The Eldar are an important part of my life. The first time i saw 40k was in 2005 when i was 8 years old and played Dawn of War i immediately got hooked on this universe. And ever since Eldar have been fueling my imagination. I started collecting just in 2017, when i randomly bought the 8th edition codex, now i have 8000 points of Eldar and it isn't stopping :D I'm absolutely a lore fanboy, but at the same time I did attend several tournaments in Poland, which is where i'm from. Nowadays I feel increasingly dissapointed with the state of the Craftworld range, which is left behind heavily in terms of model quality. The Aspect Warriors, the core of the Craftworld military are one of the most ancient models in the game (apart from Dire Avengers and the new Howling Banshees), the guardians and wraithlords are also getting outdated fast and there is still no true Autarch kit that this unit deserves. An Autarch is the equivalent of a Space Marine Captain and while Tau Commanders, Hive Tyrants or other flexible HQs have very detailed, impressive kits with lots of options, the Autarch never had one. They are supposed to select their weapons from any Aspect Warrior shrines they were a part of, but nowadays you can only field the generic autarch with a power sword and a fusion pistol, the finecast one on a jetbike or Prince Yriel painted as a nameless Autarch. Another thing that's bugging me heavily is the lack of representation of their superior technology in the rules. In fact the new units made for Imperium have the same kinds of weapons but far superior to the Eldar counterparts and it just feels so wrong... Look at the Admech Pteraxii as a great example. They serve the same role as Swooping Hawks, which are specifically designed to be anti-horde jetpack infantry. Well Pteraxii have the same guns, but with more shots. Swooping Hawks are also known for using their grenade packs to bombard the enemy, Pteraxii have the same rule, but their bombardment works on 5+ instead of 6+ and it's 3+ against vehicles! I was hoping that the refresh of Jain Zar and the Howling Banshees would set the standard for Eldar upgrades. We will get great plastic kits and an updated ruleset that would be closer to their fighting capabilities from the lore. No such luck. Howling Banshees are supposed to be premium anti-heavy infantry close combat fighters who would have a fair chance against an assault marine in a duel. However their rules still give them measly 2 strength 3 ap -3 damage 1 attacks! That's absolutely pathetic. Jain Zar still doesn't even have an invulnerable save! My friends can't believe me when I say that she doesn't have a 4+ invuln or something. This would sadly suggest that while Imperium factions get new units with superior combat stats, Eldar upgrades will not be changed in the rules department and will remain unsatisfyingly weak in comparison. As a sidenote I'd like you to try to understand my point. I'm not complaining that Craftworlds are a weak faction, they are far from it, but their oldest and most common units (lorewise) are outdated both in case of their models and their rules, which might've been scary in 3rd edition, but they are dissapointing nowadays.
As cool as the intro cutscene for Dawn of War was, the most impressive feat by far was the way they brought the races to life, and the Eldar most of all. They did a superb job with the ethereal, ghostly alien voices and the contempt they hold for the younger races. With Eldar, even the base building process was just a blast; teleporting cloaked structures behind enemy lines and spawning whole armies within their borders was priceless. Macha and Taldeer (and even Careys) are also just great characters. The Eldar campaign in Winter Assault to stave off the predations of their ancient enemy was absolutely thrilling. I hope they have their day in the sun again!
I agree with you about their superior technology not being represented in the rules, especially in some of the weaker units. Some of the Eldar weapons should simply be better to reflect this.
"You need to look at every Aspect of it" "Not every game makes sense for Farseer to stand on dead space marine" - idk, my would be arrogant enough to carry dead marine to stand on at all times. Also the problem with ~25 yo Falcon chassis is that it's so old parts don't fit together that well. It is often bent and hard to glue together, unlike new models like Crimson Hunter.
All of the Phoenix Lords (now bar Jain Zar) are 2nd edition relics, and a large portion of their units date to 3rd, or if they're lucky 4th. Now that Primaris are getting better versions of aspect warriors (24" Melta squads, better Hawks) its time for GW to bring Eldar up to form
The one thing that really bugs me about Eldar is that in the games they always seem to have a female farseer but we dont have anything like that in the actual models.
Yeah, they want to have a female character and, well, SM, CSM, Tyrannid and Orks are right out, and the IG tends to have too many "manly men" fans who would prefer a guy. Eldar don't care. As for there not being a model... well, it's the CWE range, it doesn't get a lot of new models. Maybe the iconic farseer is female, just ... slender.
I will say that in terms of naming, while it is a bit funny that Lords are smaller than Knights, something to be noted is that Knights are actually piloted, at least by half. The Knight consists of a team of two Eldar, one dead, and one alive, (usually twins or at least siblings) where as the Lord's Chassis is reserved for heroes and great individuals. (There is a specific psyker version for the seers as well.)
I think it was also a marketing decision. They knew they were releasing imperial knights and wanted people to easily be able to identify the size/class of the model by the name
Since they are so small, Eldar guardians (nobody should ever use the non-helmet heads), still look great imo. They should rather focus on aspect warriors, phoenix lords, avatar of khaine and autarch skyrunners.
I've used quarantine sort out my discontinued projects and I had a surprising number of models, which I've now painted can't wait to play Eldar in 9th edition.
