Pages

Monday 9 July 2012

Recalcitrant Daze - 15 Months in and White Dwarf.


The monthly post was actually due yesterday but I put it off as I was ill Sunday. Actually feel worse today but as this post will be a brief one I thought I would knock it out anyway.

So what to write? Hmm, not really sure. Hence this being a short post.

White Dwarf.

Due to still waiting for my 6th Edition rulebook to arrive I decided to buy White Dwarf for the first time in a couple of years (and for a couple of years before then I think). And wow, really hasn’t improved. I used to love WD, it was something I looked forward to getting every month with the anticipation building up to it each time. I would consume it then go back and read it through again. Even articles for games I didn’t play (like WFRP) were excellent as they contained so much rich material.  I remember the first three WD’s I bought in 1990 (#124, #125, #126, #127) and the awesome articles on Beastmen and MInotuar Warbands for Realm of Chaos, the birth of Eldar Aspect Warriors (and the brilliant Goodwin sketches I still love), Epic Guard, Squats and Marine army lists and background, Ork Madboyz (why can’t we have them back GW?) and so many more articles I can still go back to now and enjoy reading.

So here I am looking at WD #391 bringing us 6th Edition 40k. People may accuse me of rose tinted spectacles, they may point out that when I bought those early WD’s it was 22 years ago and I was looking through them with the eyes of a 14 year old and I am sure that does play a part in my disappointment. WD was always a catalogue, a means to advertise the games and models, to showcase the hobby and so on. But they did all that so much better, there didn’t seem to be the need to shove it down your throat. The latest issue may be 20-30 pages longer, but it has five solid pages listing stores. It has six pages showing 13 new Finecast release, six pages for 13 new items?  In total I make out 28 pages which are pure advertisements. I don’t include things like advertising Events or GD as that is passing on valuable information etc.  And on top of that not one article feels like one I will go back to, in the issue launching a new edition of their flagship gaming system that is a huge let down. Seeing Dave Taylor's Empire force was a rare highlight, I have seen much more of that on his blog obviously but it is still good they bring in inspiring work by people outside of GW into WD.

Is all this worth the rant I seem to of gone off on? Probably not, GW is set on a direction for WD and they aren’t going to change. If nothing else buying this issue means I won’t be tempted to buy another one, or god forbid a subscription, for another couple of years.

Thankfully my new rulebook was posted today and I can stick WD in with the recycling tomorrow without a pang of regret later on.

Frankly the demise of WD and Games Day is depressing. Feel bad enough already without those bringing me down further.



Turned out not to be quite as short a post as I was intending.

So anyway my Baneblade I ordered has finally been posted meaning the real work of building the Kopta Karrier can start tomorrow.

I have already made a start as seen in my last post on RD and yesterday I intended to crack on with the Rokkit Launcha, but I felt naff and really couldn't focus on anyway. I therefore only managed to knock out five doors for the Karrier...


...and that was it.


Right, that is all for this month. Probably not worth reading the above so apologies for those who did.

Normal service will resume shortly.

2 comments:

  1. I have to agree with your WD rant, Quality articles have all but disappeared. Also, those are some Great Doors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers.

      I think the worse thing in getting WD this month was realising that it didn't even meet what I thought were very low expectations...

      Delete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.