40k New Archon, Lady Malys & Codex: Drukhari

[Castellan Wulfrik]

Lady Malys is great, a big improvement over Lelith of Hobbiton. Why do we have to lose nice things with releases though? I don't see a good reason to discontinue the existing plastic Archon and the great Combat Patrol gets replaced with an inferior one. Can't we just have nice things? It feels like no one at GW asks the question: is this what customers want?

[marspeople]

Guess Dark Eldar are still waiting for their big redo.

I wonder if all those finecast units will be gone from the codex?

[Jukkiz]

23 minutes ago, marspeople said:

Guess Dark Eldar are still waiting for their big redo.

I wonder if all those finecast units will be gone from the codex?

well, none of them are sold in webstore nomore, so it´s either safe to say they go bye bye or get plastic kits. But knowing GW, it´s gonna be 40€ı box for what... 3 models?

I see that the Lady malys seems to be good direction to female faces, or atleast hope so.

[Ulfast]

I just hope we get more then just an updated archon and Lady Malys. Drukhari needs so much more, like 4-5 new updated units and also something new. We are like one of the few armies that has hardly got any new in a long long time. 

[sitnam]

1 minute ago, Ulfast said:

I just hope we get more then just an updated archon and Lady Malys. Drukhari needs so much more, like 4-5 new updated units and also something new. We are like one of the few armies that has hardly got any new in a long long time. 

 

Yeah I'm honestly kinda shocked they aren't getting the big redo. Last codex of the edition, nothing else in sight after their release. They seemed poised for a big refresh 

 

At least we can hope Kill Team will add something else. Both a Beast Master or Court of the Archon could go hard

[Ripper.McGuirl]

I am really surprised they did Malys and not Urien, and at the fact that we have seen the coven CP and there are no new grotesques in it. The fact that we now have images for a battleforce and a CP and there are no new units, makes me think these are the only new things.

I suppose it’s possible there is something else, but my guess is they replace the court with the Hand of the Archon and drop the beasts for a while.

[Halandaar]

2 hours ago, Ulfast said:

I just hope we get more then just an updated archon and Lady Malys. Drukhari needs so much more, like 4-5 new updated units and also something new. We are like one of the few armies that has hardly got any new in a long long time. 

 

2 hours ago, sitnam said:

 

Yeah I'm honestly kinda shocked they aren't getting the big redo. Last codex of the edition, nothing else in sight after their release. They seemed poised for a big refresh 

 

At least we can hope Kill Team will add something else. Both a Beast Master or Court of the Archon could go hard

 

This miniscule release has reinvigorated my hope that 11th Edition will be a reference to 3rd (Marines Vs Dark Eldar). I was originally thinking they wouldn't do Drukhari as the last book of 10th only to replace it at the very beginning of the next edition but 1.) GW has no shame at double-dipping people so them being late in 10th doesn't rule it out, and 2.) if Drukhari comes out in the next ~6 weeks (which is usual for newly-revealed releases), it's actually nearly a year from the first Codexes of 11th which is nowhere near as bad as it could be.

[Wispy]

The Archon comes with swappable bro plate or boobs plate huh?

[Ripper.McGuirl]

5 hours ago, Halandaar said:

 

 

This miniscule release has reinvigorated my hope that 11th Edition will be a reference to 3rd (Marines Vs Dark Eldar). I was originally thinking they wouldn't do Drukhari as the last book of 10th only to replace it at the very beginning of the next edition but 1.) GW has no shame at double-dipping people so them being late in 10th doesn't rule it out, and 2.) if Drukhari comes out in the next ~6 weeks (which is usual for newly-revealed releases), it's actually nearly a year from the first Codexes of 11th which is nowhere near as bad as it could be.

A 3rd edition Re-vamp is not out of the question considering it could include assault primaris/temar stuff, and new drukhari stuff. Also they did do a MTO of the 3rd edition box in recent memory as well as a WHTV bat rep where they replayed 3rd edition missions with modern templar and drukhari armies.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

They didn´t mess up her face. Maybe I will pick her up at some point. Now we need a new model for Kruellagh. She will wreak havoc on the Imperium with her 101 mutated dalmatians.

[Evil Eye]

6 minutes ago, Deus_Ex_Machina said:

They didn´t mess up her face. Maybe I will pick her up at some point. Now we need a new model for Kruellagh. She will wreak havoc on the Imperium with her 101 mutated dalmatians.

The world isn't ready for a new Kruellagh. That flosskini is something else!

[sarabando]

honestly i really hope a lot of the stuff doesnt get updated. 

Kabalites, wyches, raiders, ravagers, hellions, incubi are all fine, 

Its mostly the humonculii covens stuff that needs updating

new beast master and beasts (make the clawed fiend the size of a redemptor plz)

grotesques and new wracks etc. 

[ZeroWolf]

11 hours ago, Ripper.McGuirl said:

A 3rd edition Re-vamp is not out of the question considering it could include assault primaris/temar stuff, and new drukhari stuff. Also they did do a MTO of the 3rd edition box in recent memory as well as a WHTV bat rep where they replayed 3rd edition missions with modern templar and drukhari armies.

Sadly (or not, depends on your pov), current rumours seem to be locked in to Orks as the main xenos antagonist for 11th. Thus we're actually getting 2nd/5th edition starter 2: electric bugaloo. 

 

Given GWs current state of leaks and the fact that 11th edition will be entering print soon enough, I'd expect more confirmation on that front soon.

