The funny thing is that modern Space Marines are designed much like the Aspect Warriors. The only way they don’t fall into the same trap of “you already own them” is because of people making multiple armies with different chapters.
Also the way the game is balanced makes it so that you will likely buy multiple boxes of the same unit, because they often break the primaris marines down into boxes where they sell them in their minimum unit size, the only notable difference being hellblasters, which facilitates buying the same box up to six times as the marine playstyle can often be boiled down to taking as much of the best option as you can.
Was gonna say that. How many boxes of "Tactical Marines" do I need? All of them. Plus maybe 3 more. How many boxes of Space Marines all armed with plasma guns, who can only ever be run in that one single unit now and who have a hard cap of 2, do I need? None? The only difference really is that GW made the paint schemes have different rules, whereas that never happened with Eldar.
For my thinks on it? Eldar worked as The Painter’s Army. Even with the wild creativity and mania of Rogue Trader, armies typically relied on a set colour palette for visual cohesion. Eldar however? Sure, your Guardians, War Walkers and Eldar Dreadnoughts shared a scheme and palette. But, the Aspect Warriors? Temple Colours are something pretty different. And to those who really enjoyed their painting, it meant an army with far fewer constraints. And again, for the Aspect Temples? A pretty blank slate, as sure they’ve broadly associated schemes, but the background doesn’t tie you to that.
I have multiple squads of the same aspect warriors in different temple schemes. It's a really fun challenge to make them distinct, but still feel cohesive and true to the aspect's lore.
This is 100% true. It's why I started collecting them. I don't think there is a more fun faction to paint. Chaos being a close second if you mix CSMs with deamons. Maybe eldar didn't sell a lot of models over the years but I'll bet they sold a lot of paint pots.
@ the video certainly doesn’t seem to take Painters into account. The Eldar have always had a visually strong range, especially in the early days. So sure, a player might only buy a handful, but painters might buy multiple, especially as their skills improve and they want to push themselves.
Agreed,I picked them for their range of colours (rather than marines that are all the same colour). Also, bearing in mind Aspect warriors came in packs of 4 and later 3 (back in the day) and the same for guardians unless you wanted monopose lasgun guardians. Also, there are a lot of different aspects - compared to the (pre-primaris) marines which were just tactical, assault, devastator, scout and Terminator.
Eldar have to be one of the best factions in 40k to paint. Aspect Warriors provide a great opportunity to really go to town with different colours. I've also started splashing Ynnari alongside my Biel-Tan, so I intend to do some of the staples like Guardians in a crimson scheme to keep things fresh.
We should note that the Harlequins did make a return in 4th Edition with sculpts by Juan Diaz of Daemonettes fame and from which the current plastic kits takes design cues from. However just as with the Aspect Warriors they were originally in metal and sadly fell victim to the Finecast curse along with much of the rest of the Eldar range. Also I'll die on this hill that Harlequins deserve much more of the spotlight, being one of the most original concepts not just in GW history but also in all of miniature wargaming.
The biggest issue GW have is actually having faith in their own original concepts. As much as I love 40k, it's pretty clear that GW has always put the most focus into things that have more of a basis outside the worlds of warhammer, whilst things they created to be unique to their own settings are often left in the dust, Harlequins being one such example. The Fimir is another, they were literally created to be warhammer fantasy's own original race as a sort of swamp alligator cyclops men that took inspiration from celtic mythology, and after a complete failure to properly implement them they were left to languish in irrelevance, only for GW to then release a faction of orcs that look suspiciously like those of the Hobbit trilogy, but also aping the fimir's swamp aesthetic in age of sigmar. GW are famous for playing it safe, relatively speaking, CWE is probably as close as we'll get to them truly embracing something that doesn't have a clear analogous property in popular culture.
@@captainweekend5276 i was reading an interview with Jes Goodwin on Gav Thorpes site, and Jes said that the reason he was given the eldar as a project was that he was tbe new guy on the team, and the leadership didnt think space elves would be as popular, and thats just wild to me. You are making a brand new game, a new setting, WHY make a faction you dont think will be popular in the first place???
I love your content. 2nd ed was very special to me. I hope there are a plethora of new 40k lovers who come and see your content and realise the history and beauty of the game.
The Eldar vs Eldar battle report was from my first ever White Dwarf 196, a somehwat confusing place to start for me as a small child not really knowing what civil war meant. Although I still to this day believe that Warp Spiders were the most powerful unit in the game ever due to that reports influence on my tiny mind. (despite never having played with or against them).
Perhaps something I'm not sure you mentioned: as soon as they commit to/overcome the upfront cost of plastic warp spiders, the margin on each 5-model sprue produced will dwarf any profit on the old resin-cast ones massively, so much quicker, so much less hassle and manual work
you put a picture of thr isorian tsa ra command squad as an example of a creative unit that nobody wants. this caused me to buy two pack to convert into kroot rampagers for my tau army because i love that theyre so unique and cool!
