WHITE DWARF · MAY 2017
May 2017 fortieth-anniversary monthly issue. The archive indexes original features, historical retrospectives, rules, painting recipes and substantive staff columns; advertisements and brief cover-timeline captions are not separate articles. The complete cover timeline is discussed within the anniversary history and staff memories. Several historical features carry erroneous 2016 footers; cover and surrounding context verify May 2017.
COVER TO COVER
In printed page order
The editorial marks four decades of continuous publication, linking the magazine’s changing format to the growth of Games Workshop, Citadel and their imagined worlds. It frames the anniversary as an opportunity to understand how past experiments shaped the present magazine and its hobby coverage.
The news introduction celebrates the 549th issue across the magazine’s different schedules and previews its nostalgic features and linked battles. It also introduces the power-armoured anniversary Grombrindal and new Blood Bowl versions of the White Dwarf and Black Gobbo, alongside the planned Warhammer Fest celebrations.
The anniversary model outfits Grombrindal in ornate power armour supplied with an ale-keg backpack, pistol and a pile of birthday presents. A closer look reveals the Black Gobbo hiding inside the cake, explaining the comic details and the option to use a smaller ordinary base.
The Ferratonic Incinerator and Promethium Forge combine shared modular parts into new industrial structures. Galvanic Servohaulers add two tractors and a crane with interchangeable fittings, while matching industrial bases provide grilles, cogitators and other details to connect individual models to the same battlefield.
Thranduil’s elk-mounted model comes with both a display setting and an inset gaming base, while the Iron Hills Chariot uses six goats and a four-Dwarf crew. Armoured Gundabad Trolls with separately available weapons extend the monstrous forces of Azog, giving both sides new centrepiece options.
These veteran siege-breakers combine Cataphractii armour with cyclone missile launchers, power fists and combi-bolters. The preview stresses their expected place at the front of the hardest assaults and their willingness to sacrifice themselves in pursuit of Perturabo’s victories.
The action roleplaying game casts players as Inquisitorial operatives investigating the Caligari Sector through varied locations and generated missions. Its Founders’ campaign offers early access and an opportunity to influence development, while the preview introduces character classes and the heretics and war machines they will encounter.
A turn-based computer game recreates Tallarn through three linked campaigns and numerous standalone missions. Players choose Loyalist or Iron Warriors forces and command a broad selection of Heresy-era armour, including Dreadnoughts and Knights as well as more familiar battle tanks.
Chaos Dwarfs and Khemri join Blood Bowl 2 as downloadable teams, offering different mixtures of speed, resilience and strength. The surrounding news notes console releases for Space Hulk, Deathwatch, Space Hulk: Ascension and Warhammer Quest, extending several tabletop adaptations to new platforms.
Gav Thorpe’s Phoenix Lord novel alternates between Jain Zar’s aid to Eldrad against an Ork threat and her transformation into the first Howling Banshee after the Fall. The preview outlines the standard hardback and a signed limited edition containing additional material.
David Guymer explores the Iron Hands’ conflict between embracing the machine and preserving humanity through Kardan Stronos’s leadership. An investigation into a forge world of questionable orthodoxy provides the setting for that theological divide and the Chapter’s violent response.
The renewed hardback edition examines the Dark Angels’ Supreme Grand Master and the rituals of his secretive Chapter. Conflict with the Night Lords forms the backdrop as Gav Thorpe explores the commander behind the mysteries.
Forgefather T’kell and selected Firedrakes travel through the Heresy to hide seven surviving artefacts of Vulkan. Their duty puts them at odds with enemies and well-meaning allies alike, testing whether they can honour the Primarch’s instructions when others want to use his creations.
Three collected audio dramas continue the stories of Eidolon, Marcus Valerius and Oll Persson. The notice identifies Chris Wraight’s The Soul, Severed, Gav Thorpe’s Valerius and Dan Abnett’s Perpetual as a varied selection of Heresy tales suitable for listening while painting.
Five authors choose influential favourites: Nick Kyme praises Necropolis, Gav Thorpe selects Execution Hour and Guy Haley recalls Drachenfels. David Guymer discusses Thanquol’s Doom’s effect on his own writing, while Chris Wraight admires the ambition and dystopian imagination of Draco.
