Review: White Dwarf 192 (384)

Good grief, I can be happy that January’s White Dwarf will be published a week later than usual, on january 7th… rarely been as late with my review as this time… and you might be right not to read it – I mean if you wanted to read the White Dwarf, you will have done so already, right? But then it would be sad for me to skip a review… I always like to be complete (if late).

Well, I better start… as usual I will be reviewing the german edition so if you own a different one, the titles of some articles (which I will have to re-translate back into english) may be different… but first, short and good…

The précis

• Warhammer 40 000:  six new datasheets for Apocalypse and a mini-campaign for Warhammer 40.000 featuring Necrons and Black Templars. Clearly the grim future has most of the real content of this issue – B.
• Warhammer Fantasy Battles: we get a quite unnecessary introduction into the beastmen, another one on “Blood in the Badlands“,  three Scrolls of Binding for Storm of Magic. This is all relatively weak stuff – D.
• Dreadfleet: I should list this one extra, for while there is just one big advertisement for the game in the main issue, this White Dwarf also comes with a separate booklet on Dreadfleet, which is basically one huge Battle Report. As extras go, this one is not too shabby – C.
• Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game: one battle report and that one was the weakest in this issue – D.
• Hobby:  there are mainly two (mostly) Painting Workshops, one on Skullvane Manse, one on the Ogre Kingdoms. I enjoyed those though it was wrong calling those “Modelling Workshops”… there are also two photo spreads on the work of the ‘Eavy Metal Team and ‘Eavy Metal member Neil Green. Definitely the best part of this issue are the hobby articles – B.
• Entertainment:  there are three Battle Reports in this issue, one in connection with Blood in the Badlands, one long “Storm of Magic” report and one for the Lord of the Rings game. And there’s also that additional booklet on Dreadfleet. Well, they are all solid entertainment, no doubt about that  – B.

A solid White Dwarf, no doubt about that. Unlike most modern issues, this one doesn’t center on one of the games, instead featuring content for all of them – even though the articles for Warhammer Fantasy Battles are all relatively meh… I would say that regardless of which Games Workshop game you play (with the possible exceptions of perhaps Storm of Magic and Apocalypse) you are free to choose this time: you can buy this issue and find something for your game in it, but if you don’t buy it, you won’t miss much…  All in all, I give this issue a B-.