With the new models coming, they only need a new Autarch Skyrunner and Karandras kits to finish an all-plastic Eldar range. But where to go from there? Like you say, Exodites would make a good themed 11th Ed Eldar range... in much the same way the Kroot were fleshed out as an alernative Tau Empire army. The same could be said for the Corsairs. It would be nice for them to have a character or two, a couple of troops boxes (with an option of shooty or close combat weapons), and a transport/tank box... so you can have a pirate Eldar themed army (also like the Kroot). I was really disappointed with GW last year when the produced the Boarding Actions book, with specific Boarding patrols. When the first Boarding Patrol game and scenery came out, GW brought out a Boarding Patrol box featuring two units of ten Corsairs, Jain Zar and five Banshees. In the new Boarding Patrol book, the Corsairs aren't listed. Let me express that more strongly... the literal Eldar PIRATES... aren't in there!... *SMH*
The northern English excitement in which to go ‘Ooh that’s Manchester’ and ‘Ooh that’s York’ at pictures of cities. Although for pedants sake, the Shambles in York is practically smack bang in the centre of York.
Another banger of a video mate. Love staring at those old models and artwork...the nostalgia/knowledge you bring with every video is a true service to this hobby...brought to you with a healthy serving of British humor! We thank you for your service, I SAY GOOD DAY SIR!
All truly successful YT channels need a running gag, and I'm pleased to see you've finally got yours. Civvie 11 has sewers, Bad Obsession Motorsport get the funk out, Leif over at Devs and Dice has his increasingly deranged cackling, and now you have recycling jokes. I'm interested to see how far this can go.
An interesting idea. On the other hand it makes it more puzzling why GW refused to make storm guardian miniatures or wave serpents for more then a decade, causing every eldar player to rely almost exclusively on aspect warriors.
I think that modern GW is run by some kind of Kairos-like two headed beast, but one head only speaks sense and the other one screams monumentally horrible ideas. The sensible head decided that the Horus Heresy should be built on basically two plastic infantry kits with a tremendous amount of versatility. The brain-damaged head has, for some reason, dedicated its remaining life to making as many Primaris Lieutenants and one-off hyper-specialized marine kits as conceivably possible. At least the aspect warriors and phoenix lords are meeting a real demand. I have no idea how they decided that basically dumping the entirety of the Firstborn range with its like five basic, interchangeable kits for dozens and dozens and dozens of boxes that you might conceivably want one of was a good idea.
Well, you see, they're Space Marines. And Space Marines aren't a faction, they're a product line in themselves making up many different factions. As the video pointed out: people sometimes want to switch Space Marine chapters. And if a Blood Angels Tactical Marine is the same thing as an Ultramarines Tactical Marine, then all that requires is a new paint job. Instead, what you do is you sell them an Assault Intercessor Squad, which needs a Blood Angels Upgrade Sprue to really be a Blood Angel. You can't just repaint that into an Ultramarine. And then you have the new Detachment rules, which say that certain Detachments work better with Gravis armor, and others work better with Tacticus armor, and others work better with Phobos armor. So now you can't even take a Raven Guard from your Vanguard Spearhead army, strip the paint, and repaint it as an Imperial Fist for your Anvil Siege Force army: the latter works better with Gravis armor, the former works better with Phobos. Better buy some Heavy Intercessors to replace those Infiltrators. Or, you know, buy up an entire second army.
@@alberthwang2900 But that's not the issue. Upgrade kits are a great idea, as is having multiple armor types. The problem is that they are ballooning their SKU count through the roof by making every single product be a single-use kit that is almost impossible to convert due to being elaborately posed. They could almost certainly reduce costs and shortages by planning ahead and making sure that their main kits are more versatile. You have to have a certain number of bodies on the table to get to a specified points level (more or less). It benefits GW massively if they can maximize the number of individual boxes sold while minimizing the number of different molds. Their current model requires a different mold for almost every single unit in your army. This works for stringing people along and forcing them to buy the new hotness, but also significantly increases the cost to produce models and incurs risk if you ever start producing kits that people don't actually like. They almost certainly would have been better off if they had stopped with one or two boxes for each armor and two vehicle chassis, then expanding the ranges with upgrade kits or alternate assembly sprues like they do with the Primaris dreadnoughts.
@@GaryP336 Games Workshop benefits massively from a tremendous amount of good will, one of the most recognizable IPs in existence, and (mostly) very talented writers, artists, and sculptors. I would argue that they are succeeding in spite of their business model, not because of it.
@@mersenniusprime Dynamic poses make for better box art rather than staid images of ten guys all in the same pose holding the same weapons the exact same way. This gets people more excited to buy things, and therefore increases purchasing. The next big problem is 3D printing. If all your models use the same chassis and body poses, it becomes really easy for 3rd parties to make bits that are compatible. With every model in a unique, dynamic pose, the job of the 3D print studios becomes harder. This all makes sense when you realize that GW is not in the business of making a lot of money in the long term, but trying to make all the money they can out of as many people as possible now.
The Gong in between chapters is so loud it made my cat jump up each time. Which is horrible as we were just cuddling and she likes to claw when scared.
