White Dwarf

[Lord Anubis]

Just curious where everyone stands on White Dwarf. I thought I was a bit alone in thinking it had slipped downhill, yet as of late I've noticed several comments along those lines here.

I used to love it for the alternate rules, short stories, modeling tips and such. Then it started to change. When my subscription ran out, I said I'd renew it when my girlfriend and I got our new place. We moved and I noticed I wasn't really missing it.

In fact, I think the only thing I feel sad for missing was the Black Reach issue that came with a free Terminator and Nob. ;)

Anyone else?

[j-orge-287]

Nah, I won't miss it. The magazine is great if a little pricey at £4.50 a month without a subscription

[Snarf]

£4.50 a month is nothing. I pay R90.00 each month... i have to hide them away from my wife for a month or two or she will kill me.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

I keep getting to the point where I want to stop buying it,
but I compulsively fill that next 'slot' on my bookshelf each month.

It has become such an ad rag, with rare content at best, I just don't know if they can ever recover their credibility without a TOTAL revamp.

[Drunkencorgimaster]

It is a lot of money for a lot of advertising.

[Aldramelech]

I go through stages of buying it. I then get bored with it. Too much advertising. The painting articles bore the pants off me, if I painted the way they do Id never get anything finished. First so and so started with a this + this bascoat and then did this + this 3:1 highlighted with this + this glazed with that AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!! YOUR MAKING MY EYES BLEED!!!!!!!!! They seem to use 20 colors when 5 will do and thats got to be about paint sales.
The whole LOTR's thing gets on my nerves, I don't think Ive ever read a single article, just skip straight past it.

In fact why do I buy it?

[Duke]

I really want to read it... I want to have a great article to read, or a juicy piece of news/ modeling article/ etc. Heck, I would really love to see a Battle Report that wasn't just a big Ad! When was the last time you saw a battle report that didn't have something to do with a new release. I remember a battle report that had 30,000 points on each side for a WHFB game. Not because they were releasing a mega supplement, but because it was FUN!

Look, I have a business degree, I know they need to make money and such but don't sell yourself just for another two pages of advertising, take care of your clients and they will return the favor.

And stop dedicating so many pages to LOTR!!!

In the end, I don't subscribe and I generally don't buy them at all ($9.00 each! WTF). What WD should do is take a hint from BoLS and feed the players... or better yet, let the Fly Lords do White Dwarf!

DUKE

[Gotthammer]

Not saying WD's perfect - I buy one or two a year, only if they have something like the LotR Galadhirm list or the kustom stompa rules - but when compared to the amount of advertising in a comparible magazine, such as for model trains or RC vehicles, there's not really that much advertising.

Of course most of the articles are often bland and uniformative, and the painting guides never venture past 'the eavy metal way', so there is just little that interests me in them most months. I can flick through it, look at the new pics, read the release dates and prices, skim standard bearer and be done.

I think in a way WD needs to lower its standards - by this I mean not have every photo a studio army piece or Golden Demon winner. Include more 'fan' armies and profiles etc. I see the marketing perspective on it, but having eveything painted exactly the same makes the whole thing seem dull. There is seldom little imagination or wacky creativity in WD anymore.

The daily update on the website provides a good fix for that though.

[bob]

Oh for the wonderful care free days of fat bloke

[Culven]

I have gone through stages of buying the odd issue, buying them regularly, subscribing, letting the sub lapse, and am currently in the "buy it each month in the hopes of there being something worthwhile" phase. I really just need to accept the fact that I don't find it a worthwhile purchase and stop. But I still hope.

In my opinion, the magazine started going downhill when GW purchased rights to LotR and had to dedicate some magazine space to it. I have yet to read any of the LotR/WotR articles, and I think that the removal of the background and alternate rules (Index Astartes, Index Xenos, and so on) has really hurt the perception of the magazine.

