WHITE DWARF · MARCH 2017
Date-addressed March 2017 monthly issue. Original summaries cover features, rules, painting subguides and substantive staff columns; advertisements and direct catalogues are excluded. The textures painting examples appear before their explanatory masterclass in this scan.
COVER TO COVER
In printed page order
The editorial introduces the return of Roboute Guilliman and the questions it raises for the Imperium. It also previews the ordinary lives and adventures explored in Shadows Over Hammerhal and invites readers to join the new Warhammer 40,000 Tale of Four Warlords.
Rise of the Primarch brings the Gathering Storm’s pilgrims to Macragge and restores Guilliman to a galaxy he scarcely recognises. The preview outlines the concluding supplement’s story, army options and missions, and places the resurrection within the devastation following the fall of Cadia.
Guilliman, Grand Master Voldus and Cypher form an unlikely trio of new plastic characters. Close-ups explain the Primarch’s life-support armour and interchangeable heads, Voldus’s hammer and tomes, and Cypher’s ancient equipment; a route map follows the Terran Crusade through Ultramar, the Maelstrom and Luna.
The new Warhammer Quest box sends four adventurers into the catacombs of the Twin-tailed City under the direction of a gamemaster. A component tour explains destiny dice, treasure, skills, renown and dungeon exploration, including the opportunities to spend gold above ground in Cinderfall.
The Vanguard’s mounted hunters ride Gryph-chargers with which they share an earned bond of trust. The preview examines the three-model kit’s javelins, handaxes, pistols and leader options, alongside the practical equipment needed for long patrols beyond civilisation.
Lord-Aquilors are independent commanders and expert trackers chosen to lead Vanguard Auxiliary Chambers. The model’s astral compass, heavy pistol and starbound blade express that role, while alternative heads allow a bare-faced or masked leader atop the Gryph-charger.
These marksmen use either rapid-firing hurricane crossbows or longstrike weapons intended for precise kills. Their Aetherwing companions serve as scouts and spotters, and the preview explains how both the birds and three crossbowmen are represented in the boxed set.
Two conversion frames provide the insignia and heads needed to recruit existing miniatures into different forces. Deathwatch shoulder pads and weapons personalise Space Marines, while hybrid heads, cult icons and equipment turn Astra Militarum kits into Genestealer Cult followers and their commandeered vehicles.
A compressed high-and-low history recalls the Primarchs’ creation, disappearance and rediscovery during the Great Crusade. The missing two and the catastrophic rebellion of Horus provide the dark counterpart to their conquests for the Emperor.
The separate release of Tartaros Terminators and Mark III Space Marines makes two ancient armour designs available outside their original boxed game. The preview distinguishes the Terminators’ mobility and rare weapons from Mark III’s suitability for boarding actions, and lists the plastic kits’ equipment and command options.
An Ogre provides the Reikland Reavers with the strength ordinary Human players often lack against tougher teams. The news also introduces the separately boxed Human roster and a flexible neoprene recreation of the Reavers’ home stadium, the Oldbowl.
Teams may sneak an unusual ball into one drive per match, risking the referee sending off the kicker. Rules distinguish a dangerous extra-spiky ball, an escaping Orc squig, a mutating Skaven warpstone brazier and a heavy Dwarf ball that changes passing, scattering and impact injuries.
The resin Slambo revisits a two-axe Chaos Warrior first seen in White Dwarf 81. The release notice emphasises the connection to the 1986 model and introduces his return as an Exalted Hero for Age of Sigmar, with an accompanying Warhammer Quest character card.
Slambo’s hero card translates his pair of axes into close combat, thrown attacks and a powerful decapitation strike. Killing an adversary improves his later attacks that turn, while his high-dice legendary action lets him move and strike every adjacent opponent; decapitations can also earn extra renown.
Guy Haley’s novel explores the history of the ancient Blood Angels Chapter Master, whose thousand years of command have encompassed victory and defeat. The preview presents both the regular hardback and a signed limited version with an additional story and author introduction.
Dan Abnett’s returning novel brings the exhausted Legio Invicta to Orestes, where a Chaos Titan invasion threatens an already divided forge world. The preview highlights the mixture of god-engine warfare, ordinary lives and a conspiracy that could split Mars from Terra.
The graphic novel follows the war engine Imperius Dictatio and Princeps Hekate against Orks, Tyranids and Chaos. This collected edition pairs Dan Abnett’s story with Anthony Williams’s black-and-white artwork, presenting the long-running account of life and combat within a Titan.
