WHITE DWARF · SEPTEMBER 2023
September 2023: Bunker league finale, Terminator painting recipes, Tyranid invasion background, multiplayer Age of Sigmar and Wyrdhollow Bladeborn. All substantive features researched from the supplied scan.
COVER TO COVER
In printed page order
Lyle Lowery traces the feedback between painting projects and games: an exciting battle encourages a new unit or terrain piece, which then creates a reason to play again. The studio’s remarkably busy Combat Patrol league and this issue’s extended Terminator painting column supply two different sources of that momentum.
Readers describe returning to the hobby after decades away, painting as a way to relax, and sharing Warhammer with their children. A miniature gallery accompanies conversations about accessible painting coverage, an elaborate Avatar of Khaine display, and a technical question about recreating a Genestealer Cults shell colour.
Damien Tomasina raises the Avatar above a burning battlefield with cork, a wrecked Aeldari vehicle and dead Drukhari, turning its surroundings into part of the molten spectacle. He explains the bright mixed base of the flames and the sequence of reds, dark armour colours and lilac highlights that balances the luminous figure against its black shell.
The ’Eavy Metal team answers a reader’s request for the purple shell of the Mulch, combining a very dark violet base with progressively paler highlights. Blue-green colour is worked into the recesses instead of simply using a darker wash, with thin, milk-like paint consistency recommended to control the unusual contrast.
Nick Horth follows Freeguild heraldry from the improvised banners of refugees to the symbols of established Cities of Sigmar. Regional emblems express loyalty, history and morale, while Tahlia Vedra’s Castelite reforms allow a more uniform military structure to coexist with local identities and older regimental traditions.
The Bunker closes its first three-month Combat Patrol league and looks ahead to a shared Age of Sigmar narrative campaign. Lyle Lowery explains how painting, games and monthly achievements contribute to the club ranks, encouraging local groups to make the activities their own rather than treating the studio as the only participating club.
A campaign preview introduces the Slidecrown, an antlered relic left after the fall of the Viridian King in Ghyran. Preservers, Obliterators and Rogues will compete over its influence across three monthly rounds, with painting and narrative games contributing points and any army able to join a suitable side.
September’s Bunker painting challenge focuses on elite units, inviting participants to finish the specialists and hard-hitting formations that give an army its character. The accompanying achievement and rank material turns the completed unit into a shared club milestone and previews the next month’s activity.
The league framework rewards participation, victories, playing different opponents and fielding a painted Combat Patrol. Its monthly checkpoints and separate honours give beginners and frequent players several goals to pursue, while the fixed patrol format keeps the entry point manageable for a club.
The final studio leaderboard shows John Bracken ahead after an extraordinary number of games, with other players pursuing painting and opponent-based honours alongside wins. Sophie Bostock reflects on learning through repeated matches, including a dramatic victory over Scott’s Orks, while Dan Harden explains the bone armour and orange energy of his Necrons.
Armies pursue fading warp-borne information in a mission whose objective values are greatest early and late in the battle. Holding a marker improves shooting, while attacking an enemy unit at one grants a different offensive advantage, forcing commanders to weigh control against the opportunity to dislodge their opponent.
The player taking the second turn chooses an objective to become empowered each round, temporarily increasing its value before it becomes depowered and cannot be controlled. Each marker can receive this treatment only once, so the usual contest over territory becomes a changing sequence of opportunities that rewards planning beyond the current turn.
Deception cards add concealed advantages to a Kill Team battle, with players choosing from a small random selection before play. The article suggests using them as campaign rewards, support for an underdog or discoveries made during a mission, and discusses suitable existing missions for experimenting with their disruptive effects.
An attacker infiltrates a defended site to reach an auspex shrine while both sides bring a concealed deception into play. Free opening movement for the attacker and an order adjustment for the defender create asymmetric preparation, while end-of-battle objectives and possession of the shrine determine the result.
Stephen Box explains movement as the link between mission scoring, protection and the ability to threaten an enemy. He covers screening reserves, preserving Objective Control, choosing firing distances, working around Overwatch and using charges or fallbacks to manipulate which units can fight, with examples that make small positional choices matter.
A wounded World Eaters Daemon Prince is fighting Hearthkyn beside an objective, with Berzerkers and Jakhals available to help. The problem asks how to secure control and complete Cleanse in the final turn using limited command points, making eligibility to shoot, charge order and the timing of casualties central to the decision.
Emily Ridding argues for scenery that supports the armies on the table without overwhelming them. A practical Aegis Defence Line project uses a quick base, shared washes and selective weathering to tie the terrain to its battlefield, with alternative starting colours, Tyranid damage and small lighting effects extending the approach.
