Official July 2012 White Dwarf (USA 390, UK 391 etc) Feedback Thread

[Wintermute]

Its time for yet another White Dwarf Feedback thread, this time for the July 2012 issue (US 390, UK 391 etc).

If any of you wish to make more general comments about WD, please will you make them in the General White Dwarf Feedback Thread.

I would like to make a couple of other requests. If you post the score you have given to the current WD on the thread, would you please explain why especially if you have voted 1 or 10. I think this is useful (and interesting) for other WarSeer members reading the thread, it also provides useful feedback for others who read the thread which may include GW Staffers.

The other request is related to the previous one. Do not criticise people for posting their score and views about WD, I believe we are all entitled to voice our opinions without the the fear of them being criticised.

As always, all off-topic posts and spam will be deleted without notice.

Wintermute
The WarSeer Inquisition

[Covering Fire]

This is a very 40K-heavy issue since the new edition is launched this month.

There is only war!: The article talking about the new edition of 40K. My biggest beef with this article is that it is a measly 4 half-pages of text. And it does a really poor job of showing what actual changes were made, and instead you have to piece together the information by reading the other articles in the issue.

Armies of the 41st millennium: 26 pages of pictures of 40K armies from around the GW studio. Nice pictures I guess, but I would have liked far more info about how the rules changes affect the different armies.

The scouring of Kasr XV: The first battle report with the new rules. Chaos with Daemon allies vs Imperial Guard with Grey Knight allies, 2500 points. No maps, not a lot of text but many pictures. Not terribly exciting, even though they provide some bits of info on the new rules changes.

Battlefield terrain: Pictures of Citadel terrain with some short notes about the new terrain rules. Sigh...why no custom-built terrain?

Assault on Fellstorm airfield: Battle report featuring Orks vs White Scars, 1000 points. Short and not very interesting.

Hour of the witch: Mat Ward talks abut the new psychic power disciplines. OK, but I would like more depth.

Standard bearer: Taken over by Jeremy Vetock this month. Seemed a bit more interesting than usual.


The two battle reports were very short and the one with Orks and White Scars did not even provide army lists. Otherwise the issue seemed to be mostly pictures and adverts.

Overall a rather poor issue to accompany the release of a new edition of 40K. Surely there should be lots of interesting stuff to write about regarding the launch? Give me designer insights, concept art, rules discussions and info about what's in the pipeline!

4/10

[ColShaw]

It's kind of incomprehensible to me. I mean, are we supposed to be excited about 6th Ed? If so, why don't they give us something to get excited ABOUT? I cannot and will not just trust them on this, not if they expect me to sink $75 (more for you poor folks Down Under) into a new rulebook. We gotta see something of what went into it.

[Commissar Merces]

This is a very 40K-heavy issue since the new edition is launched this month.

There is only war!: The article talking about the new edition of 40K. My biggest beef with this article is that it is a measly 4 half-pages of text. And it does a really poor job of showing what actual changes were made, and instead you have to piece together the information by reading the other articles in the issue.

Armies of the 41st millennium: 26 pages of pictures of 40K armies from around the GW studio. Nice pictures I guess, but I would have liked far more info about how the rules changes affect the different armies.

The scouring of Kasr XV: The first battle report with the new rules. Chaos vs Imperial Guard, 2500 points. No maps, not a lot of text but many pictures. Not terribly exciting, even though they provide some bits of info on the new rules changes.

Battlefield terrain: Pictures of Citadel terrain with some short notes about the new terrain rules. Sigh...why no custom-built terrain?

Assault on Fellstorm airfield: Battle report featuring Orks vs White Scars, 1000 points. Short and not very interesting.

Hour of the witch: Mat Ward talks abut the new psychic power disciplines. OK, but I would like more depth.

Standard bearer: Taken over by Jeremy Vetock this month. Seemed a bit more interesting than usual.


The two battle reports were very short and the one with Orks and White Scars did not even provide army lists. Otherwise the issue seemed to be mostly pictures and adverts.

Overall a rather poor issue to accompany the release of a new edition of 40K. Surely there should be lots of interesting stuff to write about regarding the launch? Give me designer insights, concept art, rules discussions and info about what's in the pipeline!

4/10

You have to be kidding me? And I reserved this filth from my local indi store? If that is all they are giving me, I am probably going cancel my reserved copy and read about it on the internet. How can games workshop be so freaking irresponsible during a new release of AN ENTIRE GAME SYSTEM? The fact they felt the need to break up their pathetic attempt at Assault on Fellstorm airfield (known as BUY MORE FLYERS) over two editions was bad in itself, but if they aren't providing anything exciting well I think I will pass. Glad I am getting my rulebook from MM at a serious discount.

