The legendary White Dwarf magazine has once again renewed its format. After a couple of years where Games Workshop has been experimenting with different formats and issue frequencies for this classic wargaming and modeling magazine, the English company surprises us again with another reboot of the magazine. This time it seems to us that the new format is here to stay. We had the chance of grabbing the first issue, so let’s review what it has to offer.
MAGAZINE REVIEW
The first issue is certainly very appealing. It comes with a free miniature, and this is no mere miniature! It’s the Khorne Slaughterpriest from Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, masterfully modelled by the great David Waeselynck, one of the best models released to date for the Warhammer franchise.
This model retails at a much higher price than the cost of this first issue, so it is certainly a huge bargain and a great marketing move to get you to try the new magazine. Before talking more about the model, let’s dive in to the contents.
The new magazine offers around 150 pages of content that reminds us very much of the good old days, where the White Dwarf was awaited by many Warhammer fans worldwide every month. We see pretty much all the content the old magazine used to have, such as news, product reviews, battle reports, kitbashing, modeling articles, designer insights, interviews, Golden Demon reports, lore, concept art…
There’s a great couple of double splash pages showing huge armies in all their glory.
Great and thorough Golden Demon reports, with close up pics and interviews with the artists!
Free rules to use new minis in all Games Workshop boxed games. That means you can use one single model to play a huge variety of games and rulesets.
Awesome concept art and illustrations inside.
Battle reports are also great eye candy.
Flashbacks from the past, this will do wonders for old school enthusiasts.
Wonderfully built terrain.
John Blanche never misses his section.
Close up from kit plastics and sprues.
Citadel paint guides are very useful for beginners.
There’s even a section featuring models from fans worldwide.
Overall, great magazine cover to cover. And this one comes with the Slaughterpriest, couldn’t ask for more!
CONCLUSIONS
I am very happy to have picked this one up. The new format is great and gives me a very similar feeling to the one I used to have when I was a teenager and put my hands on a White Dwarf from the time.
PROS:
- The free miniature!!!
- The Khorne Slaughterpriest normally retails at 23€/£18/$30 and the magazine with the free miniature costs just 8€/£6/$11. This is such a great deal that I would recommend purchasing it even if it were for the model only.
- The model sculpted by David Waeselynck is one of the best of the whole Warhammer: Age of Sigmar range. This is not just a simple free Space Marine, this is huge showcase quality for free!!!
- White Dwarf is reborn, but it smells like the old days. And that is a great thing!
CONS:
- The price tag is still a bit high. White Dwarf is a very specialist magazine of 150 pages, but is still expensive. Of couse in this first issue, the free miniature just makes it a huge bargain, and a ‘run to get yours while stocks last’.
- The magazine is only available in English (except for France and Germany, who can get the magazine in their language). This is a huge turnoff for other fans worldwide that are not very knowledgeable in this language. There is a lot of cost saving from not having to translate the magazine and printing it in just one language, that could have translated into better prices for future issues in my opinion.
There are special deals for subscribers, so if you want to have every issue you may want to consider subscribing.
Find all about the new White Dwarf and about Games Workshop in general on their website.
