Dark Elf rumours (ETA late 2013)

[eldargal]

Older rumours:

I've heard from two sources within GW that they have seen work in progress CAD thingamies for Dark Elf plastics, of which Witch Elves were named specifically. Another kit was mentioned as being Black Guard or Executioners. There was also another plastic kit he didn't recognise and some plastic characters. I'm embarassed to admit I can't find the original email to check exactly what he said. I think there may have been some large plastic critter as well.

I've had this corroborated by another rumourmonger who said it fits in with what he heard of Dark Elves coming in 2013 and CAD images meaning they are usually 18-24 months or so away from production.

As always, until pictures are leaked or GW sends out an email treat it as rumour not fact.

And newer rumours:

Oki-slash-doki, I have more Dark Elf rumours, from the same source as the first lot and also corroborated with a reliable rumourmonger:
The rumours:
-plastic monster, possibly a hydra, not certain its for DE specifically which isn't a problem with SoM scrolls of binding
-plastic mounted character, possibly female
-dual kit chariot (this was mentioned by others already)
-plastic bolt thrower

Witch Elves, Black Guard and Executioners also all with extra coroboration. Late 2013 still the most likely slot for release.

Speculation and commentary:
A plastic hydra would be nice, the way GW are doing plastic kits it could really be big and dynamic. But they just Finecasterisated the old hydra (and the bolt thrower) so I felt this seemed a little odd. If the plastic Karl Franz/Griffon rider kit pans out it would be interesting to see if that impacts this rumour, a possible Morathi/Hellebron/generic hero kit? Just speculation. The dual chariot kit has been wishlisted/rumoured before, so nothing too new with that.

For the record I consider myself a rumour dissemination facilitator, not a rumourmonger.

As usual, don't believe it until GW announces it.

[Wildeybeast]

Sounds cool. I'm surprised we got wind of stuff so far out, but it would be nice to see DE getting cool new stuff. They are on wish list on new armies, so this bodes well, especially with the updates for their woodland apparently having got lost in some Athel Loren time loop.


For the record I consider myself a rumour dissemination facilitator, not a rumourmonger.

The difference being? ;)

[eldargal]

The main difference being I'm in no way comparing myself to Harry ot Hastings or any of the others.:p I just report rumours I hear and sometimes I hear things from someone within GW.

Expect High Elves before Wood Elves too by all accounts. I realise it mutb e frustrating for Wood Elf players but look on the bright side. Dark Eldar were terrible both in models and rules, and now look at them. GW might take their time with armies they aren't sure about, but they do a good job in the end.

[TheCastigator]

I really hope they make the giant monster a Kraken/ sea beast.

[Wildeybeast]

The main difference being I'm in no way comparing myself to Harry ot Hastings or any of the others.:p I just report rumours I hear and sometimes I hear things from someone within GW.

Expect High Elves before Wood Elves too by all accounts. I realise it mutb e frustrating for Wood Elf players but look on the bright side. Dark Eldar were terrible both in models and rules, and now look at them. GW might take their time with armies they aren't sure about, but they do a good job in the end.

I'm not expecting WE at all this edition. I don't see how you can make them work in the meta game without completely changing their style. They already have some awesome models which is good, just a shame you can't use half of them! I think I may have to switch to DE. At least I'm getting shiny new Empire stuff to keep me happy.


I really hope they make the giant monster a Kraken/ sea beast.

That would be really nice and would mean there is actually a unit which has the sea creature rule.

[eldargal]

The big critter seems like it might be a hydra or a hydra/something dual kit. A nfty as a kraken would be, hard to sell in quantities to people without a beach or large water feature board. I mean you could have its fluff saying it leaves the water no problem, but going miles inland to fight a battle? Just a bit odd.:)

[Nosmo75]

The big critter seems like it might be a hydra or a hydra/something dual kit. A nfty as a kraken would be, hard to sell in quantities to people without a beach or large water feature board. I mean you could have its fluff saying it leaves the water no problem, but going miles inland to fight a battle? Just a bit odd.:)

Hey, with the Watcher In The Water from LoTR getting an amphibious model, who knows what could happen? =P

[Wildeybeast]

Here's hoping it doesn't look anything like that abomination!

[gcsmith]

Im just pissed at armies getting 2 books b4 my brets even get one, heck even my HE are older than both the last vampire book and last DE book :(

[Chronowraith]

Im just pissed at armies getting 2 books b4 my brets even get one, heck even my HE are older than both the last vampire book and last DE book :(

Given that these rumors indicate DE in late 2013 (so almost 2 years from now), that gives plenty of time for other armiy books to be released. In fact, I'd wager at least 3 and more likely 4 before this book is rumored to release.

