Robin Dews on White Dwarf
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Robin Dews chatted with me about his time working on White Dwarf, picking out 12 memorable issues that for him hold a lot of professional and personal value. Some really interesting insights into the direction he wanted to take the magazine, including battle reports and cover illustrations.
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Robin Dews White Dwarf is best White Dwarf. I occasionally find my son sneaking into my collection for a read, the appeal and charm of that era is timeless.
What an engaging, enthusiastic and wonderfully entertaining man. Great interview! And hats off to the great work Robin did that helped to inspire me!
I know it says 35minutes, but bloody hell Mr Dews goes at apace! Over 1 hour of content condensed down! , keep up listeners Robin about to begin!
I have every single one of these issues. I never realized how big a role Robin had in my childhood. I must have spent hours looking at the page at 18:37 showing Mike McVey's wood elf army. Particularly his wardancer chieftain with a frost blade on the hawk. It was the wardancer champion model from Skarloc's wood elf archers regiments of renowned box, which I had, and quickly set about repainting to approximate what I saw here. Thanks Robin!!
Totally agree, that WE army and Wayne Englands dwarf army and then the two allies in the battle report not long after was just amazing.
Awesome video. "Everyone's got PVA glue, they can steal it from school if they can't get it from Games Workshop"😂 Big thanks to Mr. Dews and everyone else involved!!
I first met Robin at the old HQ in Lenton, Nottingham, in '98... an absolutely amazing tour of the the facilities and what was going on. He was magnanimous and welcoming. A transformative time for Games Workshop and White Dwarf in which I felt oh so very grateful for the snippet of time I was there. What a wonderous hobby we have and it's even more wonderful in part thanks to Robin Dews!
I loved the Robin era of White Dwarf. The first issues I read (borrowed from a friend's brother) were from his time. First issue I ever bought myself with pocket money was his era. I loved the cool battle reports and the cornflake box scenery guides. Those were the days.
I always loved the humour in the narrative reports of this era. They weren't just compelling and entertaining, they were funny. That's the skill of a good editor, to add those extra elements in. For the Gathering Storm the thing I'll always remember is the sheer effort put into getting Adrian Wood to learn how to estimate ranges correctly for a game he had never played, only for all his war machines to keep blowing up anyway! Perfect Warhammer.
Getting into the game in the late 80's, it truly was a golden time to be a fan for that 88-98 era. I can only imagine how much fun it must have been to have worked there.
I love all of these interviews so much
I absolutely adored the battle reports he started. They where so much cooler than the ones we get today
Such a great video! Robin you're a very natural story teller!
This is my era of White Dwarf and GW. I loved that magazine and bought most issues from my local swedish magazine shop, back as a mid teen.
Happy memories!
Aside from the nostalgia (I actually built that building from a cereal box, it really did work), what a fascinating insight, not just into the subject matter but into Robin himself.
I'm really grateful for this series of interviews - I'd never have thought we'd get these such personal glimpses into the experience of the people who made our hobby, but this one really tops the lot so far.
It's very interesting to hear Robin managed a youth centre before joining GW, because there's a word that Robin doesn't use here at all that strikes me as very relevant. He speaks of 'organisation' and 'management', but the word 'leadership', never crosses his lips. It first struck me reading Robin's initial comment on the interview with Adi Wood a few weeks back - clearly having different memories of how battle reports were handled, in terms of authenticity, but while drawing the line of difference also speaking with humility and validating Adi's point of view as well - still leading, 30 years later. One could watch hours and hours of TED talks without gaining as good an insight as in reading those 50 or so words, definitely an example I'll strive to live up to in my own attempt to lead a team well. Watching this whole thing with that in my mind, it strikes me it's full of leadership - a golden age of White Dwarf certainly, because it was headed by a man able to bring his team along for the ride to make it what it was.
At the same time Robin led many of us into this rich and wonderful hobby, and I suspect many, like me, focussed on other more prominent names and didn't realise he was at the centre of it.
Hi Adam, thank you for your thoughtful and insightful comment. Leadership is such a tricky and nebulous concept to define, despite the attempts of many wise people and organisations to do exactly that. For me, both at WD and as Studio Manager, I always saw my role at GW as one of an enabler or facilitator, attempting to create the conditions within which some extraordinarily talented and creative people could do their best possible work (...whilst doing my best to ensure that they remained on time and to budget!). Thanks again for commenting - Robin
@@robindews4108 thank you for taking the time to reply.
Apologies, I think my comment was perhaps a little clumsy - I had a notion I wished to communicate, but perhaps not the words to phrase it appropriately. Leadership is indeed a nebulous and hugely varied concept with many different schools. I would argue that enabling and facilitating are strong elements of some very constructive forms. One thing I do know is that it's not for us to judge leadership in ourselves - that should be left to others :)
On another note, Blood Bowl is my all time favourite game and I am over the moon to hear that even in the GW studio the team names in reality were irreverant/silly. The bright pink-outfittted Chaos Warriors and beastmen of my treasured old team Slaanesh Omelette feel they are in good company.
