Official June 2012 White Dwarf (USA 389, UK 390 etc) Feedback Thread

[ted1138]

After thinking about it, I cancelled my WD subscription.

I know its only 3 quid a month, but I could use that on some paint, or put it towards a mini, instead of picking up a fairly lackluster magazine.

Now watch as next month's issue turns out to be the most awesome thing ever printed on paper.

But at least you can go to the newsagents, flip through it, and then decide to buy it or not...

[BattleofLund]

I voted a '2'. Spontaneous reaction, maybe should have put a '3'. But with the ridiculosity that is the new Space Macaroni Flyer, and Standard Bearer being miles from the injection of enthusiasm I want...

Also, I don't like Savage Orcs. Okay, I liked the Ork planes a bit.

[codeslingerMalthius]

But at least you can go to the newsagents, flip through it, and then decide to buy it or not...

Maybe even BEFORE you would have received it in the mail.

[Marked_by_chaos]

I rarely comment on White Dwarf anymore but had to in this case.

Truly awful this month. The number of adverts for the flyers made the "Giant Issue" a treasure by comparrison. The actual written content felt like it was about 10 pages.

The painting guides are semi-useful but having shown us already a stage by stage guide for painting most colour progressions and also posting it on the website the new guides kind of have the feel of re-iterating the same progressionsin different combinations on new models.

What was really disappointing was the terrain feature, the Empire Golden Daemon gallery and the Savage Orc Warboss guide.

The Empire scenery showed some pretty cool ideas such as the stable made from the chapel kit, although there was no written reference to it and there was virtually no description of how the scenery was made generally (not that it was especially complicated).

The empire golden daemon gallery could at least have had some comments from the painters or perhaps even the 'eavy metal team with observations on the models and perhaps a few tips - even 1 paragraph would have been good!

As for the savage orc warboss, that was not terrible but its more dissappointing what it represents. Perfectly decent hobby team painting largely based on the same paint progressions (albeit going up to one higher layer of highlight) that is perfectly at place in the army painting guides. However, by doing this separately it would seemingly indicate that this will now be the top level painting guide in the magazine and that we shouldn't expect 'eavy metal guides any time soon. I am all for the guides for aspiring army painters but think the 'eavy metal guides are great and a real inspiration to improve my painting. Why can't we have both, especially for £4.50 per month. Perhaps army painting guides in a new release/army book month and then a 'eavy metal masterclass for a character/monster/vehicle the following month.

[Jericho]

The empire golden daemon gallery could at least have had some comments from the painters or perhaps even the 'eavy metal team with observations on the models and perhaps a few tips - even 1 paragraph would have been good!

How to win a Golden Demon:

Take an excellent miniature, hope to God it's not a mess of resin, convert it extensively anyway, paint it over dozens (if not hundreds) of hours using non-GW paints and brushes. Not a great article from a GW perspective

Forgive the heavy dose of sarcasm, but half the point of the 'Eavy Metal team is to show how to do things using standard GW products/tools/techniques. The other half is doing it well, doing it repeatedly (i.e., big studio armies and lots of them), and doing it all on a timeline. In other words, what "pro painted" really means

The GW blog seems to tackle the other side of things, looking for hobby content from "outsiders" and contest winners, and tracking the painters down for some commentary. I've had my stuff on the GW blog on occasion (and have won a handful of Demon trophies as well), and I know firsthand it's awkward trying to come up with commentary about your minis that doesn't amount to "buy hobby materials from somewhere else"

[SunTzu]

The number of adverts for the flyers made the "Giant Issue" a treasure by comparrison.

People are always saying "...almost as bad as / even worse than the Giant issue!" or similar so I just went back and had a quick flick through the Giant issue (UK 316).

There is indeed a lot about the Giant. Some of it is shameless, like the Editorial. Some of it is photo-heavy, like four pages in a row, each two-thirds filled by a Giant. The battle report had two Giants per side, ho hum.

But...

