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Up till recently, GW has been giving less and less coverage about their more ''mature'' content, mostly Slaanesh (as most of you might have noticed), but also about the Dark Eldars (who, technically, are kinda the parents of Slaanesh).

Less and less mentionned in Codices, with fewer details in each mention, less models and rules (ask any DE player how he feels about the removal of such iconic characters as Vect, Sliscus and Malys), and more and more sidelining (Slaanesh's forces being only mentionned as the sidekicks of the rest of Chaos and Dark Eldars only being mentionned when there are other Eldar arounds, like the Harlequins and their Craftworld brethren).

Honestly, this is kinda really sad for me.

Let me explain my background a little, so you can better understand it.

I discovered W40k around the age of 14, not by watching the game or anything, but by seeing an artwork of it on the internet, while I was in computer class in high school. A high school that just happened to be in one of the suburbans of Quebec (the French province of Canada), out of Montreal.

How is this relevant, you ask ?

Well, up till 2014 (I'm not kidding here), Warhammer, Warhammer 40k and etc., were pretty much unknow out of Montreal (Montreal being our only official link to the international community before the internet boom of 2012).

So, in short, I came to knew W40k in 2004, but I had to wait till 2010 (the year I started university in Montreal) to actually come into contact with GW's material. So, in short, I spent 6 years knowing of this fantastic universe before actually meeting the game. During these 6 years, I grew to love the fluff, especially its darker aspects, which bring us to the Dark Eldar and Slaanesh. They had this Hellraiser vibe that just knew how to talk to me (yeah, I was a weird kid, what are you gonna do about it ?).
Imagine my disapointment when I came in contact with the game and realized how underpowered Dark Eldar and CSM were compared to Matt Ward's GK, BL and etc.

But then came 6th edition in 2012 and the hope for a better tomorrow... And it was an incredible disappointment. The CSM codex was clearly a prototype for the new waves that would be coming and the DE were forgotten in the mud.

But then came 7th edition in 2014 (that was fast), and the Dark Eldar received a new codex... and I was kinda unsure what to think about it at first. First of all, the removal of most of the unique characters was a serious drawback.
The removal of Vect, being the big bad of the Dark City, made little sense. It would be like removing Abaddon from the CSM line or Ghazghkull Thraka from the Ork line. Even if these named characters are rarely used, their nonexistence outside of the fluff just seems... wrong.
The removal of Duke Sliscus was really a stab in the stomach, considering how awesome his fluff was and how he was the one supporting the whole DE faction in terms of tactics on the table.
As for the others... well, let's just say they could have redone the rules.
However, the final insult (in terms of characters) was the fact that Drazhar received no new model. I mean... his concept art doesn't even fit his model anymore (images below).





Rule wise, the DE received a new form of power from pain... which is kinda useless considering it mainly buffs melee oriented tactics and that DE is more of a ranged army (especially after their rework of the whyches...).
However, let me take a break and mention some things. I know that Dark Eldar were never meant to be an easy army. It was even MENTIONNED in their 3rd edition codex that they were a hard to play army. Hell, they even had a tactica section at the end of their codex that explained how to overcome their lack of defenses and their innate fragility. But what was their main tactic you ask ? Well, cover and ambush of course ! ...
See where this is going ? We are actually in 7th edition. Ignore cover is written all over most of the codices...
Dark Eldar have little leverage here.
Also... no real new models beside some flyers... (Don't get me wrong, the DE Kabalite, Whyches, etc., are awesome, years ahead of their time in aesthetic qualities, but sometime, you need new shinny stuff).
We also got a codex supplement... which consisted of putting together somewhat bland (but oh how so visually awesome) units together to get new bland rules.
So yeah... Besides Venom Spam being a thing (that is harder to pull off from before), there isn't much to do with Dark Eldar.

But there was still hope for my inner BDSM-self when I heard about the Traitor Legion codex supplement ! Ah ! The hopes I had...
Well, they were half satisfied.
Traitor Legions brought (finally, after all these supplements and years) some cool 3.5/30k legion rules to CSM (mostly Death Guard, World Eaters and Nightlords). Emperor's Children, however, while getting a sweet new FnP boost, hardly got anything, or, in another way, got way too much. Their special formation is incredibly taxing and you'd have to be nuts fielding so many NM (yeah, they are cool, but there are limits to buying so many of them). Plus, their bonus to sonic weapon, while kinda cool, seems to still be negligible.
Still, I get that if you're a dedicated player, you could try buying them and making them a thing at your local game club and then get stomped by a White Scars player or some Eldar Oka cheese.

So, after 13 years (remember I said I discovered the w40k universe in 2004), I face two of my favorite things (Slaanesh and Dark Eldar) being watered down rule-wise and fluff-wise.

And I think GW should just bring down the hatchet on them.

