A veritable gaggle of gamers take to the airwaves to discuss three recent competitions held in Plymouth, Burton (which took place recently in "the land of beer." ) and Bournemouth, all in a rather chilly February of this year. There are also diversions into buying rubbish on eBay from Heinz Games (or at least that's what the AI Summary thought we said..), shipping wargaming stuff from the USofA (pre tariffs!), Central London Club's recent enfatuation with two new rule sets, Jackals and Sword Weirdos, and Mark's progress in finishing a whole book on the Khmer (which he's writing, not simply struggling to read.). There is also talk of commissioning figures, Richard Morgans new SF tome "Thin Air," set on Mars, a bit of Test of Honor as well as Simons upcoming stab at converting Warmaster units and rules to use ADLG's mechanics, which is about to be tried at CLWC in the coming weeks and months. Towards the end (in its traditional slot, and with its traditional French Techno soundtrack) Andy's Quiz makes a long overdue reappearance, although sadly sans Andy this week. The quiz covers the theme of hesitant allies, inspired by Andy's recent experience at Burton. The quiz answers will be released in the next podcast!
In a new start to 2025, the first episode of the tentatively titled "Series 5" hits the airwaves as 4 brave podcasting gamers make the trip to the South of Spain in mid January to take in the Akra Leuka tournament at the upmarket Benidorm that is Alicante. We also take in the Worlds Largest Collection of Model Tanks, the current state of play with which 15mm metal casting companies are currently closing down, whether "Paella" is actually just "Rice" with a different postcode, if a War Wagon collapses in the forest can a Swiss Pikeman hear it fall, if anyone has ever seen a bigger chorizo nugget, whether we are all now far too old to understand this 3D printing malarkey, and if double-carbs is the missing link between Glasgow and the entire Iberian peninsula. The guests on this podcast are Dave "From The Podcast", Dave "Ming the Marxist" and Mark "The FWC Man". The lists we all used in Alicante can be found on the Madaxeman ADLG Wiki. Marks Hungarians Tim & Daves Swiss Daves French Ordonnance My video of the Cartagena Military Museum
A rare reappearance for the Madaxeman Podcast as a part new, part old crew heads down to the West Country for a bit of Hard Rock, a lot of beer, pubs and food, and eventually some rather eclectic analysis of a variety of unsuccesful army lists from the recent ADLG competitions held at the Attack! show in Devizes. Join me, Dave from The Podcast, Another Dave (technically "the Dave formerly known as Pants"), Jason and Steve as we take you gently down Melksham Way. (Apologies in advance for some of the audio - there are a lot of clicks and hisses in one section towards the start. It's been a while so our audio setup was even further away from being describable as "slick", and my editing was even more rusty than has been the case in any of the previous hundred+ amateurish episodes. It's a low bar I know... ) As usual: The lists we discuss are available on the Madaxeman website's ADLG Wiki The ADLG content starts about 22:45 in, so you can either start, or stop listening then as you choose There will be a video version of this on my YouTube channel The incidental sad violin music is (perhaps unsurprisngly) "Sad Violin 2", by TheFlyFishingFilmmaker , (License: Attribution 4.0)
It's been a while since we've done an ADLG Army List podcast, but with the recent Roll Call event throwing up some really interesting lists in a 15mm theme called The Roman Pond (armies and enemies of the Roman Republic & Empire that could have dipped their toes in the Med) it seemed like an ideal opportunity to delve back into the theory of list design yet again. In this episode not only do we go through the lists of the top 5 placed 15mm players, we also have 2 of the top 5 in the Podcast "studio" (aka Zoom call) in the erudite shapes of Paul Dawson and Richard Case. The lists we look at are all available on the Madaxeman website in the ADLG Wiki, and this pod is also available on YouTube with pictures of troops and the lists themselves too: The list covered are: Late Imperial Roman Hunnic Late Imperial Roman Patrician Roman Hunnic Roman Clibanarii from Forged in Battle.