@@Alex-cp6mq Yeah i think it's how you model and then paint it. I had 3 modeled in various running poses and I thought they looked pretty good. The one in the Saim Hann scheme on the GW site looks terrible though lol
The Hemlock Wraithfighter looks like an alien Eurofighter, and now that I see that I can't help but imagine Kiri doing a range review of real-world militaries' equipment lineup.
Come on if Necrons are getting a massive update their ancient enemy should as well and seriously some of the models are older than Necrons as a faction irl....
But they basically all still look really good all our vehicles look really good. The Avatar needs an update as well as guardians. He didn’t go over the aspects this vid but Reapers, Scorpions, and Fire Dragons too bit they don’t even look awful. The other aspects are fine. Solitaires look kinda bad tho
They look alright, but there’s LOTS of fine cast and metal. Plastic is just so much easier to work with and less fragile. You accidentally drop a plastic Wraithguard, no worries. Drop a metal Fire Dragon? Something is breaking.
To be fair i think this is from an older mold technology they have since updated. (Hence why the blue one looks mangled but the black and red one looks fine)
when i first got into warhammer (98) i really didn't like much from the eldar range, but like you said: many of the vehicles have aged really well. took a break from it from about 05-06 up till 2016. now i've been building an eldar army for the past 4 years or so, and its been an absolute pleasure to build and paint.
Yeah those Guardians are the ones that came out in 3rd edition line update in 1998 or 2000. So that's 20-22 years ago. And the Storm Guradians are the same box with metallic update bits from 2002, tho they might be failcast now, I would't know I have the metallic ones.
@@whitewingedkrad Oh right, that was a thing back then. I didn't even remember that. Though I kind of miss mail ordering certain bits directly from gw.
Date wise for the older kits, Vyper may be about the oldest plastic kit still being produced, came out spring 97 I think (maybe even late 96), Falcon was late 97, Guardians are the original plastic guardians that came out a few years later, I think still late 90's though.
38:48 I guess for me it's this: "Hey, we got this cool race built around an elegant, thin-waist, exoskeleton insect theme. Any ideas?" - "What about a chicken with cow hooves? Huh? Huh? Right?"
I'd always liked the War Walker model, which was a massive improvement on the rogue trader and 2nd/3rd edition models, but now you mention the legs, you're absolutely right. Backwards jointed legs in real life animals (a horse for example) aren't actually backwards jointed at all, they just have a much higher knee and a much more lengthened metatarsal. The leg on the War Walker looks awkward because it doesn't conform to proper joint arrangement. It looked way worse on the earlier versions and I just assumed it was fixed in this version (I hadn't looked properly). I think the model could be vastly improved if this simple change was made to the legs, adding in the high knee joint.
The Windriders were updated fairly recently. The shining spears use the old 90s sculpt still, IIRC, with the cruiser motorcycle pose rather than the leaning forward superbike look. The real update is to make shining spears use the new bikes Also I think all GW flyers (except the Dark Eldar which are as you say perfect) a little compacted for what I expect is to match the heroic scale of the other minis. Like a toy fighter jet doesn't have the same scale to make the cockpit relatively bigger. I agree it isn't great. Finally, you would want to redo the undercarriage of the falcon hull. Falcon hulls are amazing, but the falcon turret and the undercarriage lack detail and don't really hold up compared to newer grav vehicles.
I'd love to see the Support Weapons getting a Falcon style platform and do away with the shield, the War Walkers need new legs and the bulkyness between the shoulders removed, have the pilot in between the weapons. The Avatar of Khaine needs to be bigger (and better) if I had the money I'd kitbash one of the new Keeper of Secret minis into an Avatar.
I just want GW to update my Warp Spiders, Reapers, and Striking Scorpions(maybe the guardians). Everything else, especially the vehicles, are still quite nice.
I want to see a War Walker with a full cockpit that still looks sleek. I know the Eldar are all about safety in speed, but Eldar life is also (supposed to be) precious, and the bone singer couldn't be bothered to give Bill the Eldar a whole cockpit?
Great video man. The guardians did come out during 3rd edition (I worked for GW back then). The jetbikes have been updated. I agree with the support weapon (maybe replace the blast sheild with unfurled phoenix wings with the tips pointing up curling around the side to cover the gunner). The chin on the Farseer is silly, but I'm sure you could file it down. The Avatar is dog pooh. I got the Forgeworld one with the spear (which superior in every way). I want to see Farseers posed like a High elf Mage (floating in the air with ethereal winds holding the up (kind of like the yinari characters)). The weapons on the wraith knights are slapped on. I think they should be inter woven in the armour on the forearms.
The more High Elven element suggestions would be awesome touches, particularly the wings on the support platform. That would be an awesome direction to take them in. However, the Avatar is still a solid design, it just needs to be larger (and obviously plastic). It was very much the Eldar equivalent of the Daemon Prince, which since 3rd edition has received a brilliant metal model, and a cool plastic kit successor. The Forge World daemons and Avatar will always be brilliant, but there is still a ton of potential for a plastic kit in the image of the older model, with the addition of weapon options (multiple forms of wailing doom, ala Forge World?) and some improved features, at the discretion of the designers for the sake of modernization.
