Kera foehunter:
Well for years i alway harp on the bad things about the White dwarf mag.
What i miss the most was the eavey metal
and the modeling workshop:hat off
Obsidian Muse:
What I miss the most isn’t really any particular article or how in former issues the hobby was more important than advertisements for new miniatures. I miss how we get to know nothing about the editors and writers of White Dwarf anymore.
They no longer have the opportunity to make the articles their own, to talk about their own opinions and experiences. That might not sound so important, but by reading their excitement about the hobby it transferred to you. In every paragraph, every photo you could see they were really enjoying themselves. And because of that you, the reader, became more interested and invested into the hobby. That’s why the ‘Tales of Four Gamers’ is always such a favorite, because you actually see the staff having fun.
It used to be that everyone who worked on White Dwarf had distinct character traits; likes and dislikes, favorite armies, ingenious tactics and so on. I’m sure the current staff also have all that, but we don’t get to see any of that. The nearest thing we get to an editor who we can identify with is Jervis Johnson and his column Standard Bearer, but that’s not enough to support a monthly magazine.
The only thing which truly, desperately, needs changing of White Dwarf is to dedicate two pages to the comings and goings of the WD staff. That can’t be too much to ask.
G.2:
I used to buy White Dwarf back in the early 80s. I had about twenty issues. I then got out of the hobby. I started buying them again about 2 years ago again, and even though it is not the same magazine, I still enjoyed it, even just for the pictures. So I started buying all the magazines I missed out on. What a rewarding adventure that has been. I now own every issue from 100 to current. It is a really good reference to the various miniatures
released from citadel/GW. Not to mention the change in colour schemes and styles. I personally love White Dwarf magazine.
Nicodemus:
I really miss the WDs from the 90s when they had game suppliments in them. By far my favourites were the Warhammer Quest suppliments (pre issue #200). Most of them has new rules, new items, variants and even new tiles. The Skaven suppliment is fantastic, like a mini version of what gamers paid for in the undead and orc expansions, represents what a Chaos Dwarf one should have been like… alas!
These days I mostly look in the backgrounds at terrain and the like. For example, when Island of Blood came out they had several issues where they had lots of close-up photos of the studio’s ‘Island of Blood’. Great inspiration for terrain. I also made a floating terrain/rock piece that is ~10"x10", based off of stuff I saw in some of the Storm of magic pics… wasn’t until the Blood in the Badlands book that there were any rules for it.
In general though, I’m disappointed with WD. I’d never buy it off the newstand unless there was some special issue I needed to have for reference or something. I get it as an Xmas present, which is fine. But after maybe 30-60 minutes with it I’m done for a while. I only ever read or look at ~20% of what’s in there… it’s so full of BS about GW and most of what you pay for is to see them advertising their latest models.
Now look what you’ve started Kera… now I’m annoyed and have ventured into a rant! Argh! 
~N
Abecedar:
Aaaah, I just like the preety pictures.
JonJon:
I miss the articles as well but the pictures are still nice but I rarely buy one,any suggestions ona new
magazine to buy
Jon
Galladorn:
I collected white dwarf from issue #107, there was a 24 hour warhammer battle featured in it, and that’s what got me into WFB.
I can safely say that for decades I became an expert on how the WD was evolving into a gaming magazine.
Then little by little, it simply became an advertisement.
Every new army that was released had a battle report in which they played against the same weak empire army, with predictable results.
I stopped my subscription last year, and have never looked back at my decision.
Also, GW used to make it worth your while to subscribe to WD with lots of giveaways. Now, I get a useless WD IF I pay alot of money. Screw that.
Kera foehunter:
I even miss the old cut out building in the early day
But i haven’t look at one nor bought one since they raised the price to 10.00
cornixt:
I stopped buying it when every month it was wrapped in plastic and I couldn’t look through it to see if any articles were worth getting it for. Even my local GW didn’t have a copy that was unwrapped! I’m not buying it if I don’t know what is in it, so I went from getting it 6 times a year to never. Their loss, since I was starting to plan a 40K army and I lost all motivation for it.
I don’t mind it being mostly catalogue, since the main reason for getting it is to see the new stuff, but if they just show the same stock photos from the GW website then it is pointless.