[Phantom Dusclops'92]

And, guess what? The only one who liked this issue is ME! What a shocker.

I don't get why you say "they don't show enough of the new edition". What were you expecting, the whole rulebook? Hinting at stuff in various points of the magazine makes more exciting the wait for the whole thing for me. Also, why you always want to see custom terrains? GW shows only the stuff they sell, for scratchbuilt stuff there's Internet.

Also, there is a TAU PAINTING GUIDE! But, I know, you will say "It sucks because is not 'Eavy Metal and implies Vespids are a good unit". Screw that, that alliance thing is permitting me to buy some Tau stuff.

Well, this issue is good. An 8 for me, probably because I'm overexcited for 6th edition.

[Lord Damocles]

Wait, people have the July issue already?

That's very early, isn't it?

[Wintermute]

Wait, people have the July issue already?

That's very early, isn't it?

No, it's officially available on 23rd June not the 30th as you would expect if the if they were publishing as usual on the last Saturday of the month. However, June is a five week month so they have kept the publishing schedule to a four week gap between issues instead. It will be interesting to see if they return to the last Saturday of the month for the next issue or retain a four week gap.

​Wintermute

[Covering Fire]

And, guess what? The only one who liked this issue is ME! What a shocker.

I don't get why you say "they don't show enough of the new edition". What were you expecting, the whole rulebook? Hinting at stuff in various points of the magazine makes more exciting the wait for the whole thing for me. Also, why you always want to see custom terrains? GW shows only the stuff they sell, for scratchbuilt stuff there's Internet.

Also, there is a TAU PAINTING GUIDE! But, I know, you will say "It sucks because is not 'Eavy Metal and implies Vespids are a good unit". Screw that, that alliance thing is permitting me to buy some Tau stuff.

Well, this issue is good. An 8 for me, probably because I'm overexcited for 6th edition.

No, I don't expect the "whole rulebook". But I would like a discussion on the reasoning behind the changes that were made. What didn't work in the previous edition and how are the new changes going to correct those issues? How will the new edition play out? How will the different armies be affected? Stuff like that.

Yes, I forgot about the Tau article and some other stuff.

New releases:

• The new 40K rulebook (also comes in Collectors' and Gamers' editions)
• Munitorum templates, tape measure, dice, objectives and vehicle markers
• Psychic power cards
• Tanglewire (barbed wire)
• Anrakyr the Traveller and Orikan the Diviner for the Necrons

Army project: Tau Empire: Steve Bowerman and Duncan Rhodes provides advice on how to paint Tau and Kroot models. I actually thought this was the best feature in the whole issue. It had some good tips and showed off some nice models. Besides, how often do we get to see Tau in WD these days?

Armies on parade - Dave Taylor's Empire army: The only WHFB content in the issue. A rather nice Nuln army is shown.

[Jarakin]

Tbh, the rulebook commentary will likely come in next month's WD, it makes sense if you think about it as the rulebook isn't out for another week. At least we get a batrep using 6th for now.

[Tresidentevil]

The content was good, it was just mostly all 40k for the second month in a row! Not good. The new rule book (gamers edition) looks very nice though, as does the merchandise. I wouldn't be willing to keep paying £4.50 unless we get some fantasy and LOTR content.

[Tarax]

First impression: GW has turned French! I mean, La Black Legion, Les Emperor's Children, etc don't really... well, the description was also in French. It's not like the Chaos Legions have turned, does it?

It's a nice big book and the Collectors Edition is also pleasing. The Gamers Edition too looks nice, but for the extra price you pay, I think it's not worth it.
The templates are also nice to see, but I already have a lot of them lying around and for that price (again) it's not worth it. The dice come in a nice packaging, but I don't need any more D6, even if they have some print on them. The Vehicle Markers could be useful, but I'll wait untill I have read the rule to see if they are worth it. But I will order the Battlefield Objectives, even if it's just for the packaging, ie a lasgun power pack.

The Psychic power cards can be usefull, just like the Magic cards for Fantasy, but I'd guess you could do without. Again it's a price issue.
The next 6 pages show Tanglewire, 2 new Necron characters, 4 Dark Eldar, 4 Orc and 3 Gray Knights Finecast (re-)releases. But if you ask me, they could have done that on 2 pages.

