#TBT GMG Reviews - White Dwarf #38 by Games Workshop (Feb 1983)

It's time for another GMG Review! Today I'm taking a drive on the Way-Back-Machine to 1983. Reagan was President, Chernobyl was mere weeks away and Games Workshop was publishing White Dwarf, their monthly rag for all things gaming!

[stanlogan]

What do ya mean, the person who bought this would be in his 50's now! How about 70's. I have a few of those oldies, love that stuff!

[Ethnarches]

I love all of this "retrohammer" / "oldhammer" stuff, I would love to see more content like this!

[MikeDavison]

Jeez, 1983, I was 13 and just getting into D&D. What a decade.

[lazypiratepainting]

I was 14 when this came out and was also heavily in RPG.
I did own this copy of WD and can remember saving up my pocket money and paper round money to catch the bus into Bristol city centre with my mates to buy WD on a regular basis.There was a gaming shop on Park street called Forever People where we used to go, fantastic place full of dusty shelves with loads of books and stuff plus a glass cabinet where there was loads of lead Miniatures for you to buy...ah happy days.

[akaken]

I have this! I was 13 years old and our group used to get this and Imagine magazine. Pre-internet hobbying.

[fomasfaith]

I was 11 years old in '83. The first White Dwarf I bought was number 61. Never did D&D. Started out with Fighting Fantasy books but Middle Earth Roleplaying by ICE was the first RPG I ever did. Traveller was the first one I GMed which I did up to and including Mega Traveller along with WFRP.

My fondest memory is of winning a copy of Rogue Trader and waiting about a month for it to come from the UK to Ireland. Lots of good memories.

[tonyholton]

1983, just start college in South London. Visited Games Centre on Oxford street many a time to spend my grant money. Mostly a basement early on from what I recall.

[theteacher]

There is still an working play by mail called Hyborian War going on. Run by a company called RSI. Set in the age of Conan. I just got back into it and loving the nostalgia!

[rageolsen]

I bought that White Dwarf issue from Not Just Stamps in High Wycombe!! though it was second hand in 1994.. It was an amazing gaming store sad it is no longer there.

[Hundmathr]

I was 9 and been playing D&D for a year at that point I wouldn't discover Call of Cthulhu for another couple of years. Mazes and Monsters was released in 1982 which was part of the first wave of Satanic Panic over D&D.

[karaghul]

Well before my time (I was born in '93), but this reminded me of buying "Trollslayer" in the basement of a hobby shop back in Madrid - getting hooked forever! And a year or so later reading the Mordheim rulebook in secret thinking "mom better not find this".

[TheDeliciousMystery]

Its crazy just how many times the magazines reinvented itself. I started reading in around 96 and can't tell you how many times it changed. I found one the other day from 2007 or 8 and that was probably the worst point when i was reading. It was thing, low quality printing and an overwhelming amount of it was just pictures with prices below like a catalogue. Boy did it make me appreciate the current year of great issues we have had since the last revamp.

[johnashley-smith]

I remember this era well, being obsessed with Dn'D. Seem to remember playing the sci-fi version of Dn'D, " Gamma World" and '"Traveller" as well.
White Dwarf was very hard to acquire, so I bought "Dragon" magazine a few times and still look through them now and again for nostalgia.
This also around the time Citadel miniatures started showing up in local shops, packaged in poly bags stapled to a card header. I have some of the first sci-fi figures they ever did from this period.
Thanks for this video! Love the trips down memory lane to see just how far things have come since this " 1st Golden Age" of miniature wargaming, it brought back many warm and fuzzy memories of a simpler time!

[richardsongames]

Fun trivia: Warhammer was almost named 'Battleblade'.... Great video, thank you Ash. You RULE

[bshean]

OG RPG and war gaming mags are the best, seeing this brought me back to first discovering the hobby

[gunslingera]

John Blanche can never be replaced and anyone who says different can fucking fight me lol. I did love the part where they're like. "This isn't Tolkien's Moria, so you can fight the Balrog." It's important to see where we came from, to understand where we're going on this trip we call life.

[jamiedean]

I remember this issue and used to shop at GW Hammersmith and the Games Centre in London. Even went for a job there in my late teens. A video fall of nostalgia 👍🏼

[wayner]

I was born in 83. This is interesting to see what GDubs was like. I discovered them in 5th or 6th grade and me and my cousin went in on the 4th edition box for fantasy.

[woad]

I'm sure you're scheduled into forever from now, but it would be rad to see that moria adventure. Good stuff!

[Vorpal_Wit]

I have that Ian Livingston book...somewhere. Also I am starting to regret a fit of house-cleaning 2 years ago when I threw away all my old White Dwarfs, many in the pre 100s. BTW, those illos look like Russ Nicholson's. I love that one of the classifieds was literally Looking For Group!