Review: White Dwarf Issue 75 – Age of Sigmar release

With the arrival of Age of Sigmar (see our exclusive advance preview here) White Dwarf has delivered something special this week. Just like what we saw back in the early 90s (free Space Marine, Wizard and Necron models!) we now finally carry on that tradition with a free Stormcast Eternal model. Read the full review after the jump.

Before we review the magazine, can we just check out this Stormcast Eternal Liberator for a second. He is seriously impressive for a push-fit starter set model. The clean lines and large blank areas will make painting easy. That not to say he isn’t detailed though, he is has lots of rivets and fine details. He’s also huge! He’s mounted on a 40mm base and is just a touch taller than a Space Marine Terminator. Liberators are the foot soldiers of Sigmar’s hosts.

Firstly let’s introduce White Dwarf quickly for anyone who is new or hasn’t bought it for a while. White Dwarf Magazine is a weekly in house hobby magazine for Games Workshop products. It costs£2.40 (€3.20) and features around 36 pages. The point of WD weekly is to cover the weekly releases, this coverage includes, paint guides, assembly ideas, full rules and background on the models. Pretty impressive.

This week we get a 44 pages (including cover) plus a 4 page pull out with the core rules for the Age of Sigmar. That’s 48 pages!

Here’s a run down of the contents of issue 75.

• 8 Page summary of how we got to the Age of Sigmar after the End Times.
• 12 Pages of glorious images of the models included in the box. The paint jobs and sculpting is so good. I have to keep pinching myself and telling myself these are starter set models!
• 2 Pages of other releases (The Gates of Azyr novel, Faction specific Carry Cases, Digital Painting Guide, Gold Spray and three new paint pots (Retributor Armour, Liberator Gold and Flayed One Flesh). Is anyone going to wait a week for these new paints to paint their free Retributor? I’m not.
• 2 Pages of War Scrolls (4 up on one page are legible).
• 4 Pages of absolutely gorgeous art. I’m pleased they included this because it really talks to me and says so much more than the rules and fluff. It’s the art that captures my imagination.
• 2 Pages of Sprues and Glue which is pretty basic assembly stuff, essential if you’ve never put together a model before.
• 4 Pages of how to paint a Liberator, Blood Warrior and Blood Reaver. These are pretty basic but good for paint recipes. Very few text instructions, but they do mention that Warhammer TV on youtube have produced videos for all the models in the box. It hints that “next week: All that glitters…)
• 2 Pages that basically cover legacy gaming. You can download war scrolls for all your existing armies for FREE from www.games-workshop.com/age-of-sigmarcompendiums. It also mentions you don’t have to rebase your existing army (unless you want to, because let’s be honest, round bases are the coolest).
• 2 Pages that cover the four Great Alliances: Order, Chaos, Death and Destruction. I like the way they’ve done this. It’s better than anyone can fight with anyone (although you can still do that) this just feels nicer knowing their are official alliances.
• 1 Page of New Release Price lists.
• 1 Page for Subscription (I love the fact I get Weekly delivered to my door now).

Finally you get a Free Age of Sigmar rules pull out in the centre of the magazine. I like the way the Games Designers have removed all the complexity of the game. I feel like I could walk into a GW now, buy a couple of boxes of models, go home and download the data scrolls to my iPad for those boxes and just play a game. Seriously, this really appeals to me. I’m a 40k collector and the 200 page rule book and then having to buy a codex and read that as well before I even play a game is off putting. It’s a bold move by the designers, but I honestly think it’s genius.

Conclusion

Stahly and I used to review White Dwarf when it was monthly. I used to say I missed things like detailed battle reports with maps and card rule inserts and models on the front cover. I also said if they ever put a model on the front cover again it would be a 10/10 score. So, here it is.

10/10.

Free model, free rules, great price at £2.40 and now they do subscription services for weekly. White Dwarf has been through a real journey to find itself and I’d like to be the first to say welcome back White Dwarf. Keep up the amazing work you guys achieve to such tight weekly deadlines.

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