White Dwarf is a name pretty much everybody in the wargaming world knows, and most of us have at least a couple of issues stashed away somewhere. Over the years my ‘couple of issues’ has grown to almost two hundred, however! Read on and (as promised) I’ll take a quick look through the pile…
Starting young
It begins for me with issue 232 (April ’99), when I was just nine years old.
The 40k elements of this issue were Chaos-heavy, featuring two army showcases, the ’new’ Chaos Rhino (I was recently able to get one on sprue, in the box!), and the ’Eavy Metal team painting up a Chaos Lord. On the Fantasy side we saw lots of Lizardmen – with new models, an army-collecting guide, terrain tutorials, and my first exposure to an article written by Mike Walker (how I miss those!). Oh, and it was also the issue that saw the release of Battlefleet Gothic!
What followed was more than a decade where I didn’t miss a single issue. And I still have them all! Minus one or two that have been eaten by warp daemons…
When I came back to the hobby following an extended break I decided that I wanted to flesh out my old collection a little. I’d always been a little nostalgic for 2nd Edition, even though I didn’t really see it. I’d previously obtained a couple of older issues, plus things like Codex Imperialis – this quickly led to some extended eBaying sessions (and a very generous donation from the fella who runs TheRaceForTerra!), bulking my ~140 issue collection up to around 200!
As you can see there’s a few of them, and that’s not quite the whole collection! And stupidly I put them in boxes that are now too heavy to move without causing a hernia! My next job is to find more suitable storage – I’m considering something like these, unless anybody knows of something better?
Getting older
As the collection grew I started to think I might as well go all in. Why settle for ‘a ridiculous amount of WD’ when you can aim for ‘all the WD’?! It’s a rather foolish aim, but I’m hoping to slowly bid, buy and beg my way up to a complete collection. Hopefully without going bankrupt in the process!
Why would I do this, you ask? Because I’m an idiot, that’s why!
I’ve started up a subscription again, but my most recent (and exciting) addition comes in the form of a magazine printed more than a decade before I was born! This here is a copy of White Dwarf issue no. 2. It was first printed in September ’77, though mine is from the first reprint in November ’78.
It isn’t a first printing. It’s not in perfect condition. There’s something scribbled on the front cover. And I don’t care! This is a huge jump back in time for my collection, and my wallet is already crying in anticipation for what may come next – with issues under #100 often selling for more than £100 this section could take a while to build!
Lofty goals
So, what does come next? Well, to start with I’ve begun cataloguing the collection. This is a complete list of every White Dwarf issue I own, plus a few extra bits and pieces that need tidying up still. Mobile users may find the link better for viewing, but I’ve tried to embed it too.
Link for smaller screens!
From here I can obviously track things as I fill out the collection. I’ve also decided to include all the rulebooks, codices and other publications (including little booklets) that I have kicking around – because that definitely couldn’t lead to any bad purchasing decisions!
What will I do with them? Well, other than read them I don’t really know. There’s already wikis listing all the articles, and for obvious reasons it’s not like I could scan them. Maybe I could just post bits of Mike Walker articles (seriously, where did he go?), amusing photos from old battle reports, or opinion pieces on why Fat Bloke was editor for the best White Dwarf era based purely on Flash Gordon references. Feel free to give suggestions!
Oh, and if you have any issues I’m missing that you’re looking to offload, drop me a line! Odds are I won’t have any money, but you never know! 😁
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