Category Archives: White Dwarf Review

White Dwarf July 2013 Review – Apocalypse

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The July White Dwarf was in my eyes the best White Dwarf for a long time. And by that I don’t mean there hasn’t been a good one for a long time, last month’s was good. I mean I can’t recall the last time I read every page without having to force myself. I will add this site is 40k only so an issue which is 90% 40k will always get a good review.

white dwarf review

New releases


It’s all 40k releases and there is 50 pages to cover them. For me the highlight is the new Necron Super heavy, not the Chaos Lord of Battle on the cover.

Necron super heavy

The pictures are clear the, models look good and the prices are high. GW have continued to hike the price of the new models. The new super heavies are 35% more expensive than the old ones, but we can’t hold that against White Dwarf.

There are two new plastic kits, the re-boxed Baneblade/Shadowsword, 4 new space marine captains, 3 new fortifications and of course Apocalypse. You can read all about these on the Games Workshop website.

 

Army of the Month

This month’s is a huge Chaos Warrior army and that appears to be enough Warhammer for this issue. Well there is a necromancer in the hall of fame.

Hobbit

The cover claims there is a hobbit in there but it’s obviously hiding too well. There are two new models

 

Writer’s Coulombs

Jervis Johnson writes about how much he enjoyed creating Apocalypse second edition. It’s a good read and nice to have him back on more tangible topics. I did get the impression he would have liked to have explained more about Apocalypse but either wasn’t able to or didn’t have space to.

Blanchitsu is missing. There is no explanation as to what happened to it.

Jeremy Vetock continues on from Jervis and writes about playing and organising large games. He makes reference to what Jervis did and didn’t write about. I don’t know if this means he waits for Jervis to draft his content and then picks from the remains, or it they sat down and planned what each would write about, the later being a bit more likely given Jervis’ dislike of hitting deadlines.

Tyranids

Battle Report

Dark Angels and Blood Angels with some support defend a Imperial defence line against Chaos and Necrons. This report was even better than last month’s. I managed to not see the outcome in advance. Fortunately it was in the normal place so I knew where not to look. There are extra fold out pages in this issue which were used to show the deployment map. Is someone at the Studio reading my suggestions?  Again these armies belonged to the staff, not the  studio, although I think that some of the super heavies where studios models.

This battle report has been written in four full turns and has lots of full table pictures. It’s the easiest battle report to follow yet. However be warned the outcome is still in BIG LETTERS on the last page. The only thing that isn’t clear is what the victory point tally was. The system they used is explained  at the beginning, it had something to do with super heavies and defence points, but by the time I had reached the end I’d forgotten it.

 

Paint Splatter

The six page painting guides cover most of the new releases, buildings included. All good stuff.

Parade Ground

There were lots of different units in parade ground, lots of Space Marines and Xeons, again really good content.

From the studio

Great explanations from the writers of Apocalyse. I’ve held off ordering Apocalypse this month and used the money for a Games Day ticket. From what is said about Apolcalyse in the issue, it sounds like the studio done more than given is a fresh coat of paint. It doesn’t sound like anything has been done to stream line the rules and make it play any faster.

Apocalypse

Summary

Over all 9/10

I’d have given it 10 if there was more content for other systems and more information about what the changes in Apocalypse are.

Ben

Eldar White Dwarf June 2013 Review

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The June White Dwarf has some noticeable improvements over previous “new format” White Dwarf Issues.

