Dark Eldar rumors, Sasquatch photo edition

In case you haven't seen the above image take a good long look at it. It's supposed to imply something or other about the imminent release of the new Dark Eldar Codex. Now, I believe that the evil space elves will be getting a codex one of these days soon, but is that photo really evidence that proves it's about to happen? The Internet sheep seem to think so. Maybe it's just my old age (that seems to also be manifesting itself into long-winded rants about teenagers, the Internet, and the hippity hop music) and failing eyesight, but I can't make out a fucking thing in that picture. All I can see is kind of a dark blur that could just as easily be the cover of a Warmachine supplement as a Warhammer 40k one. Those banners are admittedly similar, after all. Long story short- I'll hold out for more conclusive evidence.

You know what this means....We've got to enhance!

Necron Rumors

Izual, a man shrouded in mystery, has dropped some fresh Necron rumors of dubious nature in our laps over on DakkaDakka. I think it's safe to say that Necrons are in the pipeline, but I see his post as a model for how not to instill faith in your rumors. I'm not necessarily passing judgement on whether I think these are true or not, but just read on and I hope you'll see the humor buried in there that I do. Or maybe my weak photo editing skills will bring a smile to your face (since my superimposing of a werewolf in a culver's parking lot seems to have gone unnoticed in Friday Night Internet Fight Round 2).

I have some information regarding the development of a Necron codex. I do not
normally come on Warseer ~score so far: flimsy credentials- 1; credibility- 0, but thought you would appreciate this information –
hence the small number of posts. You have no reason to put faith in me ~thanks, maybe I'll stop reading now...score now 2:love – and I
am not prepared to prove my validity at potential detriment to my career. I do
not want to specify my exact employment with Games Workshop for this reason. ~so redshirt then....? they usually get all the juicy gossip...

Necrons have completed the initial concept phase of their line
expansion. Release schedule is currently for January 2011.

This
conceptual phase has been stop-start for some time – it is a product range that
has massive potential, and Games Workshop have been very uncertain of the most
lucrative theme by which to capitalise on its fanbase ~Necrons have a theme beyond robot undead?. The development is
considered a high-risk investment – a commitment problem that the team is well
aware of, and is exacerbated by there being multiple such high-risk line
expansions currently being pursued. ~evidence of DE, Ogre Kingdoms, and Inquisition?



3 multi-part plastic kits
have been finalised as:

- Immortals
- Spyders
- The Necromancer ~please tell me that's a working title or the name for GW's new power metal band


Immortals are on a large (35mm) base ~so GW doesn't make a 35mm base- further evidence against your employment; they are redesigned as larger,
bulkier and more dynamic.

Spyders have 3 different builds

The
Necromancer is the central sell of the line expansion and has been the focus of
much of the early design process. ~GW has been slowly navigating away from this type of sales model. New codexes don't focus on 1 or a handful of good units while making the rest shit these days. Most entries are useful and appealing, so 4-0. It has been through several incarnations (and
names), but is essentially of the same principle as the Bone Giant for the
Warhammer Fantasy range. It has a mechanised skeletal torso housing a suspended
crystal, and will likely have a choice between two horrific weapons.


That is all the information I can disclose. I will not post any
more.

I would like to add that development staff are getting very
frustrated by headquarters’ increasingly tyrannical policies – within and
between departments – ~so you work with or in conjunction with development? I'm calling your boss! haha with regards to information restriction. It’s absurd, and
unnecessary. ~yes and no. some evidence would suggest that leaked information can boost sales. Some information would also suggest that leaked information, especially for a riskier release, could hurt overall sales. Leaked information could even hurt current sale if, let's say, a kid was saving his allowance to buy a trygon, but found out that a new Baal Predator was coming out and held off his purchase.

Well, that's that. Some plausible stuff mixed in there with some stuff that sounds bogus. Anybody want to take a crack at whether or not this bloke is really in the know on this one?

Percentages are Back?

Here is a rumor that appears to be gaining a bunch of momentum from that really vocal minority of people who are wrong and is currently preventing me from working on my managerial accounting homework. Percentages are back in Warhammer Fantasy army building. Really, that's a throwback that isn't too likely to show up again. This has hit pretty much every blog/forum under the sun, so for the sake of argument I have arbitrarily chosen this "Plastic Legions" post that lists this along with a pretty decent summary of other rumors that are flying around.

Full Disclosure
The last time I had a chance to play WFB, this was actually a rule in the game. We also played a card game during the magic phase and had to walk up hill through the snow just to get to the game store. I've been working on painting up some Empire and Skaven forces, but shelved the projects as soon as I found out that 8th ed WFB was on its way, just in case the rules changes are drastic enough to make me want to change my army composition. Sprues are better than assembled and painted minis for this; just ask all of my sweet 4th ed carnifexes about how life is currently working out for them.

So here is the actual rumor, in case you don't want to click the above link:

Army construction is moving back to percentages. (you may have 25% of your points spent on heroes, 25%-50% on core… etc.)

Now here is why this rumor sucks:

Unbalance in Balance
A rule like this would obviously be an attempt to balance the power of certain units like characters, monsters, war machines, etc. Doing this would actually fuck up the whole system, though. For some armies it might mean that You only get 1 or 2 characters where you could have had 3 or 4 or more before. On the other side of the spectrum other armies :cough: Skaven, could fit an almost limitless number of cheap characters into their lists. Here is my unit of Skaven slaves with a front rank made up of Warlock Engineers. At 2250 points you could fit 37 Warlocks into your list sans upgrades, in case you were wondering. At the end of the day, I think that all this would do is cause a return to herohammer for some armies, while castrating other armies like Warriors of Chaos. This has about the same likelihood to occur as the world ending in 2012.

Have you read the newer army books?
In case you've been living under a rock for the past year, WFB has seen a bunch of top shelf army books released as of late. What's more these have a bunch of rules that contradict or alter current 7th ed convenions. Do you think this might be setting a tone for things to come? Well take a look at template weapons in the new books and tell me if you think partial hits are in 8th ed or not. Anyway, back on topic, look at any WFB army book and see if you can find any information about force composition. I'll wait....oh you found it...let me check your work. I'll just grab a recent book, shit why not just grab the most recent, "Beastmen." Well let's see now....found it. Right there on page 81; 2 charts spelling out how to choose an army and characters. Do you really think that GW will set out to invalidate a rule standard that is presented in every single one of their in print books? Shit, look at a book that's been around for a long time, like Codex Witch Hunters (now 2 editions behind the curve), and you might be surprised to see how little in the book has been made obsolete by the current 5th ed 40k book. Yes, there are a few things that don't exactly translate into the new edition like some pistol rules, but my point is that GW has gone to great lengths to make sure they will never have to do a full reboot. Under their current system, by sticking to the same general conventions like Universal Special Rules and the like, they can spread out the release of new army books and codices over a greater period of time. For their effort, this will help them achieve steadier sales volumes and grow their business over time. Making a sweeping change like this would instantly invalidate every single WFB book and call for a simutaneous reboot or at least a reprint of everything. Do you really think that this is going to happen if GW is still publishing new books with the current army composition rules in them?

There you have it. Hopefully this will ease some of your concerns about this bullshit rumor. So, If you have an all Stegadon army, are rocking 2 Steam Tanks, or whatever, I wouldn't get my panties in a knot, all is well. If, however, I am wrong I will make good on a promise I made to Laubersheimer Industries and eat an entire rank of spearmen.

Chime in. Let me know how you feel about this.

"lurk moar"