The eXplorminate Podcast

The eXplorminate Podcast is a podcast dedicated to the 4X, strategy, and tactics game genres. We discuss a variety of topics related to these genres, like game mechanics, game reviews, genre news, and more. We also interview developers of game studios that are working on our favorite games or some of the most-anticipated titles we know of.

Patrons of our podcast not only ensure that we can spend the proper time on each episode to make them each sound great, but they also receive our podcast episodes early and even receive Patron-only bonus episodes. If that sounds good to you, please consider supporting us here:

The eXplorminate Cast:

Rob “The 4Xplorer/DevildogFF” Honaker

Founder/Main Host

Email: eXplorminate@gmail.com or DevildogFF@gmail.com

Rob is the initial founder, having decided that he really wanted to bring the 4X gaming community together. He is responsible for the website, so if you love it or hate it, blame him! He was responsible for article writing, and still does some Let’s Plays, while managing the Twitter and Facebook accounts, too.

He’s on every 4X forum he can find and has been passionately playing the genre since the original Civilization. He’s also an avid beta tester and loves participating in any 4X and tactics game beta he can get his hands on! He was also fortunate enough to have his concept chosen by Amplitude Studios for “The Unfallen” in Endless Space 2.

When he’s not playing 4X or tactics games, he’s usually making his way through a tactical RPG or the occasional FPS or space adventure game!

Ben “BATTLEMODE” Halford

Main Co-Host

Email: BATTLEMODE at protonmail.com

Benjamin D. Halford is an avid PC strategy gamer who discovered 4X games with Civilization in the mid-90s. After setting out on a quest to find the perfect strategy game, he soon ran into 4Xplorer Rob and eXplorminate! He has written articles for the site, co-hosted our podcast, and produced regular content for eXplorminate’s Youtube channel too.



His favorite 4X titles are Shadow Empire, Dominions, Remnants of the Precursors, Star Wars: Rebellion and Master of Magic, and generally favour games with deep gameplay mechanics over flashy graphics and presentation. When he’s not playing games, Ben is an artist, photographer, writer, programmer, and music producer creating under the name BATTLEMODE.

Stewart “Drexy” Fernandez

Main Co-Host

Email: coming soon

Drexy is a podcast regular, offering his Londoner accent and deep, baritone voice to the round table. He’s the comedic relief on the show and is always good for a bit of light-hearted fun. He’s also kept Rob from losing his damn mind more than a few times with help on the site’s CSS and HTML.



For some reason, he’s never referred to by his first name, giving “Drexy” a bit of a mysterious air about him. Is his name really Stewart? Who knows? But we do know that he pretends to enjoy 4X and strategy games often enough to join our podcast, despite his obvious love for more mainstream games, too.

Shaun “Paradigm_Shift” Pearce

Frequent Guest/Hopeful Co-Host

Email: coming soon

Shaun is a relative newcomer to the eXplorminate community. Hailing from the Great Southern Land, he started with games like Starcraft and Age of Empires in his younger days. As a young adult, his interests expanded into 4x and tactics games, and he’s been hooked since. After discovering the eXplorminate community Shaun quickly made himself at home and now involves himself in content production where he can, including a brief stint writing reviews and as a regular co-host on the podcast.



With tactics games as his chief passion he’ll play anything in the genre he can get his hands on and he often takes part in early playtesting of upcoming tactics games. When he’s not playing tactics or 4X games Shaun is a pretty eclectic PC gamer but nowadays can often be found in the world of Virtual Reality.