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Yo Dakka!

I was wondering what people's thoughts were on the battle report channel Tabletop tactics (TTT).

It used to be by far my favourite channel out there (closely followed by Striking Scorpion).

Back in the day it had a relaxed vibe- Lawrence and Beard having a couple of beers and playing games with nicely painted armies on good looking tables.

However I now think its lost its way the following reasons:
-Way too much pushing of branded goods such as the their dice, t shirts and game mat. Fair enough on the freeview but it starts to grate when your a paid subscriber.
-In the early days the channel used to do joint battle reports with Scorpion, Aceface and WintersSEO. This hardly ever happens now. It seems like TTT did this just to try and get subscribers and as the more popular channel now has no use for these joint reports.
-We now see far less of the Beard and way more of Chef- who is almost pure strain 'That Guy'.
-Too much fake laughing and increasingly forced bad humor.
-Battle reports are now coming in at almost 3 hours!
-The channel has increasingly lost its objectivity. Back in the day reviews of codexes and the game were interesting. Now that they get sent things in advance by GW they have lost this important element, as seen in recent discussions about 8th etc

Anyway these are just a couple of thoughts. Its a real shame as I liked this channel and I was wondering if other people were also losing interest?

Can anyway recommend me an alternative good channel? I watch StrikingScorpion82 from time to time.

They lost their way when they started to get stuff from GW.

I've never heard of this channel

For me miniwargaming are still the best with TTT behind. I found striking scorpion to be superboring and not useful if you want to paint while watching. He doesnt tell you much and needs far too long to come from one round to the next with text walls in between I don't care about as I'm painting.

TTT also is quite slow, it usually takes half an hour before the game even starts. But I found they do a decent job, Beard and Bonar seem to be cool guys, Lawrence sometimes talks too much and tries to turn a fight between Nurglings and grots into a giant battlescene, slowing the game down unnecessarily. In 7th ed. I've found their lists often too tournament focussed and therefore rather boring, but they seem to have improved in 8th.
MWG is only slow if the game is with Matt who either wants to make it understandable to newcomers so explains the rules a lot OR it's some kind of campaign game where he made up a hundred rules and has to explain them for half an hour.

Ash from Guerrilla miniatures and Owen from gaming with the cooler put out some decent Batreps for 8th ed. but overall they can't put out the amount the others do.

I've stopped being able to watch anything but super condensed batrep channels, like Skaredcast. I just can't sit through more than 30min of explanation.

Give me a minute at the end of the turn to describe what's happen, and a summary at the end of the game, and I will follow right along. Love Skaredcast for this reason, despite his hilariously awkward camera presence (which I've started to find endearing after so much "fake professional" BS from other youtubers.)

I find TTT to be by far the best channel out there.

The pushing of merch feels more like a running joke most of the time rather than a concerted effort at product placement.

He did a few crossovers, they weren't that regular. Do remember that all these people have actual jobs and live in different parts of the country. I wouldn't be surprised to see Aceface and Winters on the channel again at some point.

Beard has had two games in the last two weeks, and did say he was on holiday before that. The channel seems to cycle through the different players regularly which is good, having the same two people play every week would get very boring very fast.

The battle reports have gotten very long and it certainly makes it hard to sit through games with armies I'm not particularly invested in. However I see the reason for this as two fold, it's a new edition and everything has changed, Lawrence is making a concerted effort to explain how things work now in the early 8th ed videos. The second is that games generally feel like they are all round longer now than they were in 7th, despite claims of the game being sped up during the build up to launch.

Lost their objectivity? Did you see the recent tactica on the new Space Marine codex where they rip GW a new one over cutting out all the biker options and laugh over how bad most of the Pri aris stuff is? They are understandibly chuffed to bits that GW are sending them early copies of the indexes and codexes, but that hasn't stopped them when pointing out bad things.

Sgt. Cortez wrote:
For me miniwargaming are still the best with TTT behind. I found striking scorpion to be superboring and not useful if you want to paint while watching. He doesnt tell you much and needs far too long to come from one round to the next with text walls in between I don't care about as I'm painting.

