[Archive] Topic of May 2010 - Podcast/topic of the month feedback

Archive [Archive] Chaos Dwarf Discussion
1

Hashut’s Blessing:

Last month�?Ts response to the topic of the month seemed to imply that it was something of a flop or that everybody was just as busy as I was. Regardless of reasoning, this month�?Ts topic is here to combat that. I�?Td like to know what sort of topics people would like, if you would even like a topic of the month, what sort of improvements you think are necessary for the podcast, what things you particularly like about either and so on.

I hope to see lots of discussion here, please :smiley:

2

Nicodemus:

Last month�?Ts response to the topic of the month seemed to imply that it was something of a flop or that everybody was just as busy as I was. Regardless of reasoning, this month�?Ts topic is here to combat that. I�?Td like to know what sort of topics people would like, if you would even like a topic of the month, what sort of improvements you think are necessary for the podcast, what things you particularly like about either and so on.

I hope to see lots of discussion here, please :D

Hashut's Blessing
Lets get this started...

1) Top CDO thread as topic - Take the Chaos Dwarf-themed thread from here on CDO with the most responses or interest (or maybe the top two) and just talk about that.

2) Unit analysis and strategies - I'm thinking something along the lines of "The Art of the Blunderbuss" from WOH #8 on p.89. Probably include the best uses for each CD unit type here as well and what are the most cost-effective upgrades in the Indy GT or RH list.

3) Chaos Dwarf symbology/iconography - This one might be a dud, but what are the sorts of recognizable things that ought to appear on shields/battle standards/weapons, etc. Not just the symbol of Hashut or the cracked skulls, but a good run through of everything and relate it back to 'branding' or identifiability with CD's on the table. What elements should we be thinking about to help tie everything in together on the table and make it eye-catching, particularly for those who don't see Chaos Dwarfs in play often or new/younger players out there who have no idea what Chaos Dwarfs are about. I realize a good paint job and some cool models are important, but battle standards and other iconographic things are important elements too.

4) Chaos Dwarf colour palette - I realize this is completely open to interpretation and individual taste and preferences, but on average when looking at hundreds of painted models what are the most used colours, which ones are over-used, which ones don't work and which ones have people seen be seldom or rarely used, but looked amazing?

5) Hats vs masks - Let the real battle rage on... Again this is personal preference all the way, but some CDR voices may have some interesting input on the topic of one versus another or mixes of both.

6) Conversion corner/Forge of Hashut - Compile a list of all of the best conversion ideas out there and give some explicit details of what was done and how well the conversions work. What would really help this take flight is for each CDR personality to give one or two of their precious ideas for new units or conversions to the show. I realize that we all like saving our ideas to 'wow' others on CDO, but having some novel ideas reserved for the podcast could be a great addition and by just giving a description listeners can imagine what it would look like themselves to do it. If you look at the Burninators thread this could be a great one to start off with as a totally new unit type that could simply represent Blunderbuss/Annihilator units in an army, but have a totally different look.

7) Slaves - they're an integral part of Dawi Zharr society and we don't talk about them much at all. Slaves by far out-number Chaos Dwarfs, and while Chaos Dwarfs are the 'bees knees' so-to-speak there is a lot more that can be said and done with slaves. What sorts of things for CDR? Slave fluff, what kinds of things are they doing. How to incorporate them into an army more than just in units of Hobgoblins or Rabble (shameless plug for my Slave Cart unit filler). I thinking there could be a lot of things covered in this area. Maybe we need a slave-themed diorama for a future contest that features only one Chaos Dwarf and any number of slaves in any Chaos Dwarf-themed setting... but I digress...

8)CDR battle report with video supplement - No idea if this is in any way feasible or not, but here goes: Get someone to video one of their 500pt/1000pt/2000pt etc games of Chaos Dwarfs vs. anything and then make the video available to the CDR commentators (maybe even without any editing to save time) so that it can be covered in the podcast and do some analysis of game play, then leave the video available. Bandwidth could be an issue as well as logistics of recording & playing. Would be like the next level up from the battle reports in WOH.

~N
3

Tarrakk Blackhand:

"Why did you chose to build your army like you did?"

