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I know it has been this way for a while but just recently WD has been getting on my threppeny bits.

Every month it seems to be more about advertising the new models etc and less about the games.

I remember the days when WD had games, scenarios, readers letters. Ahh them were't days.

I know it is GW's ad engine but might it be nice if they had a regular section where it had just game stuff.

Perhaps new missions for fantasy and 40K. Some back story excerpts to back up character models. Readers/gamers thoughts. Q and A section.

Just saying....


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In fact I remember when you could even get pretty good Call of Cthulu scenarios from an occaisional WD issue.

I used to buy them every once and a while years ago but I came to the same conclusion as you have in terms of quality content/ads and ads thinly veiled as articles.

Though to be fair in just the last couple months there have been flyer rules and a new daemon rules update, so maybe they are coming around.

True but I hanker after the old days when WD was a gamers mag and not simply an advertisement for fantasy battle or 40k. It had articles about games, some of it was written by readers too. Perhaps there's a gap in the market....

SpiritOfKantor wrote:True but I hanker after the old days when WD was a gamers mag and not simply an advertisement for fantasy battle or 40k. It had articles about games, some of it was written by readers too. Perhaps there's a gap in the market....

The other major paragon of gaming magazines, Dragon, went completely online due to lack of subscriptions. I also loved the original White Dwarf and started reading the mag regularly around issue #11 or so. Now 381 issues later I still read it. It has changed, but I still find in an enjoyable read and am always happy when it shows up in my mailbox. If that ever stops I'll drop my subscription. Of course it helps that I don't expect it to be something that it is not. It is most definitely a GW tool to sell its products. That is what I expect and that is what I get.

White Dwarf hasn't been a general "gamers" mag for over 20 years now. It isn't going to change back to that ever and lamenting that fact is just wasted energy. GW doesn't want its customers to think about other games or buying anything but their own products. The subscription price could be lower on the mag if they actually took advertisements from other companies to support the magazine. I still really like Wargames Illustrated too, because while it does have Flames of War content just about every month it still covers a wider breadth of historical gaming.

I am not sure about any long standing "gamers" magazines still being on the market at all that don't focus on the historical side of the equation. Dragon, Dungeon, White Wolf, Shadis, Challange...they have all either disappeared completely or become online only. A lot of them got a boost when CCGs were new, but had already been flagging in their market share for years leading into that. That said I would love to see an original White Dwarf CD/DVD archive like TSR did for the first 250 issues of Dragon magazine years ago. Though I expect if GW did that they would charge $500 for it and not the $29,99 that TSR charged.

Skriker

I bought my first WD in a decade a couple months ago, the SW covered one, and was floored. By how bad it is nowdays. Just a big ad, which makes no sense to me.

If I buy a magazine devoted to GW games, I don't need ads to sell me their stuff. I obviously already find their stuff cool. Show me sweet battle reports, conversion/terrain articles, etc. That gets me excited to buy stuff. Ads make me avoid the magazine like the plague and gives me a worse opinion of GW/WD.

Welcome to 2006, enjoy your stay.

It's better than it's been in the past few years. They've been adding some units and rules with the fliers issue, Deathworlds battle missions, Daemons update, and a bunch of other cool stuff. It's not worth its price yet, but it's slowly trending towards something better right now.

It is not as bad as it was 5-10 years ago, but damn, it is a pile of poop compared to some older issues I can dig out.

I don't think its "advertising" that is to blame, I beleive it is more of an issue with the team working on it, they are doing a job, no more.
WD was amazing when it was made by people who loved the hobby. They are all gone.

That said, all the good mags are dead, over the last 20 years they all died or turned to crap. WD is not an exception, but it is more noticable, not like you go into a store and see 50 Games workshop magazines, unlike computer mages there is only one WD, the fact that it stinks is a pitty.

WD seems to be turning a corner with 6e. More AARs, new units, updated rules. Supposedly starting next month (as per 40k radio) they're ramping up the hobby portion. Just need to throw in Hammer and Bolter like fiction and we are good.

Recently when I see it on the shelves I flick through first to see if it's worth buying. I bought this months as it was in a plastic wrapper with a supplement, cool thought I! Only when I open it I realise that it is a demons rules thing and of no use to me what soever! That gets me mad!

Everyone seems to agree that it was better in the old days and that perhaps it is showing a glimmer of improvement. I think a readers letter coming on to the editor....


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My first ever issue included a scenario for d & d, call of Cthulhu and some other hobby related stuff, I think it was around issue 20.

I didn't play either game but did get in to call of Cthulhu on the back of that and then on to runequest. I still play rq with pretty much the same guys 20 years later on what could technically be the same game just further down the line. What can I say, I like all things game related.

There was a time I used to buy every issue. I rarely buy it anymore. There used to be extra rules and interesting convesrion articles in it. However, it seems to me that they've recently gotten some of the old charm back. There are things I can actually use.

