2011 Dark Eldar rumours

[eldargal]

Insomnia is awesome:


Not sure if this is the best place to post but the Dark Eldar rumours thread was closed and this seemed the next best place.

I had a chance to have a chat with Jes Goodwin today and got some more info regarding DE release schedule.

He said that they will have 90% of the Dark Eldar models in the Codex released by June next year, so no more than 7 months.

Basically people have waited so long for this release and as it looks set to be so popular he wanted to get everything out quickly.

There are 4 new plastic kits coming next year, he wouldn't say exactly what they were but that the Venom is definitely coming soon and they have models for both flyers listed in the Dex on ready to go (but he wouldn't confirm if these were part of the 90%).

He said that the models which would take longer were the special characters, so these may form the missing 10% which means we have a lot of new models coming soon.

He is still working on a few bits, something he wants to do is have Haemonculi passengers/hangers on the Raider but isn't sure how best to do that.

The Wych passengers/hangers on for the Raider will be included in the plastic Venom kit, but there isn't another suitabe release to make up Haemonculi equivalents.

He also said that now that rapid prototyping and CAD technology has progressed the design team can use 2 ups instead of 3 ups which means that making larger apocolypse style kits (Stompa and Baneblade) in plastic is now more possible.

This means that they are currently working on one of these types of kits as the sales for the Stompa etc were very good, but wouldn't say whether they had decided on what this would be, although I got the impression he wanted it to be Eldar.

Talking of Eldar he said that producing the Dark Eldar had fired up his enthusiasm for a new Craftworld Eldar Codex and models, and he has lots of ideas for this. However this hasn't even started yet so a new Eldar Codex is a long way off.

He is still trying to work out how best to tackle plastic Sisters of Battle but they are still being problematic.

He also mentioned that he would love to produce an Ad Mech Codex but said it would be very unlikely for GW to produce it as there isn't room in the range for them at the moment. However he said it was possible that Forge World would do them at some point, and his take on the concept was "Vampire Counts in space". In other words Necromancers and zombies, which sounds cool.

Anyway, that's pretty much it, also wanted to say that Jes was a lovely guy, very approachable and it was nice to see how passionate he was about everything he does.

Cheers. :)


No worries, wasn't really an interview, more of a chat.

He was at Warhammer World today for the DE Codex release but it turned out him and myself were the only 2 smokers there!! (one of the advantages of my filthy habit!:)).

This meant that every time I went for a *** he was also desperate for nicotine, so I got a chance to have a proper chat with him. ;)

[Mr.Pickelz]

Wow, thats alot to take in. Glad to see a time-line (sort-of) of what DE will be getting this next year. Anything on what December holiday deals, may hold? :D

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

As long as I can purchase a Talos/Parasite Engine and a customisable Haemonculi, I will be very happy.

[Lockark]

This is very good news! I hope these will pan out well, so I will not have to feel to bad about proxying my Grotesques/wracks until the 2nd wave.

I can also easily wait for the air force, since I'd rather get the tried and trued Rangers for the time being.

[eldargal]

I hope it is all accurate, the source seems reliable enough but rumours are still rumours. Also, I find it amusing that BolS censors the British slang for cigarette.:p
Quite thrilled about the mention of Jes-designed plastic SoB, even if there are problems with it thus far.

[Mr.Pickelz]

Yea, with Jes in on that, SOB's will be getting some good treatment, sure it might take awhile, but the beauty will be worth it.

i do wonder though, what are the problems that their having with plastic sobs? is it the master model? the design team miss-communication? or something esle?

[eldargal]

I've asked on Warseer whether any hints as to the problem with the SoB were given.

I think these are the msot likely candidates for the four plastic kits:
Wracks
Venom (confirmed)
Scourges
Talos/Cronos (strongly rumoured)

With special characters, grotesques, beastmaster & beasts in metal. Fliers following later in plastic, perhaps in one kit or in two like the Raider and Ravager.

God, I so hope the next Eldar codex sees plastic Aspect Warriors.

[DrBored]

Ah, this sets my mind at ease.