If you want to learn more about design note, you'd better go and look in Wikipedia, because GW knows nothing about it. 'There is only WAR!' tells us something about what's new, but nothing about how it works nor the reasoning behind it. It talks about 'cinematic feeling', but I've never felt anything cinematic about the game. 'Heroes can now challenge' is, to me, just a game mechanic, because someone charging me/us, will get shot to pieces, even if he will only go for my commander. A lot of pictuse must distract us from the lack of content.

Armies of the 41st Millennium is quite nice. It features armies painted by the staff. Even though they are rather small, which I like, the armies aren't that much representative of what we can see in a regular battle. Though one or two are. But it's nice to see some other painting schemes, just look at that Imperial Guard army.

I haven't read the battle report yet, but it's rather short and I don't think it will tell us much about the new rules. BTW Fortifications are not Allies, so the IG player does not have too much Grey Knight Allies. (It was commented on in another thread.)

Mysterious terrain, thankfully they are just optional rules. Yet they spend a lot of paper and pictures on them, 8 including advertisements.

The promised Battle Report form last months Orc vs White Scars campaign is also rather small, so don't expect much from it. Yet I also haven't read it.

Painting Tau/Vespid/Kroot can be usefull for someone who collects them, but doesn't know how to paint them or wishes another painting scheme.

Some Forge World advertisements accompanying the rulebook for IA Aeronautica, which give a whole new meaning to Airial Warfare. But, as long as you have to use a lot of Forge World models, it's only for the chosen (rich) few.

The Hour of the Witch is something you want back, because, while it tells us something about which army can use which Psychic power lore, it tells us nothing about why an army can use one lore and not the other, nor what each lore represents. There was one sparkle, which says that these lores do NOT replace the lore found in the Codex.

No JJ to bore us, but rather a nice SB from Jeremy Vetock. It was something for me, as I like to play multi-player battles with a small contingent allying with a major force, which you can do now. But, other than that, it didn't tell us much more.
There are some hints that JJ has gone, but nothing more than 'He's not here and you can write to Jeremy'. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

And a nice Empire Army to finish before we decent into the store finder and other activities.

Well, the long wait is over, we know now when and what will be released. And except for some rather nice pictures from non-studio ('Eavy Metal) armies, there was not much in it.

As always, I rate a WD on the basis of whether I will pick it back up in future time, but this was a (pre-battle report) 3.
It's also the last WD of my subscription. I don't think I will renew any time soon. I know of a couple of store who sell them, so I can peruse them before buying. I think I will do that and watch comment form others, most notably Lord Damocles, to see whether it's worth it.

[Skaven13]

It will be interesting to see if they will include a cardboard reference sheet with the turn sequence on it for the new 40K edition next month. They typicall did that with new editions, although I cannot remember if they did it for the last edition of Fantasy....

[librerian_samae]

Just got through looking over mine, read a couple of the articles but it was mainly pictures.

I liked all the staff army photos, the imperial 'pistoleers' guard rocked, and the imperial guard/grey knights and chaos/daemons was nice but a little shallow.

Definitely fun to go through but could have had a lot more depth and there were no whys and wherefores of the changes either which was a let down.

overall a 4/10

[gutsmaka]

whats that I see? content? its getting a seven!

two battle reports, one is decent, army showcases of non-studio armies, painting guides and articles with words! best white dwarf this year!

[MiyamatoMusashi]

Let's get this out of the way now:

• If you only play Lord of the Rings, this issue scores zero: there is nothing for you here.
• If you only play Warhammer, this issue scores zero: all you get is a two page photo of an (admittedly nice looking) Empire army.

I know it's the new 40K. But White Dwarf is supposed to be a hobby magazine, not a 40K magazine.

Anyway... let's assume that was inevitable, and accept that there's going to be nothing but 40K in it. So how does it rate from that point of view?

Well... by my count, there are seven pages in the entire magazine (ignoring the utterly pointless shop listings at the back) that are more than half filled with text. Seven, out of over a hundred. This is not a cerebral magazine by any measure. All you're getting is photos, and lots of 'em, and you can like it or lump it, dammit. Even the main article announcing the new 40K was 75% pictures. "Hey guys, there's new rules. So we're going to show you mostly models you've already seen before!" Nothing about why a new edition was deemed necessary, only a bit about rules changes, and nothing about why those rules changes happened. This was then followed by page after page after page after page of just photos. Don't get me wrong - some of the models shown in the photos were quite nice. But we've seen photos before. Tell me what's new, or what's different!