Guardian heads are the best reason for always using helmets. I'd been holding off on starting a Craftworlds army exactly because the Guardians (arguably the bulk of a starter army) look like... that.
I run an army with 0 guardians so they are by no means a must. Rangers still look good (i recommend hunting down some metal ones) and Dire Avengers are fine as well.
This may be wrong but I heard somewhere that Lord Goodwin sculpted the hemlock by hand. As for updating some of the kits that look decent still, I feel they could do with quality of life changes such as how they go together and crispness of detail
Aww, I quite like the War Walker model, though that's maybe in comparison to the old one which was really dodgy. The Forge World Wasp version is much nicer though. For the Avatar, I, and I think quite a few others, have taken the statue from the AOS Cauldron of Blood kit. I've converted mine a little, but even barebones it's a much more dangerous looking model, and a lot lither. the t-pose it's in isn't the absolute best but it's definitely a step in the right direction. Ideally a remade Avatar would be a big, Greater Daemon-esque thing, in rules and model.
If you want a newer Avatar of Khaine, you could just use the Statue from the Cauldron of Blood from the AoS Daughters of Khaine. This one looks amazing imo.
Oh my sweet summer child. The jetbikes were updated recently. The old ones were around for more than 20 years. You didn't cover any Aspect Warriors other than banshees? A lot of us got into Eldar for the Aspects.
The "wonky" head you mentioned on the dire avengers must be the photo or some random error i guess as mine dont look like that, the heads come in 2 parts main head and add the head-dress on the top. I like your reviews and I totally agree with alot you say: there is a lot of waste of sprue in eldar. I wish they would update some stuff, ditch the war walker or re-model it properly, ditch the rocks they stand on! why not have a character coming out of a mini warp gate
I actually think the reason the blue one looks messed up and the ynarri scheme one doesn't is because the mold is probably alot older on the blue one and the head was probably cast slightly off which was then accentuated by the paint to make it look truly off if you look at it closely.
@Kiroth I found a pic of the old school war walker. IMHO it looks so much better. I had 3 of them. Also back of the original Adeptus Titanicus the Wraith Knights we’re first shown.
The wraith knight despite being an older model somehow manages to feel like an eldar version of the riptide. Its the spikey back that does it. The other wraiths didn't look like eldar infantry upscaled but the wraith knight just looks like an eldar battlesuit instead of well I don't really know what it should be
The basic Guardians are very old now, you'd be right for thinking they were the same kit from when you started in 3rd. The weapons platform is newer, I think it was added into the kit for either the 4th or 5th edition update. The War Walker is 4th I think, it replaced the metal model which looked even worse. I've never been keen on them, either. To counter your windscreen issue, though: not all motorbikes have a windscreen that extends above the rider's helmet, and the piece is the same as the tank canopies.
The Eldar models do have a sort of timelessness to them in that they've always looked good and what could you possibly change about them? Makes you wonder why its so hard then to just make them plastic. It was recently talked about on the Eldar reddit that the swooping hawk design hasn't changed since their introduction in rogue trader in 1992.
The wings are still the original from 1987, just cut off the back pack to make them a bit more dynamic. Baharroth still has the og 1987 swooping hawk exarch wing and backpack combo
I feel like all that is is slapping breasts on them, which I find odd because you don’t need large visible breasts to be female, in fact I’d say Eldar women are probably flat generally.
You could make the war walker into a baby warhound titan by moving the cockpit up and back closing it in and filling those feet. The other walkers have a more Japanese style foot imho.
They need to get rid of the legs on the war walker, replace it with a hover base, and rename it to fit. It is the one thing that is strictly not eldar in the eldar range. Maybe the support weapons as well. Those feel like what the imperial guard thinks eldar weapons should look like. But the majority of the model you can at least see the eldar as making. Not so for the war walker.
For me, the Crimson hunter was a bit too bulbous. The Razorwing is what I want an eldar craft to be, and the nightwing and phoenix bomber are closer to it. The Webway gate looks good but is pretty bad mechanically. However, I've seen people make great Wraithlord conversions from the statues. The avatar is what, from the early 90s? It's very old now.
The black guardians and regular guardians are the same kit except you get 1 extra guardian in the black squad and they cost the same so always buy the black guards
Yeah, rule-wise Wraithknights aren't the terrors they used to be back in 7th edition. They can do a lot of damage, but these days they're pretty cost inefficient for what they bring to the table. They're handily outclassed by Imperial Knights tit-for-tat.
Its been like more than 20 years and the Avatar of Khaine still havent got remodel... all the greater daemons have remodels, Ghazghkull got a new model, Abaddon got new model but Avatar hasnt got one and i think it deserve a refresh.
You have totally ruined the Eldar wraith hierarchy for me. I will never be able to reconcile the ascending Guard-Lord-Knight order as it presently stands. In spite of that devastating revelation, great vid. Thanks for making these reviews; really nostalgic and lots of fun to see how far the modeling and design process has come!
Thanks for sharing an artists viewpoint of this stuff! @ 2:29 O.O Uhmm......this a *bad* point to mention that I'm like level 2? No wonder there are so many Space Marines in the "starter" sets. It's about what I can handle....
