White Dwarf

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White Dwarf
White Dwarf logo
Publisher	Games Workshop
Released	1977-ongoing

White Dwarf is a magazine published by Games Workshop since 1977, primarily serving as a promotional and advertising platform for Games Workshop and Citadel Miniatures products.^[2] In its first decade, the magazine covered a broad range role-playing games (RPGs) and board games focused on fantasy and science-fiction.^[1] The magazine experienced a significant transformation in style and content in the late 1980s and since then focuses exclusively on miniature wargames produced by Games Workshop.^[2]

History

Genesis

Cover of White Dwarf #1, June/July 1977

In 1975, the creators and then-owners of the Games Workshop company, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone created a newsletter called "Owl and Weasel", which ran for twenty-five issues, before evolving into White Dwarf.^[1]

The first issue of White Dwarf was published in June 1977, featuring a 20-page format printed on glossy paper with a two-colour cover; 4000 copies were issued. Originally bi-monthly, it continued the fantasy/science-fiction, RPGs and board game themes from "Owl and Weasel".^[1]

The name "White Dwarf" was chosen for its double-meaning as both a celestial object and a fantasy character, which would cater to members of the public interested in both the fantastic and science-fiction settings promoted by the magazine.^[1]

1980s

In the early 1980s, it included a variety of content for popular games and had a more informal editorial style. White Dwarf primarily focused on the major RPGs of the time: "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons", "RuneQuest", and "Traveller", games published by other companies and distributed in the UK through Games Workshop stores. The magazine also featured satirical comic strips like "Thrud the Barbarian", Dave Langford's book review column "Critical Mass", and a comical advertising series called "The Androx Diaries".^[2] White Dwarf transitioned to a monthly publication with issue #32 in August 1982.^[3]

By 1987, the magazine was selling 50,000 copies per month.^[2]

White Dwarf 100 (UK), Apr. 1988

Warhammer

The first Warhammer article appeared in issue #45 (September 1983), featuring a scenario titled "Thistlewood", following the publication of the 1st Edition of Warhammer Fantasy.^[3]

Featured Content

• At the heart of Games Workshop artistic design was John Blanche, a graphical artist whose style inspired the gothic, or 'grimdark', signature-style of the company. He became the 'Studio Art Director', responsible for the commissioning of artworks by other artists, which would grace the pages of White Dwarf and later the 'sourcebooks' (or 'Codex'). John Blanche had been involved since the very beginning of White Dwarf, having painted the covers of issues #4 and #7, back in the 1970's.^[4]

• 'Eavy Metal, a series of articles showcasing painted miniatures by Games Workshop employees, and explaining painting techniques, became a fixture of the magazine, starting in June 1986 (issue #78). The goal of these articles is to provide inspiration to the reader when painting their own models.^[4]

• The first published Battle Report is dated from from issue #107 (November 1988). Named ‘24 Hours at Carik Mound’, the battle was fought over a period of 24 hours for a TV charity Telethon and featured a narrative story, maps and even pictures of models.^[4]

Shift away from RPGs

As the popularity of RPGs declined in the mid to late 1980s due to the rise of video games and other factors, Games Workshop shifted its focus to its own miniature games, Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, but also other now-defunct games, such as "Chainsaw Warrior", "Talisman" and "Dark Future". The last "Dungeons & Dragons" article appeared in issue #93, with the shift complete by issue #102.^[3]

1990s

White Dwarf 200 (UK), Aug. 1996^[2]

In 1991, White Dwarf began using computer-based editing, enhancing the graphical quality of its content, accompanying Games Workshop's growing commercial success. By 1998, the magazine's layout had switched to a more professional look and made more room in its pages for the painting side of the hobby.^[3]

Monthly battle reports became a regular feature, detailing battles between forces with specific victory conditions. They are one of the most time-consuming aspects of the magazine to create, requiring several days of intense work from a writer, photographer and designer.^[4]

The first worldwide campaign, the 'Ichar IV' campaign, was set up in 1995 (issue #189) from an idea by Jervis Johnson: the readers of White Dwarf would send their results through the mail, the results would be collated and the campaign narrated in the pages of White Dwarf.^[4]

Games Workshop expanded beyond miniatures in the 1990s with the creation of Black Library. It was founded in April 1997 to publish the Inferno! magazine, a bi-monthly digest-sized anthology of short stories, comic strips and features from the Warhammer worlds, which were previously featured in the columns of White Dwarf.^[12]

2000s

White Dwarf 300 (UK), Dec. 2004, illus. by Adrian Smith^[3]

The decade started with the return of Index Astartes. Published in White Dwarf from 2000 to 2005, it was a series of articles dedicated to the lore of the Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines, which paved the way for the development of the Horus Heresy CCG (2003), the Visions of Heresy art and background books (2004-2006), and eventually the Horus Heresy novel series (2007).^[6]

