The Independent Characters - 40k Podcast

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I was completely unaware of this section of the forums but figured although we have been around for quite awhile now - it couldn't hurt to post about our show here and update you guys as new episodes come out.

We release episodes every other week - and more information can be found at our web site here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/

About The Podcast
The Independent Characters are a couple of guys from a regular gaming group who decided to strike out on their own and attempt the impossible (or at least improbable). So how does our Podcast seek to differentiate itself from all the others? I’m glad you asked!

What we WILL do:

• Attempt to bring you “into” our gaming group. We want you to feel like you are hanging with your friends on a Friday night.
• Provide you with updates on our hobby progress, battle reports overviews, and hopefully provide a little inspiration.
• Give you our opinions on GW 40K product releases.
• Provide our reviews of GW 40K fiction releases.
• Provide videos and interviews of local events and possibly some that are further away.
• Entertain you on your commute to and from work – or at least during painting.

What we do NOT intend to do:

• Provide in-depth Codex Overviews… There’s enough of those to go around.
• Provide “News” segments. We assume most of our listeners will already be well versed in what is coming up. This isn’t to say we won’t give our opinions on upcoming stuff though!

So who are “The Independent Characters” anyway?

Carl Tuttle – carl@theindependentcharacters.com
An avid roleplayer for over 30 years, Carl joined the ranks of the miniature wargamers in 2005 when he finally decided to pick up a little game called Warhammer 40k to play with a friend. Soon the purchasing spiraled out of control and the shelves began to fill up with boxes of still shrink-wrapped GW Space Marine product. Eventually he came to his senses, shed himself of his oaths to The Emperor, sold all his Space Marines and dived into the world of Chaos. This was much better as now he pays twice as much for Forgeworld product instead of just plastic GW Product.

Married for 10 years, he is living the dream as his wife plays as well. She figured if you couldn’t beat ‘em… join ‘em and is still trying to figure out what flowery colors she wants to paint her eldar.

Geoff Hummel – geoff@theindependentcharacters.com
Entering gaming through Magic: The Gathering as a young man, Geoff spent nearly a decade stuck on card-flopping until he was introduced to tabletop RPGs in college. It wasn’t until shortly before the current Ork codex was released (around 2008) that he moved from a rather enjoyable Mordheim campaign into a full-on 40k addiction. Since then tons of Salamanders Space Marines and an unknown number of the inscrutable Eldar have weaseled their way into Geoff’s gaming space. Maybe one day they’ll have some paint on them….

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Episode 34 – Bringing 40k Home (Released 08/07/2011)

Episode 34 is all about taking 40k out of the Game Store and Tournament settings and bringing it into your own home. This is the topic chosen from our Theme Contest Winner last month. We discuss what is expected of the host and guests as well as how to go about best arranging your play area. We give out a couple ideas for ways you can build and store tables and terrain for play.

Additionally, we have interviews with Reece Robbins and Big Jim (Co-Host of Deep Strike Radio) at The Bay Area Open, a new premier competitive GT on the West Coast.

As usual we discuss our Hobby Progress (or lack thereof in some cases… *cough*Geoff*cough*), games played, and our commitments going forward.

We hope you enjoy Episode 34.

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1196

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Episode 35 – The Benefits of 40k (Released 08/21/2011)

You have heard all the negatives – now listen to why 40k is a great game to play! This episode is all about the benefits of 40k and why we think this is still a very positive game and has a lot of great things going for it!

Zach and Carl tackle this subject with typical enthusiasm! Unfortunately, Geoff is on vacation at this time and was unable to join us for this lively and positive discussion as to why Warhammer 40k is the place to be these days! (He may have had differing opinions but that’s what happens when you go on vacation!)

We of course cover our standard hobby progress and games played this time around. We go a bit into how the Hobby Progress Challenge is keeping us on track and preventing us from being distracted with other projects.

We hope you enjoy Episode 35.

Also – Please Note that the Forbidden Lore Segment on Atlas Infernal by Rob Sanders will be released on the 24th as a separate download. Again we apologize for the delay of this segment. We know some of you are anticipating it. We just had difficulty with scheduling this recording session! It IS coming – and Carl HAS read the book now!

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1225

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Episode 36 – Imperial Armour 4: The Anphelion Project (Released 09/06/2011)

The Main Topic of Episode 36 is Imperial Armour 4: The Anphelion Project by our friends at Forge World.

Although this book is a bit older and the rules included in it can be dated, there is still a wealth of interesting material to be found within its the hardback pages. We cover the story in its entirity (Spoiler Warning!) and then delve into the rules and models that were born from this awesome expansion! (Including one of Carls favorite models in all of 40k!)