Might be interesting. I’m sure there are a lot of different reasons.

4

Nicodemus:

"Why did you chose to build your army like you did?"

Might be interesting. I'm sure there are a lot of different reasons.

Tarrakk Blackhand
That's a great idea. Not to speak out of turn... but this kind of thing could even be done with just a short 5-10-minute guest spot with a number of the top posters and admins giving their explanations and justifications. HB - if it's do-able it might be handy to have a number of these pre-recorded in advance and one could be included each show.
5

Hashut’s Blessing:

If people would like to record their reasons for building their army the way that they built their armies and send them to me, I’ll happily add them in (time permitting: trying to keep the podcast between 30 minutes and an hour :wink: ).

Didn’t want to jump in as I’ll be talking about all of this discussion in the next podcast, but couldn’t resist since there have been some really great suggestions.

Hoping to see more and some discussion of the current ones! Keep it up and thanks for commenting!

6

Ronshank:

I had just finished writing this reply once when I tryied to copy Nics name and it changed the page I was on and I lost the whole thing. I mention it so I’m leaving this up here as a referance

ps any tips on coping other peoples names with out accidently clicking things and without quoting would be appreciated (I didn’t really want to use the quote system as I was talking about two different posts)

First HB’s ideas about the reasons for building your army.

I think alot of people if they are being honest will be like me and say that Xanders videos were the major catalyst for building their armies the way they did. Before the videos the idea of making a true CD army was very daunting. So much so that it put at least me off a bit. And the other option of using dwarfs and giving them an ‘evil’ paint job usally just made them look like ordinary dwarfs with a different paint job.

The real individuality comes when making the other units namely the warmachines, lords and heroes as well as your chosen method for making greenskins if you use any. But even then if your being honest most people would have to fess up to getting most of their ideas from this site. But to me thats a good thing.

As i’ve said on other topics being a CD army collecter means that you have to deal with alot of things that the typical table-top gamer will never have to deal with unless on a whim they decided to convert a few major models, or collect something older. This means that reguardless of what kind of CD Army you collect, be they the old fashioned models or converting your own from scratch you will have a highly unique army. The time and effort that goes into this army is one of it’s very own rewards with very few armies looking alike, unlike the masses of carbon copy armies that will be fielded against us. Not to mention the fact that yours maybe the only CD army your opponent has ever seen.

The real question behind this topic is more how similar are your units?, where abouts (even on here) did you get your ideas from?, and what kind of army do you actually field? I have very high reguard for those on the site with the skill to make there armies exactly as they would like, especially if they have built their army to fit a theme or story. The first time I wrote this post I even mentioned how my green stuff skills limited the type of army I was able to build and the amount of ideas which were viable to use to build it. None the less this is a very interesting topic and one with heaps of room to expand upon and angles to look at it.

Now onto NIcodemus suggestions (which are a huge help and kudos for spending the time to come up with so many)

Okay taking the most talked about thread and talking about that. Well to be honest it’s a great idea. It can be used when ideas are slow and gets to the heart of what people are interesting in knowing more about at this piont in time. The downfalls I can see here though are slow months, unsuitable topics (this can be either because they just wouldn’t work on radio or because they are a little unsavory). But on the whole I cant see many downsides to this suggestion

Now for the Unit analysis. I personally love this idea I am always looking for ways to improve and this would be a nice way to use all the topics at once, modelling, painting, fielding and showcases of best works of completed units on the site (see further down on this critic for how this particular part of it could be expanded on). It could even be used to theme broatcasts and air new ideas or introduce new concepts (like when the gt list first came out, this is still a valid idea as it can also be used to encourage more people to give this list a go if that is something we decide to do). Back to the piont this could be a very fruitfull option.