Best rumors indicate that Empire and Dwarves are likely to be redone soon(ish) and other rumors indicate that Bretonnians and Warriors of Chaos are also on the short list. Wood Elves as far as I can tell are just boned.

[TheCastigator]

Ok fine, no kraken, how about a giant land crab.

[gcsmith]

I can't see why WE are boned. not like it would be hard to make their army work in current edition.

Give them a spear men unit. Give them a monster (for example a giant stag).

Change their spells.

Heck not hard

[Chronowraith]

I can't see why WE are boned. not like it would be hard to make their army work in current edition.

Give them a spear men unit. Give them a monster (for example a giant stag).

Change their spells.

Heck not hard

To clarify, I wasn't commenting that I felt that it would be difficult to rewrite Wood Elves and make them work in 8th edition. I was stating Wood Elves were "boned" because all the rumors I've seen indicate that, at best, they are at the very early stages of the conceptualizing phase.. i.e. - the beginning.

Also, they already have a giant stag... not quite as giant as you are suggesting most likely, but that's what is listed in the book if I recall correctly.

Regardless, I don't want to hijack this thread about Dark Elves and turn it into a Wood Elf discussion.

Here's hoping they include a point correction for hydras in 2013 :P I wonder if Dark Elves will get another monster in addition to the Hydra or if we'll just see a plastic Hydra kit. Given their nature for capturing exotic beasts to fight in gladiatorial combat I could see this go either way personally.

[gcsmith]

yh increase hydra cost

[Wildeybeast]

At the risk of ignoring Chronowraith and hijacking this thread, it is easy to 'fix' WE by giving them decent magic, big blocks of troops and monsters, but then you can do that with any army. What is much harder is updating them whilst retaining their unique character. For example, what do you do with Wardancers? In the last ed, they would butcher the front rank of an enemy unit and hold them up for ages. Now they are just overwhelmed by basic troops. Their role in the game needs completely redfining, but how do you do that without losing their image as a small, fast, elite unit capable of taking on superior numbers and winning. And that's just one unit. Look at the meta game where big, durable units are key. WE don't have nay staying power in combat as all their units are small and lightly armoured (if at all) and nor should they. They are a guerilla force, hitting stuff and fading into the shadows, not a protracted campaigning force. You either need to re-write the fluff or find a way of making fluff consistent rules that produce a competitive army.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying I'm not sure WE will get updated for quite some time (I might even go out on a limb and say it's possible they won't get done at all this edition), so I'm glad that DE are on the cards.


Given that these rumors indicate DE in late 2013 (so almost 2 years from now), that gives plenty of time for other armiy books to be released. In fact, I'd wager at least 3 and more likely 4 before this book is rumored to release.

Given they have got 4 army books out in 19 months since 8th ed hit, I'd say 3-4 (including DE) seems reasonable, though don't forget we have the Hobbit clogging up release slots and possibly 6th ed 40K. I'd expect more WD updates and one or two army books before this summer to get them out and avoid release congestion.

[Chronowraith]

At the risk of ignoring Chronowraith and hijacking this thread, it is easy to 'fix' WE by giving them decent magic, big blocks of troops and monsters, but then you can do that with any army. What is much harder is updating them whilst retaining their unique character.

Hey, I'm fine with discussing Wood Elves, I just didn't want to hijack the thread. Honestly if it wasn't for the sorry state of Wood Elves, I'd have considered them as a front runner in my quest for a "good" aligned army. So instead I wait for either Empire or Bretonnians, both of which are more likely to see updates within the next two years. I think Wood Elves have some of the neatest fluff in the game next to Skaven.


Given they have got 4 army books out in 19 months since 8th ed hit, I'd say 3-4 (including DE) seems reasonable, though don't forget we have the Hobbit clogging up release slots and possibly 6th ed 40K. I'd expect more WD updates and one or two army books before this summer to get them out and avoid release congestion.

True, I didn't consider Hobbit releases so it could potentially drop the releases down to a meager 3(ish). I really wish that a spinoff company produced the Hobbit game stuff so GW could focus on their core product. I love Middle Earth (wrote a paper on it for one of my Master's Thesis) but the game is just uninspiring and dull.

Oh, right... hijacking... Uhhh.. something, something, Dark Elves... Go corsairs?

[eldargal]

I wouldn't hold my breath for Bretonnians either to be honest. Mind you DE are still 18+ months away so holding your breath for them would be a rather poor decision too.

[Lord Azaghul]

I'm not expecting WE at all this edition. I don't see how you can make them work in the meta game without completely changing their style. They already have some awesome models which is good, just a shame you can't use half of them!