Two battle reports, both of which seemed to attempt to emphasise how "cinematic" everything is, which is fine except movies are something to watch and games are something to play; but indeed there was no significant mention of tactics in either one, at times it sounded almost like Arnold Rimmer describing a game of Risk ("...then I invaded Kirkutsk, and rolled two fours and a three, but disaster! He rolled a five and a one!"). At least there were battle reports this month; and they did make a partial effort to showcase the new rules, though seemed terrified of giving away useful information. For example I've read the magazine cover to cover, and still almost the only thing I know about Hull Points is that Land Raiders have four of them.

It's actually an embarrassment that GW feel this kind of tripe is what hobbyists want: to be spoon-fed new stuff that must be awesome 'cos it's new and expensive, and to be shown pretty pictures. Someone in another thread said this issue is like a 40K porn magazine. I'd agree - but unlike them, I don't mean it as a compliment. (Who spends money on porn any more? The internet is full of it, for free).

Conversion guides and Masterclasses were yet again notable only by their absence. Some of the models shown in the endless photos were actually quite nice, but no clue whatsoever was given on how to produce something similar - black magic, we must assume.

So: a score, then. Tricky, actually. Gains a few points for telling us a bit about the new 40K, but loses most of them for avoiding detail or giving any reason why (for anything). Gains a few points for showing some inspirational models, but loses most of them for giving almost zero consideration to the hobby side of things. Ultimately, it did "feel" marginally more interesting to read than last month's flyer-circle-jerking (which I rated 2), but at least last month's issue had the Ork Bomma rules which I went back to read a couple of times... I can't imagine doing anything with this issue other than leaving it on the shelf. I'm going to have to follow my instinct and rate it slightly higher (perhaps because although it was still endless photos, at least the photos were of different models?) and give it a fairly generous 3/10.

[punisher_1983]

ive given it an 8.
it is the fisrt one in nearly a year i have read through front to back.

i am only intrested in 40K so this months is a GOD send.

i also love the Cadian's with the Plumed heads, i could scream though as ive been looking around for a few months now for funky heads, i have been kinda thinking the old Bear skin heads of the British Army Coldstream Guards. the guys that stand outside the Queens house.

all teh other armies are pretty cool to.
yeah i feel this is a quite good edition

[jez]

Let's get this out of the way now:

• If you only play Lord of the Rings, this issue scores zero: there is nothing for you here.
• If you only play Warhammer, this issue scores zero: all you get is a two page photo of an (admittedly nice looking) Empire army.

Aye, I only play fantasy and am a WD subscriber. When the latest version of fantasy was released the whole of issue 367 was dedicated to fantasy. There wasn't even the sniff of an Imperial sausage between the pages. How happy I was! Guess how happy I was today?
Stupid GW karma!

[Dr. Who]

No, it's officially available on 23rd June not the 30th as you would expect if the if they were publishing as usual on the last Saturday of the month. However, June is a five week month so they have kept the publishing schedule to a four week gap between issues instead. It will be interesting to see if they return to the last Saturday of the month for the next issue or retain a four week gap.

​Wintermute

The August WD is slated for July 28th according to the inside back cover of the new issue.

- Dr.

[Lord Damocles]

Ok, I'm going to get this out of the way now: This issue is Bad. So bad it gets a capital 'B'.
I mean, seriously, this is terrible. Shocking.


Preamble - I think its perhaps necessary to take this issue in context: There's is a new edition of 40K. This is a major thing (OK, a 'once every 4-5 years' major thing, but still...) but its had no real build up. No indication in prior issues (there was even an article pimping the [now] previous edition's boxed set last month) that it was coming; and then its just here - splat - a matter of fact 'new edition. Buy stuff' message. The change over from 4th to 5th edition featured an article on how the rules changes would affect the different armies, with a reassurance that nothing would be [completely] invalidated by the rules change. This issue just slaps you with the fact that there are new rules that you need to cough up for and then leaves you to worry about the fact that you have no idea how your lovingly collected models will fare in this new edition of fliers, fortifications and psychic powers (I couldn't think of anything else beginning with 'f' ). The new rules aren't explained in any detail, although continual references are made to 'hull points', 'snap fire' etc..

If I hadn't perused Warseer, I'd be seriously worried (hell, I'm still worried anyway - allies, what are they smoking?).


Editorial - After a nice double-page spread 'Surprise! New edition, *******!' Kenrick has... played some stuff... and things. Huh.
Poor

New Releases - The rulebook pictured is in French. It's not that I have anything against the French, but y'know, UK publication... English?
Absurd amounts of page space given over to pictures of books, dice, cards, re-released razor wire.

