A quick rundown on what true believers can expect from the May 2018 issue of Games Workshop’s house organ (includes a free game!).

Ever since September 2016, I have been a regular reader of White Dwarf again, having not bought in issue since the early, early 00s…if not late 90s. I’m an old school Specialist Games player, who enjoys the new Age of Sigmar quite a bit. Despite being a fan of AoS, I’m going to generally frame any review of WD I do around the other articles and bits outside of AoS and 40K…unless there’s something super interesting that should be mentioned. Readers can expect every issue to showcase great models, battle reports, promotions, etc of the main two GW lines. So again, I’m going to highlight some of the sideshow stuff. But, as you can tell, this issue focuses on the Idoneth Deepkin for AoS with some gorgeous models inside and a fantastic article on their inspiration and what they aesthetically have in common with the other AoS aelf factions…Sylvaneth and Daughters of Khaine. On the 40K front, there’s little piece on Tau organization and structure.

Before proceeding, here’s the table of contents so anyone can pour over the entire contents beyond any mentions in this review.

To go along with the recent Chaos Chosen Blood Bowl release, we have a chaos pitch on the horizon. There weren’t any rules for Chaos Chosen pitches in Spike! 01, so I assume the rules will be included with the pitch. Like the Chaos ball rules in this issue of WD, including the rules in Spike! 01 would have been nice to have all the Chaos bits in one place, but…now we have more reason to buy the pitch I suppose…

We’ve got our first mention of the new Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay in a White Dwarf (I believe). This will be the 4th iteration of the game. From what I understand the rule-set, from Cubicle 7, will call back to the beloved 1st and 2nd editions of the game. WFRP 2nd ed was my favorite fantasy role-playing system even if set after the maligned Storm of Chaos Warhammer Fantasty campaign where chaos and skaven were more known and in the open. With the Old World now officially destroyed by Archeon during the End Times, I’m not exactly sure when in the Old World’s timeline this new version will take place. I do like the nod to the cover of the 1e book though.

While we’re talking Old World…a quick call out to reader Sten Frodin, who’s reader submission work of a “The Heroes Quest” jumped out at me immediately. Love that use of bold, 90s colors.

This issue has a free mini game of two sorcerers of Tzeentch dueling it out in the Crystal Labyrinth. The back of the magazine doubles as one player’s half of the game board, so you’ll either need a second copy of the magazine, or print out a copy of the back to run both spellslingers. I’ve got a handful of Tzeentch sorcerers, but not enough horrors, atm. I may proxy horrors with tokens to get a feel for the game…if my son and I can pull ourselves away from Pokemon and Shadespire. Still, a ‘free’ game is a nice add.

For Necromunda, there are rules for running Venator Bands which is very cool. Essentially, rules for creating your own gang. There are three ganger types, but within each type there seem to be 4-6 variations so you pick the flavor that best matches your model, or idea of the gang member. Rules for Venator Bands were created to allow players to build gangs of anything they want and are inspired by the wild and wholly possibilities of the Rogue Trader era. Players can even opt to have gang members be from some of the existing houses. The sky is the limit here, and I’ve had ideas for a group of space mercenaries in Space Hulk and will definitely run them as a Venator Band when I get the chance to play the new Necromunda. Another fantastic feature here.

This month’s Blanchitsu features work from a group that has built up a setting drawing inspiration from Dark Future. As a big fan of DF, I appreciated seeing others incorporate that long gone game into their hobby. As usual, the customization of the models in Blanchitsu is phenomenal.

All in all, for $9 USD this was another great issue from Games Workshop. Rules for Chaos BB balls, Necromunda Venator Bands, and a free game, on top of the usual features and articles equal great gaming value. GW has been on a roll with WD the past year and a half. They’re really reaching the heights of their glory years of the late 80s and early 90s.

We’re closing this out with Lord Borak’s seal of approval. Thumbs-up!