Official April 2012 White Dwarf (USA 387, UK 388 etc) Feedback Thread

[stahly]

Hi,
I noticed there isn't an official White Dwarf thread for April yet. However I wrote a review of this month's issue on Tale of Painters. It might be helpful for those who haven't decided to get a copy yet.

Definately wasn't impressed with this issue. It felt so short because 1/4th of the page count was made up of the new releases. The Empire coverage was laughable and on a marketing speech level, like a picture book. I feel they don't even try anymore with their new releases. They must think that people buy it anyway. For me as a painter, the articles about the new paint range where quite a good read, and all the painting guides were helpful to adjust to the new range. However I feel it must be hard for a beginner when there is only a picture with an icon that shows you which paint and brush to use but or otherwise uncommented.

Gets a 3/10 from me.

The full review can be found here: [advert removed by the WarSeer Inquistion]
@ Mods
Please feel free to merge this thread once the official thread is ready.

[Graeme]

Generally, really bad this month.

Good stuff:

The painting guides and charts seem overall to be useful and I imagine I'll keep coming back to this issue for those alone.
Battle Missions: Deathworld. Nice bit of gaming content, look forward to giving these a go.
That's it.

Bad stuff:

Empire release articles - As someone who only has one WFB army and has quite fancied having a go at an Empire force for some time, I'm probably part of some kind of key dempographic for these articles. They just left me utterly cold though. Repeated pictures of the same damn units accompanied by the odd couple of paragraphs of shallow, uninformative waffle. Release notes have been going downhill for a while now (noble exception: dark eldar), but this is definitely as bad as I've seen. No interview with Cruddace, no tactics discussion, no sample armies, not much fluff to write home about... basically a whole lot of nothing.

Pages (and pages) about the paints - I enjoyed about half of the stuff about 'the 145', then I started to feel that they were spreading a little bit of content a little bit too thin, then there were another 6 sides and I was very bored.

Civil War (as a whole) - This has been dragged out over 4(?) issues and yet the majority of the tables have a lot of similar entries and could probably have just been done as one generic 2D6 table. By the end it just seems lazy.

SW vs Nids battle report - Firstly, this should have been in last month's dwarf and this month's should have had the Empire fighting someone. After I've looked at pages and pages of pictures of new units, I'd really like to see them fighting an actual battle. Secondly, this was pretty dire as batreps go. I quite liked the 'contents of a battleforce plus a commander' theme, and the mission seemed relatively sensible. Also nice to see small armies being used, I get a bit turned off by apocalypse-size megabattles. However, I have no idea what on earth has posesed WD to do away with maps, movement arrows, turn-by-turn narration, input from each general, details about everything that goes on in the game. Seems to me there are few things more pointless than a battle report which contains nothing but posed, close-up photographs and a couple of paragraphs of text about the key point of 'Turns 3-4'. 40k (and WFB, LOTR etc) is a fun game - why act as though it isn't?

LOTR Tale of 4 gamers - A token article if ever I've seen one. If you can't find the space do this properly (and, honestly, you easily can) then just don't do it at all.

The stuff at the back. Still there, still pointless.

[Lord Damocles]

And there was me, waiting patiently and all...



- Double-page spread of Empire models. Whoo! -

Editorial – Everyone loves new paints. Except Tom Hutchings who questioned the need to have so many shades of blue, so Andrew Kenrick got an angry pitchfork-wielding mob together, and they drove him out of town.
...
OK, so I might have embellished that story slightly, but I had to make the editorial slightly less dull.
Poor

News/New Releases - ... ... ...the hell is this? Six pages of pictures of pots of paint? SIX? I honestly never would have guessed that pot #137 would look EXACTLY LIKE pot #4. SIX?!
Two pages for How To Paint Citadel Miniatures, four pages for the Griffon(s) (the note, ‘Turn the page to see two more Imperial Griffons’ is really helpful though. I never would have thought to turn the page on my own). Four pages for the totally-not-a-magical-war-wagon. Two pages for the totally-not-a-magical-war-wagon-with-a-big-hammer-wielding-griffon-on-top. Two pages for the not-quite-griffon riders. Two pages for models which have been out for years, but now have a higher miscast rate.
On the plus side, I can go to GW Warsaw’s Facebook page.
Poor

