I would like your thought on this Dark elf rumour round up

[Zenith]

The OP is scoutbike from warseer

Dark Elves
Getting rumours from several sources now that Dark Elves are not far off release.

Also heard that the Dark Elf book is in playtesting right now.

Rumours that we might actually see Dark Elves towards the end of this year.


Update 4 April 2013 - the below info from eldargal has been received with some interest by some of the Warseer users. It is not included here because it is felt to be accurate, nor is there any reason so far to doubt its accuracy. It's simply here for ease of reference.


Originally Posted by eldargal

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.
Originally Posted by eldargal
Posted these back in late 2011 and early 2012:

The late 2013 date was based on an approximate two year gap between CADs being worked on and going into production, evidently a late 2013 date is a bit out now.
Originally Posted by eldargal
Two people I know work at GW saw some CADs (or claimed to) and between them saw the units listed above. Not sure what is so strange about that.

[Clockwork]

Yeah I remember hearing about dual Blackguard/Executioner and Witch Elf plastic kits going into production some time ago.

The release schedule for the rest of the year is pretty well sorted, according to Warseer. High Elves are in May, with a few wave releases over the Summer, and Lizardmen dropping around September time. The consensus seems to be Dark Elves in early 2014.

Given the general trend of Fantasy so far, dual kit chariots and plastic characters should be expected, along with some form of monster/monstrous infantry/monstrous cavalry. It will be really interesting to see the High Elf release next month as there's going to be a lot of forshadowing for Dark Elves in 8th edition - notably, what happens with Repeater Bolt Throwers, average Spearman cost, etc.

[Dalamar]

I don't care much for chariot mounted bolt throwers unless rules for the bolt throwers actually change to be useful.

[Rork]

I don't care much for chariot mounted bolt throwers unless rules for the bolt throwers actually change to be useful.

Now that Khorne has his own mobile cannon, I'd say anything is on the table...

[Sulla]

I don't care much for chariot mounted bolt throwers unless rules for the bolt throwers actually change to be useful.

Well the awesome flaming khorne cannon costs only a little more than an empire cannon and is magical, flaming and slung to the top of a t5 chariot.

If a DE one was similarly costed, I wouldn't have too much problem with bringing a couple to the battlefield.

Being tall, their LoS is less prone to penalties, being move or fire, you are more likely to get flank shots, and being a chariot, it is almost completely imune to conventional war machine hunters.

That said, the DE thread on warseer looks a bunch of safe guesses rather than any actual product knowledge to me. No real substance, only safe bets. Plastic witch elves, black guard and exies... duh. Dual kit chariots and monsters...safe bets. A new character who might be male orfemale... These 'rumours' could describe almost any future release from almost any army.

[Meteor]

I can't picture DE slinging a RBT onto a chariot, that's not very DE at all...

[Dalamar]

No, but dual kit chariot might mean a new mobile CoB kit cramped into the same kit, who knows. All the new "altar" type of units seem to be chariots.

[Meteor]

Guess that makes more sense, although I like my version better, being carried by slaves. But, whatever, they might do a good job of it, whatever they're planning

[Omnichron]

I hope they keep most warmachines to be actual warmachines... All the chariot shooting stuff is just silly and simplifies the game imo.

I look forward to the DE release, mostly because I want some new miniatures.

[Prince fabulas]

When BG, WE, Exec &c. become unavailable for stockists then you know these rumours are true and the release is imminent.

[iamghost]

rumors are easy to do, since they are pretty obvious thing people would expect or like to see from a new release.
i don't think we'll see DE before 2014. The plastic hydra will be there (believe me) and chariot will prolly too.. as for the rest, we'll have to wait and see.

what i'd REALLY LOVE to have are dark arks. Come on, we are DE, we use ships. They HAVE to give us ships. (i know, i know... it'll be impossible, but let me dream)

[Meteor]

a flying ship? :O

I want better looking Execs and WE >.> Although I have alternate minis for all my specials choices already anyway

[Red...]

While ships would be a nice idea, when was the last time you played a coastal battle? Would suck a bit to turn up at for a battle and realise that several hundred points of your army couldn't fight because there was no sea in sight...