G.2:
,any suggestions ona newI have heard the "Unseen Lerker" magazine is a good read, as well as a good White Dwarf substitute. I also like the
magazine to buy
JonJon
Thommy H:
I guess this goes against the received wisdom on the internet that White Dwarf is just a catalogue now, but the last few White Dwarfs I’ve bought not only contained loads of rules (the new Sisters of Battle list, Warhammer: Civil War, Scrolls of Binding) but also 'Eavy Metal masterclasses, lots of photos of new models and even excerpts from stuff released that month. Plus some pretty decent battle reports.
I think it went through a long period of being crap, but it seems fine to me now. Maybe those few issues were a weird blip though…
klemanius:
Yes and no, I find it gets a bit up and down at the moment. Its not as bad as it was but it drifts back towards there from time to time. Oddly enough the less stuff is being released in a given moth the better the magazine seems to be;P. Battle reports are definitely getting a lot better.
Abecedar:
Was got given heaps by a nephew when I started and now have a list of what’s missing in case there is an issue in the second hand book shops I visit.
Don’t but brand new very often now that economics has sunk in.
Kera foehunter:
so do they still have a few pages on the Forge world stuff in the back of the magazine ??
Vogon:
I think that the white dwarf in its current guise is getting back to form.
I wish I still had my first white dwarf but I had a long hiatus from the hobby and gave them all away when I started university (1995) and back there there were rules galore, campaign ideas, gizzits in the form of card buildings as well as painting tips courtesy of ‘Eavy Metal and even free games (any one remember the Horus Heresy game set on Horus’ battle barge that came free or “Confrontation” the precursor to Necromunda that was published over 3 or 4 editions?)
When I got back into the hobby white dwarf I believe was in a real trough of being nothing but a catalogue full of shiny photos and a battle report where what ever the latest army to be released won.
Now though the cool stuff is slowly starting to come back. As has been mentioned they have recently been releasing rules (Blood Angels, Sisters of battle, Warhammer Civil War etc.) the painting masterclass articles are getting useful again.
On the whole I’m pleased with the newer white dwarfs though there was a long period where they were dross.
Cheers
Vogon
Obsidian Muse:
I’m afraid I have to adjust my earlier opinion. Why, you ask? In White Dwarf 387 the only battle report was about the LotR Attack at Weathertop, and was only five pages long. That includes a page explaining the scenario.
But okay, I can stomach that. I can’t see how they could show the Attack at Weathertop as a big battle, when Aragorn and the four Hobbits only have to handle a torch menacingly to drive the Ringwraiths off. Furthermore, in the same issue they start a new Tale Of Four Gamers, this time in the LotR system. I got my wargaming needs fulfilled.
And what do you know, the next issue does indeed have a battle report longer than five pages. To be exact. it has six pages.
What fourth dimension of hell is this?! Since the beginning of Warhammer Fantasy, since the beginning of GW’s supremacy on the tabletop wargaming market, there’s has been a battle report as the focus of every White Dwarf issue. It’s the most popular article of the magazine. What’s the point of reading White Dwarf when it almost exclusively consists of pretty pictures? The battle report isn’t even about the Empire, the army which gets brand new releases and army book this month.
To add insult to injury, the Standard Bearer column is gone, and the Lotr A Tale Of Four Gamers get a staggering four pages, with two-thirds of that being pictures again.
If I were to play devil’s advocate, I could say that this month’s issue has more than enough information on the new Citadel Paints range. Considering that not everyone plays Warhammer Fantasy, or Empire for that matter, the new paints can be considered more important.
But that doesn’t take away that White Dwarf is doing a disservice to its readers who don’t find the painting or the miniatures all that important. The strategists, the conversion doctors, the fan-fic writers, the people who love the community, there’s just far too little for them in White Dwarf.
I’m sorry to rant this much, but I truly find this a betrayal of our trust in GW. Or what little we had left, anyway.
vulcanologist:
Used to buy it religiously but I’m afraid in these harsh economic times print media was the first thing to go! All my news, books, magazines etc I now get primarily over the net! Sad
But true!
theforgefather:
It makes me depressed because everything
in there is better in just about every way than mine.
i agree with kera on the missing articles.
and 4.50 for it ??? it should be a max of 3.50 at least.
thats probably not relavent to any of you follow CDs
cos you probably have jobs and are making money
(but not necesseraly!)