April 2017's White Dwarf has probably been the most comprehensively leaked issue so far - maybe that's because of the content - but I wouldn't be surprised to see Games Workshop now delay delivery to subscribers because of it.
This issue has a few surprises, and Games Workshop seem to be a bit better at keeping them for longer. The Kharadron release came out of nowhere - the video appeared on the official online portals and then everyone followed. Now a similar thing has happened with this issue - without a hint we're getting 3 new Mechanicus-themed terrain sets. Granted these are the ones from Shadow War: Armageddon, but to have them released so close to the boxed game is interesting. Even with the high price of Shadow War: Armageddon, it's still a good buy, you effectively get the terrain kits at retail and the troops are free.
Away from those releases - the big miniature releases for this month - this issue has quite a bit of content, swinging away from the hobby angle a little and adding gaming parts.
This issue has a few surprises, and Games Workshop seem to be a bit better at keeping them for longer. The Kharadron release came out of nowhere - the video appeared on the official online portals and then everyone followed. Now a similar thing has happened with this issue - without a hint we're getting 3 new Mechanicus-themed terrain sets. Granted these are the ones from Shadow War: Armageddon, but to have them released so close to the boxed game is interesting. Even with the high price of Shadow War: Armageddon, it's still a good buy, you effectively get the terrain kits at retail and the troops are free.
Away from those releases - the big miniature releases for this month - this issue has quite a bit of content, swinging away from the hobby angle a little and adding gaming parts.
++ Incidentally, last month White Dwarf promised an article on the new Titanicus game in the index but it wasn't in the actual issue - don't get too excited, it didn't turn up this month either ++
Planet Warhammer - which gives us a look at all the new releases for the coming month - kicks off with the Kharadron, or flying steampunk Dwarves to be precise.. Great looking miniatures, a release that came out of nowhere really, there are multiple articles in this issue, but here we get an overview and a sneak peak at the Battletome - which is super cheap!
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The new Blades of Khorne Battle tome and Warscroll Cards get a look in nest. The Warscroll Cards are a way to see the stats of your forces without having to flick through the pages of your Battletome. It makes you wonder if they will return the Battletomes to fluff-based writing and the Warscroll Cards are purchased separately for gamers rather than hobbyists. A lot of the Codex and Battletomes have been so rules heavy (Dark Angels anyone) that the fluff and miniature angle has been overshadowed. It's an interesting development if this is the way.
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Shadow War: Armageddon is the new Necromunda, so they are saying, so this box gives you new terrain, Ork and Space Marine Scout forces plus a 120 page rulebook. That's a whole different games system right there! Later on in this issue there are also rules for including Skitarii and Genestealer forces into the melee.
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Speaking of new scenery, here it is in individual sets. It's nice to have it released so close to the boxed set, but we wonder if that will effect the sales of the boxed game. Anyway, there are three sets; Alchomite Stack which gives you height in terms of terrain, the Galvanic Magnavent which gives you area in the form of walkways, and the Ferratonic Furnace, which gives you modular elements to build on top of one another. The price of these was a bit of a surprise, especially the Furnace at $84 AUD - this is the core unit and is pretty pricey for something you may need a fair few of. The Alchomite Stack which is the same price for example give you two elements that are much more modular.
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The handy but expensive Citadel Tools we spoke about last week are next - think we had our say on that then...
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Talons of the Emperor gets a look in next. I see a lot of these for sale on the Facebook selling sites. Not sure if these are really appealing to people long term. Maybe like the Stormcast they need to come up with another colour other than gold.
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An awesome Forge World vehicle and beasty beast beast follow on. It's funny because the prices are never listed for Forge World products! The amazingly cool Karacnos Assault Tank is just a glory that needs to be soon, and Mazarall the Butcher is a big red bull in a really dynamic pose. Go nuts!
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In terms of books this month there's Primarchs: Magnus The Red, which comes out this week, Primarchs: Perturabo, Space Marine Battles: Calgar's Fury, the Dawn of War III novel and an Emperor's Scythes audio drama called Daedalus. Love the Scythes!
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The amazing Dawn of War gets a new chapter with Dawn of War III being released. Thankfully it looks like a rerun to the best Dawn of War - the original - with awesome graphics. The original game was probably the best RTS game I've ever played, so high hopes for this one. Also news on Freeblade, with the option to now have your Knight be Khorne-ified!
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The new Blades of Khorne Battle tome and Warscroll Cards get a look in nest. The Warscroll Cards are a way to see the stats of your forces without having to flick through the pages of your Battletome. It makes you wonder if they will return the Battletomes to fluff-based writing and the Warscroll Cards are purchased separately for gamers rather than hobbyists. A lot of the Codex and Battletomes have been so rules heavy (Dark Angels anyone) that the fluff and miniature angle has been overshadowed. It's an interesting development if this is the way.
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Shadow War: Armageddon is the new Necromunda, so they are saying, so this box gives you new terrain, Ork and Space Marine Scout forces plus a 120 page rulebook. That's a whole different games system right there! Later on in this issue there are also rules for including Skitarii and Genestealer forces into the melee.