And now…

The long tour

• [--] Front Cover (Dave Gallagher): some undead dragon. Nice, but nothing spectacular…
• [00] Editorial (Andrew Kenrick): you know how this one is, don’t you? Mr. Kenrick sure loves his Dwarf…
• [02-10] Warhammer (New Releases): November’s issue had 18 pages of new releases, this one has eight… yes, it’s a quiet month out there in Games Workshop world…
  • [04-05] Beastmen Ghorgon / Cygor (Aly Morrison): this huge dual kit brings some more raw power to the Beastmen. The Ghorgon is a huge close combat weapon, while the Cygor is some kind of moving Stone Thrower. Aly Morrison surely knows how to sculpt, so just judging from that point of view it’s just a cool toy.
    There’s something fishy about this release, though. It somehow feel… rushed… ok, not the sculpt, definitely not the sculpt, but for example in the whole Dwarf there is only one painted Ghorgon and one painted Cygor in all those photos, which is very rare for a kit with many options like this one. For example we read that the Cygor can be build “clutching a statue of Morr, ripped from the ground”, but there is no photo of that option in the whole issue and there is none on the website, even today – and no sprue pictures, another rare thing nowadays for such kits. Fortunately there is the Bitzbarn, who has at least a good photo of one of the two sprues… and wouldn’t you agree that Statue of Morr looks better than the painted waystone?
    Personally, of all the armies in the Warhammer world, the Beastmen are among those I enjoy the least. Just not my cup of tea, you know? But, strangely enough, I am thinking about buying one of those and combine the body with the head of a Skaven Vermin Lord to create a better-looking Vermin Lord… though it might well be that the older pewter Lord is too small… in that case I’ll just use one leftover head from a giant….
  • [06] Beastmen Jabberslythe (Giorgio Bassani): Bassani is one of those sculptors that never fail to surprise me and the Jabberslythe is no exception. One massive, bloating creature, some kind of non-flying dragon of madness. I quite like it, though I have no idea how I could use that one…
  • [07] Beastman Doombull (Mark Harrison): this is just a re-release of the old pewter miniature in Finecast – and it is one of those massive miniatures that might well benefit from the smaller weight of the resin material. The sculpting stays superb, one of the best miniatures in the whole range.
  • [07] Blood in the Badlands (the White Dwarf team): this is mainly a campaign book and report on a lengthy campaign set in the infamous Badlands of the Warhammer world. Apart from the description of the campaign and its games, it also contains various scenarios and additional rules for Mighty Empires, fighting underground and sieges. I bought this one when it was published, so expect a review some time in January.
    As a sidenote the White Dwarf forgets to mention that the book is “while stocks last” – but it is still available in most of the world, so it’s not too limited…
  • [08] Orcs & Goblins Mangler Squigs (Trish Carden): Ah, finally miniatures for one of my armies! The Mangler Squigs are something like larger, meaner Nightgoblin Fanatics – two huge Cave Squigs (the largest Games Workshop has produced so far), connected by chains and some mad (and doomed…) Night Goblins. Like Fanatics, the Mangler Squigs move completely randomly but if they go in your favour and crash into the enemy, they are capable of quite an amount of damage.
    This miniature has been commented on very unfavourably on the web, but I think that’s not fair. Sure, from a gamers’ perspective, it is an expensive miniature at 50 € and it might be true that the hugs size is a letdown because of the true Line of Sight employed in WHFB… but still, it’s a well done miniature that does a good job embodying the description in the Army Book. So just skip whining, would you?
    Personally, I do like this miniature, which to my opinion makes the best of the new Finecast resin. It would be almost impossible to make this miniature work in pewter… Sooner or later I could well imagine buying one for my Night Goblins, though it’s not too high on my wish list. If there is something I dislike about this miniature, it’s neither size nor price, but the fact that there are no options – very hard to field two of those and make them look different without some skill at sculpting…
  • [09] The Witch-king of Angmar (Ringwraith) (Alan Perry) – Dragon (Trish Carden): two of quite a number of Finecast re-releases for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. Both are great models and might benefit greatly from the resin. Apart from that? Well, whoever plays the LotR game already will have one of those, so I guess this is already aming at the upcoming Hobbit game… after all, there’s Smaug…
  • [10] Space Marine Megaforce – Dark Eldar Megaforce – High Elf Army – Skaven Army: All right, those are just the usual Christmas deals from Games Workshop… actually all of those offer(ed) a good cost-value relationship….
