Eldar rumour from 3++ is the new black

[Hendarion]

does anyone else think that these rumours (if true) the whiff of Mr Ward about them?

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! I will deny that until I see it black on white. The poor fluff, it will get crippled.

[WokeUpDead]

I'm treading a fine line between discussing rumours and pure speculation here but...with all these new units/changes to units, hints of retconning the Avatar fluff, the fact that Phil Kelly is supposedly doing Codex CSM...does anyone else think that these rumours (if true) the whiff of Mr Ward about them?

at least fluff would 'change', then..
maybe there'll be a short story about the Avatar of Khaine from CW Draiwhatitsnamego who actually manages the beat Mortarion in HTH, carving some manly speech into his heart:
"remember the night you left without a word? this is payback-time ... b*tch".

or Eldrad beating said Avatar to death with his cane while at the same time carving into Mortarions and the Avatars heart "It was me playing you both all along. mhwahaha. That's for not voting me for prom-queen!"


anyway: Thanks. I'm cured for now! I'm actually not really that eager anymore to see a new dex
and no; I'm no Ward hater. It's just that the cron-fluff, the greyknight-fluff etc really make my toenails curl up.

[Leonathion]

I think the models released for Xentarchs fits the old range of the 'court of the young king'. The aspects included in that were DA, SC, HB, FD and Swooping Hawks (which was wierd, so removing it would make sense).

What do you guys think of the time scale here? If they have the models done like for DE, then it would be sad if they just kept them in the warehouse. Perhaps they will get pushed back if the Hobbit proves to be a success? Q1 2013 would make my day!

[Chrysalis]

I think the models released for Xentarchs fits the old range of the 'court of the young king'. The aspects included in that were DA, SC, HB, FD and Swooping Hawks (which was wierd, so removing it would make sense).

I don't see why Swooping Hawks don't make sense in the court of the young king: Baharroth was one of the Asurya, and their aspect is an important one for Eldar to my mind, being war coming from the skies.

Concerning this new avatar of the Avatar, I'm not annoyed that much, as long as the mini is nice!

[silverstu]

I think the models released for Xentarchs fits the old range of the 'court of the young king'. The aspects included in that were DA, SC, HB, FD and Swooping Hawks (which was wierd, so removing it would make sense).

What do you guys think of the time scale here? If they have the models done like for DE, then it would be sad if they just kept them in the warehouse. Perhaps they will get pushed back if the Hobbit proves to be a success? Q1 2013 would make my day!

I still think Xentarchs sound like more powerful exarchs- older ones with ancient weapons- maybe as the court of the young king.
Timewise, if all this is true, q1 2013 sounds likely- interestingly when Harry posted up his guesses as a running list he had Eldar in q1 2013, but then switched them for Tau in a redraft. Maybe he was right the first time? Baring in mind that neither he nor any other rumourmancer has supported these rumours yet, I wouldn't be getting your hopes up just yet- it's more likely they have a 3Q release, especially with DA supposed to be coming out after CSM.

[MajorWesJanson]

I think they are just new models for exarchs. either finecast or maybe plastic blisters.

[vladsimpaler]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! I will deny that until I see it black on white. The poor fluff, it will get crippled.

At least your book will be fairly powerful and have a good variety of builds to it, instead of being very one-note like most of Phil Kelly's most recent stuff.

[BTJ]

I'm treading a fine line between discussing rumours and pure speculation here but...with all these new units/changes to units, hints of retconning the Avatar fluff, the fact that Phil Kelly is supposedly doing Codex CSM...does anyone else think that these rumours (if true) the whiff of Mr Ward about them?

Actually, this makes me think of the DE release. And there's nothing stopping Phil working on a couple of books at once, especially if one was due say six months after the other. IIRC most work on a release goes into the models, and the codex is done around a year in advance. Plenty of time, really.

[Endobai]

The rumours seem very reliable especially because it is only about models and not the rules which can change several times before the release.
Xentarch models although can (at least some of them) indeed work as Exarch with 'missing' wapon options are most likely independent characters leading their Aspect brothers and sisters - separate finecast releases for sergeant-level characters are very unlikely in my opinion.
Spirit Warrior walker - a Knight class walker seems the best explanation. Pilot model inside the whole structure suggests something different than spirit stone driven robot and knight class models can still find their place in the game without turning it into an Apocalypse-level battle.