Orikan totally looks like a howler monkey.

And then five pages to advertise Finecast models. They don't even list all of the models which have been converted over, or that some of them have been re-packaged.

Tiny interview with Bill King devolves into 'Violence! Humour! Macharius!'
Poor

There is Only War - 'Simon Grant investigates the impact this proverb has had on the latest edition of the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook' - no he doesn't. That's rubbish. No further reference is even made to the line.

Picture:word ratio is about 3:1. What words there are don't really give any useful information on the new rules:
- What are the major rules changes?
- Why were these introduced (C'mon, sniping? Didn't we spend 4th edition complaining about a less reliable version of that; resulting in 5th edition's wound allocation rules? Dammit!)
- Why are these better than the previous rules? (because hiding the heroic character at the back of a unit is totally cinematic )
- Why do people seem to think that 'narrative' must equal rules?

I don't think the author knows the difference between 'galaxy' and 'universe', either. That or they haven't noticed that 40K is set in a single galaxy.

What was the point? Seriously? we learn nothing of any consequence. Nothing.
Poor

Armies of the 41st Millenium - You don't need a double page to say 'here are some people's armies'. Particularly stupid in that two of the armies are shown here almost in their entirity.
Rant, rant, rant. Lord Damocles hates fun. This is why we can't have nice things. Etc. etc.. I'm always saying I want more background, and then I criticise it, always saying I want more non-studio armies, and then criticising them.
But here's the thing - these armies:
- Are half Marines. I get that that's what 40K is actually like, but do we really need to see two Grey Knight armies side by side? Could we not have had some Sisters of Battle or something?
- The Black templars have illegal unit setups/equipment.
- Did anybody else notice that a good few of these armies are just the contents of battleforce boxes? Then the article is followed by a big advert for battleforces? It's like there's a not very subtle 'buy battleforces' undercurrent.
- Big emphasis on the fliers. I DON'T WANT TO SEE MORE FULL-PAGE PICTURES OF THE STORMTALON AND DAKKA-BURNA-SHOOTA-BOMBER
*cries softly into hands*

I mean, some of the armies are nice. And these deserve full articles of their own. The space taken up by two lots of the contents of the Necron battleforce could have been used to show more fancy-hat Guardsmen.
OK

The Scouring of Kasr XV (Chaos Marines (+ Daemons) vs Imperial Guard (+ Grey Knights) battle report) - That's going to happen a lot; the (+ Grey Knights), I mean; they're like whatever else you can take, only better. Enjoy the next four years.
Right, so narrative. 'Forging a Narrative'. It's all about the narrative.
Except the narrative is STUPID.
Kasr XV? That's like naming your city 'fifteen'. It's moronic.
The board is set up as an Imperial command outpost. So why the Chaos bastion, like, twenty yards from the command center?
Imperial command outpost. Command. ie. where the commander(s) are. NOT where a nest of psychneuien would make their nest. Creed - tactical genius, friend of the giant psychic wasp monsters
I don't mind the 'show off new rules stuff' (don't explain any of it though), but you can't pretent that wasp monsters fit the narrative of Creed defending Fifteen from the marauding invaders.

No maps; multiple turns crammed into single blocks of text; vastly more space given over to pictures than words; no serious attempt to demonstarte how the new rules interact, or how this chages the way that the game is played; all your base are belong to wasp monsters.

'What I hope I have done, however, is showcase just how bloody warhammer 40,000 is, not to mention how the grim darkness of the far future really comes to life on the tabletop'.
'Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment'.
Poor

Battlefield Terrain - The premise (a look at the new terrain rules) is sensible. But look at how much space is devoted to the useful information here - it's those tiny little text boxes squashed in around the edges of the massive pictures of models.
(Also, terrain which grants benefits to Imperial models only? Why not just club Xenos players with a baby seal, GW? Eugh).
Poor

Assault on Fellstrom Airfield - Narrative. *sigh* Now we established that the narrative of the Battle of Cardrim was stupid last month, but this battle isn't even consistant with that. The Dreadnought wasn't even there according to last month's issue.

