Grown Men Playing with Toys

Steve and Erik

Join us as friends (strategic, stoic “Erik” and observant, energetic “Steve”) discuss topics and experiences that surround their world of Warhammer gaming. Our goal is to explore the intersection of casual and competitive 40K thru a balance sharing stories about our funniest, most frustrating, or straight up craziest Warhammer experiences (Steve’s goal) with deep, analytical thinking about the game and how to improve at it (Erik’s goal).  Beyond that, it’s an excuse for two friends to talk and share how the lessons learned playing with our toy soldiers have enriched our lives and deepened our friendship.”

  1. 6h ago

    47 - Shake the Snow Globe: A Check In On Some Of Our Favorite Factions

    Send us Fan Mail Cousin Josh joins the chat (literally) for the first time, heckling Erik and Steve from the sidelines while they take a step back from the week-to-week to talk macro direction of where their favorite factions are headed.  The guys trade perspectives, Erik on rules and direction, Steve on models and aesthetics, and work through their factions to figure out who's cooking, who's stalled, and who just needs someone to "shake the snow globe". Along the way they cover: League of Votann's identity crisis — Steve likes where the rules are going but isn't sold on the trench coat aesthetic, and the guys agree "Rock and Stone" should just be the whole pitchSpace Marines get elite — why adding toughness granularity across armor types and pointing marines to be more elite could speed up games and make Phobos, Tacticus, and Terminators feel different from each otherGuard's too-many-cooks problem — Steve is not feeling Guard right now and Erik argues it is because Guard has an identity problem where it is split across several aesthetically different regiments all competing for the same design spaceCSM needs a shakeup — Erik loves the new models and lore flexibility but is bored of Defilers being the correct way to play.  The guys really just want the balance team to shake things up a bitDeath Guard's redemption arc — Steve declares Death Guard back on the menu and commits to bringing them to the next Barnhammer game weekendNecrons and Tyranids, the calm ones — Erik hopes the Necron Warriors get left as chaff instead of also getting buffed up with Space Marines and both guys are cautiously optimistic waiting on a Tyranids codexWhether you're here for the faction deep dive or just want to hear Erik lose a bet to Cousin Josh when Steve is able to make it an hour without mentioning wings, this one's for you. 📖 Read Erik's battle reports at gmpwt.blog 📺 Watch on YouTube at @GrownMenPlayingWithToys

    47 - Shake the Snow Globe: A Check In On Some Of Our Favorite Factions
  2. 6d ago

    46 - The Nerfing Eye of Sauron: Erik's Favorite Factions Take One on the Chin

    Send us Fan Mail A balance update dropped this past week and several of Erik's favorite factions got hit with nerfs. Steve declares it a "feelings podcast" and the guys work through Erik's frustration before landing on the real point: how to pivot a list instead of just complaining about it. Along the way they cover: The nerfing Eye of Sauron comes for Slaanesh — why Erik's strongest lists in Emperor's Children and Chaos Daemons ate the biggest points hikes in the update and how he is pivoting as a resultCustodes lose their combo — Lions of the Emperor jumps from 2DP to 3DP and can no longer pair with Might of the Moritoi, why the change was well-designed, and how it introduces additional detachment options even though it stingsThe Balance Update upset — Steve catches a rules change before Erik does for what he swears is the first time ever and Erik has to admit it on airForce disposition shuffling — small, targeted swaps like Huron's Marauders and Aspect Host switching to new Force Dispositions quietly open up entirely new ways to play old favorites and why Erik's oldest son is thrilled about one of themCrusher Stampede vs War Dog spam - Erik's youngest son challenges him to a game of bug vs robot and proceeds to blow up all of his Norns on the way to a ton of funWhether you're here for the balance update postmortem or just want to hear Steve's victory lap for catching a change before Erik, this one's for you. 📖 Read Erik's battle reports at gmpwt.blog 📺 Watch on YouTube at @GrownMenPlayingWithToys

    46 - The Nerfing Eye of Sauron: Erik's Favorite Factions Take One on the Chin
  3. Aug 22

