WHITE DWARF · FEBRUARY 2005
The Ogre Kingdoms meet the Empire, Bugman’s Lament reaches its final siege, Biel-tan and Wave Serpents receive detailed coverage, and the Iron Lords and Middle-earth Battle Companies campaigns begin.
COVER TO COVER
In printed page order
Andy Hoare previews Lustria as an environment for existing armies, with jungle encounters and a linked Sotek campaign rather than a conventional army book. Other news covers Sharkey and Worm, Forge World’s Griffon, the forthcoming role-playing relaunch and historical card-game expansions, alongside new hobby resources and preparation for the War of the Ring campaign.
Guy Haley’s first full editorial connects rediscovered childhood figures and his latest Goblin painting to a reader’s criticism of vintage models. He explains why some old collections cannot simply be repainted from replacement figures and invites enough thoughtful correspondence to support a regular letters page.
Nick celebrates a memorable Bugman finale while the team prepares for both Necromunda and Battle Companies. Paul Sawyer returns to a neglected Chaos conversion, Paul Rudge builds modular scenery and Christian Byrne develops the history of his roaming Imperators Chapter, illustrating how simultaneous campaigns encourage several very different hobby projects.
Phil Kelly presents Reuben Kyte’s uneasy journey from the Scalded Delta through filthy Pigbarter and the Howling Wastes to the bustling Sentinels. The explorer depends on a resilient Halfling and increasingly indispensable Ogre guides, discovering societies and landscapes whose practical realities repeatedly confound his comfortable assumptions.
With the caravan’s Ogre guards away settling an argument, Gnoblars descend on the wagons to steal anything useful. Attackers earn plunder by remaining at a wagon and can escape voluntarily with it, while random game length represents the guards’ approaching return; captured loot supplements ordinary victory points rather than replacing the battle entirely.
Phil Kelly’s three-thousand-point Ogre Kingdoms face Adam Troke’s returning Empire army in a Flank Attack around Gutenbad. Empire shooting, disruptive scouts and late cavalry reinforcements challenge a compact army whose Tyrant, Hunter and specialist creatures can deliver devastating local charges.
The mercenary sidebar explains how Ogre units enter other armies through Dogs of War allowances. Most take a Rare slot, Maneaters consume two and a dedicated Dogs of War army treats the eligible Ogres as Special choices, clarifying the mixed force used in the surrounding battle report.
Anthony Reynolds describes the vast network that lets Skaven move unseen beneath cities and between continents, using stolen Dwarf halls as well as newly excavated tunnels. Skavenblight, Karak Eight Peaks, Crookback Mountain and Bitter-Sump show different forms of this hidden civilisation, whose crowded populations, coerced labour and treacherous clans make conquest inseparable from internal rivalry.
Kratch Doomclaw’s clan maintains Crookback Mountain through mines, enormous slave populations and unusually numerous Stormvermin. Its warriors’ blood-red marks and branded captives advertise ownership, while the unexplained supply of large black-furred soldiers makes other Skaven clans suspicious of its strength.
Gnawdwell and Queek lead a Warlord clan powerful enough to threaten the position of the four Greater clans. Pride in red-and-black livery distinguishes even its ordinary warriors, and control of the lower City of Pillars gives Clan Mors the resources to sustain that ambition despite the hostility it attracts.
Clan Scruten’s extreme suspicion limits dealings with most other Skaven, leaving its armies dependent on Clanrats, Rat Ogres and the vermin of Marienburg’s marshes. Its dark green camouflage and revived hidden stronghold suit an isolated existence, with older tales of swamp monsters conveniently obscuring the clan’s present raids.
Stephen Green takes his newly playable Tomb Kings against Dave Holmes’s defensive Dwarfs and rapidly loses the protected Liche Priest he had expected to keep safe. The ensuing collapse leaves only a brave Tomb Prince, prompting Stephen to rethink the Hierophant’s position while adding more skeletons and a Tomb Scorpion to his collection.
The collectors’ third instalment combines first defeats, deadline trouble and more ambitious modelling. Stephen’s Hierophant proves dangerously exposed, Paul adds professional soldiers to his Stirland theme, Dave creates Grimgor’s standard bearer and Asger finishes a carefully integrated Daemon Prince, showing how play and painting both revise an army’s original plan.
Paul’s apparently easy month of archers and a Witch becomes a lesson in procrastination and repeated repainting. He finds character in the Halfling faces, then chooses a large Halberdier unit converted from Spearmen to represent veteran soldiers returning to Stirland, expanding the militia’s story without abandoning its provincial identity.
