Implications of 9th for Drukhari

[ThePenitentOne]

You guys are brave. I've become too paranoid to grow my army. I got rocked by scale changes on SoB; I had a painted metal army, and I'm a VERY slow painter, so that's a big deal. I loved the old range, but I also love the new. I had hoped to use them together. That is not happening.

 

So now, we've got a new edition, which leads to new releases and resculpts, and we've got Lelith hints that suggest there is at least some new coming for us.

 

I LOVE Mandrakes. They've always been personal faves. But because they're finecast, they're likely to get resculpts. I like them as they exist now, and I might hate the new sculpt; this makes me want to buy some just in case. BUT if I do like the new sculpt, and it out-scales the old, I won't be able to use them together, so any money spent on them would be wasted.

 

Grotesques are another unit that will likely get a resculpt; in this case though, I don't like the originals. But there's every reason to believe that a new sculpt will be better, so it still feels risky to convert or proxy.

 

Hence paralysis.

 

I probably will buy this Lelith, even though I know for sure she's getting replaced. I suspect that the new Lelith will be great, but I think she'll be different enough that I might want the old model. The new Repentia for example; they've grown on me, and I've decided to buy in (the old ones don't match scale). But I'm glad I have the classic models, even though they'll never see the field again.

 

This is why I'm terrified they'll redo our troops choices, all three of which currently look great. Trueborn and Bloodbrides? If they mess with scale, no biggie. They're bigger than their troop level kin because they're better. If they do resize troops, the $400.00 CAD spent on DE since February is pretty much wasted.

 

And of course, with no timeline for release (since nobody is looking beyond Marines and Necrons for at least another month), the paralysis is even more pronounced. I was hoping that next weeks preview would present in broad strokes, a general idea about what is planned for the edition as a whole rather than focusing so much in the immediate wave of new release which we've already been drip fed for more than a month. I put up a few posts to see what others thought the odds of that were, and it didn't go so well.

 

Apparently there's a Space Marine landspeeder that was hinted at with a silhouette forever ago and no one has seen a picture yet, so that's one of the guesses, and there's supposed to be another Necron thing that hasn't been shown off yet too. Not what I had hoped to hear, but as soon as it was said, I couldn't deny that it's exactly what we're going to get in the preview and all we're going to get.

 

We don't even have an idea at this point about whether they're going to dex blitz or launch another campaign. I believe last edition change, they had told us by now that they had planned to release many codexes, and that the release cycle was going to be fast paced. We have nothing like that this time around.

[harlokin]

I agree with you...I like to think that part of my motivation for going ahead with finecast Mandrakes, and spending time converting Grotesques is that it guarantees that new sculpts will be with us soon

That said, I find the Mandrakes quirky, but I don't think they fit the more recent Drukahri aesthetic; Samurai-Illidan....why? In the case of Grotesques, you can get such good resulst with Crypt Horrors and Talos bits, that I think its worth well the effort.

I'm not convinced about Lelith, for me it will depend on her rules. If she's locked into Cult of Strife (or even Ynnari), then she will be a bit of a letdown. One of the reasons for Drazhar being so good is not just his statline, but also that you can plug him in anywhere as a Drukahri HQ.

I don't think there is any chance that they will get rid of the current Kabalite or Wych models. They are too new, plastic, and we aren't popular enough of a faction to make it financially worthwhile. We could well get Trueborn, and they will likely be a bit bigger (as the new Incubi are), but that doesn't bother me.




 

Edited July 17, 2020 by harlokin

[WarriorFish]

I don't see the existing plastics being redone any time soon either, nor any good reasons GW would want to. The range is still great and plenty of other armies need and deserve attention first. By updating non-plastic models GW is doing exactly what it should be for DE, and what I'd wager the majority of DE players want Not that I'd say no to a new unit or something...