Hand of Archon Models

[Brother Christopher]

Hello! I'm a first timer in this subforum. When it comes to fantasy and sci-fi, I'm a pretty vanilla, boring person. My favourite town in Heroes of Might and Magic III is Castle, my go-to 40k faction is Space Marines.

 

However, I'm enamoured with the Dark Eldar - I like their vibes and aesthetics. As such, I'd love to tackle a side project of sorts and have been eyeing the Hand of Archon kill team for some time. But I'd like to ask you this: are the models in that kit/box new sculpts or are they based on the old (2014?) refreshed models? Or are they completely new sculpts, like the vanilla Eldar refresh?

 

Having made mistakes in the past, I know that I'm a slow painter and don't want to get involved in older 40k kits any more (I'm sure that new kits will come out before I finish what I bought).

[Ming the Merciless]

Hand of the Archon is the 2014 Kabalite Warriors kit with an upgrade sprue.

[Brother Christopher]

Oh, that's an absolute pity. I'll put my DE plans on hold for the time being. Hopefully, GW will do something cool for them, once they're done with the tidal wave of Space Marines upgrades.

 

Thank you for the reply! :)

 

BTW: I don't mean to imply that the current minis are bad. They were great at the time of their release and don't age poorly at all. 

[Ming the Merciless]

According to rumours (Valrak) Drukhari are due a range refresh come 11th edition. How far into the edition and how big a refresh is anybody's guess, at a minimum I''d expect the return of Urien Rakarth and Grotesques, Court of the Archon also seems likely (not so sure about the Beastmaster). Additionally anything on a 25mm base could be updated (and rebased to 28.5mm).

[Brother Christopher]

Thank you for the additional info and guidance! I'll head back to my most-vanilla-of-all Marines and will keep a look out for cooler models in the future! Maybe in the meanwhile GW will release a cool kill team for a small side painting project.

[ThePenitentOne]

37 minutes ago, Ming the Merciless said:

According to rumours (Valrak) Drukhari are due a range refresh come 11th edition. How far into the edition and how big a refresh is anybody's guess, at a minimum I''d expect the return of Urien Rakarth and Grotesques, Court of the Archon also seems likely (not so sure about the Beastmaster). Additionally anything on a 25mm base could be updated (and rebased to 28.5mm).

 

Agree that Urien and Grotesques are almost a guarantee. But I actually have more faith in Beasts than the Court. The Court's role has been taken by the Hand; there's no real reason for the Court to exist (other than being cool!). This especially apparent with the Disciple of Yaelindra specialist, who is a clear replacement for the Lhamaean.

 

Part of me hopes they do not update Kabalites, Wyches or Wracks. I'm afraid of scale creep, of disappearing options, of complex assembly and a loss of cross-kit compatibility. None of those things are guaranteed to happen with a new kit, but none of them are guaranteed not to happen either.

[Brother Christopher]

47 minutes ago, ThePenitentOne said:

Part of me hopes they do not update Kabalites, Wyches or Wracks. I'm afraid of scale creep, of disappearing options, of complex assembly and a loss of cross-kit compatibility. None of those things are guaranteed to happen with a new kit, but none of them are guaranteed not to happen either.

 

I totally understand where you're coming from. I've only recently started transitioning to Primaris side-project and your concerns have been mine for a long time (they still are, to a large extent). Personally, for my purposes, I want the potentially larger models with less options but for me, they will be just miniatures to paint, completely detached from the game(s). Oh, I do hate the complex assembly of many of the new kits, with models being split into a bazilion parts and laid out in counter-intuitive and often bizarre places.

 

I hope that you, as DE players and collectors, will be lucky to get a remake as good as the most recent one! <3