Review: White Dwarf 77

Issue 77 of White Dwarf continues to stay firmly focused in the Age of Sigmar, this is the final issue that is dishing out previews of the whole Age of Sigmar universe as this was released the same time as the Age of Sigmar Big Book. So what's inside? Let's see.

The cover depicts the Lord-Castellant, the sole pre-order figure for the week as the two terrain pieces were the stars of the pre-order show. While the actual Lord is supposed to be the star of the show, the Gryph-Hound is the most striking figure to me. The back cover has the same Lord-Castellant surrounded by some Retributors with some fun lighting tricks that highlights his lantern while keeping everyone else in the dark.

This inside cover continues pushing the Eternals vs. Bloodbound struggle as so far that's all we've been exposed to. A pitch about what's inside and the table of contents standard continues here.

First up we have our sales pitches! Two pages are given to the Lord-Castellant and his Gryph-Hound. This follows the standard we've seen in all the other issues for the sales. We get a bit of text selling the model both as what the unit is within the universe and what the model looks like. As well as many close-up shots with side text that either gives a sentence of lore or the model itself.

Next, each piece of new scenery for pre-order gets a page to sell them as well. The shots of them assembled and painted with the models around them looks great. The models themselves... well they'll get their review in time.

Next is a two-page Forge World article showing off some of their (highly pricey, even for GW) models. They're both 40K, so we'll move along.

Our big article for this issue is a 10 page spread on the Forces of Chaos. With Order getting their article last week, Chaos gets their day. The first page is a huge spread of Bloodbound, including many models we haven't seen yet and then it follows with pages on each of the five factions for Chaos. Khorne, as the lead Chaos army for AoS, get two pages, while the other Big 3 else gets a single one. There's not much new here if you have any knowledge of Warhammer beforehand, but it serves as a good primer for the uninitiated. Also, you get a great look at some of the models for each faction, they may be repainted/rebased older models, but if you're new to Warhammer in general, they're all new and exciting. There are some new bits in there, firstly, it mentions that Slaanesh is missing, that he was stolen away some point early in AoS's story. Also, the Skaven are firmly attached as members of the Chaos Grand Alliance. Two pages get dedicated to them and they mention how they can burrow into each Realm from their Blight City that hangs on the edge of the Realms of Chaos. Again, there is some great shots of models in their article, but not a huge amount content if you know anything about Warhammer in the past.

After this we have a 'Eavy Metal article, showing off some awesome paint jobs on both a Chimera and Tyranid Warrior. These don't really apply to AoS either, so moving along.

Next we have a two page spread entitled Warriors of the Broken World. This is two page spread of mostly model shots that has a small bit of text of the standard mortals that have been compelled to fight in the Realmgate Wars. Featured are the warrior-zealots that live in Azyrheim, willing to follow the Eternals into the other Realms to take them back. There is an awesome model of a War Altar with a huge hammer wielding griffon as well as many religious looking zealots ready to fight. It's nice to see some standard mortals around the Eternals, it makes the Eternals look bigger and more majestic and shows that not only they are fighting for Sigmar.

The Sprues and Glue article is three pages and shows not only how to assemble the Ophidian Archway but how to combine multiple ones in a few ways to make modular terrain. It's nothing groundbreaking, but continues the tradition of showing some basic wargaming/painting/assembling tips for new players.

After that we get three pages of Warscrolls, the standard intro page and a Scroll for both the Lord-Castellant and Gryph-Hounds. Once again, they'll get looked at during the review of the model itself.

The Week in White Dwarf is our round-up of random things again, a collection of both wargaming things and lore bits. As related to AoS, there is a small piece on how to paint the Ophidian Archways, a small article on the fun the rules for Baleful Realmgates brings to the table, and a small side bar of lore about the ruins that exist throughout the mortal Realms. Munitorum Report, the up/down arrow sidebar, focuses on the Lord-Castellant of course, and gives 4 quick facts about him related to the lore and a small article shows an awesome paint job on the Gryph-Hound that makes it look even cooler than I already thought. This is mixed with a few 40K and old warhammer paint/lore pieces, but all very small.

Finally, the Regiments of Renown shows off a few Leman Russ tanks for 40K with a Next Issue stinger about The Forces of Destruction.

A few more 40K articles crept in this week, but very very small amount of content. This is once again an AoS issue and still a lot of introductive text. The basic look at the Forces of Chaos and the promise of the Forces of Descruction to come, we continue to tour the basic structure of the forces of AoS. Still another good issue if you're AoS centric like myself.