aun’O are equally impressive, as is only fitting for one of such magnificence. He makes all the Tau that have line of sight to him stubborn, ensuring they do not flee from combat, and instead take just long enough to die to ensure the foe can seamlessly charge into another unit without ever being shot at. And, should the unspeakable happen and he fall in combat, all Tau that pass a morale check fight with preferred enemy and furious charge in hopes of redeeming their inexcusable failure, which won’t be happening as they are still woefully lackluster in assault. While you might point out that this would result in a high percentage of your predominantly-leadership-8 army retreating off of the board from the mandatory morale check, we find this fate entirely fitting for those that were so thoughtless as to let their beloved ethereal die in the first place.

As you can see, the mighty Aun’O is clearly the required choice for this competition, and we expect a revised version of your Episode 49 released in the next week, with the original version pulled from distribution. In addition, we require a list of all individuals who have contributed to, or had direct contact with the production of this episode, as their lack of judgment demonstrates a clear need for cultural re-education.

I look forward to your prompt reply,

Por’Vre’Oo’Lan

Congrats to YoungAbraham! Branden from Smells Like Wargaming will be in touch shortly to find out what 40k Unit you want and how you want it painted!

Thanks to Smells Like Wargaming for sponsoring this awesome contest! Remember, that isn’t your gamer buddies, it’s Smells Like Wargaming!

We also introduce our long-in-production strategy and tactics segment; Rites of Battle. This is largely developed by Zach and for this inaugural segment, we discuss the lexicon of terminology we are going to be using going forward. You won’t want to miss it.

At last but certainly not least, we have our Hobby Progress updates! Did any of The IC’s actually succeed in The Hobby Progress Challenge? You will find out here. To cap it ALL off – we announce the winner and runner up of The Hobby Progress Challenge and exactly what they have won!

Apologies for the delay of the episode, with all the rushing around prior to Adepticon, we have managed to cause ourselves technical and scheduling problems. Please expect us to be on track going forward.

Show Timestamps

• Show Overview and intro! – 00:00:00
• The Workbench & Games Played – 00:09:30
• Adepticon Expectations and Plans – 01:21:58
• Rites of Battle: Strategy and Tactics – 02:09:28
• Show Closing – 02:44:12

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• Model Bits – SPONSOR
• Forge World
• Forge Worlds Downloads Page
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle
• Frontline Gaming
• Total AR:SE zombie Game

Podcasts:

• Imperial Vox Cast
• Life After The Cover Save
• Tabletop Hooligans
• Firebase Delta
• The Overlords

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 51

Unfortunately, I wasn’t smart enough and I left the portable hard drive at home! What this means is the show is going to be delayed until Thursday the 12th… but it IS recorded and coming!

I hate delaying the show (ask Geoff how much I hate it!) but we have literally no other option. And you know I’m serious because I said “literally”.

Sorry guys – it was not our intention.

In the time-tested tradition of sportscasters everywhere, The Independent Characters will be providing coverage of the final table, and the games leading up to that table, from multiple camera angles as well as in depth explanations of the final missions/objectives, live commentary of each round with expert analysis of the tactics involved, and post-game interviews with the winner and runner-up.

This year we are bringing a large number of improvements to the coverage we provided last year. Not only is the system is more stable than last year, but we also have the ability to have audio of the games as they unfold.

We are extremely excited to bring the action and excitement of the Adepticon Warhammer 40K Championships to all those in the community that cannot attend in person.

Leading up to Adepticon itself, you can listen to The Independent Characters as they discuss upcoming coverage preparations, as well as news and information regarding the Warhammer 40k Championships.

CLICK HERE for more information about The Independent Characters.

You will be able to watch the event live here:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-independent-characters

Broadcasting of the event will start at 6:00am (CST) on Sunday April 22nd.

Grab a copy (If you haven’t already!) and read along with us this month!

This segment will air on May 6th.

Following the trajectory of a blood-red comet, the berserk World Eaters blaze a path of destruction across the galaxy in its wake. The small cemetery world of Certus Minor appeals to the Space Marines of the Excoriators Chapter for protection, but the force dispatched to deal with this grim threat is far too small and their losses against the renegades are high. Just as all seems lost, salvation is borne out of legend itself as sinister spectral warriors descend upon this planet of the dead, and the enemies of the Imperium come face to face with those who have already travelled beyond the realm of the living…

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.

