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I actually bought my first copy of white dwarf in years last month. The 3 bat reps were fun to read. Especially the chaos warriors versus dwarfs fighting over a tower. With lots of different angle pictures as the turns progressed. If they bothered to have that many bat reps an issue I would be tempted to get them again regularly. Though the stupid amount of advertising is unnecessary. Yes GW I know about your models. Stop ramming it down my throat already and give me more interesting articles to do with the hobby/settings aspects of the game.

I have always felt that it is completely pointless to dedicate so much of WD to advertising and the reason is this; you dont find White Dwarf on newspaper stands, bookstores like Barnes and Nobles or Borders, its not something that is easily accessible to people who are not looking for it. Therefore, the majority of people that read WD are enthusiats of the hobby who already have an general idea of what they are reading. It just doesnt make since to plug 35-40% of the mag with ads and then charge 9$ for it!

I completely agree with you though, I have sworn off buying anymore WD until they rectify the content and format of the mag. I will occasionally get sucked in by a piece of brief coverage about something im interested in (exp. the new releases of the BA kits next month will test my self control ). I decided to stop buying the magazine though about 3 months ago and just plug that extra 10$ into another facet of the hobby.

I must be in a minority because I can't stand battle reports! I can see no relevance to them and added to all the advertising bumpf in WD 99% of the magazine is complete bunkum. Battle reports to me are just about trying to sell the latest product and nothing more. Anyone looking for a new hobby magazine should try Miniature wargames who now carry a dedicated scifi/fantasy section each month. GW should really look back to issues pre 100 and remember what a good White Dwarf looks like.

It been terrible for years now. These threads are a regular feature on here as more and more people come to the same conclusion. What amuses me is that people who are giving up now, because of the witnessed decline, first bought the magazine after I'd already given up on it.

much like complaints about GW's pricing schemes, lamenting the quality of WD is a decades long tradition without any point/effect as it just gets worse unfortunately. i haven't bought an issue in 5+ years but even back then they were getting worse, going from having a few pages of advertisments in front (fully painted figs) and a few in the back (with naked metal bits since they used to have a bits service) to ads everywhere. in addition, at the end of my subscription, they added LOTR stuff and i lost another 1/4 to 1/3 of the magazine to a second game i don't play (WHFB being the first). i used to have a subscription because it was relatively inexpensive AND they gave you a free $10 bits order coupon with it (or a plastic boxed set for free one year IIRC). Rising prices + less actual content + less incentives (no bits/boxes) = no money from me.

No, it's not great and could be so much more. I'd like to see more of...

Scenarios & suggestions for side games like skirmish, kill team and border patrol
In depth painting articles
Modelling articles that don't use pre-existing kits
Army of the month (i.e. a well painted but non Eavy Metal army by a non GW employee)
Battle reports that make sense
Heraldry guides (like the Skaven and Empire books)

and less of...

Release of the month (skaven issue this month feastured two separate articles talking about this months releases!?)
Release of the month Battle Reports (pointless as you know who's going to win)
Standard Bearer - pointless pontificating by JJ
Scenarios and Expansions designed to sell more models e.g. Spearhead

I agree that WD has gone rapidly down hill since Paul left, while he was in charge WD was at its best, A tale of four gamers was the best article(s) i have ever read.

BUT

I don't agree with the people that say that they dont want to pay for the magazine as only a percentage of it is for their game. Take LotR for example, i personally loved their articles until a year or so ago and didn't care for 40k or WHFB but i respected that it is GW's magazine so they have to include it.

It wouldn't be at all wise for GW to put out four different magazines, one for LotR, 40k, WHFB and Specialist games.

warboss wrote:much like complaints about GW's pricing schemes, lamenting the quality of WD is a decades long tradition without any point/effect as it just gets worse unfortunately. i haven't bought an issue in 5+ years but even back then they were getting worse, going from having a few pages of advertisments in front (fully painted figs) and a few in the back (with naked metal bits since they used to have a bits service) to ads everywhere. in addition, at the end of my subscription, they added LOTR stuff and i lost another 1/4 to 1/3 of the magazine to a second game i don't play (WHFB being the first). i used to have a subscription because it was relatively inexpensive AND they gave you a free $10 bits order coupon with it (or a plastic boxed set for free one year IIRC). Rising prices + less actual content + less incentives (no bits/boxes) = no money from me.

I stopped buying regularly or even semi-regularly around the time LOTR came out. Not because of LOTR though, there were some good articles like the one about building Khazad-dûm, it just that was around the time I lost interest.

