No more White Dwarf for me...

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**4oursword**

If I wanted a legion of adverts and too many pictures, I'd pick up an Argos Catalogue.

I wanted WD to be like it was with my earlier issues, like WD328, which was a lovely read with all kinds of stuff in it.

**mattyrm**

WD blows, my missus got me a 12 month sub, and it didnt get renewed. Adverts, Jervis dog gak column and more adverts.

I used to read them on the toilet, but frankly I found it more interesting reading the back of the shower gel bottle.

**Breotan**

I have to admit while I like the new paints, the current painting articles in the WD are the epitomy of lazy. Gone are the days of 'Eavy Metal, I guess.

**Jayce_The_Ace**

I cancelled my subscription last year, and I had every issue back to 136, for the same reason as most people hear- WD is just a poor, pathetic, abysmal shadow of its' former self.

I read Wargames Illustrated these days. For me it has all the ingredients a good wargames magazine should have, and in some respects, is what WD used to be.

I don't think that most people are looking back at old WD's with rose tinted glasses, there simply is no comparison - WD used to be great, now it isn't..

**Pacific**

Battleworthy Arts wrote:This particular tired complaint is perhaps the most frustrating of all. Every issue lately has had new rules, painting guides, golden demon galleries, armies on parade features, and/or new scenarios.

You're mad because the are adverts... in a magazine?!?!?!?!

White dwarf is better than it has EVER been... At least since issue 104, which was MY first issue. There certainly have been dark periods in WD quality, but this is not one of them. If you find yourself hating white dwarf these days, you might want to consider the idea you just WANT to hate it.

Wow, the wonderful nature of subjectivity..

Even the GW 'management' have acknowledged that the magazine is not up to spec, and it is going to undergo some serious structural changes.

As Mattyrm said, at present it's not even worthy of a toilet read. It's absolutely soul-less pap, that could have been written by a Google bot program.

**Vermillion**

Lord of Timbraxia wrote:I know that there has been a slew of stories about White dwarf, the price hikes, and so on so forth. But today, WD 390 came through the door of my house, and I came to the realisation.

I'm going to have to cancel.

It sounds so easy, but WD and I have always had a special relationship. Since I was five years old, when my Dad bought both me and my brother 1 WD (featuring an article about the War of the Beard betwixt Elves and Dwarves), I have feverishly read each and every article, looked at every picture, put more birthday and christmas money than I can fathom into the hobby, and genuinely fallen in love with the background.

I'm 16 now, and a couple of months back, a letter came from GW informing me that I only had a couple of months left on my subscription. Today signalled the last month, as the 'Summer of Flyers' issue finally arrived. The Storm Talons, the Dakkajets and the Night Scythes all took precedence, when you could see them between the adverts and and shiny-new-toy-ness of it all.
I looked back at the previous issue, and saw basically the same, but with different models (the Newcron 2nd wave). Then back at WD 388, when the Empire was released. Again, the same.

I came to the realisation that White dwarf was not the reliable old friend that I had come to know anymore. I went back to WD 290, 100 issues previously, 100 months, 8.33 years ago, back when I was just about celebrating my 8th Birthday. A space marine chapter creator, a fun battle report featuring the FW Fighta-Bommer, Ork Trukks made from toy trucks and the Chimera armoured cars converted using an article dating back to the 1st / 2nd edition (if I am correct). I think I actually shed a tear when I compared them together. My love for the hobby has known no bounds. I remember tracking down both Gorkamorka books just to play with some Trukk boyz I bought the day before. I remember playing path to Glory, the Chaos warband supplement spread over 4 WDs (my tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth issues, God I remember them so well). Cherishing the hour I got in Games Workshops for my birthday (the only time I could buy things for the whole year, until I was about 13). My adoration has been payed back with chibi-talons and planes that look like a five year old attacked a spitfire with papier-mache.

It is with a heavy heart that my oldest companion through my hardships (parent's divorce, general loneliness, rejection and betrayal by friends, typical school-nerd hardship) must now be removed from my waiting list. I can only hope that Wargames Illustrated (which has been a companion of mine for a couple of years now through my rampant spring of becoming sociable) can fill the void so capriciously left by the GW Advertising team. But what about you?

Has this been the turning point, where you can only now say 'no more' because of the boring, bland, shine-selling methods of the current WD? I know it has been for me.