Just how much money GW would make with updating all of the phoenix lords and all the resin aspects.. Oh and if the new dynamic poses for warp spiders and shining spears weren't enough, what if they released an actual WARP SPIDER PHOENIX LORD model? 1000€ auto-buy for some of the nerds i know.
As a long time Eldar player. I can't stand the wraithknight. everything about it from the lore to the style is just bad. I also hate titans in general. So that makes it even worse. And no the hight isn't what makes a Wraithlord a lord. It's the lore behind it.
I think the naming of guard then lord then knight comes from imperial forces giving them names, like they were like “oh fuck that one is big like our knights! That shit be a elf-knight!!” And the lord is sitting there like “am I a joke to you?” 😂
On the Guardian’s faces, they may not be the best but at least they look fairly elvish, unlike the bald (or bald with a ponytail) faces on some models that look more like Harlequin masks (and kinda make them look like psychos) compared to how I’ve always imagined the Eldar to be, ie High Elfs in space. Oh and I mostly agree about the walkers, however I will say I’ve seen ones with exceptionally good color schemes and painting (I think on Tabletop Titans) where they actually do look halfway good.
Yo Kirioth, great video as always. Here is a complete list of the dates for all the current kits in the eldar range. Hopefully you see this comment, and hopefully it is in time for part 2! www.reddit.com/r/Eldar/comments/he6j49/guide_to_how_old_the_craftworld_eldar_range_is/
All the old models need a refresh even if the models are ok because the scaling of them is wrong. Compare the size of a Guardian to Blackstone fortress ranger eldar
With the backwards knee, the War Walker looks like a cows leg. With their sleek armoured leg, the Wraiths look like they are wearing tabi boots. Same piece, different effect.
The Avatar also needs to be massively scaled up. At least to the level as the ForgeWorld one.
and some new overhauled rules
I think everyone uses FW's model, partly for the extra base coverage to auras and partly because it's more of a shard of a god than GW's
The Eldar are an important part of my life. The first time i saw 40k was in 2005 when i was 8 years old and played Dawn of War i immediately got hooked on this universe. And ever since Eldar have been fueling my imagination. I started collecting just in 2017, when i randomly bought the 8th edition codex, now i have 8000 points of Eldar and it isn't stopping :D
I'm absolutely a lore fanboy, but at the same time I did attend several tournaments in Poland, which is where i'm from. Nowadays I feel increasingly dissapointed with the state of the Craftworld range, which is left behind heavily in terms of model quality. The Aspect Warriors, the core of the Craftworld military are one of the most ancient models in the game (apart from Dire Avengers and the new Howling Banshees), the guardians and wraithlords are also getting outdated fast and there is still no true Autarch kit that this unit deserves. An Autarch is the equivalent of a Space Marine Captain and while Tau Commanders, Hive Tyrants or other flexible HQs have very detailed, impressive kits with lots of options, the Autarch never had one. They are supposed to select their weapons from any Aspect Warrior shrines they were a part of, but nowadays you can only field the generic autarch with a power sword and a fusion pistol, the finecast one on a jetbike or Prince Yriel painted as a nameless Autarch.
Another thing that's bugging me heavily is the lack of representation of their superior technology in the rules. In fact the new units made for Imperium have the same kinds of weapons but far superior to the Eldar counterparts and it just feels so wrong... Look at the Admech Pteraxii as a great example. They serve the same role as Swooping Hawks, which are specifically designed to be anti-horde jetpack infantry. Well Pteraxii have the same guns, but with more shots. Swooping Hawks are also known for using their grenade packs to bombard the enemy, Pteraxii have the same rule, but their bombardment works on 5+ instead of 6+ and it's 3+ against vehicles!
I was hoping that the refresh of Jain Zar and the Howling Banshees would set the standard for Eldar upgrades. We will get great plastic kits and an updated ruleset that would be closer to their fighting capabilities from the lore. No such luck. Howling Banshees are supposed to be premium anti-heavy infantry close combat fighters who would have a fair chance against an assault marine in a duel. However their rules still give them measly 2 strength 3 ap -3 damage 1 attacks! That's absolutely pathetic. Jain Zar still doesn't even have an invulnerable save! My friends can't believe me when I say that she doesn't have a 4+ invuln or something. This would sadly suggest that while Imperium factions get new units with superior combat stats, Eldar upgrades will not be changed in the rules department and will remain unsatisfyingly weak in comparison.
As a sidenote I'd like you to try to understand my point. I'm not complaining that Craftworlds are a weak faction, they are far from it, but their oldest and most common units (lorewise) are outdated both in case of their models and their rules, which might've been scary in 3rd edition, but they are dissapointing nowadays.
As cool as the intro cutscene for Dawn of War was, the most impressive feat by far was the way they brought the races to life, and the Eldar most of all. They did a superb job with the ethereal, ghostly alien voices and the contempt they hold for the younger races. With Eldar, even the base building process was just a blast; teleporting cloaked structures behind enemy lines and spawning whole armies within their borders was priceless.
Macha and Taldeer (and even Careys) are also just great characters. The Eldar campaign in Winter Assault to stave off the predations of their ancient enemy was absolutely thrilling. I hope they have their day in the sun again!