We also cover our attempts at Hobby Progress, several games played, and our commitments going into the next two week period.

We hope you enjoy Episode 36.

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1271

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Episode 37 – Playing as a Team (Released 09/17/2011)

Team Games is the Topic of Episode 37.

We discuss the different ways you can play Team Games in Warhammer 40k, how these games can make for a very different experience in gaming and why you might want to consider Team Games as a regular event. Additionally, we will talk about a few great expansions for Team Games and an idea that Carl is going to end up spearheading with The IC’s Community to develop a book for Team Game use!

Obviously we talk about our Hobby Progress, but a large portion of this show is dedicated to our games played. Due to a change in our recording schedule we got a large amount of games in, and Geoff talks about his victory at this years Celesticon!

We also have our Forbidden Lore Segment on Gav Thorpes “Path of The Seer” – so if you haven’t read it yet you may want to skip the section after the closing music as we give out tons of spoilers!

We hope you enjoy Episode 37!

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1280

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Episode 38 – Da Grand Waaagh GT 2011 (Released 10/03/2011)

Da Grand Waaagh GT is the main topic of Episode 38.

Aside from our usual Hobby Progress and Games Played, Carl attended Da Grand Waaagh GT along with Dawson & Bill from Imperial Vox Cast, and Dave (Skrivus) of The Eternal Warriors! It was a weekend full of incredible gaming fun and we cover it all the way through!

Additionally, we speak with our three guests and talk about their thoughts on the GT as well as the Northern California Bay Area Gaming Scene!

Last but not least, we also have a short interview with Teras of Geek Nation Tours about their plans for Adepticon and what else they are cooking up for all of us geeks!

We hope you enjoy the show.

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1303

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Episode 39 – The ICs Summer Campaign (Released 10/17/2011)

Episode 39 is all about The Independent Characters Summer Campaign that we ran with our local gaming group. We talk about the scope of the rules and the design of the campaign and then get the input from most of the players who were involved in it and what their thoughts were.

Obviously, our standard Hobby Progress and Battle Reports take place – but the majority of the episode is geared towards the campaign.

As a side note – We mentioned last episode that our Forbidden Lore segment on Dan Abnetts Double Eagle would take place this episode. This was a mistake on Carl’s part. The Forbidden Lore segment will actually take place in Episode 40.

We hope you enjoy the show.

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1314

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Episode 40 – What if we ran Games Workshop? (Released 10/30/2011)

We all wonder from time to time just what Games Workshop is thinking when they make some of the decisions they do. In Episode 40 of The Independent Characters, we say goodbye to Dear Old Uncle Moneybags, but we thank him for leaving us 51% controlling interest in Games Workshop!

Now that we have the power, what would we do with it!?

We take a look at exactly how we think we would run Games Workshop if given the chance. What crazy ideas would we come up with? And would it drive the company to perform better or send it crashing and burning in flames?! Primarily focusing in the Product Lines and Marketing of the Company, what would you do differently?

This is always a fun discussion to have – so we thought we would give it our best go!

Make sure you take a look at our front page for our Bonus Content Forbidden Lore about Double Eagle by Dan Abnett. This includes a 30 min discussion of the book with Dan Abnett himself! Warning though – it contains spoilers!

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1365

You can download the Forbidden Lore Segment with Dan Abnet here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1341

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Episode 41 – Imperial Armour: Apocalypse 2nd Edition
(Released 11/13/2011)

Episode 41 sees the Independent Characters covering the latest Forge World release of Imperial Armour: Apocalypse – 2nd Edition! We have the book in hand and have been salivating over which units we now have to purchase from Forge World to fullfill our sick desires!

New dreadnoughts, vehicles, a fixed version of the dreaded Lifta Droppa,as well as other revised rules are sure to make this offering from the guys at Forge World a hotly sought after product! But we will give you our patented “Bang for Your Buck” rating towards the end of the show.

Additionally, this episode you will hear the introduction of a couple new segments: Units that Changed The Game, and Mission Impossible!

We also announce a major new contest in which you can win one of two different KR Multicase Kaiser Cases complete with the foam and card cases you need!

We still cover some hobby progress and games played as well.

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1418

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Episode 42 – What army is right for you? (Imperial Edition) (Released 11/28/2011)

Need help deciding what army to play? Maybe you are a new player and trying to decide what you want to do for your first army, or even if you are the veteran of a thousand psychic wars looking for your next big project, we will discuss each and every force within the Warhammer 40k Universe.

With 16 different armies in Warhammer 40k we had to break this topic up into multiple episodes. So for Episode 42 we cover all eight forces of The Imperium!

We are of course going to be discussing our hobby progress (or lack thereof) and games played in this episode as well. So hang tight.