Dave Allen converts Taugrek the Throttler from a two-handed Black Orc, a replacement Borgut head and a plastic standard, enlarging the jaw with putty to create the right expression. Reusing the spare parts produces another champion, while sorting the most heavily armoured plastic Orc components creates a visually distinct unit of Big ’Uns.
Asger’s bronze-green armour, pale skin and worn brown hood make the converted prince an imposing member of his Nurgle army. Successive mixed highlights and selective ink shading link the large figure to existing Plaguebearers, with the account acknowledging later plans to dirty down skin that currently appears too crisp.
Nick Kyme brings the campaign to the brewery itself, where three Goblin tribes converge while Bugman races home. Earlier convoy, watchtower and river results change the final siege’s resources and arrival timing, and the concluding scenario allows the players either to fulfil the familiar tragedy or create an alternative history in which the brewery survives.
A two-thousand-point Dwarf garrison holds low fortified walls against three thousand points of Goblins, with Bugman’s smaller relief force arriving unpredictably. Special siege adjustments, dangerous Hellfyre, disputed Goblin command and the effects of earlier battles change the fight, whose winner is determined by the forces established inside the brewery rather than ordinary casualty points.
The brewery’s warden combines the duties of general and standard bearer, protecting the settlement while Bugman is absent. His rune-covered helm supports personal survival, and the Dragonback Banner steadies nearby Dwarfs while strengthening their opening blows, making him a valuable rallying point for the outnumbered defenders.
An archived Hammerer provides the old-fashioned basis for Nick’s battle standard bearer. A Bretonnian dragon crest, replacement hammer head and cloak give him personal identity, while a drilled hand and brass-rod pole support two plastic Dwarf icons to make the banner the dominant feature.
The Goblin King’s ambition rests on stealing enough Bugman’s ale to attract an enormous following. His protective beer gut slows him in combat, while his personal brew can make him dangerously strong, furious or stupid from turn to turn; the accompanying magical axe provides a more dependable threat against armoured opponents.
Guy Haley turns Grom’s body into a different obese Goblin by replacing the head with a Doom Diver’s and adding a horned boss hat. Fur-textured putty repairs the altered neck, and a Wyvern-riding Orc’s axe completes a figure whose stature and equipment express the king’s bullying authority.
The campaign’s early version of Bugman retains his rune axe and regenerating tankard while preceding the greenskin grudge and Ranger leadership of his later life. For the decisive defence he and accompanying Rangers become Unbreakable, expressing the brewer’s determination to preserve his home whatever the battle costs.
The brewery’s artisans enter battle as unusually tough but slow heroes, drawing on noble ancestry and long years of labour. Their equipment and runic-item allowances let them represent individual guild members, adding a distinct defensive character option without treating every brewer as a conventional Thane.
This small Flame Cannon variant uses volatile brewery waste to send enemies fleeing at close range. A compact crew-operated design allows a stand-and-shoot response but increases the danger of misfires and leaves its operators exposed, exchanging reach and reliability for a weapon suited to defending the brewery walls.
Nick recreates an unavailable Imperial Dwarf weapon using an old Thunderer and Kraggi from the Anvil of Doom. A Gyrocopter steam gun, bellows and brass-rod connection explain the mechanism, with a Bretonnian wine barrel mounted on Kraggi’s back to supply the volatile fuel.
Paul Rudge supplements reused campaign scenery with low foamboard defences matching Mark Jones’s brewery. Layered stairs, textured cladding and balsa beams form the fighting platform, while a sloping foam embankment and irregular cane stakes create the obstacle the Goblins must cross.
Sand-coated banks receive warm earth drybrushes while a grey-brown stone mix ties the wall sections to the existing brewery. Increasingly pale highlights reveal the masonry, dark wooden beams provide contrast and varied flock connects the finished fortification to the flat modular battlefield.
Eight Trolls smash the gate and begin a grinding struggle with Nick’s Longbeards, drawing more regiments into the opening as Guy attacks along the walls. Durzak falls to Git Guzzler and the defenders eventually break at the gate, but the final count still gives the Dwarfs an extraordinarily narrow victory, rewriting the brewery’s fate.
Adam Troke frames Biel-tan through an Imperial investigation of Eldar physiology, culture, technology and military action. Its exceptional number of Aspect shrines and powerful warrior court support swift assaults intended to reclaim culturally significant worlds, leaving Imperial authorities unsure how to classify an enemy that also destroys their foes.
Alessio recommends limiting the Reapers’ exposed firing corridor instead of trusting their armour to survive open positions. An upgraded Exarch adds precise missile fire, but the unit’s greater value comes from controlling a route and giving assault specialists room to advance behind its threat.