I agree with you about their superior technology not being represented in the rules, especially in some of the weaker units. Some of the Eldar weapons should simply be better to reflect this.
Can't wait for the aspect warriors and characters review
"You need to look at every Aspect of it"
"Not every game makes sense for Farseer to stand on dead space marine" - idk, my would be arrogant enough to carry dead marine to stand on at all times.
Also the problem with ~25 yo Falcon chassis is that it's so old parts don't fit together that well. It is often bent and hard to glue together, unlike new models like Crimson Hunter.
It seems eldar are getting the least attention of any xenos factions, and it is really not going to change
its almost funny how un-attention'ed they are. The guardian box still comes with a two page black-n-white instruction without rules
Jacob dela necrons haven’t had attention in many years (about 10) till now
And Nids haven't had a model since 2014. All Xenos factions are undersupported
@@wraithship I play imperial armys and I agree
depends on people buying 'em more often
:)
All of the Phoenix Lords (now bar Jain Zar) are 2nd edition relics, and a large portion of their units date to 3rd, or if they're lucky 4th. Now that Primaris are getting better versions of aspect warriors (24" Melta squads, better Hawks) its time for GW to bring Eldar up to form
Even the "newer" stuff is from 10 and 16 years ago. It was about time GW finally updated them.
The one thing that really bugs me about Eldar is that in the games they always seem to have a female farseer but we dont have anything like that in the actual models.
Yeah, they want to have a female character and, well, SM, CSM, Tyrannid and Orks are right out, and the IG tends to have too many "manly men" fans who would prefer a guy. Eldar don't care.
As for there not being a model... well, it's the CWE range, it doesn't get a lot of new models. Maybe the iconic farseer is female, just ... slender.
So it's only female if it has triple D tits?
as a Xenos player I recommend a forgeword Xeno range review. Between all of the eldari and tau models forgewold only has about 35 unique units.
I will say that in terms of naming, while it is a bit funny that Lords are smaller than Knights, something to be noted is that Knights are actually piloted, at least by half. The Knight consists of a team of two Eldar, one dead, and one alive, (usually twins or at least siblings) where as the Lord's Chassis is reserved for heroes and great individuals. (There is a specific psyker version for the seers as well.)
Yeah, there's wraithlord chassis for the farseers. Wraithseer I think.
I think it's a case of rules not reflecting lore, similar to Dreadnoughts.
I think it was also a marketing decision. They knew they were releasing imperial knights and wanted people to easily be able to identify the size/class of the model by the name
"Slaanesh is all your fault, be proud of yourselves" that was GOLD lol
Nope, that was the dark eldar. And they ARE proud of themselves.
Since they are so small, Eldar guardians (nobody should ever use the non-helmet heads), still look great imo.
They should rather focus on aspect warriors, phoenix lords, avatar of khaine and autarch skyrunners.
The "extra wings" on the crimson hunter would do the same thing as the single fin on the wraithfighter
I've used quarantine sort out my discontinued projects and I had a surprising number of models, which I've now painted can't wait to play Eldar in 9th edition.
I like the war walker. I just wish they’d add the rest of the robot cow.
You can’t unsee that now.
So the Lumineth Realm-Lords Battle Cattle, but IN SPAAAAACE!
Just buy two and kitbash them together XD (tempted to do this now)
I love the Eldar, was my first army, and is still growing.
BTW your dislikes we can agree on, war walker is an emu with guns on it.
Personally I quite like it, but you description cracked me up XD
I say more of a cow.
@@Alex-cp6mq Yeah i think it's how you model and then paint it. I had 3 modeled in various running poses and I thought they looked pretty good. The one in the Saim Hann scheme on the GW site looks terrible though lol
The Hemlock Wraithfighter looks like an alien Eurofighter, and now that I see that I can't help but imagine Kiri doing a range review of real-world militaries' equipment lineup.
Come on if Necrons are getting a massive update their ancient enemy should as well and seriously some of the models are older than Necrons as a faction irl....
Crossing my fingers this is the case. In the meantime i get a workout hauling my mainly metal aspect warrior army around lol
oh boy here we go. eldar are probably the most neglected range in 40k
But they basically all still look really good all our vehicles look really good. The Avatar needs an update as well as guardians. He didn’t go over the aspects this vid but Reapers, Scorpions, and Fire Dragons too bit they don’t even look awful. The other aspects are fine. Solitaires look kinda bad tho
They look alright, but there’s LOTS of fine cast and metal. Plastic is just so much easier to work with and less fragile. You accidentally drop a plastic Wraithguard, no worries. Drop a metal Fire Dragon? Something is breaking.
Never noticed the funny angles on the Dire Avengers Exarch helmet before now.... cannot unsee.... thanks for that...
To be fair i think this is from an older mold technology they have since updated. (Hence why the blue one looks mangled but the black and red one looks fine)
when i first got into warhammer (98) i really didn't like much from the eldar range, but like you said: many of the vehicles have aged really well. took a break from it from about 05-06 up till 2016. now i've been building an eldar army for the past 4 years or so, and its been an absolute pleasure to build and paint.
