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''White Dwarf'' is a Magazine published by British Game s manufacturer Games Workshop . Initially dedicated to a variety of Role-playing Game s, the magazine is now dedicated exclusively to the Miniature Wargame s produced by Games Workshop, mainly the core systems of '' Warhammer Fantasy Battle '', '' Warhammer 40,000 '' and '' The Lord Of The Rings Strategy Battle Game ''. HISTORY Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone initially produced a magazine called "''Owl and Weasel''" which ran for approximately twenty-five issues before it evolved into "''White Dwarf''". First published in 1977 and focused on Wargaming and role-playing, it received a strong boost when the first editions of the RPG '' Dungeons & Dragons '', published in the UK by Games Workshop, referred to ''White Dwarf'' on its back page. This allowed people who had bought this game to order the magazine directly from Games Workshop, establishing its circulation. The magazine was hugely influential in the 1980s when it helped to popularise RPGs, including those American RPGs for which Games Workshop had the UK licence. In addition to this a generation of writers passed through its offices and onto other RPG projects in the next decade, such as Phil Masters and Marcus L. Rowland . The magazine changed over the years, making a move from being a general magazine on all aspects of roleplaying, tabletop and board games to one that focussed almost exclusively on Games Workshop's own products and publications - the changeover being obvious by issue 100. In this respect it took over some of the aspects of the Citadel Journal, an intermittent publication that supported the Warhammer Fantasy Battle game. The magazine has always been a means for GW to publish new rules and ideas for their games as well as a means to showcase developments. It often includes articles on rules updates, scenarios, campaigns, hobby news, photos of recently released miniatures and tips on building terrain and constructing or converting miniatures. Today the magazine focuses exclusively on miniature wargames and thoroughly covers the models, Miniatures and hobby stuff created by Games Workshop and ''White Dwarf'' has carried the tagline "Games Workshop's monthly gaming supplement & Citadel miniatures catalogue" for a long period. Grombrindal the White Dwarf is also a special character for the Dwarf Army , whose rules are published only in certain issues of ''White Dwarf'' (being revamped for the most recent edition of the rules). It is never stated who exactly the White Dwarf is, but it is implied that he is the spirit of '''Snorri Whitebeard''', the last king of the Dwarfs to receive respect from an Elf. The image of the White Dwarf has graced the covers of many issues of the magazine, and is regularly featured in the interior artwork as well. The image was also used on the Character Sheet for the Dwarf character in '' Hero Quest ''. ''WHITE DWARF'' TODAY Recently, ''White Dwarf'' published its 300th issue in the United Kingdom and North America. Each issue contained many special "freebies" as well as articles on the history of the magazine and the founding of Games Workshop. The magazines content is divided between the three core games (''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'', ''Warhammer 40,000'' and ''The Lord of the Rings SBG''), roughly equal amounts for the two ''Warhammers'', with increasing amounts of space given over to the ''Lord of the Rings SBG''. Recent issues (April and May 2006) have seen a reduction in page count and a decrease in the volume of written content in the magazine. Older issues of the magazine (in the 80s) included features such as the satirical comic strip '' Thrud The Barbarian '' and Dave Langford's "Critical Mass" book review column, as well as the more rough and informal editorial style. The monthly battle reports have arguably been ''White Dwarf's'' most popular feature for many years, as acknowledged during various White Dwarf editorials. Battle reports used to be blow-by-blow accounts of a battle between two or more forces, usually with their own specific victory conditions. The reports followed the gamers through their army selection, tactics and deployment, through the battle to their respective conclusions. Recently the format has changed to an extremely generalised sweep of the whole process. Now that the extremely popular '' Battle Games In Middle Earth '' magazine has finished its series, two members of its team (Mark Latham and Glenn More) have joined the ''White Dwarf'' team. As articles in ''Battle Games in Middle Earth'' are considered to be very good quality, it is hoped that ''White Dwarf's'' future articles will be improved, as Steve Hammatt (who was at the time the Forum Moderator for the former Games Workshop Forum ) said: "Hopefully this will mean good things for future LOTR content in White Dwarf." {Link without Title} . Future developments are awaited with interest. On the the 26th of May 2007 ''White Dwarf'' celebrated it's 30th birthday with celebrations in Game workshop's around the world. A limited edition model was produced and was only available on the 26th and 27th of May. {Link without Title} SPINOFFS There is also a biweekly online supplemental free e-zine ''Black Gobbo'' that is produced by Games Workshop's US studio. It includes two regular columns, "Rules of Engagement" and "Ask the Scenery Guy," to help answer gamers' questions. Similar to its printed counterpart, it is devoted to the games and hobbies created by GW. Just like its printed counterpart, ''Black Gobbo'' also has its own character, published on the web with its own article, rules, and modelling tips. The name is a pun. Gobbo stands for Goblin, which is hated by the Dwarfs. Dwarfs are, likewise, hated by Goblins. Black is also the opposite of white, hence ''Black Gobbo'' is the exact opposite of ''White Dwarf''; one being free, electronic, short, weekly, black and a Goblin while the other one cost something, printed, long(comparatively), monthly, white, and a Dwarf. In the late 1980s, mail-order subscriber copies of ''White Dwarf'' also received a small companion magazine ''Black Sun'', written, illustrated and produced by Tim Pollard (with occasional contributions from other GW authors such as Andy Chambers ). It contained very informal 'inside' information from the Citadel Mail Order Department, news, game reviews, articles and competitions as well as a short lived cartoon serial. Some new rules for then current GW products also debuted in 'Black Sun'. UK ''WHITE DWARF'' EDITORS
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