Chaos Dwarf symbology. What can I say not really with you on this one. This is much more Word of Hashut type of ideas as it’s kind of important to actually see it. I mean alot gets lost in translation. I can see where you are trying to come from with that though (i’d expand but then that would ruin my own suggestion at the end :wink: )



Now for the colours, once again what can I say not really with you. The idea is very limited and (rant warning) you’ll find most players are simply using the suggested colour schemes. Personally I like doing something a bit different from the stock standard paint sceme even though I too have fallen victim to it. But to me is this is GW’s fault. Being a newbie I’m too scared to use non GW paints on things I have spent so much time creating but when it comes to the paint job what can I say there might as well be only 4 choices browns, reds, greens or blues. All other choices being so limited as to needing master skill to mix visably different tones of the same colour (case in piont purple) or have been phased out entirely (like pink, so much if you had done skaven tails in that colour). It annoys me as GW gives you these unpainted mini’s to personalise, says you have to use their stuff to play them in tournaments and then restricts you to a few basic colour choices for your supposedly personalised armies. Way for them to stick to their laurels :mad . sorry rant over. Mind you the opions in this rant could be used as a one off topic. Maybe other people don’t care and I’m the odd one I don’t know.

Hat v Masks. In my experance it’s not the kind of topic you want to get into. Things get heated stuff gets said, on-line wars start… Best to leave this one as a unfriendly ceasefire.

The conversion corner idea I love the idea of this one. Lets get the best of the best. Golden Hat winners, showcase army makers with the best models (this is were you can focus on certain units). Get them to explain their creations and the reasonings behind them. Get them to explain what was hard, what was easy, any helpful painting tips, any stories behind the models be they fluff or just interesting things that happened while making them. The downside to this version is the same one the radio show always has which is participation. But if it could be done it would be a real boon. Personally Nics ideas for this using alternative units and hints to make them would be okay but they are not really my cup of tea. But the idea itself has lots of potiential.

Slaves. Well this one is up my alley I too wonder about them, but then I’m biased I love slave pen :P. There are so many angle to this, using units, fluff, how the dawi zharr society works slave wise? Why they are happy to be slaves? What keeps them oppressed? What happened when the Black Orcs revolted? (I’m getting into my own idea now) . As well as idea’s for our own site slaves, what do they mean? and what do they represent? and the kinds of things one has to do to get them. And just about anything you can think of about slaves…where they come from, what kinds of things they are, how they get there, what happens when they are traded? what are they traded for?..More than enough fodder for their own show, and I haven’t even mentioned half the things Nic did.

  

Battle Reports. Commentating Blood bowl maybe?, but real games take ages. Plus it’s hard enough to get people to post their games let alone when they have a deadline. That said there are alot of things that can be done with this idea than Nic hadn’t thought of. There are a few games already up as videos plus there are many game write-ups on this site. What I think can be done with this needs a good general or even a couple of them. They can go through the games and offer advice to use fielded forces more effectively. Tell us what Armies did that worked well, how we can use them in our own games. Critic mistakes and how to avoid and salvage what you can from them when they happen, especially when it happens in the game they are re-viewing. Basically going though the different types of CD Army you can field showing their strengths and weaknesses in a tangable real way that can be followed by anyone that has bothered to watch the match in question. The topics of the radio shows are already linked so any videos used can easily be put on there with those. These can show you in real time what they are warning, or suggesting is a good or bad thing and help all of us to be better generals (either when we play /or if you ever decide to). This could be used to eventually showcase all the different armies you could be up against. This has the potiential to be a regulaur fixture of the broadcast. I love that with this idea even newbies can be introduced (to a degree) to the game play and see before they build their army what works, what they like and how to play and even old hat would be able to learn a few new tricks. Once again though I am biased as I learn much better from seeing, and internet videos do not get annoyed at you for watching the same bit of game play over and over until you not just understand but can do it yourself competently. Love to hear your thoughts on this expanded idea.

Now for my own one:

Fluff. I am fluff hungry maybe we could introduce a spot dedicated to going through the history of the Dawi Zharr. From the very first blood bowl models though to the present day fluff. It would explain 3rd Ed fluff which would help us all to understand some of the veiws that come from that CD history. It could hint on hats and masks etc in a purely historical kind of way which lets you see other peoples positions without nessicarily being yelled at or preeched to. Just simply stating with fluff why people believe and feel strongly over different parts of the fluff and how those things affected the army and game play at the time. I’m sure alot of people have some very interesting things to add about all the different editions and platforms that the Chaos Dwarfs were involved in. And I believe it could only enhance the site and discussions if these things were readily known and talked about (I know there’s the wiki but I find people absorb more when they have heard it). Well thats my idea anyway.