Arkanauts crew the fleets and defend their shares of the profits with pistols, cutters and specialised weapons. The ten-model kit offers skyhooks, skypikes and aethermatic volley guns, with environment suits and metal masks expressing the hazards of their trade.
The Admiral’s wealth and elaborate weapons contrast with the specialist instruments carried by an Endrinmaster, Aether-Khemist and Navigator. Close-ups explain repair tools, aether-gold filtration and weather-reading equipment, while the separate Drillbill component offers an easy personal touch for other characters.
One kit builds either flying repair crews or aggressive forward skirmishers. Rivet guns and saws distinguish Endrinriggers from the Skywardens’ mines and assault equipment, while grapnels and heavier weapon options show how these airborne duardin connect to their ships and quarry.
Professional Thunderers protect prospecting fleets with an assortment of specialised firearms and monitoring equipment. Brokk Grungsson provides a more ostentatious expression of the same technological wealth, carrying an extraordinary array of weapons on his personal flying harness.
The small, agile escort ship combines substantial firepower with experienced Grundstok crew. The model tour highlights its ancestor prow, aether-endrin, propellers and alternative cannons, while a tactical sidebar balances the fleet’s speed and guns against light armour and limited numbers.
The Frigate combines prospecting vessel, crew quarters and warship in an intricately detailed plastic kit. A Captain, Navigator and working Endrinrigger make its machinery readable, and the preview recommends painting crew separately to preserve access to the bridge’s instruments.
A labelled tour of the flagship explores its huge endrin, crew stations, armoured doors, signalling gear and propulsion. Alternative turret weapons supplement hull carbines, bombs and torpedoes, while a crewman painting the ship reinforces the sense of an elaborate working vessel rather than a simple floating gun platform.
The retrospective traces a bimonthly roleplaying magazine through the arrival of Citadel, Warhammer and Rogue Trader, then the growth of army books, battle reports and personal hobby columns. The larger Fat Dwarf format, Middle-earth film years, digital photography, 2012 redesign and weekly experiment explain how the 2016 monthly relaunch gathered familiar features into a new format.
The magazine’s figurehead develops from Chris Beaumont’s archetypal roleplaying Dwarf into the named warrior-king whose saga Nigel Stillman established. Illustrations, anniversary miniatures, unusual subscription costumes and the Total War incarnation show how the White Dwarf changed alongside the hobby while retaining his recognisable white beard.
The article follows the magazine’s role in establishing Warhammer fiction, including William King’s Emperor–Horus confrontation, Gotrek and Felix and characters who emerged from battle reports. It connects those early stories to Inferno!, Warhammer Monthly and Black Library’s first novels, showing how brief magazine appearances developed into enduring histories and series.
Readers recall the issues that introduced them to the hobby and explain why particular battles, army showcases and modelling projects stayed with them. Accounts of Tycho, Glazer’s Creek, campaign games and homemade scenery connect the magazine’s practical inspiration with the comfort and continuity of a long-lived hobby.
John Blanche describes the inseparable development of his drawing and miniature painting, from tin knights and museum work to concept design and running the studio. Nature, old buildings, history and the miniature range feed an instinctive visual memory, with rapid sketches intended to open possibilities for sculptors rather than function as polished finished art.
The retrospective follows Blanchitsu from practical brush and knife advice within ’Eavy Metal through its short independent run and later assimilation. Its 2012 return focuses on personal warbands and the imaginative fringe of the setting, with John explaining his initial doubts about whether readers would embrace such unusual models.
John Blanche creates a new Pilgrym warband infected by spores while investigating beneath the Pilgrym Stair. Conversions of Greyfax, Cawl, Skitarii and Genestealer Cultists produce the inquisitor, Magos Dee, Venator Drake and the strange Centaurmekbrideapede; ink staining gives the group its sickly shared appearance as it searches for a cure.
John Blanche selects studio artwork that captures both the vastness of the settings and the disturbing detail of individual lives. Alex Boyd’s Black Ships and Witch Hunter Trial, Wayne England’s Imperial figures, Paul Dainton’s great vistas and Kevin Chin’s Pandorax prompt reflections on history, expression and the urge to recreate painted characters as miniatures.
