I've only listened to one episode, number 23, and it seemed to be very well produced. They had an introduction 'jingle' which added to the quality and the sound throughout was great and at a good volume. Sometimes podcasts can be too quiet when listening on my laptop but not this one.
The hosts names are Bill the Veteran, Opy the Wise and Rich and hail from America. They kicked off with hobby progress, then went onto 40k news and rumours. Following on from this is their 6th ed coverage, it sometimes went off topic but was always related to their own hobby which was a nice touch. They also seem to go into a lot of detail and specifics, and while this is great for increasing knowledge it's not always the easiest thing to listen to. Although it's always better to give too much than to skim and miss stuff in my opinion.
The unique part of the podcast seems to be the battle report. Because it's an audio description of a visual thing they go into amazing detail outlining how the terrain was laid out, what their lists were (including reasons for choices) and then set the scene with a story about the battle and why it's happening. It's narrated by a few of the guys and has atmospheric background music which helps with imagining what's happening. Each turn is told like a story, almost as if they were following my mate @charginCarnifex blog posts on battle reportification!
This is then followed up with a discussion of the game, highlights and stand out moments and how certain things worked out. I think it's really cool how they give us both sides to the report, both fluffy and technical. They then take a look at rules in the next section. Either one rule or a related bundle of them. Again they relate it to their personal experience which is handy as it gives context. Finally they reach the end and wrap it all up nice and neatly. They seem to weigh in at around the two hour mark which is an ideal length for a podcast in my opinion. It's long enough to fit in enough content but not too long that it's going to bore you shitless so you lose interest.
I would wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone to listen to, whether you're a big podcast listener like me or new to the experience. I'm really happy that I discovered it. Definite pro's for turn 8 are the battle report and that they seem to cover the more 'friendly' side of 40k rather than the tournament side of things as I don't think many people can relate to that and some other casts drone on about it a bit too much. The only slight downside, and it's more feedback than a criticism, is that they could do with a fluff section. Something to balance out the rules section. Maybe they could tie it into the rule of the episode or even the background of what what is the news segment.
You can follow them on twitter, look at their website, and like them on facefook. I think you should do all 3!
I've listened to them for a while, still have to listen to their 2 latest ones (haven't had a chance with holidays) but I've always found them to be very entertaining. Just remember that they were doing their thing long before I began mine. In any case, your review covered everything that I could think of about their podcast aside from maybe that they will cover ANYTHING related to the hobby. This includes video games, modeling, painting, books, you name it. So if you like every aspect of the hobby in one podcast they can deliver it. But their battle reports are particularly entertaining, plus they have some great humor and unscripted dialogue the rest of the show while almost always remaining true to 40k. Good review!
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