I feel the same. StrikingScorpion82 inserts a lot of video editing stuff that only makes the video longer and are mostly unnecessary.

I used to like 2h batreps, but now I jump the slider if the specific turn or player is boring

I really like them.

I quite like Table Top Tactics. The videos are well produced and the armies and tables look amazing. As I don't subscribe to their on demand service, I have no issue with any product placement as it helps keep the channel 'free'. Even if I subscribed, I wouldn't have an issue with it as it is usually quite cool stuff and only goes on for a moment or two.

The only thing that does annoy me is when they do laugh the sound goes from quite quiet to very loud, which isn't great as I usually try and catch up the battle reports over a weekend whilst my son is having his lunchtime nap.

If I had more free time, I would subscribe to the on demand service!

Miniwargaming is okay - they talk too fast sometimes, have relatively boring tables, and spend too much camera time on the actual dice (I think the penalty for having one of the playing people filming).

Scorpion82 or whatever is excellent, but you have to skip the 20-30 mins. of useless text-fluff, etc. The best tables normally, and some of the better painted/interesting armies.

Tabletop Tactics is new to me, but I like it enough to watch some more, I think.

Cant stand them. They do my head in. Guy that runs it has a face and an attitude you could just keep punching

I think they attempt to disguise the pushing of the products by being 'jokey' about it, whilst then regularly mentioning them.

I stopped watching any videos with 'Chef' in, he gave me a headache. Shame also the 8th edition panel discussion was ruined by the Chef shouting over everyone

I think the channel was built by the combination of the Beard's personality and Lawrence's knowledge of the game and strong tactics.

As this gets increasingly watered down, for example there is a new guy who was playing his first and second game ever on the channel, the original essence is lost and it just becomes another pulp bat report channel.

My problem with TTT is they (i feel) bait subs, anything with space wolves is ALLWAYS on demand, they make for subs only, okay, you sub and watch. Then there is not much regular content. And probably wont see anything with wolves for the next 3 months. What they do really good though, is inspire lists, and have helped some of my clubs players with getting much better synergy and results with their games. Im a veteran player, so i dont need much their help, let alone their sub schemes. And id also like to give props for Beard and his iron warrior list, that is some of my favorite stuff, cool list, cool player and im usually quite SW only.


Miniwargaming is still my preferred, they had more passion and better feel in the old days of 2011 with all kinds of warhammer related stuff, something about them just seems abit more "synthetic" for lack of a better word. And Dave needs to do more batreps! But they are still the best there is.

I think TTT is great and disagree with you almost completely.

The guys run the gambit between all types of players and lists, from casual to very competitive. They're great.

If you're a more casual player, MWG will likely be enjoyable for you. I find myself unable to watch them any longer. Likely for similar reasons as you are with TTT.

I really like TTT. The videos are probably a bit too long, but that's my only real criticism.

I haven't seen any pushing of merchandise beyond the normal "you can get dice and t-shirts on our website" and mentioning when they have been given terrain and mats from other people or companies. I don't think one or two mentions is "way too much".

I like that they have a mix of different types of gamers. You get the all-out tournament games and more narrative-based games alongside games with experimental army lists. I'm also not seeing the GW bias the OP says is there. The recent SM Codex review seemed pretty balanced on the whole. They also tend not to be too knee-jerk with their reactions to new things but aren't afraid to call some armies/units overpowered after using them.

At the end of the day, I'm not really sure what the point of calling out TTT in this thread is. You want a different channel to watch, fine, but it seems a little unfair to call out TTT specifically instead of just asking for recommendations for another channel.

They're inconsistent on the volume, it seems like they make the laughing much louder than when they talk so it goes from some banter to HAHAHAHA WHO NEEDS EARDRUMS. Like ffs I wear headphones because I don't want to bug my housemates, not because I want gunshot going off in my ear. And I'm painting while listening so got to be precise which is hard to do with the volume.

