WHITE DWARF · JULY 2017
The first wave of smaller Warhammer 40,000 starter sets accompanies sculptor interviews, new-edition tactics, a narrative Ork treasure hunt and Age of Sigmar Skirmish. Extensive hobby coverage includes Astral Templars, a Primaris Librarian, beginner recipes and modular gameboards. Advertising and brief promotional notices are excluded.
COVER TO COVER
In printed page order
The editorial welcomes the smaller starter sets accompanying the new Warhammer 40,000 edition, particularly their additional Primaris and Death Guard miniatures. It introduces the revived tactics series as useful even to experienced players and highlights the interview with the Citadel sculptors.
Know No Fear supplies two substantial starter forces, a gaming surface and six introductory missions, while First Strike uses a smaller selection of push-fit Intercessors, Reivers, Plague Marines and Poxwalkers. The preview also introduces the Getting Started magazine and its Primaris miniature, explaining how each format provides a different entry into the hobby.
The new Librarian combines Tacticus armour with the psychic hood, books, keys and ram iconography of the Librarius. Details of his equipment and alternative heads, including a helmeted option, show how the sculpt identifies a trained psyker within the new Primaris range.
The Captain kit offers alternative bolt rifles, heads and an outstretched pointing hand or drawn sword. Its command markings and reinforced armour distinguish an officer intended to lead the newly deployed Primaris forces.
A compressed history follows the Space Marines from the Great Crusade through the Heresy, the Second Founding and later attempts to create new Chapters. The Ultima Founding provides the latest transformation, bringing Primaris warriors into an institution shaped by repeated catastrophe and reorganisation.
Two blue-plastic push-fit sets introduce three Intercessors and three Reivers in poses distinct from the large starter box. The Reivers’ lighter armour, knives, pistols and terror equipment establish their close-range infiltration role alongside the conventional battleline troops.
Green-plastic push-fit models expand the Death Guard with a plasma-armed champion, a blight launcher and another Plague Marine. Six individually sculpted Poxwalkers offer infected civilians to accompany them, broadening both forces without duplicating the larger starter selection.
The hobby news presents compact paint and miniature sets for the new starter forces, with an essentials selection supporting both sides. Brushes, modelling supplies and faction-specific starter colours are positioned as a practical route from assembled plastic to a painted collection.
A forty-eight-card deck combines deployment maps, objectives and twists to generate different battles. Ruses and sudden-death conditions give an outnumbered force additional opportunities, supporting asymmetric games assembled from the models players want to field.
A new Age of Sigmar starter pits seventeen Stormcast Eternals against twenty-seven followers of Khorne. The accompanying book introduces the setting and models through four training battleplans, with a reversible battlefield surface providing a ready place to play.
Previously boxed starter characters become available separately, including Khorne’s warlord and standard bearer and the Stormcast commander on Calanax. The notice connects these recognisable miniatures with the named leaders whose stories helped launch the Age of Sigmar.
Sam Egan discusses the Forge World confrontation between the two Primarchs, balancing Magnus’s lavish details against Russ’s direct physical aggression. Connections to the Daemon Primarch sculpt and John Blanche’s imagery inform Magnus, while changes to his injured eye strengthen the intensity of the duel.
John French’s novel follows Inquisitor Covenant through the Caradryad sector, where apparent allies and enemies complicate a struggle between Puritan and Radical approaches. Returning members of his retinue connect the story to characters developed for the Inquisitor game.
Phil Kelly’s novel follows Farsight’s effort to reclaim Vior’los from Imperial occupation. A T’au viewpoint, supporting map and lexicon explore the expansionist society’s attractive ideals and darker implications while confronting its commander with unfamiliar enemies.
Guy Haley examines Perturabo’s childhood on Olympia alongside his later return to suppress its rebellion. His relationship with his adoptive father and his place among the Primarchs explain how pride and resentment helped draw him towards Horus.
Andy Clark’s Alpha Legion story sends a small force on a secret mission into the war for Tsadrekha. The Noctis Aeterna and a massive invasion associated with Khârn make stealth and misdirection especially valuable to the infiltrators.
John French’s audio drama turns an account of Accazzar Beta into a threat to the rulers of the Gilded Worlds. The envoy’s tale describes the price of refusing Horus, making the retelling itself an instrument of compliance.