[Vepr]

I used to buy it but I cannot justify it anymore. It is way to expensive for what it offers these days in my opinion. I would rather put the money towards figs, terrain, paints and brushes etc. I also noticed they seem to be stacking up at my local shop. They used to sell out fairly fast but now there are 3 months of backed up WD on display.

[Sangre]

Always thought it was outrageous that they charged you for what was essentially a catalogue.

[Farsight]

I used to like it and have a subscription but I doubt I'll renew it this year. The articles that bugs me the most are not the LotR ones (which are just terrible btw) but the standard bearers that try to tell the player base that rising prices, lack of additional background, and new and exciting rules, is just a sign that they love us and think we should buy the latest greatest thing just created.

[Logan]

I cant believe that people still think of WD as a magazine when it is clearly a monthly catalogue update and nothing more.
It is a very expensive one at that.
I cant think of a single other company that charges £4.50 to tell me what I should be buying.
If I need to see GW's new products I go on the website, saves me £4.50 and I can buy what I actually like. Plus I dont con myself into reading "articles" that are actually unrelenting praise for the new product of the month.
Magazines have real reviews (that may not always be super positive), comic strips, letters pages, non profit biased articles, non GW products (or even adverts), etc...
Does your wife/ Girl friend/ Mum think of the Avon catalogue as a magazine? and if so would she pay £4.50 a month for the pleasure of reading it?

[Elliott]

To get more Tau fluff and background, I went on eBay and bought the White Dwarves that came out when the Tau were released.

Now those are hobby magazines. Fluff galore, background articles, excellent battle reports, how-to guides that aren't trying to sell me more bitz, limited ads.

Man, I knew the "modern" iteration of WD is bad, but I had never seen it so... graphically.

[Brass Scorpion]

I'm not embarassed to admit I love White Dwarf, or at least I love getting it every month. Not every issue is equal to every other, but over the long haul I really enjoy it most of the time. The price has gotten a bit ridiculous, but there are ways around it a bit. First, subscribing is less expensive than buying it over the counter. Second, every year or so GW usually has some great deals on it to boost subscription rates. Over the years I've had free issues, free collector models, free $25 worth of any product I wanted for a 2-year subscription and so on. I usually wait till they have those kinds of offers, then resubscribe for multiple years at a time, especially if the offer comes just before a price hike. In this way, it's possible to have White Dwarf and enjoy it without spending too much money out of the budget for models, food, and other necessities. ;)

[darth_papi76]

Once in a while they have some good articles. It used to be something I looked forward to getting, but I now I think I read it from compulsion.

[entendre_entendre]

WD has really gone downhill since i started subscribing. when i started (June 2005), there was actually something to look forward to (like chapter approved- Deathwatch FTW). now it's just really bland, i really don't pay too much attention to it anymore. the soul has left WD. i do hope it returns, but as of this moment, i'm not re-subscribing for next year, unless i see some soul in the 'mag'.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

nah, cant be bothered with it. Why pay all that much when there are free publications online that actually have content that is at least semi-interesting ? I'd rather re-read Firebase than get a new WD. I liked the WD's in the 90's when it had hobby articles, BACKROUND (im a fluffaddict so this is essential to me) and all kinds of other cool and interesting stuff.

[Skeletay]

I've been reading it off and on since the early 90's and it used to be great but now it really is just advertising. I'll pick it up if something catches my eye, but I'm disappointed every time. They need to look at No Quarter, Privateer Press' mag. It reminds me of what white dwarf used to be like.

[Aldramelech]

A good way to get what you want is to go to local wargames shows, there's usually a big box of them going for 50p each on the bring and buy.

[BuFFo]

I thought I was a bit alone in thinking it had slipped downhill....

Welcome to 1999 - 2001.

WD has been a dead advertising rag for about a decade.

It will need a total revamp to earn my money.

Especially at nearly 10 bucks just for advertisements.

