Reading through this month's review gave me the the impression that it really took a lot of effort to be positive. Don't. Can't speak for anyone else, but I don't mind the usual negativity/realism. Heck, I love it. Reminds me of Statler and Waldorf, those 2 grumpy Muppet guys. Great stuff.Originally Posted by Lord Damocles
Exactly. Reviews are best if you just "tell it as it is". Certainly pick out any good bits, but really, if any more than half the content is poor (and from everything I have seen of the magazine in the last 3 years all bar 2-3 pages an issue have been only worthy of kindling) then it should rightly be panned. The only difference between the muppet guys and WD is that they can turn anything into a bad review, currently WD gets poor reviews because it is just utterly dire, and vacent of content.
Member of J.A.D.E.DTrying to convince Warseer that GW are anything less than perfect is like trying to teach a horde of zombies that lettuce is a perfectly acceptable alternative to brains.
Lest we forget
Yeah, these things would have been really interesting. BFTF is where it all began for me, and there was lots of weird stuff in Rogue Trader they could have revisited on a just-this-once-and-just-this-once-only basis. I mean, Warhammer is seeing the return of Zoats and Fimir, why not 40K? Would it kill them to give just 2-4 pages to rules for, say, Zoats in your Dark Eldar Court of the Archon (they don't really fit with modern Tyranids I think), or a unit of Squats as an Elite choice in an Imperial Guard army, or a deoderant bottle turned into a skimmer tank in your Space Marine army? Newbies would have seen some of the crazy stuff they did back then, and hoary old veterans would have had a chance to relive their youth. All very informal and fun, but without focus on selling anythi... oh. I've just worked out why they didn't do this.
I guess that kind of thing (which would have been of interest to an awful lot of people) just couldn't find space in the magazine given the dire and pressing need to make sure that if anyone finds themselves stuck in Seoul in South Korea with a copy of White Dwarf, a burning desire to buy Games Workshop models that very day, and a mobile phone (but no internet connection) they'll be able to find a store. Thank goodness for GW's forward thinking - heaven forbid they might have used those pages for fun hobby content.
Last edited by SunTzu; 31-01-2012 at 10:06.
Content by games system
WFB - 3/10, It looks like they're going to be stringing the Civil War rules out over at least 4 issues which quite frankly seems bizarre to me, you can't really call 3 2D6 tables an "article" in this months WD.
The only other thing of note was skully mcskull tower mk3 which rather looks like they're flogging a dead horse, the rules were idiotic, particularly in relation to the magical signal skeleton that can not only wave its arms to send messages but also shoot magical laser bolts from its eyes to kill stuff. If you thought warhammer had already plumbed the depths of inane stupidity think again.
40K - 7/10 loved the necron modelling article and the 25th Anni section, not as much attention as it usually gets maybe, but I'd say it did pretty well given this was an lotr month.
LotR - 9/10 High score because it was basically an Lotr issue, packed full of batreps, rules sneak peaks and discussion of the new army building system, and the best bit, barely a mention of WotR - LotR perfection.
I guess on average that gives us a score of just over 6/10 for the issue, I'm pretty happy with that (its just a shame there is no option for 6/10 on the poll, so I was generous and upped it to 7)
any argument to say that they're thinking of us by turning metal to resin is as convincing as a frenzied Khorne worshipper covered in blood, still chomping on a victim, with a Khorne sigil tattooed to his forhead pleading a case of mistaken identity when questioned about a murder.
I rated this issue as a 5.
Having read WD on and off since the 80s, I put a lot of stock in nostalgia and this issue carried quite a bit.
As for the 25th anniversary mini, personally, I love it. I've got 3000+ points of painted Crimson Fists and while I already have several captains that I'll never use, this guy will be a nice addition to my collection. Maybe I'm just partial because I'm a CF player.
Despite some of the nostalgic coverage, this issue could have been so much more. Every time there is a new fantasy release WD is virtually dedicated to Fantasy (with maybe a single token article for 40K of dubious quality). We have a once in a 25 year event with the anniversary of 40K and we have an issue dedicated to...LoTR?? Not even War of the Ring (which IMHO is far superior to the skirmish game), but LoTR. I also am not a fan of GW's artistic license in creating 'unique' middle-earth properties. I really think they should stick to the canon.
As for the "4 table massive battle report" part of the 40K coverage, well, it left quite a bit to be desired. Like more than a small blurb about the 3 'sideboard' games and their progress. How about more than 3 turns of Apocalypse coverage? How about army lists?
Little to no hobby coverage, too many pages of advertisements, not enough 40K coverage for a 25th anniversary. I'm not sure anymore why I gave this a 5?
LOTR in WD = 1
I'm giving it a 4/10
Still no EM masterclass though thankfully they reduced the hobby articles to a couple pages for each one and neither is how to make a big monster kit look really terrible.
I enjoyed the 40k retrospective and interview.
Paper quality and photo quality are still excellent. Regardless of lack of content it's still good looking, sturdy, and clear.
Something I noticed in the "credits" is the additions to the creative teams. Design has a few more people with some recognizable names like Steve Buddle and Edgar Ramos, Mark Holmes is in the art department now, and EM has Tom Winstone back as well as Simon Addams who was featured on the Games Workshop website. So hopefully future issues will have EM masterclasses now that the team is bigger.
I gave this issue a 10.
It's not for the content, but the statement this issue makes. Twenty five years of 40k earns it a small percentage of the magazine, upside down and at the back, so that a liscensed game can have the spotlight.