At least there was a battle report. Rules were provided, just like they have been for the new flyers. The page on sculpting the Giant was actually a little bit interesting as they were explaining their (at the time) cutting-edge techniques. And, all the Giant content was out of the way by page 43 (or 45 if you count Standard Bearer as being Giant-focussed rather than new-sculpting-technique-focused), and about half of those pages covered non-Giant new releases - remember the first 24 pages of this month's WD was only pictures of the flyers and nothing else - then more later! The rest of the magazine contained assembly and painting guides for Tau vehicles (including tips on how to paint camouflage), fluff about the Vespid, focus on Tallarn Imperial Guard, rules and terrain ideas for fighting 40K in deserts, coverage of Forge World and the Black Library (the latter including examples of converting models for characters from the fiction), 'Eavy Metal standard painting guides (though admittedly not Masterclasses) for LOTR, ideas on theming LOTR armies (before the army lists enforced that I believe?), a conversion clinic with some really good ideas on using green stuff for Ogres (when was the last time you saw conversions even mentioned in WD?), ideas on what to use on terrain that wasn't entirely "buy it from us!", a Mordheim (ie. Specialist Game) campaign report and rules... and yeah, OK, then the bit at the back, which was as much a waste then as it was now.

So... Battle reports. Conversions. Painting guides, for different levels. All three core games, and specialist games. Rules. Fluff. Design and technology notes. Forge World and Black Library. Readers' models, staffers' models. Not all of that was great, but at least it was there. I'm telling you... the Giant issue was famously bad, but it was golden compared to the drivel we get fed nowadays. This month's issue was much, much worse than the Giant issue.

I've had my stuff on the GW blog on occasion (and have won a handful of Demon trophies as well), and I know firsthand it's awkward trying to come up with commentary about your minis that doesn't amount to "buy hobby materials from somewhere else"

Awkward but not impossible. The daily blog recently had a few video interviews with Golden Demon winners, which, alright, didn't set the world on fire but were quite interesting, and could have made quite acceptable magazine content, alongside their models.

[azhagmorglum]

People shouldn't be complaining about price rises if they keep on buying GW's monthly over-expensive advertising catalogue...

[violenceha]

I was going to write a childish review taking the piss out of the intended victims of this issue, but shortly after picking it up I got a headache from the smell. I've been involved in the print industry almost my entire adult life, but have never smelled anything like it and have no idea how it could have occured. Weird.

I did notice in this issue they finally updated the stockists list, down from two pages to one, looks like a 5-6 hour round trip to my closest, I'm sure even if I scanned and posted this list and the old for comparison certain posters would still tell me I'm wrong that independants in my area are abandoning GW in droves.... but hey, what would I know.

Thanks Steve Bowerman for the white scars stuff, took the issue from a one up to a four from me.

[zoggin-eck]

People are always saying "...almost as bad as / even worse than the Giant issue!" or similar so I just went back and had a quick flick through the Giant issue (UK 316).

There is indeed a lot about the Giant. Some of it is shameless, like the Editorial. Some of it is photo-heavy, like four pages in a row, each two-thirds filled by a Giant. The battle report had two Giants per side, ho hum.

But...

I did exactly the same thing a few months ago, having read the same "almost as bad as the Giant issue" type comment.

SunTzu, or anyone else really, do you remember how much people complained when 6th edition Hordes of Chaos came out, and so many people complained "Oh no, five months of nothing but chaos as they show each God! White Dwarf os so boring and predictable" Going through them recently, that run of issues had designers notes, general background info on each god, stories for new characters (for the sake of it, too! Not just new models) and some fun conversions and terrain. Reminds me of that.

Back on topic, though:

This was a pretty ordinary issue. Background stories, bestiary-type entries for the new units and a scenario are all good, but sadly not as interesting or well written as I'd like them to be. I'm all for photos of the new models, but there really is a limit, and I think this issue pushes it. As said, the new painting guides are just a list of what colours to use, no real insight. Compare this to John Blache's great "Better than Inks" article around the late 1980's issue 100 mark, when their first "washes" rather than inks came out. Regardless of whether you learn much from it (and reading it again recently, I still did!) a well written article is just enjoyable. I remember Rick Priestley's High Elf article from years ago, and at the time I was a Gobbo at heart and hated Elves, and could never match his painting anyway, but I loved that article and could really see what he was doing.