Yes, a rare in-the-field podcast in which a team of 3 (me, Dave from the Podcast and Mike) storm the beaches of Normandy to visit Bayeux, Le Havre, several seaside gun positions, Pegasus Bridge, Rouen and Dieppe whilst also finding time to fit in a bit of Norman-themed ADLG competition action in between numerous bouts of eating, drinking, discussing former Fulham players of the last decade, and many other regionally appropriate activities. As such, sound quality is a little sketchy in some parts of this podcast, mainly on account of the fact a number of the individual segments were recorded on my phone in (or outside) various bars and restaurants in the Normandy heartland. The battle reports and tourism photos from this trip can all be found on the Madaxeman website and there is also a YouTube video version of this podcast which also includes all of the photos too.
The only wargames podcast to tell you all you ever wanted to know about waterfly larvae returns with a springtime Easter (Not All That) Special episode in which we execute the usual discursive tour through a multitude of topics, asking all of the key questions including; Just how much are plastic figures nowadays? Who makes the best Byzantines and why is it Aventine? Are two packets enough to count as a new range? Salute! Where to go, How to get there, What to buy, and most important When to roll up at the door There's also a taster for the French Competition special edition Podcast coming soon, lots of chat about gaming in the Roman Pond, a 3 month-long 3D printing odessey, the return of the wooden horse, tourism in Caen Castle, the lack of updates for the audio guide to the Bayeux Tapestry, a chat about whether Cataphract Camels can restore your mojo, and we also find out what exactly happened when Don Juan, Admiral Nelson, and Octavia walked into a bar. As usual, some of the stuff we talk about can also be found on: Tamsins Blog Madaxeman.com
After a lengthy hiatus almost all of the podcast team return for a daffodil-sprouting episode at the very start of March 2023. Despite the absence of any badger-related content, we do manage to cover shopping expeditions (online and in real life), take a diversion into discussing the merits of Siocast/Warlord Resin/"I Can't believe It's Not Called Airfix" plastic figures, get into a bit of Spartacan slap-chop via an azimuth spray disaster, go all Judge Dredd, barely mention cricket nets, explain to Adam what he's been missing all this time as a sidebar to the great "Amos vs Drummer - Who's The Expanse's Greatest Ever Character (and why it's obviously Drummer)" debate, talk about castles in Spain and why the second most successful Berber invasion of the Iberian Peninsula landed in Valencia instead of Alicante, have a peek at Andy's trophy haul and (eventually) learn how he ended up out of pocket after accidentally buying his own birthday presents from his wife. And there's a return for Andy's Quiz, with a brand new Two Ronnies-style twist this week as we accidentally give you the answers to the questions from the episode before last. As usual the stuff we talk about can be seen here: Tamsin's Blog Spartacus Painted Xativa Castle Sonic Sledgehammer's YouTube Channel (yep, that's who we meant!)
After a barren 5 month interregnum a mathematical majority of the Madaxeman Podcast crew stumble grudgingly back onto the airwaves with a near-2-hour episode to kickstart the 3rd series. Any semblance of order, structure and giving the impression of planning is almost instantly thrown out of the window as we immediately go off tangent in a fascinating discussion around the origin (and ending) of the entire concept of a Grenadier, before we swerve decisively into some surprisingly well informed opinions about 3D printing, consider whether the long time coming Dire Straits revival will include a remixed Europop single called "Gaming by the Pool", have a vote to decide if the 1980's RPG "Traveller" ever really existed in our stub, try to guess who won the 1936 Eurovision Song Contest, witter on about Contrast paints (again..), and then give a look back to Britcon and a heads-up to the SELWG show. Of course, Andy's quiz also returns from the mists of time with something equally and typically topical too, aided and abetted by its timeless theme music. Tamsin's 3D printer we discuss at some length is an Anycubic Kobra, but I've been asked to flag up that it's not necessarily a good one for a beginner - Tamsin instead suggests the Elegoo Neptune 3, or the Anycubic Vyper if you have a bit more bench space available. For both of those she'd recommend replacing the PTFE tubing they come with with Capricorn PTFE tubing (affilate links to Amazon). The pictures of some of the stuff we talked about is also online here: Tamsin's Blog The Madaxeman Blog
