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I just looked at the sneek peeks page for 40K and they have a unit called the masque, that is coming out. Looks like Dark Eldar. Dont know much about them myself.

The Masque is the special Slanneshi Herald for the Daemons.

Oh ok, nevermind then. So its daemons then. Shows what I know about dark eldar. Like I said they are a mystery.

Looks like the Harlequin from Hell.

ZF-

When I first saw this picture my nipples got all hard and I was like "Oh snap! Dark Eldar is comin!?"... then I saw the cheesy lobster claw things and realized it was a slowed demon.

yea codex daemons comes out next, and DE should be shorty after (usually meaning like next year lol)

Unless they decide to do SM vs. DE in the 5th Ed Box Set, I wouldn't count on it.

Recent developments indicate that after Codex: Daemons, we'll have 5th Ed., then Codex: SM. I don't know what will come after that, but yeah, I wouldn't expect DE until Spring '09 at the earliest.

Current word is that the 5th Ed boxed set will be marines and orks. See this thread on Warseer for details: http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129187

Soooooooo, Dark Eldar will have gone through 3 whole editions of 40k before they get a new codex... but Space Marines will have gotten 2 vanilla codex, 2 Dark Angel, 2 Blood Angel, 1 Black Templar, and 1 Space Wolf.

Yeah, we can see where the love is.

Funny, DBM. Bastirous says he expects them next year. You respond saying no, the earliest they'll come out is Spring. . . of next year.

Well, to be fair, Bastirous was saying that they'd be next after Codex: Daemons, but yes - I didn't disagree with his assessment that they'd be next year.

At least they'll be getting a new Codex and not be Apocalypto'd!

Stelek wrote:At least they'll be getting a new Codex and not be Apocalypto'd!

Not exactly.

Many people *want* them to be getting a new Codex. These people like to pretend that Dark Eldar are getting the next slot, that their lack of sales somehow makes the Dark Eldar deserving of a lot of development work.

But there's precious little actual evidence of this, just a awful lot of wishful thinking and conjecture.

Dark Eldar won't move to Apocalypse as long as 40k doesn't do a major revamp. If there should ever be a major revamp of the 40k game engine, I expect that the Dark Eldar will be Squatted as soon as their 40k3 Codex is no longer compatible.

What's the deal with the lobster claw anyways? IN THE GRIMDARKNESS OF THE FAR FUTURE THERE ARE ONLY FISHERMEN? I can't think of who else would lust after lobster...

smart_alex wrote:Shows what I know about dark eldar. Like I said they are a mystery.

Yes, they're not what they seem to be. They're always a mystery.

Just like you and me.

I'd love to see them update the dark eldar, and the test Harmonculi minis makes me think that someone on the GW side is at the very least thinking about it. Rumors I've heard suggest that they're going to completely rework the backstory for the ED

Those "test Harmonculi minis" to which you refer are not test minis at all. They are unreleased sculpts Juan Diaz did as interview/audition pieces which then resulted in his being hired by GW. This was many years ago. They most certainly not "evidence" that work is being done on the DE now or in the recent past.

Well i would expect them to redo IG and inquisition after the DE or 5th ed codex comes out. Its going on 5 years i believe for IG.

5 years is laughable. Since the 4th edition Marine Codex, DE have had the oldest dex in print. I think its going on 10-11 years?

Any rumor to them getting a new dex I would assume to be a 10th anniversary cover of the current one.

In that span, they recieved one update, wereas other armies, even orks, recieved tons.

I would love to see a new DE dex. Not that the current one is underpowered.

Oh come on, they had an update 3-4 years ago. That counts for something.

For what it is worth. I spoke to a GW rep and he was pretty sure considering what Games Workshop has done in the past that the DE would be getting a rules update in say a WD before any codex and then eventually have new sculpted models and a new codex.

The problem is Space Marines are where it's at (Chaos or Imperial) and the Xenos races don't bring in the money like Marines do.

It was explained to me this way. Every year 15yr olds buy Space Marines. Even if they don't stay with the game the following year there will always be more 15yr olds to buy Space Marines that year.

Commissar wrote:For what it is worth. I spoke to a GW rep and he was pretty sure considering what Games Workshop has done in the past that the DE would be getting a rules update in say a WD before any codex and then eventually have new sculpted models and a new codex.

Was this "GW rep" director of marketing? Is he in the position to greenlight a DE codex or determine if any studio resources will be allocated towards a DE update? Because if not, then those assurances/speculation are worthless.

KiMonarrez wrote:Oh come on, they had an update 3-4 years ago. That counts for something.

There last and only update was more like 5-6. They last recieved an update when we still had chapter approved in WD. DE got the shaft. Orks have had speed freaks, ferals, a clan system and now a new dex. The only other army to get shafted as much as them is SoB. They had to wait all of 3rd for a codex, and now wont see one in 4th.

Reasons why DE got the shaft?