In the original Space Marine epic game, I had an Eldar army and I loved it. We pretty much always lost against the Imperial Guard with it's much bigger army list but who wouldn't love firing off some Warp Cannons and then watching the resulting warp area of effect wander randomly around the map killing off friend and foe alike :) I also had a soft spot for the Squat army as well, maybe I am just attracted to the underdogs!
A little nitpick here at 15:55, the 3rd ed rulebook did say that a player could take multiple force org detachments so long as they were each composed of at least 1 HQ and 2 Troops units, so you could actually take more than 2 HQs in a game. The missions in the same book also often fiddled with force org to fit the mission, changing the minimum reqs of units. 6th and 7th eds introduced formations, and some of these were basically just HQs, or an HQ with one other unit, etc.
From memory it was more of a loose "guideline" in the rulebook and it vaguely cites 1500-2000 point games as being 1 detachment, with bigger games allowing you to take multiple detachments but (again, from memory) it was more of a pre-arranged player consent sort of deal, like fielding special characters. And certainly most "standard" games in tourneys, etc. only let you take a single force org chart as far as I'm aware. Even outside of it, most "standard" games (up to 2000 points) it was just kind of agreed that you only took a single standard detachment unless you had some narrative stuff going on or specific mission rules.
@MrDuckyart no, that's correct! It was under that assumption. But it was an option, and I imagine in casual games it wouldn't be an issue (there wasn't *really* a benefit in taking so many HQs and troops back then, after all). And 3rd ed was when I got into the hobby, so I don't know much about the competitive scene.
Sort of. They had rules as an independent army in 3rd and that sort of carried over into 4th. They also could be taken in Craftworld armies. Then in 7th they got their own own proper plastic army and army book. That carried on until 9th I believe. Where they suddenly got rolled into Craftworld fully.
I remember selling poorly painted old metal Wraithguard for more than the cost of a brand new Failcast Wraithguard set. I’m constantly shocked they never made Exodites. I would go nuts for a Dino-Riders faction.
Thanks for a concise reasoning explanation as to why my beloved Warp Spiders only got 1 got a resculpt and no phoenix lord, financially I get it but....
I'll never understand why GW was so stingy about making new aspects shrines as well as off-shoots of existing ones: wouldn't it make sense to make Fire Dragons focusing on fire axes instead meltas or Shuriken Cannon wielding Dark Reapers considering their respective Phoenix Lords?
Shh. You'll give them ideas. :P Fire Dragons with axes would be dope. They could easily add a ranged variant for the melee units and vice versa, and I'm ashamed no one seems to have ever though of that.
Thank you Sir! A really enjoyable video. My Eldar army is based on the old 90s models. They´re the best in my opinion, Goodwin forever! All the best, Billi.
This was awesome! It's actually amazing the eldar finally got back. I love the old sculpts but excited to buy some more plastic. A guy's gotta have a hobby, right?
This was a great video! I would have liked to see his touch on Ynnari, to help sell one thing multiple times, and why they haven’t continued it outside that model.
Regarding the near demise of the Eldar range, I'd be interested in your take on the demise of the squats. Also I really enjoyed your explanation why most of the eldar range hadn't been refreshed in decase
@@Grendich ...Good point! I was convinced that the bloody hand was because it was holding the heart of someone it killed during the ritual to awaken it, but it turns out I was completely mistaken. I'm not sure if I got confused with some other Warhammer model, or if I just made that up entirely!
The Avatar represents/is a fragment of Kaela Mensha Khaine or Khaine the Bloody-handed, the Eldar god of war, destruction and murder. Hence the depictions always having a bloody hand.
I'd be interested in hearing your take on Wyrd games, because with their flagship game Malifaux, they seem to follow an opposite philosophy to the "make one thing and sell it multiple times". With Malifaux there's strict limits on how many of a unit you can take, even minion units where you can take multiple of them, they're typically limited to how many you get in the box, with there only being a few exceptions in the entire game (and those few exceptions are also the most expensive crews, like I like the big hat models but damn, there are crews you can put together for a quarter the cost of that one) so rarely do you ever actually need to buy the individual product more than once. They are a smaller miniatures company but they have a loyal following and recently made their way into the top 10 of icv2's best selling non-collectible miniatures lines (the one for wargame and D&D minis) with the Malifaux range specifically. They do their own wargame as well, although it isn't as miniatures heavy as either 40k or AoS, more of a middle ground between a skirmish game and wargame where there aren't strict limits on units like in Malifaux.
I really do think the business reason for retiring older models is to “sell the same thing multiple times.” Like you mentioned in your video about AoS it’s great for players that you can build an army and play forever but that’s horrible for the company selling the models. So if you just periodically “retire” a few of everyone’s models and then replace them with something new it spurs sales.
Exodites and pirates; although 2nd edition had rules for both they didn't have official models for Exodites but pirates were pretty much Guardians with extra wargear options...throw a Lord on a jetbike with some bionics (legs were popular for the free attack) and have fun. Glad I hung on to my Eldar since they were my first army...don't have many of the Harlequins but a lot of the metal Guardians.