A decidedly Carry On-flavoured episode title hides within it a pun-tastic "five-handed" episode this month/week, as we take you on a road trip the like of which has not been seen since the Blues Brothers set off for Chicago with half a tank of gas, two packets of cigarettes and their still-iconic-now Ray-Ban sunglasses all those years ago. Our journey however thankfully avoids Dave and I duetting with Aretha Franklin and instead takes us through two world wars, a lot of stained glass, several centuries of Frederick Barbarossa's wedding gifting lists, 2 Sherman tanks, a castle on two rivers big enough to hold the entire Walloonian army (and then some), and some totally NUTS Belgian beer that you are served in, and have to drink from a ceramic WW2 US Paratroopers helmet (guess where folks...!). Then, eventually and somewhat grudgingly we break from the travelogue to discuss playing ADLG in a castle on the Rhine at the recent Braubach tournament, then go on to cover Roll Call, the upcoming ADLG Worlds, go super-deep with some chubby printed 6-10-15mm Etruscans, build lamp-posts for Mega City One, cover ourselves in feathers as we don some Eagle Warrior Onesies with the Aztecs, and of course end by hitting up a Eurovsion-themed version of Andy's Quiz. There is also a bit of a gauntlet-laying-down challenge for all of our listener(s) this week. Let's just say that if any of you believe that you have been for a beer in in the ropiest bar in Belgium, well, I'm afraid we have some news for you...
In this March & April episode the full suite of seven engage in an unexpected discussion comparing Warlord and GW's "Contrast"/ "Speed" paints that occasionally veers into actual proper wargaming podcast territory at times. Keeping with this unusual approach there is also a bit of a chat about 3D printing and the gentle wave of retirements washing across the traditional manufacturers and retailers in the historical space, and what that may mean for the hobby in the short and medium term. Fortunately this proper content is more than counterbalanced by an episode of World of Wor-Wor-War Sports punditry and analysis as we are joined by Roy Keane, Micah Richards and Alan Hansen to try and predict the winners of the upcoming 15mm ADLG competition at Roll Call 2022. This segment starts around the 55 minute mark, in case you really don't want to hear us talking about painting, or indeed trying our hands at actual proper podcast-like stuff. Finally, Andy's Quiz return with some answers from the distant past and a topical Russian Naval Disasters-themed set of questions for this week. Tamsin's Speedpaint Test Lab Roll Call 2022 Runners & Riders
The Ides of March are upon us, and so it must be time for Episode 5 of Series 2 of the Madaxeman Podcast. This week a 6-handed episode sees extensive coverage of the Painting Challenge, discussion of competitions, restaurants and public houses of all flavours and dimensions in the pseudo-industrial brewing town of Burton Upon Trent, forward-planning of a kind rarely seen outside of a gold spray tan booth online booking system, an almost-ISITYAA discussion of Why DBA is the best ruleset ever written (and a simultaneous demonstration that we very clearly and absolutely don't script any of the rest of this podcast to boot) as well as the usual inane chat, observations about kitchen implement storage solutions, and links to pictures of Japanese soldiery of a 28mm variety. There is also an episode of Andy's Quiz, including the answers to the last episodes questions (for those of you old enough to remember it). Tamsins Painting Challenge photos The Coopers Tavern, Burton
Another year, another brand new experiment as we unleash a multi-session podcast recorded "in the studio" in the UK (aka on Zoom), "in the field" abroad (aka in a bar in Spain), and "in the 1980's" (aka in a coffee shop back in London with overly loud music playing in the background) in which some of the regular crew initially preview, then discuss half way through, and finally review the recent L'Art de la Guerre competition held in Alicante in Spain in January 2022. We are also joined by a number of special guests, and an even greater number of waitresses who all make a unwitting yet far more meaningful contribution than most of us can manage ourselves - especially after several bottles of red wine at lunchtime. Heads-up - some of the audio is a bit murky, but you should be able to hear the clinking of wine and beer glasses clearly enough to get the gist of it, even in the bits when the words might get a little lost in the background hubbub. This podcast accompanies the Alicante Battle Reports on Madaxeman.com. The Spanish music in this podcast is used under a creative commons license and is from the Watcha Clan. The original track can be found here.