Also seizing the initiative is annoying because OF THE LOUD YELLING.

So I like pretty much every other channel better because they are more calm and less liable to hurt my ears. SS is pretty even with steady music, Winters Seo has cool fluff and has calm banter, Miniwargaming is always hit or miss depending on the host I like Josh overall probably the best. The new channel Wartorn Creative has great production value, easily equal to TTT, downside is their videos don't have cuts so they're longer than most.

But on every other part TTT is great, product placement is easy to ignore, because I'm not spending money on a dumb fatmat when I already have a full table with modular boards. Great painted armies.

TTT is by far my favourite BR channel, to the point that I rarely watch anything else. The guys are very entertaining (which goes a long way during a 3hr BR....last thing you need is a droning voice with no excitement whatsoever). You can tell the guys are passionate about what they do and try to have a good time while doing it. I love the differences in the players with Bone and Beard being very entertaining, and Lawrence pulling the strings and often inserting terrible jokes/puns (which by itself is quite amusing). Chef is fine too, and maybe leans toward more of a power gamer (maybe?) but certainly isn't that bad. New guy 'sanger' seems like a good addition too, like his Blood Angels.
I don't see any serious product pushing.

I could see why the channel isn't for everyone, but to me it's heaps better than the competition. MWG is my second watch and sometimes the Dark Artisan.

 bullyboy wrote:
TTT is by far my favourite BR channel, to the point that I rarely watch anything else. The guys are very entertaining (which goes a long way during a 3hr BR....last thing you need is a droning voice with no excitement whatsoever). You can tell the guys are passionate about what they do and try to have a good time while doing it. I love the differences in the players with Bone and Beard being very entertaining, and Lawrence pulling the strings and often inserting terrible jokes/puns (which by itself is quite amusing). Chef is fine too, and maybe leans toward more of a power gamer (maybe?) but certainly isn't that bad. New guy 'sanger' seems like a good addition too, like his Blood Angels.
I don't see any serious product pushing.

I could see why the channel isn't for everyone, but to me it's heaps better than the competition. MWG is my second watch and sometimes the Dark Artisan.

I agree. I think TTT is the best right now by a reasonable margin.
I feel MWG's weakness is the random guests. Some are quite funny and it really works (often the "regular guests") but others are clearly camera shy and it can make for a wooden/awkward BR which isn't much fun.
I am there for the banter. I don't want to just watch someone roll dice and very drily explain why this or that unit has died.

Anyway going back to TTT I have never really understood the Beard love or Chef hate. I think the small core group well.

In my humble opinion, Tabletop Tactics represent the very best free battle reports on YouTube: excellent camera work, even better editing, genuine banter (the Beard is actually hilarious) and well painted thematic armies.

Whereas Miniwargaming represent the very worst: armies cobbled together without any lore justification or coherent painting scheme; mark of Dave everywhere; boring tables with terrain just scattered randomly; questionable pronunciations of the English language; endless die rolling; the same background music in every. single. video... and worst of all, they film the moving phase! Who does that?!

Some lesser known channels that I feel deserve a shout out are Winters SEO & Grim Resolve. They both do beautiful, narrative driven battles with almost no regard to "tactics," which I love.

Im fine with them all, usually watch them while i paint.

 Ginjitzu wrote:

Whereas Miniwargaming represent the very worst: armies cobbled together without any lore justification or coherent painting scheme; mark of Dave everywhere; boring tables with terrain just scattered randomly; questionable pronunciations of the English language; endless die rolling; the same background music in every. single. video... and worst of all, they film the moving phase! Who does that?!

They never film the whole movement phase. And I'd rather see parts of the movement phase than hearing striking scorpion or Lawrence describe 5minutes what happened in the movement phase.

Concerning pronounciation I'll have to admit that all the British channels are much harder to understand for me than the canadian ones.