    45 - Finding Your Nemo: Faction vs Force Disposition Specialization

    Send us Fan Mail Team USA won WTC and Steve blindsides Erik by admitting that he has fanboyed over it a bit.  The guys break down how a Guard player ground out key tournament-clinching wins and why "keep it simple and execute flawlessly" beat out other teams that tried to cook up secret-sauce lists. Somewhere in there it turns into a full discussion of force disposition specialization vs faction specialization. Along the way they cover: WTC's grind — how a Guard player known for playing a grind it out, death-by-a-thousand-cuts list sealed the WTC title for Team USA and why the tactic was more genius than luckTeam USA's "keep it simple" strategy — why the winning approach wasn't secret tech or off-the-wall lists, but trusting elite pilots to execute simple, proven lists better than anyone else in the roomFaction specialist vs. force disposition specialist — the theory Erik and Steve build out live, that your favorite army might not be the reason you win or lose, it might be whether that army's best force disposition actually fits how your brain playsThe kid outplays the dad — Erik's son builds a 30-point lead against him, hangs on to win despite getting outscored in the later rounds, and then calmly explains why Erik was playing the wrong force disposition the entire gameThe Blood Angels pop quiz — Erik reads Steve a Take and Hold list cold and Steve's "board control, board control, board control" read is close enough to the list's design philosophy to be awkwardWhether you're here for the WTC postmortem or just want to hear Erik's son casually call his Dad out for self nerfing via a Force Disposition mismatch, this one's for you. 📖 Read Erik's battle reports at gmpwt.blog 📺 Watch on YouTube at @GrownMenPlayingWithToys

  4. Aug 15

    44 - My Other Army Is a Flowchart: The Deliverability Problem

    Send us Fan Mail Erik is back on Orks and built a "just for fun" Da Big Hunt list that somehow tabled a CSM Defiler heavy army despite calling the Waaagh! in Round 1.  This has Steve's attention and the guys dive into why this strategy might have been the correct move, not just dumb luck, and what they can learn from it to help with future games.    Along the way they cover: The defensive Waaagh! — Erik calls the Waaagh! turn one, but instead of using it for damage, he uses it to tag and pin two Defilers against terrain.Deliverability, durability, damage — the three-part framework from top tier competitive players that Erik leans on to explain why his Ork list worked and why his CSM list did not. The engineer's flowchart — Erik distills 11th Edition mission design into four questions every list has to answer every turn and can confirm that it is kid-approved by his sonArchetype vs. identity — why "my faction's lore says it shouldn't play this way" isn't a real excuse and why playing the mission matters more than playing the vibeCousin Josh's callout — the "Orks are an army with no plan" jab that kicked off the whole experiment and Erik's very smug rebuttalKnights Thunderdome, coming soon — Erik and Steve pencil in a cross-faction deployment breakdown using Chaos Knights and Imperial Knights, protractor optional but strongly impliedWhether you're here for the tactical deep dive or just want to hear Erik's horror that Steve wants to bring a protractor to a tabletop game, this one's for you. 📖 Orks vs CSm game discussed: https://gmpwt.blog/2026/08/14/orks-da-big-hunt-vs-chaos-space-marines-pactbound-zealots/ 📖 Read Erik's battle reports at gmpwt.blog 📺 Watch on YouTube at @GrownMenPlayingWithToys

  5. Aug 7

    43 - Are You Not Entertained?

    Send us Fan Mail Erik and Steve were supposed to sneak out for a game at the Local Game Store (LGS) this week and instead got stuck at home, so naturally they spent forty-five minutes turning that disappointment into a full breakdown of why playing 40K at the LGS hits different than Barnhammer, Officehammer, or TTS ever will. Somewhere in there it also becomes a card game vs. tabletop philosophy seminar, and Erik accidentally reveals that he has no interest in running clubs and only exercises to "not be fat". Along the way they cover: The LGS effect — why playing on neutral ground in front of an audience of strangers and excited store owners adds something Barnhammer and TTS just can't replicateCards vs. minis — Erik's hot take that he thinks trading card games are more one-dimensional than 40K and why it hits a nerve with Steve harder than either of them expectedThe "I don't want to be fat" tangent — an endurance-sports rabbit hole that somehow explains why community matters more than either of them wants to admitDeck stacking, but make it transparent — how WTC's first defender/attacker pairing system turns the thing that would ruin a casual LGS game into the actual point of the tournament, while somehow still also being open and transparentWTC list geek out — a Squighog Boyz Waaagh built entirely to run people over, a Slaanesh Daemons alpha strike, and a Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard charge out of a Land Raider that neither of them saw comingThe next LGS attempt — Erik and Steve pencil in a rematch and its definitely not just an excuse to buy more modelsWhether you're here for the "are you not entertained" energy of playing at your local shop or just want to hear two grown men overanalyze why cardboard hits different than plastic, this one's for you. 📖 Read Erik's battle reports at gmpwt.blog 📺 Watch on YouTube at @GrownMenPlayingWithToys