Before becoming the Dark Angels’ Master of Librarians, Ezekiel leads Fifth Company warriors in defence of Honoria. The preview places his developing legend within a desperate campaign against Waaagh! Groblonik, fought alongside the armies of the Astra Militarum.
David Annandale’s audio drama explores the political formation of the Adeptus Mechanicus during the Horus Heresy. The Fabricator General in exile must find agreement with the divided Council of Terra, making bureaucracy and factional rivalry as dangerous as the civil war beyond it.
The narrator discusses learning the Warhammer vocabulary and making unfamiliar names and weapons sound convincing. He describes the pace and theatricality of the Garro dramas, decisions about narrating Eisenhorn in the first person, and the intimate, unsettling voice he gives Cherubael.
Inferno expands the histories of the Thousand Sons, Space Wolves, Talons of the Emperor and Ordo Sinister during the Burning of Prospero. Alongside the book, the feature examines the huge Acastus Knight Porphyrion and three Custodes grav-vehicles, stressing the rare technologies the Emperor reserved for his personal warriors.
The modular Lake-town house combines reversible walls, walkways and small waterside accessories into varied buildings. Gundabad Berserkers and Ogres reinforce Azog’s forces, while Goat Riders, dismounted spearmen and command models broaden the Iron Hills range; an event-exclusive Alfrid conceals stolen gold beneath his disguise.
The expanded computer game bundles previously added content with Bretonnia as a playable faction and Andy Hall’s Prince of Altdorf novella. The preview explains Bretonnia’s feudal campaign themes, the Peasant Economy and Vows, and its knights, Damsels and Legendary Lords.
The first collected arc brings together the comic’s opening four issues and its introductory issue zero. The story preview describes the newly accessible Calaphrax Cluster, whose ancient secrets attract numerous forces while the Dark Angels pursue a purpose of their own.
Readers describe discovering painting through Silver Tower, returning to the hobby through boxed games and seeking more scenery and beginner advice. The replies discuss the place of points-free battle reports and promise continued technique coverage, while requests range from scorched armour to fighting vertically inside an Imperator Titan.
Responding to a reader’s question, Aidan Daly recalls the dark red recipe for Smaug’s back and wing scales. A red-and-black foundation develops through red edge highlights into a pale final mixture, with the caveat that his recollection may need a little experimentation.
Grombrindal explains that Nurgle’s mortal champions began as humans, though mutations and divine gifts can obscure their origins. He distinguishes these corrupted mortals from Plaguebearers, some of whom crossed into daemonhood after succumbing to Nurgle’s Rot.
Developers and Games Workshop’s licensing team trace Dawn of War from its territory-based resources to the smaller, customised squads of the sequel. The discussion turns to the third game’s larger armies, believable battlefield structures, Imperial Knights and returning characters, explaining how animation and design choices translate the setting into a real-time strategy game.
An in-world stadium tour explains why so few teams still own their grounds after the NAF’s collapse. The Old Bowl, Doom Dome and undersized Halfling Green Acres illustrate contrasting venues, while a play diagram celebrates a Gutter Runner’s series of dodges that turns a Human fumble into a Skaven touchdown.
Jervis Johnson, Nicholas Horth and Nuala Kinrade explain how a permanent city and dungeon layout prompted the addition of a gamemaster to Warhammer Quest. Hammerhal’s linked settlements in Fire and Life support a detailed exploration of Cinderfall, where trade, crime, taverns and strange inhabitants give the heroes reasons to care about their home.
Between dungeon expeditions, adventurers can shop in the Riftmarket, bid at the House of Venargo, visit a chapel or earn money in the fighting pits. Gambling, drinking and Red Yugol’s fortune-telling offer renown and treasure but also risks, making the surrounding city an active part of the adventure.
Four hobbyists begin a six-month Warhammer 40,000 collecting challenge with a Start Collecting! box and a commitment to paint at least one unit each month. This introductory instalment presents their test models and motivations, leaving readers time to build their own starting forces before the first full progress report.
Maxime Corbeil returns to the article series that originally inspired his collecting, using John Blanche’s third-edition cover as the basis for Black Templars. Cold blue-black armour, creamy shoulder pads and warm dusty bases establish contrasting textures, with scripture and battle damage to develop as the army grows.
