Combat Phase

We talk news, hobby, games played, Heresy telethon and more. Then Graham McNeill comes on to discuss Magnus in his new Heresy novel Crimson King, plus his primarchs novel and other stories connected to the book.

 

interview @ 45 minutes in

@GrahamMcNeill www.graham-mcneill.com A Thousand Sons Thief of Revelations Lucius: The Eternal Blade Primarchs - Magnus: Master of Prospero The Crimson King   www.rogalporn.com to donate to MD & win a fully painted Knight Household or Warlord Titan!

 Ahriman episode  http://traffic.libsyn.com/combatphase/Ep_152_CSM-_All_About_Ahriman_wJohn_French.mp3

We talk news. Coalescence and pre-Gen Con news, hobby and games played. Tonight we celebrate 200 episodes (WOW!) by walking down 30 years of wargaming and what we mean when we say this is the golden age of wargaming.

 

Enjoy and thanks for your support for 201 weeks! (ep zero)

We talk news, many games as we delayed again unfortunately as we switched recording programs (again...boo!) so here's our Blood Angels special with James Swallow, Andy Smillie, Guy Haley, Darius Hinks (text interview), and Paul Murphy from FtN podcast.   Check out all BL books at www.blacklibrary.com ! Darius Hinks interview to be posted on www.combatphase.com soon.

1. Who are the Blood Angels (BA) to you? [This will include everything from 9th Legion 30K to all successor chapters in 40K so answer what you like, no need to cover everything]

  I’ve always loved those duality/repression kind of themes you get in gothic literature and I think that’s what makes the Blood Angels so interesting. They’re like Dracula crossed with Dr Jekyll – remote, cerebral, aesthetes, bottling up a wild, terrifying, id that they can’t (maybe don’t want?) to escape.They’re pretty messed up, basically.  

1. What do you think the appeal of the BA is for the fanbase?

  I think it’s that dichotomy that makes them so appealing. They have such a long, complicated history. The Blood Angels revere Sanguinius, of course, but they also know that he’s the source of their great flaw. So how can they best be like him? The Blood Angels are tormented but determined at the same time and I think that’s a great springboard for fiction.    

1. Talk about Mephiston as a character first. What singles him out as a subject?

  To my mind, Hades Hive didn’t free Mephiston of all his dangerous Blood Angels duality, it threw fuel onto the fire. I think of him having a dual consciousness – a cool, scholarly side that barely recalls/understands his wild, warp-fuelled excesses in battle (the Mr Hyde part of him). The scholarly side of him needs to understand and harness the wild side, or he'll become a force for destruction rather than good. He’s hoping to be a good guy, and working hard to achieve that goal, but it could go either way.  

1. What happens in your novel (avoid major spoilers)?

  I had a lot of fun exploring Mephiston’s corner of the Blood Angels’ fortress monastery on Baal. A lot of this stuff hasn’t been written about in much detail before and I was lucky enough to work with the (much cleverer than me) Guy Haley. We bounced a few ideas around and, while he thought about Baal and the Arx Angelicum in a wider sense, I delved into the darkest recesses of the Librarium. It’s not all crypts and sacred vaults though – Mephiston and a strike force of Blood Angels get drawn into an internecine bloodbath on a daemon-infested Shrine World and fun times are had by all.  

1. Given the exciting advancement of the narrative where do you see Mephiston and the BA in general in the Gathering Storm and what aspects might we hope to see going into 8th edition and beyond, beyond just the Shield of Baal (Tyranids)?

  If Hades Hive threw fire on Mephiston’s split personality, the Cicatrix Maledictum has added even more fuel to the flames. Mephiston’s got half a foot in the Warp anyway, so a bloody great tear in reality is going magnify things to an insane level. I’m writing more about Mephiston and it’s exciting ramping his problems up to even more extreme levels. Blood of Sanguinius is set before the events of the Gathering Storm, but the next book is set after. If Mephiston can harness this influx of new warp energy he could turn the tide of the war and prove to the rest of his Chapter that they are worthy, that they can defeat their ancient curse and make their long dead daddy proud, but if Mephiston is consumed by the Warp, or if he’s wrong about source of his powers, he could be the final nail in their (admittedly quite fancy) coffin.  

1. How was it for you writing a 40K novel? You’ve contributed to Architect of Fate and several amazing Fantasy and AoS books. What stories would you like to tell?