The competition’s history runs from Andy Jones and John Blanche’s first event to international prestige and increasingly specialised contests. The article also charts magazine coverage, from rare colour photographs and separate mini-booklets to larger, sharper images and interviews that reveal the decisions of entrants and judges.
Richard Gray paints rust entirely by brush to control the balance of chips and gravity-led streaks on white armour. His step-by-step explanation builds orange, bright orange and brown layers around carefully highlighted damage, while flowers on the base contrast with the machine’s sombre appearance and conceal a fallen Ultramarine.
Rich Marlow combines the bright, eccentric colours of 1990s Orks with modern weathering. Carefully underlined scratches, chips near vulnerable edges, rivet streaks and restrained verdigris keep the machine worn without losing the grot as the focal point.
Danny Nuttall establishes light and shadow with grey and white airbrushing before applying translucent green armour colour. Deeper coloured shadows, pale highlights and entirely hand-painted markings challenge his skills and add character without relying on transfers.
Maxime Pastourel paints the miniature he sculpted, deliberately learning from the bolder, neater ’Eavy Metal treatment. Repeated feedback and thin red glazes help unify its armour, while a white helm, cool cloak lining and a specially made Tizcan base balance the warm principal colours.
Kornel Kozak turns a test miniature into a competition entry while exploring a distinctive but plausible cult colour scheme. Subtle mottled flesh and weapon scratches enrich the many materials without overwhelming the coherent clothing and equipment.
Maxime Corbeil exploits the Primus’s open pose and different materials, making small arm and weapon changes to personalise it. Reflective carapace, scuffed leather inspired by an earlier masterclass and a polished blade demonstrate how textures can distinguish adjacent surfaces.
Past and present painters recall the showcases, masterclasses, painting challenges and Mike McVey dioramas that inspired their careers. Their memories explain how named painters’ distinctive styles, ambitious instructional features and narrative compositions encouraged readers to try professional painting and sculpting themselves.
The retrospective identifies spectacle, novel formats, narrative and familiar rivalries as recurring strengths of memorable battle reports. A visual history follows early charity-game diagrams through colour photography, great multiplayer encounters and the creation of Captain Tycho, while Glazer’s Creek illustrates the appeal of a story-led unequal battle.
A mysterious Doomseeker recruits Fyreslayers and Kharadron to recover ancient axes from the Auric City. The introduction explains a three-game narrative celebration: preliminary fights at Realmgates grant advantages in a concluding allied battle, deliberately combining spectacle, story and player rivalries associated with classic reports.
Matt Hutson’s Fyreslayers must pass at least three units through a Realmgate guarded by Dan Harden’s Nurgle army. Bael-Grimnir kills Orghotts Daemonspew to open the route while a Runesmiter is left behind; enough duardin escape to force the enemy to deploy first in the campaign’s final game.
Matt Keefe tries to shoot and manoeuvre his Kharadron past Jonathan’s Ironjawz and through the Oxidal Realmgate. The orruks reach the ships faster than expected, grounding one Frigate and killing Purview, but the survivors achieve a minor victory that permits a flank deployment in the final battle.
Fyreslayers and Kharadron unite against Ironjawz and Nurgle while searching six ruined pillars for the legendary axes. The report follows an enormous four-player battle decided by destroying enough enemy units, with earlier victories shaping deployment; powerful duardin buffs, flying gunships and the Glottkin’s destructive resilience create the central struggle.
Natalie Slinn paints the anniversary model and its presents separately, preserving access and clean glue joints. Bright blue armour edges and layered white hair keep Grombrindal visible among the colourful gifts, while recipes cover skin, gold, gems, wood, beer foam, candles and the Black Gobbo’s cake; repeating colours across bows and wrapping unifies the display.
The Warhammer World team explains the creation of an enormous Cadian parade display, its first exhibition project. Cast marching soldiers, converted dignitaries, scratch-built artillery and carefully weathered tank formations combine to suggest the Imperium’s endless war effort; the team discusses consistent lighting, muted scenery and contrasting Imperial Fists that reward close inspection without competing with the main scene.
The foldout’s background text describes Cadia’s military tithe and the extraordinary proportion of its population devoted to war. It contrasts the few soldiers who could return home alive with off-world regiments that survived the planet’s destruction and now fight in its memory; captions explore the muster’s commanders and messengers.