In what is likely to become this year's Christmas episode by dint of us almost certainly failing to find time to record another one in the next few weeks, the full Madaxeman podcast crew reconvene online to witter aimlessly about what they have been up to since the last podcast (which could be a description for almost any podcast on any subject come to think of it..) As well as the usual painting chat, we unpick the piratey bones from the recent Brixham Devonian Classic ADLG competition, which saw 36 players gather for chips, beer, invigorating coastal walks and some incidental games of ADLG at the very site of the landing point of William of Orange on his way to claim the English crown, before going into the freezing details of the Warfare event held recently in Ascot. Along the way there's a painting challenge, lots of cold-weather outdoor undercoating, several Samurai excursions, the Kingdom of Benin gets a mention, Perry plastics are yet again lauded to the heavens (Christmas is coming after all..), and a vaguely informed debate as to whether competitions actually have to be competitive to be enjoyable (spoiler alert, the answer is "no"). So, sit back, make sure to keep dipping your brush in the water pot rather than that glass of gently steaming mulled wine, and revel in listening to the 205th most popular hobby podcast in Finland right now ! Tamsins Blog Xyston Generals as Companions Brixham Match Reports Red3 Miniatures
After every hiatus comes a podcast, and this week is no different as the full Madaxeman podcast team return somewhat grudgingly from an extended break of actually playing games, going outside and doing proper things in the real world - or in Tamsin's case, making one helluva lot of trees and shaving a few towels in the process - and step up out of their basements, dust off their parchment rulesets and head to their microphones to share their lack of wargames wisdom... The end result is a decidedly unscripted second (and first non-ADLG-specific) podcast of a new series, as we compare notes on painting and not painting, discuss how weird it is to go to a show again (SELWG), engage in a pretty piratey Andy's Quiz and see a welcome return for Micah Richards and the World of Wor-Wor-WarSports as we preview part of the upcoming Devonian Classic competition next weekend and try and predict the winners of the 25mm pool in a more random than random sort of way. Refurbished Medievals in 15mm Tamsin's SELWG Demo Games report Tamsin's Jungle Terrain The God's Own Scale Podcast Site
Another tentative step back towards recording and publishing a regular podcast this autumn sees the usual list review team of me, Dave and Richard pore over the 6 lists used by the members of the top 2 placed teams from the recent BHGS Teams L'Art de la Guerre event held in London in September 2021. The event was themed into 3 separate pools : Biblical, armies with Steppe terrain, and Sub Zero (pre 0AD) and so we have a very eclectic group of lists to share and discuss in this podcast: Hittites and Assyrians, Parthians and Abbasids, and Later Persians and Ptolemaic Successors. The lists all are reproduced on the Madaxeman ADLG Wiki so you can read them at your leisure, or read along as you listen. As usual this podcast is also being published on the Madaxeman YouTube Channel with pictures of some vaguely relevant figures and more importantly frequent appearances of all of the lists as well.
