Dark Elves for October (MEGATHREAD with New Pics!)

[Begel Dverl]

Part One!

Hi,
many sources point to a Dark Elf armbook release in October. Here the latest 40k Radio rumours:

NEW RUMORS for Warhammer Fantasy! My "source" has sent me pictures of the new Dark Elf release. The Dark Elves will be out in October with a slew of new models:

1) NEW Plastic Dark Elf Warrior Box(Makes Spearmen, swordsmen, & crossbowmen)
2) NEW PLastic Dark Riders/Warlocks
3) NEW Plastic Blackguard/Executioners
4) NEW Plastic Coldone Chariot/Scroungerunner(Pulled by horses)
5) NEW Plastic Cauldron of Blood/Blood Throne(This model is AMAZING)
6) NEW Plastic Hydra/Kraken
7) NEW Plastic Witch Elf box

This will be a huge release and the Dark Elves will be the best looking Fantasy army, IMHO. These models are breathe taking and Dark Elf fans will have their minds blown!

Added 8th September:
From one of the 40k Radio hosts:

Even though it is 40k radio both myself and the other host both play a lot of WHFB. We can't and won't show pics unless our source gives us the ok. The pictures we have received are the high res pictures that will be in the WD. If you have any questions I will be more than happy to answer them to my utmost ability here or on our Facebook page.

As of right now we only have the pics, no details on the book. Last time we got the pictures and then the book a little later. As soon as we get more info we will pass it on. So as far as the weapons I can only go off the pictures. Here is what I see:

Warlocks appear to have one hand weapon
The new chariot crew is armed with spears and what looks to be a large crossbow or bolt thrower on the chariot.

The pictures have me thinking I want to collect another Dark Elves army. We have not received pics of any of the characters but that doesn't mean there won't be any.

The new Warriors look quite different to me. But then again I am a big geek that notices stuff like that. They have cloaks that come down their back and all the helmets don't cover the eyes any more.

The warlocks are bare chested, and the weapons look mundane...aka not glowing. They look like large jagged daggers. They are held in reverse grips which looks pretty slick. The warlock champions eyes are glowing which IMO hints at some magical abilities. md as far as the warriors go I think a big difference will be the size of them. Look at the size difference between Isle of Blood Lothern Sea Guard and the normal High Elves spearman.

Im really excited to hear about a plastic hydra finally.

It looks bigger and beefier. Like we said Dark Elves are setting the bar for the best range of models in WHFB.

Can you tell what size base the hydra is on?

I can't really tell from the pic. The two handlers are actually on the base so I don't have their base size to compare to. Sorry.

The cloaks hang down from underneath the shoulder armor and cover the back of the chain mail. It definitely is new for them but it looks really cool. The Druchii warriors also have shoulder armor. It makes them look simply awesome. The skull embossed on their shields looks great too. Yes the Hydra does have 2 handlers.

The Warriors, Black Guard, and Dark Riders all have cloaks. None of them appear to have face coverings. The Executioners appear to have skull faced helms. The theme to me appears to be a more sinister version of their High Elf bretheren. The plate armor has very spiked and jagged edges. The style will still fit well with the Shades and Reaper but next to these new models they will look very dated.

-The Kraken has 5 heads/fanged maws. The have spines and scales with smooth neck and belly flesh. Scales are painted a Dark Grey with the softer flesh painted blue. Looks awesome.
-The pictures we have of the Witch Elves has them with two hand weapons.
-Black Guard look very stalwart with large halberds and high helms with 3 spikes on each side with a flowing plume on top. Their armor is black trimmed in gold and they have dark purple cloaks. The unit champion is holding a sword by the hilt with the blade planted in the ground. Musician is a drummer.
-The executioners have what look like skull helms, and their armor is a brighter silver than the Black Guard. Their tunics are red in color and the Draiches are all held on the left hand side of their bodies (their left our right). They look very cool ranked up.

The Dark Riders are very cool looking. Sleek looking horses with only a bit of armor. All of the Riders are hunched over in the saddle to give the illusion of speeding fast cav. The helmets appear to be open faced and they are armed with spears in the picture I have, once again that doesn't mean they wont get crossbows (in the pictures we have they are in the back ground behind the Warlocks). The Kraken doesn't have tentacles, it has four legs with webbed appendages ending in claws and it also has a tail. The Cauldron of Blood/Blood Throne look very cool. If you are a fan of the newer larger models GW has been putting out for WHFB you will really dig it. It is a bit toned down compared to the Empire Celestial Hurricanum/Luminark of Hysh and has blades and hooks on it to make it very sinister and Dark Elf. I also want to say thanks for such the warm welcome. I am glad that you guys are fired up for this release. As soon as more info becomes available to us I will share it on our Facebook and post here too. I will continue to answer questions about the models to the best of my ability and thank you for being very understanding as to why we cant release the pictures sent to us. You guys are awesome!

so i've got something new to say.
someone just told me that dark elf have army-wide ASF rule.

