A happy Friday to you!
I’m spending a quiet day in my office after a full Thursday at Nashville’s Opryland Hotel swimming in a sea of camo for the National Wild Turkey Federation convention and sport show. It was wild (turkey). Despite my love of the Thanksgiving dish, I was not there to show appreciation for the foul. I was there researching and recording interviews with some experts in the world of Wild Turkey Conservation. I heard some things, saw even more things, and walked away wanting to have at least 5 more interviews AND experience a wild turkey hunt myself. Especially after learning that a successful hunt has nothing to do with a kill and everything to do with talking to the turkey…I’m sure like this:
“Hello out there, turkey!”
”Hey Leslie! Good to hear from you!”
”Same! Question, should the next full miniseries be about Wild Turkeys?”
”Probably.”
”Cool, I’ll think on it.”
”Word….p.s. Gobble gobble.”
So anyway.
Last week I wrapped the final episode in the first Niche to Meet You miniseries, a 4-part look at the tabletop war game Warhammer 40,000. If you haven’t listened because you’re annoyed with how I keep talking about the absence of hope and teasing out its purpose…I’m happy to tell you that all questions are answered in this final episode. Would love to have you listen. FIND LINKS HERE.
If you did listen, you would’ve heard the voice of Ariana Scalfo. She’s a 40k player and fitness professional, and we had an interview that answered some lingering questions I had about the entire niche subculture. Questions about why there aren’t as many females in the hobby, and why the silliness and satire of the thing is so important. The clip from this convo is currently nearing 90k views, 7k likes, and 500 comments on TikTok 🤯
Evidently, it’s a compelling chat. So as a final sendoff to the world of Warhammer 40,000, I’m releasing our lightly edited conversation in full. It’s a good listen for anyone who wants to go a little deeper and hear a new perspective on the thing. The episode audio is streaming on podcast platforms but the video from our conversation is on YouTube:
With this, I think this means my work with Warhammer 40,000 is officially complete. There are still some possibilities of doing a roundtable discussion with some players at my local shop and other fun ideas, but I think I’ve explored this world as best I can.
Don’t fear: Niche to Meet You isn’t going away. Just shifting into research and editing mode. There may even be some single episodes about other niche subcultures and hobbies that’ll make your eyebrow furrow (in a good way)
Thanks to my team: Chris for editing help throughout the series, Cecelie for capturing video and photos from field interviews, Kevin for doing a final master, Abi for the music and Rachel for the artwork.
Goodbye, Warhammer 40,000. Thanks for the memories.
For the emperor. 🫡