-
Speaking of new scenery, here it is in individual sets. It's nice to have it released so close to the boxed set, but we wonder if that will effect the sales of the boxed game. Anyway, there are three sets; Alchomite Stack which gives you height in terms of terrain, the Galvanic Magnavent which gives you area in the form of walkways, and the Ferratonic Furnace, which gives you modular elements to build on top of one another. The price of these was a bit of a surprise, especially the Furnace at $84 AUD - this is the core unit and is pretty pricey for something you may need a fair few of. The Alchomite Stack which is the same price for example give you two elements that are much more modular.
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The handy but expensive Citadel Tools we spoke about last week are next - think we had our say on that then...
-
Talons of the Emperor gets a look in next. I see a lot of these for sale on the Facebook selling sites. Not sure if these are really appealing to people long term. Maybe like the Stormcast they need to come up with another colour other than gold.
-
An awesome Forge World vehicle and beasty beast beast follow on. It's funny because the prices are never listed for Forge World products! The amazingly cool Karacnos Assault Tank is just a glory that needs to be soon, and Mazarall the Butcher is a big red bull in a really dynamic pose. Go nuts!
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In terms of books this month there's Primarchs: Magnus The Red, which comes out this week, Primarchs: Perturabo, Space Marine Battles: Calgar's Fury, the Dawn of War III novel and an Emperor's Scythes audio drama called Daedalus. Love the Scythes!
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The amazing Dawn of War gets a new chapter with Dawn of War III being released. Thankfully it looks like a rerun to the best Dawn of War - the original - with awesome graphics. The original game was probably the best RTS game I've ever played, so high hopes for this one. Also news on Freeblade, with the option to now have your Knight be Khorne-ified!
++ Before we move on - White Dwarf - can we get over the sycophantic letters?
Publish something else. The self congratulations is getting old! ++
Publish something else. The self congratulations is getting old! ++
Temporal Distort looks back at #196 from 1996, which apart from Space Hulk V2, also had a little piece on Brian Nelson who sculpted my favourite Orc mini of all time - and there it is right there! We spoke about Temporal Distort last month, that still applies.
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Golden Demon looks at enemies of the Imperium, including David Soper's Path of the Seer. Of particular interest are these two models; the Chaos Sorcerer by Robin Mcleod and the Deathshroud Terminator by Richard Gray - the latter singled out for weathering that isn't over the top, something the judges say is a "common fault".
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Now, finally we can delve into the Kharadron Overlords. Firstly I do wonder what Privateer Press think of the name and IF they will do anything about it, especially since the Kharadron fleets are called Privateers! Secondly.. WOW! These are cool. You will notice however that nowhere in this issue are the prices mentioned for the Kharadrons. Everything else gets a price, but not these guys. Curious. This is actually a very detailed look at these miniatures, their background and the different sets that are coming out
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Designer's Notes actually has John Blanche's original sketches as well as a good overview of their weapons, plus a really good look at their world from the designers themselves. This is an interesting new idea for GW to take them off the ground. I would not be surprised to see avian Beastmen as their main adversary very soon or maybe the long awaited relaunch of the Seraphon.
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Destined Duel is a mini game which if it wasn't written by Jervis Johnson I would be surprised. He loves mini games using playing cards, so here is one for you!
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Illuminations: Enemies of the Imperium - art, fighting, pretty pretty, grrrr.
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Battle Report, ladies and gentlemen, and we see the Kharadron Overlords vs. the Flesh-eater Courts (God knows why). There's some great shots in here and you get a good idea of how the Kharadrons play - including the ability to bomb the enemy as they charge you...
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... but there's not just one Battle Report - there's two and the second one takes place using the new Mechanicum-themed terrain! This is an awesome board, vertical rather than horizontal in a four-way battle for supremacy. Great idea, super cool, and really in the tradition of Necromunda.
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Golden Demon looks at enemies of the Imperium, including David Soper's Path of the Seer. Of particular interest are these two models; the Chaos Sorcerer by Robin Mcleod and the Deathshroud Terminator by Richard Gray - the latter singled out for weathering that isn't over the top, something the judges say is a "common fault".
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Now, finally we can delve into the Kharadron Overlords. Firstly I do wonder what Privateer Press think of the name and IF they will do anything about it, especially since the Kharadron fleets are called Privateers! Secondly.. WOW! These are cool. You will notice however that nowhere in this issue are the prices mentioned for the Kharadrons. Everything else gets a price, but not these guys. Curious. This is actually a very detailed look at these miniatures, their background and the different sets that are coming out
-
Designer's Notes actually has John Blanche's original sketches as well as a good overview of their weapons, plus a really good look at their world from the designers themselves. This is an interesting new idea for GW to take them off the ground. I would not be surprised to see avian Beastmen as their main adversary very soon or maybe the long awaited relaunch of the Seraphon.
-
Destined Duel is a mini game which if it wasn't written by Jervis Johnson I would be surprised. He loves mini games using playing cards, so here is one for you!
-
Illuminations: Enemies of the Imperium - art, fighting, pretty pretty, grrrr.
