Warhammer podcasts have become my commuting soundtrack, despite not even playing the game for 14 years now, as they entertain me and keep me from going Falling Down on the way to work. The rowdier the better, and our Australian friends, The Dwellers Below, are good at that. Recently, they’ve upped the stakes and started dropping some sweet metal tracks in the breaks too, with the mighty Electric Wizard being the highlight. So, we got Dave O ‘War to share his thoughts with us.
Can you give us a brief overview of your history in the hobby, and tell us a little bit about The Dwellers Below?
I’ve been playing WHFB since the late 1990s when I was in primary school. Although I have dabbled in 40k, Mordheim, Inquisitor and play a lot of historical wargames WHFB is still my first love. Since the start of 8th edition, I have been playing tournament Warhammer voraciously playing as much ‘hamms as I can get my grubby mitts on.
Although I love playing competitive games, my favourite thing about Warhammer is the back story. Having grown up on a steady diet on old school heavy metal, the aesthetics of WHFB really pulled me in. After more than 15 years, I am still in love with all things Nurgle, Witch Hunters and Ogre Kingdoms.
In 2012, a few friends who attended The Hampton Games Club decided to band together and start up a podcast. As all of us played regularly, and many of use listened to WHFB podcasts, we thought it would be fun to put an Australia voice out there. Since then, we have been drinking beers, and talking shit on the internet about our favourite hobby. We cast about once a month, and focus on a light-hearted approach to competitive gaming.
Standard question. Did you get much hobby done in 2014, and are you happy with what you achieved?
I did almost nothing for the first half of the year. After the Elven apocalypse, I was pretty burnt out with Warhammer. But since the release of the End Times, I have been pushed back into it, and since then I have painted a heap of Warriors, Daemons and Wood Elves. I am very happy with the last 6 months, but would have liked to finish off an army, as it’s the first year since the start of 8th where I haven’t completed an army project.
How much of a fluff boner have you got for the End Times in Warhammer?
I’m like an 18 year old on Viagra. The End Times is the best thing to happen to Warhammer while I have been playing. I especially love the back stories for the Nurgle characters in Glottkin. I really hope we get to hear more from Festus, the Maggoth Lords and the Glottkin in the future, as they each had a great back story that wasn’t really fulfilled by the book.
Dave in action. A strong, but casual stance
Aside from WHFB, what other games are you into? I’ve heard you mention Bolt Action a few times on the podcast
Over the years I have played a lot of games (Flames of War, Mordheim, Necromunda, Battlfleet Gothic, 40k, Inquisitioner etc.) but at the moment the only other wargame I play is Bolt Action. I love BA as a quick an easy WW2 game, and have been playing it since it first came out. I also participate in running www.boltaction.net and the LRDG Bolt Action Podcast.
Do you have any specific hobby goals or plans for the podcast lined up for 2015?
For the hobby this year, I’m looking forward to finishing off the the Daemon, Beastmen and Warriors for my Chaos Legion army, so that I can run a big 15,000pt Nurgle army.
I am also very pumped up about running Moon Struck with the other Dwellers guys over the Queens Birthday weekend. Face Off last year became an extremely debauched affair , I can’t wait to see where we can go with it this time.
For the podcast, we are exploding in terms of listenership, which is just great, we have doubled the number of listeners over the last year, and hope to keep on growing. My main hope is that the other podcast members do a better job of facilitating my drinking while recording.
“Ginger Thunder declaring me victorious in a thigh off”
Obviously you’re a man of metal, so what bands got you excited recently?
This year I have been absolutely loving sludgey or retro sounding metal. I’ve been listening to a lot of Christian Mistress, Red Fang, Sleep, Electric Wizard, The Sword, and Children of Technology.
Thanks so much taking part, and we always like to put a YouTube music video at the end of each article, so take your pick
Going to go for Dead End by King Parrot, because I’m not here to fuck spiders.