Adam
This was definitely my golden age for WD. The blood bowl tactics articles in both WD and the journal were excellent and I’m glad they also released them in the blood bowl compendiums. Most of them still hold up today.
Fantastic video, thank you so much for making these! The battle report in issue 157 (Azhag the Slaughter vs The Empire) was what hooked me into the hobby and got me collecting Empire all those years. Exactly as Robin said, "I want that!". What a golden era it was.
That was awesome. I still have all my 90's WD's and still go back to them for reference. Like Robin, I discovered Squad Leader as a kid. Played the Red Box D&D at age 14 and now have 7 warhammer armies based around 3rd Ed, as well as 5 40K armies based for 2nd Ed. After 40 years, I'm still as interested in my hobby as I've ever been. 😊
What a wonderfully energetic presentation. Unfortunately I didn't know about Warhammer or White Dwarf yet when Robin Dews was running the magazine. Despite it being a marketing tool those magazines very much have a feel of 'for gamers, by gamers'.
I started WHFB in 1997, so my memories of WD are from the Paul Sawyer era. It was a golden age, 5th ed Fantasy is my favourite edition of the game, and i still play it today.
As Robin started putting the Squad Leader boards together and spoke about how they could go together in multiple ways, I immediately thought of his Epic 40k boards and, seconds later, the man himself mentions them. I loved them and always use that article as a template when I build stuff.
I loved those old school battle reports. I was really into Epic Space Marine at the time.
This channel is an absolute treasure trove.
Absolutely delightful!
Narrative battle-reports are far more entertaining than reading dice-logs!
Robin, such a talent. I am so glad he is still out there doing great things like talking miniatures.
I must've read gathering of might 20 times as a kid, always went back to it. The writing in white dwarf, and especially the battle reports, managed to have a great under current of self depricating humour that I always loved.
I don't know how you get all these legends to talk with you, but thank Sigmar you do.
I have loved every episode of this show, but this one hit different. I was not familiar with Mr Dews, but I can safely safe had it not been for the WDs that he edited (which I poured over incessantly), I would not be sitting in my room converting & painting miniatures 35 years later. Thank you
Thanks for making this series ⚒️
I remember talking to that fellow at Games Day in 1991 very nice chap
Mr Dews oversaw the Tale of 4 Gamers series which was peak WD for me (with the battle reports). What an influence him and the team had on me in my younger days.
I love that those Marines were inspired by the GW staff! Robin makes a very formidable Astartes!❤😂
Great interview and stroll by memory lane from Robin. To be a full nerd though I should point out there was a Warhammer 40,000 battle report in 141 (Eldar vs Blood Angels), my first issue so it is seared into my memory!
And straight off, he pulls out the red box D&D. Same for me, my great start
What a great interview, awesome bloke.
Brilliant. Lucky enough to meet Robin once - interviewing to work on Warhammer Online, I didn't get the job - and he was an absolute gentleman.
I’d love to purchase a copy of Talking Minatures. What a wonderful chap to listen to. 90’s white dwarf was a great read to the then 11 year old me. I tried to recreate so many of the Warhammer scenarios with my friends. We still play today and we are all 40+. It’s amazing how a niche hobby can have a lifelong lasting impact.
Warlord Games sells it, just order a copy.
This is a really good format, bringing someone and having them explain the stuff that influenced them
Got a bit excited when i saw the advert for 'Orks Nest' Fond memories of going there on family trips to London! - Holy hell, this video has been a roller coaster of emotions....every edition of WD he showed I could remember fondly! I wish i'd kept them all now!
Incredible interview! Issue 185 was my first one and that terrain article most definitely inspired me considering we didn't have much money as a lad :)
Awesome!
Great interview
That was amazing. I start getting White Dwarf from issue 109 and I think I bought most if not all of the ones covered in this video. Keep up the good work.
I remember those polystyrene Epic boards. I actually went to a DIY shop to by the narrow roller Robin used to make the roads!
Fantastic, interview, thoroughly engaging and great to hear the stories from people there back in the day when i was growing up.
Honestly Tom you are doing a fantastic service to the community and the legacy of these great people
Ahh. Squad Leader! To my knowledge this was the first board wargame that had counters that represented individual people (leaders), vehicles and weapons. Haven’t played it in decades but I’ve still got my original copy 🙂.
Really enjoyed the interview. White dwarf brought me so much joy. Thank you
The Battle For Blood Keep I think was right at the tail end of 3rd edition. Basically the Empire range had just been launched and 4th edition came out very shortly after. Because if my memory serves correctly there was a dwarf wizard in the battle and dwarf wizards went in 4th edition - to be replaced by runesmiths.
Thank you for these videos. They are real time travelling machines.
Great interview and amazing to hear Robin's stories!
Wonderful, a great thanks from France !
Issue 140! My first ever issue.
I recall showing my dad a copy of White Dwarf when I was around 12 and he said "this is just an advert." He was right. Listen to the number of times Robin uses the word "product" in the first 5 minutes of this.
