So with the upcoming release of Sisters of Battle in the next two White Dwarves this begs the question: are Games Workshop going to change what White Dwarf actually is? We all remember the "oh damn we need to do a codex for Blood Angels let's just put it in White Dwarf" fiasco. The years people waited for the next BA codex (unlike Warriors of Chaos, the other WD Codex release) were long and crap. Hopefully Sisters of Battle won't be the same and with the few rumors circling atm, it may seem so. Whether or not this will coincide with a new release of models (and not Finecast) will also play a big part in what I believe will be this 'codex's' success or not. Regardless, if this White Dwarf release is a success it throws up the question of whether or not Games Workshop is looking at White Dwarf differently.
As it stands now, and has been for nearly a decade at this point, White Dwarf has been a pile of crap. It's basically a big self-advertisement with an occasional good piece on how to paint something coupled with a lot of crap articles on what's coming up, how awesome this thing is or how amazing that thing is with token support for local tournaments coupled with 'gameplay' articles and bad battle reports. The skinny? No one who's been in the hobby for any length of time buys it and it's a useless rag. I may go browse it once in a while in the newsagent to check out the painting articles and any upcoming tournaments (though the Internet is better for that) and that's about it. Games Workshop is inevitably missing out on an excellent medium to communicate with its customer when it has a track record of pretty poor public relations.
So is this a forth-coming change? I think not. The days of Chapter Approved and Games Workshop handing rule changes down through this publication are past. Do I think it should merit change? Yes. Things such as Errata's, rule releases and FAQs would be much easier if there was a regular publication for it. Follow up with publication on their website a month or so after and you've got something to build upon. Start putting in some good article content rather than continuous interviews with people within your company such as articles relating to the damn hobby (you know, painting, converting, modelling, terrain making and...wait for it...gameplay!). And get rid of Jervis. Advertising your own content is nice and all but it doesn't need to be every page. Increase support for local tournaments (give them a prize and free advertising damnit) and show some good battle reports rather than the hodgepodge of lists you have.
If all of this happened or hell, just some of it, would you buy White Dwarf? If the Sisters of Battle codex isn't a farce of an excuse to not produce another codex for several years and coincides with some proper releases this could be a possibility where we as customers actually get support from the company we buy from (hi Privateer Press).
Anyway, food for thought.