Eldar Wraithfighter

New releases

Product GBP£/US$/AUD$
Codex Eldar £30/$49.50/$83
Eldar Farseer £12/$20/$22
Eldar Wraithknight £70/$115/$125
Eldar Wraithguard(5) £30/$50/$55
Eldar Hemlock Fighter £40/$65/$76
Eldar Dire Avengers(5) £20/$35/$55
Eldar Battleforce £70/$115/$185
Eldar Jetbike Squad £20/$40/$50
Eldar Psychic Powers (Cards) £4.5/$7.50/$10
Eldar Spiritseer £11/$19.25/$28
Eldar Illic Nightspear £11/$19.25/$28
The Ascension of Baithasar (audio CD) £15/$20/$30
Fist of Demetrius (Hardback) £17.99/$24.99/$27
Soul Drinkers Annihilation(Paperback) £12.99/$17.50/$27
Soul Drinkers Daenvathos (Hardback) £12/$17.50/$25
Soul Drinkers Redeemtion £12.99/$17.50/$27
Headtaker (Paperback) £12.99/$14/$20

The new release section is as big as ever. The pictures are a lot brighter. I’m not sure if this is just for the Eldar or a permanent change, however it’s nice to see the models clearly. There is no information about the new rules. It would be good to know the Wraith Knight is around 250 points has 6 wounds, toughness 10 and a selection of marine killing or tank killing weapons and so one.

In keeping with previous month’s only one system is getting some releases. As it’s all 40k I won’t go on about this.

 

Army of the Month

This month’s is a huge Gobin Army, complete with a not very well giant. Lots of nice touches, it’s well worth a look.

I do love this feature. I wish they would do an army for each system each month. There are more Warhammer armies featured in parade ground, but that’s it for Warhammer players.

Hobit

Apparently there is some Hobbit somewhere but blink and you will miss it.

 

Writer’s Coulombs

Jervis Johnson writes about the personality of your models, something that he and other writers have touched on before. This time it’s two whole pages on this subject though. There is only so much in the war gaming universe you can write about and with three Colombians (sorry bad joke) , there is bound to be some repetition.

Blanchitsu is more of the same, with a new bunch of inquisitor hence men. While the models are nice, it would have been good to see something a little more topical.

Jeremy Vetock writes about collecting. Jememy’s coulomb has been improving in terms of readability. Last months was one of his most entertaining yet. This months is more of a “give yourself permission” to fly off the wall with you own model purchases.

 

Battle Report

The Eldar take on the Necrons. It’s a nice way to make the Eldar the good guys for once. I thoroughly enjoyed the report, despite having seen the result when flicking through my White Dwarf. The Eldar army features nearly all the new models. Again the armies do not belong to the studio. I wish they would use the studio armies for one of the sides. It’s great to see other peoples models, but I’d like to see the studio armies getting an outing as well.

One word turns!!!! Yes this month’s battle report has a turn by turn account of the action, for the 1st two turns anyway.

Another word Full table pictures!!! Ok that’s 3. This month report is much easier to follow. Now all they need to do is stop writing the outcome in BIG LETTERS on the last page; so you can enjoy not know what is going to happen 🙂

Eldar Army

Other bits

Kit bash is ok. The Painting gides are useful to Eldar collectors

 

From the studio

To me this is one of the most important parts of White Dwarf. Why it’s at the back is a mystery. Great insights from the writers and sculptors of the new Eldar codex and models. Mine has been Ordered. I can’t wait to see if my Eldar beat my friend Bob’s Necrons in to the dirt.

 

Summary

Over all 8/10

Only let down by a lack rules for the new models and coverage of other systems; and of course Space Marines.

Eldar Farseer
 

White Dwarf February Pre-Review

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This isn’t much of a review, I don’t have the white dwarf in front of me so don’t get too excited. I had a quick look though it last night, as in newsagents not a book store or workshop my time free browsing was limited!

As you must know ChapterMasters is just about 40k, so no amount of outstandingly well sculpted Warriors of Chaos is going to get the ChapterMaster’s stamp of approval. That said this issues is one of the more balanced in recent months. Continuing reading on the Chaptermasters blog here

http://chaptermasters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/white-dwarf-february-pre-review.html

2013 January White Dwarf Review

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New White Dwarf: I finally got my hands on the new White Dwarf yesterday. I must say on the whole, I wasn’t disappointed. It’s not like the last couple of months have been, back up to almost 150 pages. I am only interested in 40k, so tends to be biased towards 40k heavy issues, which this was. I enjoyed a copy of the old Necron codex in place of my White Dwarf last month given how much Hobbit there was in it. Did you know they used to put guides on how to make terrain for you army in the codexes? Anyway back to the topic.

