With white dwarf going though some major changes this month I thought
that it would be worth me just giving my views on this new format. I know I’m a
little late at doing this but I have been a little busy.
Now just looking at the front page you can see that the most striking change
before you even read the magazine is that the layout has changed. The white
dwarf font is different, the cover is much more minimalist, with only a picture
of a single model (a big one granted) and nothing much else bar chaos marines
and the heresy book being mentioned on the cover. This change is quite a dramatic
move from the cluttered and rather busy front cover it used to have. It uses a
lot of embossing to give it a layered effect which makes it stand out a little
more. Overall though, a good change.
Inside the magazine the differences become very clear. In the old
format if they released a new model or codex it would be on or referenced on
over other page practically. This time they have taken a more conservative view
of adverts. While they are still there (of course they are, that's what the
magazine is for) they are drastically reduced. Each of the new models gets it
own page explaining what it is with a large picture of the model. While this
takes up a lot of room it feels like clustered with adverts as well, once you
get though it that’s (bar one page with everything on again). This reduction is
greatly appreciated and leaves room for a more varied number of articles.
Like all white dwarf magazines it includes a battle report, the new
chaos space marines facing off against a white scar army. They have changed the
format of this as well and it’s a little clearer but less pictures. It’s a
trade off but I wouldn’t say it’s bad or good. It’s just different. Not to
spoil it for you but the new codex doesn’t win, this I found interesting as
normally new codex wins, I like that its not what happened. But again just
using studio army’s meant that they weren’t the most competitive armies in the
world. I miss battle reports where people use their own armies, It just feels
more real and even if they aren’t painted perfectly it gives you a realistic
game. But that just me, a little irritation that doesn’t amount to much.
A little painting guide in included in side with a few hints and tips
on odd things, like painting ‘soulfire’ and how to do checks and scrapes on a
dakka jet. It’s a little random but actually I think its useful as it says what
paints and brushes to use. I think it’s a very nice addition and if it’s in every
month would really help with a person’s painting. Just a little addition which I
like.
Two supposed tournament players face off in a Tactics article
discussing how they win at tournaments with their army composition. A dark elf
player believing it having several strong units (but heavily relying on magic)
and a vampire counts player believing in having all of your eggs in one basket
(a vampire train). Unfortunately all they do is talk about it then have a throw
away comment at teh end saying they played and the elves won. While a full
length battle report wouldn’t be needed a few detailed pictures or an overview
of the game would have been nice to just give you more of an idea how they played
it out. Still it was better than nothing and it’s trying to add in comments
from real people.
Forge world get quite a large look in the magazine this month with the
release of The Horus Heresy book 1 – betrayal. They have a few pages of prices
as show a lot of painted models including some none studio models, which I like.
It also gives paint schemes for some of the legions which is a nice touch. I am
quite a fan of forge world (regardless of the high prices) so I think this addition is a great one. Forge
world needs to be shown more and added to white dwarf as often as possible so
people get used to them being legit in games of 40k. I just want them to be
fully legal is all without people complaining.
Black library gets a few pages showing the upcoming Horus heresy and
other space marines books coming out soon which is a bit dull but why not? Everyone
else gets a piece of the mag so let’s let black library jump in. It’s a little
informative but not great. If you are reading the heresy books you’re going to
buy them, if you’re not meh, it’s probably a waste.
Overall conclusion of this month ‘new’ format is that its defiantly an
improvement on the crap it used to have so if they keep this up and improve on
it, it could be worth its price. Which is the only real down side, £5.50 is a
bit steep. Unless they start adding more rules I’m not going to pick it up in a
while. If it was £4.50 maybe then I would pick it up but that's never going to
happen. Its a big improvement on the old format but still expensive.
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