The Madaxeman.com Podcast

Roll Call 2023 : The Top 5 Lists

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.

 

The Normandy Landings

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. 

 

Le Herring Rouge!

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

The Idlers of March

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!)

Les Petits Tanks dans La Bouche Du Bourne

After a few weeks which went past in the flash of an eye, a full 7-handed (well, technically 14-handed) team return for more witless chatter and half-hearted attempts at analysis and insight in this tightly wound 90 minute post-Warfare episode.

We cover the usual mix of painting and gaming and this week also have a "show special" shopping discussion as face to face retail activity takes place at two different shows. The bulging bags include many bits of plastic, a shout-out to a drybrush, much inevitable love for Leon and Pendraken, the smell of MDF in the morning, and a startling discovery that Heroics and Ros do in fact have an up-market French perfume retail business operating on the side.

We also have a look-back at Tamsin's PLA (not "resin"!) printing experiment as a handful of us actually get around to de-supportifying and then painting the little plastic-ish blighters as a show and share experiment for the benefit of the wider gaming community. 

Medieval Marginalia also gets a rare but potentially recurrent mention, idiot-proof army lists are debated, and we even find time to talk about playing games before Andy's Quiz once again hoves into full-colour view with a discursive argument about whether being "detained by the Ottoman Sultans" is a legitimate euphemism for deployment pre-watershed before we end with an unexpected plug for the South West's Best AC/DC Tribute Act. 

• Beachhead Tickets
• Tamsins Blog

3D printed Gaul painted by Tamsin

 

3D printed Greeks painted by Tim 

3D Gaul painted by Andy

 

 

 

Series 3 Opener : Huge Grenadier Hat Malarkey

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 

 

Oh My Aachen Nuts!

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...

 

The North Macedonia All Stars

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 

Badly Scripted Beer

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

Alicante Ahoy!

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.