White Dwarf Issue #13 Review

White Dwarf's last foray out of Warhammer 40K territory was right back at the start of this incarnation of White Dwarf with the release of the Dwarves. Nice miniatures that they are, it did tend to drag on forever!
Well this week GW have introduced the Wood Elves with what seems like a pretty good strategy - get the biggest most awesome model in the army and release that first!
That model is the Treeman and it's incarnations, and a stunning model it is.
Like most new releases, this dominates Issue #13, but considering you can make 3 kits from the one box you have to give them some kind of leeway to show it to us.
Okay, well what's inside?? More after the jump...

~ WARNING - 
I am not a photographer, so expect dodgy pictures below 

It has to be said, that the Treeman kit is really an awesome piece of kit. It does of course help that for this issue they got 'Eavy Metal's own Anja Wettergren to paint it up.
I thibnk part of the problem with the Dwarves release was the lacklustre paint job - well for this photoshoot they hit it out of the park!

The Treeman Ancient is just one of three kits you can make with this set, and what a smashing kit it is.
They've shown him really well here, with the close-ups showing the amount of detail you can go into.

Your basic Treeman is no slouch either, in fact they stress the abilit of all the Treemen to be poseable which is interesting. The oranges they chose for this shot are such a nice contrast to the Ancient. It''s also smart that they gave each one of these Treemen a whole pqage to really showcase the great paint job!

I have to admit though, this is my favourite of the options - the Durthu! Scarred and bitter, this is a beast of an enemy. The change of lighting in the battle shots also really brings out the differences between him and his brethren.
I really like this shot (below) of a blackened version - he's one angry dude!

After the big kit for the Wood Elves release we move onto a new character, Araloth, and a web exclusive re-issued Shadowdancer "in Citadel Finecast". Obviously they still don't get that people don't like Finecast...

There's a bit of a blurb on the Codex, which of course also comes in Limited Edition if that is your want and desire. To be honest, the background to entice you to buy is pretty scant here. I really would have expected more, especially for the uninitiated to the world of Fantasy - they may have missed a good opportunity here.

Paint Splatter concentrates on the Treeman painted by Chad Mierzwa. Interesting how much work went into each element, This really is an advanced kit if you want to do it right.

Now this is where we get a bit more background, but again they assume you already know about the Wood Elves. I do wonder if there is a bit of navel gazing at White Dwarf HQ. They seem to be talking to themselves rather than introducing things to an audience - but again this is mixed too.
In terms of assumed knowledge, Paint Splatter is aimed too low and the write ups are aimed too high - so how do you truly connect unless you yourself work at White Dwarf. There's a very in-house feel about this all unfortunately. Lets hope they fix it!

Next week's Warhammer Visions gets a bit of a write up. Later in the issue we learn that James Karch's awesome World Eater army will be featured in it, but the main focus seems to be Astra Militarum. Here's hoping some of the alternate paint schemes from the Codex might make their way onto some pages and maybe some new photography! 
Really, Warhammer Visions HAS to improve or find it's way soon!

Also in the shot you will see GW have reinvented the binder for all your White Dwarf issue - this takes me back to the old aircraft magazines I used to have! It's actually quite cool they've done this. Not for me, but for other collectors and fans this will be a great asset.

Also in the issue there's a write up on the new books this week: Vengeful Spirit by Graham McNeill and Ravenlord by Gav Thorpe.

All in all it's a nicely photographed issue (one of the few lets be honest) and if you want a good look at the new Treemen then check it out.
It took me 15 minutes to read it cover to cover, so if that's worth it for you, then go for it!

And finally, in tribute to the newly released Treemen, a song...