[fuzzbuket]

They should call it white advert:D
same with the store, walk in with a friend suddenly a guy in blue mugs me, steals my wallet and gives me some plastic and runs away :p
and what about those masterclasses in WD £7 model, £2000 paint:mad:

[Melissia]

I don't subscribe, and I rarely read it. It's usually just the same articles over and over, regarding some boring crap like how to properly paint papa smurf and his little smurflings.

I think it's been seven years or so since a serious article about Sisters was published in WD or CJ. It's also been that long since I bothered to seriously read either.

[RogueGarou]

I read White Dwarf fairly regularly. Hmmm... what is that cover date? Wow, I didn't know it was 1999 already. :) I read my old ones and flip through them when I am looking for a bit of inspiration or something. For instance, an article on painting horse models. It was for Fantasy but a horse is a horse and it helped with my Rough Riders. Way back before there was a Nork Deddog figure, one of the guys in England converted his own and used bits of tank track to fashion this hulking carapace armor on the model. Kind of cool. All of the old Necromunda articles and battle reports. In the early 2000's there were the Index Astartes and new army lists. The quality of the magazine is absolutely not what it used to be. I have a friend who compulsively subscribes to it and I will flip through his when I am waiting for him to finish his movement phase sometimes. But I have not seen anything at all for a couple of years that made me want to buy a copy of the book.

I agree with what most people have commented on above. I would like to add a couple of things to those generally negative comments. I miss the Tier 2 games in White Dwarf. I have honestly only met one person with the LotR game and have never seen a game played not even when we had a GW shop in Nashville. They tried to push it at that store but in several years of stopping by Opry Mills, I never saw the game played or purchased. Probably just timing, I guess. Devoting a third of the magazine to that game system just means I have paid $X.XX for two-thirds of a magazine. Not cutting that pie into thinner slices and hawking Epic, Blood Bowl, Necromunda, Battlefleet Gothic, or hell, even Gorka Morka just absolutely guarantees there will be at least a third of the magazine that I am not at all interested in. So why buy it?

The second thing is about the catalog aspect of the mag. Used to, there were pages in the back of each issue with a list of the parts (bitz) with their order number right there. Look, we have a new Space Wolf Terminator coming out and if you just like the body so much, here you go, order the body. Oh, yeah, they dropped the bitz ordering. I'm still unhappy and peeved about that but since everything is going to plastic, it isn't such a loss. I can still look at the catalogs I paid for and get ideas for kit bashing. Not having the sprues and models broken down so you can see what they are, what the components look like, pretty much negates calling the mag a catalog in my opinion. I miss that kind of old stuff. The stuff that made the mag sell out every month and made me part with my money every month.

I think of it as a poorly written, poorly organized, horribly edited on many occasions, advertisement. It is most often pretty and glossy but without substance. You know, like a politician. It is broken down for the diminishing attention span consumer who needs to be lead into what is the new orange and promptly buys it every quarter. The magazine should definitely push the new stuff but it should do a better job of it and keep enough buzz going about the rest of the products to keep some sales traffic going in that direction. They are already going to publish the rag, they may as well get more utility out of it by making it appeal to as many readers as possible. Thus increasing sales numbers for the magazine. Thus, ideally, increasing sales of the entire line. Thus being a real and effective advertisement. Thus ends my rant.

[MaidenManiac]

White Dwarf is indeed quite full with advertisement and the like, which is sad. I also miss the good 90s days :)

It is however hard to keep articles interesting for the "old guard" of players that are out there(myself included). There are only so many tactics, and the "played since RTdays" player(like myself) has most likely heard of them all a decade ago...
Sure there comes a new army now and then that breaks the rule, and then the WD might provide some neat new info and advice, but those times are quite rare indeed.

I dont read WD frequently, not even seldom, but then again I dont think WD is aimed at players like myself either. The WD is there for the newer players that actually benefits from the tactics articles, painting tips and stuff. Its just sad that they have 10 times more advertising in their version of the WD then I had in the ones I red a decade+ ago:rolleyes:

[mysterex]

I pretty much stopped buying it when they stopped releasing the Index Astartes chapter articles. IMO it's now pretty much expensive advertising, including a battle report where the new product wins and a painting article.

