Forgotten Eldar units/models you'd like to see return

[Evil Eye]

The Eldar have probably been one of the least changed armies in the game in terms of aesthetics and roster, with very few units being dropped altogether and the range as a whole remaining very consistent. It speaks volumes on how strong the design language is that the army has remained recognizable over the decades.

 

That said, there are a few units that have been lost to time, and would be nice to have back- this is a thread to discuss those.

 

Speaking for myself, three stand out.

 

Eldar War Robot:

An alternate build option for the RT era Wraithlord/"Eldar Dreadnought", the War Robot features a smaller head and, notably, two small battle drone companions. Speaking for myself, I'd love to see these brought back in some fashion; I'm thinking they could work as war constructs with no actual spirit of their own, guided into battle by a Bonesinger or other such character.

 

Eldar Knights (from Epic):

The Eldar do have a Knight analogue in the form of the Wraithknight, of course, but these are IMO at least much more creative. The digitigrade Fire Gale, four-armed Towering Destroyer and centaurian Bright Stallion are really interesting, unique models, and whilst I doubt they'll ever see 28mm battlefields again they'd be great for if LI gets Xenos support.

 

Firestorm:

Poor old Firestorm. The oft-forgotten anti-air Falcon variant. Perhaps it's because of how...questionable aircraft rules tend to be in 40K (usually either being totally broken or kinda useless) but compared to the other Falcon chassis-mates it seems to have been forsaken by history, which is honestly a bit sad. Especially given how cool that trio of scatter lasers looks.

 

Anyway, what do you guys think? Did I miss anything?

[Karhedron]

I always thought that the Firestorm should have been an easy hit. However since we are losing the Marine Hunter and Stalker, I think the chances of getting a dedicated AA tank look pretty remote.

[Bouargh]

The Wraithguard is a direct evolution of the battle drones, isn´t it?. And the Eldar war Robot was a lesser dreanougth; I wonder if it wasn´t at a moment changed to be another Ghost structure called a Phoenix Lord. Before the Phoenix lords form aspect warriors themselves... I would ave to rescue my copies of 40k compendium and 40k compilation to check out. 

 

Anyway, getting some knights such as the Bright Stallion could be something exiting.

 

But as far as I am concerned, lost units I´d like to see (or to see again) even more would be (in that order):

• Bone Singer
• Recreation of the Harlequin structure as initially defined with missing Troupe Mime and Master Mime. Warlocks and and High Warlock (may be this one is the Shadow Seer now...) .

 

• Guardian standard bearer
• Nuadu Firehearth (I know he never had any mini but rules only)
• Saim hann kinsmen from Craftworlds Codex supplement 3rd Ed

If I can dream bigger: a revival of the Corsair units from FW would be great too (especially the warwalker or the deep striking guardians inc, the one in special wepons squads (even if these are in fact Scourges from Dark in now))

 

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Bouargh

[Evil Eye]

2 hours ago, Bouargh said:

The Wraithguard is a direct evolution of the battle drones, isn´t it?. And the Eldar war Robot was a lesser dreanougth; I wonder if it wasn´t at a moment changed to be another Ghost structure called a Phoenix Lord. Before the Phoenix lords form aspect warriors themselves... I would ave to rescue my copies of 40k compendium and 40k compilation to check out. 

The battle drones are considerably smaller than Wraithguard, being "normal" sized as opposed to the still-quite-tall Wraithguard, which IIRC even at their smallest were about a head taller than a Primaris Marine I wanna say?

 

Totally agree the Bonesinger needs to make a comeback. And the Wasp Assault Walker would be great to have back; it'd be easy enough to shove an extra sprue in the War Walker box, honestly.

[Bouargh]

3 hours ago, Karhedron said:

I always thought that the Firestorm should have been an easy hit. However since we are losing the Marine Hunter and Stalker, I think the chances of getting a dedicated AA tank look pretty remote.

 

There is still the Hydra... Interestingly my Stalker gave its best result while used not as AA but as anti SM infantery... the effect of so many autocannons shooting at the same time on a single target I imagine. 

