Vintage White Dwarf 206. February 1997.

This is an issue that I remember very well from my early teens. It even make me get a Slann Mage Priest for my non-existent Lizardman army when no-one was playing fantasy! So on with the show...

News - White metal was released. They gave it half a page and didn't herald it as the greatest thing ever. There was no overblown hype, just a simple 'this is what we're doing, we like it and hope you will too'. For 40k they released some Noise Marines and for fantasy there were a huge amount of Lizardmen, the Green knight, movement trays and some Drunken Dwarfs.

Lizardmen - This article fleshes out the new fantasy army that was launched with the 5th ed box set. There's loads of background such as details on spawnings, painting your army, raising regiments, adding age markings, various marks of the gods, artefacts and modelling bases. It goes into loads of depth and you actually learn something rather than a brief interview that just tries to sell you everything.

Small is Beautiful - Adrian Wood talks about playing smaller battles of 40k. In 2nd edition 2k armies were the norm and he casually mentions that they often play 4k matches. He proposes fielding 1000 points or smaller and documents how he settles on 600 for a nice game that allows different units such as psykers and can be played in a lunch break. He references Necromunda as an inspiration and started a small campaign where he uses a Genestealer Cult army! There's even an iconic photo of his converted Chimera.

Here be Dragons - Rick Priestly talks about surprise surprise dragons and how to field them and use template weapons effectively. A short article but interesting none the less.

Epic 40000 - This is a preview of the upcoming re-release of Space Marine. There's a few shots of scenery, models and artwork to whet the appetite.

Battle for Antoch Plains - The Dwarfers talk about how they went about creating their massive display piece for that years Games Day. The construction of the board was huge and the effort of everyone to paint the armies in time was monumental. Not something you see happening nowadays.

Requiem of Pain - You remember those Noise Marines I mentioned in the news section? Well here's the full rules for them, including weapon stats and points costs so you can add them to your Chaos army straight away. Nothing is held back, it's all there to use.

Stillmania - Nigel Stillman talks about his trip to Italy to see how gaming is done over there. This article seems very much like the precursor to Jervis' Standard Bearer without him having sold out. (Alright that might be a bit harsh, sorry!)

The Book of Days - A background article about the different regions of the old Warhammer world, how they came to be, and how their citizens relate (or not!) to each other. There's also a scenario called The Battle of Hel Fenn to recreate a battle between Dwarfs allied with the Empire against the Undead.

Frontline News - All kinds of news about what's happening in the stores. There's battles for the Plains of Antoch, a staff tournament, Black Library on tour, and a caption competition.

Dark Conspiracy II - Jervis gives the down low to the new Warhammer worldwide campaign to see who will reign supreme on the Antoch Plains (a popular theme this issue).

'Eavy Metal - Showcasing the new models, great shots of the Drunken Dwarfs, and the beautifully painted Green Knight. I was lucky enough to see it in 'the flesh' at Warhammer World last year and it's amazing.

To the Death - A battle report between Skaven and Orcs/Goblins. There's a huge amount of writing giving a real blow-by-blow and it's done as if they're chatting like real gamers would.

There we have it, another great blast from the past. It's difficult to give an accurate score because it was a special issue for me but I think a fair score would be 7/10.  Yes it only really covers 2 systems but there's new rules, a new scenario, plenty of background and a lot of food for thought.