The All New Citadel Paint Range – Now, I don’t want to come over all ‘frothing at the mouth rabid hater’ here (although I’ve still not got over the loss of Flesh Wash), but what did I take away from this article? The ‘base’ paints are for basecoating? The ‘dry’ paints are for drybrushing? I appreciate that lots of people might not know as much about paint as anyone who’s been using them for more than about ten minutes, but seriously? It wouldn’t necessarily have taken much to present me with some mildly interesting content – what actually makes these paints better than the old range? (being new doesn’t count!) Has the medium changed somehow? Is there more pigment in the mix? Do the lids of the pots stay open on their own now, or are we still lumbered with the same terrible hinges? Was the odd bit of mixing/blending really so much of a problem that the number of paints needed to be doubled? What makes ‘Ardcoat ‘effectively’ a gloss varnish’? Is it a gloss varnish or isn’t it?

The double-page spread showing [a rough approximation of] the different colours is handy (and should have been all that was needed in the New Releases section).

The mini painting guides are alright. They’re a decent enough illustration of the use of the various new paints, I suppose.

The two pages on How To Paint Citadel Miniatures don’t really say much more than could have been include with the advert earlier on. Special mention must go to the little ‘Chris Peach’ boxout. I can’t say that I can see how the new paints offer any significant advantage over the old on any of the points which he highlights.

‘The perfect paint station’ – I lol’d.
OK

Sigmar’s Heirs (Empire stuff) – Double-page spread of Empire models to start. Joy. The map and pages of brief introductions to various units are quite a good introduction if you know nothing about the Empire, but any sort of Designers’ notes are conspicuous by their absence. Also, concept art etc. ect. Blahblahblah.
Poor

The Reign Of Karl Franz – Tiny bit of background and then his rules. Are they his entire rules though? I was under the impression that he could ride a horse/dragon, but they’re not mentioned here. Also (as usual) there’s no points cost which makes presenting the rules a little pointless*.
The Battle of Blackfire Pass seems to be an excuse to show pictures of models other than Karl Franz.
Poor

Warhammer Civil War – This is still going? No, really – I though this had been wrapped up last month. Wow, they’re really spinning this out.
Also: ‘...simple set of rules...’ pft! Pull the other one.
OK (although this has really gone on too long now)

Warhammer 40,000 Battle Missions: Deathworlds – As usual there is no provision for randomly rolling up one of these new Battle Missions on the big table of missions in the book (which is a little odd, since that was the point of Battle Missions, wasn’t it?)
Needing to roll on two random tables per turn seems needlessly complicated. The old jungle/swamp/desert rules didn’t feel the need to have vast amounts of tables and pyrotechnic super special goings on, and they worked just fine.
These rules seem less like you’re fighting on a world which forces you to adjust your forces/tactics to suit the hostile environment, and more like you’re fighting inside a fireworks factory during an earthquake while aliens fight Godzilla in the next room.
Why does Breakthrough require the defender to get into the attacker’s deployment zone? It’s like Slave Raid in the original book, which has the side being raided also taking slaves. It’s illogical.

The rules could have been massively simplified (being mostly about terrain), which would have allowed for greater [new] background, discussion of tactics, terrain modelling etc.
The three missions are barely related to fighting on a deathworld, and could have been their own article.
OK

The Wolf and the kraken (Space Wolves vs. Tyranids battle report) – Ah, now then, non-studio armies, relatively low points (1000), it’s just what I always complain isn’t present. I should love this then.
...
Yeah. Not so much. No maps, multiple turns condensed into one block of descriptive text, only four pages in total, stupidity (why did the Wolf Scouts not use their special deployment?), and from my reading of it, the entire battle seems to take place in the tiny area visible in the first picture. I’m not going to say that the battle is, erm, fake; but I have my doubts.

Never mind, next month we can find out how they drybrushed some standard plastic terrain white and sprinkled a statue with snow-flock.
Poor

- Double-page spread of Space Wolves and Tyranids -

Harald Deathwolf’s Great Company – The actual painting guide(s) are alright, but the pointless adverts for the battleforce, Prospero Burns, new transfer sheets, and How To Paint Citadel Miniatures, plus the double-page spread of models we’ve already seen take a lot away from what decent content there is.
An ‘Eavy Metal guide would have been better (although it would have been going back over old ground – how about we paint something other than Marines for a change?)
OK

A Tale of Four Gamers – They added some stuff. Some games happened. Four pages later it was all over. Meh.
Poor

Stuff at the Back – Games Day, Bolton, events news, store lists, Preston. Then there’s the paint conversion chart. If it hadn’t been online for a week, it might be useful. Also, why is it here? Why not with the article(s) on paint?
Poor


----------------

There didn’t seem to be very much content at all in this issue. What there was on the Empire releases I could have got from the website; what there was on the new paint range has been shouted about for a while online; The painting guides were OK, but there have been similar on the website and in-store recently to coincide with the new paints. The battle report was far too short, to the point where it might as well not have been there. The new rules are great if rolling on random tables is your thing, but are needlessly complicated.
The pages of pictures of paint pots in the New Releases section took up more space than most of the articles.

