Thursday, September 21, 2017

With Voyeuristic Intention

I have not had time to get out to do anything 40K in a few weeks.  September is such a busy month! All of the organizations I support have yearly kickoff events, and the need to support various community organizations ranges from routine to dire. 

Regardless (one of my favorite or overused words), I do get late evening time (when I'm out of gas in Rogue Assault) to watch 40K game videos, and also get to catch up on all of the podcasts I subscribe to.  At least with that, I hope to keep some subliminal learning going.

I really don't have an outlet for feedback to the guys who create the content I drink in.  So I thought I'd take a moment here to run down something for each of the top providers I follow.

Masters of the Forge - overall, I like your podcast a lot.  However, sometimes it can be a little long winded.  Congrats on passing the 100th episode milestone.  The narrative fictions and content is great.

Life After the Cover Save - you guys are the comedy geniuses of the genre, and I laugh every episode.  No wonder you have been doing the adverts for the top vendors.  GW should hire you to do something for them too.  Brilliant.  The last episode however seemed to have a weird angry vibe about it. Overall, the wide variety of content and interviews are thought provoking.

Frontline Gaming - You guys have so much content going I think it must be hard to focus on your business.  Twitch, multiple podcasts.  I stopped listening to the Ninth Realm focused podcasts - had to cut back.  Your general, original podcast is great and I like the fact that you guys are well prepped and have show notes that are clear on your message for the episode. That said, the Chapter Tactics podcast can be a train wreck. The host PDPop always seems unsure of himself, rambles, backtracks, lacks confidence, etc.  As for the 40K games, I think you do a great job, but you should try having Marina / other expert give in-game commentary about what you are likely up to in the game.  Or a laugh track. Maybe edit down the dice rolling time.  Overall, great for watching.  I wish my FLGS would just use the ITC process.  Not your fault.

MiniWargaming - I'm not a paid subscriber.  I just leach off your free content.  I think at some point I was signed up for the free trial.   A gold standard of totally video based information and instruction.  I loved when 8th came out and you produced that series of videos on how to play 40K.  The links should be given to anyone buying a starter set.  For you though, considering you have a paint studio, I'd offer that the "Mark of Dave" be outlawed. If you don't have it WYSYWIG, then don't play it.  Whenever I watch one of your games however, I also feel the need to read the comments - where your live viewers or subscribers have seen errors in the game play.  Certainly that is offset by your confessional videos.  No more hazing Quirk please. Save the duct tape for other uses.

The Long War - you guys are certainly entertaining.  Your personalities really come through, as do your passion for the game.  However, my peeves are you are so rushed to get videos out for new content and army rules, that you seem to forget the rules at all.  I watched a game yesterday where psychers who could play two spells a turn only do one, pistols never seemingly used in continued combat.  I also feel that you try to jump the gun on rules as written versus rumors of how you think a rule should work, always grasping for the WAC interpretation. Regardless, every game seems fun!

Well there you go! I hope to get a game in this weekend! Red....or Blue....or Green....

MING