Warhammer+, the incredible new subscription service, launched yesterday, and the Warhammer Vault is already proving extremely popular. It’s a treasure trove of lore from stacks of out of print publications, including the Gathering Storm saga that saw the Roboute Guilliman return as the galaxy was ripped in two. You can also read about the desperate attempts of the Imperium to hold back a green tide of Orks on Sanctus Reach, as well as legendary battles from the beginning of the Age of Sigmar and the developing lore of Warhammer Underworlds. What’s more, the Warhammer Vault is home to every single issue of White Dwarf from 2020, giving you instant access to tonnes of incredible hobby content.
That’s a lot of amazing features– so where should you start with it all? Lyle Lowery, the esteemed managing editor of White Dwarf, is on hand to recommend a few of his favourite articles.
Lyle: Greetings from the White Dwarf bunker! We crammed so much into the magazine in 2020, I couldn’t choose just a few articles. So I’ve cheated by picking five of my favourite collections of articles instead.
The First Flashpoint
We introduced Flashpoints last year – a system by which we can group sets of articles that share a continuous narrative. It’s also a way for us to make sandboxed rules that sit apart from each other, resulting in varied play environments that stand alone.
The first Warhammer 40,000 Flashpoint, Argovon System, kicked off in issue 457 and concluded in issue 459. Across those three issues, there’s loads of information about the setting, campaign rules to play linked games, Theatre of War rules for the regions detailed in the campaign, Crusade rules and missions, and more.
The Warhammer 40,000 Studio did a great job creating an evolving set of campaign rules and a rich background around which people can theme their armies and games. I hope that hobbyists will have their favourite Flashpoints both in terms of storytelling and rules environments that they can revisit again and again.
Hobby Features Galore
White Dwarf is known for its handy hobby guides, particularly the Paint Splatter article series. These easy-to-follow painting guides break down the paints, brushes, and techniques used for each part of a particular model. There are versions for Classic and Contrast paints, and you can follow the steps to get your units to Battle Ready standard or take it further to get them Parade Ready.
In 2020 alone, we featured Paint Splatters on the orruks of the Ironsunz (in issue 451), Space Wolves (452), Mortis Praetorians of the Ossiarch Bonereapers (453), Goff Orks (454), Squig Hoppers (455), Szarekhan Dynasty Necrons (456), Silver Templars (456), Tome Keepers (458), and Spiderfang Grots (459).
There’s also a Basing Masterclass in issue 450, a couple of standout Middle-earth scenery features in 450 and 455, an Ork kitbashing guide in 454, and even photography tips in 456.
My favourite feature has to be the Basing Masterclass – it details a variety of ways to make your bases, and thus your whole models, really shine.
The Tome Keepers
In one of White Dwarf’s most ambitious projects to date, we took it upon ourselves to create a new Space Marine Chapter. We wanted the Chapter to be part of the official canon, while also being the lens through which we can tell stories and explore the 41st Millennium in White Dwarf. We wanted to demonstrate how we created them to inspire you to make their own Chapters too.
The result was the Tome Keepers, a Chapter of warrior-scholars who are both the chroniclers and students of history. They are clad in armour the colours of hard-won knowledge – the colours of parchment and of history written in ink and blood.
The Tome Keepers were created in a series of three articles starting in issue 453, capped off with an Index Astartes in issue 458 detailing the Chapter’s lore and laying out the rules for playing a Tome Keepers army. That issue also included a painting guide and gallery of Tome Keepers models, including my own burgeoning collection.
Faction Deep Dives
Tome Celestials for Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Indexes for Warhammer 40,000 give you a detailed look at the armies of Warhammer. With plenty of background information about the games’ factions and sub-factions, you can learn about specialised forces that haven’t been thoroughly explored before.
These treatises are generally accompanied by new rules supplements, painting guides, or model galleries – giving you all the information you need to start your own force.
For Warhammer Age of Sigmar, we had Tome Celestial articles on the Ironsunz (451), Vokmortian’s Tithe Legion (453), the Jaws of Mork (455), and the Troggherds of the Realms (457) – definitely a Destruction flavour there, perfect for the Era of the Beast.
As for the 41st Millennium, there are Indexes for the Space Wolves (452), Goff Orks (454), Silver Templars (456), and the Tome Keepers (458).
After the Index on the Tome Keepers, my favourite is the Ironsunz Tome Celestial. Dakkbad Grotkicker is a really fun character, and his brutal kunnin’ really shines in the accompanying short story ‘The Death of Dakkbad Grotkicker’. Jordan Green wrote this tale and did a great job messing with the chronology to keep the twist a mystery to the very end.
Army Inspiration
At White Dwarf, we love the painting and modelling aspect of the hobby, especially unique schemes and kitbashes. Sometimes you see something that makes your jaw drop, or you ask yourself, “why didn’t I think of that?”
Our article series Galactic War Zones and Realms of Chaos feature loads of models that do just that. We’ve covered Urban Battlefields (450), Ork Mekworlds (452), Imperial Hive Worlds (454), and Forge Worlds (457). We also showed off the Realms of Nurgle (451), Khorne (453), and Tzeentch (455).
My favourite part of these is the basing guide we made for the Tzeentch article – it has a variety of different effects such as tainted malachite, shards of chaos glass, and crystal fields.
Thanks, Lyle! That’s a lot of fantastic stuff for you all to enjoy, and we’ve not even mentioned the Battle Reports, Tale of Four Warlords, and other brilliant articles. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg for the Warhammer Vault, as we’ll add more content regularly. Subscribe to Warhammer+ now, and you can explore these issues of White Dwarf at your leisure.