  It’s always daunting writing Warhammer fiction because you know how much love there is for these characters and what strong opinions people have about how they should be portrayed, but... My favourite part of 40K is the weird stuff that spews from John Blanche’s head: the strange, surreal, twisted, pseudo religious, mythical, gothic, claustrophobic, bloody creepiness of 40K and, writing about a Librarian, specifically Mephiston, was a great excuse to delve into that stuff. It was loads of fun. I’d like to push the horror even further in the next one though. If there was ever a bit of 40K that should be scary to read about, it’s this. I’d like to write something that keeps me awake at night.  

1. Did you have any favorite parts of Mephiston?

I always enjoy writing messed-up Chaos daemon scenes, and I managed to squeeze some of that in here. There is a daemon-birth scene that properly freaked me out as a wrote it, so I was particularly pleased with that. Does that sound weird? Am I weird? Why are those people pointing at me and whispering?  

1. You brought your unique, dark take on demons and alien entities from Fantasy into Mephiston. How did you envision the opening enemies (the first battle)?

I’m really freaked out by those electron microscope images of dust mites. They’re so bloody horrific and alien. I suppose I was thinking of them. Now I’m thinking about them again. Do they live in eyebrows? I’m getting itchy.  

1. We must give a nod to your other BL books. Sigvald won me over and I was so pleased to see your name on the Orion Trilogy. Any fun moments in character development in the World That Was? In your AoS work?

  Sigvald was such a gift – a thrill-seeking hedonist in such a bonkers a setting. I kind of feel like I should have paid BL for the fun of writing that book. (Don’t tell them though.) My AoS novel was great fun too. At the time of writing, nothing was really pinned down about the Stormcast Eternals or the new Warhammer setting, so I had a lot of leeway to invent stuff. I’d like to do more stuff in the Mortal Realms at some point.  

1. Do you have anything coming up we can know about and/or can we expect to read more of your work? (say what you’re allowed, they understand by now how this works)

I’m working on more Mephiston and I think he’ll keep me busy for a while. If the first book does well and BL like the idea, I’d like to do quite a few books about him. Other than that, I’ll just be busy trying to get all these microscopic insects of my skin. I wonder if you can buy a cream for that?   time stamp 00:00 - 00:32 - Intro 00:32 - 01:20 - James Swallow 01:20 - 01:36 - Andy Smillie 01:36 - 01:55 - Guy Haley 01:55 - 02:20 - Paul Murphy   Ep 152 Women in Wargaming James Swallow jamesswallow.blogspot.co.uk @jamesswallow Andy Smillie @andysmillie Guy Haley @guyhaley Paul Murphy @warmaster_tpm www.forgethenarrative.net     Combat Phase aims to bring excellent resources  to our listeners around the world. Here are some excellent sources, retailers and more to be sure to check out.  

• Secret Weapon Miniatures enter code COMBATPHASE for 5% off http://secretweaponminiatures.com/
• Front Line Gaming for painting needs https://www.flgpaintstudio.com/
• Landmine   www.ministomp.com  
• Awesome 3-D printed items from Shapeways enter COMBATPHASE at checkout for free shipping off your first order  www.shapways.com

 

 

Paul Murphy of Forge the Narrative joins me as a guest host this week.

We talk GW news from Warhammer Fest, a bit of sad news with the passing of FW's Legend Alan Bligh, and some hobby and games played. Ben Curry of Bad Dice joins me to chat Chaos Dwarfs in AoS (Legion of Azgorh), TGA & his upcoming Blood & Glory event. The Track of Words takes the stage. Check them all out and enjoy!   Time stamps 00:00 - 00:27 - intro 00:27 - 01:05 - Ben Curry of Bad Dice: Legion of Azgorh (Chaos Dwarfs) in AoS & Blood & Glory 01:05 - 01:37 - Track of Words   RIP Alan Bligh https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/05/27/alan-bligh/ Forge the Narrative forgethenarrative.net Bad Dice @baddice_podcast Blood & Glory  http://baddice.co.uk/ Facebook group  https://www.facebook.com/groups/AoSDawiZharr/ TGA tga.community Track of Words   http://www.trackofwords.com/ Warhammer Fest live blog https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/05/27/warhammer-fest-live-blog/ Imperial Truth: http://theimperialtruth.com/   Combat Phase aims to bring excellent resources  to our listeners around the world. Here are some excellent sources, retailers and more to be sure to check out.  