Alessio Cavatore examines a small, expensive and fragile army whose specialised units must work together. He compares individual Aspects under the revised rules before contrasting a balanced tournament force with an Avatar-led all-Aspect host, treating speed, protected approaches and the correct use of each squad as the essentials of successful play.
The comparison weighs Scorpion armour, strength and Exarch options against the Banshees’ speed and power weapons. The revised transport rules demand planning a turn before disembarkation and assault, so choosing the correct opponent and protected approach matters as much as the units’ damage profiles.
Moving, firing and retreating make the Spiders a particularly attractive response to fourth-edition changes. Their numerous strong shots can suppress light vehicles as well as threaten infantry, while Withdraw protects their shooting role by allowing escape from combats that would otherwise waste the squad’s main advantage.
The Hawks can provide mobile long-range fire or deliver an Exarch whose Sustained Assault creates an intimidating combat threat. Alessio treats reserve deployment as a scenario-dependent choice and explains how opponents’ fear of that Exarch can draw disproportionate fire away from the rest of the army.
Dragons gain relative importance when ordinary transported troops can no longer disembark and charge immediately. Their close-range fusion volley threatens tanks and elite infantry, with a Firepike and Tank Hunter Exarch extending reliability; nearby assault units should protect them rather than spending heavily on their own melee ability.
A very small squad supports a bright-lance Exarch who fires from cover and retreats using jetbike movement. Turbo-boosting, Evade and carefully limited expenditure make the expensive unit a mobile specialist rather than a large frontal assault force, with the ordinary riders mainly keeping its key model alive.
Cheap by Aspect standards, Avengers remain limited by their short-ranged catapults against well-armoured foes. Alessio favours an economical combat-equipped Exarch with Distract, using the squad against lighter opponents or to attract attention while recognising that Guardian Defenders can fill part of the same shooting role more cheaply.
Avatar and Farseer support a mixed force whose long-ranged threats encourage the opponent to approach concealed counter-attack units. Mobile tanks and Aspect alternatives preserve the ability to change plans if outshot, while D-cannons control space and inexpensive support units retain late-game objective utility.
Alessio extends the Court’s religious theme across an entire force, selecting an Avatar as its only headquarters and including every Aspect type. This visually coherent army sacrifices forgiving resilience for flexibility, requiring sufficient terrain and coordinated specialists, but successful practice games persuade him to test it at a Grand Tournament.
Martin Footitt explains how a new sprue extends the Falcon hull into an Eldar troop carrier while adding distinctive energy-field spines and vehicle upgrades. Collaboration with Jes Goodwin and Tim Adcock establishes the design, and compatible heavy weapons support future vehicles without making differently styled Forge World or Epic Serpents obsolete.
World War One aircraft camouflage inspires Dave’s unusual Saim-Hann hull, but freehand attempts prove too slow across the tank’s curves. Onion-bag netting supplies a sprayed template for warm mixed greys, while a pencilled and inked serpent wraps around the engine ports; storing the mixes keeps subsequent vehicles consistent.
The pilot is painted as though his only illumination comes from green cockpit instruments during a night mission. A black foundation leaves the deepest areas dark while successive green and pale mixed highlights pick out the upper edges and scanner, producing a deliberately different lighting impression from the bright hull outside.
Chapter archives preserve victories and sacrifices that have become legends throughout the Imperium. Accounts of Ultramarine banners and bridge demolition, White Scar lightning warfare, Salamander civilian protection and the Imperial Fists’ Iron Cage trial show how each Chapter defines courage through its own history and preferred way of fighting.
Ancient Galatan carries the Ultramarines’ banner through a prolonged breach assault and survives long enough to kill the Ork commander after losing an arm. His final act of planting the standard turns a costly Imperial victory into a story about the banner’s sacred authority and a warrior’s refusal to fall before his duty is complete.
A routine demolition becomes a desperate defence when Night Lords counter-attack and destroy the detonation equipment. Captain Idaeus sends his survivors away under Uriel Ventris and triggers the charges himself, sacrificing his life to close the exposed flank and preserve the wider Imperial offensive on Thracia.
An Imperial chronicle credits Jaghatai Khan’s sudden night attack with retaking a crucial Terra spaceport from the traitors. The White Scars then hold against repeated counter-attacks until the wider battle ends, making rapid aggression and stubborn fulfilment of an oath equally central to their remembered triumph.
White Scars defend a precarious Armageddon drilling station against Orks adapting their vehicles to treacherous ice. Bike counter-attacks, prepared explosives and assaults on the canyon cliffs defeat successive approaches, demonstrating a mobile force’s ability to protect vital infrastructure without relying on a fixed battle line.