It all goes back to the oldest profession. Have one thing (that you didn't even have to pay for), and sell it multiple times (or rent it out, in this case).
As a knife-ear fanboy since day one, this is a fantastic video. Have you ever thought about collaborating with ArbitorIan? To me, that looks like a perfect fit.
You can make differant coloured aspect warriors its just gw has never made lore for them. In theory you could have a shrine of banshees that only use mirror sword and fight in black, but gw never went that route for some reason
Try playing Eldar in Epic Armageddon instead. A Biel-tann Aspect Warrior warhost has 40 aspect warriors in and at 300 points the formation is only 1/10th of the 3,000 points of a standard tournament size army so you have lots of Craftworlders around.
I feel like the other aspect warriors and phoenix lords only got new plastic kits because GW is currently doing the financial equivalent of a victory lap and they can afford to burn money just to stop all the grumbling from the fans (and probably some of the staff too)
I'd like to think there are more consumers like me who see these "you'll need to keep getting more of these" tricks coming a mile off and just purchase good games I know I can keep playing until I actively choose to expand it or get the next one.
11:56 where is that image from? It just sent me into a spiral of 90s White Dwarf or possible early 00's headspace. Its definitely early 90s in the photo but where have i seen it? Have i lived it, dreamt it? Is that my best friend I've not seen in two decades? Did I claim it was when i was in year 8, " he lives in one town over'? Did he win a compo or is this a stumbleupon memory? I know I've seen it but where? WHERE!? Imagine i have you by the ankles and I'm dangling yourt body out of a ground floor window demanding the above. Your just doing an assisted handstand essentially outside a travel lodge off a busy roundabout. TELL ME!
@@Le_Petomane it’s from either a white dwarf or promo pamphlet I scanned in. I couldn’t tell you which one off the top of my head because I foolishly didn’t add those details to the file names. The photo looks to have been taken around 92-93 due to the products featured but could have been published later
This is why I stopped buying warhammer in the early 2000s. I saw how many of my friends older brothers were showing their older model armies and talking about how they cant use them anymore because they are outdated.
They got loads of fans working for 'em, problem with those is that they're often too reverent about the IP to actually make some stuff that's actually interesting instead of fan fiction, re-makes and references. Though the biggest problem 40k has is that they're to beholden to the money holders. Look at most other game systems GW has and they're mostly very good (albeit particular) with impressive models while the mass appeal chasing makes 40k very bland
A lot of studio staff have really drank the kool aid big time, they are overly loyal to the company, what GW needs is genuine punks to change shit up, and challenge the big wigs w interesting ideas like, I dont know, 3d Printing, and selling STL files of their old discontinued stock Look at how well Trench Crusade and 28mag is doing, it captures fanmade content much better than the former and has radically fun and creative approaches. They just dont want to lose their main purchasers; 40 year old mothers.
Here's the thing: if GW would balance their armies and not invalidate them with new rules, I'd just keep adding to stuff. I'd have three or four 10k+ armies. Instead, i just read lore now.
Point of order - the Eldar army is a 'toolbox', not a swiss army knife. Space Marines of yonder past were a swiss army knife army, as they generally had a tool to deal with anything that the army might bring in any given list, but none of those smaller 'swiss army knife' tools were as good as the dedicated thing. Jack of all trades, master of none. The Eldar in contrast were a toolbox, who had a box of dedicated tools they could bring to a fight, but as a result of those tools taking up a lot more space, they would often lack some of the ones needed to deal with specific issues on the battlefield. The analogy here is that a space marine army can fit a bunch of smaller, less effective tools with a much wider coverage in(small swiss army knife) while the Eldar need to bring a toolbox, and only have so much space to bring all the tools they need for a given job! This has been a pointless nitpick, but I feel like you're the kind of creator who would appreciate those!
You probably cut it out of the history because it's not very relevant, but the Aspect Warriors got updated sculpts in 3rd edition, before all that finecast rubbish came out. Unfortunately, these 3rd edition resculpts were absolute arsenal.
The funny thing is that modern Space Marines are designed much like the Aspect Warriors. The only way they don’t fall into the same trap of “you already own them” is because of people making multiple armies with different chapters.
Also the way the game is balanced makes it so that you will likely buy multiple boxes of the same unit, because they often break the primaris marines down into boxes where they sell them in their minimum unit size, the only notable difference being hellblasters, which facilitates buying the same box up to six times as the marine playstyle can often be boiled down to taking as much of the best option as you can.
Was gonna say that. How many boxes of "Tactical Marines" do I need? All of them. Plus maybe 3 more. How many boxes of Space Marines all armed with plasma guns, who can only ever be run in that one single unit now and who have a hard cap of 2, do I need? None? The only difference really is that GW made the paint schemes have different rules, whereas that never happened with Eldar.
For my thinks on it? Eldar worked as The Painter’s Army. Even with the wild creativity and mania of Rogue Trader, armies typically relied on a set colour palette for visual cohesion. Eldar however? Sure, your Guardians, War Walkers and Eldar Dreadnoughts shared a scheme and palette. But, the Aspect Warriors? Temple Colours are something pretty different. And to those who really enjoyed their painting, it meant an army with far fewer constraints. And again, for the Aspect Temples? A pretty blank slate, as sure they’ve broadly associated schemes, but the background doesn’t tie you to that.