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 soon!

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1457

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Episode 43 – What army is right for you? (Xenos Edition)
(Released 12/12/2011)

After last episode, you may still need help deciding what army to play! Maybe you are a new player and trying to decide what you want to do for your first army, or even if you are the veteran of a thousand psychic wars looking for your next big project, we will discuss each and every force within the Warhammer 40k Universe.

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!

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1460

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Episode 44 – The Year End Spectacular!
(Released 12/28/2011)

Episode 44 is our finale for 2011 and to put this year to bed correctly we have brought a large number of our gaming friends in for some one on one interviews and discussions about what they want to see in 2012 from Games Workshop. We recorded each of these interviews at our Holiday 40k Party. Not surprising, a number of these thoughts are related to the upcoming 6th Edition of Warhammer 40k!

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!

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1495

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Episode 45 – 2011: The Year in Review
(Released 01/08/2012)

For our first show of 2012, we do a complete recap of everything that happened in 2011! We go over every release by Games Workshop, Forge World, Black Library and anything else that is licensed for 40k!

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.

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1511

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Episode 46 – Imperial Armour 11: The Doom of Mymeara (Released 01/22/2012)

Imperial Armour 11 has finally arrived! We take our patented Independent Characters approach to covering Forge World books. In the first portion of the program you will hear about the story told in The Doom of Mymeara, and what our thoughts are about this epic conflict. To celebrate we have also brought in our foremost expert on killing Eldar (from within their ranks!) Lars!

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.

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1529

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Episode 47 – Narrative 40k Gaming (Released 02/05/2012)

Bringing more story to the Tabletop is the theme of Episode 47 of The Independent Characters, and to help us do so, we have brought Adan (Black Sword from the forums) and his friend Mike (a long time gamer who has just recently returned to 40k) to the show. They have both been playing through a small narrative campaign of 40k, which they have devised themselves.

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!

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1545

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Episode 48 – Imperial Armour 3: The Taros Campaign (Released 02/26/2012)

Imperial Armour 3: The Taros Campaign is the theme of Episode 48 and we are finally happy to bring it to you! As you know we ran into a setback just prior to Carls vacation so it delayed our entire schedule a bit.

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!


You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1596

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Episode 49 – The Golden Throne Awards (Released 03/11/2012)

Finally the majesty of The Golden Throne Awards is here! Sit back and relax while you listen to the awards given and revel in the speeches of the victors!

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!


You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1608

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Episode 50 – The Anniversary Retrospective (Released 03/26/2012)

Bugmans Bar would have been a great location to record this episode. If only it weren’t so far away…

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 do 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.

You can download this episode through iTunes or get it here:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1622

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I haven't really kept up posting on this thread as things have just gotten too busy with the show. Since my last post (Episode 50... quite awhile ago) we have covered a wide variety of topics which I can just summarize for you here:

Episode 51 – Incoming Adepticon! (2012)
Episode 52 – Return from Adepticon (2012)
Episode 53 – GW Worldwide Campaigns
Episode 54 – Competition and 40k: Part 1 *
Episode 55 – Farewell 5th Edition
Episode 56 – Competition and 40k: Part 2 *
Episode 57 – Community Reaction to 6th Edition
Episode 58 – UK and US Gaming Scene Comparisons
Episode 59 – Competition and 40k: Part 3 (Elite Level Play) *
Episode 60 – Imperial Armour Aeronautica *
Episode 61 – The Mestre Incursion *
Episode 62 – The Celesticon Experience
Episode 63 – The Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal (Part 1) *
Episode 64 – The Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal (Part 2) *
Episode 65 – Necromunda: Tales from the Underhive *
Episode 66 – Customizing the background of your army
Episode 67 – Producing great Battle Reports *
Episode 68 – Terrain: The Third Army
Episode 69 – Imperial Armour Vol. 1 and Crusade of Fire
Episode 70 – The 2012 Year In Review
Episode 71 – Expanding Your Gaming Group
Episode 72 – White Dwarf: Then and Now *
Episode 73 – Dark Heresy
Episode 74 – The Cursed Episode
Episode 75 – Identifying Your 40k Playstyle
Episode 76 – How to cheat on your spouse with 40k

All of these are available in iTunes, and from our website and RSS feed.

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/

I have marked the ones that we are particular proud of with an asterisk (*). So if you are just getting into our show, you might want to check those ones out.

I just recently returned from a trip to England which was solely focused on Gaming. I attended Salute, hung out with The Overlords and guested on their Podcast, and finally traveled to Nottingham to spend two days at Warhammer World. You can hear our report on this in the following (our latest) episode.

Special Report: Return from The Great Crusade
http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=2930