WHITE DWARF · AUGUST 2021
Dominion design and painting, third-edition Age of Sigmar, Sons of Behemat campaigns and Octarius winter warfare.
COVER TO COVER
In printed page order
Readers share a deadline-driven Wraithblade conversion, ask about Space Wolves pack markings and request terrain painting advice. Fabien Roche’s elaborate Mega-Gargant shows how extensive conversion and careful flesh painting can make an oversized ally fit beside a chivalric Stormcast collection.
A sandstone terrain recipe begins with a warm pale undercoat and bone base, followed by a diluted sepia wash. The advice stresses laying each wall section flat while it dries, then using pale drybrushing to restore highlights without leaving uneven tide marks across the masonry.
Fabien Roche alters a Mega-Gargant to make its character suit a noble Stormcast army. The expanded scenic work and extensive conversion are supported by carefully shaded skin, with small wounds, pimples and folds picked out individually to keep the large creature visually convincing.
The background team explains how the new edition gives the Mortal Realms a clearer lived-in geography. Dawnbringer Crusades, ordinary trades, expanding settlements and cities adapted to different realms provide human-scale stories without losing the contrast between extraordinary wonders and the danger beyond civilisation.
Designers describe the contrasting armies of Dominion: redesigned Thunderstrike Stormcasts and the lanky, scavenging Kruleboyz. Armour silhouettes, rank symbols, stolen equipment and expressive shields carry the factions’ stories into the miniatures, while new heroes and diminutive hobgrots broaden their visual range.
Max Faleij explains how the classic contrast of green skin and red shields established the Kruleboy palette. Grainy hides, mouldy trophies and oily metal reinforce the swamp setting, while the Gnashtoof’s pale belly and dark purple back draw on real animals and their natural countershading.
Natalie Slinn chooses polished white gold and cool blue details to make Yndrasta look like an angel descending from above. Selective shadows, reflective highlights and warm touches on the wing tips preserve natural material qualities, while red cloth and white hair guide the viewer towards her face.
A new Hobgrot Hide foundation establishes the model’s warm yellow skin before dark armour and red ropes provide contrast. The tutorial progresses through metal, bindings, eyes and a bronze coin, recommending a complete test miniature before committing a large unit to the scheme.
Wraithbone and Aggaros Dunes create a quick warm-skinned hobgrot with minimal layering. Metallic areas are prepared before Contrast colours and washes, while matching highlights and optional mixed painting methods produce subtle variation across a horde without losing its overall identity.
A Vindictor demonstrates the refreshed, slightly darker Hammers of Sigmar gold. A mixed shade establishes depth over metallic spray, then selective gold and silver highlights restore shine; blue armour, red plumes, bone scrolls and restrained pale details complete a fast repeatable army scheme.
The rules team identifies the changes it finds most significant in the third edition, from monstrous rampages and core battalions to clearer rules structure. Battle tactics, small mechanical revisions and the expanded Path to Glory campaign system are explained as tools for more engaging choices across different ways to play.
The Auric Lions descend to reclaim a settlement occupied by the Weeping Fangz. Kruleboy ambushes and Gazog’s mobile assassination attempts cause real damage, but Stormcast reinforcements, Yndrasta and disciplined objective play secure the town, with the report demonstrating the new edition’s commands, tactics and heroic actions.
Maps and regional accounts explore Hysh’s ordered landscapes, the Spirefall’s devastation and the Lumineth’s attempts at repair. Ymetrica’s peaks, surrounding nations and the perilous outer desert reveal a realm where enlightenment and self-inflicted disaster coexist, offering specific locations for campaigns.
Gargant legends recount Behemat’s deeds, death and the growth of his descendants as they compete to become a new World Titan. Different stomps, mercenary customs and reactions to Kragnos reveal how enormous self-belief, appetite and resentment of civilisation drive their journeys across the realms.
An official update supplies core battalions, grand strategies and battle tactics for the new edition, alongside a distinctive Path to Glory system. Gargants migrate between territories, suffer lingering injuries and gain individual renown, replacing conventional settlement-building with the needs and rivalries of a wandering stomp.
A short branching campaign follows a gargant assault on a Lumineth seaport and its surrounding defences. Earlier locations provide rewards for later battles before a final siege, where the attackers batter down walls and try to enter the city while the defenders struggle to stop their momentum.