In October 2001, "The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game" was added to Games Workshop's lineup. Lord of the Rings became part of White Dwarf, at the end of the magazine, but upside down and with its own cover.^[6]

In 2003, production of the magazine shifted from being part of the Games Development studio, where game designers and artists also took an active part in the creation of the magazine, to a separate and independent White Dwarf team, with regional teams in various countries taking charge of the production of different sections of the magazine.^[6]

2010s

White Dwarf 400 (UK), Apr. 2013

In October 2012, White Dwarf was redesigned with a new nine-member production team. The logo was changed after 17 years of service. New articles appeared, such as "Contact", "Battleground", "Kit Bash" and "Paint Splatter".^[6]

White Dwarf Daily

White Dwarf Daily, September 18 2013

January, 2014

(circle added by image user source)

On September 22, 2012, Games Workshop on their "What's New Today" blog would release White Dwarf Daily, a digital continuation of the website, evidently by its name, intended to release articles daily.^[47][48]

In just over a week’s time the pages of White Dwarf will change forever. Miniatures will be shown in a new light, battle reports will be reborn and new articles will be read for the first time. Even the classic logo that sat at the head of the magazine for the last 20 years will disappear into the Hall of Legends. On September 22nd 2012, White Dwarf will be reborn; bigger, better and more exciting than ever before.

— Games Workshop Website announcement^[48][47]

As of 2026, the website is unavailable, having been taken down some time priorly. A handful of limited archives remain:

• September 20, 2013

White Dwarf Weekly

The paperback magazine continued as a monthly publication until January 2014, then shifted to a weekly 32-page format starting February 2014, alongside the launch of Warhammer Visions, a monthly sister title focusing on showcasing painted Citadel miniatures.^[8] This period witnessed the release of Age of Sigmar (July 2015), replacing the Warhammer Fantasy setting and game system.^[6]

The weekly format lasted for 131 issues^[9] before returning to a monthly format in September 2016.^[10]

In July 2017 White Dwarf was published for the first time in Japanese.^[6]

From January to May of 2019 White Dwarf did not have an Editor, instead having a different interim editor for each month. In October 2019 wins the Best Special Interest Magazine award at the ACE Newspaper and Magazine Awards.^[6]

Issues Numbers in Details

• White Dwarf stopped numbering its issues on the front page after issue 393, in October 2012^[7].
• The issue of April 2013 featured the '400th' number on its front page, but it was an exception.
• White Dwarf became a weekly magazine from February 2014, to July 2016, lasting 131 issues, numbered 1 to 131.
• White Dwarf returned to being a monthly format in September 2016.^[10]
• Starting from the January 2017 issue, issues were numbered as "Vol 3, N. 5" and so forth, on the internal cover only.^[13]
• As of White Dwarf #450 (January 2020) however, the magazine resumed the historic numbering of its monthly issues, as if it was never dropped, and without counting the warhammer weekly issues.^[11]
• In the restrospective article published in the #500 issue (May 2024), monthly White Dwarf magazines, published between september 2016 and september 2019, previously without an official frontpage number, were re-numbered from 410 to 449.^[6]

2020s

White Dwarf 500, May 2024^[6]

Issue #450 is the first White Dwarf to feature the new Warhammer logo on the cover. It is the first issue to be numbered since Issue #393. There had been debate as to whether the issue was #450 or #581, due to the weekly issues, but the White Dwarf team settled on 450, opting to only count monthly issues.^[6]

During the 2020s COVID pandemic, the White Dwarf staff was sent home. This led to the issues of June and July 2020 not being published, the only time since 1982 that White Dwarf did not publish an issue during a month. For a year and a half (Summer 2020 to Winter 2022), the magazine was made from the team's homes. Some content produced just before the U.K. lockdowns is not featured for nine months after it was created.^[6]

Issue #458 (November 2020), saw the publication of the background of the Tome Keepers Space Marine Chapter, created by the White Dwarf team, in the form of an Index Astartes article. A new series of article "Flashpoint", focusing on a particular warzone during several months, also started with this issue.^[6]

In issue #490 (July 2023), the "Warhammer Bunker" was launched, a series of gaming scenarios and painting challenges related to the hobby, aimed at involving the Warhammer community in a structured and interactive manner.^[6]

Regional Editions

White Dwarf started being published in different countries as far back as 1992, each with its own team, which borrowed heavily from the main studio articles while also creating their own content. However from April 2006 on, the content started to become worldwide again in all editions,^{[Conflicting sources]} until in October 2012 it was all published worldwide as the same issue in English, French, and German.^[4][7] The magazine started being translated in Japanese from issue #420 onward (July 2017).^[6]

Australia

Australian editors Dave Taylor and Justin Keyes with the first copy of White Dwarf Australia^[14]