It's strange but I had this realisation before WD 290. Not too odd given my age of 34 now, but I had continued buying it up until the "look at our new ruleset of 40k" edition.
Before all that I could see the magazine had dropped in quality. Even after it went pure GW stuff it had some saving graces, hence I shelled out for it. Entire rulesets for armies were the norm in RT days, even a full empire army list for 4th edition made it into the covers. I kept buying it even when the months came that the issue was devoted to games I didn't have the cash flow at that young age to play as the money was going on other things, not just gaming. Even throughout 2nd edition 40k between the "look new toys!" articles (some even got rules like the battle bunker cut out and adeptus arbites, as well as IG preview rules) and ofcourse the usual "hey new army, guess what, battle report and it wins hands down its so good!!" junk there was articles worth having and reading.
At one point they raised the cost to us, but they were giving they said. They added a card section or two each issue. On it were useful things like dungeon bowl templates, counters for new things, new wargear items etc. But then, they stopped it a few months on, and left the price the same.
That have tried I have heard to get bits like that into WD again, the new flyer rules, nightspinner rules etc. But for me these came too late. Price rises of the magazine for so little articles of interest in the issues put me off getting it again the odd time I flicked through one, the constant wow look at this go buy now we command you attitude is insulting. Even the painting articles they want you to buy an overpriced bunch of glossy toilet paper for, and the new book. Seriously they have lost the plot in my eyes. Even these new rules additions held no interest, not even slightly tempting me despite my huge collection of eldar. Hell I don't even play 40k anymore admittedly but thats another rant

don't worry though, you will miss it a little, wondering what you're missing, then you'll realise not that much and remember here, on the internet, you can find a lot more, for a lot less, and also actually be told what is coming out in the shops before the GW jumps out yelling "HEY LOOK AT THIS!!".

**H.B.M.C.**

I think the last issue of WD I set out with the intent to buy was the one that had the Trial Assault Rules for 3rd Ed, and even then I was only buying it for those rules - I hadn't bought a WD for quite some time before that issue. Now I've picked up a few issues since then (one's focusing around the time of the EoT campaign, and for the Rules of Engagement mission builder, and some around the time Apoc came out), but I don't remember buying them with any intent. That issue with the TAR in it, with a nice Chaos Marine on the front cover on an off-white smokey background, is the last one I set out to buy on purpose, and not incidentally.

But WD died for me the day I realised I was paying AUD$10 for a magazine the same size as the one I had paid AUD$5 for a few years prior, and that Fat Dwarf had slowly lost page count to the point where it had returned to it's pre-issue 190-200 size. Issue 216. It was the same issue where a "Battle Report" consisted of an army shot of each army, two isometric photographs of the battlefield covered in fancy "we just discovered photoshop!" graphics, no detailed maps, no turn-by-turn accounts, and then a summation of the battle (I was shocked when I started reading the players' concluding thoughts, because I immediately went "Wait... am I missing pages? Where was the battle report?").

I remember when WD was fun, when the guys who wrote it were the GW "celebrities", so you could barrack for Jake Thorntorn to win over Adi Wood (again), or wonder if Jervis would ever beat Andy Chambers (he never did). Y'know, back when WD used to be fun.

I don't know why anyone would bother these days.

Breotan wrote:I have to admit while I like the new paints, the current painting articles in the WD are the epitomy of lazy. Gone are the days of 'Eavy Metal, I guess.

Well they've reached the point with their paint range that they did a few years back with their terrain - no need for creativity, just push what's available in stores.

**DarkStarSabre**

Honest confession time.

I have a problem. I'm a completionist. I like having things as complete sets and up until late, despite all the gak WD at least had some things of interest and their painting articles were normally top notch.

But then the advent of the new paints came. And their articles along with all their online counterparts just upped and disappeared to be replaced with a horrible, horrible new format which leaves very little room for variation, has no advice on more complex techniques and never shows alternate schemes or variations on a technique.

Gone is all the detailed information, the examples, the encouragement to experiment. And that has finally killed it for me. The fact that each month was pushing what's new was a bit offputting at times, I'll be honest.

But the fact they now feel they need to cram their bland new paint range down our throat with articles that have nothing on the older Masterclass articles is just downright insulting. You have a new paint range. We get it. Seriously. We do.

Don't believe there's a difference?

