White Dwarf Issue 8 – 40K Terrain & The Hobbit

White Dwarf Issue 8. It feels like a “filler”-White Dwarf, with a rag-tag collection of releases that “didn’t fit” anywhere else, including rarely seen Hobbit releases. Still, it will be remembered for a long time as the White Dwarf with the Void Shield Generator cover, a (for most people at best) Saturday-morning magazine advertising a product that sold out Friday night.

Void Shield Generator aside, what else is in this issue?

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#1 – Quake Cannon Craters

Games Workshop terrain. Plastic. Unlimited. Modular. Fairly cheap. I guess it never had a chance against the Void Shield Generator, at least on the internet-airwaves.

Still, these look nice, but they are probably also easier to kit-bash if you have enough spare bits. On the other hand, if you plan on buying things like the Imperial Battlefield Accessories to build craters, you might as well pick up the modular ready-made Quake Cannon craters.

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#2 – The Hobbit Battle Report

A battle report! A rare sight, even if those 4-page battle-reports don’t really stand up to the kind of articles that used to bear this name.

It features none of the shiny new Warhammer 40K terrain. Not a surprise there, as it’s a Hobbit battle.

It features none of the shiny new Hobbit miniatures from this week either! Yes. This one is from the archives somewhere.

The Battle Report re-enacts the “Helter-skelter chase down the Forest River” from the second Hobbit movie, using the Dwarfs-&-Bilbo-in-Barrels miniatures. All the trademarked terms (TM) make it a bit of a paint to read as well.

Spoiler: The Dwarfs & Bilbo narrowly escape (I wonder if GW’s contract with New Line would’ve even allowed them an alternative end… is GW allowed to give victory to the Orcs?).

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#3 – A Shiny Eldar Wraithknight

Other things include a paint splatter on painting the craters (or terrain in general), which was all right. Some Alpha Legion jokes. Another article on Imperial Knights (or how to beat them), and a very fine Wraithknight on the last page.

Bold colours, clean line-highlights. Awesome effect. The older I get (ya, I know), the more I come to terms with this style over the artsy blended stuff. I really like it.

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#4 – Thoughts?

This week’s White Dwarf is an odd issue. Sure, there is the sold-out-in-seconds Void Shield Generator, but it’s not really featured in the magazine beyond the cover and the splash page. Even the craters get more love (paint splatter, etc..).

The Hobbit stuff … well … it’s great to see some “love” for the game, though it might just be GW rolling down the last obligations they have to New Line Cinema.

The (I am guessing) from-the-archives battle report together with a new wave of Finecast doesn’t really make an exciting release. I am not holding my breath for something amazing to be added to this game this winter with the final Hobbit movie.

Let me know what you think!

Z.