Phil Kelly explains how the five castes and their competing perspectives shape his T’au fiction. He prefers to imply the Ethereals’ influence through events rather than announce it outright, and discusses the pressure placed on a rational commander confronting Daemons and impossible warfare.
The mobile game combines an Ork vehicle runner with scavenging and construction, letting players collect plans and build increasingly elaborate machines. The preview links its ramshackle designs to the appeal of real converted Ork vehicles, including Maxime Pastourel’s work.
A free PC lorebook gathers setting information, while the Karak Azgaraz expansion adds three adventures in the Grey Mountains. A separate virtual-reality experience offers another way to encounter the game’s rat-infested environments.
Drop Assault expands its character roster with twenty heroes including Angron, Tarvitz and Loken. The column also previews Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times for mobile devices, continuing dungeon adventures in the doomed Old World.
Readers describe returning to the hobby during difficult periods, painting beyond their usual comfort zones and their enthusiasm for Blanchitsu. Replies address requests for rules compilations and explain how the community’s varied collections and approaches can keep familiar games fresh.
Grombrindal considers where the remaining members of a ten-man squad might be when six warriors operate Centurion suits. His suggestions range from other vehicles and Centurion units to ordinary battlefield losses, treating a photographed formation as one moment in a larger deployment.
March 2011 returns through the Arachnarok, Savage Orcs and Duncan Rhodes’s painting advice, together with a four-player clash against Bretonnia and Dwarfs. The retrospective also recalls Jervis’s discussion of random dice and the narrow Imperial victory closing a ten-player Armageddon Apocalypse game.
Readers’ favourite miniature of 2016 earns a place in the Hall of Fame. Matt Holland discusses the lengthy sculpting process, interchangeable faces and layered Tzeentch symbols that connect Magnus’s enormous physical form to his sorcerous history.
Seven Citadel sculptors explain how character, silhouette and a convincing sense of motion become plastic miniatures. Their examples trace collaboration from concepts and rough models to production engineering, using Primaris Marines, Skitarii, the Riptide and small familiars to show the different problems each project poses. Personal accounts by Darren Latham, Tom Walton, Seb Perbet, Sergi Torras, Aly Morrison, Christian Hardy and Gaku Matsubayashi describe routes into the studio and the skills they brought with them. Recurring themes include preserving recognisable identities, choosing details that tell a story and making a kit rewarding to assemble.
The four collectors spend a free-choice month strengthening forces that have reached approximately fifty power each. New infantry, characters and vehicles lead directly into their first doubles game using the new edition, testing how the growing collections work together.
Dan’s Plague Marines form a separate corrupted contingent rather than receiving his Iron Warriors’ silver scheme. Bright green growths stand out against grey and gold, while his detailed Iron Warriors method uses a metallic spray, dark wash and selective highlights before the yellow chevrons, black panels and leather.
Eldrad’s darker Ulthwé colours contrast with Chris’s turquoise Iybraesil warriors while shared red, cream and white details connect the collection. A Wraithlord carrying a Banshee spirit receives a personal name and ghostglaive, giving the new models identities beyond their battlefield roles.
Different starting undercoats prepare the bike and rider for turquoise armour, pale details and black components. The guide sets out the mask, lenses, white panels, spirit stones and wraithbone separately, then connects the finished models through cracked earth bases and transfers.
James adds infantry and Enginseer XIV Nihil-Theta to his armoured collection. The new edition’s independent infantry units change how he organises his soldiers, while matching brass machinery helps the Tech-Priest belong beside the tanks he maintains.
Five Intercessors and the sword-wielding Lieutenant Donatus join Maxime’s crusade. White weapon casings and a brazier distinguish the characters, while the new armour offers opportunities to extend the collection’s established visual language.
James and Maxime face Dan and Chris in a five-round game that ends eleven points apiece. Vehicle firepower, arriving Chaos Terminators and a running confrontation between the Emperor’s Champion and Farseer demonstrate the different capabilities of the new rules, with an Enginseer repeatedly keeping a Devil Dog operational.
Richard Gray explains his gold-winning Titan’s moth-like Death’s Head motifs and varied freehand skulls and chains. Changing bright gold to bronze produces a more coherent surface, while weathering and an uprooted tree in the watery base help convey the machine’s enormous weight.
Artwork from Retribution provides the model for a Night Lords Dreadnought covered in chains, spikes and tarot imagery. Sharp non-metallic highlights make the dark blue-black armour look almost glassy, with hazard markings providing a controlled contrasting accent.
