White Dwarft 389 Review

 Well, let me start by saying I have not purchased a copy of White Dwarf since the issue that updated the Vampire Counts Army with the new unit updates in it. So, it has been a LONG time since I have purchased a copy. I flip through them to see if there is anything worthwhile but so far until now, nothing has inspired me to purchase a copy.

 Long ago I wrote a letter to the White Dwarf editor telling them the load of crap they was publishing for $9 a copy now in the US. The book was little more than a nice catalog with some craptastic articles.

In the past GW put new rules, scenarios, painting, conversions and other great hobby materials along with excellent battle reports. That has long since been a thing of the past at lest until now. Perhaps this is a sign of the times that GW has learned some lessons and is slowly trying to fix some of their major issues including a crappy hobby magazine?

The first few pages are teaser pictures of the new flyers with Orcs and Goblins for Fantasy in the wings for an upcoming issue. We slide into an article about the Stormtalon with lots (perhapsa bit too much) of eye candy. Pages 9 and 10 are ok but there is nothing useful then ends with a two page spread trying to sell it (wait you just promoted it at the first part of the magazine) but could have been done better with showing details of the sprues instead of making it look like a nice catalog item.

Next is the Ork fighter/bombers well, more of the same, the technical pages again was a huge waste of space and the sprues could have been displayed on two pages instead of trying to make this cool catalog shot.

Of course the Necrons get a few pages, but wait! There are no technical pages here! What an insult!

The how to paint the Stormtalon was ok and was stepping back into the fare of GW’s old magazine offers. For the most part, it was well done. Did you guys have to really plug a whole page to the colors and supplies needed?

Next up is a feature called “The Battle for Cardrim” that goes back to old school White Dwarf also, granted they could have done a better job on the feature but hell, I am happy they are getting back to this concept again.

Then we get a few pages of how to paint White Scars and Orks, ok I can buy this. Granted White Scars are not the most popular kid among the Space Marines but with the feature prior using White Scars made sense. So, I will go along for the ride. It at least explained how to paint white armor!

P63 has the usual add for Assault on Black Reach. Hrm, wait I can’t find it on your website! You pulled it already for 6^th! Great planning there guys!

Next up is the Standard Bearer written by Jervis Johnson, I read this when I need to fall asleep or having a really long moment in the bathroom and I want to speed up the process. This is by far one of the worst parts of the magazine, it’s boring!

Finally on p66 we get to the RULES for the new stuff! Overall the articles are well done with the Orks getting three new fliers! More on this review later! They also had some nice pictures of various paint jobs that could have been condensed into fewer pages with smaller pictures.

After several adverts we hit the article for Fantasy about the Stone Toof  Tribe! Some nice painting tips but the plugs in between are a bit much.

It was nice to hit on Armies on Parade and Games Day (which would be nice to focus more on these, hey those wasted pages perhaps?).

The rest of the book is nothing more than advertisements and promotional stuff for various things and wasting several pages. I died laughing at the EVENTS area as almost the entire thing covered TWO STATES! Hey guys, we have FIFTY in the United States! Most covered CA and WV, all I can say is WTF! Great if you live in those states!