Hello everyone,
Like most of the bunnies I am just going to do a short post about my goals for this year and what you can expect to see from me in the coming months! As you have probably gathered already there is a different feel to the blog this year as everyone is starting to look at how they can complete their legion projects but also add Xenos armies to the fray. We are making progress with beginning our campaigns soon so we have all been discussing which Xenos armies we would like to start in the coming year. For me its going to be Dark Eldar!
With there only being a few armies that are usable in the great crusade from GW, King Fluff is doing some amazing work on other Xenos factions which i'm sure you will begin to see in the future. I am a big fan of Orks like most of the other bunnies, however, Darien has a fantasic Ork army already so I chose to go with the vacant spot for Dark Eldar.
I do love their cruel and gladiatorial aesthetic, so it will be fun to start on a new challenge. I will just be starting off with a pretty standard force to begin with mainly based on the kabalite warriors and other key units. Although I will be looking to make the list as fluffy as I can whilst being competitive enough to give the legions a real test of their abilities. Forgeworlds Tantalus and Reaper skimmers look very cool and I think they will definitely have a place in the army.
I know the Dark Eldar make an appearance in Promethian Sun on Nocturne with Vulkan, however, whether the Dark Eldar were like their 40K incarnations in the Great Crusade has been something we were unsure about. However some great research from Kaelo has found that they were very similar and were involved in pleasure and pain cults before the fall occurred. Due to this we think they should be called Eldar Cult here on the blog to represent their earlier selves.
Kaelo's research also showed that the Haemonculi were around since before the fall too and were part of these cults as were the ancient Haemonculi. The awesome looking Talos Pain Engine was also one of the first torture devices created so it should be included in the Great Crusade, also Wracks seem like they should be included if the Haemonculi were present too. Finally something about Mandrakes, the fluff isn't exact on their origin but it is believed that they could be created through the union of daemon and eldar! Pretty weird but again could well have happened before and after the fall. If you have any more information you can share with us about the 30K Eldar Cults please feel free to let us know in the comments :).
Finally I can not forget to talk about the Iron Tenth! Work continues at a good pace with the Iron Hands and I have recently been putting together a present and future version of one of my important characters. However, there are many other units that I just need to apply transfers to before I can show them to you all (I just keep putting it off!)
So here's a quick list of what I've got in the pipeline:
- Iron Hands Character
- Predator Tank (The third one in the squadron)
- Plasma Gun tactical support squad
- Volkite Caliver tactical support squad
- Contemptor Dreadnought
- Cerebus Heavy Tank Destroyer
I'm sure I will be working on the legion for the rest of the year, so I will be concentrating on what I need to be finished for the coming campaigns before I begin the majority of the Eldar Cults.
I hope you are all cracking on with your projects! Please feel free to share any Eldar Cults fluff in the comments section and I will absorb all of your information while i'm at work!
Thanks again,
Aveinus Kaane
If around before the Fall, is there chance of a Dark Eldar Avatar?
ReplyDeleteI don't know the lore particularly well, but I think it would make sense that there would be. At least in those early stages in and around the fall the line between what was right and wrong was blurred so I could see them being on either side.
DeleteI do have Dark Eldar (from their release) but cant say I know the lore very well either but my initial thought went to a Dark Eldar Avatar with wraithlords, wraithknights and incubi!! Plus assorted warriors etc!
Deletethere wouldn't be many wraith constructs as these are really last ditch efforts of Craftworld Eldar to bolster their shrinking fighting forces.
DeleteRemember the 30K setting is some time AFTER the fall so presumably the only non-Craftworld Eldar are corsairs, exodites and those living in the webway same as in 40K.
Ah but there are tons of Wraiths in Angel exterminatus. It's possible eldar would have small forces with some Wraiths in them
DeleteFairly sure Fulgrim also rips an eldar wraithknight apart as well so easy to assume Dark Eldar would have some!
DeleteGagrit- typical example of GW breaking its own fluff.
DeleteDark Eldar aren't supposed to be able to use Wraithbone as they can't use psychic powers in the webway...
Hi Knight - in Path of the Renegade, I believe there were "Crones" which used Psychic powers. But I may be wrong. They were exiled creatures, but I would love to see them entered into the game.
DeleteYup. If you grab the Dark Eldar Codex it does state in the timeline section that they are only really referred to as Dark Eldar around m32 I think. Before that as you and Kaelo say they were just decadent and depraved Eldar.
ReplyDeleteKaelo's Mymeara book sounds like it has a fantastic and very customisable Corsair list which could form a good base?
Apart from that. Any ideas on colour scheme? Metalics? Fades? Airbrushed?
Dark cults were around before the fall. It's only M32 that they start referring to them as 'Dark Eldar'. The DE Codex is viable in my opinion. These are the Eldar I see:
DeleteCorsairs - Corsair List
Craftworld Eldar
Ghost Warriors
Exodites
Eldar Pleasure and Pain Cults (Dark Eldar Codex).
Yeah I think the codex is definitely viable too based on the lore. Plus it will be great to have so many different eldar factions in the crusade. I will have a look at the corsair list too, but I think i'd like there to be a difference between the Eldar Cults and the Corsairs :).
DeleteAs for Colour schemes I'm looking at going with a mainly metallic scheme which uses washes as well. I really want something that is easy and quick to complete but visually nice and distinctive. Ill do a post once I have decided on it. My main focus will be on the legions so they will be an interesting side project!
