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Yep time for another of the award-seeking Retro Reviews. This one reaches WAY BACK to February 1998 (that's 10+ years ago for those who don't like to face harsh truths). Clinton was president, Blair was prime minister, crystal pepsi was in the stores and...



The Time of Mortals was at an end.

But not to worry. Since then the Time of Mortals has come and gone 7 or 8 times, it's kind of like the Time of Bell-Bottoms or the Time of Boy Bands, it just comes in and out of style.

Even 10 years ago GW art was in a bit of rut, it seemed like every WD cover was some variation of a screaming bald man with spikey armor, skulls and an absurdly over-sized weapon.

As you can see this issue broke the pattern, instead it features a noble knight riding his Double Unicorn under a rainbow.



As usual the book starts with announcements from around the GW universe. For example:



and...



I tried to get Final Liberation to work on my current machine, no luck. Stupid lack of backward compatibility! How am I supposed to play my 10-20 year games?

At the time GW was still treating their secondary games as part of the main company, there was no 'Fantatic' or 'Specialist Games' split. So Gorkamorka and Epic 40k both get some love in this issue.



The 28mm IG also gets a new release that month with the LIMITED EDITION Praetorian box.



The Praetorians were just Mordians with a head-swap and were specially created by the Perry Brothers for a Games Day display. GW claims that 'by popular demand' they released them in a box set.



For a while this was the only way to get the Praetorians (God help you if you wanted different models in your army!) but eventually they were released in blisters. I don't know about the UK, but in the US they went over like a lead balloon and were finally sold off on clearance.



The big release at the time was a return to the Realms of Chaos. This time it was a big boxed set with army lists for Demons, Beastmen and Warriors. So the current split is not totally new, they just put all 3 in one box last time.

At the time GW was transitioning from the more cartoony style of the mid-90s



to the darker style still in use today.



I still can't get over those horrors, I mean a guy beating his own head as a drum? A guy with antlers who counts as the standard? Did anyone even think this was funny?

Another welcome development was the return of multipart plastics!



After creating multipart 28mm plastics in the late 80s, GW basically abandoned them in the mid-90s in favor of 1 pose figures. While the late 90s Chaos Warriors had their faults they were a welcome return to the creative kits of days gone by. Even today I treasure my warrior bitz, they had great oversized weapons and cool helmets, much more flexible than the current kit.

While on the subject I should mention the Gorkamorka Orks.



It's amazing how much better they are than the Orks from the 1993 box set, or the gangers from Necromunda (1995). Separate heads, separate arms, options... It's amazing GW didn't do more of this in the 90s.

Well that's enough for now... but when I come back



As always there are clickable, clearer images in my photodump thread.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/224908.page

personally i find no problem with the old horrors. They have really nice paint jobs.

That issue was the straw that broke the camels back for getting me out of the hobby. I hated those necron models so much, I thought that sculpt quality had gotten so bad it wasnt worth bothering with anymore. Combined with ever increasing numbers of college parties and a lapsing WD subscription, I got out of the hobby for a fair few years that month.

enmitee wrote:personally i find no problem with the old horrors. They have really nice paint jobs.

Yeah, those olf horrors were and still are ace. Don't like the standard bearer head thing, but those sucker tip fingers are the shizzle.*



* Disclaimer : I actually have no iea what this means. It's just some sad attempt to be "down with the kids". Or something.

I got Final Liberation to work on my PC (Win XP) and it was rubbish! The game has aged very badly indeed since I first played it when it was first released. There is a patch you can download that turns off the videos which IIRC are the bits that stop the game working.

These patches may work I don't recall which patch I used.

Those plastic Chaos Warriors were a revalation at the time compared to the ther plastic box sets. They were nearly compatable with the plastic Chaos Space Marines and much converting fun was had.

Didn't 40K 3rd Ed come out in 2008? It must have been just around the corner. That means I must have bought my first box of fully Plastic Tactical Marines that year. I painted them as Dark Tempests (my own and since abandoned chapter).

I quite liked the original Necrons. I thought the old style Destroyers was better than the jet bike/centaur look they have now.

Realm of Chaos was the last Army Book that had all of the Chaos factions (i.e. Warriors, Daemons and Beasts)under one roof so to speak. That still makes sense to me - it was truly Chaotic. These days, it's more "Organised Chaos".