Look at the SW army painting guide from a few months back. Look at the articles this month.

And compare them to....say...the Mounted Chaos Lord masterclass article in the December 2008 WD. That very article is the one I am using for my FW Death Guard as the armour tones are perfect for what I want.

But the same thing these days? A small stage-by-stage thumbnail shot with a picture of a brush and the word 'glaze'. No details on how to glaze, how to mix, what consistency you want....

After this month I'm done. I'll pick it up for the flyer rules.

I'll only pick it up for rules or if an article catches my eye. But those have become less and less these days.

**Tibbsy**

I used to have a subscription, and I'd look forward to it's arrival each month, but I stopped renewing it a few years back. It was just getting too... Bland...

Bland enough that I can't even remember the issue I stopped, or most of the issues before it. But I do fondly remember issues from many years ago, back when Paul "Fat Bloke" Sawyer was at the helm and they actually had content. It had been going downhill for a while, but I kept renewing the subscription. I felt that eventually it would get better.

It didn't. Which is a real shame...

So I finally parted ways. I still re-read some of the older issues, but the later ones lie neglected. If I ever flick through them at all it takes me about 10 seconds to find the interesting articles, no more that 2 minutes to read them and back on the shelf they go.

**dantay_xv**

I am in full agreement, 16 pages of ads, before even reaching Jervis' Standard bearer (not including the technical schematics of storm talons and bommers....

Also the paint guides are garbage, I agree with Darkstarsabre on this too..

I actually called GW and complained about the WD and I have cancelled my subscription

Suchj a dam shame that the Stormtalon is only for codex marines, I know a few DA players who would have loved to see this in a ravenwing army.

This might sound noob-ish but at the end of Jervis' column it syas

"And with that clarion call I will leave you for another month. As ever if you have any feedback or comments on this months Standard Bearer, or indeed on any aspect of the Games Workshop hobby, please feel free to write to me at the address on the right. I receive quite a lot of letters, so can't always reply, but I do read all the letters, but I do read all of the etters I receive and I take everything you say very seriously indeed. I look forward to hearing from you soon....."

Address: Jervis Johnson, c/o White Dwarf design studio, Games Workshop, Willow Road,Nottingham, NG7 2WS, United Kingdom.

Why not send him all the complaint letters about WD, and inform him of cancelled WD subscriptins outlining logically why the WD is so poor and is leading to a general drop in GW gamers.. leave out all the price gouging etc.... or you will be pushed off as a hater.
I will even though I do not expect anything to happen...

Maybe I am a noob lol, This month's standard bearer
"The range of things you can do gives the hobby real depth and means as long as you have the 'hobby gene' which means you can't resist the allure of a finely crafted Citadel miniature that you will always be able to find that special bit of the hobby that seems to have been made for you. It also means that should you grow jaded with some part of the hobby you can find something else to take your interest".

**Palindrome**

I haven't read WD for years, probably nearly a decade now. Its not the adverts that bothered me, magazines are crammed with them in general, it is the lack of content. The final straw for me was when I read the same fluff article 5 times in 5 different GW publiucations (4 of which were in WD I think). Once upon a time WD was great (or at least it seemed like it at the time) but currently it is on a par with the free magazines that you get on planes, its probably worse in fairness.

**Flashman**

I've had an opportunity to flick through this month's edition now.

On the plus side...

Rules for the new fliers (actually skimmers) were ok and is the kind of thing GW should be using WD for. The "Scramble!" scenario wasn't bad either. Shame about the toys that they released alongside these rules.

The feature on the Savage Orc army was ok and reminiscent of some of the army of month features they used to do. Unfortunately and by their own admission, they have already done an article on this army about a year ago.

On the downside...

Painting articles are still appalling. The new paint range is arguably the most interesting thing that GW has done this year, so to turn the related articles into "painting by numbers" is all the more painful.

The features that accompanies the new fliers rules are dumb. One ok scenario (see above), a "let's paint the Black Reach models again" article and pages of fluff about a battle featuring fliers. How on earth they thought this would make you excited about their new toys is mind boggling. The fact that it makes you nostalgic for the crap battle reports of recent years shows the new depths the magazine is sinking to.

**Graphite**

Latest WD:

New rules for cool stuff for an army I own? Awesome.

Background for a campaign which DOESN'T feature Ultramarines? Cool.

