White Dwarf 385 & WarGames Illustrated 291

January's periodicals are finally in, with White Dwarf delaying this post by not being released until jan 7th due to the festive season, its not a decision I'm happy with and wargames illustrated managed to turn up before christmas, but still, does it contain anything good this month...

This months major release is the new Vampire Counts warhammer armies book and the models that accompany it, and inevitably this dominates the magazine.  There are several extracts from the new book, including background and the rules for the big new plastic kit, it's not bad, but strikes me as being very lazy, and I'm very disappointed that there's no proper design notes, having read the articles I have no real idea about any changes to the army compared to the previous edition.  It's not all bad, the eavy metal showcase had some intrestingly painted models and there is also a new scenario and an updated scroll of binding for storm of magic.  We also get part one of a new civil war warhammer expansion, which looks interesting and a couple of painting guides.  40k gets one article which is a Necron tactica, not really much use to me as I don't play with or against Necrons.  And finally standard bearer and the citadel hall of fame provide interesting articles as usual.  Not the best issuse.

The theme of this months wargames illustrated is the early battles of the american revolution.  It's not a period I'm likely to game, but there were a couple of interesting articles, a useful guide to painting the uniforms of the period and I really liked the period maps of New England that were featured.  The other standout articles for me were on the Mexican generals of the American-Mexico war and the first Anglo-Sikh war.  Whilst again its something I'm not likely to use the mag also features an article on using Kelly's heroes in games.  Not as bad as White Dwarf, but not the best issuse here either, maybe its the time of year.