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White Dwarf is garbage. It is like a stupid tax for those who feel they are not getting bent over hard enough from GW prices.

mattyrm wrote: My missus got me a 12 month subscription last Christmas, so I've read the last 12, and I did of course demand she doesn't get me one this year.

I read this as missus trying to accommodate your hobby interests. Nothing to complain about, better that than most of the alternatives.

Oh come on! It's a magazine for crying out loud!

Have you ever read a womens magazine of the a similar stripe? You're looking at half again the price ($15, give or take) for LESS content, and MORE adds than you'd find in a white dwarf. I don't mean gossip magazines, I mean the interest related ones. Wedding magazines, pregnancy magazines, that sort of thing.

Look, no one uses a magazine as a learning resource. Not any more. The internet is far more effective at that sort of thing. It wouldn't matter HOW good their painting articles were, or any other content was, you could always find the same or better information for free on the internet.

So what is the purpose of the magazine? To fill in a bit of time with games-related reading. Like, when you're on the couch with your wife, on the toilet, on public transport, fishing, or whatever. If you don't want something to fill in those gaps, then don't get a magazine. It's simple.

Last WD I bought was the one detailing the 5e IG codex. The marketing behind it baffles me. There's a large fanbase that GW could appeal to with minimal changes, but they simply don't do it.

Wonder when they'll drop LOTR. No offense to the fans of it, but nobody really plays, at least according to several store owners, dakka posts, and random war gamers.

I actually disagree with this one, I think decembers white dwarf has been the best one in last couple of years it has a lot of hobby stuff included in it admittedly its nothing as good as they were 5-10 years ago but I think this months is worth buying

elspedo wrote:I actually disagree with this one, I think decembers white dwarf has been the best one in last couple of years it has a lot of hobby stuff included in it admittedly its nothing as good as they were 5-10 years ago but I think this months is worth buying

I'm really curious what makes it the best. It's not the worst as far as I can tell but I'm seeing nothing in here that really piques my interest. John Blanche's column is full of other peoples' painting, which doesn't interest me as much as what Blanche would be doing. Cool pictures at least. If you're a Fantasy player it's definitely more valuable to you this month though.

Kaldor wrote:Oh come on! It's a magazine for crying out loud!

Have you ever read a womens magazine of the a similar stripe? You're looking at half again the price ($15, give or take) for LESS content, and MORE adds than you'd find in a white dwarf. I don't mean gossip magazines, I mean the interest related ones. Wedding magazines, pregnancy magazines, that sort of thing.

Look, no one uses a magazine as a learning resource. Not any more. The internet is far more effective at that sort of thing. It wouldn't matter HOW good their painting articles were, or any other content was, you could always find the same or better information for free on the internet.

So what is the purpose of the magazine? To fill in a bit of time with games-related reading. Like, when you're on the couch with your wife, on the toilet, on public transport, fishing, or whatever. If you don't want something to fill in those gaps, then don't get a magazine. It's simple.

The problem is however that at one time the magazine used to be a damned fine read, full of informative articles and useful information, and all of these complaints are from those who remember that superior product - a magazine that did indeed produce something that you couldn't find on the internet (take a look at Wargames Illustrated for example, at what could be done). But perhaps more importantly, it felt like it was genuinely written by hobbyists. It was even humorous at times, especially under the stewardship of 'fat bloke' and the guy who looked slightly like a Goblin who followed after him (perhaps Guy Pearce? Or am I just thinking of the actor from Memento? ) The problem is since the company went public, I think GW just stopped spending money on it - hence no journalism, anything like decent writing, and more obvious advertising than the late night shopping channel.

So, maybe it's just that women's magazines have always been of a similar quality? Who knows why there isn't the same level of complaint (although to be honest I haven't spent that much time looking through specialist forums about them!)

Seriously mate, spend a couple of $ on an issue (maybe anything from issue 200-300) off ebay, then grip your hair and howl, lamenting what has been lost!

Skippy wrote:I haven't bought it for 15 years now, doesnt sound like im missing much!

Are there any good miniature painting, modelling mags in the uk?

I buy Figure International. It covers mostly 54mm stuff and upwards, but occassionally you'll find a 28mm figure being discussed.

I bought Januarys because it covers one of my armies, with a release I've been looking forward to.

It also has a rules update for Storm of Magic in it, and part 1 of a warhammer 'expansion' for fighting civil wars.

So I can't say I was disappointed by this issue.

But then it was only $12au. I've bought worse for that.

Pacific wrote:Seriously mate, spend a couple of $ on an issue (maybe anything from issue 200-300) off ebay, then grip your hair and howl, lamenting what has been lost!

I've been collecting White Dwarf since the start of 3rd Edition (I got into the game on the cusp of 2nd and 3rd editions). And trust me, nothings been lost. It's just in a different place now. Back in the day, White Dwarf was about the ONLY way to hear about other hobbyists outside your own group of players, the only way to learn new skills get other peoples opinions, trial rules, background, or any information that wasn't directly printed in a rulebok or codex.

But the internet changed all that. I can get much higher quality articles, opinion pieces, tutorials or whatever I want for free, as opposed to paying for it in a magazine.