I have multiple squads of the same aspect warriors in different temple schemes. It's a really fun challenge to make them distinct, but still feel cohesive and true to the aspect's lore.
This is 100% true. It's why I started collecting them. I don't think there is a more fun faction to paint. Chaos being a close second if you mix CSMs with deamons. Maybe eldar didn't sell a lot of models over the years but I'll bet they sold a lot of paint pots.
@ the video certainly doesn’t seem to take Painters into account. The Eldar have always had a visually strong range, especially in the early days. So sure, a player might only buy a handful, but painters might buy multiple, especially as their skills improve and they want to push themselves.
Agreed,I picked them for their range of colours (rather than marines that are all the same colour). Also, bearing in mind Aspect warriors came in packs of 4 and later 3 (back in the day) and the same for guardians unless you wanted monopose lasgun guardians. Also, there are a lot of different aspects - compared to the (pre-primaris) marines which were just tactical, assault, devastator, scout and Terminator.
Eldar have to be one of the best factions in 40k to paint. Aspect Warriors provide a great opportunity to really go to town with different colours. I've also started splashing Ynnari alongside my Biel-Tan, so I intend to do some of the staples like Guardians in a crimson scheme to keep things fresh.
Two in a week? Capt Mannering has lost the plot
Stupid boy 🤣🤣
❤🧡💛💚💙💜🖤💯 Still have all my OG White-Metal *_PHOENIX LORDS_*_ & Friends_ in my collection.*
( * and I luv 'em ;-))
How. Dare. You. Harlequins are the coolest damn thing ever! *Harumph*
Besides Genestealer Cults the coolest thing in 40k indeed!
We should note that the Harlequins did make a return in 4th Edition with sculpts by Juan Diaz of Daemonettes fame and from which the current plastic kits takes design cues from. However just as with the Aspect Warriors they were originally in metal and sadly fell victim to the Finecast curse along with much of the rest of the Eldar range.
Also I'll die on this hill that Harlequins deserve much more of the spotlight, being one of the most original concepts not just in GW history but also in all of miniature wargaming.
The biggest issue GW have is actually having faith in their own original concepts. As much as I love 40k, it's pretty clear that GW has always put the most focus into things that have more of a basis outside the worlds of warhammer, whilst things they created to be unique to their own settings are often left in the dust, Harlequins being one such example. The Fimir is another, they were literally created to be warhammer fantasy's own original race as a sort of swamp alligator cyclops men that took inspiration from celtic mythology, and after a complete failure to properly implement them they were left to languish in irrelevance, only for GW to then release a faction of orcs that look suspiciously like those of the Hobbit trilogy, but also aping the fimir's swamp aesthetic in age of sigmar. GW are famous for playing it safe, relatively speaking, CWE is probably as close as we'll get to them truly embracing something that doesn't have a clear analogous property in popular culture.
@@captainweekend5276 i was reading an interview with Jes Goodwin on Gav Thorpes site, and Jes said that the reason he was given the eldar as a project was that he was tbe new guy on the team, and the leadership didnt think space elves would be as popular, and thats just wild to me.
You are making a brand new game, a new setting, WHY make a faction you dont think will be popular in the first place???
Olden Demon is spoiling us with so many videos 😀
I love your content. 2nd ed was very special to me. I hope there are a plethora of new 40k lovers who come and see your content and realise the history and beauty of the game.
_Pouring one out for the Warp Spiders mold_
@@crikeymiles is it too early to call for it being put on cast on demand?
@@OldenDemon"Colonel, I'm retired. Find another man for the job."
Wouldn’t you be pouring one into the mould?
11:00 Oh god, this reminds me GW and their 300 primaris LTs
The Eldar vs Eldar battle report was from my first ever White Dwarf 196, a somehwat confusing place to start for me as a small child not really knowing what civil war meant. Although I still to this day believe that Warp Spiders were the most powerful unit in the game ever due to that reports influence on my tiny mind. (despite never having played with or against them).
Perhaps something I'm not sure you mentioned: as soon as they commit to/overcome the upfront cost of plastic warp spiders, the margin on each 5-model sprue produced will dwarf any profit on the old resin-cast ones massively, so much quicker, so much less hassle and manual work
you put a picture of thr isorian tsa ra command squad as an example of a creative unit that nobody wants. this caused me to buy two pack to convert into kroot rampagers for my tau army because i love that theyre so unique and cool!
GW GIVE ME A FULL EXODITE RANGE AND MY WALLET IS YOURS
What about space marines riding Dinosaurs?
With the new models coming, they only need a new Autarch Skyrunner and Karandras kits to finish an all-plastic Eldar range.
But where to go from there?
Like you say, Exodites would make a good themed 11th Ed Eldar range... in much the same way the Kroot were fleshed out as an alernative Tau Empire army.
