Review: White Dwarf – February 2012

Haven’t you got your copy of February’s White Dwarf yesterday? Then check out this review and find out if this issue is worth your money.

The Good Stuff:

Civil War part 2; a new Fantasy scenario revolving around the new Deathknell Watch tower; a Necron painting guide; some of the 40k anniversary coverage like the interview with Jervis, Alan Merrett and John Blanche.

What’s In There For Painters and Modellers?

A Necron army workshop featuring the turquoise and gold army you’ve seen in the Necron codex; a LotR Easterlings army workshop; a showcase of two players painted Vampire Counts armies; a showcase of an Ultramarines Armies on Parade entry. Sounds like much however all those articles span only 15 pages, the Necron article is most disappointing with only 4 pages with just 2 pages of tutorials.

Things I Didn’t Like:

This issue is mostly about the revamp of the Lord of the Rings skirmish game with a couple of new army books and Finecast models for obscene prices. Like the last two issues, there are no proper designer notes, in fact they don’t even tell you why they released new books at all. They just briefly introduce the game, the setting and the factions of the new books with the usual sample armies, then there are two battle reports, but in the end you just don’t learn what was changed orwhy they did bother with new books at all.

The rest of the magazine is the usual stuff you find in WD lately, there is some hobby content but very condensed, the Necron painting guide is so short they don’t even show how to paint a complete model, and while both Vampire Counts armies are nicely painted, they are pretty much stock and don’t feature anything special.

The Verdict:

As expected, there is a lot of LotR coverage in this issue. Most people don’t bother with LotR, neither do I, but even I realized that there is pretty much zero information about the new army books. The articles are aimed at people who never heard of the game before and feel like sales literature, thus they don’t hold anything interesting for people who already play the game.
Apart from that, the issue features a flip cover on the backside with 41 pages about the 40k anniversary after that, which surprisingly feature some good reads, like the before mentioned interview with Jervis Johnson, Alan Merrett and John Blanche about the history and early days of Warhammer 40k. There is also an Apocalypse battle between Orks and Crimson Fists and, of course, lots of double page picture spreads. The hobby content is ok, there is part 2 of the Civil War expansion (three new tables for Orcs, Tomb Kings and Warriors of Chaos) and a new scenario, making February’s White Dwarf an ok issue if you can overlook all those fillers in the LotR section.
5/10

Do you like our tutorials and reviews? Here is what you can do to support us: Disable your Ad Blocker or place your next Wayland Games order by clicking here or on the banner on the right. Thank you very much, we appreciate any help to keep us going!