:hat off

sorry about any bad spelling/wording this post is pretty long so it’s a bit hard to edit properly

7

Nicodemus:

Thanks for the input Ronshank. I read this more than a week ago but haven’t been able to give a thoughtful reply as I’m away on vacation at present.

The real question behind this topic is more how similar are your units?, where abouts (even on here) did you get your ideas from?, and what kind of army do you actually field? I have very high reguard for those on the site with the skill to make there armies exactly as they would like, especially if they have built their army to fit a theme or story. The first time I wrote this post I even mentioned how my green stuff skills limited the type of army I was able to build and the amount of ideas which were viable to use to build it. None the less this is a very interesting topic and one with heaps of room to expand upon and angles to look at it.

Ronshank
I totally agree. What about picking up a bit of this idea in a podcast? Maybe not trying to give a list of all of the possible themes and backstories but just give some examples and hint at how new members might go about defining a theme and look for their CD army and then building their army around that idea. A number of people on here have done that and it might be a good thing to specifically talk about in a podcast - particularly how the theme can help drive creativity and may lead to attempting things that wouldn’t have otherwise been done. My own Imperious Gharzakh Goldgreed and his Dawi slaves are a perfect example. I’ve got a backstory developed from my Warhammer Quest expansion and thought that the rich guy in charge of constructing the Dawi Zharr Underway would be a good themed addition to my army :hat off
Chaos Dwarf symbology. What can I say not really with you on this one. This is much more Word of Hashut type of ideas as it’s kind of important to actually see it. I mean alot gets lost in translation. I can see where you are trying to come from with that though (i’d expand but then that would ruin my own suggestion at the end :wink: )

Now for the colours, once again what can I say not really with you. The idea is very limited and (rant warning) you’ll find most players are simply using the suggested colour schemes. Personally I like doing something a bit different from the stock standard paint sceme even though I too have fallen victim to it. But to me is this is GW’s fault. Being a newbie I’m too scared to use non GW paints on things I have spent so much time creating but when it comes to the paint job what can I say there might as well be only 4 choices browns, reds, greens or blues. All other choices being so limited as to needing master skill to mix visably different tones of the same colour (case in piont purple) or have been phased out entirely (like pink, so much if you had done skaven tails in that colour). It annoys me as GW gives you these unpainted mini’s to personalise, says you have to use their stuff to play them in tournaments and then restricts you to a few basic colour choices for your supposedly personalised armies. Way for them to stick to their laurels :mad . sorry rant over. Mind you the opions in this rant could be used as a one off topic. Maybe other people don’t care and I’m the odd one I don’t know.

Ronshank
Well they can’t all be good ideas :wink:

I still think it could work. We recently saw a post here on CDO where the theme was gear cogs and it showed up in a number of places like banners and such. Could be work mentioning along with picking a theme for an army, but maybe not worth more than a couple of minutes tops as a segue into something else.
Fluff. I am fluff hungry maybe we could introduce a spot dedicated to going through the history of the Dawi Zharr. From the very first blood bowl models though to the present day fluff. It would explain 3rd Ed fluff which would help us all to understand some of the veiws that come from that CD history. It could hint on hats and masks etc in a purely historical kind of way which lets you see other peoples positions without nessicarily being yelled at or preeched to. Just simply stating with fluff why people believe and feel strongly over different parts of the fluff and how those things affected the army and game play at the time. I’m sure alot of people have some very interesting things to add about all the different editions and platforms that the Chaos Dwarfs were involved in. And I believe it could only enhance the site and discussions if these things were readily known and talked about (I know there’s the wiki but I find people absorb more when they have heard it). Well thats my idea anyway.

:hat off

Ronshank
I think this would fit well with the slaves idea too. What the heck are all those slaves doing? Surely in developing fluff slaves would need to get a mention. I know they are lowly maggots but they’re an integral and vital part of Dawi Zharr society and it can’t function without them. all but the forges fueled by lava and heat from below the ground would grow cold, mines would stop disgorging raw materials, nothing would be cleaned… it would be anarchy! :mad

Thanks for the feedback and the great ideas and input!!

~N