I can wait 7-8 months for flyers and haemonculi models. In the mean time I'll work on my Wyches, Warriors, and Raiders.

Was just looking at the rules for the flyers a minute ago. They're sick, with a lot of anti-infantry and anti-tank potential all wrapped up into the same package, for relatively low points that can achieve cover saves simply by zooming around. Seeing the entry 'Two Wing-Mounted Dark Lances' on the Ravenwing made me think they certainly had a good idea of how the model is supposed to look/be kitted out.

So yeah, looking forward to all of this. Praying that they get a little something by Christmas, but you'd think we would have heard of it by now.. unless the advance orders will go live by around Christmas or something.. Kinda doubt it, since that'd be backwards...

Ah well, plenty of building and painting to do in the meantime.

[Lockark]

I've asked on Warseer whether any hints as to the problem with the SoB were given.

I think these are the msot likely candidates for the four plastic kits:
Wracks
Venom (confirmed)
Scourges
Talos/Cronos (strongly rumoured)

With special characters, grotesques, beastmaster & beasts in metal. Fliers following later in plastic, perhaps in one kit or in two like the Raider and Ravager.

God, I so hope the next Eldar codex sees plastic Aspect Warriors.



The fact that GW it still selling the old Talos Modle on there sight, makes me think otherwise to there inclusion in the 2nd wave.

(That. And I'd hope the Grotesques would be plastic like the rat ogres, not stupid expensive metal like the IG oygrns.)

=<

[DrLove42]

Grotesque have got to be too big for a metal blister i'm sure?

Good to hear new stuff in bound. Need a few of these for my army, so by time i finish my High Elf's and all the warriors and raiders i need these should be out!

[UltramarineFan]

If they release Scourges anywhere as good as the art then I will be so happy.

[DaveLL]

Grotesque have got to be too big for a metal blister i'm sure?

You'd be surprised at what can fit in a blister. In any case, even if they don't come in a blister they could easily come 3 in a box...

[Xas]

I'd rather have a plastic cronos/talos than plastic grotesques.

Chaos Spawns with DE weapons (leftover bits from warriors/raiders or plasticcard blades) and other various bits fit the artwork very well (the palstics are really gorgeous and every chaos/haemoncolus covern player should take a closer look at what a load is inside).

wracks (maybe with a lot of proper bits for the special weapons/searge equivalent could also make haemoncoli)

scourges (atm there is no model for splinter carbines afaik).

fliers (although I think a haemoncoli box is more likely).

[Porty1119]

Nice to hear that Jes is a good guy. I thought all higher-up-ish GW employees were snobs!! Well, almost all.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

Hrm, im hoping for Wracks, Grotesques and Talos/Cronos in plastic personally - but I could see Grotesques being metal, and instead Scourges being plastic. Either way, I'm deathly excited since I've wanted to do a Haemonculi army for about 10 years now lol

[MajorSoB]

This is great news. Nothing infuriates me more than the current trend by GW of not releasing the appropriate models for their newest codexes. Hopefully we will see most of the Dark Eldar line in production within the next 7 months as this post suggests!

[DrLove42]

Venom is actually all but confirmed. If you look at the initial sketches Jes made of all th Wyches heads (in this months WD) you can see hes written underneath it "heads not used used in Venom kit"

[StraightSilver]

Hi everybody,

I hadn't seen this thread here yet, and have only been keeping an eye on the Warseer one but I have some elaboration on my OP which I have just copied and pasted from Warseer if that's ok? It was a rather long reply, but covers most of the questions people have asked.

From my Warseer thread:

Hi everyone,

well in response to a few of the comments on here I can elaborate on a few bits.

Jes did indeed say that he is absolutely knackered after working on the Dark Eldar and is looking forward to a bit of a break but that there was still a fair bit to do on the Dark Eldar, but that 90% of the stuff in the Codex will definitely be out by June 2011.

In terms of Craftworld Eldar he said that the way he normally works is to alternate between Space Marines and something else, meaning that he would have worked on Marines next. However he doesn't plan to do any more Marine stuff for the foreseeable future as he feels he has passed them off to other designers and sculptors and so hopes to do something different.