No horrible, horrible battle report (seriously, every month?). Great!

Painting articles... hmm. I'll let the "new paints" bed in then expect these to start getting a bit more detailed again.

All in all, this WD could have been written for me. Best this year.

(Not best ever, by a long way)

**Barksdale**

You were still buying white dwarf?

**happygolucky**

Graphite wrote:Latest WD:

New rules for cool stuff for an army I own? Awesome.

Background for a campaign which DOESN'T feature Ultramarines? Cool.
No horrible, horrible battle report (seriously, every month?). Great!

Painting articles... hmm. I'll let the "new paints" bed in then expect these to start getting a bit more detailed again.

All in all, this WD could have been written for me. Best this year.

(Not best ever, by a long way)

To be fair (since I like ultamarines... yeah I went there I confessed

) They havent appereed in WD since the necrons new codex last year... its always been either the top tier marines or IG.

Also people say the painting guides are rubbish... I was one step ahead, when I tried somthing from the 'evy metal team in 2008... it did not work hence I will confess again I have always skipped past the painting guides (yeah I went there again

).

**Kaldor**

Lord of Timbraxia wrote:WD and I have always had a special relationship. Since I was five years old

You want to know the major change with WD since you were 5 years old?

I'll give you a hint: It's not the magazine. It's the fact that you were five years old.

You probably don't watch sesame street anymore either.

**Harriticus**

WD should save the last 20 pages for a catalog/whats new section. Do that, and the magazines quality would turn around drastically.

**Jackal**

Just started to dig through old issues and you really can see the difference -_-

BA release (with the old baal, meph, dante etc) was quality.
Had 4 pages of promotion, then a ton of extra stuff like terrain building guides, batreps etc.
Stuff you are actually interested in.

Even things like the orks vs orks vs orks vs orks WD was great.
Small promo pages, small prices and a ton of great reading followed by an amusing batrep.
You know, the ones that werent tailored to sponsor the new army or unit.

Edit: spelling issues -_-

**DoctorZombie**

I liked to look at the pictures of miniatures back when it was 6 bucks, and now I only get it occasionally. 9$ is a tad pricey.

**Bullockist**

I've been reading NQ for a few months and it isn't a bad read, lots of variety (painting, terrain, rules, tactics, stories and fluff ect). I saw this thread and thought WD can't be THAT bad. I bought one and it is ....and how!
Is it a magazine? it's a bunch of pictures with some text thrown in.
anyone who thinks WD IS a good read is slowed (maybe that's the target market for the hhhobby?).
I hereby thank the OP for making me waste $11

**WaaaaghLord**

Battleworthy Arts wrote:
Grot 6 wrote:
Battleworthy Arts wrote:This particular tired complaint is perhaps the most frustrating of all. Every issue lately has had new rules, painting guides, golden demon galleries, armies on parade features, and/or new scenarios.

You're mad because the are adverts... in a magazine?!?!?!?!

White dwarf is better than it has EVER been... At least since issue 104, which was MY first issue. There certainly have been dark periods in WD quality, but this is not one of them. If you find yourself hating white dwarf these days, you might want to consider the idea you just WANT to hate it.

It isn't the point of the adverts. Its the propensity, and the B.S. factor of them.

and compaired to the 100's-250's? Your not really giving this counter argument with a straight face.

WD is thier magazine, but it began as a ... Gaming mag, not just a monthly advert for "Buy more stuff!!! Its cool!!!"

I'm not really seeing them as wanting to hate it. Read harder into the post- this is an ongoing- continued complaint from, yet another dejected fan.

Dejected by what? What worthwhile content is missing?

WD has always had ads... Upset they are done with better design and better paint jobs?

Dejected fan.... He's 16. He's read WD for maybe 3 years... And it's DEFINATELY better than 3 years ago.

Obviously haven't read the OP, he said himself he got his first White Dwarf from his dad when he was 5. Last time I checked, 16 minus 5 was 11. Eleven years, not three.

I agree that White Dwarf is a load of crapola. The definite turning point was the special "bumper issue", I think it was for their 20th/25th anniversary issue. Thats when they really became a monthly miniatures catalog rather than a credible gaming magazine. Around the same point Games Workshop started to noticably price hike every year, as far as I remember.

**H.B.M.C.**

Kaldor wrote:You want to know the major change with WD since you were 5 years old?