Apologies to Robin but the golden age of White Dwarf was before his tenure. It went downhill from issue 125 or so and continued to get steadily worse. All the individuality was purged. I still have all the issues but only the early ones are worth revisiting.
Hi Orkwort, I really respect your opinion and we all have our own take on the past. When I use the word 'product' it is only intended as a shorthand for 'games and miniatures', nothing more and certainly nothing less. The point I was trying to make was that Games Workshop/Citadel was always a commercial company in that it made things (or sometimes bought them from other manufacturers) and then sold them at a profit. Those profits would be used to pay all of the costs associated with 'making and selling' and hopefully leave some over that could be invested into new 'games and miniatures' and and of course pay the owners - Steve, Ian and Bryan in the early days and now of course anyone who chooses to buy GW shares. When Steve and Ian first launched Owl and Weasel and then later White Dwarf its job was to promote and market their 'games and miniatures' to people who might be interested in buying them. During my tenure, I always saw WD as part of the contract between the company and its customers. What I was trying to say each month was; "If you are interested in fantasy games and miniatures, then White Dwarf might interest you. If you are not, then it will be largely incomprehensible...but with some cool artwork and photos..." Thanks for posting and I am glad you still have your issues. Best regards - Robin
@@robindews4108 Thank you for your gracious reply Robin. I am quite cynical about Games Workshop generally but I did enjoy listening to you speak about your time at White Dwarf and apologise if I was too harsh in my criticism. I do understand it is a commercial company and these interviews have been very insightful into some of the pressures the company came under as it grew.
Personally I just miss the more shambolic, less formulaic earlier White Dwarf with for example Aly Morrison talking about painting miniatures with technical drawing pens and nail varnish. As it turned into "The Games Workshop Hobby" that sort of thing seemed to become unthinkable. As a child it was something of an education in capitalism.
Awesome, these were my prime WDs! Love how enthused Robin remains about his time. 🤩
Robin did a great job with White Dwarf. I was entering the games when he was in charge of them. They were always an exciting read, unlike their modern counterparts.
BTW Robin is mistaken that the Space Wolves vs Ork was the first battle report for 40k. The first was a Rogue Trader era Blood Angels vs Eldar between Andy and Jervis and it preceded the Epic one.
So great to hear Robins memories. Inbuilt that house as a kid!
Amazing, insightful work as always. Always feel incredibly blessed to see a new video in the feed. Keep up the awesome work!
Brilliant video, Robins White Dwarfs are the era I was hugely in to GW and WD was a big factor in that. The excitement of the new magazine. Pretty sure I still have a lot of these at my parents
Robin you are such a good interviewee/presenter. Tom you're doing a great job at choosing the graphics to throw up alongside the footage! Great job guys. Really enjoyed this one!
26:04 the experiencing of pausing -> seeing if WD177 is among the one haul I've got -> it is -> flip along with Robin. Tom these videos are the shit
Thankyou Robin and thankyou filmdeg. Keep it up.
i remember gathering of might, absolutely loved that!.. was always bit sad the good guys got hammered though
great video. loving hearing about the "inner workings" i thought robins first battle report was 157 in charge of the empire army?
When Robin admitted to enjoying Dark Future in this video, I was actually painting, at that very moment, a model to use in Dark Future (Porsche 959 with 40mm grenade launcher and a turret with a chain gun). Spooky.
13:36 - I wonder if the person asking how long it takes to make a WD was actually trying to ask something like how far in advance are they produced? Iirc, in the 00s I heard it said that they were written and edited something like three months in advance. Don’t know how true that was though, or even if it is true, if it was the case in the 90s and 80s too, but I can imagine that regardless it being something said by punters and passed on by word of mouth.
Also, wouldn’t it still be a full month, not 21 days? I get what he’s saying about needing time for printing and distribution, but I can’t imagine the WD staff just sat around twiddling their thumbs for a week while that was being done; surely as soon as an issue was sent off to the printer the staff would start working on the next issue?
I mean, it could three months to make one, as long as the process had you working on 3 different issues at a time, right?
I really hope they make another book with a showcase of armies from the 80's and 90's. Heroes for Wargames style in terms of pictures.
awesome as always
I should really be heading to bed but I see a new filmdeg I watch
0:49 that's the one I used! It was so good....
28:07 The Big One.....!
I don't quite agree on the house mag issue... I'm old enough to remember and I have the mags to prove it when White Dwarf did articles on D&D, Traveller, Runequest etc.
Yes, GW did sell them back then, but the critical difference in my opinion is that GW did not produce those games.
And WD also ran covers from general fantasy/scifi artists like Chris Achilleos. Later it too became all inhouse art, often redos of box and book covers.
blood bowl is life
Hate to ne that guy, but 141 was actually the first proper 40k report. confusingly also eldar vs marines
32:03 - if only you’d included sticky back plastic, you could’ve used it as an audition for Blue Peter, Robin.
😜
Thank you very much!