More info from the FB thread:

Execs use swords (phew!). Black Guards look "amazing", with bulkier shoulders and tall helmets with plumes, so I guess pretty much like they look now (in that respect at least).
The Cauldron has six wheels and two staircases leading up to the platform with the big statue of Khaine. It is not pulled by anything, so maybe (my assumption it will be used like the Screaming Bell? Three Witch Elves on it, lots of spikes and blades.

Edit: and more! The Witch Elves have loincloths and bras (obviously) and look "vicious". On the Throne, there is something that looks like half-Witch Elf, half Medusa, with snakes as hair.

Now I'm almost literally foaming.

Also, weren't there, a month or so ago, a batch of rumours that said something like "Cauldron kit makes both the CoB and a Medusa thing" that we all thought were too wishlisty? It could be useful to find them and re-evaluate them.
(...)

Found it:

First post so be kind. I have a friend who works for GW and he told me about 2 weeks ago about a dual kit hydra / some other monster, dual kit plastic witch elves / sisters of slaughter, new cauldron and medusa kit thing was his exact words. not sure if anyone else has mentioned these.

By Arthurius11, in the now-locked thread that preceded this one. Now, we haven't heard anything about Sisters of Slaughter by the guys of 40k radio, but that doesn't mean it's not real. Perhaps it's a simple weapon swap that wasn't featured in the pics they received or something like that.

Edit: The new Hydra is beefier than the current one. And the WEs on the Throne use spears.

I have to say, they are being quite nice answering all my questions! I don't want to pester them, though.

Edit: Warlocks are bare-chested, with long flowing hair, painted white. They seem to have black eyes (or no eyes), except for the champion, whose eyes are glowing. Dark Riders are cloaked (of course), and hunched over in the saddle, in order to present a low profile.

And that should be all from me today. I need to sleep. Someone else ask them things!

The following might have already been mentioned - apologies - haven't read every post.
I can't verify the validity or the source. I think only one or 2 out of the 6 below will turn out to be true. We shall see - in the last week of September.

1) 2 new monsters (or monstrous units?) not 1. One monster from Karond Kar (Is this the Kraken? Does it fly? - I don't know) and the other may be from Har Ganeth

2) Temple of Khaine artifacts remain - Don't know whether there are new poisons or not

3) Maybe a new unit from Har Ganeth or a modification for Executioners?

4) Improved Assassins - could be a Save or improved Hidden rules.

5) I think rumours of City Guard, Slaves etc are probably hopeful speculation. Dark Magic and Black Horror will probably remain as do all the present units but following latest trends there are bound to be new units.

I am hoping for interesting new additions/improvements to the rules.

Shabbadoo, a veteran rumour poster on Warseer, confirms the first 40k radio rumours with this post

I would recommend that it might just be a good idea for everyone to NOT give anybody much of a hassle over this "wish-listy" list, because there is no wishing there at all. OK, before saying anything this sweeping and all-encompassing, I better look at it again...

Nope. Nothing wish-listy there apparently. If you play Dark Elves, and you like that list (and, yes, that is not everything), you might as well pop the champagne already. Pics ought to start oozing out within a week if this turns out anything like Space Marines did, and I will add that pre-orders ought to go up on the 28th.

Lastly, before anybody puts their head up there butt and asks, "But how do YOU know?", just consider that one reason that I (and probably others) really don't say much of anything is precisely because so many of you jack-holes (you know who you are) have become fixated on asking that particular question, and incredulously seem to expect an informative answer of some sort. Say thanks to 40K Radio for sharing, and be done with it.

(...)
People should have already pulled their head out of their butts on that issue when GW redid the Empire Cores, the Skaven Core, and the Beastmen Core. GW is obviously redoing the the poorer looking plastics as they can. Just because they do it for some armies and not for others doesn't mean that they have no plans to replace the poorer sets at all. They just don't have limitless production capability is all. As it seems like most everyone is mellowing out now, here is a small tidbit:

I honestly can't wait to see the pseudo-Medusa of the Blood Throne. It can be really awesome or horrid. I'm hoping for awesome!