Fantasy hardly gets a mention, and the Orc and Goblin coverage was lame. As everyone says, another "but three terrain kist and stick it together" article should be on the website, not wasting a magazine section. It doesn't even scream knight chapterhouse to me, sadly.

[Rogue Star]

The Battle for Cardrim - Look at the FULL PAGE picture acting as the title page. Can you see the irony too?
Now, I know I always say, 'more background', and then moan about it; and I'm going to do it again! Not only is this a poorly written (this happened, and then that happened, and then after some purple prose, that happened again!') blatant excuse at cramming in as many references to the new Marine (3), Necron (6), and Ork (5) flyers into a story as possible, with a picture:word ratio of a little over 1:1, but it makes no sense and has to paint the Necrons as bumbling fools.
- Cardrim is an important staging post for the Ryzan war effort, but was largely devoid of surface structures?
- How many Techmarines does the 4th Company have following them around, anyway?!
- Tarekh wants the Necron presence to remain a secret; so obviously, he does this not by remaining in hiding (which has obviously worked so far), but by LAUNCHING AN ATTACK IN THE MIDDLE OF ANOTHER BATTLE
- if you're going to try the totally moronic 'reveal yourself to prevent people realizing that you're there' tactic, why not wait until the Orks have wiped out the Marines first?
- Why do the Necrons not activate the planet-wide comms blackout until AFTER launching their surprise attack?!?
- If the planet is largely devoid of habitation, and there is a major airfield (why?), why does Tarekh not think to attack this first?
- If the comms blackout stops the White Scars communicating with their Strike Cruiser, what's to stop the Strike Cruiser from simply looking at the planet and seeing that the poop has hit the fan, and launching a rescue mission without first waiting for the Marine on the ground get cut to pieces?
- Why can Necrons never defend their tomb complexes?
- If the Deathwatch were able to link up with the White Scars, there's even less reason for the Strike Cruiser not to have been able to do it earlier!
- Wait, so Joghaten Khan's plan wasn't just to escape the planet via the totally unnecessary Fellstorm Airfield, but to lure (all of!) the Necrons there so that he could nuke them from orbit?! [Insert obligatory Alien reference here]
- The war goes on for several months?! What were the Necrons doing all that time which prevented them from killing a limited number of enemies on their own turf, who don't have access to reinforcements? Where were the Marines getting ammo from?

And that's without re-reading the account!

This. Completely nonsensical narrative, which poorly attempts to cover what is essentially, another advert for the new Flyers wrapped up in prose, as they feature heavily in all the engagements.

Cardrim is an essential staging post for the Ryzan war effort... and also a Necron Tombworld. I'm having a hard time combining "essential staging post" with "barren wasteland" and "hidden enemy base".

[Ebon]

I gave it a 4. Nice pictures of the new flyers although the amount of pictures bordered on overkill. Rules and painting guides for them were ok although the painting guides were geared more toward newbies (actually, with GW's churn n' burn policy, everything is geared toward newbies). Fiction wasn't too awful. Jervis's increasingly tedious navel-gazing bores me. He often reminds me of teh "ain't life brilliant?" kid from The Fast Show. That was pretty much it. Not much content this issue.

[Evil Hypnotist]

Done in half an hour. When you fill a magazine with adverts and painting guides it doesn't take long.

The good points for me were: Armies on Parade (beautiful models and a bit of text from the guy who did them), 40k narrative campaign (rarer than you would think) and the Empire Golden Daemon special.

The bad things: Adverts, something like 6 painting guides (which I honestly think should be on the website instead), adverts, too many pictures of the new flyers, adverts, no battle report AGAIN, adverts.

I gave it a 3, not quite as bad as the Dreadfleet issue (at least it covered 2 of the 3 main game systems) but very low on content and an obvious filler before new 40k next month, which they haven't even mentioned...

