Review: White Dwarf Oct 2013

Pictures where circulating long before (than usual at least) the magazine was out this time, but there where also quite a lot of rumours regarding this months Release. So did we get any useful information or did we get any clarifications about the rumours? See below.

This review is a little late because I got my subscription issue one week late, it seems like I have this problem each other month. Strange...

New Releases
This month it's Dark Elves who get a much needed facelift, and some new plastic kits as well. All are presented in a really nice way with a green backgrounds or with awesome terrain in the background. We get  nice and clear pictures of all the new models and I must say I like pretty much all of them, even the Hydra who many didn't like that much. We get a little preview of the book as well and it looks like nice book as always, and we also get some bits about other new releases like, Codex Supplement Tau: Farsight Enclaves, the computer game Blood Bowl: Star Coach, second Forgeworld HH book Massacre and a lovely painted version of the WH Forge Merwyrm.

The Best
Aside from the Dark Elves part which of course is a large part of the issue there is actually quite good mix in this issue. Of course we get mostly fantasy because of the DE but there's plenty of Wh40k stuff as well. Like an article explaining what we will get from the new FF Horus Heresy book 'Massacre' and another part about how sculptors Will Hayes and Mark Bedford thought when making the Mechanicum models.

We get the conclusion of the War Diary where we see all the completed Army Display's, all of them looks really nice and there is a nice mix of armies as well. My favourites are the Carl Dafforn's Ogres with some lovely snow and ice effects and Dan Harden's Ostermark Empire army.

In this month's Parade Ground we once again see some really nice models taken from this years Throne of Skulls as well as from 'The Fang Painting Comp' in Netherlands.

There are some things that I think is both good and not so good, so here's the good part about them.

The Battle Report have really nicely taken pictures in this issue and you can clearly see what happens on the battlefield, they also showed us Points costs in both armies so we can see that they are balanced (at least points wise). It is also nice to see some Orcs and Goblins in the bat rep.

The next thing that I did like but that I have some issues with are the Army of the Month which is from fellow blogger Garfy over at A Tale of Painters. And don't get me wrong, it's extremely well painted and it's one of the largest Wh40k armies Iv'e ever seen, and painted in that high standard is amazing. Also some of the pics taken here is extremely cool (see the one with the Thunderhawk).

The not as good
So what's wrong with it? Nothing really, it's pretty much up to my personal taste to be honest. But Ultra Marines no matter how good they are painted, converted or anything else don't excite me much. And that is because we have see them so many times in Codexes, White Dwarfs you name it so even if the paint job is amazing I still think they look boring. Also this is fourth Space Marine army of the month since the new format WD started (fifth if counting CSM), more diversity here please. This may have come out as a rant on Garfy's army, that is not my intention at all. His army as Army of the Month is well deserved, but still.... they are Ultra Marines!

So next one then, the Battle Report. The biggest problem I have with it is the imbalance between the armies in it. [SPOILER] The DE army looks quite solid and balanced, especially for a WD Bat rep with big blocks of troops and some really hard hitting units. The Orcs & Goblins on the other hand sucked quite badly, they do have the big Savage Orc big un block with Shaman and shrunken head but that pretty much on the only really competitive in here. A unit of fiften Orcs? A unit of 20 common goblins? Why? Sure I think this is a hard matchup for the Orcs and Gobbos anyway, but I think adding some War machines, Fanatics, Manglers and what not should have made the game more even at least.

According to the Bat rep itself you could read that the first game they had went even worse for the O&G player which lost all of his troops in Turn 2. Crazy. I totally understand that not all Bat reps will be tight games where we only see the winner in turn 6, but this fight was over just before it begun. I could see only looking at the lists that the O&G would loose hard. And this frankly made the report a quite boring read.

There where some segements missing this month as well, like the Armchair General and Kit Bash. Not a huge loss but those two have potential to be good articles.

Conclusion
Felt like I wrote a lot of negative stuff in this review, but I actually quite liked this issue. Good variety and much of it is interesting to read. Of course there is always room to improvement, more fluff and narrative for example. Also my biggest concern is the re readability, except for some minor things like painting tips and such there isn't much that makes you feel you want to read again in the near future. I guess this has much to do with all the 'useful' stuff GW puts in iBook store now, much of those articles would fit perfectly in WD, some already have and some would have been in it if it wasn't for the additional money GW can make by selling them individually instead, shame really.

Rating: 3

News: Pics and rules from the new Dark Elves Army Book!