-
Battle Report, ladies and gentlemen, and we see the Kharadron Overlords vs. the Flesh-eater Courts (God knows why). There's some great shots in here and you get a good idea of how the Kharadrons play - including the ability to bomb the enemy as they charge you...
-
... but there's not just one Battle Report - there's two and the second one takes place using the new Mechanicum-themed terrain! This is an awesome board, vertical rather than horizontal in a four-way battle for supremacy. Great idea, super cool, and really in the tradition of Necromunda.
Smartly they are now grouping the majority of the rules together in the New Rules section. Here you'll find the rules for Skitarii and Genestealer Cults in Shadow War: Armageddon, there's also War on the Long Lake set in The Hobbit.
Blood Bowl seems to be getting further and further relegated to the back of the magazine. This week Spike! looks at the big boys on the field - the orges, etc. I don't know, I just feel this could be expended with a new team every week, maybe some fluff - expand it to three pages. One page can be Spike!, one page can be a new team with a bio on the leader, then a page on the Play of the Month. Come on kids - get with it. There are some amazing looking teams online. There's no excuse really.
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Tale of Four Gamers continues. Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines and Eldar forces continue to grow. Personally this doesn't seem to have the same momentum as the last one for Age of $igmar, but there you go.
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Blanchitsu this month is Kari Hernesniemi's Pilgrym warband. The look of these is so close to John Blanche himself you could be mistaken for thinking it was actually his. Thankfully this lacks some of the gloss elements of Blanche's work. Some great conversions in here. Really thematic and cool.
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Army Showcase is a great one this month. We're big fans of Dark Eldar, they are amazing models, but building an original scheme is actually quite challenging, however Paulie Wallis (who runs The Dark City Dark Eldar forum) has done that... with orange! These are really great, and so cool to see someone else who is a fan of the Sslyth. If you're into Dark Eldar at all, have a look at these because they re really great. Aaaah for this level of imagination.
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Realms of Battle is quite a treat this month, with the Sector Mechanicus terrain kits on display. The thing that you really take out of this section si the knowledge that these kits are modular. You can stack and change them even after painting. There's locking pics and all kinds to change up with you've already done. We then go into modelling and painting (which seems like it could take a while with the level of detail on these kits...) and then some colour examples, all of which are good.
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Paint Splatter looks at the Kharadron - from ship detailing to armour and cloth on the minis.
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Parade Ground is a selection of very cool monsters and creatures. That Stonehorn is just amazing and inspires me to want to paint better every time I see it. Maxime Corbeil's Mortis Engine is also very impressive as usual with his work.
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Reader's Models is just that with some lovely work. It's great to see the community getting in this magazine, and really great that Games Workshop has again decided to be part of the community rather than above or apart from it.
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In The Bunker looks at a few things all so short you really don't get a feeling for anything, but it is interesting to see the terrain building at an early stage.
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Tale of Four Gamers continues. Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines and Eldar forces continue to grow. Personally this doesn't seem to have the same momentum as the last one for Age of $igmar, but there you go.
-
Blanchitsu this month is Kari Hernesniemi's Pilgrym warband. The look of these is so close to John Blanche himself you could be mistaken for thinking it was actually his. Thankfully this lacks some of the gloss elements of Blanche's work. Some great conversions in here. Really thematic and cool.
-
Army Showcase is a great one this month. We're big fans of Dark Eldar, they are amazing models, but building an original scheme is actually quite challenging, however Paulie Wallis (who runs The Dark City Dark Eldar forum) has done that... with orange! These are really great, and so cool to see someone else who is a fan of the Sslyth. If you're into Dark Eldar at all, have a look at these because they re really great. Aaaah for this level of imagination.
-
Realms of Battle is quite a treat this month, with the Sector Mechanicus terrain kits on display. The thing that you really take out of this section si the knowledge that these kits are modular. You can stack and change them even after painting. There's locking pics and all kinds to change up with you've already done. We then go into modelling and painting (which seems like it could take a while with the level of detail on these kits...) and then some colour examples, all of which are good.
-
Paint Splatter looks at the Kharadron - from ship detailing to armour and cloth on the minis.
-
Parade Ground is a selection of very cool monsters and creatures. That Stonehorn is just amazing and inspires me to want to paint better every time I see it. Maxime Corbeil's Mortis Engine is also very impressive as usual with his work.
-
Reader's Models is just that with some lovely work. It's great to see the community getting in this magazine, and really great that Games Workshop has again decided to be part of the community rather than above or apart from it.
-
In The Bunker looks at a few things all so short you really don't get a feeling for anything, but it is interesting to see the terrain building at an early stage.
++ Verdict ++
So - is it worth buying? For terrain builders, yes. For army builders maybe not. If you're into Age of $igmar the introduction of the Kharadrons is s big deal, so that's probably worth it for the amount of fluff in here. Hobby wise there are some great painting sections. Gamers, the Shadow War: Armageddon stuff is good and the two Battle Reports are nice too. Overall I think this is pretty balanced. The lack of pricing on the Kharadrons worries me, but that's pretty minor.
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