Flashman wrote:Release of the month Battle Reports (pointless as you know who's going to win)

Scenarios and Expansions designed to sell more models e.g. Spearhead

as for the first point, the imperial guard have a fine tradition of LOSING their codex release battle reports in previous editions. i can't comment about the most recent codex as i haven't been keeping up with WD.

as for the second point, i'd actually counter that a significant number of people actually LIKE those scenarios and expansions. for me, that's specifically the type of content i WOULD like to see as long as its labelled appropriately. back in 3rd edition, we had plenty of variant lists for existing armies, expansions, scenarios, and vehicle construction rules to boot and people enjoyed the hell out of them. the only problem was that some of them were completely overpowered (necessitating corrections in later WD like the VDR or reprints in yearly chapter approved compilations). as long as they're clearly labelled experimental and with opponent's permission (excluding it from most tournies), i think that it would be a welcome addition to friendly games.


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TheBlackout wrote:Take LotR for example, i personally loved their articles until a year or so ago and didn't care for 40k or WHFB but i respected that it is GW's magazine so they have to include it.

It wouldn't be at all wise for GW to put out four different magazines, one for LotR, 40k, WHFB and Specialist games.

i'm not saying that it shouldn't be in there but the relative decrease in 40k content (the only GW game i play) was a factor in my decision to not renew my subscription. i think a magazine should cater its country edition to the percentage of sales of a certain game (with some obvious leeway for a new edition release of any game getting more coverage for 1-2 months). if LOTR makes up 50% of total revenue in the UK, it should get *roughly* that percentage of coverage in the magazine. if it gets 15% in the US, it should get *roughly* that in WD here. unfortunately, i suspect those are pipe dreams (much like increasing the content to ad ratio).

I still buy W.D and have done since issue 274. I still love it.
Its changed over the years but i dont mind.
But nowdays i think it could be used for so much more. They should cut the core games section right down and devote the rest of the space to the now unsupported games. And then do special issues devoted to games like gorkamorka. And only put the rules in W.D, in other words give people a reason to want to buy it.


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I still buy W.D and have done since issue 274. I still love it.
Its changed over the years but i dont mind.
But nowdays i think it could be used for so much more. They should cut the core games section right down and devote the rest of the space to the now unsupported games. And then do special issues devoted to games like gorkamorka. And only put the rules in W.D, in other words give people a reason to want to buy it.

Shepherd23 wrote:Every since Paul "Fat Bloke" Sawyer left WD has steadily gone downhill to where it is today.

True, when he and his team did the original "Tale of Four Gamers", good times.

CptCortez128 wrote:I just wanted to vent my frustrations over the state of WD as of late...

Of late? It hasn't been good for a very, very long time. Even back when it was good, the Citadel Journal was better.

Fat Bloke was awesome. I occasionally buy white dwarfs now when I have spare money just 'cause the Battle Reports are fun and have nice pictures, but otherwise it's painful to read. I stick to my collection from the 90's mostly.

I agree with what everyone has said about the advertisements being useless to the people who actually read it. Do they ever go out and ask gamers what they want to see, that seems like it would be a great idea for them.

White Dwarf today is just proof of the way GW focus on new customers. The number of veteran players regularly buying the magazine must be pretty low.

At my lgs you can buy these old, used dw's for only €1

so like you may have guessed I bought a lot of 'em

the old dw's are great. I love reading about mordheim or inquisitor. A few weeks ago I bought that months dw and I must say, it's awfull compared to the older ones.

First of, there are much less pages, the writing style is gak too. And the advertisement, it's just way to much.

People are talking about 'old' White Dwarfs with Necrounda and Mordhiem in them et al.

Real old White Dwarfs had non GW products and role playing scenarios.

You cant appreciate how far White Dwarf is fallen until you have read a copy from before issue 150. 80's White Dwarfs were high quality gaming mags, and thats not just the nostalgia speaking some of the best RPG scenarios ever made were White Dwarf originals.

After this when the mag became incrwasingly house were were compensated with the early 40K works of Andy Chambers.

Yes, its fallen a long long way since then.

Actually, comparing old WD's to the new ones I find that the amount of advertising is about the same really. The older issues just had great all-round stuff in them. Like the soapbox section by Jervis Johnson (!) where he talks about this and that and actually brings forth neat (again: !) ideas that actually sound fun (!). Oh and Stillmania, that deserves special mention. Nigel is just ace.

And I'm guessing this FLGS is SubCultures?

brettz123 wrote:

BrookM wrote:I've been a long time buyer, but I've officially swapped it for Wargames Illustrated.

Thats what I did about six months ago and could not be happier. I find the articles in Wargames Illustrated full of interesting terrain and ideas. And on top of that most of the miniatures featured in the articles are painted by gamers. Even if you don't like Flames of War the magazine will still have a lot to offer.

The only down side is that it is for historical gaming and the most fantasy or science fiction I have seen is some pulp WWII. So it may not be for everyone here.

As I'm also a historical games player, and for years I bought Wargames Illustrated, but I stopped when it became a glossy ad mag too. I picked up a copy last year and was really disappointed by the shallow nature of the articles - it was a FoW fest which frankly is to WW2 wargaming what a Tesco ready meal is to gourmet cuisine.

