New White Dwarf & Baby Dragons; Ice Magic; New Hobby Centres

The first White Dwarf issue of 2010 is out today. I spent this morning reading it (it's a hard job sometimes) and it's a fine start to another year of hobby goodness. There's a detailed look at the new Tyranids and their first battle report, a Tyranid Army Workshop that looks at everything from assembly and painting to dynamic posing and basing, 13 Skaven-themed scenarios, a tactica for The Lord of The Rings, and a thoughtful Standard Bearer where Jervis explains how to lose gracefully. There's also an article about using the background and design of the Legion of the Damned, an 'Eavy Metal Masterclass featuring the new Legion of the Damned, and a Bastions Modelling workshop.

Of course if you were a subscriber you wouldn't need me to tell you all this: you'd already have your copy.

Here's a look at a couple of pages from this month's White Dwarf:

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  In the Tyranids Designers Notes the Dwarfers catch up with Robin Cruddace about writing the new Codex: Tyranids and take an in-depth look at the massive Trygon.

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  Outpost XIII is at the centre of this month's battle report, with the stalwart Salamanders fighting desperately to repel a relentless Tyranid assault. Dave Andrews built this impressive bastion - this month's Modelling Workshop shows it off in more detail.

Also out today is the new Baby Dragons Bitz Pack. These are great models in their own right, but no doubt adventurous types will put them to use as great objective markers or on the bases of your miniatures.

I've added the new White Dwarf and Baby Dragons below to save you searching the site for them, and I've also added the Round Base set in case you're after something to base the Dragons on.

Alessio Cavatore has taken time out from his role as Studio Rules Guru, and embraced the Christmas spirit to write Winter War: Winter Magic, which contains the Lore of Winter as well as some 'interesting' winter-themed modifiers...

Since the Baby Dragons arrived in the building at the start of the week, they've proved a popular alternative to the other things on our paint stations:

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  Bek Hawkby painted up this set of Baby Dragons in a break from painting her Imperial Guard army.

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  Ed and I used the Baby Dragons to create objective markers and counters. I plan on using the one bottom-left as a Focus Familiar for my Dark Elf Sorceress.

Also this week we've opened two new Hobby Centres: one in Avignon in the South of France managed by David Van Gaver; and one in Ohmiya, Japan, managed by Yuta Ohtomo. David is currently painting a Space Wolves army but has also converted a massive Brass Scorpion using a Defiler and a Soulgrinder - if you're in the area then pop by and see him, rumour has it he's got special events planned to celebrate the store's opening.