For my birthday in July, my wife bought me a subscription to White Dwarf. I was moderately excited since I have always bought most of the issues. What is funny, is that I have just now received my first issue at the very end of October. Talk about a press delay.
I know for some, many feel that White Dwarf a glorified sales catalogue, but I still enjoy it each month for the most part. However, we all know there are better issues than others. Since I will now be getting every issue that comes along I thought I would develop a quantitative approach to help other hobbyists with the decision of whether they should or should not buy the White Dwarf in question. Here is how I will rate it:
Sales Pimping Minimal - WD is here to sell goods, but I don't want to feel like it.
Battle Report - I am looking for a Battle Report that is fun to read, with solid armies, and good tactica. I want good pictures, maps, and enough detail that I can follow the battle.
Painting - I want a good painting write up teaching us how Heavy Metal or others paint their minis. This needs to be applicable and good in content.
New Materials - I will rate the month's newly released materials here that are featured in the mag.
Content - I want the magazine to focus on the core systems, or things which will sell. I am not looking for 50 pages dedicated to one topic.
Modeling - Show us some unique models. Kitbashing, green stuff or conversions.
Tactica - Teach us what we can do with the armies. Give us a fresh outlook or a new way to play.
Scenery/Terrain - Show us how you build all that fantastic terrain. Give us some insight!
Excitement - Give us something that interests me and helps keep me in the game and wanting to play. Something new or refreshing.
Enjoyability - Did I like reading it?
I will rate each category on a scale of 0 to 1. This will give an overall score out of 10, which will tell you whether you should check it out or avoid the issue. I will start with the Space Wolf issue tomorrow.