First off, I’m going to get the free poster out of the way. It has pictures of all the Hobbit models on one side and all the Lord of the Rings models on the other. Now I’m not mad about the Hobbit but even if it was a big picture of 40k miniatures, I can see them the Games Workshop website, so I would still feel like it’s a waste of paper, to me, at least it’s going straight in the recycling with all the other junk mail. I suspect someone wants me to stick it up on my wall, so can look at it all day I wish I had them. I think someone should be paying me to do that so I’m crying shenanigans! If I was a younger boy I might be thrilled at the prospect. I think the best thing they could for the more mature audience would be to have some art work on one side. I loved the Heresy poster in the October White Dwarf Ok, so that’s the worst part of the issue covered.
There are pages and pages of Dark Angels pictures. including the obligatory four page fold out. They look fantastic, although you may have seen most of them already. I almost completely missed the battle report as it blended in to these pictures.
The battle report I haven’t been able to read yet, but it looks just as good as the one in October White  Dwaf. There is even a full width picture of the table. I think this would be a much better place for the 4 page fold out to be used. I struggle to follow the layout of the table in these new batter reports. I do miss the old drawings they had back in issue 1xx, oh dear I’ve turned into a rambling old man again.
Surprisingly the editor does the write up on codex Dark Angels, He’s very passionate about the new Dark Angels and given some hints on Dark Angels carrying guilt about the fact they kill so many people, but nothing on any background changes etc. You’ll going to have to buy the codex if you want to know about that. There was no interview with the author or the sculptors. However hidden in the Design Studio section on page 140 is a small write up from both.
Jervis revisits a topic he wrote on about 18 months ago in  Standard Bearer, painting. As always it was well written and I enjoyed reading it. It can be summed up in “Someone wrote to me about how they find painting difficult”. “all that matters is you do you best and keep trying.”. As good as it was it would be nice to read something new from the Farther of the Design Studio.
Jeremy Vertock wrote about playing at home and away. I’m not a big fan on Jeremy’s articles. One old man writing about their peals of wisdom is enough for me. I’d have found it much more interesting if he was writing about creating Codex Dark Angels. Admittedly I didn’t make it to the end of the column, so it may have contained the most profound revelation in White Dwarf ever and my life is less complete for missing it; ok, I’ll have to have give it another check.
I really loved the feature on the Editor’s Tyranid Army. There was lots of interesting old models in there and they even gave a painting guide in case you wanted to copy his colour scheme. I can’t help but feel there is a Tyranid release coming. This little collectors army articles are much more interesting to me than the new releases. These are what inspire me seeing what other people have managed to achive, not what the best painters on earth have done with an unlimited budget.
There are a few other gems in at the back of the issue, which is becoming my favourite part of the new format White Dwarf. Including a Dark Angels Painting guide: At last we learn how the studio paints their Dark Angels. They make it look oh so easy and I’m itching to give it a try, not quite enough to de-sprue my limited edition Dark Vengeance box set though. There also a great kit bash on making an Imperial Prescient, the only problem being £100 or so you would have to spend on kits to make it.
In summary I’m not a Dark Angels collector but I’m still going to giving this issue a resounding 9/10. It would have been a 10 if it wasn’t for the forest that got cut down to make all those posters. It’s still well worth the £5.50 in my eye’s. I just feel a bit sorry for the Warhammer collectors who got four pages of dwarfs and not other reason to buy this issue.
End, almost.
I am going to sit fairly happy after the spoof review of this month white Dwarf, which I wrote before anything of it had leaked onto the internet. If you didn’t get a chance to read it or just want to check how much I got wrong! you can find it here. http://chaptermasters.com/spoof-review-january-white-dwarf-370/
Ben