James Ashbey chooses the Astra Militarum army he has long wanted to collect despite the recent destruction of Cadia. Red armour, grey fatigues and green weapons give his survivors a distinctive scheme, while the regiment’s story will follow its continuing struggle and search for a future.
Dan Harden is drawn to the Iron Warriors’ bitterness and their opportunity to strike at the beleaguered Imperium. The project will challenge him to paint a largely metallic army, with tarnished gold and grimy hazard stripes suggesting industrial equipment that has endured millennia of warfare.
Chris Bilewicz chooses the less commonly painted matriarchal craftworld Iybraesil, planning female commanders and Howling Banshees around its background. His jetbike test model uses separately painted components and drybrushed highlights to demonstrate an efficient approach to a large collection.
Andy Clark and the model makers explain why the empire-building Guilliman was chosen to return, and how his battlefield resurrection gives way to despair at the Imperium’s condition. Seb Perbet and Steve Buddle discuss the visual language of Guilliman, Voldus and Cypher, while the painters describe consistent spot colours and character-specific weathering across the group.
At Guilliman’s awakening, Celestine interprets the battle’s fallen as martyrs whose sacrifice has delivered a miracle. The short fiction contrasts her grateful reverence with the Primarch’s immediate fury as he tears through the Black Legionnaires still fighting inside the shrine.
Simon Adams reposes Guilliman into a commanding figure addressing the people of Terra rather than fighting. Custodian attendants establish scale and connect the scene to classic Imperial artwork, while an onyx aquila and restrained gold framing direct attention to the Primarch’s face and burning sword; Adams explains how story, composition and colour make a diorama work.
This introduction follows Sigmar’s chosen heroes from their mortal last stands through the trials of reforging and service within the Stormhosts. It explains chambers, conclaves, heraldry and weapons, but also the loss of identity that accompanies repeated rebirth and the new duty of protecting cities from corruption as well as armies.
Angelo Di Chello explains the blue-purple mood of his Slayer Sword-winning Gaunt Summoner and the many thin, filtering layers that make its colours shimmer. The judges emphasise the contrast between dark atmosphere and intense colour, particularly the unsettling eyes reading the book while the others look outward.
Jaroslaw Drabek carries a cracked, ruined landscape from the base onto the Slaughterpriest’s armour, evoking Khorne’s domain. The judges praise his distinct material textures, smoothly blended non-metallic weapons and the individually highlighted cracks that support the figure’s dark majesty.
Michał Pisarski converts a Varanguard warrior into a broad, open-posed Lord of Khorne whose glowing chest rune echoes lava below. Metallic-looking red armour stays rich through deep shading and fine highlights, while scars and skulls reinforce the furious veteran’s identity.
Damien Tomasina airbrushes a huge Phantom Titan in his Sons of Asurmen army’s blue and yellow, treating its panels as reflective surfaces. Freehand icons, glowing cockpit details and splattered weathering complement a narrative base where the ancient war engine crushes an Emperor’s Children Land Raider beneath a temple-like stride.
Pawel Makuch presents Putrid Blightkings as an oddly cheerful procession with the mood of a Zdzisław Beksinski oil painting. The judges single out the variety of sore skin, rust, blood and verdigris, whose unsettling rawness gives the diorama its emotional impact.
Andy Wardle focuses on richly reflective armour, stippled texture and carefully balanced turquoise and crimson. Judges praise the restraint of his blue glazes and the ornate freehand, especially a skull-and-wreath motif on the cloak that completes the Primarch’s elaborate appearance.
Artists describe the scale, character and contradictions of Imperial armies, from individual Space Marine heroes to massed mortal regiments and inhuman machines. Discussions of the Iron Cage-inspired battle, Cadian troop landers, Chapter assemblies and mechanical processions show how lighting, viewpoint and layered detail turn miniatures into convincing imagined warfare.
Guy Haley argues that Age of Sigmar’s short core rules allow complexity to grow from warscrolls and scenarios rather than dense general exceptions. Drawing on decades of gaming and his themed open games, he celebrates its scalability, permission to invent rules and acceptance of different approaches to collecting and competition.
Dan Hyams uses an event deadline to turn an Errant-Questor test model into a complete Stormcast army. He describes efficient painting priorities, an airbrushed turquoise armour recipe and subtle head swaps, with a contrasting mortal Warrior-Priest adding variety to the otherwise immortal force.
