WHITE DWARF · APRIL 2018
The Idoneth arrive, Forgebane’s blackstone convoy, Drukhari tactics and Chaos cult gangs for Necromunda.
COVER TO COVER
In printed page order
The April releases introduce Forgebane, Idoneth Deepkin and new Necron and Drukhari codexes. Coverage also surveys fresh Shadespire warbands, Forge World figures, licensed games and Black Library books, placing the month’s hobby projects and gaming features alongside the products that prompted them.
Dale Stringer explains a smaller Knight built around a believable cockpit and a subordinate battlefield role. Reduced heraldic display and protective behaviour around larger engines help distinguish the Armiger from a scaled-down noble, while its proportions retain the recognisable engineering of the Knight family.
Magore’s warband rewards aggressive movement and a growing commitment to close combat. Selected card combinations help its fighters close distance, become inspired and turn kills into further opportunities, establishing how the new band differs from merely fielding more Blood Warriors.
Ranged attacks and cards that reward coordinated positioning give the Farstriders a flexible route through Shadespire. Extra movement and repeated pistol fire help them change engagement distances, while suitable upgrades allow a small Stormcast band to support itself even when its fighters separate.
John French discusses his work through several suggested entry points and related stories. The guide connects large-scale Heresy conflicts to more personal characters, helping readers understand how recurring concerns and individual perspectives link his novels, short fiction and audio dramas.
Reader projects include converted Space Marines and allied forces, with questions about vanished app entries, cult civil wars and vintage paint pots. A small painting explanation demonstrates fizzy green fluid and pale glass, showing how a few unusual details can personalise familiar figures.
A return to White Dwarf 400 recalls its T’au launch, painting advice and conversations with previous editors. Looking at the magazine’s changing back pages also reveals the beginnings of recurring designer interviews, while a large refinery-building project preserves a glimpse of the staff’s practical hobby work.
The guide introduces Stormcast heroes and the different roles of Warrior, Extremis and Vanguard chambers. Suggested starting collections and explanations of infantry, mounted support and scouts show how a player can expand toward a preferred theme while still combining several chambers in one army.
Teclis’s damaged creations retreat beneath the seas, where a soul curse forces them to raid the surface for survival. Isharann magic, Akhelian military leadership and the plight of the Namarti explain their caste society, while sea-beast allies and Eidolons reveal how their tragic history shapes their appearance and warfare.
Belisarius Cawl’s expedition must escort a blackstone-loaded servohauler across Amontep II while awakening Necrons try to stop it. Dust storms, congested movement and major duels repeatedly endanger the convoy, but the Adeptus Mechanicus finally complete the extraction, making an ordinary terrain vehicle the centre of a memorable narrative battle.
Matt Holland explains how weight, motion and character must be visible in a miniature’s pose. Comparisons of assassins, fast-moving warriors and his own Pathfinders lead to a nomination for Dave Thomas’s Ratlings, whose relaxed bodies and implied surroundings combine sniper professionalism with a distinct love of comfort.
The four collectors pass the halfway point and prepare their growing armies for larger games. An open-ended painting target allows different approaches to expansion, with the next challenge encouraging them to translate their personal collections into forces ready for matched play.
Andy Keddie adds Sisters of Slaughter, two Avatars and a Knight-Venator, discovering unexpected enjoyment in ornate details and varied projects. Future plans favour smaller murderous warbands over a single block of infantry, linking the models’ background to the way he hopes to field them.
A Great Unclean One gives Jes Bickham’s army a major centrepiece without changing its deliberately simple painting method. Green spray, shade and drybrushing leave time for blood, sores and rusty details, while scenic bases break up the repeated flesh colours across the completed force.
Anthony adds more than forty models and introduces varied zombie flesh alongside his familiar skeletal tones. Preparing assemblies whenever spare time appears keeps the next painting batch ready, while increasingly large infantry units support his ambition for a substantial matched-play undead host.
Icefall Yhetees and a Thundertusk provide a break from repeated Mournfang painting. Dark natural colours stand against deep snowy bases, with plans for further riders, a Gargant and possible Ironjawz allies giving the expanding ogor collection both scale and visual variety.