White Dwarf Australia was published from July 1999^[4][14] until October 2012.^[7]

Prior to July 1999 White Dwarf magazines sold in Australia had been the U.K. edition with slight changes to store pages to reflect regional stores. When publishing began in Australia, Games Workshop OZ was granted flexibility to include more regional content from Australia and New Zealand.^[14] This included articles that created new lore for the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 universes, such as the Laius Rift campaign.^[15]

Australian White Dwarf started with its numbering out of sync with the U.K. edition, though in 2001 two seperate editions (253 and 254) were published in the same month, and afterwards the numbering was in sync with the U.K. edition. Games Workshop Australia would continue to publish their own version of White Dwarf until October 2012,^[7] though by April 2006 the content had become the same as what was published in the U.K. edition.^[4]

On the Lexicanum when citing an issue of White Dwarf that features Australian content, but was published before issue 235, write the citation as below, and then leave a Trivia note on the UK issue's page.

[[White Dwarf xxx (UK)|White Dwarf xxx (AU)]]

France

Main Article: White Dwarf
White Dwarf France was published from December 1992^[4] until October 2012.^[7]

Germany

Main Article: White Dwarf
White Dwarf Germany was published from December 1994^[4] until October 2012.^[7]

United States

White Dwarf U.S. was published from December 1992^[4] until October 2012.^[7]

The US magazine covered Warhammer (Age of Sigmar), Warhammer 40,000 (40k), and Lord of the Rings. It also had articles on the hobby aspect of the games (modelling, painting, etc.). While the U.S. version had many articles in common with the U.K. edition, it often had U.S.-only sections by the U.S. White Dwarf and web teams. The cover art was sometimes different from the U.K. edition. At some point between July 1993 and November 1999 the U.S. issues of White Dwarf had their issue number fall one behind the U.K.^[19][41]

Other Editions

• White Dwarf Spain was published from December 1994^[4] until October 2012^[7]
• White Dwarf Italy was published from September 1997^[4] until October 2012^[7]
• White Dwarf Canada was published from September 2006^[4] until October 2012^[7]
• White Dwarf Northern Europe was published from - May 2007^[4] until October 2012^[7]

Regular Columns

There are many standard feature articles for Warhammer 40,000 including, but not limited to,:

• "Illuminations", a column by John Blanche, presenting the artworks of various artists
• "'Eavy Metal", a painted miniatures showcase by the Games Workshop' studio painting team and various guests
• "Standard Bearer", a column by Jervis Johnson
• "Chapter Approved": These White Dwarf articles introduced new rules and units for play. They are collected into books called Chapter Approved.
• "Index Astartes": These White Dwarf articles describe the founding of the Space Marines. They are collected into books called Index Astartes.
  • "Index Xenos": These White Dwarf articles offer background information on different non-human species.
  • "Index Hereticus"
  • "Index Imperialis"
• "Paint Splatter"
• "Rules of Engagement"
• "A Tale of Four Warlords": Also called A Tale of Four Gamers^[17] or A Tale of 40k Gamers^[16] amongst other variations.
• "Warhammer Bunker": Introduced in 2023, the Warhammer Bunker provides various different articles aimed at promoting community participation in the hobby.

List of Editors

United Kingdom/Global

Editor	No	Issues	Period	No. of issues
Ian Livingstone[20]	1st	1-74	(6/1977[20] - 2/1986)	74
Ian Marsh[21]	2nd	75-77	(3/1986[21] - 5/1986)	3
Paul Cockburn[22]	3rd	78-83	(6/1986[22] - 11/1986)	6
Mike Brunton[23]	4th	84-93	(12/1986[23] - 9/1987)	10
Sean Masterson[24]	5th	94-107	(10/1987[24] - 11/1988)	14
Uncredited[25]	n/a	108	(12/1988)[25]	1
Phil Gallagher[26]	6th	109-116	(1/1989[26] - 8/1989)	7
Simon Forrest[27]	7th	117-139	(9/1989[27] - 7/1991)	22
Robin Dews[28]	8th	140-189	(8/1991[28] - 9/1995)	49
Jake Thornton[29]	9th	190-214	(10/1995[29] - 10/1997)	24
Paul Sawyer[30]	10th	215-306	(12/1997[30] - 6/2005)	86
Guy Haley[31]	11th	307-330	(7/2005[31] - 9/2007)	23
Mark Latham[32]	12th	331-365	(7/2007[32] - 5/2010)	34
Andrew Kenrick[33]	13th	366-393	(6/2010[33] - 9/2012)	28
Jes Bickham[34]	14th	394 (10/2012)[34] – September 2016
Matt Keefe[35]	15th	October 2016[35] – January 2019		25
From February to May 2019, members of the team were interim editors, until a new one was found, following the departure of Matt Keefe
Jervis Johnson[36]	16th	February 2019[36]		1
Phil Kelly[37]	17th	March 2019[37]		1
Tony Cottrell[38]	18th	April 2019[38]		1
Matthew Hutson[39]	19th	May 2019[39]		1
Lyle Lowery[40]	20th	June 2019[40] – present

