WHITE DWARF · JULY 2021
A tribute to Jervis Johnson, Dark Krakens underwater battles, Torchbearers Crusades and Cities of Sigmar inspiration.
COVER TO COVER
In printed page order
Lyle Lowery marks Jervis Johnson’s retirement by recalling both his influence on beloved games and his personal kindness to a new colleague. The tribute sets the tone for an issue celebrating a designer whose professional achievement was matched by his generosity towards other hobbyists.
A reader recreates John Blanche artwork in a Primaris diorama after a twenty-year ambition, while other letters share family stories and hobby questions. The Defenders of Calth demonstrate weathered blue armour, and painting advice explains how to distinguish ethereal and metallic effects.
A group of Ultramarines earns attention through a unified combination of cool blue armour, carefully placed scratches and dusty bases. Water-soluble oils create rust streaks and weathering powders settle around the feet, giving the individually painted warriors the shared appearance of a force enduring a hard campaign.
Jesús Moreno Ramos explains his polished Adeptus Custodes collection, combining airbrushed gold with deep recess shading and crisp silver highlights. Smooth red transitions and blue power blades add contrast, while a consistent approach carries the scheme across infantry, characters and a large Telemon Dreadnought.
Phil Kelly celebrates Jervis Johnson’s influence on game design, campaign development and the culture of playing together. Blood Bowl’s leagues and enduring narrative battle reports illustrate a career focused on experiences that develop beyond a single match, supported by patience, respect and enthusiasm.
A career timeline follows Jervis Johnson from early catalogue work and Blood Bowl through decades of tabletop projects. His own recollections explain how changing model technology and new design opportunities produced games at very different scales, documenting an unusually broad contribution to the hobby.
Hive Fleet Leviathan descends on the icy death world Death of Bianzeer, where the Dark Krakens defend strategic sites and valuable native creatures. Profiles of Captain Luceior, Lexicanium Uari and Reclusiarch Zitadan connect the Chapter’s maritime traditions to its patient, adaptable methods of fighting.
Dark Krakens advance beneath the Mirror Sea towards an isolated promethium installation. Psychic awareness, predatory native wildlife and aquatic Tyranids make the dark journey costly, but the Marines persevere and discover another Imperial force already resisting the infestation.
Named profiles for Luceior and Uari accompany underwater rules that reduce movement and weapon ranges while adding dangerous wildlife. The Dangerous Specimens mission turns control of ursun-wolf dens into the central struggle, giving the Tyranid invasion a concrete biological objective.
The four Crusade armies pass seventy-five Power as new centrepieces and support units arrive. Early games supply continuing stories, including Ork machines taking on Imperial tanks, while each participant explains how the enlarged force answers weaknesses discovered in previous encounters.
Joel Martin adds a Repulsor to carry his close-range infantry and a personalised Primaris Ancient to inspire them. The large vehicle provides both firepower and manoeuvrability, while black face and chest markings on a converted warrior acknowledge the Iron Hands heritage of the bright green Chapter.
Jonathan Stapleton brings towering Doomstalkers to support his expanding Necron army. Their reactive fire offers new tactical possibilities, while a Monolith and the Silent King begin to occupy the workbench, demanding decisions about how the established teal scheme should scale up to enormous surfaces.
Drew Palies creates a furious, burning Celestine as the centrepiece of his crusading Sisters. A replacement head, altered supporting figures and sculpted flames turn her into the army’s wrathful vision of sainthood, while further infantry and medical support are planned around her inspiring presence.
Lydia Grant’s grot uprising receives Killa Kans, a Deff Dread and a small but ambitious psychic leader converted from a Boggleye. The same shabby clothes and pale skin maintain the mob’s identity, while the growing mechanical contingent lets the little warriors threaten opponents far beyond their own weight.
Torchbearer fleets carry Primaris reinforcements and technology to isolated or weakened Chapters as a crucial part of Guilliman’s strategy. Their mixed escorts, secrecy, searching methods and difficult first contacts reveal a mission where delivery is only part of the challenge and the recipients’ loyalty cannot always be assumed.
Custodian Demetriad and Arcanalyst Coparnos explore a buried archive in search of a missing Chapter. The promised records are guarded by corrupted mechanisms and improvised flesh-machine creatures, forcing the task force to fight for information whose survival matters as much as the warriors’ own escape.
A mixed Torchbearers army begins with search agendas and requisitions before finding its intended Chapter and entering a bonding phase. The rules gradually induct Primaris units into that Chapter, supported by faction-specific traits and relics that make the long delivery mission the structure of the Crusade itself.