OK, perhaps that's a smidge overdramatic, but with the shutters coming down on social gaming across the UK right now it seems like the right time to toss another podcast into the ether for your indoor painting-accompaniment over the coming week. This episode sees all 7 regular contributors Zooming in, with an increasingly un-rare unplanned guest appearance from Mrs Andy yet again stealing the show early doors. As well as a gallop through everyone's painting achievements, we attempt to dip a disconcertingly long toe into the garlic-infused pond-water that makes up the Bataille Empire ruleset, and of course there is a return for yet another innuendo-laden episode of Andy's Quiz. In an effort to ease you back in gently this episode only runs to just over an hour - there will be more next week... Tamsin's Blog Dave on Instagram Arabs on the Madaxeman Blog Andy vs Tim on Youtube
After much promise and very little delivery, another lazily rehashed cut-and-paste job recycles an old episode of I'm Sorry I Think You're An Arse and plops it out into the audio-ether for your delight and tangible disappointment. This segment was originally published at the start of 2021, probably when we were all working under some sort of lockdown scenario, and addresses head-on the vexed issue of whether modern gaming and modelling paint ranges have just gone too goddam far, and instead puts forward the entirely reasonable proposition that we should all simply go back to the halcyon days when the Humbrol range of enamels was the be all and end all of painting toy soldiers, and further expounds the theory that we would all be far happier if someone important just drew a big fat Gloss 208 Day-glo Green line under any further paint-based development shenanigans going forward. As well as this recycling initiative, there are actually some other new podcast episodes in gestation - a list pod is in production as we speak, and there are mutterings and vague talk of restarting the full team pod in a few weeks as well, most probably with some World of War-War-War Sports punditry and predictions on upcoming tournaments. But in the meantime, a bit like finding an open petrol station, then realising that it only has LPG in stock, this is about as good as it is going to get for this week I'm afraid ...
As threatened, The Madaxeman Podcast returns to punctuate your summer with a lazily cobbled together series of repeats of our barely tongue in cheek I'm Sorry I Think You're an Arse feature. This 30 minute snippet of Madaxeman Podcast is an ideal way to brighten your already sunny day (between showers), and this time around features an ISITYAA from way back in March of this year in which Adam takes on the vexed subject of why anyone who comes out with the hoary old line of "The Hobby is Greying, And we need to do something about it!" actually needs to get right back in their box (ideally quite quickly, as otherwise Adam may assist them in an overly proactive manner). Look out for more ISITYAA repeats in the coming weeks!
With all seven particiants now itching to "jab and go" (or, possibly just "itching"), the third Lockdown sees the Lockdown Podcast series lumber into Episode 63 territory as the complete suite of contributors yet again step up to the painting microphones. This week's range of eclectic topics cover the full gamut of land, sea and air (but without air) as we discuss whether anyone has actually played Cruel Seas more than once, decide if Victrix' Shermans might not actually be "too good", take great care when Googling for "flocking videos", plug ourselves firmly into the debate as to which static grass is best for low voltage application, run out of entirely new ways to spell Landsnechts, try to avoid rejoicing too obviously that Tamsin is getting back on the painting hobby horse, debate whether Baccus 6mm ACW are more detailed than Warlord's 13.5mm troopers, go back in time to an era before spray cans existed, build a fully functioning cowboy village out of purple teddy bear fur, and try to teach a number of relatively small children just how life affirming immersing oneself fully in a bath of pro-Polish Swedish death metal can prove to be in later life. Sabaton - Winged Hussars Little ships on Madaxeman Luke Towan's terrain channel on YouTube Geek Gaming Scenics on YouTube
Having snuck in a bonus army-themed podcast last week our half-hearted festivities are now brought to you as Episode 55. in possibly the least festive "Wargaming Christmas Special" ever committed to a digital recording medium. This week the intrepid band of coughing witterers open a suitably disappointing set of conversational presents from under the podcast tree. The surprise packages include The (literal) Army of Cheese, whether running machines with ashtrays were ever a thing (outside of that one episode of Minder), if faking malingering illness could become the next competition circuit, just how dangerous is electrostatic wet grass, does it really count if you buy a whole army by accident, the fall of the Damned Dynasty, how much gravy should you have when taking Sunday lunch with the Pub Landlord, who wants a tank gift, and (in what could end up being a new gameshow segment) Who's Gaff Is It Anyway? On the Festive theme, we also recommend for you over the next few weeks: Other Podcasts to listen to Computer Games to maybe buy at Christmas Which websites are managing to survive in the age of Facebook & Twitter This week Andy's Quiz is also all about Going Down - a rare double-entendre in the only gaming-themed podcast that still manages to ease gently into all of those crevices. We'll be taking a break now until the new year (unless we all get really bored once London gets put in Tier 3), but watch out for a random smattering of army-themed secials on Podbean and YouTube which may yet emerge from between the sprout-stained pages of the Radio Times over the next couple of weeks.