Honestly I think WE are one of 3 armies that GW doesn't know HOW to write and make them actually 'good' in this ed:

Wood elves - skimish is dead, winning by killing the front rank doesn't work
Dwarfs - armour is dead, shooting is weaker, no magic, static combat res is dead
Brets - armour is dead, winning by kiling the front rank doesn't work


DE getting a new book before any of the above is just plan insulting - there is no need for it!

[gcsmith]

Brets you can fix by making men at arms, men at arms, have the lords stop treating their SOLDIERS like peasents.

[Lord Azaghul]

Brets you can fix by making men at arms, men at arms, have the lords stop treating their SOLDIERS like peasents.

sure...except then you have Empire, w/o the guns! :cool:

Brets should always mean arthurian k-nihigets!!!

[gcsmith]

sure...except then you have Empire, w/o the guns!

Brets should always mean arthurian k-nihigets!!!

Then men at arms shouldbe knights on foot.

[Wildeybeast]

Brets you can fix by making men at arms, men at arms, have the lords stop treating their SOLDIERS like peasents.

But...they are peasants. GW is just using the term 'men-at-arms' to describe a peasant militia.
"The finest warriors of the peasantry of Bretonnia are recruited by Knights to act as Men-at-Arms. Men-at-Arms are given a shield by their lord, and must provide weapons and armour for themselves, and thus the lord fulfills his duty to those under his charge." I don't understand what the issue is?

[gcsmith]

But...they are peasants. GW is just using the term 'men-at-arms' to describe a peasant militia.
"The finest warriors of the peasantry of Bretonnia are recruited by Knights to act as Men-at-Arms. Men-at-Arms are given a shield by their lord, and must provide weapons and armour for themselves, and thus the lord fulfills his duty to those under his charge." I don't understand what the issue is?

My issue is severalfold, First bolded part, they are the FINEST warriors of the peasntry they should be better than ws2 heck even the drunks and lowlifes of the Free company hit our Finest peasents on 3s, secondly they are trained soldirers so should be ws3 at least again.

[Wildeybeast]

Finest warriors, yes, but the qualifier is 'of the peasantry'. That is a still a relatively poor pool to draw from, the lords only deem them worthy of shields. And they aren't 'trained soldiers' as the Bretonnians would never stoop so low as to train peasants. Free company, who may be men of low moral fibre, are experienced cutthroats and sellswords to a man and that experience makes them easily the equal of the trained empire state troopers. It isn't fair to compare bretonnian and empire troops, as they have very different approaches to warfare. The empire nobility often maintain standing armies, or at least have a trained body of reservists to call on. By contrast, the Bretonnians invest all their time and resources into producing elite knights from the nobility. The peasants are largely left to their own devices and just have to turn up and fight when called on.

[Sonikgav]

To go off on a WE tangent once more, if they need a Core block perhaps move the Dryads into a Core block unit (remove Flammable and add Scaly skin or stay with the Ward, Daemons can do it after all) and make Eternal Guard a little more useable, perhaps by letting them replace Glade Guard as the core unit of the army and moving the Glade Guard to the missile unit.

Perhaps give them a modification to the stand and shoot/fall back rules too. And then of course the usual Monsters. Treekin and Treemen could be awesome going by how GW have been loving their Monstrous infantry lately.

Id love to have useable WE's so might even try a little playtesting of my own.

[Wildeybeast]

To go off on a WE tangent once more, if they need a Core block perhaps move the Dryads into a Core block unit (remove Flammable and add Scaly skin or stay with the Ward, Daemons can do it after all) and make Eternal Guard a little more useable, perhaps by letting them replace Glade Guard as the core unit of the army and moving the Glade Guard to the missile unit.

Perhaps give them a modification to the stand and shoot/fall back rules too. And then of course the usual Monsters. Treekin and Treemen could be awesome going by how GW have been loving their Monstrous infantry lately.

Id love to have useable WE's so might even try a little playtesting of my own.

Dryads aren't flammable anyway (as they aren't actually trees), though I agree they would be far more useful if they lost the skirmish rules, same as wardancers. But again we come bakc to the problem of completley changing the nature and playstyle of WE. Eternal Guard are already a core unit if you have a highborn general, but the lack of any kind of armour save means for your block infantry they just aren't durable enough to be any good. Treekin are awesome, you need plenty of these to stand any chance of winning at the moment. Glad Guard should get something similar to the arrows of asaph rule for TK.