I really wish they'd start releasing alternate rules and interesting background again.

[Lord Azaghul]

I've only been into this hobby for 3 or 4 years, I started with fantasty, now i mainly play my guard - I've bought 1 wd the whole time - the IG one this past May - and I actually read most of it - decent articles (except for the whole Wotr stuff), but most of the time I just pick it up - flip through it and go -"meh."

[eldargal]

I don't subscribe personally, though one of my brothers does so I read his if there is something interesting. I do think people are being a bit hard on WD though, of course it is mostly advertising. Every magazine I know of catering to a niche market (bar one, The Chap) is at least 50% advertising. It is the only way to make up the costs. Print magazines are basically a way of keeping some presence in newsagents and similar and to attract new members. Now, I'm not defending WD per se, merely pointing out that it is a product of its time. There is no reason why it couldn't be revamped to ba more hobby orientated magazine again, but that would entail either a much smaller format (like The Chap) or an even higher price. If we want WD the way it was a decade ago I think we would have to pay twice as much for it, and we won't, as seen in the comments people are upset about paying half that already. Some would no doubt be willing to pay more, most will settle for getting pdfs of the mag off the internet if it is revamped.
Oh yes, they really ought to give less attention to LOTR, no argument on that point.

[Kirkanos]

I bought my first copy of WD since the 90's last month funnily enough (needed a mag and couldn't find anything else I fancied) and it was a bit dull to be honest. Massive feature on Space Hulk fair enough giving some detail and a battle report but the coverage was ridiculously over the top.

Enjoyed the tournament style battle report but that was the only thing worth reading to be honest I think I 'read' the mag in about half an hour, which isn't much bang for your £4.50.

[Melissia]

Maybe I'm too used to trade magazines, but most of the magazines I bother to read have very, very few ads, if any at all. But then that's a requirement for me to bother to buy them. I'm not gonna buy someone's advertising, hell no.

[Wolfshade]

In my opinion, the magazine started going downhill when GW purchased rights to LotR and had to dedicate some magazine space to it. I have yet to read any of the LotR/WotR articles, and I think that the removal of the background and alternate rules (Index Astartes, Index Xenos, and so on) has really hurt the perception of the magazine.

...I thought GW had the rights to LotR for years, I mean pre 2nd edition as they had the game erm battle of 4 armies...

I read it each month, I subscribe to it, and I do enjoy it. Some months are more of a choore to read than others mainly due to if there is a content about the army I'm playing / game system. I like reading the battle reports and everything, but thinking of my older WDs are looking more content filled than these ones, oh and the random little games like the orky bar room brawl or the jousting competitions ah

[RocketRollRebel]

Once in a while they have some good articles. It used to be something I looked forward to getting, but I now I think I read it from compulsion.

That sums it up for me pretty much. Although the last issue featuring SW was interesting. To be honest one of my favorite parts of the WD are the Standard Bearer articles...(awaits tomatoes). To me they seem to be consistently interesting. I also am a fan of when they go over a campaign, always gets the wheels in my head turning with new ideas.

I can say tho that I tend to skip the LoTR stuff and most of the painting articles. A few have been helpful to me but painting isn't really my strongest aspect of the hobby (more of a competitive play/fluff guy haha). The battle reports are kinda neat just frustrating when they are restricted to awful (yet great looking!) lists using the studio minis. I enjoyed one that they did an issue or two back where the people playing brought in their own armies and built them to kill rather than show off a new unit or two.

[Psychosplodge]

It's not like the old days.
Where's the specialist games?
Why do they bother with lotr?
Why do I still subscribe?
It's a terrible habit...

[Rhellion]

I used to have a subscription years ago. Since I started playing again recently, I don't think I've even cracked the cover of one. I might give WD another chance as a gift to myself for Christmas.