A 3 from me this month.




*Ha! I’m so witty...

[winterdyne]

I actually thought the paint references (what the various colours are) was quite helpful. I won't go buying a book telling me how to layer, but knowing I want X, Y, and Z for a warm white so I can order online is handy.

[Marked_by_chaos]

I can understand the views so far, but as a person who often flicks through and doesn't bother picking up white dwarf I thought this was a decent issue.

Sure, the showcasing of every paint was silly and disproportionate but its not too suprising.

However, the painting stuff was pretty decent and the step by step guides were really useful and of more long term use than most articles in memory (IMHO). The space wolf army painting guide was also pretty handy. I hope that style of articles continues, maybe for a new battalion/project each month, including revisiting older armies that haven't had new releases for a while.

However, i hope that in the clear drive to support easier army painting and table top standard guides (as evidenced by the apparent format of the new how to paint binder) they completely don't drop the 'eavy metal standard guides (which have frustratingly been absent for a while now). I'd love to see a balance between army guides and 'eavy metal masterclasses for centrepiece models like heros and monsters.

Would be good to see a bit more of the designer notes. How hard can it be to have 5 odd pages of sketches and comments from designers.

As for battle reports etc. they have been pretty rusbbish for years now so i don't really care anymore. Having said that its good that they had a game with only 1,000 points per side. I find the recent trend towards 5,000 odd point reports really boring.

[Demiurg]

This issue is a 3. It had some moments IE the painting guides but the adverts and constant repeat of content was a let down.

[dax]

I rarely buy White Dwarf any more but picked this one up due to the new paints and Empire stuff. A poor issue made me remember why I don't waste €7.50 on this every month. The Empire stuff almost seemed to be an after thought, no designer notes, no painting guides, no battle report. How many times can you show off the same paints and it was clear that the painting guides skipped stages and showed miniatures that clearly weren't painted with the methods shown - I know it's just a basic how to article but at least be consistent don't pretend you can get those results with those methods. Far to much catalogue (even by WD standards) and not enough content.

The battle report, painting challenge could have been really good but 1 army features in the painting book so it wasn't shown and the other well the new paints are far too blue for Space Wolves even though their name implies they where designed specifically for them.

I was done with the magazine in 10 minutes and even the handy colour conversion chart is available online so I won't be referring to it again.

Overall 3/10

[lbecks]

I agree that they've destroyed the good things Mark Latham did as editor. I did like that a poster was included and they had pictures of the actual paints in the magazine. It would have been nice to see more eavy metal input on the subject and a masterclass for one of the empire kits. The current EM team is exceptionally skilled. But instead they keep overloading the magazine with hobby team stuff.

[Tarax]

The moment I recieved this month's WD, I couldn't wait to open it. Especially to see what they did to the Empire. I have an Empire-army, though I haven't played Fantasy in almost 2 years, and wanted to see how much they've sc...ed it up. No surprises there, they did! A (much too large) Griffon. Though admittedly it looked better than the old 'Elector Count on Griffon'. Then there were the new battle wagons. I'd only wish that they got the old 'true' Battle Wagon back.

Yes, we get it, there are new paints out. The most important thing about it was way at the back, the conversion table. It was a bit nice to see what each paint was supposed to do, base, layer, dry, etc. But being stuck inside my own routine, there isn't much I will do about it. I'm an old fart, I am.

The new Battle Missions were OK, and they included a dice roll to go with the mission table in the book, 11, 12 and 13. But there is a lot of dice-rolling going on, a bit too much for my liking. Maybe we'll try it out, but with a limited version, eg on a 4+ something will happen.
The following Battle Report was interesting in the fact that it was limited in points and available models to be taken. Reminded me a bit of a Tale of 4 Gamers.