    Strangely enough, the two sets for Warhammer Fantasy are still available while I type this… I expected at least the Skaven Army to sell out quickly… the Space Marines and Dark Eldar were sold out in no time, of course…
• [11] News: nothing of interest here, especially as two of the news seem to be just for the german edition…
• [12-13] Black Library (New Releases): one page is devoted to different new releases, including a very brief extract from The Gildar Rift. The second page is author William King talking about Blood of Aenarion. I cannot help it, the more he talks about the High Elves, the less I am inclined to actually read his book, but perhaps that’s just me… perhaps the most interesting bit out of this short interview is the fact Mr. King is currently working on a 40K novel on the Imperial Guard during the Macharius Crusade, “Angel of Fire”. As he’s a good storyteller, perhaps that’s a novel I might be interested in.
• [14-19] Denizens of the Forest Depths (Simon Siegfried Grant): normally the first article in more recent White Dwarfs cover the month’s releases by having (more or less edited) interviews with game designers and/or miniature sculptors. Not this month, even though there would have been plenty of possibilities. Instead we have just Simon Grant (re-named Siegfried Grant, imperial sage) writing on the Beastmen.
  While this article is better than others of its kind (especially all those in-character pieces), I cannot help but feel that this article is some kind of letdown. When there are new releases, I love reading about the artists and designers and their thoughts… this is all missing here, a sad thing. And, of course, unless you are an absolute beginner, most of the information given here is very basic… you won’t need that.
  Insert is an army list called “Horde of the Drakwald Forest”. 3.000 points of Beastmen furor, including a Ghorgon and a Jabberslythe. Not very impressed by this one, but then, as I said, I am not interested in Beastmen…
• [20-21] Blood in the Badlands (Andy Hall): well, mainly an advertisement text on the eponymous Blood in the Badlands… as I am going to review this book anyway, I’ll skip that here, there is nothing but some basic information you can also get from the webpage.
• [22-27] Hallscurry’s revenge (Andy Hall): the first battle report of this issue pits Andy Hall’s Skaven against Kevin Chin’s dwarves. During the “Blood in the Badlands” campaign Mr. Hall’s skaven unsuccessfully tried to storm Mr. Chin’s dwarf fortress, so here’s the re-match – which the rat-men gloriously lose. Even though it’s a short battle report (without any comprehensive list of the participating forces and only a casual breakdown of the various turns), this one is actually quite good. It also gives some glimpses into the siege ruleset in the campaign book. In the end it was this report that made me buy the book…
• [28-31] Unleash the Beasts (Anonymous): Games Workshop is still supporting Storm of Magic, which is a good thing… here we have the Binding Scrolls for the releases of this month: Ghorgon, Cygor and Jabberslythe.
• [34-53] Warmongers (Andrew Kenrick, Simon Grant, Andy Hall, Matt Hutson, Tom Hutchings): the main battle report has a huge 4.000 points Storm of Magic game moderated by Andrew Kenrick and pitting two writers of the White Dwarf team – Simon Grant (Orcs and Goblins) and Andy Hall (Ogre Kingdoms) – against two members of Games Workshop’s layouters: Matt Hutson (Warriors of Chaos) and Tom Hutchings (Daemons of Chaos). Somehow they are celebrating a rivalry between those two teams at the moment…
  The game itself is enjoyable, though I personally cannot help but think that Storm of Magic games – while in itself a cool way to play – don’t lend themselves well for Battle reports. As such games tend to be wholly erratical with many things decided by a good (or bad) cast of dice, there is little “strategy” to enjoy in such reports… in this case the battle ends in some glorious draw. I should point out that the stortelling in this report is quite above average, though, making it a good read of an average battle…
• [54-57] Blanchitsu (John Blanche with Steve Buddle and Julian Baylisu): Jervis Johnson is taking a break and so we get another installment of Blanchitsu. This time he is talking about a thought that I tremendously enjoyed: that actually you don’t have to paint your miniatures as the people of the ‘Eavy Metal team or the official paintjobs of Games Workshop. Instead, just find and employ your own style. Sure, that’s something everybody knows… but fact is we still all strive to paint as it should be… so it’s nice to take it from the Art Director of Games Workshop that you don’t have to… to underline his point, John Blanche presents miniatures by Steve Buddle (who employs loads of ink for stunning effects) and Julian Baylisu (who uses extensive conversions and limited colour range).