Yeah those Guardians are the ones that came out in 3rd edition line update in 1998 or 2000. So that's 20-22 years ago. And the Storm Guradians are the same box with metallic update bits from 2002, tho they might be failcast now, I would't know I have the metallic ones.
And before that storm guardians were the normal guardians but with however many dire avengers exarch arms you needed to mail order.
@@whitewingedkrad Oh right, that was a thing back then. I didn't even remember that. Though I kind of miss mail ordering certain bits directly from gw.
Date wise for the older kits, Vyper may be about the oldest plastic kit still being produced, came out spring 97 I think (maybe even late 96), Falcon was late 97, Guardians are the original plastic guardians that came out a few years later, I think still late 90's though.
38:48 I guess for me it's this: "Hey, we got this cool race built around an elegant, thin-waist, exoskeleton insect theme. Any ideas?" - "What about a chicken with cow hooves? Huh? Huh? Right?"
Some of the current eldar range came out 30. Years. Ago.
I'd always liked the War Walker model, which was a massive improvement on the rogue trader and 2nd/3rd edition models, but now you mention the legs, you're absolutely right. Backwards jointed legs in real life animals (a horse for example) aren't actually backwards jointed at all, they just have a much higher knee and a much more lengthened metatarsal. The leg on the War Walker looks awkward because it doesn't conform to proper joint arrangement. It looked way worse on the earlier versions and I just assumed it was fixed in this version (I hadn't looked properly). I think the model could be vastly improved if this simple change was made to the legs, adding in the high knee joint.
The Windriders were updated fairly recently. The shining spears use the old 90s sculpt still, IIRC, with the cruiser motorcycle pose rather than the leaning forward superbike look.
The real update is to make shining spears use the new bikes
Also I think all GW flyers (except the Dark Eldar which are as you say perfect) a little compacted for what I expect is to match the heroic scale of the other minis. Like a toy fighter jet doesn't have the same scale to make the cockpit relatively bigger. I agree it isn't great.
Finally, you would want to redo the undercarriage of the falcon hull. Falcon hulls are amazing, but the falcon turret and the undercarriage lack detail and don't really hold up compared to newer grav vehicles.
I'd love to see the Support Weapons getting a Falcon style platform and do away with the shield, the War Walkers need new legs and the bulkyness between the shoulders removed, have the pilot in between the weapons. The Avatar of Khaine needs to be bigger (and better) if I had the money I'd kitbash one of the new Keeper of Secret minis into an Avatar.
I just want GW to update my Warp Spiders, Reapers, and Striking Scorpions(maybe the guardians). Everything else, especially the vehicles, are still quite nice.
I want to see a War Walker with a full cockpit that still looks sleek. I know the Eldar are all about safety in speed, but Eldar life is also (supposed to be) precious, and the bone singer couldn't be bothered to give Bill the Eldar a whole cockpit?
Great video man. The guardians did come out during 3rd edition (I worked for GW back then). The jetbikes have been updated. I agree with the support weapon (maybe replace the blast sheild with unfurled phoenix wings with the tips pointing up curling around the side to cover the gunner). The chin on the Farseer is silly, but I'm sure you could file it down. The Avatar is dog pooh. I got the Forgeworld one with the spear (which superior in every way). I want to see Farseers posed like a High elf Mage (floating in the air with ethereal winds holding the up (kind of like the yinari characters)). The weapons on the wraith knights are slapped on. I think they should be inter woven in the armour on the forearms.
The more High Elven element suggestions would be awesome touches, particularly the wings on the support platform. That would be an awesome direction to take them in. However, the Avatar is still a solid design, it just needs to be larger (and obviously plastic). It was very much the Eldar equivalent of the Daemon Prince, which since 3rd edition has received a brilliant metal model, and a cool plastic kit successor. The Forge World daemons and Avatar will always be brilliant, but there is still a ton of potential for a plastic kit in the image of the older model, with the addition of weapon options (multiple forms of wailing doom, ala Forge World?) and some improved features, at the discretion of the designers for the sake of modernization.
Guardian heads are the best reason for always using helmets. I'd been holding off on starting a Craftworlds army exactly because the Guardians (arguably the bulk of a starter army) look like... that.
I run an army with 0 guardians so they are by no means a must. Rangers still look good (i recommend hunting down some metal ones) and Dire Avengers are fine as well.
The forward wings in aviation are called canards and they provide extra control surfaces for stability and control
Also, whoo, Eldar on my birthday!
This may be wrong but I heard somewhere that Lord Goodwin sculpted the hemlock by hand.
As for updating some of the kits that look decent still, I feel they could do with quality of life changes such as how they go together and crispness of detail
A lot of the eldar stuff is a bit of a pain to put together compared to the small amount of experience i have with marines
Aww, I quite like the War Walker model, though that's maybe in comparison to the old one which was really dodgy. The Forge World Wasp version is much nicer though.
For the Avatar, I, and I think quite a few others, have taken the statue from the AOS Cauldron of Blood kit. I've converted mine a little, but even barebones it's a much more dangerous looking model, and a lot lither. the t-pose it's in isn't the absolute best but it's definitely a step in the right direction. Ideally a remade Avatar would be a big, Greater Daemon-esque thing, in rules and model.