And there you have it, the biggest disappointment of the whole issue, the new Tale of 4 Gamers. While skimming I almost missed it. When I started browsing I noticed it was only a couple of pages. So, what was it? Well, (spoiler alert) someone talked about the progression, building an army to 500 point and that the Gamers shoudl play each other. Then it was a page with the results and then it was 2 pages with the armies used. No mention of what and why certain models/units were added and how the painting went on. Biggest shock: next month is already the final episode! So, it is only 3 months? Not much of a Tale, more like an anecdote.

What more can I say? Haven't read it all, but I'm not hopefull. Probably also a 3 from me.

In a couple of months time my subscription will end. I don't think I will renew it. Review like the ones form Lord Damocles will keep me informed of which issues are good enough to buy. I have no idea what a subscription will cost, but it will be too much.

[Rick_1138]

I saw nothing i didn't expect in this issue, new paints were coming out and empire is being released, so 70% of full page pics was always going to be the order of the day.

The battloe report was expected as they said it was coming, even though it was daft that it wasn't part of last SW\Nids issue?!

The painting guides were OK in so far as for novices they would be useful but as has been stated they were using techniques they werent showing in step by step and that gives an unfair impression to newbies.

I miss the EM masterclass stuff, it was why i bought WD in the first place after a break a few years ago, now sadly gone. You would have thought with an all new PAINT system in place the best PAINTERS would be the best people to show it off, oh well.

Its a shame as the last issue was interesting as a SW player, but the paints are a bit late for me as my army is painted with older shades.

will see if we get a decent empire battle report next issue, when they dont have 40 million paint pots to individually photograph!

4/10

[librerian_samae]

If average rating is a 5 on a 1 to 10 scale I would say its about a 4.

firstly a 6 because of the pretty good death world article and little paint tutorials very nice.

However -1 due to emptiness of empire section, I was REALLY looking foward to this but no designers notes or anything blergh.

Another minus 1 for the slop shoddy wolves/nids report, for a start it should have been last issue and this issue an empire one. Secondly it felt forced and empty and too rushed with no proper maps etc, plus 'oh look best monstrous creatures in the book eat the opponent because he has nothing to counter them even though the opponent was doing better objectives wise.'

Overall a big disappointment could have been much better.

[Morkash]

I have to agree with most of the points already made. I went to my FLGS and flicked through the WD, but could not convince myself to buy it. Usually I have this feeling of doing a good thing for the FLGS by buying it, but this issue...no, my altruism has its limits. I'd give it a 2 or 3.

Especially when compared to the last Empire release WD this issue was bad. The last one featured State Troops and Outrider boxes with each part displayed and painted (you know what I mean, I hope), conversions and very interesting content...this issue had over 30 pages of new releases. Yeah, well...no.

[canberraguy]

It was a real let down, the paint promo was ridiculous. And it was a kids review of the empire list. Extremely poor.

[lbecks]

I have to agree with most of the points already made. I went to my FLGS and flicked through the WD, but could not convince myself to buy it. Usually I have this feeling of doing a good thing for the FLGS by buying it, but this issue...no, my altruism has its limits. I'd give it a 2 or 3.

Especially when compared to the last Empire release WD this issue was bad. The last one featured State Troops and Outrider boxes with each part displayed and painted (you know what I mean, I hope), conversions and very interesting content...this issue had over 30 pages of new releases. Yeah, well...no.

There were actually 2 Empire issues between the state troop/outrider and this one. And those 2 were better than this one as well. One had the flagellant pieces painted and a good flagellant painting guide and the other had the steamtank pieces painted and some cool illustrations of empire units.

[Druchii Monkey]

I think this month's White Dwarf is excellent for the hobby coverage. A large and promising list of painting ideas presented in a concise format and if the new "How to Paint" book goes in the same direction will be extremely pleased. As a novice painter they seem to be making a wide range of painting ideas very accessible.

I also think the re-appearance of the teaser for the following month of White Dwarf is a welcome return. With next month's Storm of Magic article maybe it will also have a more detailed paint article on the Empire arcane machines released this month. I think it says a lot of GW that they have given the paints a thorough level of coverage in this White Dwarf. This may be at the expense of some other things but for this month it makes sense.

7/10 from me overall.

[BaSe]

I just don't get it. Surly there's a simple format they should follow. New army out = good % of mag based on them. Including designer notes and points as to why they have done what they have done, big battle report etc. wether this be fantasy or 40k it's kinda what we want. Didn't really get it with vamps and again with Empire. Annoying.