One of the reasons that Dark Eldar have fired up his enthusiasm for Craftworld Eldar is simply that the design process and the technological advancements from the Dark Eldar work has meant that the design team now know how Eldar could be done better, using the lessons learnt from the last 5 years. He stated that he really would like to put this into practice but it all depends on what GW want him to do next. The impression I got was that Craftworld Eldar are still a long way off.

The biggest surprise to me was that he had to really persuade GW to let him do the Dark Eldar, as he wasn't allowed any input on the original range and they weren't convinced that a new launch would be that viable. However once he had persuaded them him and Phil Kelly were given a free reign to do pretty much what they wanted.

He said that he very much enjoyed putting some subtle Rogue Trader influences in (some of the beasts are original Rogue Trader ones) and this is something he would like to see more of in the future.

The problem with the plastic Sisters of Battle is indeed the cloth robes on the sleeves as has been stated before, but also the hair strangely enough. One of the particularly tricky aspects of the Dark Eldar ws getting the hair on the Wyches right, as if you have hair flowing in one direction it makes posing more difficult, as everything needs to flow the same way. This suggests that any new SOB figures we see will be much more dynamic. He also said that shoulder pads had been giving them grief, as they want flowing script on them and that is presenting problems too.

In terms of the 4 plastic kits the Venom is definite, as it will have the Wych passengers/hangers on and he wants these to be interchangeable with the Raider so that you can have Wych Raiders. For this reason I think the Venom will be soon as he is keen for people to be able to field Wych cult armies and be able to represent their Raiders appropriately.

He wouldn't say for definite what the other kits were but I do think at least one of them will be one of the flyers. He said the models are done and that the staff in the studio have been very excited about them and have even been running around the studio with them making aeroplane noises!!

He said that they don't look like the Forge World Dark Eldar flyers as they wanted to do something closer to the Craftworld Eldar aesthetic, and that they do look a lot like the Vampire and Phoenix variants, but with a more dark Eldar feel to them.

And the only other thing that I can remember is that he said it is unlikely he will be doing any more Warhammer Fantasy Battle stuff. He admitteded that it has been a long while since he did any in any case, but that he will be concentrating solely on 40K from now on, but that he will be taking a break for a while once the Dark Eldar are finished, so I presume from next June.

Anyway, I'm glad everyone is excited about the news. I don't think Jes will mind me talking about it, he was telling other people in the GW store the same stuff afterwards when signing the Codex so it should be OK, but I feel a bit bad as a lot of the stuff that we talked about was when we were smoking, and I'm hoping that it was ok to post it. I'm sure it's fine.

And yes it is funny that the UK slang for a cigarette means something very different in other countries! :)

[Lockark]

You'd be surprised at what can fit in a blister. In any case, even if they don't come in a blister they could easily come 3 in a box...



Considering Grotesques are Oygrn/oblit sized models. I REALY hope there not metal. Making a squad of Grotesques will end up WAY to expensive to be a viable unit for most people (My self included), and I think that would be unfortunate.

Not to mention the Grotesques have enough options for there Srg. that making them in plastic would be beneficial, instead of having to make many different sculpts to cover all the gear options they can take.


I also have not seen anyone convert Grotesques out of chaos spawn, and not just end up making it look like Chaos Spawn in the helmet.
=/

[DrLove42]

Considering Grotesques are Oygrn/oblit sized models. I REALY hope there not metal. Making a squad of Grotesques will end up WAY to expensive to be a viable unit for most people (My self included), and I think that would be unfortunate.

=/

*Cough* *cough* Wraithguard *cough*

[DarkLink]

*Cough* *cough* Wraithguard *cough*

And how much does a single Wraithguard model cost?

[DrLove42]

Think Wraithguard are about £8-£9 each...dunno how much they charge in the states. So to get a decent size squad thats £40. Or in my case....£88 (i have 11). Which for one unit is a little bit crazy.

I can see grotesques being a plastic launch eventually so people can swap and change with plastic wracks. But the leader of the squad (an Aberration) maybe being in metal. The Incubi box set doesn't come with their squad leader...