Tu’Shan’s companies fight inside Ork Roks and protect Armageddon’s threatened civilian population. Their willingness to challenge another Chapter over shelling refugees and to rebuild essential infrastructure presents lifesaving work as part of the Salamanders’ legacy, alongside close-quarter victories and honours paid to fallen allies.
Rogal Dorn answers Perturabo’s fortress challenge with an uncharacteristically direct assault, turning the battle into a prolonged test of endurance. Ultramarine intervention prevents the destruction of the Imperial Fists, and the survivors’ subsequent retreat into reorganisation becomes the account’s explanation for their unusually strict adherence to the Codex Astartes.
Lysander survives a disastrous family pilgrimage before recruitment on Terra and eventually earns command through boarding actions and the costly Haddrake Tor assault. Inheriting the Fist of Dorn, he develops coordinated Terminator strikes and leads from the front, with a later Alpha Legion campaign illustrating both his planning and willingness to risk everything personally.
Graham McNeill and Pete Haines trace the early lives and defining campaigns of Lysander and Shrike. A determined pilgrim becomes a Terminator commander, while an elusive hive-runner becomes a master of infiltration; their careers explain why bold frontal resolve and patient sabotage can both produce legendary Chapter leaders.
Shrike’s life as a Kiavahr gang saboteur draws the attention of Raven Guard Chaplains, who recruit him after witnessing his endurance and escape skills. Those qualities persist through Scout raids and the stranded Targus VIII campaign, where years of disruption behind Ork lines establish the reputation of Shrike’s Wing.
Chicago’s Golden Demon winners include individually painted commanders, an Iron Hands squad, a large Slann and a corrupted Emperor’s Children Dreadnought. The credited gallery brings restrained military subjects together with religious spectacle and extravagant fantasy, offering visual comparisons without supplying named colour recipes.
Nick Kyme opens a Games Master-led campaign in the newly accessible Ironyard, where gangs compete through successive zones towards an archeotech dome. Narrative advice, temporary territorial benefits, changing alliances and restrained random hazards build on the Underhive campaign system, while the participants’ first experiences show how injuries and captures can rapidly reshape their prospects.
Andy Hobday’s Cawdor gang unknowingly follows a disguised Nurgle cultist, represented by a converted Carnival of Chaos figure. A scratch-built flamer, heavy stubber and expendable Juves support the sinister joke, showing how a gang’s story can direct model choice and weapon conversions before the first campaign game.
Rob McTaggart builds around Goliath muscle, dark skin, black tattoos and red armour, developing fighters through close-combat skills. His heavy stubber earns experience despite an injured arm, and a large starting group of Juves provides a durable base for an aggressive gang still considering its final composition.
Pinyo Gulashart’s familiar Escher models begin with heavy stubbers and close-combat support, but poor cover and ineffective fire produce a disastrous start. A failed rescue against Enforcers leaves too few fighters and credits to continue, forcing retirement and a restart as Jade Lotus after only two weeks.
Mark Chambers chooses inexpensive Scavvies, two powerful Scalies and a screen of Plague Zombies for a numerous, mutated gang. The profile weighs short-ranged equipment and inability to retain territory against those advantages, with red markings and pale trousers helping distinguish allies within the dirty brown collection.
Paul Rudge repaints the Delaque models from his original campaign and divides their roles between ranged fire and close assault. Vents give his heavy stubbers useful starting positions, and an early victory over the Scarlet Reavers results in valuable captives whose equipment and fate deepen the rivalry.
Andy Smilie initially receives Orlocks by elimination rather than preference, then finds a convincing identity through replacement heads and backpacks. Their access to varied skills and equipment becomes an attraction, turning an unpromising visual starting point into a force of brutal, adaptable Underhive fighters.
Andy Holmes changes from minimally equipped Ratskins to a smaller Van Saar force with expensive weapons and useful technical development. A converted bounty hunter leads fighters in dirty yellow jumpsuits, with names borrowed from James Bond villains and henchmen reinforcing the gang’s distinctive theme.
Control of Slum Town grants access to hired guns, while the Labyrinth provides hidden routes and influence over scenario choice. Both zones generate income, and temporary machine tremors can knock fighters down, giving the opening phase different rewards and hazards while the gangs compete to retain a territory at its close.
A mock Underhive newspaper turns the opening campaign’s captures, rescues and defeats into sensational reports. Rivalries involving HiveNet, the Phantoms, Dead-Marsh Defilers and Scarlet Reavers acquire an in-world voice, with Enforcer statements, injury reports and obituaries recording consequences that a simple league table would miss.