After two years of Podcasting The IC’s, we decide to reflect upon what we have accomplished over the course of 50 episodes. We talk to several guests of the show, both past and future, who tell us how the show has impacted their gaming since we started it. We ran into some problems getting some of the voice mails you recorded into this episode. Don’t worry though – we will include them next episode!

We then break into a redux of The Golden Thronies – we give our opinions on the winners and losers, and why some were never nominated! We also talk a little bit about how we put the whole thing together. Then Carl whines some more about how long it took to edit.

Finally we break into Forbidden Lore – this time the subject of our discussion is Dan Abnetts KNOW NO FEAR! If you haven’t read the book you may want to skip this portion as we are going to be discussing the entire thing and revealing spoilers left and right.

We hope you enjoy Episode 50 – and we will see you again in two weeks! Don’t forget we still have our Smells Like Wargaming Contest running! Look at our main web site or forum (under contests) for details on how to enter.

Show Timestamps

• Show Overview and intro! – 00:00:00
• The Workbench & Games Played – 00:03:30
• 50 Episode Retrospective – 00:36:06
• The Golden Throne Awards: Analysis – 01:55:25
• Show Closing – 02:26:30
• Forbidden Lore: Know No Fear by Dan Abnett – 02:28:30

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• Model Bits – SPONSOR
• Forge World
• Forge Worlds Downloads Page
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle
• Frontline Gaming
• Total AR:SE zombie Game

Podcasts:

• Imperial Vox Cast
• Life After The Cover Save
• Tabletop Hooligans
• Firebase Delta
• The Overlords

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 50

Simply send us an email to contest@theindependentcharacters.com and detail out the Warhammer 40k Independent Character that you think should have won the Best Independent Character status in The Golden Thronies. Tell us how you used him (or her) or how he (or she!) was used against you, that makes you feel they should have won.

We will look for inventive, creative, or just plane funny (let’s face it, funny is probably the way to go here!) stories that will sway us to your side!

Your entries must be in to us no later than 11:00pm on April 1st (no foolin’!) to be considered. On our April 8th show we will announce the winner of the contest!

So what do they win? Brandon from Smells Like Wargaming will present to you a Warhammer 40k boxed set (of no more than $50), which Smells Like Wargaming will paint for you, to your specifications!

What could be simpler than that!?

Once again, friends and family of Carl, Geoff, and Zach are not eligible to win this contest.

If you have any questions please send them to Carl at carl@theindependentcharacters.com

This show has taken a tremendous amount of editing time, but we think the results are worth it (I hope!). Please be warned that there is some bad language and adult humor in this episode. I know that we have an explicit tag on our show – but we want to just warn our younger listeners and parents that this episode may not be suitable for some listeners.

We hope really hope you enjoy the show, and we will see you soon for Episode 50!

Mahalo!

(EDIT – Times were wrong in the initial post. They are much closer now!)
Show Timestamps

• Show Overview and intro! – 00:00:00
• The Workbench & Games Played – 00:15:15
• The Golden Throne Awards: Part 1 – 00:42:00
• The Golden Throne Awards: Part 2 – 01:06:30
• Interview with Smells Like Wargaming – 01:24:00
• Show Closing – 01:38:20
• Outtakes (Warning – Harsh language and subject matter) – 01:42:35

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• Model Bits – SPONSOR
• Forge World
• Forge Worlds Downloads Page
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle
• Frontline Gaming
• Total AR:SE zombie Game

Podcasts:

• Imperial Vox Cast
• Life After The Cover Save
• Tabletop Hooligans
• Firebase Delta
• The Overlords

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 49

Music included from the Dawn of War 2 Soundtrack

Expect the usual Workbench and Games Played content as well!

This episode will drop on Sunday March 11th!

We cover the huge volume that Forge World released a while back which details the war between The Imperium and The Tau Empire for the mining planet of Taros. This book, and story are HUGE so it’s going to take us awhile to cover the entire product. The end results may surprise you for a book that was published some time ago!

Because of our extended break, we have a LOT to talk about in regards to the Workbench and Games played! Geoff ran a tournament at Dundracon, while Zach played at a tournament and took Players Choice! This part of the show has some hiss in the background audio – we are working out some Skype issues with the new PC. The IA3 coverage removes this noise.

We hope you enjoy this lengthy episode – it’s great to be back!

Mohalo!