LavuranGuard wrote:

brettz123 wrote:

BrookM wrote:I've been a long time buyer, but I've officially swapped it for Wargames Illustrated.

Thats what I did about six months ago and could not be happier. I find the articles in Wargames Illustrated full of interesting terrain and ideas. And on top of that most of the miniatures featured in the articles are painted by gamers. Even if you don't like Flames of War the magazine will still have a lot to offer.

The only down side is that it is for historical gaming and the most fantasy or science fiction I have seen is some pulp WWII. So it may not be for everyone here.

As I'm also a historical games player, and for years I bought Wargames Illustrated, but I stopped when it became a glossy ad mag too. I picked up a copy last year and was really disappointed by the shallow nature of the articles - it was a FoW fest which frankly is to WW2 wargaming what a Tesco ready meal is to gourmet cuisine.

I guess you had a WWII themed issue then. So far it is pretty light on FoW, with the odd historical scenario and a bat-rep.

I liked the early wd's, 80-120ish. the readers letters, paranoia and stuff. It was a good old read, i dont mind the new wd but i would like to go back to seeing "normal" standard mini's, conversion articles and scenery etc. I find i now buy tamiya model military international to get my hobby article fix for painting/weathering vehicles and terrain/conversion tips. It is a shame there is not a good sci-fi oriented wargames magazine out there?

I have a few old White Dwarfs. The are bloody brilliant.
In one of them there's this article on converting Custodes, and the models are beautiful. And that was 2003 ish.
Now it's a rag. A sad rag. Filled with Jervis dribblings Spase Maines.

I remember the days when they would put terrain pieces, rules, and wargear cards/strategy cards in them. That was when they pushed their games by showing you the rules/ battle reports and said here are the tactics involved.

My favorite GW is epic and they did tons of epic articles and the firepower magazine was great as well... too bad they don't do those other mags anymore :(

CptCortez128 wrote:So.. does anyone have any alternative mags they can recommend?... i know all the stuff is readily available at the tip of your fingers and a search engine... But to me their is something "propa" about having a physical mag to read.

...Also, whats a man to do while having a dump? Im not going back to reading product labels!!!!!

Wargames Illustrated.

Page per page a far superior read, not to mention a history lession while you play... Wheeee!!!!

No Quarter.

A great magazine, everything that WD used to be. It has its fare share of advertising, but on the whole actually promotes its game with good add in material.

Infinity, Malfaux, and FU-UK are great sources of inspiration on the web, aside from the great Dakka.

Liam mate, I totally agree. Long time no speak by the way how are the 2nd edition Crimson fists coming along?

I don't buy it as a rule. I bought the DE one - was useless. It's good if you don't have the internet and live in a cave. Even then it's not great.

I hate the staged batreps (with the crappiest armies vs the best ubar new cheeze) and also the whole 'the new >toy< is amazing, I'm goign to get SIXTEEN MILLION OF THEM FOR MY ARMY. Well that's great. But you get them at 1/2 price, free or are lying to us.

300 was my first issue, HOW much stuff did it have? Chapter approved, adeptus astartes, FRIGGIN short stories, free s***: WHY don't they have short stories anymore? I still buy it, but because the pictures are amazing inspiration, and I do enjoy the articles *even though the editing is awful, so many typo's*. I even enjoy Standard bearer from time to time. BTW why does everyone hate Jervis, What did he do. I know someone on this site knows someone who works at GW, could you do me a favor and ask them who's making these decisions, if it's the stock holders, I'll sell my left nut if it's enough get the majority share and get some of my fellow dakkaites ideas into action... Whew! Ok, deep breath. I'm gonna go cry in a corner now.

Has anyone written to GW and asked why the WD's are so bad these days? The reply is both funny and offensive, completely missing the point that WD is not a catalogue and should have things to read which doesn't involve the constant showig off of 'eavy Metal and painting skills you need a microscope to achieve.

Why did they stop the citadel journal? that was awesome!

I was supposed to get a WD Subscription from my parents for my brithday (last freaking May, and still nothing). I'm now going to just ask for the money so they DON'T buy it, because going through my small collection, I noticed how bad it really is.


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Elmodiddly wrote:Has anyone written to GW and asked why the WD's are so bad these days? The reply is both funny and offensive, completely missing the point that WD is not a catalogue and should have things to read which doesn't involve the constant showig off of 'eavy Metal and painting skills you need a microscope to achieve.

Do you have one of these replies you can show us? Or at least type up?

Calibanite Lion wrote:Why did they stop the citadel journal? that was awesome!

Ages ago. They also did a range of smaller magazines Fanatic covered all the specialist games but there were also separate magazines for games like Gang War for Necromunda, Exterminatus for Inquisitor, Firepower for Epic 40K, Gubbinz for Gorkamorka and Town Cryer for Mordheim.