An ambushed gang must cross a narrow scrap ravine under fire from elevated attackers. Limited escape routes and carefully placed cover make the defenders’ survival difficult, so they receive improved resistance to bottling out and doubled survival experience; getting half the gang through the far end wins the scenario.
Dave Andrews gives Eldar raiders a piratical character through billowing sleeves, sashes, scarves and long coats rather than familiar comic-pirate props. Guardian and High Elf pieces, shortened catapults and sculpted cloth create the figures, with a short demonstration explaining how to apply and shape a triangular putty scarf.
Adam Troke previews a supplement focused on the Hobbits’ struggle against Sharkey and on earlier threats to their homeland. Small, consequential skirmishes replace the preceding books’ huge battles, while linked scenarios, new figures and Shire scenery guides extend the setting from the returning Travellers to Greenfields and the Fell Winter.
A young Aragorn hunts his father’s Orc killer in Rhudaur and finds a force strengthened by Cave Trolls. Rangers begin close to their endangered leader while Elrond’s sons and other allies arrive from the perimeter, and reduced early-career characteristics make revenge depend on cooperation rather than the later king’s full strength.
Aragorn and Gandalf pursue Gollum while Sauron’s servants converge through uncertain reinforcements. A hero must defeat the fugitive without killing him and drag him off the board, but entering combat forces the captive to be released, making a safe extraction more demanding than simply finding and winning a fight with him.
Guy Haley introduces the team’s small Battle Companies as a manageable route towards armies for the summer web campaign. Early games, injuries, promotions and reinforcements show why a handful of regularly painted models can create attachment to a force, while a brown-undercoat tutorial helps the growing collections reach the table quickly.
The campaign preview explains a territory map with local rules, scenarios and hobby material, where registered results influence the wider conflict. A scheduled Fellowship journey opens temporary encounters and secret areas, while clubs, stores and supporting magazine material connect individual games to a three-month recreation of the war.
Greg MacGregor chooses Dol Amroth for its foot knight and promotion opportunities, then survives a difficult first fight against Uruk-hai through the remaining warriors’ close-combat successes. The knight’s injured arm and new recruits give the victory a lasting cost, while a simple shaded-silver recipe supports the growing collection.
Nick Kyme’s Gondorians exploit high-ground bowfire before their hero Dagorgrad wins the decisive melee against Guy’s Orcs. Promotions to elite guards and Rangers, a mounted hero and additional reinforcements record the company’s first development, making a strong opening victory the basis of a more varied force.
Paul Rudge uses the Haradrim already painted for his Mûmak project as the beginning of a company, winning first against Isengard and then Mordor. Effective bows and gradually expanding cavalry turn the small force into a larger raiding band, illustrating how the campaign revives a previously sidelined army in manageable additions.
Christian Byrne expects his tough, movie-styled Uruk-hai to perform well, but close defeats and accurate Haradrim shooting expose the limits of a tiny company. Surviving heroes gain experience even as injured fighters miss games, and reinforcements from several Isengard troop types gradually broaden the force after its difficult start.
Guy Haley’s habitual attraction to greenskins produces a Mordor company led by a modified Gorbag. Learning the rules against Gondor and facing a rapidly growing Harad force bring painful early losses, but trackers, mounted reinforcements and equipment upgrades show the company’s development despite its poor record.
Guy leaves parts of a mid-brown foundation visible beneath thin base colours, then uses broad ink washes and limited highlights to produce quick, dirty Orcs. Selective metals, rust and pale highlights distinguish materials without repainting every strap and boot, with advice to limit washes on large flat surfaces where they would become streaky.
Rik Turner builds a small, fully mounted Orc force for lunchtime War Party games, inspired by the Warg Riders pursuing Rohan in the film. Every rider receives some conversion, from added shields and demanding mounted trackers to a Shaman built around Gothmog and a brass-rod standard with a printed banner.
Warhammer World’s team recreates Grond as a large collaborative project for Games Day, combining a carved foam-and-plywood ram with extensive putty detail and a beech carriage. Repeated resin claws, adapted toy-rhino draught animals and soldered braziers demonstrate how sculpting, casting and construction divide the work across several specialists.
Ray paints the carriage’s plasticard rims and studs with a muted green-grey base, then introduces brown stippling and a thin metallic wash. That sequence produces old, corroded iron consistent with the soot-black braziers and enormous siege machine, allowing constructed materials to read as heavy worked metal.
A carefully finished pale hull provides contrast for freehand Biel-tan vines. Pencil curves establish a random but evenly spaced structure before thinned green paint fixes the lines; pencilled thorns and successively brighter central highlights add depth while keeping errors repairable with the original background colours.