 

While talking of Eldars, may be it will not get any AA specialized units. This is a possibility. Yet I presume other will, as smashing down all these eldarish units with FLY keyword might balance results.

 

31 minutes ago, Evil Eye said:

The battle drones are considerably smaller than Wraithguard, being "normal" sized as opposed to the still-quite-tall Wraithguard, which IIRC even at their smallest were about a head taller than a Primaris Marine I wanna say?

 

The size does not really matter as we are talking of designs with 40 years time diffrences. Everything as gone bigger lately (ie over the past 2 decades)

Anyway, I rescued my Compendium and here are the rules from that time:

 

 

The model from the Catalog marked War Robot was then upgraded to Spirit-Warrior, While Ghost Warriors are described in terms that fit better to WraithGuard. Yet their role of assassin and scouts may indeed testify that the evolution of the concept (that led to the Wraithguards) has lost some stuff on its way. 

 

I do not have the liber Astronomicon so no copy of the original Eldar pirate list. But the Crafworlder from The 40k COmpillation book is indeed quite cñlose of today´s list, with exception of vehicles and 2 aspects...

 

I also noticed that while the Mimes are included in the Lore and description of the Harlequin genuine list (they even have a profile in the bestiary part) they are missing from the army list....

 

This one as a proxy Bone singer, less otT than the promotional model IMO...

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Bouargh

[Emperor Ming]

Is that a guardian with a harp.....

[ThePenitentOne]

Harlequin Wraithlords:

[Bouargh]

12 hours ago, Emperor Ming said:

Is that a guardian with a harp.....

 

Yes it is. Use to be one of the first metal minis of the range. It was even named (Kelos Longfinger). There was a kind of pianist/synthetizor player (?) too, with small keyboard in each hand and an ampli as back pack (Kaele Lightprow).

[TheMawr]

14 hours ago, ThePenitentOne said:

Harlequin Wraithlords:

 

Werent these just conversions using the Harlequin jetbike leader canopy (talking about lost models btw.) ? They also didnt had (nor need) bespoke rules as like now, at that time harlequins were fully integrated with eldar thus you could ( like now again ) make an harlequin army using the general eldar armory.

 

[TheMawr]

Here it is :

 

 

 

Also when looking trough my images.. while not really lost models.. Id love if fire dragons take cues from these over the newer sleeker ones :

[CancelledApocalypse]

2 hours ago, TheMawr said:

Also when looking trough my images.. while not really lost models.. Id love if fire dragons take cues from these over the newer sleeker ones :

 

3rd edition Fire Dragons were about the only update to the range from that era that I liked at all (other than hawks, which we still have). I still prefer 2nd edition and the more recent dragons, though. Just wish the current helmets were a bit less tall. A kit with options to have this style of helmet as well as the more traditional helmets would be good, though.

 

Just nothing else from 3rd... please... scorpions were... ugh.

[Karhedron]

1 hour ago, CancelledApocalypse said:

Just nothing else from 3rd... please... scorpions were... ugh.

 

Ah yes. The dreaded Striking Bunny Wabbits.

 

[Captain Coolpants]

My first thoughts were the FW corsairs. They had many units without models that still don't have models in the new range. And unfortunately the existing upgrade kits weren't even remotely incorporated into the new corsair range (jet packs and such). 

 

And my second thought was the stallion! It would make a real cool centerpiece model. But I think sizing it appropriately would be difficult. 

[Evil Eye]

1 hour ago, Karhedron said:

 

Ah yes. The dreaded Striking Bunny Wabbits.

 

What, they're perfectly ordinary Striking ScOH MY GOODNESS!

 

I will say that buck teeth aside they aren't too bad, I like the helmet crests a lot.

[CancelledApocalypse]

2 hours ago, Evil Eye said:

What, they're perfectly ordinary Striking ScOH MY GOODNESS!

 

I will say that buck teeth aside they aren't too bad, I like the helmet crests a lot.