The same could be said for the Corsairs. It would be nice for them to have a character or two, a couple of troops boxes (with an option of shooty or close combat weapons), and a transport/tank box... so you can have a pirate Eldar themed army (also like the Kroot).
I was really disappointed with GW last year when the produced the Boarding Actions book, with specific Boarding patrols.
When the first Boarding Patrol game and scenery came out, GW brought out a Boarding Patrol box featuring two units of ten Corsairs, Jain Zar and five Banshees.
In the new Boarding Patrol book, the Corsairs aren't listed.
Let me express that more strongly... the literal Eldar PIRATES... aren't in there!... *SMH*
Hell just expand the Seraphon range and we'll do it ourselves...
The northern English excitement in which to go ‘Ooh that’s Manchester’ and ‘Ooh that’s York’ at pictures of cities.
Although for pedants sake, the Shambles in York is practically smack bang in the centre of York.
Bonus point for using Jes Goodwin original artwork, I still have that book :)
Never even knew it existed, need to hunt down a copy.
Edit: It’s £500, I no longer *need* it 😂
@deifiedtitan Amazing art, might have pages on Google images
@@deifiedtitan will BL ever reprint these amazing eldar sketch books :(
Those aftermarket prices are insane
Another banger of a video mate.
Love staring at those old models and artwork...the nostalgia/knowledge you bring with every video is a true service to this hobby...brought to you with a healthy serving of British humor!
We thank you for your service, I SAY GOOD DAY SIR!
All truly successful YT channels need a running gag, and I'm pleased to see you've finally got yours. Civvie 11 has sewers, Bad Obsession Motorsport get the funk out, Leif over at Devs and Dice has his increasingly deranged cackling, and now you have recycling jokes. I'm interested to see how far this can go.
Two episodes in quick succession - truly we are blessed this month
The secret road is walled with pictures by Mark Gibbons.
Mark gibbons and Jes Goodwin, actual Eldar God's.
The goat
An interesting idea. On the other hand it makes it more puzzling why GW refused to make storm guardian miniatures or wave serpents for more then a decade, causing every eldar player to rely almost exclusively on aspect warriors.
I think that modern GW is run by some kind of Kairos-like two headed beast, but one head only speaks sense and the other one screams monumentally horrible ideas. The sensible head decided that the Horus Heresy should be built on basically two plastic infantry kits with a tremendous amount of versatility. The brain-damaged head has, for some reason, dedicated its remaining life to making as many Primaris Lieutenants and one-off hyper-specialized marine kits as conceivably possible. At least the aspect warriors and phoenix lords are meeting a real demand. I have no idea how they decided that basically dumping the entirety of the Firstborn range with its like five basic, interchangeable kits for dozens and dozens and dozens of boxes that you might conceivably want one of was a good idea.
Thier financial reports seem to suggest it IS a good idea 😅
Well, you see, they're Space Marines. And Space Marines aren't a faction, they're a product line in themselves making up many different factions.
As the video pointed out: people sometimes want to switch Space Marine chapters. And if a Blood Angels Tactical Marine is the same thing as an Ultramarines Tactical Marine, then all that requires is a new paint job. Instead, what you do is you sell them an Assault Intercessor Squad, which needs a Blood Angels Upgrade Sprue to really be a Blood Angel. You can't just repaint that into an Ultramarine.
And then you have the new Detachment rules, which say that certain Detachments work better with Gravis armor, and others work better with Tacticus armor, and others work better with Phobos armor. So now you can't even take a Raven Guard from your Vanguard Spearhead army, strip the paint, and repaint it as an Imperial Fist for your Anvil Siege Force army: the latter works better with Gravis armor, the former works better with Phobos. Better buy some Heavy Intercessors to replace those Infiltrators. Or, you know, buy up an entire second army.
@@alberthwang2900 But that's not the issue. Upgrade kits are a great idea, as is having multiple armor types. The problem is that they are ballooning their SKU count through the roof by making every single product be a single-use kit that is almost impossible to convert due to being elaborately posed. They could almost certainly reduce costs and shortages by planning ahead and making sure that their main kits are more versatile. You have to have a certain number of bodies on the table to get to a specified points level (more or less). It benefits GW massively if they can maximize the number of individual boxes sold while minimizing the number of different molds. Their current model requires a different mold for almost every single unit in your army. This works for stringing people along and forcing them to buy the new hotness, but also significantly increases the cost to produce models and incurs risk if you ever start producing kits that people don't actually like. They almost certainly would have been better off if they had stopped with one or two boxes for each armor and two vehicle chassis, then expanding the ranges with upgrade kits or alternate assembly sprues like they do with the Primaris dreadnoughts.
@@GaryP336 Games Workshop benefits massively from a tremendous amount of good will, one of the most recognizable IPs in existence, and (mostly) very talented writers, artists, and sculptors. I would argue that they are succeeding in spite of their business model, not because of it.
@@mersenniusprime Dynamic poses make for better box art rather than staid images of ten guys all in the same pose holding the same weapons the exact same way. This gets people more excited to buy things, and therefore increases purchasing.
