Just received the new White Dwarf through the post and have given a read. We are now six months into the new style magazine but how does it measure up? Has it improved since last month and does it excite me for the release of yet another 40k Codex? Let's find out!
Successes:
+ The quality of the magazine is awesome and up there with the highest quality mags you can get from any news stand.
+ In the design studio section helps to add just enough information about the creation of some of the books contents to be worth including (only just).
+ Nice article about a Lamentors army that shows off some interesting painting techniques.
+ High quality photos of the new models really let you get a feel for the quality/lack of detail/peculiar sculpting choices (personnel preference).
+ It only cost £3 and turned up on time.
Things that make me go hmm:
- Another 16 pages of Golden Demon photos. I like seeing the winners from time to time and I understand there are a lot of other players who may well get a bit of a kick out of looking at this stuff but it has now taken up 48 pages of WD over the last three months!
- Battle report doesn't give anywhere near enough information on what the new rule actually do. They reference rule names but I'm left bored by the fact I can't understand how the units are affected by said rule.
- Paint Splatter covers some decent techniques but the standard of the tutorials is slowly going down hill to below the standard of painting I'm willing to put on my models (no laughing in the back there!).
- Kit bash has also slowly gone down in quality as whilst it is interesting to see cool conversions, surely the point of WD is to improve people's hobby skills by actually teaching people techniques? They use materials you can't buy in a GW store ( a pet peeve of mine).
- Blanchitsu is boring, more models inspired by art work I can't stand.
- Hall of Fame for me is becoming a joke to me as soon every model ever made will be in the hall of fame. Why not have it as a yearly vote by the readers then (try not to faint) sell the voted model at a discount for a month to promote it!
- The annotation on the models at the start of the magazine continue to be banal descriptions rather than informative additions to the high quality images that allow use to see what is being described.
I appreciate that I may appear rather down on this magazine but it promises so much with the efforts put in to make a high quality magazine but the content is killing this magazine a little each month. I understand that GW are going through a transition period as they try to join the rest of us in the digital age, but this doesn't even serve as a promotional vehicle for the new products as I'm going to have to go elsewhere to find out if I want to buy the models to use in my army.
My wish list for the future of WD:
1) Proper hobby articles that teach us techniques beyond tabletop ready paint schemes.
2) New rules for missions, units or even games.
3) Explanations of the rules (not in full of course but enough to under stand their use) for each new model that comes out.
4) Time specific vouchers/offers for use in GW stores to promote specific events/models/hobby related equipment (would it be too much to offer a special buy 9 get one free on paints for one weekend only?)
Am I alone? How do you guys feel about the current state of White Dwarf.
I think my main criticism of the 'new' publication is pretty much the same as i had of the old verision.
ReplyDeleteNot enough to actually READ.
I bought the first 2 new issues and the dark angels one, i wont be buying another unless the warseer reviews suggest it has enough content to warrant splashing out £5.50 on (this months doesnt seem to be worth it)
Not only are there too many pictures (honestly, its the age of the internet, if i want pictures, i can see pictures elsewhere)
But the written content is generally so banal and pointless its hardly worth spending the time to read it. Jervis' bits are generally just bland obviousisms, Vetock seems to be struggling more and more to think of a topic to write about and smacks of a last minute rush job about any old codswallop. Utter tripe.
Spoke to other dave yesterday, he received his copy this weekend, he flicked through it for 5 minutes and he was done. He's cancelling his subscription now.
You make a good point about the amount of images and this is my problem with the ridiculous amount Golden Demon photos, there are models that didn't win an award. My problem is it is only £3 for direct debit so it's hard to say it's over priced but very disappointing as it isn't even working to promote a product beyond 'look its so pretty!'.
ReplyDelete