 

Speaking of leaks, I wonder when someone will turn up with the Drukhari codex in hand...

[Alby the Slayer]

1 hour ago, ZeroWolf said:

Speaking of leaks, I wonder when someone will turn up with the Drukhari codex in hand...

 

I do hope to see some new awesome official artworks. They are really slacking with those in the codexes, lately.

[Karhedron]

1 hour ago, ZeroWolf said:

Speaking of leaks, I wonder when someone will turn up with the Drukhari codex in hand...

 

Knights came out a day or two ago so I imagine DE will be either next week or the week after at the latest.

[Magos Takatus]

On 9/9/2025 at 10:05 PM, Evil Eye said:

The world isn't ready for a new Kruellagh. That flosskini is something else!

Good point. That wouldn't fly in these more sensitive times.  I can't imagine how they could make a good update to Kruellagh. I'm sure someone could pull it off somehow but I just remember her model being spectacularly janky and the concept was bizarre as well.

[TheMawr]

14 minutes ago, Magos Takatus said:

Good point. That wouldn't fly in these more sensitive times.  I can't imagine how they could make a good update to Kruellagh. I'm sure someone could pull it off somehow but I just remember her model being spectacularly janky and the concept was bizarre as well.

 

While the Flosskini ( I like that word :p ) is a token meme, officially I only know her painted like this :

 

 

Wich also fits with all the art of her I know.. a tight skinsuit, but fully covered in contrary to the wyches of the time. And Im pretty sure it wasnt a case of censorship as both the Slavegirls and Diaz daemonettes are newer than Kruellagh. What Im trying to say is, isnt almost completely naked Kruellagh an unofficial interpretation because many people painted her skinsuit as.. well.. skin ? 

 

This art, though I think there was another old one closer to the miniature :

 

In combination with the miniature always made me think that she was heavily inspired by a combination of Catwoman, Hellraiser (like all dark eldar) and return of the living dead 3.

And its exactly there where one would update her imho ( as I do with all my drafts :p )

 

[Tastyfish]

More than a bit of Species too I think, from that artwork.

 

 

 

 

[Magos Takatus]

7 hours ago, TheMawr said:

 

While the Flosskini ( I like that word :p ) is a token meme, officially I only know her painted like this :

 

 

Wich also fits with all the art of her I know.. a tight skinsuit, but fully covered in contrary to the wyches of the time. And Im pretty sure it wasnt a case of censorship as both the Slavegirls and Diaz daemonettes are newer than Kruellagh. What Im trying to say is, isnt almost completely naked Kruellagh an unofficial interpretation because many people painted her skinsuit as.. well.. skin ? 

 

This art, though I think there was another old one closer to the miniature :

 

In combination with the miniature always made me think that she was heavily inspired by a combination of Catwoman, Hellraiser (like all dark eldar) and return of the living dead 3.

And its exactly there where one would update her imho ( as I do with all my drafts :p )

 

The artwork looks a lot better than the miniature in this case in my opinion. I'd forgotten the people used to paint her bodysuit as skin, that made the model look even more strange!  The art makes the strange hand stabby tubes look a little less silly, too.

[ursvamp]

14 hours ago, TheMawr said:

 

 

In combination with the miniature always made me think that she was heavily inspired by a combination of Catwoman, Hellraiser (like all dark eldar) and return of the living dead 3.

I’d rather say that she’s straight up a dominatrix, and inspired by the BDSM-scene (which Hellraiser is also, Burton’s version of Catwoman too I’d guess, but I don’t Return3 so can’t speak for that).

I mean, her Kabal is called The Emasculators.

 

So I’d say it’s drawing from the same sources as, rather than being inspired by, those things. But definitely moving around in the same spaces/doing kind of the same things!

 

the Species comparision is interesting! With the whole ”fear of the unfettered feminine” theme/subtext.

[Tastyfish]

5 hours ago, ursvamp said:

I’d rather say that she’s straight up a dominatrix, and inspired by the BDSM-scene (which Hellraiser is also, Burton’s version of Catwoman too I’d guess, but I don’t Return3 so can’t speak for that).

I mean, her Kabal is called The Emasculators.

 

So I’d say it’s drawing from the same sources as, rather than being inspired by, those things. But definitely moving around in the same spaces/doing kind of the same things!

 

the Species comparision is interesting! With the whole ”fear of the unfettered feminine” theme/subtext.

It's also another film to incorporate Giger's biomechanical style as an influence (particularly the pipes on the bodice) - and there's clearly some shared influences there with some of the Tyranid's design cues, linked via Alien.

[Evil Eye]

All joking aside, a new Kruellagh would be nice but even assuming the old model is "supposed to be" painted with a skinsuit rather than strategically placed Tamiya tape, I imagine she'd get rather heavily censored if poor Lelith getting made to wear trousers is anything to go by. I expect some serious toning down of the design and background (and probably retconning the name of her Kabal)- an evil elf dominatrix with a spray-on costume that drains her enemies' vital fluids with her hands probably wouldn't get past the censors in this dark age we live in.

[ThePenitentOne]

What's kind of interesting wil Kruellah is that we might be able to make an approximation using Crusade perks depending on how they handle Battle Homours in the new dex. The same can be said of Sliscuss. Obviously, battle honours are meant to be earned over time, but you can use them to create rules profiles for scratch-built named characters that are consistent with official GW rules.

[CL_Mission]

Codex has leaked

 

[Lord Marshal]

Damn, that was fast. Really can't be too far away then.