Ben builds the Leviathan’s white armour from a blue-grey Dark Reaper foundation and uses carefully applied red to tie it to the World Eaters. Adjusted transfers and restrained weathering preserve the model’s clean colour separation and readable heraldry.
Green, yellow and white House Cadmus heraldry covers a towering Acastus Knight, with striped baronial markings identifying its status. Red optics and metallic bands around the missile assemblies draw attention back towards the upper body and face.
Lee separates the Sicaran’s yellow hull from black panels and fine freehand decorations. Wear concentrates near the tracks and lower body, allowing the upper armour and laurel designs to remain clear without making the tank look untouched.
Artists explore greenskins as an elemental force, using hulking anatomy, coarse glyphs and an unmistakably inhuman silhouette. Individual pieces range from a Weirdnob overflowing with magic and Bonesplitter migrations to an Ironjawz charge presented from its victims’ perspective; the commentary connects familiar Orc brutality to the immense possibilities of the Mortal Realms.
The first instalment urges veterans to read the new rules afresh and locate unit-specific abilities on their datasheets. Stormhawks and Heldrakes illustrate how superficially similar flyers operate differently, while damage, cover, advancing, auras and tank orders demonstrate the importance of combining general mechanics with individual rules.
Open, narrative and matched play provide different reasons for choosing forces, with power ratings and detailed points offering alternative ways to compare them. Matt Hutson’s Steel Legion illustrates detachments and their command-point rewards, leading to advice on spending stratagems at decisive moments.
Designers share practical lessons including concentrating even weak weapons on a damaged target, protecting supercharged plasma with re-rolls and stacking compatible character auras. Other examples cover pistols in combat, splitting a squad’s shooting, automatically hitting flamers and flying units disengaging so that they can shoot again.
Dan Harden’s Orks invade Matt Holland’s T’au colony to recover Badrukk’s hidden treasure, searching progressively more promising caches before trying to escape. The custom narrative scenario rewards transports and aggressive movement, but mobile T’au firepower gradually removes the Orks’ means of withdrawal. A tenacious Nob destroys a Riptide and the loot is finally uncovered, yet Badrukk’s refusal to leave a fight proves fatal. The T’au secure a narrow victory and discover their costly prize is merely a crate of Ork teeth; the players discuss markerlights, supporting characters, morale and the value of withdrawing battlesuits.
The Skirmish expansion turns each miniature into an independent fighter and builds small warbands around a hero and a renown allowance. The guide explains selection limits, command abilities, artefacts and campaigns, then encourages naming individual warriors and adapting settings beyond Shadespire.
Stuart Edney builds a Flesh-eater Courts warband as the deluded retinue of a questing knight. Summoning is unavailable in Skirmish, so his expensive Crypt Infernal Courtier carries much of the force’s fighting strength, supported by a Ghast and attendant Ghouls.
Michael Wieske invents Barak-Khrum as a sky-port owned by the Grundcorps, combining mercenary security with the export of duardin ale. An Aether-Khemist brewmaster therefore travels with Thunderer bodyguards and a Skywarden, turning favourite kits into a coherent travelling company.
Matt Hutson bases his Hallowed Knights warband on a brief battletome reference and a Knight-Questor’s mission. Three Vanguard-Hunters and a Raptor-Prime accompany the hero, while Sylvaneth basing details connect the small force with his existing army.
A scattered deployment initially leaves Stuart Edney’s Ghouls vulnerable to Matt Hutson’s concentrated Stormcast shooting. Reinforcements turn the game into a duel around the Crypt Infernal Courtier, whose mortal wounds and the resulting enemy battleshock secure a major victory for the Flesh-eater Courts.
James Karch traces his Astral Templars from two Liberator units and a Lord-Celestant to an enormous multi-chamber collection. New releases repeatedly revive his interest, while efficient painting methods, selective conversions and a rivalry with Jes Bickham keep the army growing. The discussion ranges from a four-Stardrake centrepiece to the different textures of Vanguard troops and the difficulty of choosing a favourite miniature. James favours established background and achievable techniques, substituting careful drybrushing for individually highlighted scales when it produces a convincing army more quickly.
James shares his maroon armour mixture and the supporting gold, silver, cream, black and red recipes that unify the Astral Templars. Grouping similar painting stages keeps the method efficient; successive brown and bone drybrushes add stripes and texture to the Vanguard troops’ fur.