A neutral grey spray establishes the Aegis Defence Line quickly, followed by thinned brown and grey washes to dirty the structure. Sponge damage, dust at ground level and rust around rivets provide texture without painstaking detail, and the same weathering sequence is demonstrated over several coloured undercoats for different settings.
Clear Bostik glue is stretched into strands and pooled on the terrain to suggest Tyranid bio-acid rather than ordinary battle damage. The demonstration explains how to attach the strings while avoiding damage to the painted surface, providing a quick physical effect that can also be adapted to miniature bases.
Small lamps are made readable by painting the light itself pale and glazing it with a bright Contrast colour, then restoring the metallic frame. A second tip recommends keeping a painting diary or spreadsheet so that an army’s recipes can be repeated when more models are added months later.
Anders Klovenas describes a New Mexico club whose members span a wide range of ages and experience. Their Herald of Misery campaign lets players choose narrative allegiances independently of army faction, using recurring characters, persistent rewards and a warp entity to turn linked games into an unfolding shared story.
Studio contributors interpret the elite-unit challenge through Blood Angels Death Company, Ogroid Theridons, Hedkrakka’s Madmob and a Paragon Warsuit. Paul Foulkes takes a different route by turning Tempestus Scions and Van Saar parts into skiing soldiers, while the painters explain how their chosen palettes and conversions fit the surrounding armies.
The reader gallery collects elite formations ranging from Blood Knights and Necropolis Stalkers to Aberrants and Deathshroud Terminators. These completed units demonstrate different interpretations of the monthly challenge, with the focus on the finished groups and their visual character rather than a supplied step-by-step painting recipe.
Duncan Waugh explains the design goals behind Combat Patrol: an accessible fixed force, a game of roughly an hour and sufficient balance for new opponents to have a fair contest. Bespoke datasheets simplify existing models rather than teaching extra weapons or abilities that disappear when players move to larger games.
An Inquisitorial account follows Rhadon Prime’s destruction as Hive Fleet Leviathan changes the form of its assault. Early vanguard attacks and an apparently successful poison defence give way to overwhelming swarms, infiltration of the weaker polar defences, burrowing monsters and concentrated psychic terror, showing how each response is exploited by the Hive Mind.
The ’Eavy Metal team uses the new Terminators to explore a broad range of Chapters fighting in the Fourth Tyrannic War. Painters discuss the relationship between heraldry, base setting and armour colour, then provide focused recipes for the defining surfaces of each scheme, from bone and polished silver to quartered red and yellow.
A shared Crux Terminatus recipe gives the Terminators a consistent stone-like badge across otherwise different Chapter schemes. Warm brown shading lends the grey depth, while a dark recess mix and increasingly pale highlights define the small skull and cross without losing their sculpted detail.
John Wilson gives the Deathwing’s bone armour strong definition with layered warm shadows and a very pale final highlight. Subtle scratches and dusty feet keep the model from appearing pristine, while the rich green Imperialis is highlighted separately to provide a saturated contrast to the neutral armour.
Tom Ambrose combines restrained black armour with a bright white helmet and red lenses to establish the Raven Guard silhouette. A personal skull-and-stripe design on the power fist and a Tyranid skull on the base add a campaign story, while separate grey and blue-grey shading sequences keep the black and white surfaces distinct.
Drew Palies chooses a dark red for the Exorcists and contrasts it with a bright bone helmet and green temple setting. Esoteric freehand markings reinforce the Chapter’s identity, while the red armour moves from deep black-red shading through orange and ochre highlights without losing its darker overall appearance.
Max Faleij revisits the Marines Errant’s blue-and-white halved scheme, linking its medieval heraldic appearance to the Chapter’s older published history. A warm desert base offsets the cool armour, and the recipes handle the white’s grey-brown recesses separately from the blue’s increasingly bright highlights.
Chris Innes starts the Imperial Fists with a bright warm yellow and uses very thin glazes to describe the volume of the armour. He stresses preserving room for the darker panel lining instead of darkening every shaded area too far, then builds the highlights through brighter yellows to tiny white accents.
Natalie Heywood uses metallic armour to distinguish the Knights of the Raven while keeping the rest of the scheme largely monochrome. A wash mixed with gloss varnish preserves the silver’s finish, and black-and-white markings are broken up by red lenses, a purity seal and the gun casing.
Carlos Miguelez emphasises the clean, vivid red associated with Blood Angels Terminators, concentrating on an even basecoat and sharp recesses and highlights. He includes less wear than on several other Chapters to reflect their care for equipment, using cool highlights on the black areas to frame the warmer armour.
