Ok not love. This issue is... disappointing to be nice.
It was 3 dollars. Inside cover has an ad for Armorcast products since its mostly a house organ for said products. But by a FAN of 40K who sells 40K support goodies. Fair enough.
This issue is 36 total pages counting the covers. The main feature this issue is why I don't like it. Pages 14-33 (note the contents page is WRONG. There are many grammatical, spelling, or text formatting issues in this issue.) are the Titan rules. They are not good. Look at their prices for resin kits. I personally own the two Chaos releases and an Eldar Tempest. I have seen a number of the other ones in real life. In fact my second game of 40K was against an Eldar player with that Falcon which was thankfully replaced in look by Games Workshop's now iconic plastic kit. I never chose to play him again. Throwing resin stuff and other complicated bits at a new player aint COOL. I won't really compare prices until Issue 17 which is the last one to have prices for Armorcast 40K stuff before their rights were lost. (And GW would release their own resin for three or more times the price. As GW is wont to do.)
This issue opens with Tim D. saying between issue 13 and this one FOUR army codexes have come out. At the 2nd edition 40k Games Workshop schedule (roughly quarterly. What this magazine is supposed to be.): Tyranid, Imperial Guard, Angels of Death, and Chaos. He then talks about a 150 dollar foam cutter from a company called SVN out of Lompoc CA. And insists this magazine isn't an Armorcast house magazine. (It is.)
There is then a three page article on converting the Fourth Edition Warhammer Fantasy Chaos army book into being used for 40K. Seems fairly legit and thought out. But given how around this timeframe Warhammer Magic and Chaos would get new rulesbooks/boxes for 5th ed WHFB I don't know how useful it would be. Plus you know, Chaos 40K codex is out and basically replaces this article's utility with its THREE army lists to choose from.
Then is the Hot Lead review section where Leland Erickson reviews a number of models from GW, Heartbreaker, Grendel, Fortress Figures, Grenadier, Geo Hex, and Pewtercraft. He gives high marks to the new Tallarn Desert Raiders, and Ultramarine HQ figures. The Fortress Figures robots and NOT GRETCHIN get high marks too. I wouldn't mind having the "Bogey" riding on a NOT PULSA ROKKIT all "Dr. Strangelove" style. He gives the mostly TERRIBLE 1st edition Warzone minis from Heartbreaker good scores as well. He is positive about the spaceship minis he covers and talks about his paint schemes to use as 40k universe ships. Which will pretty much get made redundant in a year or so when Battlefleet Gothic comes out.
We have a two page Q&A rules article compiled from rules questions Ed Etkin's website Gates of Fenris sent off to the men who killed Epic (Andy Chambers and Jervis Johnson, the men who are honestly most responsible for the state GW game rules are in nowadays. Maybe they took their orders from their corporate overlords, but they brought the suck to us.) who are mentioned to be doing Q&As in White Dwarf now, but this is their Opinion on how things are. Not official but their intent.
(Let's face it. GW game designer intent and how the PLAYERS handled things were usually a 180 degree turn away from each other.)
I won't go through all the Q&As as most people probably won't ever play 2nd edition again and don't care. I will note however two whole paragraphs basically show how Andy and Jervis realize that the Ally rules are BROKEN and should be considered OPTIONAL. Except nobody ever played it that way.
They insist if played sensibly they should be ok and various allusions to cheesemongers being ostracized but this never happened. Everyone used Allies as a way to take more super units than their army list already allowed.
Thus 3rd-5th edition 40K removed this option. 6th brought it back and I hear it is back to breaking the game with ever more cheese.
The biggest part is their core titan ruleset. It sucks. Its overcomplicated, fidgety, adds in tons more die rolls, record keeping, record SHEETS to write on, and is just sort of adding Battletech levels of aspie detail to a game unsuited for it.
Look at all this nonsense. Pages and pages of rules, and exceptions for all the gonzo equipment out by this time in the Codexes.
And an example of the record sheets. This optional ruleset BLOWS. Has anyone ever used it? If so how many hours of tedium did it add to the game?
We end the issue with a two page listing of Titan and Knight Legions and Clans with their homeworld, forgeworld, and color schemes if known. A LOT of the entries have an "Unknown" in them someplace.
Back cover has six conventions listed including one Armorcast will be at. Want ads for people looking for stuff in this pre Ebay age, and the Subscriptions and Back Issue form. 10 bucks for four issues. 3.50 for back issues including 1-2 as a combo, 4-7 as singles, and 10-12 as a 60 page combo for 10. I wouldn't mind getting them all. Though somehow I doubt I would get them for that price before shipping, much less after. (Most ebay sellers seem to charge 5 dollars in US to ship a single issue of White Dwarf. This is ABSURD.)
So what did I think about my first issue of Inquisitor? Well I was mostly pleased with everything but the thing that took up almost 2/3rds of the issue which was a complete waste of space. Other than historical curiosity this issue is pretty much USELESS to anyone trying to play 2nd edition 40K today outside of the Q&A section. The Chaos rules are replaced by the 40K Codex, the Titan rules are overly complex and fussy. You can totally skip this issue and miss NOTHING.
With my Bad-Ok-Good scale I have to rate this one BAD.
Don't go out of your way for it unless its part of a lot or you want to play 28mm scale Titan Battletech with mostly 40K rules. And not really use normal 40K figures much if at all in your game.
Thankfully next issue is MUCH better and provides a superior Titan ruleset that won't overtake your Infantry Miniatures Game. (We have modern 6th edition 40K with Apocalypse 2nd edition for that.)
See ya then!
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