The best White Dwarf ever ? If you're a Warhammer Fantasy Battle fan then it might be. Games Workshop have pulled out all the stops and focused soley on WFB - hurray !
This is my favourite edition of White Dwarf for several years and why - it's fantastic, loads of stuff about the new rules, awesome battle reports and dozens of super cool miniature and diorama pics to drool over. Also, from my own (sad old gamer) perspective not a laser or spaceship in sight !
July's edition is 120 pages of Fantasy fun, it's a celebration of the new 8th edition rulebook release and they've packed a lot of juicy stuff in there. I thoroughly recommend this White Dwarf edition. Here's a brief contents review:-
click any image to greatly enlarge it.
Adverts for new Warhammer Fantasy Battle products (9 pages)
Products released on 10th July:-
528 page rulebook (see pic): (£45, 65euros, 450dkr, 560skr/nkr)
- 4 sections: rules; world background; minis showcase; battle variations
Template Set: (£5, 6.5euros, 50dkr, 65skr/nkr)
- a single template (which is a large round artillery template which incorporates the smaller template, both of which have central holes to determine which model is directly under the center)
- flame template emblazoned with flame effect/sun symbols.
Counter set (see pic): (£8, 10.5euros, 80dkr, 100skr/dkr)
- 6 comet shaped, double sided flee and charge markers
- charge arc monitor to place on the edge of units to determine frontal arc
- 8 double sided wounds and ongoing effect markers
- combat resolution calculator *
* a finely crafted flat chocolate bar shaped counter which incorporates a tally system with sculpted images of the things you need to remember such as ranks, banner, wounds etc. And pegs to record the numbers for each side and the amount the loser has to pass his break test by. It's a very nice looking accessory with lots of character (see image).
Warhammer Collectors edition (£75, 97.50euros, 750dkr, 940skr/dkr)
- a top quality looking rulebook with an awesome golden hammer and comet emblazoned on the front, a metal side clasp and apparently the highest quality parchment paper. It looks the business. Only 3,500 available worldwide and from GWs last pres release it seems some places have already sold out.
Warhammer Gamer's Edition pack (£75, euros97.50, 750dkr, 940skr/nkr)
- a canvas shoulder bag with an inner sleeve for the rulebook plus the skull dice (with black pouch), flame and area effect template, 6 flee/charge markers, combat res calculator and 8 wound/on going effect markers.
Engineer's ranging set (£18, euros22.50, 180dkr, 230skr/nkr)
- a 4 foot long unfolding ruler and calipers for accurate measuring (instead of holding a tape measure above the units I guess !) Your measure with the calipers and then use a ruler to measure the distance between the two caliper points (it should remove some of those close to call, "let's roll a dice for it" moments. Calipers have a nice grim reaper effect emblazoned in the "hilt". It's quite a beast (in terms of size).
Battle Magic Card set (£6, 7.75euros, 60dkr, 75skr/nkr)
All 8 battle magic spell lores included, 7 cards for each lore (which is all the spells, including the signature spell and the lore attribute).
I'll definitely be getting these, they should speed up play and I can shove them in my pocket so I can memorize them while doing otherwise very boring things like travelling to work !
Beastmen Battle Magic (£3, euros3.90, 30dkr, 40skr/nkr)
The first in the range of spell cards for all Fantasy Army races (includes 7 cards).
Skull Dice (£7, euros9.10, 70dkr, 90skr/nkr)
8 dice plus a decent looking black pouch.
Citizens of the Empire - new miniatures (collectors range)
2 duellists (£8.50, euros11, 85dkr, 105skr/nkr)
- a very cool, slightly arrogant looking empire pistolier with 2 guns and an empire character kissing his sword before kicking a$$ :)
Merchant and scribe (£8.50, euros11, 85dkr, 105skr/nkr)
- nice looking specialist minis, could be good for a diorama (both are very well sculpted, the scribe looks like a moody so and so !)
Regimental Mascot (£10.50, 13euros, 100dkr, 125skr/nkr)
- brilliant Bear and musician/trainer combination. The bear has an eye patch, and the the handler has what I thought was a mandolin but apparently it's a hurdy-gurdy :) They're on GW's advance order site so check them out there.
Phew, there's the free GW advertisting, I'll post the rest of the review tomorrow...
Here are the highlights, in a nutshell... masses of top quality inspiring miniature and terrain / scenery pics; 5 or 6 suggested army lists from GW studio members (including brief tips/tactics); a 24 page (!) battle report - Empire vs Orcs and Gobbos; a feature on mysterious terrain which has an impact on the battle (or units within a certain proximity to it *; a massive and I mean massive (try 8" tall, 13" long) fire dragon from Forgeworld and some truly incredible duel dioramas from the Eavy Metal crew which have to be seen to be believed (esp. Tyrion vs the Witch Kings personal champion)
* so far, my favourite piece of mysterious terrain is the charnel pit which gives undead units within 6" a regen (6) save because it's easy for them to find spare parts !
I haven't actually read it all yet, so I'd better do that before posting the rest of the review !
All Images are from White Dwarf and are © Games Workshop. All rights reserved. Used without permission.
Baddice.co.uk and waaaghcast.blogspot.com have both released lengthy chats about the new rules, the differences and their opinion on the new WFB Rulebook.