All sounds good to me then.
DeleteA nice metallic colour scheme would look great.
Cool, another Xenos project. Like drake, I'm interested in the colour.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see the iron tenth. Get micro soling..
Once I have decided on the colour scheme i'll do a post on it :) probably metallic though. I know! I need to start but i'm wanting to do it when I see the bunnies again to make sure I get it right!
DeleteGreat plan, I am a big fan of Dark Eldar, cant wait to see your take on them :)
ReplyDeleteCheers Darko :), I'll be looking for an easy but effective scheme so I can get them done as quick as possible alongside legion projects.
DeleteThe only info I have on the dark eldar during that time is that they should be destroyed. :)
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness dunno anything.
Good luck with the upcoming projects.
Haha yes you know about as much as me then!
DeleteDon't forget the short story 'The Butcher's Nails' where Angron is being shadowed all his way to Ultramar by an opportunistic Eldar fleet that looks very much like the usual Dark Eldar one. And its 'prince' seems to have a bodyguard of Incubi, according to their description. I think the current Codex would be perfectly valid for a 30K setting, and the matches would be very interesting because almost all of the psychological bonuses for the DE are negated by the 'And they shall know no fear' rule, which is not present in 30K.
ReplyDeleteYes! well remembered i'll be listening to that again for research! I really like the Incubi models so they are an auto include. Good point about that rule too, it will definitely make for a more interesting game.
DeleteI really like the idea of Eldar Cults! Dark Eldar didn't just appear at the fall and think you have found a good way to represent the beginnings of them! The Dark Eldar codex is fun to play with and against and I look forward to having some games against them!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing further updates on the Iron Tenth! What you have completed so far looks awesome!!
I imagine the Dark Eldar have been their same old she's even before the Crusade. I remember a few short stories where Eldar raiders mucked around on Vulkan's homeworld, they were explicitly stated as being Dark Eldar. If I recall correctly, the fall went down a millennia or two before the Great Crusade, plenty of time for the Dark Eldar to develop.
ReplyDeleteA cool little tidbit though, you should perhaps leave out Sslyth in your army list. It's speculated that they are actually the descendents of Laer, seeing as the codex says their kind fell into Slaaneshi worship.
Another idea, have you guys thought of doing some Eldar Corsairs? From what I've been hearing, they can easily stand up to the Legions ...
I am doing Corsairs they are my 2016 Xenos project :)
DeleteThe Corsair list is one of the most interesting I have ever looked at and I have some fun ideas for them. Stay tuned for second quarter of the year.
DeleteLaer you say 😜
DeleteThere is also the very old short story 'Wolf at the door' where a pack of Space Wolves liberate a human world from the clutches oflongstanding Dark Eldar oppression. They bad guys use hovering open-topped craft and prey on the defenceless population from their abode in high spires that dot the planet - very much like the Barbaran Undead overlords but without the bad odour.
ReplyDeleteHadn't Harlequins popped up by then too? Already going between the factions..?
ReplyDeleteAs the DE 'race' was younger, ie they hadn't died so many times, are you going to jig the power from pain rules? Also more Trueborn would be about surely?
No Harlequins unfortunately! :( they didn't show up until M33 properly and no real mention of them before that, aside from being summoned to the webway by Cegorach. So not really sure what form they took before this.
DeleteWe will look potentially look at the power from pain rules and more trueborn makes sense!
Yeah unfortunately so, thanks for answering Darien :). I remember reading it in the harlequin codex timeline.
DeleteIf I remember my research the Dark Eldar are pretty much what 'standard' Eldar were leading up to the fall. You had the self righteous Eldar who went to find the maiden worlds to live out the great plan and turn away from excesses and became Exodites and the moderates who jumped ship (on to a ship) and became craftworld Eldar. From Angel Exterminatus it looks as though 'spirit Warriors' or wraith constructs were anti theft devices placed on funerary worlds (which explains the desperation of their employment during the 40k timeline)
ReplyDeleteThe new Corsair Army list also suggests that the Corsairs are assumed to be the normal standard Eldar before the fall. From what I understand, Eldar Pleasure and Pain Cults were formed by anyone who didn't leave (Craftworlds, Exodites etc). These were the societal majority until she who thirsts came along.
DeleteI would disagree..Codex space marines, chaos space marines, Sisters, grey Knights are the books that aren't compatible in the crusade era. Everything else will work either as described or as proxies as some random alien race..(crons and nids) so really, we're loosing only one army, the grey Knights.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary :)
DeleteWe made a decision a while ago that the Necrons and Tyranids were too iconic to proxy into 30k. Genestealer Cults were active, Tyranids (unfortunately) were not - confirmed in the novels.
Necrons were early awakening protocols only and only Tomb Stalkers and Scarabs would be awake at this point - confirmed by Andy Hoare.
We tend not to proxy codexes either as we love writing our own ^^
It's a shame because I would LOVE to fight some giant space bugs!!
There are more than a few robotic enemies the crusading legions fought against, some were even of human origin. We've been using the tyranids as megaarachnids or just random space bugs. The legions are so much more fun to play with than their watered down 40k meq. Limiting your games just seems silly to me, but is just my opinion. You should try a game once or twice, it's been great fun having Vulkan and his fire drake guard, crashing into a brood of fexes (apoc formation) and ripping them apart..while my opponent mutters something "fucking primarchs"
Delete