A Custodian Warden demonstrates the Emissaries’ gold armour and traditional white robes, accented by warm red and blue weapons. The guide preserves definition in pale cloth through diluted cool shading and stresses cleaning metallic pigment from the water before moving onto non-metallic colours.
Robin Cruddace explains why selectable secondaries help different armies compete and why they should create difficult decisions. He distinguishes missions shaped mainly by the opponent’s army from those controlled by the player’s own actions, arguing that scoring should influence tactical priorities without making the best choice automatic.
The free cities unite human, aelven and duardin forces around new settlements wrested from Chaos. Their locations, patron Stormhosts and realm-specific resources provide a flexible starting point for army identities, allowing traditional regiments, strange machines and fantastical allies to share a plausible home.
Compact recipes distinguish Anvilgard, the Living City, the Phoenicium, Greywater Fastness, Hammerhal and Tempest’s Eye. Cloth, armour and metallic finishes connect each city’s soldiers to its heraldry and surroundings, offering a practical palette reference for armies mixing humans, aelves and duardin.
Ben Johnson builds an unusually mechanised free-city army around Steam Tanks converted into individual hunting machines. Reptilian trophies, scavenged protection and heavily worked black armour link the squadron to Anvilgard’s coast, while shared recipes and swampy bases keep the diverse vehicles cohesive.
Examples range from hooded Greatswords and autumnal Wanderers to mechanical-legged Steam Tanks and a large cast of Sunheim heroes. Borrowed parts across many ranges demonstrate the freedom of a free-city project, with background explanations and deliberate palettes uniting models that began in very different armies.
An elaborate Darkwater display combines converted infantry, walking machines and unusual Stormcast heroes around an architectural board with working fountains. Magenta and turquoise accents, arcane mechanical components and repeated visual motifs make the force readable at a distance while leaving small narrative details to discover up close.
Rich Packer combines an old Empire army with the mages and allies of Hallowheart. Female missile troops, a Bastiladon-carried Luminark and personalised Bright Wizards turn the force into a fantasy expedition, while older regiments and recurring characters preserve a connection with decades of collecting.
In his final column, Jervis Johnson reflects on colleagues, hobbyists and the personal creativity that gives Games Workshop’s games their lasting value. He contrasts rapid consumption with the years spent building collections and friendships, encouraging future creators to preserve their enthusiasm for enabling other people’s enjoyment.
Jervis revisits memorable reports from early Epic and Tycho’s famous injury to enormous fantasy battles and the return to Golgotha. The retrospective explains how photography, maps and recording methods evolved, while Glazer’s Creek exemplifies the enduring stories that bespoke scenarios and engaged opponents can create.
Three example adventuring groups show how Cursed City heroes can complement one another or deliberately concentrate on a play style. A balanced traditional party, a durable juggernaut and a fragile ranged group each demand different positioning and healing choices, with no single arrangement replacing thoughtful play.
John Bracken describes the path from exciting miniatures to fighter characteristics, attacks and inspiration conditions. Existing game expectations provide a baseline, while narrative themes and playtesting determine where a warband should differ, especially when a new mechanic must remain understandable for beginners.
Two scenarios give the humble Arvus Lighter starring roles beyond routine transport duty. Evacuation asks an escort force to get vulnerable aircraft through enemy opposition, while Grand Grot Derby turns captured transports into a chaotic race for objectives, ramming victories and the title of Chief Xploder.
Referee models move around the pitch and penalise fouls, but coaches can also attempt to remove them and exploit the resulting absence of authority. Profiles for Elnos Lawkeeper and Redkur Forgebeard add different personalities to the role, making enforcement another unpredictable part of a match.
Aragorn’s combat power is examined alongside the command abilities that make him useful in several army lists. Heroic actions, Andúril, supporting allies and the King Elessar profile create different strengths, with practical advice on using his presence to improve an army rather than only seeking individual duels.
The outcast grot Yaggle claims to be Behemat reborn to avoid becoming a gargant’s meal. His increasingly elaborate deceptions draw Hradoth into raids and family quarrels, but the unlikely partnership eventually forces the supposed little god to acknowledge when he needs help rather than another lie.
Studio updates show an ogor force, medical reinforcements and progress on the shared Cursed City project. Dan’s Athonian Tank Corps display demonstrates how coordinated rubble, a battered industrial setting and weathered vehicles can turn an established army into an Armies on Parade presentation.