[Sheena Easton]

I voted a three based on a quick flick through in ASDA, the fact it had some new rules and the Orks vs Space ****** vs Necrons thing looked good. However nothing caught my attention enough for me to want to buy it.

[Tresidentevil]

Rated this issue a 6. The issue is heavily 40K focused, with little else and I think no LOTR (Correct me if wrong)? That's kind of understandable since they are releasing a major new series of model types, I just think they kind of got carried away. The content itself isn't too bad it just lacks balance. For the record I always thought 40K was lacking in choice of flying units, wouldn't a futuristic battlefield be full of them? It's not nearly as bad as some people are saying (in my opinion).

[Lord Damocles]

That's kind of understandable since they are releasing a major new series of model types, I just think they kind of got carried away.

An interesting comparison might be with issue 245 (UK) when the current Land Raider was released. That was a huge release - Marines got a vehicle which they hadn't had a model for for years, and which there was high demand for, and the model itself was the largest plastic kit GW had produced to that point.

In terms of land Raider-centered content there's:
- Cover (front and back)
- Double page spread of box art
- 4 pages showing details/different angles/interior detail etc.
- 6 page article on concept art, sculpting, etc.
- 4 page background article (one page is pictures of the model(s))
- 8 page article on building the model
- 2 single page adverts for in-store activities (buy three, get one half price!)
- plus it shows up in the battle report, and in an advert for Marine vehicles
- double-sided poster with cutaway diagram, technical specifications, colour scemes, etc.

26 pages devoted solely to the Land Raider.
And still space for multiple army showcases (3), a battle report, Specialist Games coverage (Warmaster), in-depth 40K background article, Fantasy tactics and gaming/background articles, terrain building article, and a surprising number of (also surprisingly) unobtrusive full/double page adverts.

[Coasty]

4, and that's being generous because, Gork help me, I'm medically incapable of resisting anything that combines my twin loves of 'aviation' and 'Orks'. Seeing the news that they're reprinting Deff Skwadron was worth a few quid on its own. Hell, I even liked the other two fliers and I'm rapidly being converted toward taking up Necrons.

BUT......I managed to read the whole thing in a little over 15 minutes.

That shouldn't be possible.

I miss old WD. Think I'll go and rummage in my archives again.

[Phantom Dusclops'92]

Erm... nobody's trying to stop you, dude. I for one just think it's really sad that you have such low expectations of life.

"EVERYTHING SUCKS (even though we shouldn't be surprised by now)" is one thing. "EVERYTHING SUCKS BUT I'M GOING TO SAY I LIKE IT ANYWAY" is just... well... grow a spine, dude. I mean, you're entitled to your opinion, but you're not even trying to pretend you actually think it's good. You freely admit it's not good, then give it 10/10. Which, like... whatever, it's a meaningless internet poll, it really doesn't make any difference to anything. But then you're not achieving anything either. Just sad really.

OK, maybe I exaggerated a bit. I never said "it's not good but I give it 10/10", I said "Everyone says this sucks, but I actually loved it. I hope that you will accept my opinion without starting flamewars or stuff like that calling me heretic because I like what everyone dislikes". Except I said it in a Troll-like way. I'm not actually buying WD only for the pics and the ads, that was an answer I gave randomly in order to make it look like I was right with the things you were saying.

And now a serious review.

I like double photo spreads, don't hate me.

The campaign was meh.

The Finecast release of the Gigantic Spider. I was expecting that since last year.

I like the new painting guides. 'Eavy Metal ones made me look like a loser. Still need to buy some extra paintbrushes before I can use them seriously, mine are all consumed.

New planes? Nice. The Ork ones are great, I don't mind the Necron one (mainly because I'm not going to buy it) and the SM one is spiffy.

BTW, the store listings at the end are getting a little more articulated, at least in the Italian release. Not that they're needed.

That 10 was just for trolling, my real vote is more of a 7.

But probably I'm giving this a good vote because I finally finished my money issues from the last months (DVD releases were consuming my wallet since March) and now I can come back to buy more GW models. I was also without primer for the last two months, now I'm back with doing my Termagants.

