#aelindrach

[madnessdemonart]

Another drukhari's bestiary page c: Shaderavens, birds native to Aelindrach! Their cawing is known to drive eldars insane, but that doesn't stop the Archons from keeping them in their retinue :D

[xenos-girl-again]

2019 Xenos Wishlist

With the final day of 2018 being here I think I’ll remain positive. Today I’m gonna make a vague wishlist of things I hope for Xenos next year, tomorrow I’ll do an overview of how my expectations for 2018 went.

Aelindrach:

Let them just exist! I was so excited when Fracture of Biel-tan seemed to really be bringing Aelindrach into focus, empowering it, building it up...only for all of it to just be completely abanonded throughout 8th Edition, including in the Drukhari Codex itself! I hope in 2019 we see Aelindrach actually have some significance.

A Kheradruakh miniature as powerful as a Primarch.

Anhrathe:

Let this army be redone and made more effective. Normally, as a minor force, I’d not really expect them to even get rules, but the Anhrathe DID have rules, many, so it sucks to see them degraded to basically nothing.

I’d love to see more fiction starring them, even if only short stories, novellas and audio dramas. The Anhrathe could be for Aeldari literature what Inquisition stories are for the Imperium. 

Asuryani:

Clarify Biel-tan’s state! Please! I’d also like Biel-tan, considering the beating it’s taken recently, to get a major win against a notable force or character.

Feature the Phoenix Lords more in the Lore; be it Phoenix Lord Novels or simply more mentions in the codices I would just like to read more about them.

LET THE AVATAR OF KHAINE WIN AN IMPORTANT FIGHT.

Plastic Aspect Warriors, please.

Drukhari:

Lady Malys miniature and Lady Malys focused lore and stories, particularly explaining her connection to the Ynnari.

Arhra coming back into the lore! Whether he be Drazhar or not, I just want to see him back.

Haemonculi actually demonstrating they have superior genetic manipulation capabilities to humans.

Asdrubael either dying or getting off his ass and winning even just one major battle.

Exodites:

I would love a story featuring Exodites in which they don’t just die to Space Marines or Daemons but actually are shown as capable of defending themselves.

An army!

Harlequins:

A special character. Sylandri Veilwalker would most likely be best (and make her a stronger Psyker than Voldus who’s way younger than her).

A story of a Solitaire killing like a Shield-Captain or something to make up for the awful ‘died to kill an Eversor’ fluff we got in the Codex.

Death Jester guns actually being worth something without having to take Curtainfall every time. >_>

Give Harlequins actual extreme anti-Daemon and Chaos capabilities, in excess of Grey Knights, since, you know, HARLEQUINS HAVE ACCESS TO THE BLACK LIBRARY ITSELF! Seriously they should have access to more True Names than anyone in the Galaxy.

Ynnari:

Let them actualy exist. By far the biggest dropped plotline of all of 8th Edition. Just let the Ynnari actually do meaningful things.

Show that the alliance with the Imperium is reciprocal, not one-way.

Have a story in which Ynnari kick Captain Artemis’ butt. 

Have a story in which the Yncarne is shown to be as strong as a Daemon Primarch. 

Necron:

Show the consequences of the Absorption Wars. Imotehk conquered the largest territory of any single being in the last 8000 years, most of it Imperial, yet in none of the works about the Imperium, not Guilliman or anyone, does anyone even MENTION that the Sautekh Dynasty has just carved the largest congruent, centralized empire in the galaxy out of their territory.

Female Phaerakh Special Character.

Expand on the notion of potential alliance between the Necron and Ynnari.

Orks:

CLARFIY THE STATUS OF THE OCTARIUS WAR!

I’d say ‘let them win Armageddon’ but at this stage I honestly think I should give up.

Have Nazdreg win a war against the Dark Angels decisively.

Have Snagrod win a major conflict against the Imperium.

Have Wazdakka defeat the Dread Host sent to kill him.

Let Orkimedes have a miniature.

Give me my Mega Armour Warboss.

T’au Empire:

Have Shadowsun win the Battle of the Startide Nexus without needing assistance.

Introduce a new, female, Ethereal Supreme.

Give Battlesuit pilots BS 3+

Have the T’au complete the conquest of the Dovar System as Shadowsun’s major triumph of the Third Sphere Expansion as, without it, she basically conquered a grand total of 1 planet; Prefectia. 

Kroot:

Give them a playable army under the T’au Empire Keyword!

