My year of 40K in podcast form continues with our highest-octane and lowest-budget episode yet! My friend Gerard came over and delivered a good krumpin’ unto my elves. Here’s the link to the podcast episode itself, and a few reflections on the krumpin’ will be below with some pictures, too.

Gerard is a friend I’ve known for over a decade and we always have a pretty fantastic time – even if that time usually ends with me getting curb-stomped on the tabletop. As opposed to some of the other higher point size games I’ve done in other recent podcast eps and battle reports, this was just a quick, fun game of kitchen-table-hammer – but still with plenty of awesome moments and lessons to be learned.

This game was another loss for the Eldar at 31-0 for Gerard, but I set out a year ago with the aim to get less bad at 40K and I feel like I’ve gradually succeeded. With Shroud Runners and Banshees forming my big “threat” units and a Wave Serpent providing a little more durability for my dudes, I think I’m getting a better feel for what works and what doesn’t, and I’m getting a better feel for playing my army. I’m starting to feel more comfortable with Strands of Fate and some of the new 9th edition changes for Aeldari.

Speaking of 9th edition, though, and of new codexes, Toughness 5 made a monstrous difference on the tabletop and led to my elves biting off a lot more than they could chew in this game in some engagements. As usual, Gerard’s Boomdakka Snazzwagon was an MVP in this game – on top of dishing out a lot of dakka, for its point cost it just made a phenomenal mess of one of my characters and my ability to do any board control.

So, I got krumped, but I’m happy with how it all played out. And having gotten a few kitchenhammer games in recently I have a greater appreciation for it as just a fun, chill, no-pressure time, especially when there are snacks and hanging out before/after games involved. And with my podcast just about done and all my important Eldar lessons learned, I think there might be a lot more of that kind of casual, chill play with friends in my future.