  6. Jul 31

    42 - I'm Not Dead Yet: 40K's First Balance Update

    Send us Fan Mail Steve is fighting off a Nurgle infection, Erik is fighting off bad habits with Cursed Legion Necrons, and everybody on the internet is convinced their faction is dead. Spoiler....they're not dead yet.  Erik and Steve are back to discuss 11th Edition's first balance update, dig into what's really going on across Erik's now ten-army tour of the new edition, and somehow turn the whole thing into a conversation about Agile development methodology. Along the way they cover: The first balance update — why this wasn't a major Nerfing Eye of Sauron event and why the guys think GW is running what amounts to a data normalization exercise disguised as a balance patchAgile Warhammer — Steve connects the dots between sprint planning, backlog management, and how to actually play your secondaries in 11th Edition and neither of them can quite believe the conversation they're havingTen armies, every force disposition — Erik's running observations from playing across the full breadth of 11th, including why he's not sure he's a great Purge the Foe player despite being one of the most aggressive players in the roomThe Cursed Legion problem — why Erik keeps going back to a list he can't quite make work, what he's getting wrong, and why he's pretty sure it's a him problem and not a list problemWTC roster hot take — the rosters are out, the lists are coming, and Erik has a cautionary tale about why "everyone at WTC is playing X" doesn't mean X is the best way to play that factionPapa Nurgle weighs in — Steve sounds like a Muppet, Erik recommends the Emperor's Children approach to cold medicine, and somehow they end the episode with a Death Guard game on the calendarWhether you're here for the data engineering deep dive or just want to hear Steve suffer through forty minutes of podcast while visibly dying, this one's for you. 📖 Read Erik's battle reports at gmpwt.blog 📺 Watch on YouTube at @GrownMenPlayingWithToys

    42 - I'm Not Dead Yet: 40K's First Balance Update
  7. Jul 21

    41 - Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Off to 11th Steve Goes

    Send us Fan Mail Erik is back from vacation to find that Barnhammer has been played without him.  He's definitely not feeling jealous, FOMO, or left out and DEFINITELY is not punishing Steve for organizing it without him by making Steve lead the episode as a result. Along the way they cover: Barnhammer 11th Edition recap — first impressions from the play group, why the missions kept every game close, and what it felt like to finally get 11th on the table with friendsSteve's surprise Votann list — Needgaard plus Hearthguard Covenant, deep striking Einheryr, and a brand new way to play an army that had been frustrating him for all of 10th EditionThe Champion, the Dunce Hat, and the Ones — some things never change, and Steve's Votann Champion remains aggressively, historically bad at his jobCousin Josh goes full aggro — why watching a naturally defensive player come out swinging with Cursed Legion Necrons was the highlight of Barnhammer and what it says about what 11th is encouraging players to doThe Pink Pony Club — Steve teases his fourth army and talks about how he thinks about Imperial Knights like a modern military tactician defending Helm's DeepGuard, Death Guard, and what's next — why Imperial Guard is calling Steve's name, why Death Guard isn't, and Erik drops a closing bombshell about what he's most excited to playWhether you're here for the Votann deep strike, here to see Cousin Josh channel his inner snapping turtle, or just want to hear Steve put a dunce hat on his champion, this one's for you. 📖 Read Erik's battle reports at gmpwt.blog 📺 Watch on YouTube at @GrownMenPlayingWithToys

    41 - Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Off to 11th Steve Goes
  8. Jun 29

    40 - I Feel the Need...The Need for 11th

    Send us Fan Mail Erik is back from the tabletop trenches with a full debrief.  He is two games deep into 11th Edition, has played four factions, and is ready to hype Steve up for an upcoming week of Barnhammer gaming.  Along the way they cover: First impressions of 11th Edition — Erik's surprisingly enthusiastic early verdict and why going from 10th to 11th feels nothing like the chaos of 9th to 10thAsymmetrical missions and force dispositions — why playing two different missions at once makes the game feel more dynamic, more narrative, and a whole lot harder to just list-hammer your way throughRaven Guard vs. Grey Knights — Shadowmark Talon meets Hallowed Conclave, Terminators and Paladins finally get their moment, and Erik discovers mid-game that the scoreboard doesn't care how well the Grey Knights are playing 10th Edition. Read the full battle report here.Emperor's Children vs. Necrons — Fulgrim goes absolutely feral on turn one, crosses the entire board, and the Necrons win anyway. Read the full battle report here.Recalibrating your instincts — The autopilot moments, the ingress rule surprise, and why the thing that wins you the game is rarely the unit or combo you built your list aroundRapid fire observations — the new charge rules, activation economy is a thing, lethality, hidden, and why the "and then" moments are alive and well in 11thWhether you're here for the hot takes on Force Dispositions or just want to hear Erik chastise his own Grey Knights, this one's for you. 📖 Read Erik's battle reports at gmpwt.blog 📺 Watch on YouTube at @GrownMenPlayingWithToys

    40 - I Feel the Need...The Need for 11th

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Join us as friends (strategic, stoic “Erik” and observant, energetic “Steve”) discuss topics and experiences that surround their world of Warhammer gaming. Our goal is to explore the intersection of casual and competitive 40K thru a balance sharing stories about our funniest, most frustrating, or straight up craziest Warhammer experiences (Steve’s goal) with deep, analytical thinking about the game and how to improve at it (Erik’s goal).  Beyond that, it’s an excuse for two friends to talk and share how the lessons learned playing with our toy soldiers have enriched our lives and deepened our friendship.”

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