Louise chooses Scions to try an Imperial force and human faces, retaining the box colours but adding her own bright details and weapon hazard stripes. Airbrushed basecoats, recess washes, stencilled markings and sponge damage make her first Taurox a relatively quick exercise in vehicle techniques.
James favours the organic character of Khorne Daemons and paints the starter force largely by drybrushing over a weekend. Bone hellblades personalise the familiar red, black and gold scheme, while shared basing lets the models accompany his Chaos Marines or Bloodbound.
Phil removes the riders from Rot Flies and extends their legs with wire and PVA to make independent creatures. Shades and glazes over white create a colourful but muted Nurgle collection, with individually based Nurglings reflecting a painter’s priorities over strict gaming utility.
Spare components make James’s small Cadian force a squad of specialised veterans rather than anonymous infantry. An older Cityfight camouflage scheme inspires blue-black uniforms, with green accents and yellow visors adding contrast; rubble and a substantial wall place the heavy weapon team in a ruined city.
Sam gives each Deathwatch veteran equipment, a face and a pose suited to his original Chapter. Simple edge highlights and red knee stripes keep the black-armoured unit consistent, while carefully trimmed aquilas and conversions reinforce its individual characters.
Pete paints Scions in black and red, inspired by the Fall of Cadia collection and a possible future Greyfax. Sponged grey and metallic damage batter their Taurox, while a scenic base connects the transport to its infantry and an all-over wash defines the densely equipped soldiers.
A minimal-colour beginner recipe applies blue directly as an undercoat, picks out trim, parchment and equipment, then defines everything with an all-over brown wash. Textured earth completes the base; the Reiver variant adds flesh and hair to the same sequence.
Green provides the starting coat before metal, brass and pale flesh or bone are blocked in. Agrax Earthshade supplies both definition and a suitably unwashed finish, with a textured base concluding the short guide; a Lord of Contagion demonstrates how another base colour expands the approach.
The Poxwalker guide uses the same green foundation and limited palette as the Plague Marine, shifting the balance towards pale diseased skin. An all-over wash catches the sculpted details before the earth texture is added, and a sidebar compares brush-painted undercoats with spray basecoats.
Paul Norton raises a character above ordinary troop standard through additional highlights, careful facial tones and attention to contrasting materials. The head is painted separately, large armour areas establish the palette first, and glazes soften cream robes into yellow while keeping their texture distinct from hard blue armour. Detailed sequences cover gold, cloak lining, parchment, cables, red cloth, reflective force sword, face, beard, eyes and gem. Advice on drybrushing cables, centring lettering and protecting bare joining surfaces makes the guide useful beyond this one miniature.
The guide compares the original, Sector Imperialis and Shattered Dominion boards as durable, configurable foundations for a scenery collection. Consistent ground colours allow different sets to combine into city outskirts or woodland valleys, while separate buildings preserve flexibility and shared club collections make larger projects practical. Examples explain preserving deployment distances when changing table size, using water sections without dominating every game, and turning a single tile into an Armies on Parade display. Terrain planning becomes part of the story, allowing a campaign to advance from open ground into a defended city.
Matt Hutson connects woodland and Shattered Dominion tiles through rich brown ground and complementary orange architecture. Successive drybrushes bring out texture on the forest floor and Arcanabulum, while grey ruins and a diseased green chasm supply controlled contrasts.
Dan Harden’s board matches the bases of his Iron Warriors, with different recipes for blue deck plating, sandstone, grey road, brass sepulchres and steel blast doors. A final pale grey drybrush unifies the tiles as accumulated dust, while matching wasteland sections extend the ruined city into surrounding terrain.
Helge Wilhelm Dahl imagines an Inquisitor corrupted while investigating a prison world’s Genestealer Cult. Orange convict clothing and striped retinue uniforms distinguish the groups within a shared sepia palette, while hybrids and surgically augmented henchmen combine components from disparate kits. The clothing’s repeated orange washes directly over white demonstrate an economical way to obtain its distinctive colour.
Martin Grandbarbe recreates the spirit and several specific conversion ideas of John Blanche’s old Sisters of Battle sketches. Difficult metal conversions become a Puritan Inquisitor, surviving Battle Sister, zealots, a Tech-adept and a blind religious adviser, unified by hot colours, rusted metals and saturated artist inks.
