warhammer » UnderDiscussion

UnderDiscussion 38: Anniversary, 40k and Contest!

Apr 182011

Ladies and gentleman, I am proud to present the UnderDiscussion One Year Anniversary episode! I want to thank you all for your support and for listening to us this past year. When I suggested to WDR that we should do a podcast he thought I was crazy and that no one would ever listen to us. It’s a year later, we have 38 episodes released, we’ve have reviews and interviews and last month we had our first episode to go over a thousand unique downloads! So if we’re crazy, then we’re crazy like a fox!

This week Nockergeek, Slacker, and Hooligan join us with new guests Hida Man and Dennis to discuss a bit about the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40k. We also announce our IronDie giveaway and a spinoff podcast!

“What’s that?” you say, “What are these ‘IronDie’ you are referring to?” IronDie are solid metal dice made in Italy and we’re giving away a base set of the nine different shapes! What to learn the details? Then listen to this week’s episode!

IronDie, made in Italy, won by you!

The contest will run through April 29th 2011 (we plan to do the hat draw and the winner announcement recording on April 30th.) The winner will be announced on the May 2nd episode of UnderDiscussion.

We are also announcing Preferred Enemies, a Warhammer 40k podcast hosted by the Undergopher’s own Nockergeek, Slacker & Dennis! They recorded their first episode this week. Head over, give it a listen, and let them know what you think!

Here’s the link to our iTunes feed.

Here’s the link to the UnderDiscussion RSS Feed.

Wizz by Bob Wizman

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Screenside Chat With W.D.R. 4/1

General Roleplaying, Highlights for gophers, Wargaming 1 Response »

Apr 012011

Greetings gophers. It is once again past time for a rambling wall of text from yours truly. Despite most of my free time this month being swallowed by basketball and watching westerns to prepare for an upcoming episode of Underdiscussion, I managed to work in a important gaming first for me. I know what you’re thinking. ” But W.D.R. surely a gamer as worldly and sophisticated as you has done it all.” Amazingly this is not the case. This past weekend the local high school held their twice yearly game convention, Recruits, and I ran my first two convention games. I have to admit that I needed a little prodding to decide to do it. The idea of some random group of strangers sitting down at a table and then me trying to run a game conjures images of every rpg horror story I’ve ever heard. Thanks to the owners of my friendly local game store, Pulp Fiction Comics and Games, I took the plunge.

I was quite pleased with the experience despite my initial misgivings. I ran a session of Gamma World, which many of you are familiar with from the podcast, and a session of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition. I must say that Gamma World makes for a mighty fun convention game. I ended up with a full table of five including a couple of folks I already knew. Thanks Eric and Ted for making my first attempt a little more comfortable than it could have been. The game went smoothly and the goofiness of Gamma World produced a fun time for all. At the end of the game the players had retrieved the yellow cakes and celebrated their missions success. I was relieved that I had made it through the game and had actually had quite a bit of fun.

Next up was Warhammer, which was a much more serious game. It also has some unusual but good mechanics that could be an issue with new players. I had restricted this game to four players because of the game design and once again had a full table. I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of the players from the Gamma World game had come back for another session with me. I have to admit that this really made my day. I find it a huge compliment for someone to enjoy my game enough to devote another chunk of their convention time to my game. While Warhammer did not go as smoothly as Gamma World, it seemed to be another successful session as everyone involved seemed to have fun. I know I really enjoyed it. I will be running some more games at the next Recruits if I am able. If any of you out there have considered running a game at a convention and haven’t, you should give it a go. It is certainly not like a regular game but it really is rewarding.

When I wasn’t running games, the table behind where I was running caught my eye. It was a display by a miniatures company out of Atlanta, Georgia that makes 15-20 mm figures. The thing that got my attention was the amazing detail for such tiny figures. It didn’t hurt that they all had absolutely fantastic paint jobs as well. I recommend checking them out. The name of the company is Splintered Light Miniatures. The owner seems like a great guy and hopefully we can find a way to have him on Underdiscussion. I also checked out a local company DGS Games. They are working on what could be a very interesting system that integrates a rpg, a skirmish game, and a large scale battle game. I would suggest checking them out as well.

That will just about do it for this edition. I can make no promises about when the next Chat will show up but there will be another one soon.

Book? No, that’s a tome.

Wargaming No Responses »

Jul 162010

The Warhammer Fantasy Battles 8th Edition Rulebook arrived this past weekend and I am the proud owner of a copy. It is impressive just based on the sheer size(531 pages) of the tome, which is nice but not what really matters. Upon opening, the book reveals that the oft maligned folks at Games Workshop labored long and lovingly to produce a beautiful and comprehensive tome detailing all aspects of the Warhammer Fantasy game. The book is printed in full color throughout and the numerous illustrations and photographs are frequently awe (and game) inspiring. The ribbon bookmark built into the spine is a nice touch and has proved quite useful.

Something I consider vital to a good rule book is ease of reference and the table of contents and index of the book is clear and useful. The rules section takes up the first 153 pages of the book. It starts with basic information about dealing with the models and then proceeds to present the basic rules in the order that they apply during a turn of the game. This is followed by a lengthy section covering the myriad special rules required by the variety of unit types and factions in the game. The rules are filled with well written and easily understood examples of play, most with illustrated examples.

After the rules section, there is a section entitled “The Warhammer World”. It begins with the rich history of the Warhammer World, including a timeline. Also in this section, the background and motivation of all the factions available in the game are explored. There are some truly striking pieces of art in this section of the book.

The heart of a table top miniatures game is the miniatures themselves and the third section of the book is jealousy inducing proof. It is 100 pages of painted miniatures categorized by their faction. This “Miniatures Showcase” section culminates in several pages of advise about the assembly and painting of an army.

The final section of the tome is a section entitled “WarhammerBattles” and details how to use and create scenario based battles. It has information on how to run a campaign and how to gamemaster a battle. I also features several narrative battle and a section on what they call legendary battles, which includes a battle report and a listing of participating units for the battle discussed. This section should be a boon to gaming groups that choose to take the time to use the design tools provided. I certainly look forward to gamemastering battles between my friends.

I have chosen not to go into a profound discussion of the rules because they are legion and most are written by those with more experience. The bottom line is that the Warhammer Fantasy Battles 8th Edition Rulebook is worth the money I spent on it. In fact, despite the $75 price tag , I would say you get more than you pay for. The book is so impressive that it will draw new players into the hobby by its presentation and it just doesn’t get better than that.

Zombie Robots!

Wargaming No Responses »

Jun 262010

WDR and Slacker are currently helping me figure out what I currently have as far as Necrons go and what I’m going to need to put together a 1500 point army. Fun times will soon be had.

Game On: Warhammer 40k!

Highlights for gophers No Responses »

Jun 222010

Here are a few shots from the Chicken Nugget inspired get together on Saturday. I played my first ever game of warhammer and got in a little rock band.