Mandrakes don't seem to exist any more...

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**Crispy78**

Was just checking my GW wish list ahead of my birthday and noticed the entry for Mandrakes said 'no longer available'. They appear to have been removed from the web store...

Anyone know anything about this?

**Irbis**

Seeing they don't have last chance to buy mark, it's the exact same thing as in every other thread asking about unit X being gone, lack of stock/reboxing to new art/change of instructions inside the box/whatever other reason GW has for brief stop of unit orders by store software...

**SamusDrake**

I see them updated for Kill Team, together with Striking Scorpions...

...I did not say this...

...I am not here...

**ccs**

all(?) of the finecast pieces in the Drukari range were put on stock rotation a while ago.

If you want them right now? You'll just have to shop EBay etc for them.

**Crispy78**

Oh were they? Completely missed that!

**Overread**

Yeah for some reason whilst GW can push out Warcry warbands like crazy, they've been very slow to update finecast to plastic and it seem to have hit a head where they just want the material gone from general circulation. So they've started putting a lot into range rotation. Which I think is a way for them to buy time to replace a bunch of them with plastic versions and every so often do a made-to-order print run to keep customers happy.

It might be a symptom of "design led work practice" where the sculptors work on what they like more than what's "needed". So you end up with new models and new concepts and such and things in popular armies with the sculptors whilst other forces or less popular stuff gets pushed back and back.

**Dysartes**

Silly question - Dark Eldar players are, generally, happy with the Finecast-era design of the Mandrakes, they just want them in a material less prone to defects, right?

I haven't held those Mandrakes in hand, but how undercut-y are they? Should they be tricky to port to plastic?

**Crispy78**

I don't have any yet, but yeah - I really like the design. Am worried any update will bugger them up, same as they did with the Haemonculus. Hate the current one compared to its predecessor.

Wouldn't know about the second part.

**VladimirHerzog**

Dysartes wrote:
Silly question - Dark Eldar players are, generally, happy with the Finecast-era design of the Mandrakes, they just want them in a material less prone to defects, right?

I haven't held those Mandrakes in hand, but how undercut-y are they? Should they be tricky to port to plastic?

i don't plat DE as much these days but mandrakes pissed me off so much with how fragile their weapon are.

The design is simple enough (and looks amazing), porting them to plastic shouldnt be too hard

**Tyel**

VladimirHerzog wrote:
i don't plat DE as much these days but mandrakes pissed me off so much with how fragile their weapon are.

The design is simple enough (and looks amazing), porting them to plastic shouldnt be too hard

Yeah, you might tweak some details - but its unclear why its a bigger/more difficult job than say moving Wracks from finecast to plastic. (Or Incubi.)

**vipoid**

Dysartes wrote:
Silly question - Dark Eldar players are, generally, happy with the Finecast-era design of the Mandrakes, they just want them in a material less prone to defects, right?

Yeah, aside from the material I'd say they've held up pretty well. The only issue I can think of is that their skirts are very blocky.

Beyond that, it gets more into wishlist territory (e.g. I'd still like to get a Mandrake character, though that would probably be a separate kit anyway). It might be nice to have more options than 'none', but that's more about rules than models.

**SamusDrake**

I noticed a converted Tree Revenant that made a decent Mandrake. Maybe a bit of putty for the baggy trousers?

**vipoid**

SamusDrake wrote:
I noticed a converted Tree Revenant that made a decent Mandrake. Maybe a bit of putty for the baggy trousers?

Do you happen to have a link? I always enjoy seeing conversions.

**SamusDrake**

"tree revenant mandrake conversion" will do the trick with google.

I'd say a box of them and kabalites or even Wyches, but it would depend on size differences, which I'm not entirely sure on. MDs for the upper body, Kabs for the lower bodies. The cool thing about Kabalites is that you'll still have 5 left over for a small unit, possibly a fire team for Kill Team.

**Baltika**

Also plenty of people using Idoneth Deepkin Namarti Thralls as Mandrake stand-ins. They don’t have the baggy trousers and long hair of the originals, but as creepy elves with big swords, they look just fine, to my eye. A mandrake-style paint job works wonders for them.

**vipoid**

SamusDrake wrote:
"tree revenant mandrake conversion" will do the trick with google.

I'd say a box of them and kabalites or even Wyches, but it would depend on size differences, which I'm not entirely sure on. MDs for the upper body, Kabs for the lower bodies. The cool thing about Kabalites is that you'll still have 5 left over for a small unit, possibly a fire team for Kill Team.

Had a look. Yeah, the Tree Revenants work very well for Mandrakes. Their weapons are very similar and they have an appropriately creepy aesthetic.

Also nice to see elven models that aren't either bald or sporting topknots.

Baltika wrote:
Also plenty of people using Idoneth Deepkin Namarti Thralls as Mandrake stand-ins. They don’t have the baggy trousers and long hair of the originals, but as creepy elves with big swords, they look just fine, to my eye. A mandrake-style paint job works wonders for them.

Can't say I'm a fan of them, tbh. I get why people use them but for me the lack of hair really kills the aesthetic.

Also, the poses and two-handed weapons put me more in mind of shirtless Incubi than Mandrakes.