RBTs on chariots would be a big change in the fluff. IIRC our reapers are currently supposed to be ship based artillery that was lugged onto the land. Transforming them into some kind of tank that couldn't easily be used on a ship would be a big shift. Knowing GW and their aversion to abiding by sensible fluff (necron and blood angel allies anyone http://1d4chan.org/wiki/File:Bloodcrons.jpg? Units of xenos hating space marines being led by Tau as battlebrother allies? *sigh*)

I'm less excited by the new minis (my army is basically complete) as by tweaks to the existing ones (execs up to leadership 9, cause fear and can be led by a khainite executioner hero with armour options please!) and the addition of a new unit or two (Medusa heavy infantry please!). Here's hoping for a happy early 2014

[Meteor]

Medusa infantry army? Hello! Execs needs tweaking too I agree, hopefully our main magic toys won't be tampered with heavily either...But knowing what they're doing to all the magic gear, I'm not too excited about our changes.

[Daeron]

I still think the HE release may give the best indication in what direction our book will be heading. If we are to have monstrous infantry unit, it might as well be the harpies or something similar. They used to be more monster like in 5th Edition if I remember correctly. It's a long shot though. Maybe the Lizardmen book will indicate what will happen to cold ones, though they might let the two armies evolve differently for that matter.

[Dyvim tvar]

I still think the HE release may give the best indication in what direction our book will be heading.

Agreed. If HE get monstrous cavalry, I expect we will too. On the other side, if they don't, then I suspect we will also be left out of the MC party. And unless there is new info out there, the HE will NOT be getting MC (the Phoenix is a character mount from my understanding).

An interesting thing I have been hearing is that GW intends to standardize the racial rules for the 3 different types of elves, and that HE will lose the army-wide ASF rule. At the same time, there is apparently some indication that the HE will not suffer the ASL penalty for Great Weapons. If this were also true for Dark Elves, that would be a pretty awesome boost for Execs and would give us a great tool for dealing with MC without any of our own.

I have to agree with others that chariot-mounted RBTs would be pretty lame ...

[Trax]

Standardized racial rules / losing army-wide rules makes me fear for our Eternal Hatred. I'd rather have our Execs strike last than lose Hatred, they do fine enough against MC as they are (albeit smaller units would be nice).

About the RBTs (on chariots): If you take a look at the Soulgrinder, the Bolt thrower is the most expensive war machine upgrade for it iirc, so I doubt an (R)BT on chariot would be wisely costed anyway. Let's hope it's going to be cannon /sarcasm.

[T.D.]

a flying ship? :O

And why not? The Asur are getting one of those!

[Killerk]

As to the Elven racial traits, all elves can have the same, it shouldn't stop each army to have additional rules of their own. As our eternal hatred, or that marshal ... something form the HE.

I like powerful under cost powerful items as much as the next, but to be honest, as long we get some decent MC, MI, ... or just a nice variety of useful unit's, I wouldn't complain. I'm already mentally prepared that all my best unit's will be nerfed. While GW will put out new stuff that will be a must in a competitive list.

[Cold73]

Well spoken KillerK.

I'm indeed hoping for some nice units, but am also kinda worried about what they will do with our magical items.
For some reason I think our Pendant and Sacrificial Dagger will either be changed significantly or removed all together.

[Daeron]

I think we will loose all items that the BRB already offers:
- Armor piercing banner
- Blade that permits no armor save (I think)
- Blades that offer a strength bonus, ASF and/or an extra attack

I expect to see but a few items survive the culling:
- Executioner's Axe
- Soulrender (not even sure on this one)
- Lifetaker
- Hydra Banner
- Banner of Nagarythe

I'm not sure on the armors or talismans, nor the arcane items. None of the armors are critical to building a Dark Elf theme. The Empire kept a banner designed for its cavalry which impressed me as stylish choice to distinguish the Empire cavalry from conventional cavalry. We need no such banners for the Cold One Knights, as their mounts themselves already make them unique. The runefang in the empire book was a lorewise required item and likewise I expect the Executioner's Axe to stick.

Basic flavour items that simply deliver a cheap damage updrade will probably disappear altogether unless it's native to the army's fluff. For example, the beastmaster scourge could survive (though I'm not sure), but I doubt the wip of agony will.

[Red...]

Based on the new WoC book I think we may see at least one of our ward save items saved, albeit possibly in a modified form.

[Daeron]

Aye.. Perhaps the one with a rebounding wound. Then again.. flying characters aren't uncommon in our fluff and history, so I wouldn't be surprised if that is kept viable somehow and an item may stay in the game to make that easier, like the cloak of hag graef.

[Omnichron]

Maybe we can get a "Reroll any 6" with our pendant

[Dreadlord dethezal]

Food for thought - if you read the 8th Edition Rulebook fluff piece on each army, for Dark Elves it says Malekith has brought Iron Statues to life using the dark arts. Perhaps something like this will comprise our Monstrous Infantry? Again, just a thought.