If you want a newer Avatar of Khaine, you could just use the Statue from the Cauldron of Blood from the AoS Daughters of Khaine. This one looks amazing imo.
Forge World does an alternative model that looks much better too
I have the forgeworld model. It is one of the best remakes you can get and looks really good on the table.
There are models older than me and I was born in 1988. Ridiculous the little love the Eldar gets from GW despite being one of the most loved faction.
also about the malformed head. all aspects molds are so old they all have malformed bits
Those guardians where update with a heavy weapon in 6th. The model body was released in 3rd
Remember the First Law of Eldar: whoever has the biggest hat is in charge.
"higher the hat, higher the standing"
Oh my sweet summer child. The jetbikes were updated recently. The old ones were around for more than 20 years. You didn't cover any Aspect Warriors other than banshees? A lot of us got into Eldar for the Aspects.
This is part 1, part 2 is coming any time now. Also i totally got into eldar for the aspects. I run a full Biel Tan aspect warrior army to this day
My Eldar gods the weapon platform in the Guardian squad is soooo red! Like lollipop red... And I used to paint them that way when I was a kid.
The "wonky" head you mentioned on the dire avengers must be the photo or some random error i guess as mine dont look like that, the heads come in 2 parts main head and add the head-dress on the top.
I like your reviews and I totally agree with alot you say: there is a lot of waste of sprue in eldar. I wish they would update some stuff, ditch the war walker or re-model it properly, ditch the rocks they stand on! why not have a character coming out of a mini warp gate
I actually think the reason the blue one looks messed up and the ynarri scheme one doesn't is because the mold is probably alot older on the blue one and the head was probably cast slightly off which was then accentuated by the paint to make it look truly off if you look at it closely.
Imo craftworlds are popular in every video game that includes them. I just think the dated models prevent new players from picking them
Dam...he didn't go through the way olders models. I'm hoping they redo the warp spiders they are one of the oldest sculpts out there.
Yeah i think they all basically have the same pose don't they? (except the exarch) lol
I can't wait for the Dark Eldar range review.
@Kiroth I found a pic of the old school war walker. IMHO it looks so much better. I had 3 of them. Also back of the original Adeptus Titanicus the Wraith Knights we’re first shown.
The wraith knight despite being an older model somehow manages to feel like an eldar version of the riptide. Its the spikey back that does it. The other wraiths didn't look like eldar infantry upscaled but the wraith knight just looks like an eldar battlesuit instead of well I don't really know what it should be
The basic Guardians are very old now, you'd be right for thinking they were the same kit from when you started in 3rd. The weapons platform is newer, I think it was added into the kit for either the 4th or 5th edition update.
The War Walker is 4th I think, it replaced the metal model which looked even worse. I've never been keen on them, either. To counter your windscreen issue, though: not all motorbikes have a windscreen that extends above the rider's helmet, and the piece is the same as the tank canopies.
I reckon that the reason the wraith knight is so called is because the imperium would classify it as a knight household equivalent
The Avatar of Khaine does have a plastic equivalent in AoS that GW has started using in 40k instead of the resin one.
Falcon was first gw vehicle I ever bought. Way back in second edition its that old
The Eldar models do have a sort of timelessness to them in that they've always looked good and what could you possibly change about them? Makes you wonder why its so hard then to just make them plastic. It was recently talked about on the Eldar reddit that the swooping hawk design hasn't changed since their introduction in rogue trader in 1992.
GW is too busy pushing OP space marine models, there’s your answer.
The wings are still the original from 1987, just cut off the back pack to make them a bit more dynamic. Baharroth still has the og 1987 swooping hawk exarch wing and backpack combo
Eldar were some of the first models I got my hands on and now I'm thinking I want some more!
The best faction gets the least attention.
I need a proper female Farseer model
for research
Artel W has a good one.
@@paladinwiggles7896 *N I C E*
I feel like all that is is slapping breasts on them, which I find odd because you don’t need large visible breasts to be female, in fact I’d say Eldar women are probably flat generally.
@@RIVALBLACKWELL big tiddy eldar gf Yvraine disagrees with you.
Armed with a genderlance and a microaggression cannon.
The wraith blades come in the kit with wraith guard as a weapon option
You could make the war walker into a baby warhound titan by moving the cockpit up and back closing it in and filling those feet.
The other walkers have a more Japanese style foot imho.
I think I'd give the windrunner riders capes, some fabric fluttering behind them in the wind for effect
12:27 That Wraith Knight is about to play a Children's card game on motorcycles
With the way the sprit seer is with his robe and foot on a rock makes me want to mod it so that he is doing up his shoelaces.
The tank turrets would look great on the fire support movers.
@KiriothTV how old are the "newer" models? And do you have any guesses as to when we'll have a codex update for them?
Heh, most of the line is from the time when I started around the beginning of 4th Edition.
They need to get rid of the legs on the war walker, replace it with a hover base, and rename it to fit. It is the one thing that is strictly not eldar in the eldar range.
Maybe the support weapons as well. Those feel like what the imperial guard thinks eldar weapons should look like. But the majority of the model you can at least see the eldar as making. Not so for the war walker.