Show Timestamps

• Show Overview, intro and new releases! – 00:00:00
• The Workbench & Games Played – 00:15:15
• IA3: The Taros Campaign: Part 1 – 01:27:15
• IA3: The Taros Campaign: Part 2 – 02:32:30
• Show Closing – 03:20:35

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• Model Bits – SPONSOR
• Forge World
• Forge Worlds Downloads Page
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle
• Frontline Gaming
• Total AR:SE zombie Game

Podcasts:

• Imperial Vox Cast
• Life After The Cover Save
• Tabletop Hooligans
• Firebase Delta
• The Overlords

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 48

Episode 48 sees us return to Imperial Armour to do our coverage of Imperial Armour 3: The Taros Campaign. Though one of the older Imperial Armour books, this book is probably one of the largest ones out there – and we have it on good authority that it was this book that made Forge World decide to do The Baddab War in two volumes!

We will go over the story of The Taros Campaign, which deals with The Imperiums persecution of a war to deal with a Tau incursion, and then take a look at the units in support of the book.

The Tau are one of the oldest Codexes still out there – we will evaluate if they benefit well from some Forge World attention! As usual, you can expect our “Bang for Your Buck” rating of the book.

Of course we will also have our usual segments; The Workbench and Games Played. Carl will also talk a bit about his upcoming Summer Campaign after Adepticon.

We hope you join us for what is looking like a great episode!

Episode 48 will drop on February 26th.

Grab a copy (If you haven’t already!) and read along with us this month!

This segment will air when episode 50 drops on Mar 25th.

Unaware of the wider Heresy and following the Warmaster’s increasingly cryptic orders, Roboute Guilliman returns to Ultramar to muster his Legion for war against the orks massing in the Veridian system. Without warning, their supposed allies in the Word Bearers Legion launch a devastating invasion of Calth, scattering the Ultramarines fleet and slaughtering all who stand in their way. This confirms the worst scenario Guilliman can imagine – Lorgar means to settle their bitter rivalry once and for all. As the traitors summon foul daemonic hosts and all the forces of Chaos, the Ultramarines are drawn into a grim and deadly struggle in which neither side can prevail.

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.

While this normally wouldn’t be a huge issue, it was about 2 hours into our recording session. We do have another computer to record with (a couple in fact), but not the time tonight to do it. With Carl’s vacation right around the corner we do not have the time to re-record the episode before he leaves.

What this means is that we are going to be pushing back all of our episodes 2 weeks. Episode 48 was scheduled to drop on February 19th, unfortunately that will now be delayed until March 4th. We apologize for this inconvenience. Believe us, we would have rather not just lost a couple hours of work!

This also means that our episode 49, “The Thronies” will also be delayed two weeks, dropping March 18th instead.

We will go over the story of The Taros Campaign, which deals with The Imperiums persecution of a war to deal with a Tau incursion, and then take a look at the units in support of the book.

The Tau are one of the oldest Codexes still out there – we will evaluate if they benefit well from some Forge World attention! As usual, you can expect our “Bang for Your Buck” rating of the book.

Of course we will also have our usual segments; The Workbench and Games Played. Carl will also talk a bit about his upcoming Summer Campaign after Adepticon.

We hope you join us for what is looking like a great episode!

Episode 48 will drop on February 19th.

We talk to Mike about why he has suddenly a renewed interest in Warhammer 40k and how he introduced Adan to a different style of play.

Obviously we talk about our hobby progress, or lack thereof, but the bigger news is that we announce the two winners of the Adepticon Fundraiser Raffle! Thank you for everyones support of the show and we promise to bring you the very best of Adepticon in late April!

We hope you enjoy the show!

Show Timestamps

• Show Overview and Contest Winners – 00:00:00
• The Workbench & Games Played – 00:16:15
• Bringing story to the 40k Tabletop: Part 1 – 00:53:30
• Bringing story onto the 40k Tabletop: Part 2 – 01:31:45
• Last minute thoughts and Show Closing – 02:16:30
• Beat Box Bonus! – After the credits

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• Model Bits – SPONSOR
• Forge World
• Forge Worlds Downloads Page
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle
• Frontline Gaming
• You and What Army Blog

Podcasts:

• Imperial Vox Cast
• Life After The Cover Save
• Tabletop Hooligans
• Firebase Delta
• The Overlords

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 47

They say to be a man (or woman) in these times is to be one amongst billions! You would think that a voice would be silent amongst the cacophony of screams and battlecries. But we say NO! Be heard! Join the forums, and vote now! Let your voice be heard and the winners, as decided by YOU, will be tallied into the votes of The High Lords of Terra!