Jay Clare explores collections built around film scenes, favourite heroes, narrative scenarios and tournament ambitions. Examples include barrels on a river, rival Orc factions, Mirkwood heroes and carefully prepared event armies, showing how several different motivations can lead to equally coherent and rewarding forces.
Gavin Beardsmore imagines the loyalist branch of House Makabius with rich purple, bone panels and extensive individual heraldry. Magnetised weapons and other joints keep the Knights flexible, while deadlines, tested recipes and careful weathering turn six imposing engines into a coherent force with its own history.
A metallic foundation supports both the Knight’s steel frame and transparent purple armour. Separate bone and gold recipes keep heraldic panels distinct, while recess shading and final silver highlights give the large surfaces controlled depth without obscuring the underlying metallic sheen.
The Warhammer World team builds a Shyish battlefield around a dam, soul-channel and immense obelisk. Embedded mausoleums, drowned graves and ghostly figures explain the land’s history, while construction notes describe practical foam and plastic work and a deliberately subdued palette that leaves the spectral details visible.
Speed and specialised detachments allow Drukhari to combine mobile Kabal firepower, aggressive Cult fighters and durable Coven support. Advice on transports, Power from Pain, drugs and positioning explains how to keep fragile units effective while bringing the army’s different strengths together at the right moment.
Robin Cruddace and Alex Tuxford explain how Kabals, Wych Cults and Haemonculus Covens remain distinct within a combined army. Ten Obsessions and an unusually broad set of army-building choices support that identity, letting collectors indulge several aspects of the Dark City without flattening them into one generic force.
Twelve hobbyists begin an informal Shadespire tournament, sharing deck choices and their first games. Objective-holding skeletons, aggressive Stormcast and other warbands reveal how upgrades and positional plans interact, while preparation advice shows how a small organised event can introduce new opponents without demanding identical approaches to play.
Maxime Pastourel and friends independently paint the same chosen miniature before revealing and voting on the results. Retro warriors, varied Lord-Celestants and unusually coloured Enginseers demonstrate how one sculpt can support very different moods, with short explanations connecting each painter’s palette and technique to their intended character.
Radagast races to rescue six poisoned woodland creatures and return them to his home while spiders attempt to kill him. The scenario converts the film’s frantic rescue into clear movement objectives, making the Wizard’s survival and care for the small inhabitants of the forest equally necessary.
Radagast investigates ominous statues in search of evidence to take to the White Council. The hidden position of the Witch-king adds suspense to each discovery, forcing Good to balance a careful search with the possibility that the next apparently lifeless object will reveal a deadly opponent.
Two rival companies must temporarily cooperate when Fell Wargs converge on their skirmish. The scenario treats the companies as allies while preserving their separate activation priorities, creating an unusual battle in which surviving the outside threat matters more than defeating the original opponent.
A mixed company of Númenóreans and High Elves recalls the alliance against Sauron. Advancement choices and a special rule rewarding nearby warriors of the other race make cooperation part of the force’s identity, encouraging a roster that keeps its two traditions working together.
Spiders and bats form a predatory company from the corrupted Greenwood. Its starting fighters, reinforcements and special growth options create a campaign force very different from a conventional band of soldiers, with monstrous resilience reinforcing the threat of creatures thriving beneath the Necromancer’s shadow.
Helot cults grow within the hive’s labour force, hiding rituals beneath ordinary lives. A complete gang list provides Demagogues, Disciples, Witches and cultists, with dark blessings, unstable psychic powers and the danger of Spawn transformation making devotion a source of both battlefield opportunity and lasting campaign risk.
Readers share complete groups and individual characters, including Solaris Reapers, Troggoths, Knights and varied Age of Sigmar heroes. Photography advice emphasises a clean background, even lighting and sufficient camera distance, helping painters present the actual miniature clearly instead of losing its details to blur or harsh shadows.
Sam Parker-Bage paints Mortarion with pale armour and wings inspired by a death’s-head moth. Layered washes, weathering powders and soft application methods give the huge wings a dusty organic finish, while aged brass and carefully controlled pale highlights distinguish the daemon’s ornate equipment.
Studio updates include new Fyreslayers, a Foetid Bloat-drone, a Raven’s Watch Dreadnought and ongoing army challenges. A blackstone discussion connects psychic background to Forgebane, while short monster duels and an ogor-versus-Kharadron rematch turn the newly painted models into fresh gaming stories.