The four armies grow beyond fifteen hundred points as the new edition changes how the participants organise their forces. Named heroes and more ambitious centrepieces broaden the collections, while the challenge continues to combine regular painting targets with personal background and practical battlefield learning.
Martyn Lyon paints four heroes to deepen his army’s magical support and reinforce the mountain spirit’s durability. Their varied profiles broaden his options, while a step-by-step luminous basing method shows how blue foundations and dark cracked earth make the collection’s setting recognisable.
Three Varanguard brothers provide both the leadership and the geography of Miyuki Foulkes’s army. A hand-drawn map explains their rival territories and associated colours, with new horsemen and distinct metallic schemes allowing the collecting plan to grow directly from the imagined homeland.
Rich Packer revisits a longstanding personal aelven hero through a new conversion and raven-like Phoenix. Additional warriors and endless spells enlarge the Order, while characterful choices continue to take precedence over the most efficient rules options in this story-led collection.
Calum McPherson adds a blue-skinned Keeper of Secrets as the army’s daemonic centrepiece. Ruined architectural bases are painted to match the surrounding desert, while the difference between unnatural daemon flesh and mortal followers helps the mixed host remain coherent without becoming visually uniform.
Imperial plans for a fortress on Death of Bianzeer collide with an overwhelming Tyranid offensive. Watch Master Akrep Xie’s Deathwatch defend evacuations and reinforce failing lines, while flying bioforms and the aliens’ willingness to expend vast numbers expose the limits of a conventional static defence.
Kill Team Galiel and Dark Krakens Heavy Intercessors secure an underwater facility while Genestealers stalk its narrow passages. The Marines try to draw out the infestation’s leader without exposing the civilians they protect, turning an apparently quiet advance into a costly close-quarters purge.
Winter warfare rules add ice storms, dangerous movement and an avalanche that progressively crosses the battlefield. Kill Team Galiel receives a dedicated profile, and Crusade relics translate local trophies, specialised weapons and icy Tyranid adaptations into rewards for the campaign’s opposing forces.
Stu Black presents open play as a flexible route for learning, experimentation and unusual encounters. Core rules can be introduced in manageable layers, while Open War cards create varied missions and balancing twists; the opponent’s enjoyment remains a shared responsibility, particularly when teaching someone new.
An under-strength sanctioner team confronts an armed cult inside Varangantua’s towering hab blocks. Hostages, local survival instincts and the threat of a catastrophic fire complicate a direct assault, forcing the officers to act amid a city whose bureaucracy and violence rarely offer straightforward rescue.
John Bracken explains how objectives, gambits and upgrades build a warband’s identity beyond its fighter cards. Aggression and holding objectives suggest different scoring patterns, but thematic variety and careful limits prevent the whole deck from repeating one idea or concentrating excessive strength in a single mechanic.
A sample deck centres on preparing victims for Elathain and exploiting the warband’s powerful second round. Support fighters, Spinefin and the timing of Fury of the Storm help preserve positioning and reliable attacks, with advice stressing plans that extend beyond the current activation.
Kainan’s Reapers combine efficient supporting moves, tithe counters and a threatening leader. Pushes and ranged upgrades keep the Mortek useful after advancing, while early positioning and carefully timed attacks allow the warband to turn its linked movement into both scoring pressure and reliable combat.
A tour of Cursed City’s board tiles explains the relationship between room themes, movement and narrative. Alleys, mysterious objects and realm-inspired chambers carry traces of the city’s lost inhabitants, while design decisions ensure that evocative furniture and workshops remain workable spaces for miniature adventures.
Three linked scenarios follow hunters tracking the rogue Van Saar Archeotek Kavos Druun. Tapping power relays reveals his location, experimental weapons complicate the pursuit and the final confrontation carries forward rewards from earlier games, allowing the mini-campaign to tell a complete underhive hunt.
Updates include autumnal Wood Elves, a skaven Warlock Fumigator and a House Hawkshroud Armiger. Hobby bingo milestones accompany practical conversion and colour notes, while Raven’s Watch reinforcements show how a distinctive orange marking can tie varied Space Marine units to a developing Chapter story.