The next big problem is 3D printing. If all your models use the same chassis and body poses, it becomes really easy for 3rd parties to make bits that are compatible. With every model in a unique, dynamic pose, the job of the 3D print studios becomes harder.
This all makes sense when you realize that GW is not in the business of making a lot of money in the long term, but trying to make all the money they can out of as many people as possible now.
This is really excellent stuff! Thanks for this.
More olden demon, more often 👍
The Gong in between chapters is so loud it made my cat jump up each time. Which is horrible as we were just cuddling and she likes to claw when scared.
I like these videos. I'm not familiar with the 40.000 game, but I enjoy seeing game history.
There was a Dark Eldar release somewhere in the middle that had people allying DE and CE armies, converting across the two etc.
In the original Space Marine epic game, I had an Eldar army and I loved it. We pretty much always lost against the Imperial Guard with it's much bigger army list but who wouldn't love firing off some Warp Cannons and then watching the resulting warp area of effect wander randomly around the map killing off friend and foe alike :)
I also had a soft spot for the Squat army as well, maybe I am just attracted to the underdogs!
A little nitpick here at 15:55, the 3rd ed rulebook did say that a player could take multiple force org detachments so long as they were each composed of at least 1 HQ and 2 Troops units, so you could actually take more than 2 HQs in a game. The missions in the same book also often fiddled with force org to fit the mission, changing the minimum reqs of units.
6th and 7th eds introduced formations, and some of these were basically just HQs, or an HQ with one other unit, etc.
From memory it was more of a loose "guideline" in the rulebook and it vaguely cites 1500-2000 point games as being 1 detachment, with bigger games allowing you to take multiple detachments but (again, from memory) it was more of a pre-arranged player consent sort of deal, like fielding special characters. And certainly most "standard" games in tourneys, etc. only let you take a single force org chart as far as I'm aware. Even outside of it, most "standard" games (up to 2000 points) it was just kind of agreed that you only took a single standard detachment unless you had some narrative stuff going on or specific mission rules.
@MrDuckyart no, that's correct! It was under that assumption. But it was an option, and I imagine in casual games it wouldn't be an issue (there wasn't *really* a benefit in taking so many HQs and troops back then, after all). And 3rd ed was when I got into the hobby, so I don't know much about the competitive scene.
19:47 I though the harlequins got turned into a support squad for the Eldar in most editions past 3rd...
Sort of. They had rules as an independent army in 3rd and that sort of carried over into 4th. They also could be taken in Craftworld armies. Then in 7th they got their own own proper plastic army and army book. That carried on until 9th I believe. Where they suddenly got rolled into Craftworld fully.
Really, REALLY good video mate, great work!
I remember selling poorly painted old metal Wraithguard for more than the cost of a brand new Failcast Wraithguard set.
I’m constantly shocked they never made Exodites. I would go nuts for a Dino-Riders faction.
I'd defiantly print one. But the cost GW would charge for a Dino-sized models would just make it impossible for me no matter how cool they are.
Thanks for a concise reasoning explanation as to why my beloved Warp Spiders only got 1 got a resculpt and no phoenix lord, financially I get it but....
I'll never understand why GW was so stingy about making new aspects shrines as well as off-shoots of existing ones: wouldn't it make sense to make Fire Dragons focusing on fire axes instead meltas or Shuriken Cannon wielding Dark Reapers considering their respective Phoenix Lords?
Shh. You'll give them ideas. :P Fire Dragons with axes would be dope. They could easily add a ranged variant for the melee units and vice versa, and I'm ashamed no one seems to have ever though of that.
Thank you Sir! A really enjoyable video. My Eldar army is based on the old 90s models. They´re the best in my opinion, Goodwin forever! All the best, Billi.
This was awesome! It's actually amazing the eldar finally got back. I love the old sculpts but excited to buy some more plastic. A guy's gotta have a hobby, right?
Nice! Thanks Olden. 👍
The Vyper was the first kit I bought in '97. Love it as much now as I did then.
This was a great video! I would have liked to see his touch on Ynnari, to help sell one thing multiple times, and why they haven’t continued it outside that model.
The mention of X-Wing made me sad 😢
I miss that game
Regarding the near demise of the Eldar range, I'd be interested in your take on the demise of the squats. Also I really enjoyed your explanation why most of the eldar range hadn't been refreshed in decase
i LOVE YOUR WORK! Mooore!!!!!
White Dwarf 127 is amazing. Best issue ever.
Well thought out. That makes a lot of sense as to why GW took 30 years to update the Eldar.
1:05 - Okay, I'm calling it: the tin man wanting a heart is TOTALLY setting up a pun or joke about the Eldar Avatar holding a bloody heart, right?
since when is the avatar holding a bloody heart?
@@Grendich ...Good point! I was convinced that the bloody hand was because it was holding the heart of someone it killed during the ritual to awaken it, but it turns out I was completely mistaken. I'm not sure if I got confused with some other Warhammer model, or if I just made that up entirely!
The Avatar represents/is a fragment of Kaela Mensha Khaine or Khaine the Bloody-handed, the Eldar god of war, destruction and murder.
Hence the depictions always having a bloody hand.