The Polls close in one week and the winners (and losers!) will be announced on The Independent Characters Episode 49, released on Feb 19th! The Official Podcast of The Imperium of Man!

Members of our forums can vote here:

http://www.theindependentcharacters.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=55

Note: I made a mistake on this post originally and said it will air in Episode 48 – I meant episode 49. My apologies!

We then take you on a tour of the units, lists, models, and missions (SO CRUNCHY!) depicted in the book. We then wrap up with our Bang for Your Buck rating system.

We also launch into two different interviews (We bring back the dot-matrix printer for this one – apologies for the noise interference, it only happens when we are not in the studio and using Skype – it’s only during these interviews). One with Reece of The Bay Area Open, where we talk about what they have planned and what is going on with their store – Frontline Gaming. The second interview is with Mr. Justin of Secret Weapon Miniatures. We find out what HIS Secret Mission is and a few other interesting facts!

As usual we will cover The Workbench and see how far Geoff has actually progressed towards his Hobby Progress Challenge committment. If you recall last episode, he committed to do “something”.

We hope you enjoy.

Show Timestamps

• Show Overview – 00:00:00
• The Workbench & Games Played – 00:07:15
• Imperial Armour 11: The Doom of Mymeara (Fluff) – 00:31:45
• Imperial Armour 11: The Doom of Mymeara (Crunch) – 01:25:45
• Interview with Reece Robins Bay Area Open/Frontline Gaming – 02:32:00
• Last minute thoughts and Show Closing – 02:50:00
• Last minute thoughts and Show Closing – 03:05:40

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• Model Bits – SPONSOR
• Forge World
• Forge Worlds Downloads Page
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle
• Farseer Fail
• Frontline Gaming

Podcasts:

• Imperial Vox Cast
• Life After The Cover Save
• Tabletop Hooligans
• Firebase Delta
• The Overlords

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 46

Justin and I were able to play test through it – but there might be one or two things that we didn’t come across and I didn’t think of when writing it. Either way we hope you enjoy it.

This mission, titled “Toxic Shock”, and at it’s core is a Sieze Ground type mission. However, we introduce something called “Unstable Environment” which effects specific terrain in the game. This adds an interesting and fun element to the board. The concept is that not all battlegrounds are ideal for fighting and in this case you are dealing with the enemy in a toxic waste dump!

The mission is presented in PDF format and you can download it by clicking on the button below. We hope you enjoy it. Let us know your feedback on how your games go with this mission by joining our forums!

We have all been waiting a long time for this book to come out, and after what seems like an endless stream of delays it is finally here and ready for The Independent Characters “Bang For Your Buck” treatment.

Of course, the book features Eldar heavily, and since they are eternal… well the wait may not have seemed that long to Eldar players out there! We will go into depth about the book itself, the story, the presentation, units, models, lists and scenarios included inside. And to help us do it – we are bringing our resident Eldar, Lars. You may have heard he is the main reason the Eldar are a dying race. He is hoping to maybe change that with this book!

Episode 46 will drop on January 22nd.

You can order the book from Forge World here:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/IMPERIAL-ARMOUR-VOLUME-ELEVEN-THE-DOOM-OF-MYMEARA.html

This is always an interesting excercise as we realize just how much actually came out for our favorite hobby. Things that seemed to be a “long time ago” were actually more recent than we really remember.

We also discuss our hobby progress (or lack thereof in some cases!) and talk quite a bit about the games we played over the last two weeks. With some of us on vacation we actually got quite a bit of playing in.

We hope you enjoy.

Show Timestamps

• Show Overview – 00:00:00
• The Workbench & Games Played – 00:01:30
• 2011 in Review (Jan-Jun) – 01:01:30
• 2011 in Review (Jul-Dec) – 01:47:00
• Last minute thoughts and Show Closing – 02:41:40

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• Model Bits – SPONSOR
• Forge World
• Forge Worlds Downloads Page
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle

Podcasts:

• Imperial Vox Cast
• Life After The Cover Save
• Tabletop Hooligans
• Firebase Delta
• The Overlords

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 45

We will obviously cover our Workbench progress as well as our Games Played as well!

