Review: White Dwarf August 2013

Another month another review. Sorry for this being so late, I got my WD (I subscribe) two weeks later than usual so I have been reading it long after everyone else. But better late than ever, here's my still quite short review of this months WD.

New Releases
Lizardmen! Yeah Lizardmen got an updated armybook and quite a lot of new stuff as well. I haven't read the Armybook but there are different opinions on it all over the web. And it looks like most people think it isn't as powerful as before (needed) but quite balanced and there are much more variety in types of armies you can create, which is always a good thing.

The book is explained better in this issue and we see more and a little bit better pictures from the book as well, also the models shown are phtographed really nice with an jungle background and when fighting on the battlefield. The Eavy Metal team have done a great job painting these models as well and even though I'm not a Lizardmen player I still get a little urge to try and paint some of these up just because it looks like so much fun to paint them.

Last month I felt that I didn't get excited of Apocalypse after reading through that WD issue. That's not the case this month with this release, I don't know if it's just because I like the models more and that I'm more interested in Fantasy in general. Or if they actually presented it better in this issue that makes more interested even though it isn't one of my armies.

We also get so see the new Games Day exclusive model in the form of Marco Colombo, which I really want for my Empire but I will sadly not attend to any GD so that's a no no for me I'm afraid.

The Good
The Battlereport this month is quite nice actually, still no Narrative which is a shame, I like those Batreps more and I find them more interesting to read. But they seem to have listened to us who wanted bigger pictures of the whole battlefield because we get more of that here. This time we actually see a Eavy Metal painted army, the Lizardmen but that is just nice because I think all of it is newly painted so there aren't models we have seen before. The are making battle against the Andrew Kenricks also nicely painted Tomb Kings.

Continuing on the Lizardmen there's also an article about and called Making Monsters: Reptilian Evolution. Here's we get some insights from the design team on how they thought when making the new kits. It's much about how some of them (Carnosaur and the Stegadon) has evolved from the old kits, strangely they don't show us any comparison shot with the old models which I have found to be interesting to see. How the Lizardmen looked back when they first arrived as an army in (was it 5th ed?) would be awesome to see but no such thing in here. I have seen a trend in recent WD:s that they don't want to show us old models we can't buy anymore, which is a shame because many old models looks really nice and it's fun to have some retro stuff every now and then.

Anyway, we actually get to see some older models in this issue, and it's even Bretonnian models which aren't that profound in recent WD issues. This month's Armchair General is about Duncan Rhodes Bretonnian army, which is nicely painted and also has a lot of classic models like the Bertrand the Brigand and crew (Robin Hood basicly) and the old Men at Arms models. Really nice to see.

Other highlights is Army of the Month with an really massive Iron Warriors army by Jamie Farquhar, and some personal favourites from the Parade ground and Kit Bash with units from Charcarodons, Sons of Horus and Night Lords, all looking really nice.

The Bad
As I said in the last review there's isn't really anything that is bad in here, but some things could have been better in my opinion. The Battleground this month showcased a really massive and cool looking Hive City and how it was made. Sure it's nice and everything but they could have given us more tips on how to do something similar ourselves and with more like tutorials baked in there.

Also I still think the Paint Splatter could be better with maybe one more extensive Tutorial on a certain model like in old days coupled with these more basic techniques. Don't get me wrong though, the ones on Lizardmen and even from the Hive City in this issue is quite nice, but still quite basic something more would be nice.

Conclusion
So some things I liked and some things that could be better it seems and overall it's a middle of the road issue for me. There are still things I think is missing in the 'new' WD format and that is an incentive to go back and look in the magazine in the future. Like they are know I don't really feel I need that. I can't tell what it is but there are the usual things I think that is still missing. Narrative, fluff, new rules, more tutorials about the hobby, something that makes want to go back and check out an older issue. So because of that this issue get a quite low rating despite me liking most of it.

Rating: 2.6