As for advertising, it is obvious that the magazine is intended to help to sell the models. However, in order to do that, people actually have to buy it first, so I really think that even as an advertisement the old style works better.

SpiritOfKantor wrote:Recently when I see it on the shelves I flick through first to see if it's worth buying. I bought this months as it was in a plastic wrapper with a supplement, cool thought I! Only when I open it I realise that it is a demons rules thing and of no use to me what soever! That gets me mad!

You couldn't just look at the back of the wrapper and see through to the CODEX: DAEMONS or WARHAMMER: DAEMONS OF CHAOS supplement showing through? It was in the wrapper behind the magazine for me. Also the cover says "CHAOS DAEMONS RULES UPDATE BOOKLET INSIDE" so it's kind of spelled out for you.

Yeah I realise that but they had me at the unusual plastic cover, damn those marketing trolls!

I heard a while ago that there was meant to be a major shake-up of the magazine and staff, but god knows whether that ever transpired. They seem to have used the 'stick' rather than the 'carrot' approach of forcing people into buying it by having rules in the mag and then not available elsewhere afterwards. The alternative would have been to have some more journalism in the mag - pay writers to write articles - but, word count takes time and money, and there would be little space for it in amongst the 4 page blow-ups of new plastic kits content.

It's a sorry reflection of what it used to be. If you want a decent wargaming mag try Wargames Illustrated or the newly released 'Ravage', which is by all accounts pretty good.

I didn't like the pages and pages of armies belonging to people at the studio in the last couple of issues, with a small paragraph of writing for each one. Yeah, I like looking at pictures of models, but it did look too much like a catalog.
I'd like to see more in depth painting/ modeling/ terrain articles and some fiction work, tactical articles, more battle reports.

One thing I noticed with this last month's issue is that almost every page had a picture on it. The only exceptions were at the back, with the two pages where they list all the events going on.

Sometimes I wonder why I keep up my subscription, as pretty much all I do is look at the pretty pictures. But I guess I'll keep getting em for all those rules. By the way, is the Sisters of Battle Codex available from GW's site yet?

Shredder wrote:I didn't like the pages and pages of armies belonging to people at the studio in the last couple of issues, with a small paragraph of writing for each one. Yeah, I like looking at pictures of models, but it did look too much like a catalog.
I'd like to see more in depth painting/ modeling/ terrain articles and some fiction work, tactical articles, more battle reports.

I didn't mind this at all; seeing armies by studio folks is cool when they're unique and interesting. I just wish armies that weren't 'Eavy Metal painted armies were featured in the battle reports. The 'Eavy Metal team does fantastic work, but i like seeing more interesting armies. The articles about staff armies show that they're no slouches in the painting/modeling department, and there are even some cool conversions in there.

I agree with you, I like looking at them but it just seemed that the whole mag was taken up by them and there wasn't much else. I read through that issue much quicker than I usually do.

Pouncey wrote: By the way, is the Sisters of Battle Codex available from GW's site yet?

With the new Sisters Of Battle Codex rumored to be out next year, my Magic 8 Ball says "don't count on it"

I have to admit I let my subscription lapse years ago becuase I was tired of the lack of real content and pages of pages of LOTR content, but the last two issues have been pretty dandy with new rules, and it looks like it's going to keep up that way, with new flyers and new fortifications coming out. Resubscribed for $50 and I figure it's worth it not to have to wait and track down rules on the interwebs every time something new comes out. All the new releases due out make it usefull as a catalogue as well.

I keep toying with the subscription idea but it's like you say, there's no real content. And with the hobbit film out soon there will be months of new lotr figures and rule to wade through.

Sisters of battle get me excited! Literally :-) if there is a new codex coming then it's a possibility of new Ingres and fingers crossed plastic ones at that!

There ill be plastic SoB, according to the leaked release list (check the news and rumors section for that).
Also, I enjoy reading the WD.

Back in 2005-2006, it used to be a lot thicker, and the content was a lot better as well. Actual articles, instead of the current "Buy This!" we're seeing.

And the rules that were published were that same month published online as pdf's available to everyone; now, we're seeing none of that, and forced to buy the e-books (all of 2 pages in some cases) for more than they're worth. (And if you don't have an I-pad, you're screwed, it seems).

SpiritOfKantor wrote: Perhaps there's a gap in the market....

There's not, and that's why White Dwarf has changed.

Magazines are expensive. You need high-quality images and articles to make it work.

The internet is free.

Why would a magazine pay for expensive images and articles, when articles and images of a similar quality are freely available on the internet? Why would I, as a reader, pay money for a magazine when I can access comparable articles and images on the internet for free?

Well Kaldor hopefully said mag would provide unique content available no where else such as in depth 'Eavy Metal team paint tutorials, strategy articles from guys who've been playing and working on the game since Day 1, creative fun extras like scenarios for game play or roleplay games... which WD does not from my understanding.

If the 2013 release. Rumors thread is correct, nearly every army will be getting something new. All those new models will likely have rules gracing the pages of White Dwarf