Tyranids:

Let there be a fourth Tyrannic War and LET THE TYRANID WIN FOR ONCE.

Show that the Swarmlord is as strong as a Primarch.

Genestealer Cults:

Let them be the victors of Vigilus, though I know that won’t happen sadly.

Give them lore in which they actually win battles and don’t, in their own codex, just constantly lose every conflict they get into.

Have a story about them slaying a Death Watch strikeforce. 

[xenos-girl-again]

Kheradruakh

This is an amazing piece of art of the Monarch of Mandrakes I found on Pinterest, but sadly can’t find the artist name.

Ugh I really wish he’d get a Miniature! Also updated Mandrake with female and male sculpts would also be nice, all other Drukhari are gender-inclusive so I see no reason why Mandrakes would be any different at all. 

If they do give Kheradruakh stats again they better beef him up a lot! He was able to go toe-to-toe against Vulkan in Old Earth so he needs to be at least as strong as a Primarch. 

[xenos-girl-again]

Why are Drukhari so weak in novels?

They really are. Six Bloodclaws can kill several dozen Kabalite Warriors, multiple Raiders, multiple Venoms and multiple Mandrakes.

Also, ugh, Mandrakes are literally presented as being inferior warriors to Bloodclaws, literally Space Wolf Recruits are such good fighters that they already outclass some of the most elite, most scary, most terrifying of all of Commorragh’s inhabitants.

Like. Why are Drukhari so weak? Kabalite Warriors are, in their own Codex, described as being veterans of centuries of conflict within Commorragh armed with advanced technology yet...they can’t even beat Space Wolf recruits? 

I know there’s the one Deathwatch short story also (Onyx I think) where six Deathwatch Marines kill so many Drukhari that we’re told they run out of all their ammo doing it! Like...how terrible and pathetic do BL authors think Drukhari are? 

I just...what am I meant to take from this? I read the Drukhari Codex published by Games Workshop and it tells me the Drukhari are a highly competent and elite fighting force, using small groups of skilled warriors to defeat their foes and armed with technology so advanced it seems like magic...but then in novels Drukhari are so utterly pathetic they are literally reduced to throwing hordes of themselves as groups of Space Marines as small as 6 and their only viable strategy for winning is to hope the Space Marines run out of ammo before they all die? 

So then why does the Drukhari Codex call them elite or skilled when, clearly, they aren’t. They literally employ the exact same tactic as Ork Boyz or Termaguants and the only ‘danger’ about them is their numbers.

Also geeze I feel sad for Mandrakes. They are meant to be among the single most terrifying inhabitants of Commorragh, not even Vect is willing to, or knows how to, mess with them or control them, but I don’t think I’ve ever read of them making an appearance where they aren’t shown as so weak a random Space Marine recruit can single-handidly cut down multiple of them. 

[xenos-girl-again]

Aelindrach-Faction

Aelindrach is one of those subfactions I’d love to see grow into its own Codex. It’d be one of the smaller Codices, think of Custodes-size maybe, able to play on its own but intended to be played as a force which allies with Drukhari, Harlequins and other Aeldari factions predominantly (but not exclusively).

As part of that branching out the different sorts of units that could be fielded would be important. Whilst Mandrakes I’d see as the core Troop choice, I’d imagine a weaker mob supporting Troop choice as well, something I call the ‘Shade’ for lack of a more precise term at current;

These would be weak beings of shadow, not able to take a distinctive form like the Mandrake, they lack that strong sense of self-identity and persona, reduced instead to being more liquid, amorphous, and subject to the will of others. In a way I’d imagine them as the first step to a number of other beings, a more powerful Shade able to rise up and ‘ascend’ to stronger forms as it feeds off others and enhances its sense of self.

As a unit I’d imagine Shades as being fairly standard physically, with 3/3 S and T and 3+/5+ skills. They’d be faster than average, at 7′, but lacking any physical save, instead having the same rule as the Mandrakes which reduce the hit chance against them and grant them an Invulnerable 5+. They’d be focused on closing distance quick and making a large number of weak attacks, using ‘Shadow Claws’ to most likely do 2 Attacks per a Miniature at Str 3 with an AP of -1 and D of 1.

Their shadowy and insubstantial nature I’d like to reflect by letting them bypass the effects of terrain, akin to Harlequin Flipbelts, helping to give them an easier time when closing with their prey in close combat.