No maps; no army lists; multiple turns crammed into single blocks of text; vastly more space given over to pictures than words; no serious attempt to demonstarte how the new rules interact, or how this chages the way that the game is played.
Poor

T'au Sept Hunter Cadre (painting guides) - 'Eavy Metal Masterclass... 'Eavy Metal Masterclass...
At least we get a nice advert for paint and some more Finecast models.
OK

Forgeworld/Imperial Armouir Aeronautica - Erm, OK. Forgeworld. Yeah! I guess. And there's no better way of advertising this stuff?
Poor

Hour of the Witch - The new edition isn't even out yet, and there are already extra rules being tacked on. 'In this article, Mat Ward explains how you can get the best out of the power of the warp'; but mainly, he gives new rules.

- Why can't Orks have extra powers, but Tyranids can? Surely the same justification should apply to both?
- Are these rules actually official? '...players should feel free to use the guidance in this article to grant their psykers access to new powers.' That's perfectly not helpful. 'Guidance'? Are these rules or not? Can I disregard this guidance? Do both players have to agree to use these extra powers?
- Can you swap out some of your basic/bought powers for these new ones, but not all of them? This article seems to suggest no, but the Daemon Prince in the 'Kasr XV' battle report has both Bolt of Change and Molten Beam, suggesting yes. If yes, Coteaz is laughing all over Dark Excommunication.
- Contrary to what Ward might think, Codex: Dark Eldar does include psykers (Shadowseer).
- Screw you Necrons, Tau, Daemons, Sisters, Orks, Dark Eldar. Marines need buffs.

This article is a serious problem. Aside from the questionable need for everyone to sprout more powers just to make use of the generic lores in the Rulebook (it's almost like changing the core rules and not the codexes is causing you problems there, GW ), exactly how these rule work is simply not clear (or at least not clear enough for me; and I don't regard myself as especially dim-witted, most of the time).
Even if the content is OK/Good, how are we supposed to use it? It's a bit like the rules for Gideon Lorr, which didn't say that he was an HQ choice, or even that he was a character for Codex: Witch Hunters; except this ain't as cool as Lorr.
Purely for the ambiguity this gets Poor

Standard Bearer - Vetock has no more to say than Johnson usually finds to mumble on about. For what it's worth, I agree with the premise that team games are cool, but I fail to see how this has anything to do with the allies rules, which are for single player games
Then there's some padding followed by some waffling, and so on until, thankfully, it ends.
Poor

Armies on Parade - Eh, Fantasy content. Glad you stumped up for the issue now I'll bet...
OK

Stuff I didn't bother to read - It's better this way.
Poor

---

'New Edition of Warhammer 40,000 Revealed' it says on the cover. Was it though? I guess I'd know that there was a new edition if I hadn't already guessed it from GW's abysmal teaser campaign or read all about it online in advance anyway. But I'm guessing that simply stating that there is a new edition isn't what 'revealed' is supposed to imply.

All of the content in this issue relating to 6th edition is just so vacuous. I still don't know what hull points do/are. I got more information out of a massive slab of unformated text an acquaintance emailed me regarding collected rumours the other day.


There's no LoTR content at all, and no real Fantasy content either. No 'Eavy Metal painting guide(s) (if we don't let go, thay might come back, right? ...right?), the battle reports are poor, designers' notes are conspicuous by their absence, there's barely even any new artwork from the rulebook (there was more in the latest teaser trailer than in this issue). Whatever that campaign with the Marines and Necrons was from a couple of months ago hasn't been mentioned again. Not even a pull-out card reference sheet.

What could have been included:
- Brief overview of major rule changes
- In depth designers' notes (what, why, how)
- Interviews with / imput from artists
- Simple battle report highlighting new rules interactions
- Clear, concise rules for bonus psychic powers
- FAQs to fix any major holes in codex rules (we can't believe that there won't be any, surely)
- Army showcase(s) investigating how featured armies are going to be effected by 6th edition rules changes, and why

And then some content for people who couldn't care less about the grim darkness of the far future.

---

I might explain my [largely arbitrary] scoring system this time round:

+1 for non studio armies (could have been much better)
+1/2 for telling me that there's a new edition (...I guess...)
+1/2 for the new psychic power rules (would have scored higher if they actually made sense and weren't totally ambiguous)

-1 for no LoTR content
-2 for no Fantasy content beyond Armies on Parade

And that gets it a -1 overall. Nothing else earns any points due to being rubbish/useless/devoid of actual content.

So a 1 from me this month.

[librerian_samae]

I second the ambiguous psychic rules, plus how they vaguely explain swapping out powers, (or adding them maybe, its rather vague?) differs THROUGHOUT EACH PARAGRAPH!
It's incredibly frustrating that they can't even be consistent during an under three sided article discussing, quite frankly something which is actually sorta important, or not, again it's horribly vague.

Urgh, frustrating.