Actually, this makes me think of the DE release. And there's nothing stopping Phil working on a couple of books at once, especially if one was due say six months after the other. IIRC most work on a release goes into the models, and the codex is done around a year in advance. Plenty of time, really.

Yes, in Phil we trust. It is the fluff which made me collect Eldar (bought the codex years before starting with 40k) so if Mr. Ward touches it nothing will make me buy the codex, especially it it will be released in a hard cover which is very likely.

[KarlPedder]

At least your book will be fairly powerful and have a good variety of builds to it, instead of being very one-note like most of Phil Kelly's most recent stuff.

Yeah I don't really understand this love of Kelly's work DE was OK it still doesn't allow for the kinds of variety in builds that Wards codexes have and he often falls prey to really bad unit pricing and really bad internal unit balance but hey he doesn't change the fluff.....

[Cthell]

Yeah I don't really understand this love of Kelly's work DE was OK it still doesn't allow for the kinds of variety in builds that Wards codexes have and he often falls prey to really bad unit pricing and really bad internal unit balance but hey he doesn't change the fluff.....

The difference is the target market - most Xenos players are Veterans, who're attracted to the army in no small part by the fluff (after all, it's unlikely that long-term DE players [those that were collecting before the new codex] were attracted to the army by the stunning models or the massively powerful rules). Therefore, changing the fluff is a big deal for them

[Radium]

instead of being very one-note like most of Phil Kelly's most recent stuff.

His last three books were (unless I'm missing one somewhere)
Orks: Plenty of interesting build, between the green tide, nob bikers, meganobz, kanwall etc etc etc.
Space Wolves: Again plenty of builds there
Dark Eldar: This gets boring, but plenty of builds here too! Due to the mechanization of 5th this didn't really show. But this is still my favourite codex to come out in all of 5th edition.

[silverstu]

The difference is the target market - most Xenos players are Veterans, who're attracted to the army in no small part by the fluff (after all, it's unlikely that long-term DE players [those that were collecting before the new codex] were attracted to the army by the stunning models or the massively powerful rules). Therefore, changing the fluff is a big deal for them

What I really admire with Phil is he writes very well, his writing style is very evocative - I can't comment on the rules as I haven't played in ages but they do seem fairly balanced and offer variety.
Back to rumours- two things that sit well with all this- there was a rumour of a super heavy for Eldar, a revenant was mentioned and Harry and Stickmonkey mentioned the eldar getting something of the scale of a land raider- maybe this is the wraith knight construct- not as big as a revenant, similar box size as a land raider. Eldar wouldn't really use a heavy transport and perhaps this makes more sense than giving them a heavy tank- characterises the army better.
The other point is I wonder if the wraith gate was what made Harry think Eldar where in the starter set- this would have been before 6th and the inclusion of fortifications in army builds. Stickmonkey mentioned eldar terrain but I think he talked about a shielded weapon emplacement/fortification.

[Malagor]

does anyone else think that these rumours (if true) the whiff of Mr Ward about them?

*Slaps* Don't dare mention him! He would just screw everything up.
There is nothing overally wrong with the current codex, it's just old. All it needs is a update and tweaks so that the strengths and weakness of the various units work with the 6e rules(and of course more units is always welcome).
Besides, does Ward even care about Eldar ?

[Sildani]

Good question. Apart from Kelly, the only person to work with Eldar rules has been Cruddace, who did the WD Night Spinner.

[Starchild]

Well, Mr. Ward wrote an Eldar tactics article for White Dwarf...

[Sildani]

Really? Was it any good?

[Brother Vaneb]

Judging by the sadface probably not!

[Starchild]

lol he went on and on about how great Dire Avengers are disembarking out of a Wave Serpent and bladestorming. Beyond that I don't recall much else from it, probably because most of the article was fairly obvious to any Eldar player with half a brain, certainly to anyone who reads the tactics threads on this forum.

The article may have been posted to the GW website but apparently it has been taken down.

Ward may be writing the book but if so it's not by choice because I gather that he doesn't like Eldar.

[Malagor]

Ward may be writing the book but if so it's not by choice because I gather that he doesn't like Eldar.

Which is bad news for Eldar players.
I heard that Cruddance didn't like Tyranids and see how that went.