White Dwarf, Issue #83
Publisher: Games Workshop
Cost: $3.99 (Physical)/$2.99 (Digital)
Page Count: 32
Release Date: 08/29/2015
Get it Here: The Black Library (Or your local Games Workshop retailer)
Another week, another issue of White Dwarf. It sounds like the Summer of Sigmar is finally winding down with this issue and that we will be back to Warhammer 40,000 next week. I imagine those disgruntled with Age of Sigmar will be happy to see that. For those of us who are enjoying the post-apocalyptic fantasy game, this issue looks at the newest and biggest release for the Stormcast Eternals yet – the Celestant-Prime. Let’s delve into the issue, shall we?
Sales pieces first, and of course White Dwarf makes the Celestant-Prime the focal point of this issue. It’s a really impressive piece and I know that like Judicators, the Chaos Dreadhold and some other scenery, I will eventually pick this up. I just have to much to paint right now. This is a gorgeous model and the Celestant-Prime will be a fantastic addition to my Autobot themed army. I was originally going to paint this one up as Superion, but now that I see all the details on the model, he’d make a much better Predaking. Too bad I already have Optimus (and Grimlock) as my Celestant on Drakoth as the name Prime is just begging for me to do something with that. Maybe Star Saber? It’ll be weeks/months before I get him anyway, but with only a $80 price tag, the Celestant-Prime is an amazing deal. Painting all the comets will be the hardest part. Besides a look at the model and its various parts, the article gives you a lot of great fluff on Prime. From the text he’s definitely Karl Franz in the same way Ionus Cryptborn is a reborn Arkhan the Black, so this might pique the interest of people who are still on the edge of trying Age of Sigmar.
Next up is a look at the new fifty-one (!) air brush paints from Citadel. I would love to give airbrushing a try but I don’t have an area where I feel I could air brush properly or safely, especially since one of my cats loves to watch me paint and gets up on the table to watch me when I have brush in hand. Maybe someday I’ll give this a try as it always wields fantastic results when I see other people do it. If so, it’s great to see Citadel make a dedicated paint line for airbrushing.
After that we get a few quick plugs for some written releases. There’s Warhammer Visions, a novella about the Relictors (40K, not Age of Sigmar called Angron’s Monolith that sounds interesting. The Relictors are fighting Orks on Armageddon and have a chance to use a tainted artifact. Will they resist the taint of Chaos or will they succumb? The other is the Ragnar Blackmane novella GW has been pushing hard. I don’t care about the Space Wolves at all so this is an easy pass for me. It actually contains two short stories so that’s nice, especially when you realize it’s a swanky boxed edition. The only problem is the price tag is $50, which is completely nuts.
Finally, we come to the last new release, which are three pieces by Forge World. Normally the only Forge World stuff I like are the Dread Saurian and the Chaos Dwarves, but for the first time ever I have a 40K set I want. It’s Zardu Layak and two Anakatis Kul Blade-slaves. These pieces look fantastic and if I played Horus Hersey, I would pick these up in a second.
The first non-sales article we have this week is the “Hall of Fame” piece. I think it’s a silly concept but the piece in this issue is the Hive Tyrant. I only have two small 40K armies, but I was going to add more, It’d be a toss-up between Harlequins and the Tyranids. It’s a fluff piece but an informative look at the model, which is unusual for “Hall of Fame” pieces.
“Only the Faithful” is a long look at the background of the Hallowed Knights, some of their biggest adventures in the Age of Sigmar and also a description of the key players amongst the order. There’s even a picture of the Celestant-Prime painted up as a Hallowed Knight. The Hallowed Knights are my favorite of the official Stormcast Eternal crews and the army I would have made had I not done a weird Autobot theme, so this was a really good read for me. It’s very long and a great in-depth look at an Age of Sigmar army. It’s the centerpiece of the issue, which is surprising as they usual just focus on the new releases, and well worth the cover price on its own.
“Golden Demon 2014” looks at the winner of last year’s piece in the Warhammer 40.000 Single Miniature Category. It’s amazingly done and I learned a few techniques from this article I want to try out. Sure it is no “Paint Splatter,” but it’s very helpful. “Armies on Parade 2015” looks at the display board one participant is making for his Tau army. It’s fantastic looking and makes me wish I was creative enough to do something like that. If you’re interested in painting competitions, these two back-to-back pieces will be worth your time. Now I want my Pedion boards to arrive so I can build my Gotham Academy board for the Batman Miniature Game.
This week’s “Warscrolls” is about the new Celestant-Prime and it’s going to be an AWESOME piece to use. Between the fact it wields Ghal Marz and has this neat comet based attack, it’s going to be a fun piece to field. It grows more powerful the longer you hold it in reserve off the board too. That means if you play it right, this will be have 6+ attacks in melee. INSANE. Man, I want one.
After that it’s the odds and ends that make up “This Week in White Dwarf.” The hodge podge of quick sidebars and snippets are actually really good this time around. “The Heroes of Azyrheim looks the adventures of Gardus, the Steel Soul – leader of the Hallowed Knights. There are painting and building tips for the Celestant Prime I’ll definitely be using when I get mine. Then it’s the usual model, bits and weapon of the week filler. Finally we get a quick piece on the Grey Knights someone is building for Armies on Parade and a look at why some of the origins of Citadel’s paint names. Overall, this was a fantastic issue of White Dwarf and one well worth picking up.
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