Kastor Krieg Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 (edited) 2 hours ago, Alby the Slayer said: I guess they increase hair volume/mass on the models to maybe create a more spooky-oriental ghost/shadow effect. Faces are more hidden now in all the models. They are less muscular, they have more lean bodies. Yup, this is it. Faces being also more elongated, with larger and more pronounced noses. Torsos not facing the golden angle, turned aside instead. Leanness instead of buffness, faces very much obscured by hair, weird frowns instead of "mouthless masks" on some of them. Those are very weird artistic choices, given the originals. They're "wimpier" and by far, far less menacing than the original models. This was going my "two boxes, must buy" with keeping the Night Lords a maybe. Now the entire thing is "meh, not really" :| Edited January 19 by Kastor Krieg Scribe 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMawr Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 1 minute ago, Kastor Krieg said: Yup, this is it. Faces being also more elongated, with larger and more pronounced noses. Torsos not facing the golden angle, turned aside instead. Leanness instead of buffness, faces very much obscured by hair, weird frowns instead of "mouthless masks" on some of them. Those are very weird artistic choices, given the originals. They're "wimpier" and by far, far less menacing than the original models. The mouth thing was always the case, its also part of their lore actually that at times they can have no mouth or an unnerving one. When I saw them one of my first thoughts was that they now vibe more with Yncarne than with Avatar ( despite not their faction.) and I think thats it, they are less buff, and also the edges are less hard/edgy and more rounded. I think they are great, but I get where people are coming from... weapons and bale effect especially are major improvements though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
de Selby Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 I think they are very very subtly less cool than the metals they replace, but there are ten of them and they are plastic so we can move on I guess, much like with the somewhat unexciting plastic aspect warriors that have been trickling out. Aarik 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CL_Mission Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Admittedly Mandrakes were never my favourite when it came to Dark Eldar but theses are a nice update to the old models and I'll probably pick the box up to add these to my army and put the Nigh Lords in a drawer for a rainy day. If anything I like the leaner look with the more covered faces, makes them a bit spookier perhaps. As for the terrain I agree the giant frog head is much more tempting that what we see here but it will be useful enough in any 40k themed games I imagine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePenitentOne Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 I've always liked Mandrakes, and I like these too. It's nice to see a bit of variance in the unit- having an identifiable leader, a Balefire specialist and some heavy sword types is a net improvement to the unit. Having 10 sculpts instead of five is an improvement to the unit. I do understand some people's preference for the original sculpt- only three of these heads have adequate face visibility, and while I get the Grudge/ Ringu reference, I think it should have been a 5/5 split, or even 6/4 split between face and hair. Also, the clothing is a little more skirt than hakama compared to the old sculpt. And while I agree that these look somewhat less muscular, they're also likely to be a bit bigger, which may compensate. I managed to pick up 5 of the resin ones just in case I didn't like the new sculpt, so it looks like I'm going to have the option to field 15 unless they changed minimum squad size (which is likely because there is a leader). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scribe Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 5 hours ago, Kastor Krieg said: Faces being also more elongated, with larger and more pronounced noses. Torsos not facing the golden angle, turned aside instead. Leanness instead of buffness, faces very much obscured by hair, weird frowns instead of "mouthless masks" on some of them. Those are very weird artistic choices, given the originals. They're "wimpier" and by far, far less menacing than the original models. Yes, this and the side by side image last page nailed it for me. They lost their menace, their edge. There are parts of the DE range that I still adore after the refresh, but some stuff is just a miss and it kills me. Kastor Krieg 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitnam Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 I really don't see the problem. They still look great to me, and I think they'd fit in alongside the old resin models ZeroWolf, Petitioner's City, Ming the Merciless and 1 other 4 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Clock Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 I'm here for it. Been using Khainite Shadowstalkers and 'arcane kabalite bowmen' conversions for ages... So good to see a proper drukhari unit release! Many of the split team boxes have been 'nearly' for me. This one will be the first one I'm actually trying to get at release. Cheers, The Good Doctor. tinpact 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wispy Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 (edited) looks great! exciting! good to put another finecast kit into the rubbish, Edited January 19 by Wispy Ming the Merciless and beefeb 2 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePenitentOne Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 10 hours ago, Dr. Clock said: I'm here for it. Been using Khainite Shadowstalkers and 'arcane kabalite bowmen' conversions for ages... So good to