[McLucien18]

Ah, was waiting for the thread...

Editorial: Wait did I read this? Guess not. Whatever/10

New Releases: The paints are cool but I totally didn't just try them out last weekend. Oh boy no. Also I hear Griffons are in fashion. Those characters are pretty neat though. Might pick up an Orrery thingamajig. 5/10

Transfers: Separate section being as these are actually pretty cool. Iron Hands! 7/10

Other ad stuff: Omgz I can totally GW it up in Poland more!Yays. Yes/10

The All New Citadel Paint Range: Yeah fair enough tell me about what the paints are each for. Because I didn't know what a shade does.

*smacks cynicism*

Anyway, nice to see some examples of colours, sure. 5/10

Citadel Miniatures Painting Guide: Pretty nifty! Handy for some quick batch jobs for sure. Nice range of minis covered, but really I'd like some more in detail EM schemes like of old. 6/10

The Perfect Paint Station: Ad/10

Sigmar's Heirs: I learned nothing new here. Demigryphs look silly so I'm not counting them.
2/10

The Reign of Karl Franz: His profile and pictures of him doing heroic things heroically. Meh. 3/10

Wait, where was the rules discussion. Or at least some paragraphs saying how overpowered and awesome the new releases are?? Wow...

Facepalm/10

Civil War: This should have been condensed by at least 1 issue if not more. Gotta love random charts I guess, especially circumstantial ones like these which are rarely going to be relevant. Seriously just release them in a pamphlet for a couple of quid or something, even though everyone obviously wants to carry 4 issues of ads around whenever they play. 5/10

Battle Missions: Death Worlds: MOAR randomisation
These are are pretty cool, may mess around with theming games around particular effects. Seeker Lightning is a massive Lolwut© though. 7/10

The Wolf and the Kraken: 4 short columns does not constitute a battle report, seriously. Anyway amazing army selection as per usual, Blood Claws on foot are obvious tech.
1/10

Ads: Photo/10

Harald Deathwolf's Great Company: EVERYTHING IS SIDEWAYS couldn't they have freed up some space for ads last issue by skipping the paint guide in it? Oh well this one uses new paints I guess, and covers Scouts.
4/10

TO4G: That was terrible. They didn't even say anything this time
0/10

Ads/Listings: Bored/10

Did I inadvertently miss Jervis this issue?. Apparently not but it wouldn't have surprised me too much.

Averaging my scores gives this issue: YES/10

I kid, I kid..

Final rating: 4.1/10

This feels generous but there were a couple of decent sections.

[loveless]

I just find it concerning that they don't show off the "new army" in action. It's one thing to have a battle report where the new army loses (it's rarely a good showing, but at least you see what the force can do). It's another thing entirely to showcase nothing - how is this supposed to get me excited about the Empire when you don't show me the Hurricanum in action, the Demigryph's charges, or the shooty proficiency of your new special character?

Just lame.

[jez]

Well, I'll swim against the tide but I thoroughly enjoyed this month's WD. I guess I'm easily pleased (but life holds more joy that way ) but as an avid painter and Empire general, it was manna from heaven for me.

As previous releases had been anti-climatic due to me eking out snippets pre-release, I managed to keep off the Warseer Empire rumour thread for the last week so that both the releases and the pictures remained a welcome surprise.

[Phantom Dusclops'92]

OK, so we have this issue. April issues are kinda sad: Since I started playing, March always gave me models I loved (The Deff Dread and the Aracnarok are saying "hello"), then in April something I don't like as much as the last month's release arrives (WOTR, Grey Knights... Blood Angels have been the only exception). Tl, dr: I don't play the Empire, but I like that gryphon/griffon/griffin/howyouwriteit.

New paints. When I heard that for the first time, I wasn't that happy. Then I tried Mephiston Red, discovered what Textures do and ZOMG BEST THING EVER SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.

Civil War is over, and the Skaven table was the last. Sad, isn't it? OK, maybe not so much. Death Worlds is cool although.

Nids vs SW batrep is uncerimonious.

TO4G, ads, listings and stuff are not considerated.

6/10, cause is still a good reading. (How is supposed to be a good WD for you, guys? It should say on the cover "SCREW THE NEW RELEASES! How to build a Thunderhawk using only Gnoblars and Green Stuff" or what?)

Bonus contest: if you can really make a Thunderhawk using only Gnoblars, you're great.