Because let's face it : GW is a business industry. It thrives on sales, which mean they must make more sales. How do you increase your sales ? Convince your regular buyer to buy more ! But then there's a problem : individual buyers tend to get older, and eventually die (don't act all surprised, but I actually knew W40k players that died of old age). Then, you need to get new, younger, fresher buyers. And let's all be honest here : the younger generations and kids (and their parents) aren't really Slaanesh-friendly.

Slaanesh and Dark Eldar are, presently, rule-broken. And they are also at the end of the attention spectrum, not only of GW, but also of the W40k community (when was the last time you read a forum post(besides this one), or heard a discussion at your local game club, about DE and Slaanesh (except when it was about a BDSM joke) ?).

Even thought I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really love these themes in W40k, it's time to face the fact that they have made their time, both on the table and in the fluff.

So, what are your opinions on the subject ?

In short?

No.

I'm actually interested. Why so ?

"DE lost characters and are underpowered currently, may as well just drop the whole line." lol

I really thought coming into this thread that it was going to be about how GW are getting ready to squat DE and Slaanesh, I was surprised that it's a DE fan arguing for their squatting instead.

DE and Slaanesh aren't only bdsm, if they were I might agree with you. Plus, they're not the only factions at the "end of the attention spectrum."

Nah, Dark Eldar are getting more love than they have been for years (I've been playing them for a few years)

If anything, GW is realizing how awesome a concept, and how much potential Dark Eldar really have (gangs of comoragh, Maly's new model, Yriel, etc etc)

 gummyofallbears wrote:
Nah, Dark Eldar are getting more love than they have been for years (I've been playing them for a few years)

If anything, GW is realizing how awesome a concept, and how much potential Dark Eldar really have (gangs of comoragh, Maly's new model, Yriel, etc etc)

Yvraine isn't Malys.

Wait, Malys got a new model ? I can't find it on the internet...

As for the Gangs of Commorragh, yeah, it's nice, but I'd prefer something realted directly to W40k rather than a spin-off game which only contains reavers (which are pretty cool) and Hellions (which are on a visual level, cool, but rather disappointing on the table top).

At worst, Commoragh is overrun with Daemons and Dark Eldar are less of a "main" faction and become a sub-faction of Aeldari, in line with CWE, Harlequins, & Ynnari.
CWE will always be the main Eldar faction, but the new Ynnari are getting quite a bit of attention now.
Ruleswise, many of the Dark Eldar unit will be playable as Ynnari units for years to come.

Right now GW is filling their games to the brim with more and more stuff, so I doubt any DE units will go away.

 Galef wrote:
At worst, Commoragh is overrun with Daemons and Dark Eldar are less of a "main" faction and become a sub-faction of Aeldari, in line with CWE, Harlequins, & Ynnari.
CWE will always be the main Eldar faction, but the new Ynnari are getting quite a bit of attention now.
Ruleswise, many of the Dark Eldar unit will be playable as Ynnari units for years to come.

Right now GW is filling their games to the brim with more and more stuff, so I doubt any DE units will go away.

Pretty much worse than be squatted in my opinion. Better be nothing than a second grade eldar .

We all know spess mehreens are the most important faction, so let's just drop everything else.

As someone with ~10k points worth of tyranids who finds flyrants to be bland, being second fiddle to one of the top three is way better than being the NPC Warf-effect race.

 kingbobbito wrote:
We all know spess mehreens are the most important faction, so let's just drop everything else.

Indeed. Let's rename the game Age of Space Marines.

The grimdark is going the way of Wrestling's Attitude era.

Dark Eldar and Slaanesh squatted?

Mmmm. I think we need to invent a new category for armies, and call it the Sisterhood of Battle. This is the category where an army will languish for years with no updates or models, then a couple bones will be thrown to the players, and then nothing for many more years.

<points to Fall of Cadia and Armies of the Imperium> So technically, the Sisters of Battle finally got a printed Codex that was a rehash of the garbage White Dwarf list, and even then, stuff was cut out. GW was technically being truthful when they said a new Sisters of Battle codex. The fact that the White Dwarf and digital versions are still better should speak volumes about how much GW worked on this new codex. New plastic Sisters of Battle? Again, technically truthful, because SoB got Cannoness Veridyan, and then a resculpt of St. Celestine and two Seraphim, that are only available in an $80 box set.

I expect the same thing to happen to Dark Eldar and Slaanesh.

 Tamwulf wrote:

Dark Eldar and Slaanesh squatted?

Mmmm. I think we need to invent a new category for armies, and call it the Sisterhood of Battle. This is the category where an army will languish for years with no updates or models, then a couple bones will be thrown to the players, and then nothing for many more years.

<points to Fall of Cadia and Armies of the Imperium> So technically, the Sisters of Battle finally got a printed Codex that was a rehash of the garbage White Dwarf list, and even then, stuff was cut out. GW was technically being truthful when they said a new Sisters of Battle codex. The fact that the White Dwarf and digital versions are still better should speak volumes about how much GW worked on this new codex. New plastic Sisters of Battle? Again, technically truthful, because SoB got Cannoness Veridyan, and then a resculpt of St. Celestine and two Seraphim, that are only available in an $80 box set.