The history traces A Tale of Four Gamers from its 1998 personal army projects through Fantasy, 40,000 and Middle-earth incarnations. Distinctive forces, monthly targets, optional painting advice and multiplayer finales explain its enduring appeal and its return as A Tale of Four Warlords in the 2016 relaunch.
This month’s challenge adds an Elite unit, with an optional transport or extra commander, and asks each hobbyist to develop army background. The introduction connects these choices to the ongoing Gathering Storm and prepares the four participants to test their newly expanded forces.
Maxime Corbeil gives the Black Templars a siege-breaking assault unit that reflects their Imperial Fists heritage. Freehand checks, flames and selected transfers fill the large armour panels, while white helmets and yellow weapons improve readability; his background places the company in Guilliman’s crusade.
James Ashbey adds characterful Ogryns and an adaptable command squad, using stubble to break up large faces and spare kit parts to personalise specialists. His Dauntless regiment fights beyond fallen Cadia under Commissar Bleak, whose trust in tanks suggests the direction of later additions.
Dan Harden reinforces the Iron Tide with Terminators and their heavy transport, discovering why a black undercoat helps distinguish metallic coverage from bare plastic. Drybrushed silver, highlighted edges and dirty tracks give the vehicle a worn finish, while purple details and the Lyssatra background add character.
Chris Bilewicz adds ten Banshees and a Wave Serpent, using the more opaque scenery version of Ushabti Bone for quick coverage. Teal cloth and red hair link them to Iybraesil’s existing models, while glazed metallic swords and a prophetic army narrative reinforce the force’s identity.
Two introductory games pit the growing Cadians against Iybraesil and Black Templars against Iron Warriors. A Farseer’s disastrous psychic backlash complicates the Eldar attack, while missed Land Raider shots let a loyal Dreadnought and surviving Centurion dismantle Dan’s elites; the Templars win decisively and the Eldar secure a narrower victory.
Ben Humber equips his Raven’s Watch Scouts to match the force he used in the previous battle report. The team’s background presents veteran specialists hunting an Ork who destroyed their Sixth Company, with future recruits planned for a longer campaign.
Chris Peach combines Genestealer Neophyte bodies with Scion heads and arms to create seasoned alien hunters. Green armour, bright orange markings and a history of redeployment to vital promethium sites establish a distinct regiment suited to Armageddon’s guerrilla fighting.
Simon Grant adds new Wolf Scouts after campaign playtesting reignites his enthusiasm. A converted Deathwatch operative supports the team, while names and epithets will accumulate with experience as Mikael Ironskull’s pack fights Orks for promethium behind enemy lines.
Matt Holland finishes Vior’la Pathfinders for a campaign set on ruined Mu’gulath Bay rather than Armageddon. A drawn pistol and drilled holster personalise the leader, while varnishing beneath masked red markings allows him to scrape realistic damage into the upper paint layer.
Dan Harden’s colourful Freebooterz are led by Grakka, a former Bad Moon seeking profitable promethium theft. A Flash Git converted into Mek Grippa carries parts useful in ordinary 40,000 as well as Shadow War, linking the small team to Dan’s larger collection.
Duncan Rhodes builds hereditary household troops to guard a House Griffith Knight and its encampment on Armageddon. Neophytes, Cultists, a trimmed Skitarii helmet and replacement heraldic shields create a coherent retinue, including a recruit already sporting a Command Squad bandaged arm.
Jervis Johnson advises Hammerhal gamemasters to know the setting and encounters before play, then use description and selective acting to bring them alive. Reasonable answers, recurring personalities, sounds and smells deepen the experience without revealing secrets; James Hewitt stresses everyone’s enjoyment and suggests transferring the approach to narrative Age of Sigmar games.
The hero card combines heavy tools with two mutually exclusive gas attacks, forcing a choice between noxious damage and atmospheric isolation. A high-dice augmentation action improves the damage of nearby heroes for the round, while finding treasure supplies additional renown.
The Navigator pairs close combat and pistol actions with free exploration of new rooms. Holding a high-value die for an Aetherstorm penalises enemies in the same chamber, and discovering a new chamber rewards the explorer with renown.