• Secret Weapon Miniatures enter code COMBATPHASE for 5% off http://secretweaponminiatures.com/
• Front Line Gaming for painting needs https://www.flgpaintstudio.com/
• Landmine   www.ministomp.com  
• Awesome 3-D printed items from Shapeways enter COMBATPHASE at checkout for free shipping off your first order  www.shapways.com

We talk news about 40K 8th ed reveal of dates and content released today before some hobby and playing of Hordes, Batman, Dystopian Wars and Heresy. First Robert and Kenny give thoughts surrounding the big announcement of 8th ed 40K pre-order June 3rd, in-hand 17th, then Laurie Goulding returns to chat the body of work on Scythes of the Emperor from Black Library. Finally, Vince Venturella graces us again for another Ask a Hobby Expert session on Zenithal highlighting. A bit of background hobbying apparently as we recorded. :)   Enjoy!   time stamp 00:00 - 00:46  - intro, thoughts on 8th ed release reveals 00:46 - 02:03  - Scythes of the Emperor w/Laurie Goulding 02:03 - 02:21  - Ask a Hobby Expert w/Vince Venturella : Zenithal Highlighting   @lauriegoulding Scythes of the Emperor Black Library http://www.blacklibrary.com/Home/Search-Results.html Scythes - http://the-scythes.com/ Vince's YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgptSaRLvd1QH0SURdQNYgg   Combat Phase aims to bring excellent resources  to our listeners around the world. Here are some excellent sources, retailers and more to be sure to check out.  

• Secret Weapon Miniatures enter code COMBATPHASE for 5% off http://secretweaponminiatures.com/
• Front Line Gaming for painting needs https://www.flgpaintstudio.com/
• Landmine   www.ministomp.com  
• Awesome 3-D printed items from Shapeways enter COMBATPHASE at checkout for free shipping off your first order  www.shapways.com

We talk news, weekly update with #New40K updates and reflections, hobby and games played. In our discussion we look at game mats for your wargaming hobby, regardless of game. We're joined by Reece at Front Line Gaming to chat about their amazing mats (and more!) after Rob from Gamemats.com, a new mat producer, chats with Kenny. Don't forget to check out the SoCal Open in gorgeous Southern California.   As always see below for contacts and discount codes for our listeners and enjoy!    We're aware the last episode was running audio in headphones to only one track so we've fixed that and hopefully the tech gremlins are finally done with us. Internet boosted, new headset/mic, but can't do much if noise on a guest's side. Soon all pre-recorded interviews will be out and all the audio will be current and consistent. We appreciate your patience. :)   time stamp 00:00 - 00:52  Intro 00:52 - 01:11  Gamemats.com 01:11 - 01:36 Front Line Gaming   Front Line Gaming Blog: https://www.frontlinegaming.org/   Store: http://store.frontlinegaming.org/   LVO: http://www.lasvegasopen.net/   SoCal Open: https://www.frontlinegaming.org/socal-open-2017/   FLG Paint Studio: https://www.flgpaintstudio.com/   Game Mats.com  10% off Gamemats.com through June 17th, 2017 with code COMBATPHASE

www.gamemats.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/GameMatsDotCom

Twitter: @gamematsdotcom

Insta: @gamematsdotcom

note: check out Redox Wasteland mat!

 

 

International Orders (temporarily):

 

eBay: game_mats.

 

We're using eBay as a stopgap until we can work some details out with our shipper for international orders. People can purchase our mats on eBay and we use eBay's Global Shipping Program to deliver. The Buyer gets a quote for shipping to their location before they click the Buy It Now button. We deliver the mat to eBay's Global Shipping Center snd they forward it to the Buyer. 

 

Alternately, international customers can email us at "[email protected]" for a shipping quote. 

 

Retailers can contact us at "[email protected]" for retail terms. 

 

Testing retail with a few stores now

 

PrinTerrain - 3D Printable Tabletop Wargame Terrain - will launch soon with a small test launch. We plan to also have some content for the community (blog & video) about 3D printing for tabletop gamers with instruction, printer reviews, tips & tricks, etc.

 

This will launch initially as digital files that people can purchase to print at home. Some items will be available via a "made to order" service.

  Combat Phase aims to bring excellent resources  to our listeners around the world. Here are some excellent sources, retailers and more to be sure to check out.  