Poor execution from the beginning resulted in low popularity of the army, thus low sales. Compare this to Orks or Marines who have a rich, well developed concept and good models. Consequently, they sell well and as such continue to receive support. It's a positive feedback loop.

And not to bring up the much discussed LatD, but they're much more screwed than the poor DE.

I mean, there are a lot of incongruities between the fluff of the Eldar and their rules as far as why and how they go to war, but I mean with the Dark Eldar there's not even a semblance of logic as to how their society operates and continues to survive. DE fluff sucks, their core miniatures suck (Warriors and Raider chassis vehicles, I'm looking at you - don't even get me started on Warp Beasts, tho those aren't core) - thus, the number of folks that regularly play DE are vastly outnumbered by folks playing other armies.

Here's the kicker, though. This is what really tells me that people aren't interested in DE. You can still build competitive armies with their Codex. While lots of other things in 40K have changed that have nerfed one army or the other, nothing has changed that has made it so that you can't compete with a DE army.

And yet how often do you see people running DE armies? That's how much the aesthetics of an army drives interest and consequently, sales.

Particularly with 5th Ed coming out, there's all sorts of more interesting projects for GW developers to work on instead of revamping DE fluff and models. And until things dry up enough for someone to really get a bee in their bonnet about doing this for DE, I don't think we'll be seeing anything new for them in a while.

I could see if GW really wanted to do something in the interim with some changes to DE rules that they could do a WD Codex like they did with Blood Angels. But frankly, right now there's just not anything interesting enough about DE to do anything more than that.

The sad part is that the DE don't even need a major rewrite. Most of the list is fine there are just some parts that are out of sync with the current rules.

While I (and I'm sure most DE players) would love to see a full re-write, a thorough update and a WD codex would suffice.

Kymera wrote:The sad part is that the DE don't even need a major rewrite. Most of the list is fine there are just some parts that are out of sync with the current rules.

While I (and I'm sure most DE players) would love to see a full re-write, a thorough update and a WD codex would suffice.

Death By Monkeys wrote:...their core miniatures suck (Warriors and Raider chassis vehicles, I'm looking at you - don't even get me started on Warp Beasts, tho those aren't core) - thus, the number of folks that regularly play DE are vastly outnumbered by folks playing other armies.

...And yet how often do you see people running DE armies? That's how much the aesthetics of an army drives interest and consequently, sales.

QFT. That's the heart of it- they're fugly and lack character, so few people want to play them. That's enough to sink the line.

But with decent minis and some minor fluff work, they could be just as viable as the regular Eldar. Heck, with open-topped fast transports and assault-oriented wych cults making one aspect of DE easy to play (versus the difficult of delicate maneuver armies), they could end up _more_ popular than Eldar for entry-level players.

Savnock wrote:But with decent minis and some minor fluff work, they could be just as viable as the regular Eldar.

And so could LatD, Ad Mech, Hrud, Squats, and Pan Fo. That doesn't mean any of those armies are getting released. If GW are going to invest all these resources to basically do an army from scratch why should that army be DE? If they're essentially introducing a "new" race to the game, is it wise to pick the candidate with a proven track record of poor sales?

I'm not a big fan of them, but I do have a army of the massed DE that pull the ork tactics of massed troops rushing with mass. They really lack the tanks, titans, or flyers to be relevent, anymore.

The 30in shot kinda helps, even though they don't last long. Keep them pinned, then roll in from the sides.

The wiches were meh, but as for close combat, you get what you get.

They were ok for 3d edition, but I'd rather see some LATD before we go back to these guys first. If they go the route of the " New Jervisified kentucky fried "40K, don't hold your breath for a remake until 2021.

Abadabadoobaddon wrote:

Savnock wrote:But with decent minis and some minor fluff work, they could be just as viable as the regular Eldar.

And so could LatD, Ad Mech, Hrud, Squats, and Pan Fo. That doesn't mean any of those armies are getting released. If GW are going to invest all these resources to basically do an army from scratch why should that army be DE? If they're essentially introducing a "new" race to the game, is it wise to pick the candidate with a proven track record of poor sales?

Well, they do have a small but dedicated fanbase already using the current minis. If someone is _that-... um, interested, they would be an easy sell for a whole new set of much-better figs. Plus, if they make DE more integrated with the wider Eldar fluff, there would be considerable crossover appeal. Especially if the jetbikes were usable for both armies with only a few magnets.

And while they don't have tons of good fluff, some decent basework has been done. by basework, i mean mainly carving them a place amongst the 40K background, with a nice "vacant 'till wecan write something worthwhile" sign hanging from it. Between this and the fairly-workable current rules to start from they have quite a bit already invested, and many otherwise-significant costs sunk.

Finally, there's the large amount of interest they get on internet forums (not that that matters much, but good marketers do follow such things).

I just don't think they're going the way of the squat anytime soon.