For me, the Crimson hunter was a bit too bulbous. The Razorwing is what I want an eldar craft to be, and the nightwing and phoenix bomber are closer to it.
The Webway gate looks good but is pretty bad mechanically. However, I've seen people make great Wraithlord conversions from the statues.
The avatar is what, from the early 90s? It's very old now.
The black guardians and regular guardians are the same kit except you get 1 extra guardian in the black squad and they cost the same so always buy the black guards
It's sad. If eldar were to get an update like the necrons, or even the chaos marines got, I would definitely start an army of them
I have been waiting for that ever since 2014...
Yeah, rule-wise Wraithknights aren't the terrors they used to be back in 7th edition. They can do a lot of damage, but these days they're pretty cost inefficient for what they bring to the table. They're handily outclassed by Imperial Knights tit-for-tat.
Its been like more than 20 years and the Avatar of Khaine still havent got remodel... all the greater daemons have remodels, Ghazghkull got a new model, Abaddon got new model but Avatar hasnt got one and i think it deserve a refresh.
And there is a khaine modell in fantasy. It would be so easy to make a decent modell for eldars.
the coven feet are a nod back to the old titanicus knights which had 4 legs and looked like horses
Because Jain-Zar has caucasian-colored armor, he looks like a Pillar-stodes with a pale elf mask.
I think the guardians squad is probably around 3rd edition, 1999 or around there, same with the Falcon.
The word you were looking for when you refered to the Wraiths is Delicate yet Imposing.
they DID update the windriders relatively recently, in 7th edition.
I will forever see the warwalker now as a horse missing the back half of its body.
I feel like they need to make Jain Zar like Medusa and have her hair give her extra attacks.
Are you going to do a follow up to cover all the other aspect warriors and command?
The lexicanum website has a list of model releases based on edition.
You have totally ruined the Eldar wraith hierarchy for me. I will never be able to reconcile the ascending Guard-Lord-Knight order as it presently stands. In spite of that devastating revelation, great vid. Thanks for making these reviews; really nostalgic and lots of fun to see how far the modeling and design process has come!
Well. The wraith knight is not completely dead... and it is not a huge hero inside but one dead twin and a live one.
Thanks for sharing an artists viewpoint of this stuff! @ 2:29 O.O Uhmm......this a *bad* point to mention that I'm like level 2? No wonder there are so many Space Marines in the "starter" sets. It's about what I can handle....
The black guardians have the ulthwe eye on their head not enough to justify a separate set but better than nothing
Just how much money GW would make with updating all of the phoenix lords and all the resin aspects..
Oh and if the new dynamic poses for warp spiders and shining spears weren't enough, what if they released an actual WARP SPIDER PHOENIX LORD model? 1000€ auto-buy for some of the nerds i know.
40k theories did video series on flyers by having an engineer stick them in wind tunnel. Most Eldar craft would actually fly.
As I recall, Ork flyers did the best in that.
@@Oliolli3 possibly. Been awhile.
As a long time Eldar player. I can't stand the wraithknight. everything about it from the lore to the style is just bad. I also hate titans in general. So that makes it even worse.
And no the hight isn't what makes a Wraithlord a lord. It's the lore behind it.
the farseers head looks like a seahorse
I think the naming of guard then lord then knight comes from imperial forces giving them names, like they were like “oh fuck that one is big like our knights! That shit be a elf-knight!!” And the lord is sitting there like “am I a joke to you?” 😂
On the Guardian’s faces, they may not be the best but at least they look fairly elvish, unlike the bald (or bald with a ponytail) faces on some models that look more like Harlequin masks (and kinda make them look like psychos) compared to how I’ve always imagined the Eldar to be, ie High Elfs in space.
Oh and I mostly agree about the walkers, however I will say I’ve seen ones with exceptionally good color schemes and painting (I think on Tabletop Titans) where they actually do look halfway good.
Can't wait for Drukhari range review
Yo Kirioth, great video as always. Here is a complete list of the dates for all the current kits in the eldar range. Hopefully you see this comment, and hopefully it is in time for part 2! www.reddit.com/r/Eldar/comments/he6j49/guide_to_how_old_the_craftworld_eldar_range_is/
All the old models need a refresh even if the models are ok because the scaling of them is wrong. Compare the size of a Guardian to Blackstone fortress ranger eldar
Wish they would give harleyquins more models.
Yeah some more characters would be cool. Not sure what else they could do for units? More vehicles i guess?
With the backwards knee, the War Walker looks like a cows leg. With their sleek armoured leg, the Wraiths look like they are wearing tabi boots. Same piece, different effect.
The Evangelion is strong with those wraithlords.
No one will watch a range review that's as long as a feature film? Fyte me pleb!
Weird Malformed Horse is the name of my Marilyn Manson cover band.
I think the eldar range is fine. Avatar is weird, aspect warriors are old, but I like them all. It's the rules that are the problem at the moment.
The price is crazy on the howling banshee. $90 AUD for 5 ...
They're not just standing on rocks, they're standing on Aeldari ruins; visually symbolizing the state of their entire race.
Ngl from the front the crimson hunter makes me think of Latias from Pokemon (or is it Latios?). With the Avatar I use the daughters of khain one.