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Kid_Kyoto is sharing his Retro Review duties with me this week. I've tapped my vast collection of White Dwarfs and pulled out one of the last oversize issues.

This weeks Retro Review is of White Dwarf #102, published June 1988.

If you post to this thread and you had not yet been born when this issue was published, you are required to say so, it's The Law.

Now, this is an issue that introduces us to quite a lot in it's mere 80 page length.

As the cover gives you a hint of what's to come.

Along with the normal 4 pages of book reviews, we get our two page 'editorial' which is really more like getting to hang out a little bit with those crazy guys who design our games for us, full of gossip and general chatter. Man, I'm so glad that GW isn't like those other game companies, all about the money and selling stuff.

We have 4 pages of Pete Knifton's work; Pete's work really is what set the visual tone for all of Blood Bowl. As a matter of fact, if you were to pick one illustration alone to sum up what Blood Bowl was, this one does it very well.


This issue introduces us to the Fimir, giving not just 9 striking models, but also a full history, army list and an adventure to use both for WFRP and for WFB. I'm certain that this is an example of how WD will be doing things in the months and years to come.


Then we get our introduction to the world of Dark Future.


How the boys at GW were able to come up with such an original idea is beyond me. They better be careful about their IP though, you never know when some independent movie company down in Australia might try to steal your idea!

If you find yourself in a game shop, surrounded by those "old guys with the beards and long hair", and you hear them talking about the "good old days of 'Eavy Metal", this issue is the perfect example of what they are talking about. We get treated to 6 full pages covering how to paint faces, with 2 of those pages being complex detail covering shadow theory and shading techniques, a dozen illustrations and around 100 close up photos of miniatures. I'd post a scan, but I don't want to be the cause of mass riots of disaffected White Dwarf subscribers who suddenly realize what they've been missing.

Instead, I'll appease you with the introduction of that new fangled Eldar device, the War Walker.

We see that it's profile also introduces us to the Scatter Laser.


In this issue, we also get a two-page FAQ on WFRP. This should be particularly helpful for those who just recently bought WFRP Second Edition, since GW still hasn't bothered to fix any of the problems noted in this FAQ.

We get rules for Blood Bowl Kickers in this issue, as well as teams for the Dark Elves

Dwarves

And Humans


This ad tells us that Dungeonquest Catacombs is coming out soon.

Hmmm...wonder whether it'll be worthwhile picking that one up? Do you think it'll be as good as Curse of the Mummy's Tomb?

There is also a two page spread giving rules on how to create names for Daemons in your WFRP games (but really, a good deamon name is a good deamon name, no matter what system you're playing.


Finally, we are introduced to the Space Marine Medic.



Doesn't that guy look a little short to be a Space Marine? Hmmm, must be a Chapter I haven't heard of...

We also get a wound chart, in case you had forgotten just how complex Rogue Trader could be. Take note, this wound chart would be edited and reused in at least three other GW games over the next couple of decades…


To round out this issue, I'll leave you with the full page add for the upcoming box set from GW, the Rhino! Here we get such wonderful details like the fact that the Rhino is more that 12 feet tall in scale. No price as of yet, but with three full Rhinos in the box it must be an expensive set...maybe even as much as $25 or $30. Whew! With the way that GW keeps driving these prices up, pretty soon an army will cost more than $100! Outrageous!



Frederich

I love dry humor.

Man, I'm really jonesin' for some car combat (video game and/or table top - looking at Car Wars right now) of late, Dark Future would be totally sweet

- Salvage

Just makes you realize how crap the current WD is these days.

I'm liking that Dark Elf BB team, I think it looks better than the current one.

Great review!

Yeah, those Dark Elves are cool. I think I still have them

Much respect for giving love to Pete Knifton's work. I always loved it in the 2nd edition Blood Bowl stuff. IIRC he's the guy who did all that great IG art in WD 109, which Kyoto just reviewed. Love it.

So I tried to make a True Name for a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch. I got G'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'g.

I love the Space Wolves logo on the Blood Bowl helmet!

Salvage...

You want to go old school with Car Wars and skip the latest version. I love that game.

oomiestompa wrote:So I tried to make a True Name for a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch. I got G'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'g.

I think that would be more of a Slanesh Daemon inspired by Quagmire from Family Guy.

Balance wrote:

oomiestompa wrote:So I tried to make a True Name for a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch. I got G'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'g.

I think that would be more of a Slanesh Daemon inspired by Quagmire from Family Guy.

Exactly what I was thinking. ::high fives Balance::


Frederich

HungryTaz wrote:Salvage...

You want to go old school with Car Wars and skip the latest version. I love that game.

Car Wars effin rulz. Nuff said.

That's a lot of stuff in one magazine.