Neil Green strengthens the Salamanders’ familiar green-and-black palette with orange-red flames on the power fist and a dark magma base. Smooth green armour highlights contrast with the deliberately fiery details, whose painted progression runs from a dark red foundation through orange to the lightest yellows.
Martin Peterson adapts Wolf Guard markings to the new Terminator’s sculpt, moving the pack pattern to the left knee because the Great Company icon occupies the shoulder. A wolf skull and warding runes personalise the figure, with cool grey armour and warm yellow panels developed through separate shading recipes.
Connor Richardson keeps the White Templars’ white armour relatively simple, adding interest through controlled shading, subtle brown chipping and warm metallics. The power-fist markings reuse the armour’s shade colours so that they support the composition, leaving red lenses and purity seals to act as small focal points.
Drew Palies treats the Howling Griffons’ quartered red and yellow as knightly heraldry, carefully balancing the values so that neither half disappears. Weathering gives the Terminator the appearance of a long-serving campaign veteran, while an Indomitus Crusade badge on the fist records its current deployment.
Chris Innes chooses olive armour for a Raptors guerrilla fighter, but introduces brighter shading and highlights to avoid a flat, drab finish. The helmet is an off-white with green in its mixes, linking it to the armour, while chevrons on the flamer shield echo the muddy tones of the base.
Carlos Miguelez gives the Hawk Lords a rich purple with specular highlights intended to suggest illumination inside a space hulk. Green panels on the industrial base contrast with the armour, while a gold veteran helmet and adapted Chapter emblem make the figure look regal without competing with its cool blue lenses.
Tom Ambrose paints the pale-undercoated yellow torso separately from the black limbs, then assembles the model after the initial colours are established. Controlled, diluted glazes create soft yellow shadows and highlights, while purple accents on the weapon, lenses and defeated Tyranid provide a complementary colour throughout the composition.
Carlos Miguelez keeps the White Scars armour crisp by restricting grey shading to the recesses and restoring the highest surfaces to pure white. He adapts a slightly oversized Chapter transfer to the shoulder and adds freehand red scars to the missile launcher and power fist, whose warm highlights stand out against the white.
Simon Adams differentiates the Flesh Tearers from their parent Chapter with darker red armour and fleshy highlights that give it an organic warmth. Cool blue highlights on the black helmet and shoulders frame the face, while red-shaded metal and glowing green eyes support the model’s brutal appearance.
Natalie Heywood revisits the Crimson Fists’ classic blue-and-red identity in a restrained scheme with small metallic accents. Because the Terminator belongs to the First Company, both fists are crimson; the recipes use dark blue recess shading and progressively warmer red highlights to make those markings readable.
John Wilson fills the Black Templars Terminator with crusading iconography to give character to its predominantly black armour. Red on the face mask, gun casing and seals marks a Sword Brethren veteran, while a personal tilting-shield design, a fist emblem and a transfer on the leg connect the small details.
With the Black Templars frigate Inviolate being torn apart by Tyranids, Godric races for the reactor to destroy the infested vessel. A psychic synapse creature and its expendable swarm block his route; even the loss of an arm and his ancient sword cannot turn him from a last act of purgation.
Scott Pirie’s Blood Axe Combat Patrol attacks Paul Foulkes’s winter-equipped Astra Militarum in the ruins of Deltek. The Guard’s artillery strike delays the charge and their returning infantry refuse to stay dead, but fixation on the resilient Ork Warboss lets the Boyz seize objectives and leaves the Deff Dread free to dismantle the defence.
The four warlords complete the Vanguard or Start Collecting! forces that will anchor their new armies. Jake and Laura have already fought games, while Ant and Chris are still gathering their Destruction armies, and the next challenge adds a bonus for playing a thousand-point battle against another participant.
Jake Bowley avoids duplicate poses by equipping Chaos Warriors with halberds built from Bestigor axes, skeleton spears and brass rod. His single-rider Gorebeast Chariot uses jewellery-chain reins, and a Chaos Lord claims a slain Draconith; batch painting and a snowy finish then unite these conversions with his established army.
Ant Saliba organises the quartered red-and-black Ironjawz into subassemblies and uses a checklist to keep the repeated details consistent. Smoothly glazed green skin contrasts with sharp armour highlights, brass areas establish the clan’s hierarchy, and green magical choppas represent energy stolen when the Splintertusks destroy realmgates.
