Well, as a retailer rather than a hobbyist on this one here are my thoughts. I don't pay for my White Dwarves either - perhaps one of the few perks of working many unsocial hours for very low turnout and having to motivate myself to complete each day's tasks xD But enough of self-employment, more onto White Dwarf.
Before I delve into breaking the magazine apart and giving my thoughts, I'd like to say something that gets said almost every day in Green Dragon HQ. They use photoshop. Or something similar, either way it is glaringly obvious when you take a look at White Dwarf that they touch up the pictures of the models to make the paint jobs seem as perfect as they can, there are no laws as far as I know to stop them doing this but it makes it difficult for guys like Dead Marshes and our painting service when the actual models, whilst they still look amazing in real life, can never have the contrast and airbrushedness that the photos in White Dwarf do. They have a dedicated team of people working on this to achieve that glossy, jaw-dropping look. This is because White Dwarf is distributed world-wide and is almost a front-runner to the hobby in stores like WH Smith and most good newsagents. That annoyance out of the way, lets delve in.
Pages 1-49 = catalogue, For me this is key, I know many people don't like this as it is just a glorified advert on whats new but this is essential. As the wargaming business revolves around whats new I usually tear open the delivery and dig out White Dwarf to find out exactly whats going online on the Friday night. Sure Games Workshop send me prices and a brief bit of info, but I need the full descriptions, pictures and to find out what you get in the box. I love it, and I can't wait to see what they surprise us with next month!
Pages 50-55 = army of the month. Very much hit and miss for me, this is where I go back to being a hobbyist but 9 times out of 10 I tend to flick through unless its an army I collect. A nice feature to get my fill of minis though and I'd rather they keep this and do away with the Golden Demon fluff, more on that later.
Pages 56-57 = Jervis' column. Of the two columns in the mag this is my second favourite, still usually quite a good read and I always agree with his views on keeping the hobby fun. As a matter of fact I rated March's article quite high as he reminded me that dice rolls can solve all and helped me with designing my Hobbit campaign.
Pages 58-73 = Battle report (not as detailed as they used to be, but with bigger better pictures, not even points listed). At first I was glad they aren't as detailed as I used to find them a struggle to read when it was say Chaos Warriors vs Lizardmen or something, two armies I don't and will never collect. So its good to get the summary when it is a game I wouldn't have much interest in, however on the whole I think they shouldn't have changed the format. Points values is essential for hobbyists like us, the fact they just throw together whatever they want almost shows a disregard to the very rules they designed. The Hobbit battle report back in November was over in a flash, I wanted to know what the dice rolls were, blow by blow what was happening, how did they overcome each challenge. But no, they need to save magazine space for all those adverts.
Pages 74-77 = Blanchitsu - I still don't even know what this is or what purpose it serves. I like the pretty pictures but I find myself skipping this section every issue.
Pages 78-79 = Hall of fame, one page pic, other page a blurb about a particular model. Nothing at all wrong with this, 1-2 pages focusing on a very special model, I see nothing wrong with it and back when they did the C'tan Nightbriner model it inspired a couple of gamers at my club to purchase one and undertake a similar project. This section deserves to be in the magazin.
Pages 80-95 = Slayer sword etc. competition pictures (you can see them on the internet if you want). Get rid of this section. I can see models, made with loving care on this very forum if I like.
Pages 96-101 = kitbash (though rarely anything more than just using bitz rather than the olden days of plasticard and how-to guides, it's really just pics of a few models). - You nailed it with that comment, this section is okay and worth a quick read but I would much prefer if they used more obscure parts and resources to make it more of an interesting project. I think we do better projects on these forums.
Pages 102-109 = Armies on Parade pics, again. Get rid of this section, I skip these pages every month.
Pages 110 - 117 = Paint splatter, showing some colour guides etc. This I find useful and quite enjoy having a read of it. This can stay
Pages 118 - 119 = Jeremy Vetock's column. Always worth a read, this guy speaks from the heart as a true hobbyist, his article this month really grabbed me with talking about bits scattering under a table never to be seen again. You can tell this chap is doing it for love not money. Keep this, and give him more space!
Pages 120 - 137 = GW store listings, subscription details etc. SERIOUSLY!? Do they think we can't find this on the internet? 17 pages wasted on self-indulgent adverts. This is why White Dwarf doesn't sell too well.
Pages 138 - 151 = what the various teams have been up to (some of which is more catalogue type stuff about new things). I don't mind this section, its interesting to see how productive the White Dwarf team are and also interesting to have a look at some of the new forgeworld stuff, could be simplified and cut down a bit to save space though.
The End.
There you have it
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