It is definitely awesome. It looks somewhat like the Medusa from Clash of the Titans (the newer version of the movie)- snake from the waste down, hair of snakes, not too monstrous of a face; the pose is upright (body up high, supported by the tail). I don't know if players will be able to field this model on a base as its own unit or not (i.e. has its own independent unit entry in the army list), as has been the case with some other combo-kit models like this (the High Elf Lothern Skycutter Lord with trident on foot for instance). As to the crew of the Cauldron of Blood, they are in the style of the plastic Dark Elf Sorceress but are more dynamic with regard to the poses. Armies made up of only the newer models are going to look great on the game table.

As to the rest, I'll leave it to 40k Radio (who did a fine job with the Space Marines info, regardless of what some intarwebz fools with a seeming sense of entitlement might think) and others to drop, as they will no doubt do a great job this time around too. Pics should show up pretty soon I think, as more an more people have now seen them (and pre-orders are only 3 weeks away, or so I have been led to believe).

Added 13th September:

I am indeed connected to 40k Radio. My name is Rik and I am one of the co-hosts along with Kyle and Chad. Feel free to drop by our facebook and I will gladly answer it on there too. My source has said I have free will to talk about and describe the pictures I have seen. I DO NOT have permission to put them up. Someone has been nice enough to send us pictures of the last two releases early and sent of the Space Marine codex early. So why would I betray his trust just to "prove" I am legit? The proof will come when the WD pics start coming out.

Ok so when we asked our source why the Dark Elves release was so large we got this answer:

Because many of the Dark Elves were so old and the poor designs were showing their age. They weren't getting any fan attention so they needed a full reboot.

Nice to see GW taking notice of models that are or aren't working.

So to answer the chariot question: It looks very sleek. The wheel is on the back part of the chariot. The chariot is very low to the ground. Once again it sounds weird but looks cool. Very low profile and ready to smash people.

As to the models I am looking forward to the most that is a really tough question. From a purely selfish standpoint the Warriors. From the look of them with some minor adjustments they would make great High Elves spear men. Over all though I would have to say Black Guard. Standing strong in their armor with burly looking halberds I would say they look the coolest IMO.

The only character picture we seem to have at the moment is Hellebron. That doesn't mean there wont be more.

The Executioners armor is a mixture of armor plates and chain mail.

[Begel Dverl]

Part Two!

New summary by Last Avenger over at BOLS, added 15th September:

1) NEW Plastic Dark Elf Warrior Box (Makes Spearmen, swordsmen, & crossbowmen)
The new Warriors look quite different to me. But then again I am a big geek that notices stuff like that. They have cloaks that come down their back and all the helmets don't cover the eyes any more.
The cloaks hang down from underneath the shoulder armor and cover the back of the chain mail. It definitely is new for them but it looks really cool. The Druchii warriors also have shoulder armor. It makes them look simply awesome. The skull embossed on their shields looks great too.
The Warriors, Black Guard, and Dark Riders all have cloaks. None of them appear to have face coverings.
It does not appear that any of the banners have designs sculpted onto them. The pictures we have of the warriors show 2 regiments, one armed with swords and shields and one armed with spears and shield. Our source tell us that they will make crossbows but we don't have a picture of them.

2) NEW PLastic Dark Riders/Warlocks
Warlocks appear to have one hand weapon
The warlocks are bare chested, and the weapons look mundane...aka not glowing. They look like large jagged daggers. They are held in reverse grips which looks pretty slick. The warlock champions eyes are glowing which IMO hints at some magical abilities.
The Warriors, Black Guard, and Dark Riders all have cloaks. None of them appear to have face coverings.
The Dark Riders are very cool looking. Sleek looking horses with only a bit of armor. All of the Riders are hunched over in the saddle to give the illusion of speeding fast cav. The helmets appear to be open faced and they are armed with spears in the picture I have, once again that doesn't mean they wont get crossbows (in the pictures we have they are in the back ground behind the Warlocks).
There does not appear to be a command group for the Warlocks, only a unit champion.