[Morkash]

An interesting comparison might be with issue 245 (UK) when the current Land Raider was released. That was a huge release - Marines got a vehicle which they hadn't had a model for for years, and which there was high demand for, and the model itself was the largest plastic kit GW had produced to that point.

In terms of land Raider-centered content there's:
- Cover (front and back)
- Double page spread of box art
- 4 pages showing details/different angles/interior detail etc.
- 6 page article on concept art, sculpting, etc.
- 4 page background article (one page is pictures of the model(s))
- 8 page article on building the model
- 2 single page adverts for in-store activities (buy three, get one half price!)
- plus it shows up in the battle report, and in an advert for Marine vehicles
- double-sided poster with cutaway diagram, technical specifications, colour scemes, etc.

26 pages devoted solely to the Land Raider.
And still space for multiple army showcases (3), a battle report, Specialist Games coverage (Warmaster), in-depth 40K background article, Fantasy tactics and gaming/background articles, terrain building article, and a surprising number of (also surprisingly) unobtrusive full/double page adverts.

Similar goes for the US WD #267, in which the new Rhino was released. It wasn't even on the cover, only as headline over the WD logo. Inside it got half a page as new release, followed by a double page of the cover picture of the box (I believe, never bought a Rhino, it's a firing Dark Angels Rhino with DA Tacticals advancing behind it)and 2 pages of different Rhino painting schemes, pictures of the interior. Then there are 3 pages showing the old vs new Rhino, cardboard models, drawings, construction of the 3 up...and a page with a Space Marine story where the Rhino also is included (not as blatantly and obvious as nowadays...if there would be stories, that is)

Man, browsing this issue makes me sad. I bought this issue when I was 11 or 12 years old, I didn't understand much of it back then but there is so much content in it. 15-20 pages about Abaddon the Despoiler and the Black Legion, including his rules, the FW model, BFG rules for him as admiral and more Black Legion/Lunar Wolves background. 8 pages about the Siege of Terra, including the fantastic GD display and the story of the ending of the Heresy, complete with the great artwork of the Emperor fighting Horus. 6 pictures CSM Tactica, another double page of a fantastic Scenery table, a 4 page story of Eshin Skaven followed by a easy painting guide for Night Runners and a 'eavy Metal Masterclass of Thanquol and Boneripper.
Then there's a 4 page background story about the Dark Master (before he got his name, Be'lakor) from Anthony Reynolds. Warhammer Chronicles for different Goblin Tribes and Ruglud's Armoured Orcs, another Masterclass featuring the Warp lightning Cannon, concluded by a 16 page battle report with detailed round descriptions, drawings of the battle map and unit positions and some boxes with infos about the Skaven special rules.
Back then LotR had its own section, 24 pages in this issue, with a Masterclass for Elrond, Gil-Galad and Elendil & Isildur and another very long battle report. They even made falling Uruk-hai with arrows in their heads and Aragorn fighting 3 Uruks one dead on the ground, and another one's head flying. (don't know how they did this, photoshop maybe)

Oh wow, reviewing these old magazines makes me sad. Being the old grumpy veteran I think I am, I'm back to assembling metal miniatures. Have a nice day.

[Commissar Merces]

People shouldn't be complaining about price rises if they keep on buying GW's monthly over-expensive advertising catalogue...

Didn't used to be like that. I miss the old white dwarf.

And you just know they are going to make a lot of important FAQ or rules changes in 6th ed so that you HAVE to buy WD

[DEADMARSH]

Not to interrupt the usual bitching and moaning, but did anyone notice those White Scars were mainly the snap fit Marines and largely not the same White Scars models we've seen in other GW publications for years?

I honestly haven't sat down and read any of it yet, but thumbing through it, I did notice a bunch of the stuff in that White Scars/ Necrons/ Orks campaign thing were newer models. I wasn't under the impression that was a particular staffer's army- did I miss that or has GW suddenly painted up a bunch of White Scars? Probably my generally suspicious nature working overtime, but it does make me wonder if the Scars aren't going to feature in something coming out soon...