[Lockark]

For me wraith Gaurd are $18 a pop in Canadian Dollars. So that's $90 for a squad of five before Taxs!

Ogryn are even worse! At $26.75 a pop your looking at $133.75 just or 5 models! That's not even funny!
O____o

I could buy a battle force for that kinda money!

The fact that Grotesques are more bulky then wraith guard makes me fear the worse if they do make them metal.

=<

[andrewm9]

For me wraith Gaurd are $18 a pop in Canadian Dollars. So that's $90 for a squad of five before Taxs!

Ogryn are even worse! At $26.75 a pop your looking at $133.75 just or 5 models! That's not even funny!
O____o

I could buy a battle force for that kinda money!

The fact that Grotesques are more bulky then wraith guard makes me fear the worse if they do make them metal.

=<

It could be worse you could spend $77 Canadian for a basic squad if you play a Witch Hunter army. Thats no vehicle and no special or heavy weapons with a Sister Superior. Granted its 10 models, but that is the minimum you will spend on a full squad. Old metal is bad. Jes can't get the plastic Sisters done fast enough for me.

[Melissia]

It's something around 120 USD to get a full squad of Sisters, no special or heavy weapons included.

[JxKxR]

It's something around 120 USD to get a full squad of Sisters, no special or heavy weapons included.

WOW! You have got to really want to play sisters of battle bad to pay that much. I really wish they would just do away with the metal models.

[eldargal]

More:

Hi everyone,

well in response to a few of the comments on here I can elaborate on a few bits.

Jes did indeed say that he is absolutely knackered after working on the Dark Eldar and is looking forward to a bit of a break but that there was still a fair bit to do on the Dark Eldar, but that 90% of the stuff in the Codex will definitely be out by June 2011.

In terms of Craftworld Eldar he said that the way he normally works is to alternate between Space Marines and something else, meaning that he would have worked on Marines next. However he doesn't plan to do any more Marine stuff for the foreseeable future as he feels he has passed them off to other designers and sculptors and so hopes to do something different.

One of the reasons that Dark Eldar have fired up his enthusiasm for Craftworld Eldar is simply that the design process and the technological advancements from the Dark Eldar work has meant that the design team now know how Eldar could be done better, using the lessons learnt from the last 5 years. He stated that he really would like to put this into practice but it all depends on what GW want him to do next. The impression I got was that Craftworld Eldar are still a long way off.

The biggest surprise to me was that he had to really persuade GW to let him do the Dark Eldar, as he wasn't allowed any input on the original range and they weren't convinced that a new launch would be that viable. However once he had persuaded them him and Phil Kelly were given a free reign to do pretty much what they wanted.

He said that he very much enjoyed putting some subtle Rogue Trader influences in (some of the beasts are original Rogue Trader ones) and this is something he would like to see more of in the future.

The problem with the plastic Sisters of Battle is indeed the cloth robes on the sleeves as has been stated before, but also the hair strangely enough. One of the particularly tricky aspects of the Dark Eldar ws getting the hair on the Wyches right, as if you have hair flowing in one direction it makes posing more difficult, as everything needs to flow the same way. This suggests that any new SOB figures we see will be much more dynamic. He also said that shoulder pads had been giving them grief, as they want flowing script on them and that is presenting problems too.

In terms of the 4 plastic kits the Venom is definite, as it will have the Wych passengers/hangers on and he wants these to be interchangeable with the Raider so that you can have Wych Raiders. For this reason I think the Venom will be soon as he is keen for people to be able to field Wych cult armies and be able to represent their Raiders appropriately.

He wouldn't say for definite what the other kits were but I do think at least one of them will be one of the flyers. He said the models are done and that the staff in the studio have been very excited about them and have even been running around the studio with them making aeroplane noises!! :)

He said that they don't look like the Forge World Dark Eldar flyers as they wanted to do something closer to the Craftworld Eldar aesthetic, and that they do look a lot like the Vampire and Phoenix variants, but with a more dark Eldar feel to them.