I expect the same thing to happen to Dark Eldar and Slaanesh.

Do we know for certain that sisters aren't still getting a full codex release? I kind of figured Agents' and Fall' were meant to be "teasers" to build up interest before the full new release.

I get the feeling the DE are getting SOB'ed as well. Not full removal but put into such a languished state only the most hardcore dedicated fans would even try start the army or keep collecting what is essentially a hibernating line. I think SoB will see a new general army in plastic but it might be later on when 8th drops.

To long did not read

Ugh. No they are not going anywhere. They had a supplement come out with new kits in late 2014.

They have one of the best model lines in all of 40k.

Almost every army has been through a bad codex. Relax. Everything will be fine.

The lack of special characters has to do with timing. The Chapterhouse kerfuffle had just finished and they knew finecast was a loser, so those characters were removed.

Your Dark Eldar will rise again. Probably with a shiny new copywritable name, but they are not going anywhere. Gangs of Commoragh and all the fluff mentions lately prove my point.

Grimlineman wrote:
To long did not read

This is everything that is wrong with society and human nature. It's not even 30 paragraphs, and I use "Paragraph" loosely!

No, GW is reformatting the game to make it a little simpler, like AoS, they are grouping a large array of factions such as the eldar (dark eldar, craftworlds and harlequins) the imperium, chaos and xenos. Slanneshi daemons got an update mid last year so there is no chance they would get rid of something that so recently got an update, they are just giving slannesh a rival in the lore.

I was a steadfast DE player until the last codex came out. The loss of The duke nerfed my build dropping almost every SC was a crappy move and the codex made me sell my force that went back to the mostly metal range. I pretty much rage quit the army sold it and moved to other armies.

The Dark Eldar literally got a new boardgame specifically for them earlier this week, the first non-Imperial boardgame for 40k,
They aren't getting squatted anytime soon.

 Verviedi wrote:

Grimlineman wrote:
To long did not read

This is everything that is wrong with society and human nature. It's not even 30 paragraphs, and I use "Paragraph" loosely!

5500 words. Absolutely nothing.

I'm actually about to start a dark eldar army. I think they look great, They've got some of the nicest looking kits in the game, some of the most bad ass fluff, and they look like they are going to be great fun to play in my casual meta.

People need to stop focusing what factions DON'T have and start thinking about what they DO have going for them.

It's the same with my Nids, they've got one of the worst codices in the game, but by god they are fun to play with, and easily one of my favourite armies. Great models, fun lore.

If you want to join the WAAC meta then maybe you need to collect a different army though.

 kingbobbito wrote:

 Verviedi wrote:

Grimlineman wrote:
To long did not read

This is everything that is wrong with society and human nature. It's not even 30 paragraphs, and I use "Paragraph" loosely!

5500 words. Absolutely nothing.

Wrong. 1210 or so. It's absolutely nothing.

 Verviedi wrote:

 kingbobbito wrote:

 Verviedi wrote:

Grimlineman wrote:
To long did not read

This is everything that is wrong with society and human nature. It's not even 30 paragraphs, and I use "Paragraph" loosely!

5500 words. Absolutely nothing.

Wrong. 1210 or so. It's absolutely nothing.

Oh, then microsoft word is a big fat liar.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ah, 5500 character

 General Kroll wrote:
I'm actually about to start a dark eldar army. I think they look great, They've got some of the nicest looking kits in the game, some of the most bad ass fluff, and they look like they are going to be great fun to play in my casual meta.

People need to stop focusing what factions DON'T have and start thinking about what they DO have going for them.

It's the same with my Nids, they've got one of the worst codices in the game, but by god they are fun to play with, and easily one of my favourite armies. Great models, fun lore.

If you want to join the WAAC meta then maybe you need to collect a different army though.

I empathise with what you say here. For years I heard people moan about the state of chaos - the model line, the rules - and so I compared that to my experience. I'd get my models out, look at them, see how beautiful they were, then play a game with my friends that made me laugh and smile, and I'd wonder what those people were moaning about. We have an amazing hobby that gives hours of fun and enjoyment, and people are complaining because some model lines got new kits or books and the chaos line didn't. I just can't get on board with that mentality.*

*I still respect people's right to moan on the internet.

And OP, so as not to derail the thread too much: To a certain extent, I agree. It's somewhat disheartening to see model lines that are languishing and have not had any attention and that seem to be something GW want rid of. Perhaps they should just put Slaanesh and Dark Eldar out of their misery. However, there have always been model lines that exist but for long periods have not been extensive or up to date - Legion of the Damned, Deathwatch, Forces of the inquisition, Catachans, Mordian Iron Guard, Tallarns and so on. I have just considered these 'niche interest' ranges that are for people who like converting. Maybe that's the way Dark Eldar and Slaanesh are now. I don't think that's a problem as such.

regarding Slaanish, I think it's worth noting that the emperor's children have, arguably, some of the best rules for a traitor legion.