Hell, i want that cool as necron min, why cant i get him? =(

i love reading my old WD's as the mins look awsome and the articles are great, even if abit out dated

thanxyou

This issue was one of the last issues of WD I ever bought because I realised that they had gone back to the page-count of the pre-200 issues, yet the price was still the same.

I still have the free Necron that came with the issue - still in his blister!!!

The actual last WD I bought (aside from a few random ones during 3rd Ed) was just after the Sisters of Battle Codex hit (2nd Edition SoB Codex, not Witch Hunters).

BYE

Flashman wrote:Didn't 40K 3rd Ed come out in 2008?

You mean 1998. And I believe so, yes. My first purchase was that Gorkamorka box.

I miss the good ol' days.

I wish I could art direct/edit WD and make it not suck. Or at the very least insert some humor back into it and make it lose some of its polish which makes it so boring.

oomiestompa wrote:

Flashman wrote:Didn't 40K 3rd Ed come out in 2008?

You mean 1998. And I believe so, yes. My first purchase was that Gorkamorka box.

Late '98 I think. I wasn't working in the Hotel when I bought it, that much I remember, and I walked out of that.....Septemberish.

I loved the Necron, and issue 218 introduced the Lord, and bike and fuller rules for all.

Oops, yes I meant 1998 Blame a year of typing 2008 across the header of a million odd documents :S

I can vaguely remember that I started around the same time the vehicle construction rules for 3rd edition where in a WD with goblin wolf riders on the cover.

Nice review kyoto

Awwww man, nostalgia city!
That was my first ever white dwarf!
I had to argue with the newsagents in the village to get them to stock it.
Memories!
Thanks Kyoto, that really cheered me up!

I still love how, back then, "evil" models like Orks, Skaven, Necrons, and Chaos Warriors all had their heads growing out of their sternums...

You mean they don't do that anymore

!@#$ What year is it again??!?!?!

Damn kids! get off of my lawn!

And now a word from our sponsors...



As you can see even in 1998 GW was still running off monochrome DOS machines, three years after Windows 95.

Speaking of obsolete technology let's look at the early Necrons.



Wow, look at the care put into that logo! Someone must have put, 10, 15 minutes into it.



This is a fairly important step in the history of 40k, the first new army since Rogue Trader. The Necrons get 10 pages of White Dwarf with fluff, art, photos and rules.



The fluff is rather light, all from the Imperial perspective and focusing on how mysterious the Necrons are. I've heard speculation the Necrons were originally going to be the 'Iron Men' robots who rebelled and ended the Dark Age of Technology. But it does make it clear they are the Necrontyr and millions of years old.



Phase out is established early on with this early use of photoshop in WD.







Early rules made the Necrons much more powerful than they are now with T5 and 2+ saves.




AND they're fearless, AND they disrupt power weapons so you'll have to beat against these T5, 2+ save monsters with bare fists.

Yeah. Good luck.



They were 44 points, in a time when marines were 30 each.

I'll be back was different though, Necrons would die on a 1, return on a 6 and remain down on 2-5.

Scarabs were faster and had a support role in lowering tank armor.




So we have a new 'army' with only 2 units, one grossly powerful, the other interesting in a support role, and nothing in the middle.

Come back for RETRO REVIEW - WD218 when we see the early Destroyers and Necron Lord.

Crystal Pepsi was not in stores after like, 1993. A shame, as I liked what I remember of it.

Then again, I was 8.

Carry on.

Those are cool rules, the Repair roll and the Scarabs.

It was always my opinion that Necrons were released as a response to the impressively popular movie of the day, "Terminator 2." Who wouldn't want a whole army of Terminators? At least, that's my take on it.

Aaahhh! Memories.

Wait! Necrons don't work like that anymore? KK - you make me feel so old!

Solorg wrote:It was always my opinion that Necrons were released as a response to the impressively popular movie of the day, "Terminator 2." Who wouldn't want a whole army of Terminators? At least, that's my take on it.

Yes, the "I'll be back" rule is a clear indicator of this. Fortunately, the Necrons haven't adopted the machines rebelling against their creators plotline that every other piece of sci-fi fiction involving A.I. has done (Terminator, Matrix, Battlestar Galactica etc etc).

No instead they chose to steal their fluff wholesale from Dr Who's Cybermen.

Necrons were fodder for Warp Spiders in 2nd edition.

I was born in 1986. You people are all old.

Also, hey at least the necrons started out as powerful as they should be. Even if they are a confusingly unfluffy horde army now.

Don't miss the exciting conclusion!

here!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/225100.page