Laura Matarasso builds the undead nobility of Necro-Dame around a converted Anasta Malkorion and a core of skeletons, Blood Knights and Vargheists. Glaives, knightly banners and tarnished armour reinforce the courtly theme, while hunched Tyranid arms and texture paint turn the Vargheists into animated stone gargoyles.
Chris Charles divides his Gloomspite Vanguard into small, achievable painting goals and reuses the established grot and squig schemes to maintain momentum. For the Troggoths he focuses effort on faces, weapons and bases, combining zenithal undercoats, airbrushed blue skin and simpler treatment of minor details to finish a coherent group.
Scholar-Captain Sannon Cordriss assembles a deliberately cautious account of four strongholds whose inhabitants threaten the free cities. His descriptions compare the practical problems of assaulting diseased, undead and daemonic fortresses, while his disclaimers expose the limits of mortal knowledge and the danger of even studying the Everchosen’s seat.
Plaguespire rises from the swamps of Thyria as a seven-tiered bastion that appears to have emerged already formed during the Age of Chaos. Disease, a protective morass, layers of filth and clouds of flies have defeated repeated Sigmarite attacks, leaving the nearby free cities to debate a costly combined assault.
Gothizzar began as a fortress guarding the Endgate but has become the logistical heart of the expanding Ossian Empire. Its bone-built districts manufacture nadirite weapons and war constructs without rest, presenting Cordriss with a vision of the lifeless, perfectly ordered reality that Nagash would impose on the realms.
The account of Archaon’s seat is offered under religious supervision because even describing it is considered spiritually dangerous. A kingdom of citadels, infernal industry and rival stewards surrounds the Arcways at the centre of the Eightpoints, making the Varanspire both a staging ground for conquest and a nearly unimaginable siege target.
Prince Vhordrai’s fortress materialises from ruined castles across the Mortal Realms, releasing Blood Knights and monstrous hunters before disappearing again. The scholar links its wandering nature and Vhordrai’s brief freedom outside its walls to Nagash’s punishment, explaining why even successful rampages can end without warning.
Zoggrok Anvilsmasha discovers that smashing Fort Gardus’s gates was more satisfying than the fighting inside and tries to enlist Tuskboss Hornsplitta for a campaign against even larger fortresses. The impulsive Maw-grunta riders instead find a realmgate and charge through it, leaving the unusually thoughtful Waaagh!-smith to pursue his plan alone.
A Coalition of Death battlepack creates a four-player game with two thousand-point armies on each side. An alliance matrix makes some partnerships easier to coordinate than others, with command restrictions for fractious or desperate coalitions, while a nominated warlord settles team decisions and controls shared priority rolls.
Pairs of numbered objectives reward a coalition for coordinating its advance across the battlefield, while a randomly chosen pair becomes the primary focus each round. The scenario combines basic territorial scoring with bonuses for matching pairs and the temporary primary markers, making team planning more valuable than isolated charges.
Objectives become progressively more valuable as the battle continues, but every friendly unit contesting a held marker risks mortal wounds at the end of its turn. The scenario therefore asks allied players to balance early control and concentration of force against attrition and the larger rewards of the later rounds.
Four Underworlds warbands receive rules for fighting in Warcry, with a common framework explaining faction membership, Grand Alliance allies and narrative recruitment. Bladeborn companions can accompany an eligible hero without using ordinary ally slots, while restrictions on injury, renown and artefacts preserve their identities as established characters.
Ephilim and the daemonic Pandaemonium combine manipulation with explosive magical effects. Their abilities pull an enemy out of position, exchange the locations of friendly fighters and restore a fallen companion, while Twist of Fate turns an incoming attack roll into a resource for their own ability dice.
The three Thunderstrike wizards bring a combination of mobility, durability and close-range magical violence to Warcry. Shared flight and a blast centred on a chosen point let them reposition and punish groups, while Thunderous Departure threatens an attacker even when a Stormcoven fighter is struck down.
Skabbik’s followers contaminate objectives and treasure, making nearby enemy fighters suffer for contesting important ground. Their shared actions, poisonous fumes and area plague complement the Skaven’s evasive reaction, allowing the Plaguepack to threaten clustered foes while avoiding a straightforward exchange of blows.
The spectral court supports its executioner by sharpening the next strike and preventing a condemned enemy from escaping. A coordinated death sentence scales with nearby companions, while Nighthaunt movement tricks, strength reduction and spectral restoration help the warband keep its execution party together.
John Bracken pairs Skabbik’s Plaguepack with Paths of Prophecy to build a Nemesis deck centred on holding objectives and manipulating their values. He starts with achievable objectives, then selects movement, Guard and durability tools to support them, explaining why Skritter is worth protecting when Nothing Special lets the usually ineligible beast hold a token.