see a proper drukhari unit release! Many of the split team boxes have been 'nearly' for me. This one will be the first one I'm actually trying to get at release. Cheers, The Good Doctor. I really like the Mandrakes, but my chaos flavour is EC. The Night Lords in the box are good looking models, but I'd never play them. It is an upgrade sprue, so in theory I could just build them as regular CSM... But I need to spend my limited budget on the Kroot box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brother_b Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 What’s the green fire stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefeb Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Been looking at these.....a couple of posters above hit the nail on the head for what seemed off about them....faces are weird, too much hair, skinny/weedy bodies. This has caused them to look a bit like a moody teen trying to be edgy, rather than the menace of the original metal sculpts. The skirts/cloth also seem too big for them now, like a small kid has put on their mums dress. Im not saying they are bad...they arent, they are great sculpts overall....I just dont get the same level of menace that I got from the originals. skylerboodie 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoatibix Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 The video helps them look a bit better I feel. However, I do get a slightly cartoony vibe from some of the models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrawlingCleaner Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 5 hours ago, brother_b said: What’s the green fire stuff? It's Balefire which they get from the life energies of those they kill. Mandrakes are from a part of Commoragh that is in eternal darkness and other Drukhari are terrified of them. Very edgy! brother_b 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OttoVonAwesome Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 On 1/18/2024 at 11:13 PM, Doctor Perils said: I actually agree, but can't put my finger on what it is. Perhaps the hair hiding the faces? Could also simply be the paint job? I like the addition of the swords and especially the klaive, but also feel it would have been more appropriate to have more knives. I do like that there are some more feminine bodies in there. The shadow effect does _not_ work on the bottom right guy for me - and I actually liked the warcry shadow guys. Did they say any of the others were specialists of some form? It's the robes. they don't look like samurai pants anymore. beefeb 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ming the Merciless Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 28.5mm bases I'm assuming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Clock Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 12 hours ago, ThePenitentOne said: I really like the Mandrakes, but my chaos flavour is EC. The Night Lords in the box are good looking models, but I'd never play them. It is an upgrade sprue, so in theory I could just build them as regular CSM... But I need to spend my limited budget on the Kroot box. TBF my plan is to split with a friend who's loved NL from the 90s but hasn't ever had any proper ones - the previous versions were all so naff... I play WE for Chaos and definitely don't need any more Zerks, but I would probably keep the NL just as a side project if buddy wasn't interested. The 2 kits will both come around on their own soon enough, so hopefully you can get some kroot behind you before you take a quick dip over to Aelindrach. It only took me like a year after release to catch Kasrkin in the webstore and with space in my painting queue lol. Cheers, The Good Doctor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusted Boltgun Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 New battle report up on WH+. Pre-order this Saturday? Ming the Merciless 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triszin Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Who knows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrawlingCleaner Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 1 hour ago, Rusted Boltgun said: New battle report up on WH+. Pre-order this Saturday? This is what's up for Pre-order this weekend: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/03/24/sunday-preview-frozen-skirmishes-necromundan-oddballs-and-reinforcements-for-legions-imperialis/ So I'm guessing we have a Sunday Preview this Sunday for preorder next Saturday (6th) and release on the 20th April Rusted Boltgun, ZeroWolf and Ming the Merciless 2 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorpion Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 On 1/19/2024 at 1:36 AM, Orion said: Not really a fan of the new cloth sculpts. What I'm not a fan of the difficulty that players might have to tell different operatives from one another Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crimsondave Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 I wish they'd hurry up. I've been wanting to give GW my money for NIGHT LORDS since they previewed them! LSM and skylerboodie 1 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Eye Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 The sculpts look alright to me, but the shadow effect looks silly and the fire sculpts look worse than the metal originals IMO. Fire Golem 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripper.McGuirl Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 I think the basic mandrake dudes are pretty rad, I’m glad they are plastic now, and I will 100% be converting the specialists to stand out more. MithrilForge 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephaston Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Incoming next week. Ming the Merciless 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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