Okey we got to see the new Dark Elves stuff this weekend in White Dwarf. But there where several units missing in this months release actually and we will soon get even more Dark Elves stuff. These pics and info comes via HERO's Gaming Blog, so cheers to him.

That's a potentially solid debuff. What's the Ld of the beasts?
hydra is 6445552(3+remaining wounds)6, 160pts, 4+AS, 20pts for flame breath and 20pts for a 8'' shooting with multiple shots=remaining wounds, s=remaining wounds. kharibdyss is 650755456, 160pts, 4+AS, poison attack, abyssal howl(reroll successful ld test), feast of bones(if all attack hits, auto hit D6 S7 hits afterwards.)

Thank you for your enthusiasm Zhangyi. Do you mind if I ask you about how sea dragon cloak changed in this edition?
well it's now a 5+ scaly skin.

Just guessing now that zhangyi has left, but given that the scroungerunner's cost includes the bolt thrower, I'm quite sure the High Beastmaster can man the bolt thrower.
yes, he takes place of one crew. he get bs7.

Thanks....what are the rules for the Fleet Admiral and the Beastmaster characters?
they're both lord choice. fleetmaster is 155pts with 566433739. he has two hand weapons, light armour and sea dragon cloak. can take 50pts magic items. have a special rule called show no weakness that if he's fighting in a challenge or killed a character and still alive, the unit he joins become unbreakable till the end of that turn. high beastmaster is 300pts which must take a manticore or scourgerunner chariot by free. his 577433839 with spear, light armour and see dragon cloak. can take 100pts magic items. have a special rule called beastslaver that at the start of each of your turns, choose a friendly monster within 3''. that monster get +D3 A till the start of your next turn.

Hydra and Kharibdyss
and one more thing... hydra and the kharibdyss both are monsters now, without handlers. though u can see two on their base, they're nothing about them in the rules.

Magic items aren't that great but everything else seems awesome. Is malus the exact same? What's the pricing on sorcereress and lords?
he's been changed slightly, now the daemon gives him +1 to WS,S,T,I and frenzy. any to hit roll of 1 hit a friendly model in base contact. supreme sorcerer is 185pts with lvl3, dreadlord is 140pts. sorcerer is 80pts with lvl1.

Rules for kuran and tullaris?
kouran 596432739 join bg and make them unbreakable. have a +2s crimson death, and a 5+AS with armour of grief which make a S5 hit every time an opponent hit him. tullaris 566432739 join ex and make them frenzy. have a magic great weapon which called the first draich that gives him 5+KB

Are they champions or moved to hero slots?
moved to hero slot, u see they have w2 both.

Hydra Regen how specifically does it work ? Thank for answering all my questions by the way!
at the end of your phase if it still alive, u roll the number of dice equals the lost wounds. every 4+ it regain a wound.

This is nuts! If I don't go WE I may go with these girls and march and charge them up the field before they can get shot to pieces. Are they khanites and do they get the same bonuses from CoB as WE's?
no they're not brides of khaine, they're arena fighters. COB can give them 6+ ward save if join them... but still if they're 6'' within COB they can reroll all the failed rolls to wound. and COB have a bound spell can make them frenzy.

Which special characters are in, which are out?
they stay the same. no new special characters.

What does the magic item section look like, Do I still have access to the Hydra Banner (fingers crossed)
from my first glance they're not as good as HE. only 10 items, including one 100pts nearly useless sword(hydra blade, +D6 A, every close combat phase u must make a -2LD test or suffer -5WS, but gain HKB.) and one 100pts useless banner(banner of nagarythe, the unit take it will unbreakable). hydra banner is not there any longer, so does the banner make cosair frenzy.

Does Malekith get cheaper? Don't need points just wondering.
yes, he's only 510pts on foot. didnt change much of his rules, now the circlet grants him an bonus dice if failed his casting/dispelling attempts once per magic phase.

points and options for black guard and cold ones pls. Also what does the medusa chariot thing do?
BG=15pts, EX=12pts, cold one knight=30pts. the chariot make units from this book in 6'' +1LD, and all others -1LD, called aura of agony.

