White Dwarf

Cover of White Dwarf 362, designed by Paul Dainton.

White Dwarf (often shortened to WD) is the primary hobby magazine produced by Games Workshop. White Dwarf is produced in a number of countries in several languages, with the original UK edition considered the 'mother' of the others. It covers all of GW's systems and settings, including Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

History

Issue 1 of White Dwarf was published in June-July 1977. It was in black and white, had only 24 pages, was bi-monthly, had many advertisements for obscure non-Games Workshop games and had no pictures of miniatures. During this time Dungeons & Dragons was the main focus of the magazine. In August 1982 the magazine became monthly and the first Warhammer article was published in White Dwarf 45 (UK) in September 1983, shortly after the release of the 1st edition rulebook.^[1a]

The last issue to be bound by staples was White Dwarf 89 (UK). Subsequent issues were now free to increase the page count. By this time the focus was beginning to switch to miniatures, with the few colour pages dedicated to pictures of Citadel miniatures. After White Dwarf 100 (UK) non-Games Workshop material disappeared from the magazine and a Games Workshop logo was added to the front cover. This could be considered the birth of modern White Dwarf - an in-house publication for Games Workshop and its miniatures.^[1b]

The first issue to be completely free of external advertising was White Dwarf 113 (UK). The first battle report was published in White Dwarf 120 (UK), with hand-drawn maps. This feature became increasingly popular, and now there is at least one battle report in every issue of the magazine. By White Dwarf 128 (UK) the page count had increased to 128 pages. By White Dwarf 300 (UK) the magazine had fragmented so separate countries had different design teams, different content and even different issue numbers. In White Dwarf 316 (UK) a new team was assembled and White Dwarfs around the world began to have the same content again.^[1c]

White Dwarf continued to be published on a monthly basis until White Dwarf 409 (UK), January 2014. On 1 February 2014, the magazine moved to a 32-page format, published weekly and renumbered from White Dwarf 1 (2014). Warhammer Visions, a monthly sister title, was launched at the same time, in a format favouring imagery over text. The weekly version of White Dwarf lasted for 131 issues before resuming as a monthly, subsuming Warhammer Visions, and adopting a new naming convention in White Dwarf September 2016. No Warhammer Fantasy content appeared in White Dwarf between 2014 and 2024, when the magazine (using monthly numbering again since January 2020's White Dwarf 450) published a Warhammer: The Old World Battle Report in February's White Dwarf 497.^[2]

Features & Articles

Regular White Dwarf articles include:

• New Releases - All of the items that Games Workshop have released that month.
• Designer's Notes - Writers, artists and sculptors are interviewed about the new releases.
• Battle Report - A description of a game of Warhammer, or one of Games Workshop's other games, accompanied by pictures and explanations of tactics by the players.
• Modelling / Painting Workshop - Tips on a certain area of the Games Workshop hobby.
• 'Eavy Metal Masterclass - A guide by one of the 'Eavy Metal team to painting a miniature to the highest quality.
• Tactica - Tactics and strategies for winning games.

Numbering and Regional Variations

Numbering differs significantly between languages and regions. For example, the German White Dwarf 125 was Italian issue 87, Spanish issue 133, French issue 145, American issue 316, and UK/Australian issue 317. For this reason it's crucial to note the specifics of the issue before citing it, and unless there's a specific piece of content that occurs in one edition that doesn't appear in another (which does frequently happen), it's best practice to cite the UK edition regardless of the editor's region.

List of UK White Dwarfs with Fantasy Content

Warning - the classification of these White Dwarfs may not be 100% accurate. If you see a mistake, please rectify it by editing the corresponding template.

1st Edition

White Dwarf

Issues for Warhammer Fantasy Battles (1st Edition)
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1983					41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48
1984	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60

2nd Edition

White Dwarf

Issues for Warhammer Fantasy Battles (2nd Edition)
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1985	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72
1986	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80	81	82	83	84
1987	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94

8th Edition

White Dwarf

Issues for Warhammer Fantasy Battles (8th Edition)
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2010							367	368	369	370	371	372
2011	373	374	375	376	377	378	379	380	381	382	383	384
2012	385	386	387	388	389	390	391	392	393	Oct. 2012	Nov. 2012	Dec. 2012
2013	Jan. 2013	Feb. 2013	Mar. 2013	Apr. 2013	May 2013	Jun. 2013	Jul. 2013	Aug. 2013	Sep. 2013	Oct. 2013	Nov. 2013	Dec. 2013
2014	Jan. 2014	1 2 3 4	5 6 7 8 9	10 11 12 13	14 15 16 17 18	19 20 21 22	23 24 25 26	27 28 29 30 31	32 33 34 35	36 37 38 39	40 41 42 43 44	45 46 47 48
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2015	49 50 51 52 53	54 55 56 57	58 59 60 61	62 63 64 65	66 67 68 69 70	71 72 73 74

The Old World

White Dwarf

Issues for Warhammer: The Old World
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2024		497	498	499	500	501	502	503	504	505	506	507

Related Pages

• White Dwarf on Lexicanum 40k
• White Dwarf on Lexicanum Age of Sigmar
• White Dwarf on Wikipedia

Sources

• 1: White Dwarf 330 (UK):
  • 1a: pg. 61
  • 1b: pgs. 62-63
  • 1c: pgs. 64-65
• 2: White Dwarf 497 - Tyranids Infiltrate a New Combat Patrol Alongside a Wealth of Ghoulish Content