This episode will drop on January 8th!

Bonus Content 02 – Thom attended Adepticon with us last year and helped to gather a ton of entries into our fundraiser for Japanese Tsunami Relief. He is what we call an “old school” gamer and he was willing to sit down with us and discuss what his thoughts about last years Adepticon were and what he hopes to see in this years!

You can find out more information about our Adepticon Fundraiser and the awesome prizes you can win, as well as how you can access special content, by helping out here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1420

Thank you to all of those who have helped us out so far!

This all comes after we throw our two cents into the pot about what we want to see in 2012 ourselves. We have Zach actually in the studio for this discussion, so that makes the communication a bit easier as well.

We have an extra long segment about games played as we have gotten in a LOT of game playing over the last two weeks. So prepare yourselves for that – but before we launch into those stories, we have a bunch of Black Library Prizes to give away! So make sure you listen to the beginning of the show for your name!

Thanks for making 2011 an amazing year for The Independent Characters, we plan to continue to entertain and innovate all the way through 2012!

Happy Holidays!

Show Timestamps

• Show Overview – 00:00:00
• Prize Giveaways! – 00:02:15
• The Workbench & Games Played – 00:06:15
• What we want to see in 2012 – 01:12:10
• Interviews with our players about 2012 – 01:42:50
• Last minute thoughts and Show Closing – 02:27:45

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• Model Bits – SPONSOR
• Forge World
• Forge Worlds Downloads Page
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle

Podcasts:

• Imperial Vox Cast
• Life After The Cover Save
• Tabletop Hooligans
• Firebase Delta
• The Overlords

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 44

Bonus Content 01 – Steve is our “Adepticon Roadie” from this year and was a tremendous help in get us all set up and running. He is coming again in 2012 to give us another hand! You get to hear all about his thoughts and experiences from earlier this year and also what he has planned for 2012!

You can find out more information about our Adepticon Fundraiser and the awesome prizes you can win, as well as how you can access special content, by helping out here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1420

Thank you to all of those who have helped us out so far!

We have some open conversation about what our favorite parts of 2011 were and what we are looking forward to from GW in 2012. We have interviews with tons of our friends as to what they are looking forward to in 2012 as well!

Additionally we cover our hobby progress and talk about the Team Games we all played at our recent Holiday Party Game Day!

And last but not least… we give away a TON of Black Library books to people who have liked us on Facebook, joined our Message Boards, or rated us on iTunes!

This episode is slightly delayed due to the holiday schedules but should be available for download by Tuesday December 27, 2011. We hope to see you there!

With 16 different armies in Warhammer 40k we had to break this topic up into multiple episodes. So for Episode 43 we cover all eight of the Xenos threats! Even so – this is an extremely LONG episode and for that we apologize for those of you who prefer brevity. Next episode will not be nearly as long!

We are of course going to be discussing our hobby progress and games played in this episode as well.

Due to the length of this episode we were unable to fit in either our Mission Impossible or Units that Changed The Game Segments, but they will be back next episode!

Show Timestamps

• Show Overview and KR Contest Details – 00:00:00
• The Workbench (New Title for Hobby Progress) & Games Played – 00:03:35
• How to Choose an (Xenos) Army Pt 1 – 00:37:35
• How to Choose an (Xenos) Army Pt 2 – 02:20:45
• Show Closing – 03:49:15

Links:

• KR Multicase – SPONSOR
• Secret Weapon Miniatures! – SPONSOR
• Smells Like Wargaming – SPONSOR
• Model Bits – SPONSOR
• Forge World
• Games Workshop
• The Black Library
• Endgame Oakland
• Game Kastle

Podcasts:

• Imperial Vox Cast
• Life After The Cover Save
• Tabletop Hooligans
• Firebase Delta
• The Overlords

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 43

3:51:24

Whether you are a new 40k Player, or a long time Veteran of a Thousand Psychic Wars, you are going to want to take a listen to our thoughts on how to pick the right army for you! If competitiveness is your thing, we got you covered! If modeling is your thing, we got you covered! If painting is your thing, don’t worry, we got you covered too! If you don’t care about any of that… well we hope to entertain at least!

Even if you already own several armies and are trying to decide what your next big purchase should be, you are going to want to check out this episode. If you don’t own an army and are trying to decide which is the right pick for you, we are going to seek out those answers for you here.

Episode 43 will drop on December 11th!