Maxime sets out to demonstrate how effective drybrushing can be on a large Imperial aircraft. Restrained weathering makes the green hull look maintained despite use, bright orange optics supply contrast, and Iron Hands brass etch marks a Mechanicus connection.
A deadline encourages sponge stippling and drybrushed damage on a Blood Angels command tank, contrasted with immaculate crew armour. Blue light begins at the headlights and spreads to weapon cowlings and the engine, linking functional details while balancing the warm red hull.
Michael carefully compares his Alaitoc tank with published studio photographs and works in nearly a dozen separate assemblies. Practising Aidan Daly’s gemstone method becomes a particular achievement, rewarding the time spent keeping the large vehicle accessible during painting.
Chris extends his Iybraesil collection with the sleek Hemlock, using separate assemblies to establish different top and bottom basecoats. Black-and-white wingtip panels contrast with turquoise armour and connect the aircraft to his jetbikes.
James prefers the Soul Grinder’s mixture of organic creature and machinery to an ordinary tank. Drybrushing flesh, bone and metal keeps a weekend project manageable, and changing an initially Khornate scheme to neutral colours makes the model useful in a more varied Daemon army.
Illustrations of famous Kastelan robots inspire Stu to build a group of ancient automata serving a powerful Tech-Priest. Six completed robots and three individual Datasmiths establish the Iron Nine project, with Enginseer parts helping distinguish the controllers.
Light drybrushing establishes a simple and striking pair of Blood Angels walkers. Gem paint over bright silver produces the Furioso’s blood-drop icon, while additional edge highlights sharpen the Death Company Dreadnought’s black panels.
Dan values the metal Penitent Engine’s combination of religion, crude punishment and advanced technology. Its relatively straightforward structure leaves time for freehand lists of sins, fine parchment highlights and attention to the rider, whose face becomes the model’s focal point.
Owen adapts the Mars scheme by replacing bone-coloured legs with brass. Sponging a lighter bronze over a dark foundation provides depth before washing, while Mechanicus transfers interrupt the large red panels with warning symbols and markings.
James uses a ruler and pencil to lay out crisp red wing markings over a black undercoat. The simple geometry gives the detailed Deathwatch aircraft a strong graphic identity while retaining space for gold and silver ornament.
Andrew chooses a hard-edged Taurox as a change from painting Wanderers and Nurgle models. Imperial Armour’s modelling book guides experiments in oil washes and sponge damage, while a gloss shade makes the gold fittings stand out against the rest of the vehicle.
The gallery brings together reader-painted fantasy warriors, Space Marines, T’au, Mechanicus machines and Horus Heresy units. Photography advice recommends a plain white background, balanced light, a revealing angle and enough camera distance to keep the model’s details in focus.
David Martin paints Cawl in Metalica cream and red, with blue weapons and machinery providing a contrasting accent. A constructed refractor-field dome visualises a deflected shot, while cork formations rise from a hot magma base with cooling black crust.
Graham describes a lifelong interest in improving his painting, from repeatedly repainting an early Balrog to a Golden Demon award and tournament painting prizes. His varied collection demonstrates conversions, source lighting, gemstone work and controlled blends, with characterful details such as improvised drums, horse-hair tendrils and tiny lettering making individual models memorable.
The team reports on new-edition games, Skirmish warbands and ongoing army projects. Dan masks already painted board areas with palette paper, Matt adds a Troll and Goblins to the Loontown Looters, and works in progress include a Dark Angels Predator and another Stormhawk.
Dan finishes his shokk attack gun after the battle-report deadline and tests it during a weekend of games. Its wildly variable results culminate in retaliation against a Vindicare Assassin, preserving the weapon’s comic unpredictability under the new rules.
Martyn and Dan discuss how stripped-down armour, drawn knives, ammunition pouches and chest-mounted grenades make Reivers look more mobile and aggressive. Skull masks and the crossed-blades badge replace more familiar heroic imagery with an intentionally sinister specialist identity.
Martyn practises black armour on an Interrogator-Chaplain as preparation for Ravenwing additions to his Dark Angels. Matt’s Magister instead blurs flesh and armour through shared blue highlights, turning a painting choice into an expression of Tzeentchian transformation.
Matt Hutson expands his Shadowlands collection with a Doomseeker, Grimwrath Berserker and Hearthguard carrying flaming poleaxes. The lodge’s half-black beards signify oaths with the Shadowkin, connecting the new warriors to his Darkling Covens allies and providing a narrative reason for the shared collection.