Warzone Valedor & 7th Edition: White Dwarf Weekly 15

The White Dwarf Weekly 15 is here.

Possibly the first time since GW launched the weekly format, we have a week without new miniatures. This is a “books only”-week, and somewhat of a stopgap between the Wood Elves from the last two weeks and (presumably) next week’s all-out coverage of Warhammer 40K 7th Edition.

Perhaps because of this, there is a healthy variety of content. Certainly there is more to read in this issue than in any White Dwarf Weekly before it.

---

#1 – The Wraithknight Cover

There is a Wraithknight on the cover, promoting Warzone Valedor.

My first thought, looking at it, was that it seems to have gotten only a rather basic base-coat & wash paint-job for many of its details, the shoulder-guns, shield, sword-blade, etc..  (though the yellow is smooth).

I am probably not the right person to criticise paint-jobs, but recent White Dwarfs had Wraithknights with more effort put into them (e.g. gemstones) than this one gracing the cover.

Odd…

---

#2 – Warzone Valedor

The most obvious change in this White Dwarf is the lack of new miniatures, meaning the lack of initial pages presenting new miniatures.

To a large part, extended coverage of the new Apocalypse Warzone: Valedor takes its place, including a 4 page product overview at the start, two Apocalypse datasheets later in the issue, and a designer’s studio article with Phil Kelly, rather then with sculptors, talking about Eldar and Tyranids in Apocalypse.

It looks like a nice book for Apocalypse fans. On the other hand, previous Apocalypse Warzone books didn’t get nearly as much coverage in the White Dwarf. Still, if you enjoy 40K Apocalypse, this is probably a good issue for you.

---

#3 – Wood Elf Tutorials

For a White Dwarf Week without new miniatures, this issue contains a surprising amount of hobby and paint tips, including a ‘Sprues and Glue’ on how to turn your Warhammer Fantasy regiments into mini-dioramas, and not just ranked-up individual miniatures, as well as a huge 4-page Paint Splatter on Wood Elves.

More Wood Elf painting and colour-scheme tips, with a recurring emphasis on colours of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, are scattered throughout the issue. This in itself would’ve made a nice, more in-depth article on choosing paint schemes for an army.

---

#4 – Warhammer 40K 7th Edition

Last but not least, there is the 2-page article by Jes Bickham on the new edition of Warhammer 40K (and the White Dwarf only refer to it as “new edition”, neither as “updated edition” nor as “7th edition).

All the hot topics, including “unbound armies” and “daemonology” were discussed before. It also includes a 7th Edition teaser-poster, this time with an Imperial Knight, as opposed to last week’s version with a Commissar.

---

#5 – Thoughts?

Is White Dwarf 15 a good issue? Tough question.

There is certainly more to read than usual, including a Jeremy Vetock column I haven’t even touched on. Personally, I like the mix of topics, Wood Elves, Eldar, Game-designer-chat, etc.. . others might not. I doubt it is an essential issue, unless of course you really are into Apocalypse.

Oddly enough, with “unbound armies” on the way for Warhammer 40K (the way I understand them), the shelf-life and added-value of Warhammer 40K Apocalypse seems increasingly limited, so perhaps this issue is also a good-bye to the Apocalypse of old, more than anything else.

Z.