Boss_Salvage wrote:Man, I'm really jonesin' for some car combat (video game and/or table top - looking at Car Wars right now) of late, Dark Future would be totally sweet

- Salvage

The original version of Dark Future was bobbins. I remember reviewing it for a magazine. I was quite excited because I loved Car Wars and the little models in the GW box set were great.

I got the new game and read the basic rules. Then I looked for the advanced rules. I looked and looked for the section about manoeuvring cars -- turns and such like. However hard I looked I could not find it. I the end I realised there wasn't any! The whole game boiled down to this -- get a car each and put a turret mounted machine-gun or whatever on it. (That weapon combination hit on anything except a 1 and did damage on anything except a 1.) Roll half a dozen D6s and count who rolls more 1s. He is the loser.

So much Car Wars lovin', good stuff.

Let's say I wanted to give the game a try, which version / sets am I looking for? I've only actually seen the card game (with anime box art ) in store, so eBay would be my friend for this.

- Salvage

Balance wrote:I think that would be more of a Slanesh Daemon inspired by Quagmire from Family Guy.

That would be "G'gg'gg'gg'gg'gg'g." Only six g'gs because that's Slanesh's number.

Teufelskerl wrote:it's The Law.

Then we get our introduction to the world of Dark Future.
How the boys at GW were able to come up with such an original idea is beyond me. They better be careful about their IP though, you never know when some independent movie company down in Australia might try to steal your idea!

-mumble- I *am* the Law! -mumble-

For the game? GW stole the idea from the other Steve Jackson - they guy who had some actual game designer chops. It was amazing how much better Car Wars was compared to Dark Future. But, hey, at least Dark Future had models!

Car wars had models too! Or at any rate, Micromachines were the perfect scale. And you could get a Big Rig. And tanks!

It's nice to see the Fimir again. I just traded for a bunch of those, purely from nostalgia.

JohnHwangDD wrote:

Teufelskerl wrote:it's The Law.

Then we get our introduction to the world of Dark Future.
How the boys at GW were able to come up with such an original idea is beyond me. They better be careful about their IP though, you never know when some independent movie company down in Australia might try to steal your idea!

-mumble- I *am* the Law! -mumble-

For the game? GW stole the idea from the other Steve Jackson - they guy who had some actual game designer chops. It was amazing how much better Car Wars was compared to Dark Future. But, hey, at least Dark Future had models!

JWDD, not sure if you missed the sarcasm I spread thickly throughout the review, or if you were simply trying to plainly state that CW came out before DF. I'll take the latter course, since I'm certain that one glance through the art work makes it obvious that they were trying to recreate Mad Max and Road Warrior (hell, they use a frikken portrait of Mel Gibson in there, it's not like they were being circumspect.) It is fact that GW were Johnny-Come-Latelys to the "cars with guns" idea, stealing this idea wholesale from CW and the Mel Gibson movies.

They've become better about hiding their plagerism over the years; I think they've even started to believe the party line that "our games are entirely original."


Frederich

I was 17 Years old when that issue came out. In those days, the real Nerds waited for 'Dragon' Magazine, the 'wannabe's' collected WD. BB was the one of the best games at the time, and we were right into WHFB and WHFRP.

A few loopholes in the rules meant that when we had a 4-way 3,000 point Fantasy Battle, my mate Kenton fielded 3 Dragon-mounted Elf Champions, with all the 'Kit' you could put on them....

One of our opponents, fielded 'Undead'. 1 'Whirlwind ' spell in the first phase of the first turn blew Kenton off the field.!!! Alot of laughs by everyone who wasn't named 'Kenton' that day...

'Car Wars' blew chunks. It was/is/will always be crap.

Oh the days where GW was trying its Irish best to kill TSR, with competitive pricing, excellent 'background' to thier games and constant rules updates/additions....

Those were the 'Golden Days' of WD.

I buy toilet paper now, as the current issues are too 'Glossy' to use.........

Teufelskerl wrote:not sure if you missed the sarcasm I spread thickly throughout the review, or if you were simply trying to plainly state that CW came out before DF. I'll take the latter course,

Yup. 1980 vs 1988.

akira5665 wrote:'Car Wars' blew chunks. It was/is/will always be crap.

Pfft. Ignoring the 5.0 re-release, it's one of the better-done sim-like games.

JHDD-Pfft. Ignoring the 5.0 re-release, it's one of the better-done sim-like games

We will just have to agree on disagreeing Sir, lol!

I prefer to use my 'Scalectrix' set for a car sim....



Certainly makes more sense.......

Man, I remember when slot cars were AFX.

akira5665 wrote:I was 17 Years old when that issue came out. In those days, the real Nerds waited for 'Dragon' Magazine, the 'wannabe's' collected WD. BB was the one of the best games at the time, and we were right into WHFB and WHFRP.

See, that's kinda funny. Here in the States, the regular nerds waited for Dragon, and the hardcore gamers dug the dark future and dark fantasy in WD.