• Secret Weapon Miniatures enter code COMBATPHASE for 5% off http://secretweaponminiatures.com/
• Front Line Gaming for painting needs https://www.flgpaintstudio.com/
• Landmine   www.ministomp.com  
• Awesome 3-D printed items from Shapeways enter COMBATPHASE at checkout for free shipping off your first order  www.shapways.com

 

 

We talk news, more 8th ed 40K analysis discussion, hobby and games played, including SW:Armageddon campaign. Although we have new recording equipment and theoretically faster internet, Mark and Carl join Kenny (interviews before these recording updates) to chat about their experiences playing solo Fyreslayers at SCGT and Ask a Hobby Expert with an extremely talented painter from Italy on how he painted a beautiful Fyreslayers Lodge.     Time stamps 00:00 - 00:46 - intro 00:46 - 01:30  -Mark 01:30 - 02:09   - Carl 02:09 - 02:25   -Eugenio   NJ event https://www.facebook.com/events/123806461511795/ Fyreslayers group on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1576982465946239/?ref=br_rs Mark   Carl  Eugenio are on the Fabeook group     Combat Phase aims to bring excellent resources  to our listeners around the world. Here are some excellent sources, retailers and more to be sure to check out.  

• Secret Weapon Miniatures enter code COMBATPHASE for 5% off http://secretweaponminiatures.com/
• Front Line Gaming for painting needs https://www.flgpaintstudio.com/
• Landmine   www.ministomp.com  
• Awesome 3-D printed items from Shapeways enter COMBATPHASE at checkout for free shipping off your first order  www.shapways.com

We talk news, games played and hobby (Robert wins this week). This week we take a look at the new AoS faction Kharadron Overlords and our first impressions.   time stamp - just the intro and the first look at the Kharadon Overlords       Combat Phase aims to bring excellent resources  to our listeners around the world. Here are some excellent sources, retailers and more to be sure to check out.  

• Secret Weapon Miniatures enter code COMBATPHASE for 5% off http://secretweaponminiatures.com/
• Front Line Gaming for painting needs https://www.flgpaintstudio.com/
• Landmine   www.ministomp.com  
• Awesome 3-D printed items from Shapeways enter COMBATPHASE at checkout for free shipping off your first order  www.shapways.com

The no-longer-cursed episode appears! Though we are working on getting back our usual recording software we had to redo this episode due to a horrible glitch in the replacement software. Trust us, this was a tedious yet kind move. :) We talk news, hobby, games played and then have 3 segments. 1st we look at the release of info on 40K 8th ed with the daily info drops since Saturday and give our (very excited!) thoughts.    Then David Annandale returns to discuss his new epic book Warlord: Fury of the God-Machine. Finally, expert painter Myles of Lil' Legend Studios instructs us on painting all types of Gold. Join us again next week as we look at the new Kharadron Overlords.   Enjoy!     time stamp: 00:00 - 00:50   intro 00:50 - 01:12 David Annandale on Warlord: Fury of the God-Machine 01:12  - 01:43  Myles of Lil' Legend Studios tells us how to paint all types of Gold!   @david_annandale @lillegendstudio #New40K  follow on Twitter Pete @geekjockpete New 40K website:  https://warhammer40000.com/ www.frontlinegaming.org     Combat Phase aims to bring excellent resources  to our listeners around the world. Here are some excellent sources, retailers and more to be sure to check out.  

• Secret Weapon Miniatures enter code COMBATPHASE for 5% off http://secretweaponminiatures.com/
• Front Line Gaming for painting needs https://www.flgpaintstudio.com/
• Landmine   www.ministomp.com  
• Awesome 3-D printed items from Shapeways enter COMBATPHASE at checkout for free shipping off your first order  www.shapways.com

    Enjoy!

 

We talks GW news plus some Andy Chambers. Kenny and Robert played games, there was much hobby to be had. We discuss the new, exciting Shadow War: Armageddon release then Tyler Mengel joins us to discuss his baller new unofficial battletome project for the Endless Deserts (Tomb Kings).

  Enjoy!     Tyler Mengel @mengelminis Mengel Minis http://www.mengelminiatures.com/ Shadow War Armageddon lists: https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/ShadowWar/SWA_Killteams_ENG.pdf   Combat Phase aims to bring excellent resources  to our listeners around the world. Here are some excellent sources, retailers and more to be sure to check out.  

• Secret Weapon Miniatures enter code COMBATPHASE for 5% off http://secretweaponminiatures.com/
• Front Line Gaming for painting needs https://www.flgpaintstudio.com/
• Landmine   www.ministomp.com  
• Awesome 3-D printed items from Shapeways enter COMBATPHASE at checkout for free shipping off your first order  www.shapways.com