In the Finest Hour Podcast

If you play Warhammer competitively, you will inevitably end up on the wrong end of the nerf bat, an unenviable situation. It can suck a lot to have your favorite unit or army severely hampered by changes to the rules, but the good news is that there are things you can do to cope with the situation and maybe even come out of it the stronger. This week, we talk about what to do when the rules shift beneath your feet- do you stick with the army, try something different, or look to another army entirely? All three are plausible responses, and we explore the pros and cons of each as well as the hosts' personal recommendations for how to handle things.

Although it hasn't gotten quite as much excitement drummed up for it as the Space Marine books, the Necron codex in 9th Edition is no joke- it's taken a number of top tournament spots and we have seen several different builds do well, with more likely undiscovered. So this episode, our hosts take you on a tour of the new Necron book and talk about some of the highlights you should be watching for- units, builds, and combos that stand out as well as ways to combat the list and strengths and challenges you should think about with Necrons. If you like your robots flavored like existential terror and scenery-chewing, this is the episode for you!

3D printing is a technology that has not only made immense strides over the past ten years but is also one that has the potential to completely change the way we look at our hobby in the future. Since both Shaylynn and Ben have significant experience with 3D printing, either professionally or as a hobby, this episode we talk about what 3D printing means for you in terms of making and converting models. We also discuss conversions and tournament policies, and how best to approach those issues if you have an army you're afraid might not be legal- and offer some guidelines on how to ensure you and your opponents both get a good experience from your army conversions. And to round things out, we take a look at where each of the hosts think that 3D printing is going in the near future as well as some thoughts on how the companies, the hobby, and the events we are all a part of might handle those changes.

We- and many other people- have talked a lot about the secondary missions in 9th Edition as well as many of the details of the primary missions, but it's high time we actually buckled down and looked at the core missions themselves and what they may mean for your army. With the objectives and deployments being paired together in specific ways, as well as the unique secondary objective available to each mission, there can be some very big swings in how you want to play each of them; how many objectives to go for, which secondary missions have good synergy, and so on and so forth.

More than any previous edition, 9E is a game of playing to the mission in order to win. In most games, that means trying to score points on the primary mission- but how do you do that? In this episode we talk about how you can gain a significant advantage in the score by "flipping" objectives to your side, including talking about when and where you'll want to do it, the kinds of units that excel at it, alternative strategies for armies that may struggle with the idea, and how to defend your own objectives from the enemy's "flip."

Normally when we talking about improving as a competitive player, we talk about rules interactions, combos, decks, and that sort of thing. But there's another side to competitive play as well- that of the community you play in; after all, a game of 40K played solo is not going to be nearly as exciting! In this episode, we talk about why you should want to improve your community (apart from simple altruism, of course) and how that can benefit you as well as the multitude of ways you can do so. No matter what your skills and situation are, there's something you can contribute to bettering the game we play, whether that's time, expertise, money, or other resources, and it's through the efforts of other people doing the same that we've brought the game as far as we have.

Transports are on the upswing in 9th Edition, with armies from virtually every faction making use of them in a variety of ways. But the rules for transports hardly changed at all from the previous edition, so what is it that is making them so popular? In this episode we talk about how transports are like ogres (they have layers, you see), the surprising variety of ways they can boost your movement, using the hull itself, and ways that your transports can do more than just... transport things.

A little bit of a shorter episode this week, as Ben is occupied with other business so Sean and Shaylynn talk about her Grey Knights army in 9th Edition- where it's been, where it is, and where it's going, as well as how it got there. We discuss the various iterations of her list, the principles they were based on, and why they worked (or didn't) as well as what she learned about the army and the game from each of them.

We've had enough time now to take in the changes and breadth of the new edition, so let's take a moment to examine just what it all means. What sort of armies are we seeing in the new meta? What sort of strategies are they using, and how can those be countered? What sort of features of lists are important in all archetypes, and which ones are more niche? What sort of things should you be scouring your codex to find if you have access to them, and what are more optional? All three hosts give their opinions on the current shape of 9E as well as a short peek at what may be the road ahead.

One of the biggest changes for 9th edition is the introduction of strategic reserves, a concept that will be familiar to players of 7th or prior. Of course, this time around things are significantly different; reserves aren't random but also aren't free, and can enter the battlefield much more flexibly. All of this heralds some extremely significant shifts in how armies play on the tabletop as well as a huge variety of new strategies that you can use to succeed in both the primary and secondary missions. In this episode we take a look at how you can take advantage of these new options as well as some counter-play and the things you need to consider when looking at strategic reserves, both your own and your enemy's.