3) NEW Plastic Blackguard/Executioners
The Warriors, Black Guard, and Dark Riders all have cloaks. None of them appear to have face coverings. The Executioners appear to have skull faced helms. The theme to me appears to be a more sinister version of their High Elf bretheren. The plate armor has very spiked and jagged edges. The style will still fit well with the Shades and Reaper but next to these new models they will look very dated.
-Black Guard look very stalwart with large halberds and high helms with 3 spikes on each side with a flowing plume on top. Their armor is black trimmed in gold and they have dark purple cloaks. The unit champion is holding a sword by the hilt with the blade planted in the ground. Musician is a drummer.
-The executioners have what look like skull helms, and their armor is a brighter silver than the Black Guard. Their tunics are red in color and the Draiches are all held on the left hand side of their bodies (their left our right). They look very cool ranked up.
The Executioner champ is armed with an axe and is holding the decapitated head of a High Elf. Pretty dang cool.

4) NEW Plastic Coldone Chariot/Scroungerunner (Pulled by horses)
The new chariot crew is armed with spears and what looks to be a large crossbow or bolt thrower on the chariot.
For the Scroungerunner charoit the crew look similar to Corsairs. The passenger shooting the crossbow/boltthrower has what appears to be a sea dragon cloak on. There are reins but they look like just normal black leather. The horses look awesome and angry. Both are black in color with red eyes. The chariot only has one wheel that is centered on the back part. Sounds stupid, looks cool. And as usual nasty spikes and blades al
And yes the Cold Ones on the chariot match the current Cold One Knights.


5) NEW Plastic Cauldron of Blood/Blood Throne (This model is AMAZING)
The Cauldron of Blood/Blood Throne look very cool. If you are a fan of the newer larger models GW has been putting out for WHFB you will really dig it. It is a bit toned down compared to the Empire Celestial Hurricanum/Luminark of Hysh and has blades and hooks on it to make it very sinister and Dark Elf.
The Cauldron of Blood/Blood Throne are on a bigger base than the chariot base.
Yes the Cauldron and the Blood throne both have 6 wheels. They are on the same chassis, just with different stuff on the altar. I just noticed that the Witch Elves on Blood Throne have metal masks that cover the front of their face with the exception of their chin and mouth area and of course their eyes.
Ok and now to answer the Medusa question: She has the lower body of a snake and it appears there are other snakes on her base. The right side of her torso is bare, including her breast. In her right hand she is holding a spear. She has armor over her left breast and has a nasty looking clawed gauntlet on her hand. Her mouth is agape and she has snakes for hair. There is also a significant amount of blood on the model.

6) NEW Plastic Hydra/Kraken
About Hydra:It looks bigger and beefier.
Yes the Hydra does have 2 handlers.
-The Kraken has 5 heads/fanged maws. The have spines and scales with smooth neck and belly flesh. Scales are painted a Dark Grey with the softer flesh painted blue. Looks awesome.
The Kraken doesn't have tentacles, it has four legs with webbed appendages ending in claws and it also has a tail.
Yes the Kraken has multiple heads. From the pic it looks like there is one main head with eyes and the other four necks end with fanged maws. Very cool looking. It may sound stupid to people as it is walking but wait until the picture comes out before passing judgement.
You have to clear your head of any preconceived notions of what a Kraken is or looks like. Because lets face it, an 8 legged octopus creature flopping around on land would just not look right. It has 4 limbs that end in webbed feet with claws on them. It also has 5 heads. The main head has beady little eyes right above the mouth. The lower jaw on the main head extends kind of like an octopus tentacle but with teeth on it. The other heads end in an mouth with teeth and 4 claws around the head that look to facilitate grabbing their next meal.

7) NEW Plastic Witch Elf box
-The pictures we have of the Witch Elves has them with two hand weapons.
The witches are also sporting thigh high boots and are very dynamic with their poses. I wonder how much of a pain in the butt it will be to get them to rank up.
The Witch Elves look great. No mowhawks or anything like that. Long flowing hair, thigh high black boots and red loincloths and for lack of a better terms bras. They appear to have open mouths so lord only knows what they are saying before they come in and hack my poor High Elves to bits.
There appears to be a command group for the Witch Elves.

Crone Hellebron?
-Apparently one of the pics we have is Crone Hellebron. She is a little more armored up than a normal WE. She has a sword and a small blade (I am thinking Deathsword and Parrying Blade). She definitely has the big hair like in her artwork in the current army book.She looks young like a regular WE. She has a a bit more clothing, but not much. She has a gold mask covering her face that extends upwards in a crown like fashion. Both arms are raised towards the sky.

Added 17th September:

It is indeed the same source that has provided us the Space Marine pictures and codex.
(...)
According to our source DE were one of the worst selling ranges GW had. I assume they didn't touch HE Spearmen because for some reason they still sell...
(...)
In the pictures I have of the Cauldron of Blood it is just the model with nothing pushing it. It is weird that it does have wheels but nothing pulling. Who knows maybe we will see it getting pushed around like the Screaming Bell.