I'll give you a hint: It's not the magazine. It's the fact that you were five years old.

You probably don't watch sesame street anymore either.

You're probably right Kaldor. WD really does contain all the same great content that it did 5, 10 or even 15 years ago. We've all just gotten older.

Or not.

**djones520**

I used to love WD 15 years ago, I really remember the one where they did the Praetorian release with the massive spread of the battle and the Gargant and all that. Just an amazing issue.

Back then I'd buy one now and again. I only got a one year subscription once, they were offering something like $50 worth of free models or something, just a random grab bag. I ended up getting nothing I needed, some Dark Eldar BFG ships, and some Warmaster blisters. It was obvious they were just trying to clean out some things that they never sold.

That ran out about 6 years ago, haven't gotten an issue since. I'll occasionally pick up as store copy when I'm at the FLGS on a slow night, and thumb through it. I never see anything that carries the same enchantment that helped it rope me into the game those many years ago.

I honestly don't know why people keep buying it. GW sticking rules into it now seems to be the only way that they can make people buy it.

**Jihadnik**

Having read through this whole thread I have to confess something that most of you will really hate. I walked away from the hobby about fifteen years ago and only came back to the fold two years ago when an old mate got me hooked again.

About six months before that I was working in a Pawn shop and this guy came in with five full boxes of old white dwarf magazines in almost perfect condition, and I mean, just about every single one together up until I guess 2008. I had a good look through and then turned him down because we couldn't sell them in the shop...he was only asking for about 100 bucks too!

I was thinking to myself, 'you're too old to enjoy these now...'

Sigh...

**protocolture**

One of my first white dwarves had a 10ish page article on scratchbuilding an Ork fortress from balsa wood and then a bunch of shots of it full of ork models. That issue also had a full battle report for 40k or fantasy (cant remember which) huge amounts of fluff for 40k and fantasy, some of these pages not even forcing brand new models down your throat. It also had a section for mordheim. And then at the end was the catalogue, which i can remember always having cool limited time army deals.

These days you get small articles about how to "scratch build" terrain out of GW kits, Every page features GW models they want you to buy, they have a "Battle Summary" which is usually "New army is good at things. Look at that it won, go buy it now". As a catalogue it is terrible, it no longer has the mail order section that includes the cool army deals. They now only sell miniatures as boxed by GW and dont do awesome specials.

What reason is there for me to buy the magazine? I pick it up and browse it at the newsagent occaisionally and i dont find a single hook to purchase it. Whats worse(for GW) is how many small companies are using GW's pig headedness as an opening to enter the market. At the moment we have access to very profitable substitutes for every game GW has disbanded. Any idiot could take Mordheim/Gorkamorka/Inquisitor and make it profitable. But GW doesnt want to know about a game that only sells ten miniatures to each player.

**Ouze**

I sometimes like the how-to-paint guides.

**protocolture**

Ouze wrote:I sometimes like the how-to-paint guides.

I really liked the one they had on non metallic metals sometime during the blood angels release. But there isnt a constant amount of content that would make me get a subscription, i simply peruse the magazine at the newsagency every month and purchase if there is anything goodin the mag. As has been noted upthread, since the new paint range has been released, the painting guides have morphed into a sales column for the new paints. Its a pity since they were still passable until quite recently.

Funny thing about that non metallic metals article. Pretty sure i found it on their website 2 weeks after i bought the rag. That will teach me to spend my money.

**Daedricbob**

I like reading about the 40k universe and the backstory etc.
I used to read WD for this, but now I just buy a new codex every few months. More content, far more useful, same price.

**SagesStone**

Ouze wrote:I sometimes like the how-to-paint guides.

Was the only good bit left. Sadly not so much recently.

**LooT**

Kaldor wrote:
Lord of Timbraxia wrote:WD and I have always had a special relationship. Since I was five years old

You want to know the major change with WD since you were 5 years old?

I'll give you a hint: It's not the magazine. It's the fact that you were five years old.

You probably don't watch sesame street anymore either.

I get what you're saying Kaldor. It might partially be a case of the Rose tinted glasses and the strawberry ice cream

But when I read them back, a decade later, and they are still better than this month's, I can't help but think..... Daaammnn

And also, I never watched Sesame street, although I was partial to Tots Tv when I were a whippersnapper.