• [58-65] Liber Apocalyptica – Crucible of Flame (Mat Ward, Robin Cruddace, Phil Kelly): six new datasheets for Apocalypse, two for the Grey Knights, Adepta Sororitas and the Dark Eldar. I don’t play Apocalypse, so I can’t really tell if those are good ones, but they look like solid units to me – albeit quite expensive… but I guess that’s what Apocalypse is all about, isn’t it?
• [66-67] Forge World: Relic Contemptor Dreadnought: two pages on the new bestseller from Forge World and the various arms available for it… well, even though I love the stuff those guys do, I can’t say I love this one… I want my Dreadnoughts bulky and edgy – not looking like an egg on legs…
• [68-73] Slaughter on Schrödinger VII (Mat Ward): it’s interesting to see that Space Marine fanatic Mat Ward is taking the side of the Necrons this time… Slaughter on Schrödinger VII is a mini-campaign pitting the Black Templars with High Marshal Helbrecht against Imotekh the Stormlord and his Necron army. There are four scenarios, culminating in a 2.000 point battle zealots vs. machines.
  With all those rumors about a new Black Templar codex (WD or real) next year, I am really wondering if Mat Ward will write that one. It will be interesting to see how he will treat them… if this campaign is an indicator for it, it will be a bleak, painful time for the Templars… but I think they like it that way… anyway as my army uses the Black Templar rules and a friend of mine is doing Necrons, I enjoyed this article a lot, my personal highlight in this issue…
• [74-77] ‘Eavy Metal (Anonymous, Joe Tomaszeweski): I guess this article was mainly made to advertise those two special limited painting sets they brought out in November – the ‘Eavy Metal Masterclass book and the ‘Eavy Metal Brush Set. But they keep this ball low… instead we have lots of stunning pictures and some interesting tidbits by Joe Tomaszeweski. Oh and John Blanche talks about the founding and naming of the ‘Eavy Metal team and even mentions the legendary Mike McVey – I surely didn’t expect that. I like finely painted miniatures so I liked this one…
• [78-83] Modelling Workshop: Skullvane Manse (Chris Peach): actually I can’t understand why they called it “Modelling Workshop”, perhaps it’s just a mistake of the german edition… for this article is focussed exclusively on painting the shiny new scenery piece for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. While I don’t think I will ever buy Skullvane Manse (not enough pieces in the kit to serve for easy conversions and my wife dislikes it…) I enjoyed the various ways for painting stone, wood and shingles, some of whose were new to me.
• [84-91] Modelling Workshop: Big Monsters (Chad Mierzwa): Mr. Mierzwa shows us how to paint an Ogre Kingdoms Thundertusk. A fistful of good old painting tips, nothing wrong about that. Personally, I especially liked his way to paint skin, but well, that’s just me…
• [92-101] Dragon Hunt (Simon Grant, Duncan Rhodes): the last small battle report is for the Lord of the Rings game… it has Duncan Rhodes’ dragon (and a fistful of Goblins) butchered up by Simon Grant’s dwarves with Dáin Ironfoot and Gimli, son of Glóin. This report is… ok, but nothing more.
• [98-103] Masters of Painting: Neil Green (Anonymous, Neil Green): another photo spread for the ‘Eavy Metal team – this time featuring exclusively miniatures painted by Neil Green, the longest-serving member of ‘Eavy Metal at the moment. Pretty much liked that, even though I would say that two photo spreads in one issue is a bit too much…
  Oh and another mention of Mike McVey… twice in one issue? They want him back?
• [105-117] Auspex.
• [118-119] Mail Order: this time with the Warhammer Fortress and the Orc Boyz Frame. Really happy they released the latter one, it’s always good to have more options.
• [--] Preview: there is none. Instead a splendid picture of dwarves battling skaven from the Blood in the Badlands book.
• [--] Back cover: An Empire army featuring a Cygor and a Jabberslythe.

Dreadfleet – into the Maelstrom

This month’s White Dwarf comes with an extra booklet on Dreadfleet, written by Simon Grant and Andy Hall. Its 16 pages are not – despite the alluring name – a reprint of the additional scenarios Games Workshop released some time ago. Instead we get some kind of Dreadfleet Battle Report – the Grand Alliance led by Tom Hutchings and Duncan Rhodes gaming against the Dreadfleet led by Kevin Chin and Chris Peach. I like the fact that they used not the studio models but a set painted by Tom Hutchings, who has a slightly different style… I also disliked the fact that each page features huge photos of the players… well… playing Dreadfleet, as if we couldn’t imagine that…

All in all, the booklet reads like a normal-sized battle report in any White Dwarf, albeit with more advertisements. No problem with that and I am always happy to get something for free, even if it is just this booklet… but I would happily forego three of such freebies for just one nice extra miniature…

Well and that’s all for this month… but in just one week there will be the next White Dwarf and hopefully I won’t take as long to review that one… see you there!

Orc Boyz Frame