Jes Bickham builds an industrial-looking cult to accompany his established Tyranids, finishing more models than his doubles-event list required. Yellow work suits, unhealthy flesh and green alien carapaces connect the army’s human and monstrous extremes; he also reflects on the patience required to exploit its ambushes.
Duncan Rhodes and Martyn Lyon combine Men of Dale with the Dwarves of Thror’s prosperous kingdom, creating a force inspired by the films’ historical flashback. Bright cloaks, clean armour and a converted bow-armed Girion win Best Army at a doubles weekend even though their battlefield results leave them last.
Pete Foley’s red Ironjawz borrow Flash Gitz parts for a pirate identity, with individual bosses and a converted Weirdnob supporting their search for great fights. He explains the layered red painting method, homemade hero-phase reminder counters and the importance of writing an event list before discovering a last-minute points shortage.
Chris Peach defends his multi-racial city against Steve Bowerman’s Nurgle army in a jointly designed six-round battle. Two 2,280-point forces contest the city gates and a pair of Realmgates, combining narrative armies with objectives adapted from the General’s Handbook. Failed early charges expose the defenders, but militia, heroes and determined duardin make the game unexpectedly close.
The August 2004 retrospective revisits Storm of Chaos, the arrival of the plastic Mûmak and the Haradrim’s battlefield coverage. It also recalls the Armoured Company list, eccentric Imperial engineering and Paul Sawyer’s staged Chaos Warrior painting guide, placing the issue just before another edition of Warhammer 40,000.
This expansion adds Skyweavers and Voidweavers to Gangs of Commorragh in one-off games and campaigns. Two-member crews can use more weapons, holo-fields improve defence and new manoeuvres model mirage cover, fly-by strikes and rear fire; masque organisation and a possible blessing from Cegorach replace ordinary gang assumptions.
The Studio Army Painters combine Mark IV Marines, robed Dark Angels Veterans and an upgrade frame into fifteen Fallen. Four annotated character builds demonstrate how armour marks, heads, weapon poses and shoulder pads can suggest ancient warriors while providing exact component references for reproducing the conversions.
A practical drill guide begins with a centred pilot hole and explains choosing the chuck and limiting exposed drill-bit length. It then follows the muzzle and side vents of a bolter, emphasising alignment, gentle pressure and careful removal of plastic debris for a clean result.
Dan Harden builds another Fallen squad from robed veterans, Mark III armour and spare heavy-weapon parts. A drilled missile launcher accepts a trimmed firing missile, while shallow drilled holes opened with a knife produce convincing battle damage on an armoured greave.
Paul Norton simplifies the ornate Primarch into familiar Space Marine painting stages, drybrushing gold before tidying the surrounding blue. Separate recipes cover armour, metal, scrolls, seals, face, eyes, hair and laurels, then the ruined base, Black Legion corpse and flames; thin washes and reversed light-to-dark fire highlights keep the head and sword as the focal points.
Layered orange hair on a Wulfen demonstrates how successive highlights can describe individual strands. Orange and brown washes deepen the colour before bright orange and pale final highlights sharpen the texture.
A Wulfen’s fur hide is painted with a brown foundation and two warm shades before a pale drybrush catches the sculpted texture. The guide contrasts this coarse finish with the adjacent layered hair example.
Ulrik’s wolf tails use layered bone-coloured highlights and carefully placed washes to create bands in the fur. This gives a different finish from drybrushing even though both examples represent similar animal material.
Ulrik’s skull helm develops from a warm bone foundation through a sepia wash into pale, precise highlights. The restricted shading and sharp finish distinguish its hard surface from the nearby wolf pelts.
A Kastelan Robot’s exposed metal is shaded dark and progressively relayered with brighter metallic paints. Fine final lines imitate scratches while preserving the surrounding worn surface.
Irregular blue and dark-brown marks define damaged paint on a robot’s armour, with tiny metallic accents implying the layer exposed underneath. Pale edge marks complete an effect that can be placed selectively rather than covering every panel.
The Magmadroth’s craggy scales receive a red spray foundation and crimson shade before broad drybrushed highlights. A final yellow glaze warms and unifies the surface without losing the deep recesses.
The Magmadroth’s crest uses a yellow foundation and pale drybrush to pick up its form. Orange shading followed by a yellow glaze produces a leathery warmth distinct from the red rocky scales.