[Lord Azaghul]

To go off on a WE tangent once more, if they need a Core block perhaps move the Dryads into a Core block unit (remove Flammable and add Scaly skin or stay with the Ward, Daemons can do it after all) and make Eternal Guard a little more useable, perhaps by letting them replace Glade Guard as the core unit of the army and moving the Glade Guard to the missile unit.

Perhaps give them a modification to the stand and shoot/fall back rules too. And then of course the usual Monsters. Treekin and Treemen could be awesome going by how GW have been loving their Monstrous infantry lately.

Id love to have useable WE's so might even try a little playtesting of my own.

I friend and I have just said screw it - and declared Dryads has ranked troops with a command option - and 6 pts for a MU 12 for a Standard - no magic banner options.

Makes the army freaking playable again.

[Wildeybeast]

Hmm, a nice idea. I might see if mates are generous enough to do the same. I like the idea of converting a musician and standard!

[harveydent]

this book cannot come out soon enough. i want to see the end of the hydra madness.

[faeslayer]

They've GOT to release new DE Warrior models. They simply must. I don't see them rumored anywhere, but I can't believe they wouldn't update those models.

[Brakkart]

I really hope they make the giant monster a Kraken/ sea beast.

Personally I'd like to see them add a new critter to the Dark Elves menagerie of beasts, we've already got a Hydra in Finecast, so how about a Behir?

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/GoL_Behir.jpg

A 12 legged reptilian, lightning breathing, killing machine, seems like it would fit in well with their other critters and I'd love to see GW do a version of this classic D&D monster (not a trademarked one either!) Since the Hydra already has a breath weapon (and they have Black Dragons too), drop the lightning breath and make this fast and with lots of attacks, like a giant speedy version of the Razordon.

[brotheryorei]

if Dark Elves come out in 2013 i will be pleased but surprised. i may be wrong but arent there still 5 or 6 armies that are older then the current book for Dark Elves?

[eldargal]

Age of a book isn't really a high priority to GW. There will certainly be three of four new books between now and then, though. Assming the timings hold which they may not.

[Brother Glacius]

I love the DE stuff. I rebought the army (for the third time) just because of the sweet plastics. Also, due to $$$, I've been sticking only with plastics. So I'd love to see plastic witch elves or executioners. And a new dual chariot kit?? That would be rocking.

[robrodgers46]

How well do DE sell? Maybe that doesn't matter though, as I always heard Dwarfs were a big selling army and they have been left to rot seemingly for ever.

BB

[Rich_B]

They've GOT to release new DE Warrior models. They simply must. I don't see them rumored anywhere, but I can't believe they wouldn't update those models.

^^^^ THIS!!!! The current DE warriors are an absolute abomination and one of the major reasons I just can't bring myself to work on my Dark Elves. You can't field the lovely Cold Ones and Corsairs alongside them, not with those massive feet, banana fingers and chunky-knit chainmail...

[eldargal]

Actually the hands aren't too bad when you realise they are wearing gloves (some even have little metal plates on them). But yes the Elf core in general is looking rather dated.

[Rich_B]

Yeah, they're still the WFB 5th/6th ed vintage, along with the Orc boyz and the Goblins. I had to paint far too many of the plastics of the time back then to want to paint any for myself... Never looked closely enough at the Dark Elves to realise any had gloves on, even so I can't stand the look of them alongside the newer placcies. Chris Fitzpatrick's metals just about hold their own still but I'll be awaiting new releases with bated breath! :)

[eldargal]

See the litlte metal plates with gems on the hands? Makes no sense unless they are stitched on to gloves:
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m490849_99120210003_HighElvesSpearmenMain_873x627. jpg

The Dark Elf set is a little less obvious, but their hands aren't quite so obscenely sized. They look fine painted as gloves. If you take the Cold One riders and paint their gloved hands as flesh they start to look ridiculous too, in my opinion.

As I've said the Elf core really could use an update but if you paint the hands the same secondary colour as the trim or robes or whatever they look considerably improved.

[Wildeybeast]

Those do look like monstrously oversized hands, even with gloves on. Why would GW paint them like that?

[Brakkart]

Actually looking at the pic of that unit it's not the hands I notice as looking a bit odd, it's that the musician looks like he has his breastplate on backwards. Everyone else has some sort of design on the front of theirs that's been painted blue, but his is blank, so it looks like the back plate is being worn on his front.

[Chronowraith]

I just noticed that the gem in the center of the starburst isn't painted to match the banner... it's like whoever painted the unit decided the gems were just too much trouble to paint on the shields.

As for the musician, they tried to make him look like he was getting ready to use the horn as opposed to obeying basic anatomy. It looks fine when he's just holding the stupid thing.