A bit more detail on the Cauldron of Blood/Blood Throne:

The whole contraption is a large lower platform on six wheels with a smaller raised platform towards the rear, which is reached by two staircases that curve from the lower center outward to the left and right front of the upper platform. The upper platform is where the Hag stands/Medusa is coiled. Near the top of each staircase is a witch elf guard, and they stand with their feet on different levels of the stairs in a nice "guarding" action pose. Those that guard the Medusa have spears, which they are pointing down the stairs, as if threatening anything that might come up them. The Medusa's right arm is holding high a spear, point upwards, and her right breast is bare. Also, the Medusa's body is covered in scattered small cuts from which drips blood. The paint job is in the very clean GW style and looks very nice, but I do look forward to somebody doing a bit grittier, more realistic paint job on the Medusa in particular. Seriously, the Medusa is a pretty badarse model, and anybody who doesn't like it should be publicly ostracized. Behind the Medusa is what looks like a large mirror on a pedestal. The mirror frame is gold, and depicts cavorting Witch Elves. The mirror is painted to look like what appears to be a row of moons in a clear blue daytime sky (i.e. the mirror "looks through to another world" type of thing is what they were going for, I guess). Also, Lion mentioned snakes at the base of the Medusa's tail, but it may be that it is the Medusa's tail that actually splits into multiple serpents itself, as the snakes are painted a similar (though slightly lighter) shade of green to the Medusa's lower snake body. The angle of the pic doesn't show which is the case, so we'll most likely have to wait for the pre-order pics to determine that. For the Cauldron of Blood, at the back of the upper platform behind the Hag is the obligatory large statue of Khaine, sword held aloft.

Lion has described the other models well enough, but I think you can figure out which one of the bunch is my favorite. Pics ought to drop soon (probably this weekend), but it won't be me doing it. That's about all I am going to share. If I hadn't already started High Elves when the Isle of Blood starter set came out, I would be doing Dark Elves. It is going to be very difficult to resist staring them.

Added 22nd September:

so it's clear now, that DE will be released during two months. October we will have warrior, witch elves, blood throne, Kharibdyss (dont know what is it), and a plastic shadowblade.
as we can see GW has put bg, chariot and dark riders to next month along with innocence(the 40K table game,i'm 95% certain that it will be in November). for good reason we can split our money to two months. that's really kind.
for the price:
shadowblade, £12
warrior,£20
witch,£35
throne,£45
kha...balabalabala,£40
(...)
i cant say where i get these news. but it's certain, and we only have these toys this month. do not be disappointed, cause it's clear we have a second wave.

October release:

Dreadspears(Warriors?) £20
Shadowblade £12
Witch Elves £35
Cauldron of Blood £45
Kharibdyss £40

from indie retailer, BTW no pic.

edit: Army book and Magic Card set too, but no "battleforce".

Added 23rd September:
According to Glemigobles over at Warseer, the official box names of October releases seem to be:
Dreadspears/Darkshards/Bleakswords
Witch elves/Sisters of Slaughter
Kharibdyss/Hydra
Cauldron/Bloodwrack Shrine
Shadowblade

[Begel Dverl]

Trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=f4FkKf98Z2o

Is this one of the only times a trailer has come out before any pictures?

[Narric]

Trailer isn't really all that inspiring.

Makes me think more of an expansion to Dreadfleet, than an update to Dark Elves.

[Begel Dverl]

I, for one, welcome our New DE Wych conversions.

More large and blurry pics (from Italy I guess) in spoilers:

Spoiler

[Arguleon-veq]

Those are some lovely models, lets just hope they tone down the book.

[salamut2202]

I started a Dark Elf army a couple of months ago - I made the right choice.

[InsaneTD]

Shadowblade looks fantastic in the plastic. Got to see some stuff on tuesday when I was in store.

[Matt1785]

I am very excited for this release just so that DE can be taken out of the 'big 3'.  We already dumped lizards, now we'll just be leaving Skaven at the top.  Balance to all!

As to the models, it's incredible what they're doing with them.  I am not a HUGE fan of the new Hydra sculpt because it seems more cartoon to the rest of the models, but it's still something.  These are some pretty great looking models, a huge thumbs up for the Cauldron.  I don't play DE but if I were going to, this would be awesome.

Can't wait for tomorrow so I can download my Army Book and learn how they've changed.