Max Faleij, Aidan Daly and the Army Painters explain how paint can make the same plastic suggest cloth, bone, leather, polished armour or fur. Sculpted and painted textures are distinguished, with advice on matching technique to surface, separating similar colours and using weathering to support a model’s story rather than obscure its shape.
Stu Black replaces the Bloodsecrator’s elaborate axe with a simpler sacrificial weapon from the Chaos Warshrine. The contrast lets the brutal blade balance the ornate Portal of Skulls while beginning his eight-character Gorechosen project.
A bare head lets Stu concentrate on the Deathbringer’s expression and flowing hair. Pale aged skulls separate trophies from the armour, while thinned purple and crimson washes emphasise mutations and ritual marks.
Practice on sixty Bloodreavers helps Stu establish the flesh and armour techniques for his Bloodstoker. Washes emphasise folds and weight, a missing tooth adds character and darkened pink hair stands apart from red armour and skin.
Stu paints beaten iron rather than red armour to reflect the Skullgrinder’s smithing role. Turquoise on the plume contrasts with the fiery anvil, and glowing eyes hint at something inhuman behind the helmet.
A Flesh Hound painting guide provides the unexpected basis for the Exalted Deathbringer’s ruddy skin. Dark horns and limited red cloth keep this near-daemonic champion distinct from the cleaner bone and bright armour of his companions.
The mutated spine and trophies receive layered bone colours, with darker washes at the tips suggesting horn. Nuln Oil around the eyes makes the priest seem exhausted by an endless life of fighting and bloody devotion.
Stu explains the flesh method shared by most of his champions: warm layered skin, a thinned darker colour in the recesses and a pale finishing highlight. Rusty-looking washes, a bright edge and blood splashes make the hackblade a rough, unpleasant counterpart to the carefully finished flesh.
The most heavily armoured champion demonstrates Stu’s quick red scheme. A dark recess wash defines the plates before two increasingly bright edge highlights restore their shape, with neighbouring bone and metal worked together to streamline the process.
Michael Wieske connects his Skullgrinder to the Axes of Skarbrand with red plates and black banding. Forge-like glows animate the eyes and chest vents, orange-white flames omit the usual yellow layering, and teal patina cools the otherwise warm scheme.
Chris Peach gives the Iron Horde priest bright, blood-smeared metal armour with warmer banding. The contrasting hackblade is painted as volcanic rock or daemonic crystal using black, red and orange, linking the weapon to the model’s supernatural violence.
Tom Moore concentrates on smoothly defined muscles and a meticulously detailed face, drawing the eye to teeth, tongue and cheekbones. Metal chips highlight black armour while fine striations distinguish brown horn from the larger bone growth on the back.
Reader submissions range from colourful Ironjawz and Blood Angels to Sons of Horus war machines and large Stormcast creatures. The gallery pairs each photographed miniature with its painter, including a Deathwing Contemptor, Corvus Corax and an Iron Circle automaton.
Jez Andrews paints Alarielle’s pale clothing to suggest translucent gossamer, relating the cloth highlights to the skin beneath. A green pool provides reflected light on the Wardroth’s legs and underside, with progressively paler mixtures defining the glow.
The staff’s Blood Bowl league has become costly in injuries, leaving several teams with depleted line-ups. The column also follows Martyn’s borrowed Stormcasts and the team’s painting deadlines; Dan’s tackle-zone note clarifies how opposing players can assist blocks.
Adam Troke discusses the enthusiastic response to renewed Middle-earth releases and the There and Back Again book. The interview describes plans to keep following The Hobbit’s characters and units while returning to events from The Lord of the Rings, with the sculpting work necessarily taking time.
Martyn Lyon starts Celestial Vindicators after reading Bladestorm and other Stormcast fiction. The short hobby update points readers towards novels and audio dramas covering different Stormhosts and explains how their background informed his collecting choice.
Michael Wieske adds five Bloodreavers to accompany his previously painted Skullgrinder. They share the same colour scheme, but he plans to add blood effects to their weapons only after they have earned their first kills in a game.
Stu and Ben compare the appeal of Guilliman and Cypher and consider how the Fallen could fit into an existing collection. Their conversation turns to Hammerhal, whose ordinary inhabitants and functioning city give the battles of the Mortal Realms more tangible stakes.
Matt Hutson expands an allied Shadowlands army with Fyreslayers whose soot-striped hair and ash bases place them in Ulgu. Painting the Magmadroth and rider separately simplifies their different foundations, though individually highlighting every black scale proves a substantial task.