The second Inductii heraldry feature covers the final nine Legions, showing how rapidly recruited Space Marines could retain their Legion’s identity while developing distinctive markings. Contributors explain conversions, helmet patterns and painting methods, including hints of the formations that would later become separate Chapters.
Luke Blick gives the World Eaters Inductii individual character with MkVI upgrade heads and additional chains. Their off-white armour begins with a mixed grey-brown white, then cleaner highlights restore its brightness, while red details and bronze metalwork connect the improvised recruits to their Legion’s developing appearance.
Andy Hoare borrows a black-and-white helmet stripe from the Ultramarines’ Rogue Trader appearance and uses lightning transfers to suggest flash indoctrination. A metallic underpainting is washed and drybrushed before blue Contrast is airbrushed over it, with bright silver highlights and damage completing the practical army recipe.
Luke Blick reverses the usual Death Guard balance by giving the Inductii predominantly green armour with selected bone plates. MkVI upgrade heads and alchem flamers identify the Legion, while zenithal green mid-tones and pale mixed highlights make the changed scheme readable without abandoning its muted character.
Sophie Wilkinson uses a subdued metallic red rather than a particularly bright Thousand Sons scheme. Airbrushed, thinned Contrast allows the silver undercoat to influence the finish, and green lenses, transferred markings and sponge-applied wear give these freshly raised Inductii an already battle-scarred appearance.
Les Martin refines an established Sons of Horus recipe for the Inductii rather than repeating it unchanged. Dark green shading around the lower legs gives the armour weight, while progressively brighter green highlights and familiar Legion transfers connect the new recruits with the rest of his collection.
Lewis Collins mixes older shoulder pads and several armour marks to suggest Word Bearers equipped hurriedly and sent directly into battle. A common red undercoat and all-over wash unify the parts, while sketchy yellow-red highlights introduce a texture reminiscent of the Legion’s markings.
Mark Bedford keeps the new Salamanders recruits and their Rhino cleaner than his existing army, using reduced damage to make their recent arrival visible. Additional flame effects on weapons and the vehicle are built from heavy acrylic gel mixed with bright orange paint and teased into shape with a small brush.
Ben Webb develops the Raven Guard armour through charcoal and neutral grey over a black spray undercoat, leaving room for brown and silver details. A thick ochre wash mixed with medium and water is then worked into the seams to represent accumulated battlefield dust rather than another conventional dark recess shade.
Ben Webb establishes the Alpha Legion’s shine with a silver base and top-down airbrushed highlight, preserving darker recesses. Thin, irregular applications of three blue-green Contrast paints create variation across the armour, and a final silver pass catches exposed edges and suggests battle damage.
Rob Crouchley reports on the Aranthian Succession campaign as the Great Darkness ends and gangs reach Downtime. The restored access to House resources coincides with Lady Credo’s rebellion becoming clear, and the gang-by-gang reports show how deaths, new sympathisers, vehicles and contrasting fortunes have shaped the next phase.
Dan Entwisle explains why the mysterious Ash Waste Nomads and their giant insects drew him to a gang outside ordinary Necromundan society. Campaign experience has taught him to rely on hit-and-run attacks, but an Arthromite Duneskuttler adds a more resilient centre capable of confronting heavily armoured opponents.
Chaplain Sephax studies the Tome Keepers’ records with a newly personal understanding of the Chapter’s traditions and home world. Apparently unrelated ambushes and battlefield disasters reveal a recurring Ecclesiarchal connection, and an old grievance from the Sanctimonia Conflict suggests that supposed Imperial allies have pursued a hidden campaign against the Chapter for millennia.
Thirty studio players enter a Rivals league using the previous issue’s Rumbling Within Wyrdhollow rules, including an underdog mechanism that keeps the leaderboard close. Leading player Stu Nicholls discusses Domitan’s Stormcoven and the renewed usefulness of Magore’s Fiends when paired with the Tooth and Claw deck.
The solution combines a guaranteed Jakhals advance with the Berzerkers’ Objective Control and a charge that lets them fight before the Hearthkyn. Crucially, the engaged Daemon Prince can still forgo eligible shooting to Cleanse, avoiding plans that lose control of the marker when the damaged monster dies.
Studio hobby bingo updates contrast family and work pressures with ongoing painting, army building and terrain projects. Sophie Bostock explains the blue accents on a Shadowkeepers-inspired Telemon, Matt Hutson adds another Imperial Fists battleline unit, and Adam Barnes’s Justaerin Terminators become a hard-hitting centrepiece for his growing Sons of Horus force.