Review of White Dwarf 358

Posted by Ranillon on 29. October 2009 22:38

The theme of this month’s magazine is R.O.U.S. – Rodents of Unusual Size.  Rats!  Big Rats!  Lots of rats!  Rats, rats everywhere!

New stuff this month:  Most obviously, the new Skaven army book.  For plastic models we have the Clanrats, Stormvermin, Screaming Bell/Plague Furnace, Doomwheel, and the Skaven battalion.  The metal offerings are all special characters, namely Skweel Gnawtooth, Queek Headtaker, and Deathmaster Snikch.

Pages 14-23 – The Verminous Horde:  This is the introduction to the new Skaven army book and includes what you expect, namely a discussion with the writer (Jeremy Vetock) of the ideas that went into the new codex, a preview of the units available within, numerous pictures of models, and some thoughts on tactics.  One of the interesting bits is that they’ve taken away limitations on the number of Stormvermin and the old rules stating you needed one unit of clanrats to get access to other things.  They are also bringing back both the Doomwheel and the Vermin Lord.

Pages 26-27 – Listing of Plastic Skaven Models:  This is just really an advertisement, but I have to admit that it is still worthwhile to study.  The new Doomwheel and Screaming Bell/Plague Furnace models are just glorious, far superior to their old metal counterparts.  These pages also demonstrate that you can now easily get an entire, well-rounded Skaven army (well, as long as you convert characters over from regular troopers) in plastic, a heck of a money saver given the huge size of a rat horde.

Pages 28-33 – In Sauron’s Sinister Service:  For anyone who plays the bad guys in Lord of the Rings this is the article for you.  Pages and pages of rules for new units and (generic) heroes.  Too bad we don’t see more of this for 40K and Fantasy.

Pages 34-41 – Blood and Sand:  This is a continuation of last month’s article on LotR scenarios set in the deserts of the south.  Includes a number of scenarios, mini battle reports, and numerous pictures of armies in action.  If nothing else they do look impressive.

Pages 42-49 – Battle for the Fang:  Look, more ra—nope, wait, it’s wolves this time.  In particular, this article covers playing games on Fenris, the icebound homeworld of the Space Wolves.  It goes into some of the more famous battles in the planet’s history, gives some rules for including the effects of (the always bad) weather, and finally a few scenarios that you can run as a campaign.

Pages 52-71 – Return to Grim-Duraz:  The rats return in this month’s battle report with two 2000 point Skaven armies against 3500 points of dwarves (why is it that Warhammer reports seem always to be at gigantic point totals?).  The rats have taken a dwarf stronghold that the stunties want back.  For some added flavor there are a bunch of special rules, including those for competition between the two Skaven armies – it’s not enough that their side wins, but the rats want to outdo their rivals as well.

The dwarf force is pretty much standard while between the two Skaven armies all the new models get a workout.  I won’t say who wins, but the conflict is a bloodbath even by Warhammer standards.  I must say that the commentary on the Skaven and their in-fighting between forces is amusing.

Pages 74-75 – Standard Bearer:  Jervis is back with another commentary, but this one I can heartily agree with.  Namely, he hopes that miniatures gaming with stay away from “computerization” and from attempts to “simplify” things in order to be more popular.  He frowns on pre-painted models and in fact takes pride in the fact that the hobby requires a real investment of time and effort to get right. 

Side Commentary:  While I will sometimes use pre-painted models in role-playing games as disposable cannon fodder I prefer to paint whatever I use (as a result I have two miniature cases full of painted figures from the last RPG I ran).  For similar reasons I dislike the move to all pre-painted that Rackham has made for Confrontation.  I wasn’t much of a player of the game, but I liked the models.  Now with all of the new ones coming with mediocre paint jobs my interest in the game has all but evaporated. 

Pages 76-77 – Sub-In-A-Box:  This is just an ad for the new dwarf model that you can purchase (not receive for free, but get the chance to buy) with a new White Dwarf subscription, but I had to mention it because of what the model is – namely, a dwarf engineer in a space suit!  Nice model, but interestingly nowhere in the piece is the “S” word actually used.  Rather, it’s just “old school”.  I guess dwarves in space really were just a figment of we long time 40K players' imagination.

Pages 78-79 – Dawn Raid:  A new (yet familiar) scenario for 40K that uses objectives.

Pages 80-87 – Painting Masters:  This is a pictorial full of examples from various painting gurus that will simply blow you away.  The level of detail and gracefulness of effect is just ungodly, more than enough to make merely competent painters like me both envious and depressed.  My favorite is Darren Latham’s Saint Celestine model – her face is just amazing with subtle layering and mimicked make-up that would look good on a full sized person.

Pages 88-91 – Painting Workshop:  After proving how unworthy we all are in the previous article this one presents methods for painting up Easterling models from Lord of the Rings.  Again, even if you don’t play the game or use these figures the techniques are still going to be educational.

Pages 92-93 – Don Murray’s Space Wolves:  Another look at a player’s completed army, in this case a Space Wolf force that includes a bunch of infantry, three vehicles, and two dreadnoughts (including Bjorn).  Not to the standard of the Painting Masters efforts, but still quite good.  It’s an example of a great finished product I think anyone could achieve with a lot of practice and patience.

Pages 94-103 – ‘Eavy Metal Painting Masterclass:  Another step-by-step painting clinic, this time for Kor’sarro Khan.  It really goes into great depth on every part of the model and in the process gives examples for how to do up things like fur, using white paint (it's harder than it sounds), and outlining.

Next month:  The Fortress of Redemption!