White Dwarf

Cover of White Dwarf #99, March, 1988

White Dwarf is Games Workshop's monthly magazine. It is produced in a number of countries, with the U.K. being considered the "mother" magazine.

Background

Cover of White Dwarf #100, April, 1988

White Dwarf began as a bi-monthly magazine covering roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons. Its first issue, June/July 1977, introduces its subject to the various types of roleplaying companies and different companies that produce miniatures. Its editor, Ian Livingstone begins the magazine by describing the creation of roleplaying games and how there are over fifty games, with ten miniature production companies, spanning many different ideas and concepts at the time.

The original publisher was the Pentagon Printing Group and they produced the magazine for Games Workshop. It was later, when Games Workshop started producing miniatures for their own game and branched off completely from the Dungeons & Dragons format, that White Dwarf became a monthly magazine devoted just to Games Workshop products.

When Games Workshop's products took over, White Dwarf was turned into a magazine and a "catalog". The "catalog" section featured new miniatures that were released by Games Workshop/Citadel Miniatures and even had a place where they could be ordered. It was with this incarnation that White Dwarf became a true Games Workshop-only magazine. This was fully expanded beyond miniatures in the 90s to include the new releases of Black Library, the literary publisher for Games Workshop. From then on, short stories and other literary works played an important role in articles.

Later, when Games Workshop bought the license to produce miniatures for the Lord of the Rings series, White Dwarf expanded. It was the first time in over 200 issues that a non-Games Workshop concept would be featured in the magazine.

Articles

There are many standard feature articles for Warhammer 40,000:

• "Chapter Approved": These articles introduced new rules and units for play. They are collected into books called Chapter Approved.
• "Index Astartes": These articles describe the founding of the Space Marines. They are collected into books called Index Astartes.

English Editions

You can read the first issue of White Dwarf (no Warhammer 40k content, but surely an historical release!) here.

United Kingdom

Currently the edition is divided into four sections; Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, The Lord of the Rings, Hobby, and Frontline. While the first three sections are self-evident, Hobby is dedicated to the hobby community, painting and hobby advice; Frontline also contains a list of all hobby centers and independent stockists, an events calendar and miniatures available to order. The current U.K. Editor is Mark Latham. There is an official database of White Dwarf (from issue #100 onwards) available on the Games Workshop website at Games Workshop Database.

United States

The magazine covers Warhammer (Fantasy Battle; WHF), Warhammer 40,000 (40k), and Lord of the Rings. It also has articles on the hobby aspect of the games (modeling, painting, etc.). Current editor for the U.S. edition is Guy Haley. While the U.S. version has many articles in common with the U.K. edition, it often will also have U.S.-only sections by the U.S. White Dwarf and web teams.

Also note that the U.S. White Dwarf edition numbers are one behind their U.K. counterparts.

Other Editions

White Dwarf has been issued and translated in many different countries. Some dates are reported to give you an idea of when it started in each country and how many numbers are available today.

• Australia (AU)
• Canada (CA)
• German (DE)
  • #1 December 1994 - January 1995
• Spanish (SP)
• Italian (IT)
  • #30 Mar. 2001
  • #62 Feb. 2004
  • #80 Oct. 2005
  • #112 Jul. 2008
• French (FR)
  • #190 Feb. 2010 (UK 362)

List of White Dwarf Magazines

Parallel issues are listed together; however, there may be differences between issues published in different countries.

White Dwarf Issues for Warhammer 40,000 1st Edition

• U.K. issue if not specified.
• The first Warhammer 40,000 article was in White Dwarf #93, published September 1987, presented as a preview.

		WD093	WD094	WD95	WD96	WD97	WD98	WD99	WD100
WD101	WD102	WD103	WD104	WD105	WD106	WD107	WD108	WD109	WD110
WD111	WD112	WD113	WD114	WD115	WD116	WD117	WD118	WD119	WD120
WD121	WD122	WD123	WD124	WD125	WD126	WD127	WD128	WD129	WD130
WD131	WD132	WD133	WD134	WD135	WD136	WD137	WD138	WD139	WD140 WD140us
141	142	143	144 WD144us	145	146	147	148	149	150
151	152	WD153	154	155	WD156	157	158	159	WD160
161	162	163	164	165

White Dwarf Issues for Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition

• U.K. issue if not specified.
• The 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000 was introduced as a preview in White Dwarf #166, published October 1993. Then the new edition was launched in White Dwarf #167, published November 1993.

					166	167	168	169	WD170
WD171	172	173	WD174	175	176	177	178	179	180
181	182	183	184	185	186	187	188	189	190
191	WD192	193	194	195	196	197	198	199	200
201	202	203	204	205	206	207	208	209	210
211	212	213	214	215	216	217	218	219	220
221	222	223	224

White Dwarf Issues for Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition

• U.K. issue if not specified.
• The 3rd Edition of Warhammer 40,000 was introduced in White Dwarf #225, published October 1998.

				225	226	227	228	229	230
231	232	233	WD234	235	236	237	238	239	240
241	242	243	244	245	246	247	248	WD249	250
251	252	253	WD254 WD253us	WD255 WD254us	256	257	258	259	260
WD261 WD260us	262	263	WD264 WD263us	265	WD266	WD267 WD266us	268	WD269	270
271	272	273	274	275	276	277	278	279	280
281	282	283	284	285	WD286	WD287 WD286us	WD288 WD287us	289	WD290 WD289us
291	292 WD291us	293	294	295

White Dwarf Issues for Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition

• U.K. issue if not specified.
• The 4th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 was introduced in White Dwarf #296, published September 2004.

					296	297	298	299	300
WD301	302	303 302us	WD304	WD305	WD306	WD307	WD308	309	310
311	WD312	313	WD314	315	WD316	317	318	319	320
321	322	323	324	325	326	WD327 WD326us	WD328 WD327us	WD329 WD328us	WD330 WD329us
331 WD330us	332	333 WD332us	334	335	WD336 WD336us	337	338	339	340
341

White Dwarf Issues for Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition

• U.K. issue if not specified.
• The 5th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 was introduced in White Dwarf #342, published July 2008.

		WD342 342 (US)	WD343	WD344	WD345	WD346	WD347	WD348	WD349
WD350 350 (AU)	WD351 351 (AU)	WD352 352 (AU)	WD353 353 (AU)	WD354 354 (AU)	WD355 355 (AU)	WD356 356 (AU)	WD357 357 (AU)	WD358 358 (AU)	WD359 359 (AU)
WD360 360 (AU)	WD361 361 (AU)	WD362

Content of White Dwarf relevant to 40k

In the following page you will find a list White Dwarf issues, all in one page, that contain 40k material, in particular:

• Warhammer 40k articles
• Miniatures Catalog