Spoof Review: January White Dwarf 2013

As I didn’t review last month’s white dwarf, I thought I’d have a go at January’s instead. Here is the cover image according to pazio.com. I don’t know why I was expecting them to use the cover from codex Dark Angels? I guess this art work is in the codex somewhere, but probably in black and white.

The first thing I actually noticed about this white dwarf was the page count. Not really much thicker than “old white dwarf” It looks like the beady one has not eating all the mince pies over the Christmas period. As expected the issue is dominated by this months releases. With Dark Angels being released this month this promised to be a great issue for 40k players; and it is. There’s a nice write up on Codex Dark Angels from author Jeremy Vetock (not Matt Ward). Who explains a little bit about the dark clouds that surrounds the Dark Angels reputation as well as why they use so many plasma weapons.

New Units

The new flyers don’t disappoint apart from not having any transport capacity. I really like the new veteran style bikers and their bikes, which are like the ones on Dark Vengeance. I was still hoping jetbikes would make a return to the ranks of the Space Marines, but Sammual is still on the only man who get’s one. I can still hope for a White Dwarf update!

New Models

You still can now buy a plastic box set of Dark Angel Terminators with out having to buy an upgrade sprue to convert them. And who was expecting a new Tacical Squad for the space marines this month, maybe next month? I’m glad to see the Deathwing terminators box set is not just a rehash of the bits you got on the old upgrade sprue (which is still available to direct order). Or Dark Vengeance for that matter. It’s more like the Grey Knight Terminator set with all sorts of extras you don’t get in a normal Terminator box. The one casualty of this new release is the old Death Wing metal terminators, which hasn’t been available for a few weeks now. A lot of the old Metal Dark Angels have now been released in Finecast.

The Battle report is a stonker! They have put Chaos up against the Dark Angels. Given both are 6th Edition codex’s and have flyers and access to flack missiles It was sure to be an interesting game. I won’t spoil the outcome, but it’s well worth a read.

Jervis managed to get away from his normal one thought coulomb and wrote about the way Games Worksop are now trying to be more balanced across their releases, sighting the inclusion of some new models for the Hobbit as well as new Dark Angels this month.

Again I didn’t see the point in Jeremy’s coloumb. I’m personally finding having both Jeremy and Jervis writing about nothing in particular abit of a muchness. However Blanjitsu was as always a great diversion from the main corporate push. I’ve been very critical of his art in the past but I think he now add’s a very important roll in the hobby and hope he never reties.

The rest of the issue is taken up with some Warhammer conversions and article on Which Warhammer General is he best. There’ also a small section on the White Dwarf teams every growing armies.

As always there is the latest from Forge World and Black Library including the the new Betrayal book ( I always like looking through these pages even if it’s just a recap on what Forge Wolrd released last month).

So there you go another review from me without actually having seen the White Dwarf in question. I wonder how much of this will be correct?

News: New Heresy Book Betrayer

Betrayer has gone up for advance order on the GW website.

“Lorgar and the rest of the Word Bearers strike deep into the realm of Ultramar. Their unlikely allies, Angron and the World Eaters, continue to ravage each new system they come across – upon the garrison planet of Armatura”

Summary Judgements awarded to both GW and ChapterHouse Studios

Both Games Workshop and Chapterhouse Studios have managed to get summary judgements awarded in the ongoing trail. I can’t recall what GW’s where but Chapterhouse has been told it’s website is not a copyright breach, so that has been dropped from the legal case. Reading through the whole court text I discovered that only some Gamesworkshop symbols are copyrightable. I.e. The Space wolf logo in the particular GW style is, a general wolf head is not. The Blood Angles symbol might be due to the unique style of the wings, however the Flesh Tearer “tear drop” on “circular saw disk” is not. This is because work has to be original not the combination of two existing items to be considered IP. I wouldn’t take my word for it though. Read the text for yourself.

“The shoulder pads created to fit onto GW’s physical figurines, though more proportionally accurate, are nevertheless still larger and boxier than those typically found outside of the Warhammer 40,000 fantasy world. The Court thus concludes that GW is entitled to copyright protection as to the design of its shoulder pads.”

What the Chapterhouse has failed to point out here is that the early space marines were created by Bob Naismith who was not a Gamesworkshop or Citidel employee. While this case may open up avenues for other companies to make similar products to GW, it does appear chapter house studio’s may be in trouble. As their premise that

“Chapterhouse contends that GW’s miniature figurines are ineligible for protection

under English law and that as a result all of GW’s copyright claims against
Chapterhouse based on its figurines fail. Chapterhouse’s argument begins with an incorrect premise. Although disputes over copyright ownership must be resolved under
the laws of a work’s country of origin, other issues regarding a claim of copyright
infringement, including the question of copyrightability, are determined by the law of the
country where the alleged infringement occurred. Capitol Records, Inc. v. Naxos of
Am., Inc., 372 F.3d 471, 480 (2d Cir. 2004) (“[F]ederal copyright law protects a work
that enjoys no protection in the country where the work was created.”); Rudnicki, 2009
WL 4800030, at *7 (“For infringement issues, such as the scope of protection or
recovery, the relevant law is that of the country where the alleged infringement
occurred.”).”

Full text here

http://ia600405.us.archive.org/18/items/gov.uscourts.ilnd.250791/gov.uscourts.ilnd.250791.258.0.pdf