Witch Elves keep poison? How does Power of Darkness work? Available lores?
yes they keep poison. power of darkness is one of the two signature spell, which cast on 8+, target the caster's unit. all models in unit get +1S until the caster's next magic phase, and recover D3 casting dice, if you rolled 3 dice, the caster suffer a wound that cant be saved by armour. dark elf have access to all eight lores this time, cheers.

can you list the magic items and new spell lore. Do executioners still have Killing blow or are they now D3 wounds
still KB, not D3 wounds.

rbt and handbow rules? what about the bleakswords? any rules for them? What about shades? do they still have options for great weapons?
rbt is now special and 70pts, u can take four.(yes four) handbow become 12'', the rest stay the same. bleakswords have no other rules have to be metioned, 9pts. shades is 16pts, hand weapon and repeater crossbow, no armour. u can take great weapon or two hand weapons by 2pts/per model.

hows the assassin looking ? Manbane ? Repeater Bows armor piercing ?
90pts with poison attack. can get two hand weapon or a handbow. access to 50pts magic items and one of three poison. one is to wound roll+1, one is KB, the other is if u wound a model, his LD-1 for the rest of the game.

Is there a sac dagger and pendent?
yes the dagger is there. no pendent.

sac dagger
everytime when u cast a spell but before dispelling, u can use the dagger. remove a man from the unit, and roll a D6, 4+ u get an extra dice and must be rolled and add to the result, then opponent try to dispell. if u roll 1-3 then u can try the dagger again and again until you get a dice, or you can simply give up.

WE Initiative?
they're I6

what's the chariot with RBT do ? is it special or core ? thx for the pictures and information!
it's my pleasure:P it's special, cost 150pts, profile is S4 T4 W4 with 5+AS, M9, two crew with spear and repeater crossbow. it has a harpoon launcher, like a bolt thrower but far more powerful. it's S7, 24'' range, and cause D3 wounds. if a monster suffer any wounds from it, the monster will be dragged D6'' directly towards it. if D6>3, the monster suffer another wound with no AS.

What would you say is the best magic item the DE's got? The dagger sounds pretty nice, how much does it cost?
25pts. DE have some "OK" items IMO, but i cant tell which is the best. wait for me to post them.

it looks like the Dark Riders now have shields? Is this a default now, or still an option which causes loss of Fast cav?
it's an upgrade with 1pts/per model. DR can have both light armour and shield without losting fast cavalry.

DE sorcerer cast dark magic gain +1 bouns in casting value. it's called HEKARTIS BLESSING

Warlocks:
they're fast cavalry in rare with state 544431528, and M9 on horse. 25pts/per model. they only have hand weapon, but have 4+ward save except for wounds caused by model with mark of slaanesh or daemon of slaanesh. they're considered to be level2 wizard which is used like pink horrors. +1 for casting value for each extra rank except the first, to a max of +3. they know 2 spells, one is doombolt from DE army book(see #2221), the other is soulblight from lore of death. great unit.

I'm afraid to ask but... how much for a Dark Rider?
16pts per model with light armour. 1pts for shield, 3pts for crossbow.

what's the basic warrior cost ?(without spear , shield , RXB ..)
shield is auto. spear is another auto. 9PTS for spearmen and swordsmen.RXB is 12pts without shield upgrade(+1PTS)

Last masochistic question: Sisters of Slaughters?
they're rare choice with very impressive state 564331629. 15pts/model, with shield and hand weapon. can have a magic banner up to 50pts. 4+ward save in close combat, and every close combat phase it can choose an enemy unit in base contact. they lose parry and rank bonus in combat result.(still can steadfast). if any enemy model in base contact with them have highter WS or S(before weapon matters), they get +1 to hit and wound rolls.

News: Dark Elves WD Pictures and Rules!

So at last, some pictures of the new Dark Elves. And they look really cool in my opinion, really nice. Pics comes from:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.438934142882149.1073741826.152899918152241&type=1

And the rumors via Faet212.

via Scizorsfury on Warseer
The sisters of slaughter are rares: enemies is base contact with them lose rank bonuses.

Hydras are specials can upgrade to get a strength 4 breath attack, no regen but can regrow heads (recover lost wounds) just like the slann can with his discipline.

The kraken thing has a special ability that triggers when all 5 of its attacks hits ( gets an extra attack that inflicts additional hits) has a scaly skin save and causes terror. Enemy models in base contact must re roll successful leadership tests. Both use the monster and handler rules.

They have 2 signature spells just like high magic. One of the spells goes off on a 8+ and grants a unit +1 strength and then you gain D3 power dice but if you gain 3 power dice this way the wizard suffers a wound with no saves allowed.

The army has always strikes first.

Murderous Prowless: models with this rule re roll 1s when rolling to wound.

Wizards casting Dark Magic add plus 1 to their casting attempts.

edit via Scizorsfury
I had the sisters rule mixed up with the kraken monster. They take away rank bonuses

News: Dark Elves Teaser Trailer

The usual Teaser trailer from GW, but one of the better ones I must say. Also here's some of the latest rumoured release schedule, these comes via Faeit212.