Magazines in general are dying. No one needs them anymore. White Dwarf included. So it's morphed from an actual interesting read, to something you can use to kill a few minutes. Some people are sad about it, and upset about it, but at the end of the day they need to get used to it. GW didn't kill White Dwarf, the internet did.

PS - Thanks for the conversational tone, so many people can take these issues too emotionally!

Kaldor wrote:

Pacific wrote:Seriously mate, spend a couple of $ on an issue (maybe anything from issue 200-300) off ebay, then grip your hair and howl, lamenting what has been lost!

I've been collecting White Dwarf since the start of 3rd Edition (I got into the game on the cusp of 2nd and 3rd editions). And trust me, nothings been lost. It's just in a different place now. Back in the day, White Dwarf was about the ONLY way to hear about other hobbyists outside your own group of players, the only way to learn new skills get other peoples opinions, trial rules, background, or any information that wasn't directly printed in a rulebok or codex.

But the internet changed all that. I can get much higher quality articles, opinion pieces, tutorials or whatever I want for free, as opposed to paying for it in a magazine.

Magazines in general are dying. No one needs them anymore. White Dwarf included. So it's morphed from an actual interesting read, to something you can use to kill a few minutes. Some people are sad about it, and upset about it, but at the end of the day they need to get used to it. GW didn't kill White Dwarf, the internet did.

PS - Thanks for the conversational tone, so many people can take these issues too emotionally!

So glad to see posters like this here, we need a lot more of this.

As Kaldor said, print media is dying, you can get everything you might need for the hobby online.

I remember White Dwarf Fondly, when small, heading to the NAFFI to secure the one and only copy they got in each month.

there used to be free miniatures on the front every now and again and it would keep me updated with rules fluff and comedy Battle reports that had stories, something just like this:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/229485.page

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:

I have never been so disillusioned with the hobby. In fact, I won't be purchasing GW products ever again. FOW and Mantic all the way.

Make sure you subscribe to the mantic newsletter, they're now giving away the mantic journal as a free download (it's a much better publication on the whole).

I quit White Dwarf last year so I could focus on Wargames Illustrated instead. Only for the LGS to stop selling WI.

Why?

Would you recommend WI? I've read a few and thought about getting a sub.

If you like historical wargaming or just plain military history in general, go for it. I fall into the latter category, as the mag does cater to that perfectly. Plus the ads they run have pushed me into the right direction on more than one occasion.

Delephont wrote:

Skippy wrote:I haven't bought it for 15 years now, doesnt sound like im missing much!

Are there any good miniature painting, modelling mags in the uk?

I buy Figure International. It covers mostly 54mm stuff and upwards, but occassionally you'll find a 28mm figure being discussed.

Ill have a look for that, cheers!

VikingScott wrote:Would you recommend WI? I've read a few and thought about getting a sub.

It's a decent enough read. It erring more and more towards BF, if that is an issue.

I keep meaning ti get a sub cos it can be a pain to get in Smiths plus the FoW freebies available are a nice bonus.

notprop wrote:

VikingScott wrote:Would you recommend WI? I've read a few and thought about getting a sub.

It's a decent enough read. It erring more and more towards BF, if that is an issue.

I keep meaning ti get a sub cos it can be a pain to get in Smiths plus the FoW freebies available are a nice bonus.

Agreed, they do seem to put the BF ding-dong in their mouth a lot from time to time, especially when they do FoW bat-reps, which are a waste of space IMHO with those two page shots of a turn in progress. But other than that I love this mag a lot.

BrookM wrote:

notprop wrote:

VikingScott wrote:Would you recommend WI? I've read a few and thought about getting a sub.

It's a decent enough read. It erring more and more towards BF, if that is an issue.

I keep meaning ti get a sub cos it can be a pain to get in Smiths plus the FoW freebies available are a nice bonus.

Agreed, they do seem to put the BF ding-dong in their mouth a lot from time to time, especially when they do FoW bat-reps, which are a waste of space IMHO with those two page shots of a turn in progress. But other than that I love this mag a lot.

That is because BF owns WI.

Frankly when news of the buy out came out I was worried that the whole magazine would be focused only on FoW. It constantly amazes me (and keeps me buying WI from time to time), that this wasn't the case and that WI continues to have articles in it dedicated to other companies and rules systems.

I stopped buying WD roughly about 9 years ago when the mag started to go downhill.

You know, I do buy them now and then. I find them a a good source of inspiration and I'll be honest, I mainly buy them for the pictures. Lame I know, but I just love their setups with lavishly painted armies on lavish game boards with the scenery.

Although yeah, they are kind of an infomercial anymore.

I used to really like White Dwarf, not that some of the issues weren't mostly devoid of content (like someone had surreptitiously sliced out the articles before putting it back on the rack!).

However I remember really liking some of the coverage of Mordheim in it. Particularly the terrain building articles. Oooh, I love a bit of foamboardy goodness!

What Kaldor says is certainly true - one can get better content online for free. However why can't such content be filtered through and licensed for the magazine?

I don't necessarily have the time or inclination to hunt through the deluge of content available. It'd be nice if some guys with some experience could pick out the best of it and stick it in a magazine. Throw in some battle reports, some news, and for gods' sakes some BIG photos.

I recall seeing new miniatures in the mag and thinking "Would it have killed you to print it a tad bigger?"

I don' t even bother torrenting