And the only other thing that I can remember is that he said it is unlikely he will be doing any more Warhammer Fantasy Battle stuff. He admitteded that it has been a long while since he did any in any case, but that he will be concentrating solely on 40K from now on, but that he will be taking a break for a while once the Dark Eldar are finished, so I presume from next June.

[Brass Scorpion]

I heard this week that there will NOT be a Battleforce for Dark Eldar, probably because of a similar issue as with Daemons and the four Chaos powers. Given that a lot of DE players are Wyches only or Kabalites only, a mixed Battleforce might not be the seller they'd need it to be to be worthwhile. And of course, shelf space in mostly small GW stores is always an issue when they decide whether or not to produce another large box and may have factored in here as well.

[Drew da Destroya]

That's too bad, but not unsurprising. Well, I'll just make my own eBayttleforce.

[DarkLink]

Well, DA do have like, three different battle forces...

[Brass Scorpion]

Well, DA do have like, three different battle forces...The Dark Angels have no DA only dedicated Battleforces. There was a splash Battleforce when the plastics for DA were first released that is now discontinued. The only DA related Battleforce still in production is a Ravenwing Battleforce, which also serves as the best and one of the cheapest ways of buying bikes and speeders in quantity for ANY Space Marine army, not just DA, which is why it's likely still available because clearly under the current DA Codex there aren't a whole lot of new DA players given the upgraded style of every Codex since then.

[DarkLink]

Details. They've still had several different boxes, no matter how you look at it. Point is, multiple battle forces, or specialized battle forces, aren't unheard of. Not that it necessarily makes separate wych and kabal battle forces likely, I just wouldn't automatically assume they wouldn't do that.

[gcsmith]

They could do a battle force with 1 wych squad, 1 warrior squad, and one raider and hellions, Hey presto a balanced battle force with wych cult representation, kabal representation and street gang representation.

[Lockark]

They could do a battle force with 1 wych squad, 1 warrior squad, and one raider and hellions, Hey presto a balanced battle force with wych cult representation, kabal representation and street gang representation.

I was thinking they would probably give you the bikes instead of the hellions. But that's basically what I was expecting a Dark Eldar battle force to look like.

A few things that could find a place in any dark eldar army.

[rle68]

Speaking to my local store owner
after he did a massive DE reorder as some guy bought him out he re ordered everything but wyches which it seems that from GW's own mouth no one is buying they have sold over 10k bikes and hellions each and not yet 4k in wyches

now i wont debate which is better but i am guessing they will fill the BF with wyches to get rid of them

[eldargal]

I would imagine it varies from store to store, I happen to know that one of the GWs my brothers and I frequent has sold Wyches, Warriors, Raiders and Hellions the most, in that order.

[PhatCat]

Makes sense that wyches would lag a little bit, if you think about it. Aside from needing the extra wych weapon, most folks are only going to have a unit or two of wyches unless running a cult list. Now that they don't have blasters, they are largely just a tarpit unit unless you want to go suicide bomber with haywire grenades. So, you really only need a couple boxes to get everything you need. Bloodbrides aren't that popular as elite choices, at least not compared to Trueborn or Incubi (though, to be honest, I think they can rock with the right Combat Drug result and a pain token or two).

Warriors on the other hand, have trueborn and several different troop warrior configs (5 man with blaster, sybarite w/ blast pistol, 10-man with dark lance, 20-man with 2 lances, etc.) that would drive up their numbers. That, and you can basically make endless numbers of Archons out of the warrior box with only minor bit additions.

Wait until someone posts a good Wych Cult army and wyches will take off. Or GW FAQs them somehow to make them nastier (such as Dodge applying to exploding transports...).

[Kirsten]

now i wont debate which is better but i am guessing they will fill the BF with wyches to get rid of them

I still think 'boyfriend' whenever I see 'BF', which makes that line totally awesome, not sure if they are getting rid of the wyches or the boyfriend though...
be a good boy and eat your wyches.

[DarkLink]

Yeah, I was gonna say, when you start using common real-world abbreviations like BF (for boyfriend or best friend) for some obscure hobby, that's pretty bad:rolleyes:.