Australia

Editor	First Known Issue	Period
Dave Taylor[42]	235	July 1999 - Feburary 2002
Grant Peacey[46]	267	March 2002 - 2003
Justin Keyes[43]	278	2003- Feburary 2006
Bryan Cook[44]	315	March 2006-
Matt Weaver[45]	348	2008

United States

Editor	First Known Issue	Period
Robin Dews[45]	163	1993-
Jake Thornton	193	1996-
William Stilwell[41]	238	1999-

White Dwarf covers through the Ages

The following selected covers illustrate the graphical evolution of White Dwarf over time. Each cover presented here coincides with the release of a new edition of Warhammer 40,000.

• 

  White Dwarf 93 (UK),
  Rogue trader

• 

  White Dwarf 166 (UK),
  2nd Edition

• 

  White Dwarf 226 (UK),
  3rd Edition

• 

  White Dwarf 297 (UK),
  4th Edition

• 

  White Dwarf 343 (UK),
  5th Edition

• 

  White Dwarf 394 (UK),
  6th Edition

• 

  White Dwarf 16 (2014),
  7th Edition

• 

  White Dwarf June 2017,
  8th Edition

• 

  White Dwarf 456,
  9th Edition

• 

  White Dwarf 490,
  10th Edition

White Dwarf Index

• This index uses the UK numbering
• Note that there may be differences in content and regarding page numbers between issues published in different countries.

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

Trivia

Conflicting sources

• White Dwarf 330's article on the history of White Dwarf stated that in April 2006 all regional editions contained the same articles, and that region specific articles were no longer included.^[4] However the December 2006 issue of the Australian edition contained two articles not contained in other editions.^[18a][18b]

Sources

• 1: White Dwarf 90 (UK), pgs. 16-17
• 2: White Dwarf 200 (UK), pgs. 96-99
• 3: White Dwarf 300 (UK), pgs. 16-21
• 4: White Dwarf 330 (UK), pgs. 60-65
• 5: White Dwarf May 2017
• 6: White Dwarf 500 — A 500-Dwarf Legacy, pgs. 118-129
• 7: White Dwarf October 2012
• 8: White Dwarf 1 (2014)
• 9: White Dwarf 131 (2016)
• 10: White Dwarf September 2016
• 11: White Dwarf 450
• 12: Inferno!
• 13: White Dwarf January 2017
• 14: White Dwarf 235 (AU) — Historic White Dwarf - White Dwarf Australia, pg. 2
• 15: White Dwarf 310 (AU) — Death Lays Dormant, pg. 10
• 16: White Dwarf 235 (AU)
• 17: White Dwarf 348 (UK)
• 18: White Dwarf 324 (AU):
  • 18a — 'Tandaris Outbreak: Part 1, pg. 83
  • 18b — Australian Army Showcase: Space Orks, pg. 126
• 19: White Dwarf 163 (US)
• 20: White Dwarf 1 (UK)
• 21: White Dwarf 75 (UK)
• 22: White Dwarf 78 (UK)
• 23: White Dwarf 84 (UK)
• 24: White Dwarf 94 (UK)
• 25: White Dwarf 108 (UK)
• 26: White Dwarf 109 (UK)
• 27: White Dwarf 117 (UK)
• 28: White Dwarf 140 (UK)
• 29: White Dwarf 190 (UK)
• 30: White Dwarf 215 (UK)
• 31: White Dwarf 307 (UK)
• 32: White Dwarf 331 (UK)
• 33: White Dwarf 366 (UK)
• 34: White Dwarf 394 (UK)
• 35: White Dwarf October 2016
• 36: White Dwarf February 2019
• 37: White Dwarf March 2019
• 38: White Dwarf April 2019
• 39: White Dwarf May 2019
• 40: White Dwarf June 2019
• 41: White Dwarf 238 (US) - Editorial, pg. 3
• 42: White Dwarf 235 (AU) - White Dwarf Australia, pg. 2
• 43: White Dwarf 278 (AU) - Editorial, pg. 1
• 44: White Dwarf 319 (AU) - Editorial, pg. 1
• 44: White Dwarf 348 (AU) - Editorial, pg. 1
• 45: White Dwarf 163 (US) - Contents, pg. 1
• 46: White Dwarf 273 (AU) - Editorial, pg. 1
• 47: Bell of Lost Souls - New White Dwarf Direction (Archived)
• 48: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/wnt/blog.jsp?pid=4200016 Games Workshop What's New Today Blog (dead-link no archive available)