The Admiral’s hammer can inflict extra wounds on a particularly strong attack, while his volley pistol can continue firing until an attack fails. His additional renown comes from defeating tougher enemies, encouraging an aggressive role within a hero party.
The Endrinmaster carries a variable-damage hammer and the ranged Gaze of Grungni. A risky harness action can fix the hammer’s damage at a higher value but may wound its wearer, and inflicting enough wounds in one turn earns additional renown.
Jay Clare supplies a standalone action-point minigame recreating Legolas’s attack on the Mûmak’s howdah. Players alternate activations as Legolas races to kill the crew and reach the front within four turns, balancing movement, attacks and defensive agility against poisoned Haradrim weapons; bespoke profiles and tactical advice replace the normal Strategy Battle Game rules.
The fictional sports column examines forbidden weapons that fans love and referees would rather avoid: chainsaws, concealed blades and the Dwarf Deathroller. A play diagram then recounts an Undead coach exploiting an ancient siege site to summon a substitute directly into position for a scoring pass.
Two legendary rivals join opposing eligible teams through special exhibition or league arrangements rather than normal hiring. Grombrindal shares tactical skills with a nearby teammate, while the Gobbo permits extra fouls and helps offenders evade dismissal; their mutual grudge grants rerolls against each other and they always appear together.
James Hewitt teaches coaches to preserve their limited turns by ordering safe actions before risky ones and calculating when a necessary gamble is worthwhile. Blocking odds, tight and loose cages, cage-breaking, kick-off decisions and formations show how protecting the ball and planning the opponent’s reply matter more than chasing casualties; a team-tier discussion explains different learning curves and the need to play to a roster’s strengths.
Reader submissions include Tyranids, a Sons of Horus Spartan, Stormcast heroes, Knights and the paired Custodes and Sisters of Silence of Marcel Kinrade. Named photographs celebrate varied scales and painting approaches, with the Emperor’s Children Contemptor selected for a separate recipe spotlight.
Thilo Engels builds pink-purple armour through successive mixtures and drybrushed highlights, contrasting it with carefully shaded metals. Highlighted brown chips create battle damage and Forge World orange rust powder finishes the feet, giving the elaborate Legion colours a used battlefield appearance.
Tattoo artist and illustrator Lee Clements describes a deliberately bright comic-book approach with extreme shadows and highlights. Garro, a green Dark Angels Chaplain, Space Wolves, Curze and his first Rhino demonstrate textured surfaces, non-metallic armour and expressive colour choices, while he accepts that different viewers prefer different styles.
The team reflects on how the 2016 relaunch examined past successes to revive favourites and develop new features. Battle reports and collecting challenges are treated as formats that can keep improving, connecting the anniversary’s nostalgia to the magazine’s continuing editorial choices.
Dan discovers that the Galvanic Servohauler crane’s trailer accepts a Munitorum Armoured Container in place of the crane. The detached crane also stands independently, turning compatible fittings into two useful scenery arrangements without wasting the original component.
Gav Thorpe remembers learning writing, design and deadline discipline; Phil Kelly recalls moving from graphic design through features into game development. Adam Troke looks back on interviews and battle reports with humour, while a separate farewell marks photographer Erik Niemz’s departure after several magazine formats.
The staff divide up the new Kharadron range for a painting challenge. Personal schemes give Dan’s Admiral and Michael’s mercenary Thunderers their own sky-ports, while other characters and an Arkanaut Company adapt Barak-Nar and Barak-Urbaz colours, illustrating the range’s appeal across the team.
Martyn paints a Necron Start Collecting! force in two weekends to get it onto the table quickly. Bright silver shaded and drybrushed back up contrasts with blue armour, while red Martian texture on the bases sets off the cold metallic force.
The team shares first issues and favourite features, from Fat Dwarf and Glazer’s Creek to Blanchitsu, Lizardmen and the manufacture of the plastic Land Raider. The accompanying production note describes the challenge of writing short captions for all 549 issues in the anniversary’s cover timeline.
Matt Hutson ties a Frigate to his existing Realm of Shadow army through Barak-Mhornar’s colours. Separate undercoats for hull, struts, endrins and crew make painting manageable; metallic surfaces gain warm copper shading and bright highlights while the blue hull panels connect to his chosen sky-port.