 

I hate the helmets with a passion, from the weird mandiblasters (they're just blobs that have been stuck on with very little to show what they do) to the decidedly penile crests, to the aforementioned buck-teeth. Actually, the helmets in general make me think of fairytale elves from childrens cartoons, which is an odd vibe for supposedly stealthy and deadly killers.

 

The poses are also about as ugly and unnatural as you can possibly make them. The armour is okay... but that's mainly because it hasn't strayed too far from the previous iteration of scorpion armour, but something about it just feels weird, whether it's the proportions, or just because the poses are so off the wall.

[Xenith]

I think Eldar are noted somewhere to just feel...'wrong' to a human, from the way they stand and speak - it would make sense that their battle poses would also be unnatural for humans! 

 

Didn't the firestorm just get rules in the IA book? I seem to recall this. 

 

I'd love to see the fire gale class knights and indeed more Eldar titans. A plastic Revenant would be amazing. 

 

An upgrade kit to turn guardians into corsairs woulddn't go amiss.

 

On 8/2/2023 at 4:49 PM, Evil Eye said:

The Eldar have probably been one of the least changed armies in the game in terms of aesthetics and roster, with very few units being dropped altogether and the range as a whole remaining very consistent. It speaks volumes on how strong the design language is that the army has remained recognizable over the decades.

 

I think this is very tru - the Eldar have an enduring appal and aesthetic, and there don't seem to be too many new unit to add. Maybe they will be the bad guy for 11th ed. I think the most recent units were the wraithblades, wraithknight and Crimson Hunter in ~2012 right?

[TheMawr]

4 hours ago, Xenith said:

I think Eldar are noted somewhere to just feel...'wrong' to a human, from the way they stand and speak - it would make sense that their battle poses would also be unnatural for humans! 

 

Didn't the firestorm just get rules in the IA book? I seem to recall this. 

 

I'd love to see the fire gale class knights and indeed more Eldar titans. A plastic Revenant would be amazing. 

 

An upgrade kit to turn guardians into corsairs woulddn't go amiss.

 

 

I think this is very tru - the Eldar have an enduring appal and aesthetic, and there don't seem to be too many new unit to add. Maybe they will be the bad guy for 11th ed. I think the most recent units were the wraithblades, wraithknight and Crimson Hunter in ~2012 right?

Shroudrunners last year ;)

 

Also the skyweavers, voidweaver and starweaver in 2017(?) But those are harlequins ( i count them, but maybe you dont)

 

Was the farseer/warlock on jetbike an option before the model release ? ( im not certain there )

[CancelledApocalypse]

5 hours ago, Xenith said:

I think Eldar are noted somewhere to just feel...'wrong' to a human, from the way they stand and speak - it would make sense that their battle poses would also be unnatural for humans!

 

'Wrong', sure, but I think that was more in relation to the unnerving precision to their movements and their proportions (Eldar likewise refer to humans as squat, brutish and blunt-featured, so who's right? :P ), rather than their battle poses. Besides, there's a difference between looking 'wrong' and looking 'comical', which is what I think those scorpions look like. Maybe that's just me, though.

 

5 hours ago, Xenith said:

I'd love to see the fire gale class knights and indeed more Eldar titans. A plastic Revenant would be amazing.

 

Yes, so much yes to a plastic revenant, though I doubt that's going to happen any time soon.

 

I'd like to see fire gale knights return as part of a larger exodite faction. That would match their original lore better, due to them not originally being wraith constructs and being based on planets rather than craftworlds.

 

Edited August 4, 2023 by CancelledApocalypse

[The Yncarne]

Just expanded Corsair options and a mime. Not really missing most of the rogue trader designs.

[Trokair]

I’d love for the ‘Ghost Warriors’ to come back as a light infantry option for a Wraith Host themed army. Something between Striking Scorpions, Rangers and Storm Guardians.

 

Also, and this is pretty much a forlorn hope at this point, but if the Epic Scale knights and titans ever make it into Titanicus (or now LI) I would buy so many.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Trokair

[Avf]

The battle drones and the bright stallion would be insta-buy for me. But what size are we talking about, would the bright stallion be larger than a Lord of skulls, or nearly the same size?