What I Hear - Garagehammer

This podcast may well be my favourite, I am going to find it a challenge to write this blog post with out just gushing about how good the show is, you were warned! Garagehammer is a Warhammer Fantasy Battle podcast that started just prior to the release of 8th edition. I first heard of them through the Podhammer Marathon show on July 10th 2010. Hosted by David Witek & Chris Yu there is also a well run forum with a great community that I recommend.

Started by David Witek & Christopher Barnett and inspired by their love of the game and other podcasts, they declared a wish to podcast about non-tournament play and focus on the ‘noobs’. At the time they launched there were nothing like as many podcasts covering WFB as there are now, by my reckoning there were five: Podhammer, Bad Dice, Helen Hammer, The Waaagh Cast & Point Hammered. If there were/are others I don’t know of them, and of these five only Point Hammered and Bad Dice continue.
For a long time the show delivered on that plan, David and Christopher both knew the game well enough and went in to detail over a series of 101 episodes about how to build up and play under the new 8th edition rules. Added into the mix were a lot of guest appearances from their gaming group (who have gone on to become the Northern Wasteland Wargamers, or NW2 for short) and a semi regular section hosted by David’s son Harrison, the Phoenix Prince, normally him discussing his insights in to playing High Elves as an eight year old (an enjoyable and popular part of the show).

David the Dwarf on the left and Christopher the Dark Elf on the left. These were the race that they had been playing prior to starting the show and continued with for a period afterwards. Nowadays David is known for his Vampire Counts army that he has painted at an distressingly fast rate. He has used a lot of techniques, including dipping to finish off I believe about 200 Zombies now. Christopher mostly plays Chaos Dwarves after the release of Tamurkhan army list. Christopher’s painting rate has also caused some distress for the shows listeners…. The army is based upon his early 90’s figures but is now bolstered by a large Forge World contingent and a clever Skaven Plague Monk conversion that is creating Hobgoblins.

This format of show carried on for a good while, slowly including more and more of a tournament feel as the hosts became more and more involved in the community and took part in more events. This is not a complaint as I feel the two of them and their varied guests remained interesting and fun the entire time.Eventually the show expanded to include the occasional “GarageGamer” episode where they have covered Warmachine, Malifaux, Dark Age, Kings of War and more. The years of friendship between David and Christopher has led to many insightful Warhammer discussions as well as a lot of insightful moments when they’ve jumped aboard the off-topic train.
Earlier this year (Episode 51), after almost two years of co-hosting the show Christopher Barnett announced that he was going to have to leave the show as he couldn’t commit the time required to do Garagehammer justice. Since the Chris Yu who was a regular guest host has stepped into the role. Whilst I along with many people I’m sure was a little worried about Christopher leaving and what that would mean for the shows longevity. However, with five shows now under his belt ‘Yu-Tang’ is bringing a lot of vitality and fresh views to the show. He also brings knowledge about Giant heavy Greenskins and High Elves alongside being an event organiser. Exciting times for this top show, I hope for another two years at least.