[Xas]

my GW stil has the wyches sold out but all of the rest in stock (well after the 2nd shipment. VEERYTHING was out of stock other than maybe lilith before the first restock :D)

[eldargal]

Beastmaster pic leaked, apparently:
http://www.warseer.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=103279&d=1294037565
From H0RRIDF0RM on HeresyOnline.

[DrLove42]

Oooooo....

[Havik110]

Scary birdies...

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

Beastmaster pic leaked, apparently:
http://www.warseer.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=103279&d=1294037565
From H0RRIDF0RM on HeresyOnline.

Excellent!

[GrenAcid]

Razorwing flock looks like 4 birds on one base....wanna see more!!

[The Madman]

to throw some doubt in i noticed someone said they could be undead carrion.
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1183156_99061207008_WMUndeadCarrionMain_873x627.j pg
and from this picture it looks like it is, the position of the wings is the same and razorwing flocks and theres four of them in a set, the pack masters could easily be helion/wyche kitbash.

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

I have my doubts; the hover board looks completely different to a Hellion board - I admit it could be a conversion, but given the new board and upper body of the Beastmaster . . .

[DrLove42]

The birds maybe i can give you, given the low quality. But they're on plastic stems not the trees branches

beast master is completly different. The board looks similar, bar the massive black thing sticking out the front of one. The beastmaster has a complelty new torso and head, admitadly could come from another model, but still...

And the agoniser is unique.It looks like it touches his hand when it doubles back...neither the warrior nor the wych one does that

[Rain]

Oh come on let's be serious, it's obviously not a conversion. This is the same as how the plastic daemon prince was seen in pictures including in the rulebook over a year before it was released. GW designs and creates the models long before release and sometimes they leak, almost certainly intentionally in order to whip us into the proper anticipatory frenzy. Not that I plan on using beastmasters, but hey.

[Brass Scorpion]

Oh come on let's be serious, it's obviously not a conversion.Thank you for providing some sanity.

It would be easy enough to convert Beastmasters using the Hellions, thus avoiding top-heavy metal models on flying stands and the usually higher price of metal miniatures. The problem is the various beasts, but once we get a better look at those surely at least some of them should be feasible conversion without too much work from existing plastic models.

[isotope99]

Thank you for providing some sanity.

It would be easy enough to convert Beastmasters using the Hellions, thus avoiding top-heavy metal models on flying stands and the usually higher price of metal miniatures. The problem is the various beasts, but once we get a better look at those surely at least some of them should be feasible conversion without too much work from existing plastic models.

The razors are the only serious challenge from existing plastics. Gargoyles are really too big and nothing else has small plastic wings that I can think of.

[newtoncain]

I don't see why they need to make any figures for beasts/masters.

Beastmasters = Hellions
Razorwing = lotR bat swarms
Clawed fiend = number of different figures will work for this btwn WH and LotR, I uesd an old citidal beast figure but want to do a Vampire Counts Varghulf in the future.
Khymeara = again any # of different figures can be used from all 3 lines (40K, WH, LotR) - I happen to use goblin spider riders w/o the goblins.

[GrenAcid]

I don't see why they need to make any figures for beasts/masters.

Beastmasters = Hellions
Razorwing = lotR bat swarms
Clawed fiend = number of different figures will work for this btwn WH and LotR, I uesd an old citidal beast figure but want to do a Vampire Counts Varghulf in the future.
Khymeara = again any # of different figures can be used from all 3 lines (40K, WH, LotR) - I happen to use goblin spider riders w/o the goblins.
http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l63kfwNNsD1qcgxijo1_500.jpg:rolleyes:

[Unzuul the Lascivious]

Let's remember that Jes Goodwin has said that around 90% of the Dark Eldar Codex will have new miniatures to go with the stats. So Scourges, Beastmasters, the Talos and Cronos and no doubt the fliers will certainly have models. I'm thinking perhaps the court of the Archon and some of the named characters may be without models.

[geisthammer]

The razors are the only serious challenge from existing plastics. Gargoyles are really too big and nothing else has small plastic wings that I can think of.

FW winged rippers. thats what i think am going to use.