I personally prefer WintersSEO and StrikingScorpion82. Tabletop Tactics is in my second tier with Imperium Gaming and The Legion Wargaming. All of those guys do excellent battle reports, even if they tend to be a little long. I do not like MWG because they tend to have a lot of unpainted stuff, rules errors, and proxies. The Glacial Geek has nice stuff and interesting battles, but I can't stand the sound of the guy's voice. (If you read this, nothing personal dude...)

If I could offer some tips to all the YouTube guys it would be this:
1. I don't need to see every single dice roll. It wastes a LOT of time.
2. Use fully painted armies. (Most of the professional guys are really good about this.)
3. Don't try too hard to be funny.
4. 45-60 minutes is ideal. Less and we may not get the whole gist of what's happening, more and we could have played the game ourselves.
5. More variety in the armies! WintersSEO is the primary offender here. He puts out GREAT stuff, but his 13th legion features in like almost every video.
6. Mix up the terrain some more.
7. Scorpion is the best. His videos are too long and filled with ads, but damned if they aren't magnificent.

If any of the YouTube crews read this, take it as constructive criticism. I know y'all put a ton of work in, keep it up!

MWG is for casual/narrative play.

TTT is more for competitive play.

IandI wrote:

4. 45-60 minutes is ideal. Less and we may not get the whole gist of what's happening, more and we could have played the game ourselves.

Agreed on that. Part of why I like mwg more than the others is that their videos are often a bit shorter. They've gotten longer recently, most of the time 1:15 and more, which is already too long for my taste. TTT has videos running over 2hours... who is supposed to watch all of that?
Not really sure where they are supposed to cut though, as worse than watching dice rolling is somebody hearing who explains what dice were rolled during the last 10minutes.

Pure strain "That Guy" haha...

I do really like the MWG batreps I have to say, not a fan of TTT.

I'm really liking the 'Basement Dwellers Gaming Club' - they are actually super local to me, but they use a similar batrep style to the WH-TV Twitch games. Good guys too.

Glacial geek is pretty good and has some videos where he talks and paints while you listen and paint. Other than that there are a couple worth mentioning like Gaming with the Cooler which is a previous MWG member who plays IG/Tau, and Fresh Coast Gaming which is decent and short. Of course TTT,SS,MWG, and FLG are all good options.

Sgt. Cortez wrote:
TTT has videos running over 2hours... who is supposed to watch all of that?

do you not paint your minis in a 2-3 hour time window?

Hi I've been a big fan of Tabletop Tactics for a few years now. Along with Striking Scorpion, and Winters SEO. Always look forward to a new video notification popping up.
Watching these guys motivated me to start my own channel Teesside Tyrants https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6SAyauFERVOPIltmDkIEmQ .
I try to keep the reports at about half an hour long, and try to get new armies on as well. Though this is hard to do all the time.

Anyway check the channel out, and hopefully enjoy.

I've never seen TTT, but I'm not a huge fan of long battle reports. MWG is ok, but I feel for a channel with exclusive paid content, they just get too much stuff wrong, and I find a lot of their narrative stuff to be so unbalanced as to be almost pointless to watch, though I commend them for at least trying.

My favorite 40k channel is definitely Scaredcast. Usually fully or at least mostly painted armies, on decently set up tables, a good mix of competitive and more fluffy lists (though not at the same time) and games, and Skari is pretty amusing himself. His tactical corner is excellent both for new and veteran players. Plus his reports are usually less than a half hour, because he mostly does end of turn synopses instead of filming all the dice rolls and stuff.

Scorpion is best. Beautiful tables. Running narratives. Returning guests. Solid rules with rare exceptions. Useful commentary. Good advice. Lots of ads but I am OK with that. Dude should make a pound. Excellent hobbyist all around. I am looking for an excuse to go to northern Ireland for a conference somehow just to get a chance to meet him and get a game. Would do same for mwg. Frankly can't stand the "competitive" angle of some other channels. Ttt I have watched and listened. Same with skared cast. OK. For a paint session I can take it or leave it.