Whitey, stickin' it to the man.
I miss Chris Farley.
Gave it a 2 - I was really looking forward to seeing what they were going to do with the 25th anniversary stuff and was massively dissapointed to see that over half the section on this was given over to full page spreads of pictures of current models. In what way is that a celebration of the history of the game??? Colour me unimpressed.
"Lets see how those degenerate sophisticates deal with a healthy dose of pure, unreasoning violence"
This Edition of White Dwarf contained way to much LotR Stuff. A more balanced Dwarf about all 3 Core Games would be better.
I voted 1
I get having a LotR release month, I really do and I think its needed. I do have to question the wisdom of doing it at the same time as the 40k anniversary.
They would have been much better off moving the LotR stuff to next month and giving us some decent 40k coverage.
In the end, given WDs crappy quality and two major events this month, both suffer.
A 3 for me.
Not impressed, it actually spurred me to cancel my sub after some 2 years the 2 issues of 2012 were just crap, the covers are now almost uniform white with a pic photoslapped on, where is the great artowrk each dwarf had on the front, its been a ropey photoshop job for about a year now, but this white background with a single pic reminds me of the bad old days of LOTR movie still covers (Shudder).
Also as this was the issue celebrating 25 years of 40k, i was expecting a thicker issue like the 300th issue or 30 years of GW etc, but no, we get a supplement at the back, with the only interesting bits being the artwork from RT on the back (which should have been on the main cover) and an interview with the main team of Blanche, Johnson et al, other than that it was about 6 double page spreads of the main battles we all know, this was kind of cool, but as this was a suppleme4nt it made up about 50% of the issue!!
so why was 40k's big bash so poorly covered, "quel surprise", The hobbit is coming out, and GW smell the LOTR bubble Mk2! why this couldnt have been done next month or even the 40K anniversary magazine done as a special issue for £5, i would have bought that, with good info on each version of the game, not just a corner callout for each version from 2nd ed to 5th done on 2 pages.....sigh
Good bye WD, i tried to love you again, but you are just crap.
If the EA masterclass returns, i may call you.
In reference to Squat usage in game.
THE CAKE IS A LIE!, THE CAKE IS A LIE!, THE CAKE IS A LIE!, THE CAKE IS A LIE!
My CMON Blog: http://blog.coolminiornot.com/blog.p...Rose-Model-Art
Oh, so very close to being sigged
Member of J.A.D.E.DTrying to convince Warseer that GW are anything less than perfect is like trying to teach a horde of zombies that lettuce is a perfectly acceptable alternative to brains.
Lest we forget
I'm giving it 4 for the Civil War and 40k Anniversary bits. I did enjoy the article on the BitB VC army, it showed that with a different paintjob Dire Wolves aren't quite so horrifically ugly. I think this issue is the worst I can remember, even the Dreadfleet one wasn't this bad and others this past twelve months have been rather good in my opinion.
In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only British.
Actual (alleged) girl. Alpha Female.
I was happy with the issue. I view this more of a 'Year of 40K' rather than all being contained in one WD (still time for me to be proved wrong). Whilst the 40K section being upside down and at the back irks some, I like the fact that the Crimson Fist artwork is displayed without any other headings, byline or barcodes getting in the way. Lets face it, if this issue was all 40K, some would complain about that.
Gave it a 5. Given the fact that I neither play 40k nor LotR I was still enjoying the WD.
The 40k part had a certain nostalgic moment, mixed with some "wtf?" ones. For example they start talking about Apocalypse, someone mentions Forgeworld ... and Jervis immediately counter with GW's AWESOME Baneblade/Stompa and FW is left completely under the carpet. Not sure if that's funny or just sad?
The LotR part was refreshing, I enjoyed reading about it years ago back when LotR had its own part of WD space (like the current issue has with 40k). Of course it was very "look how many awesome monsters you can fit in such a small army, buy 'em right here!", but again it reminded me of older times, 5th edition WHF in this particular case.
So all in all it was a mediocre issue, nice to read but not over/underwhelming. Thus a 5 from me.
Look upon us and Despair, for we are the End, the Decay of all things, the horror of rot and the blessing of plague.
Right in assuming that 5 is neutral on this scale I gave this issue a 7.
Straight away it got a 6, because I had fun reading it, the warhammer VC armies, 40k interviews and overall LOTR content meant it was very enjoyable.
I bumped my score to a seven because I managed to grab an old easterling 20 man box for the original selling price and found the simple but effective paint scheme for the easterlings this issue awesome!
EDIT:
Almost forgot the necron scheme was very good too as intend to try it out at some point.
Last edited by librerian_samae; 10-02-2012 at 09:36.
"every year spring has sprung, but why oh why has it never tangled and broken like a well used slinky?"
All the LotR took away from precious Fantasy but the 25th 40k stuff was nice to see.
More 10s and 1s for a White Dwarf in this month's thread than I've seen in a long while. Kind makes me smile.
I enjoyed the mag, I like reading about the LOTR stuff and I enjoy playing the game. Heck, the WD this month appears to of completely fired up the staff and the player base of 3 stores in the local area, so it's get a well deserved score from moi. But then I'm always pretty generous with my scores because I enjoy WD for what it is.
...by which you mean you always give it 10, as soon as the poll appears?
Which, y'know, is as valid as any other score... and there are certain people that always give it 1 as soon as the poll appears. But yeah, most people would say a 10 every month is more than just "pretty generous". Just sayin'.
Last edited by SunTzu; 13-02-2012 at 11:54.
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