Superb video!
The eldar problem, aka the fantasy high elf problem. Aka "Buy once, see you again in 15 years."
I plan on getting multiple Emperor's Children models
Beyond the gates of Antares mentioned!
Awesome content as usual 😁
my "fine cast" swooping harks somehow went mouldy 🤢
Ah yes... Just a company of space marines. That's a reasonable stopping point.
Good video
I prefer guard, but Eldar are ok. I do have a Dark Eldar army, had it since 3rd.
Great content as always
Tbf the old eldar warp spiders are some of the best models gw has ever made
"...Because Games Workshop was fairly disorganised in those days." .. Ah yes, those days are long gone, right? RIGHT?!
I'd be interested in hearing your take on Wyrd games, because with their flagship game Malifaux, they seem to follow an opposite philosophy to the "make one thing and sell it multiple times". With Malifaux there's strict limits on how many of a unit you can take, even minion units where you can take multiple of them, they're typically limited to how many you get in the box, with there only being a few exceptions in the entire game (and those few exceptions are also the most expensive crews, like I like the big hat models but damn, there are crews you can put together for a quarter the cost of that one) so rarely do you ever actually need to buy the individual product more than once. They are a smaller miniatures company but they have a loyal following and recently made their way into the top 10 of icv2's best selling non-collectible miniatures lines (the one for wargame and D&D minis) with the Malifaux range specifically. They do their own wargame as well, although it isn't as miniatures heavy as either 40k or AoS, more of a middle ground between a skirmish game and wargame where there aren't strict limits on units like in Malifaux.
Oh boy I’m so exited 😊
I really do think the business reason for retiring older models is to “sell the same thing multiple times.” Like you mentioned in your video about AoS it’s great for players that you can build an army and play forever but that’s horrible for the company selling the models. So if you just periodically “retire” a few of everyone’s models and then replace them with something new it spurs sales.
Exodites and pirates; although 2nd edition had rules for both they didn't have official models for Exodites but pirates were pretty much Guardians with extra wargear options...throw a Lord on a jetbike with some bionics (legs were popular for the free attack) and have fun.
Glad I hung on to my Eldar since they were my first army...don't have many of the Harlequins but a lot of the metal Guardians.
Very interesting video...As always
@11:25 you know people who collect an entire company? I know people who collect entire chapters....
It all goes back to the oldest profession. Have one thing (that you didn't even have to pay for), and sell it multiple times (or rent it out, in this case).
It's like watching Tony Hawks (not the skateboarder) school me on old GW miniatures.
That's not a bad thing!
RIP scorpion 2 tank. Got pulled just as I was saving for one...
So why hasn't GW figured this out themselves. Seeing a block of 20 Striking scorpions rolling up the battle field would rock
As a knife-ear fanboy since day one, this is a fantastic video. Have you ever thought about collaborating with ArbitorIan? To me, that looks like a perfect fit.
Man, I really wish Karandras got an update.
And I’m saying this as somebody who doesn’t even play Eldar.
I just wish he was still in the codex!
Ironically, he's the only phoenix lord I've ever fielded!
You can make differant coloured aspect warriors its just gw has never made lore for them. In theory you could have a shrine of banshees that only use mirror sword and fight in black, but gw never went that route for some reason
Exodites, baby!!!!
Very interesting!
lol. I won't buy any of the new sculpts because my 1990s metal aspect warriors are still good to go. Dying race. Peak Eldar.
The old sculpts are just beautiful
- ❤🧡💛💚💙💜🖤💯 Still have all my OG White-Metal *_PHOENIX LORDS_*_ & Friends_ in my collection.*
( * and I luv 'em ;-))
Me too buddy
Try playing Eldar in Epic Armageddon instead. A Biel-tann Aspect Warrior warhost has 40 aspect warriors in and at 300 points the formation is only 1/10th of the 3,000 points of a standard tournament size army so you have lots of Craftworlders around.
I want harlequins 🥺
I feel like the other aspect warriors and phoenix lords only got new plastic kits because GW is currently doing the financial equivalent of a victory lap and they can afford to burn money just to stop all the grumbling from the fans (and probably some of the staff too)
I'd like to think there are more consumers like me who see these "you'll need to keep getting more of these" tricks coming a mile off and just purchase good games I know I can keep playing until I actively choose to expand it or get the next one.
this was quite akward ...but... okay, I paint Eldar since a few weeks and have a lot of fun, Old metal ones from 91 for sure.
Space Marine kits subsidise everything else. Got it.
Still the best faction. Interesting insights.
11:56 where is that image from? It just sent me into a spiral of 90s White Dwarf or possible early 00's headspace. Its definitely early 90s in the photo but where have i seen it? Have i lived it, dreamt it? Is that my best friend I've not seen in two decades? Did I claim it was when i was in year 8, " he lives in one town over'? Did he win a compo or is this a stumbleupon memory? I know I've seen it but where? WHERE!?
Imagine i have you by the ankles and I'm dangling yourt body out of a ground floor window demanding the above. Your just doing an assisted handstand essentially outside a travel lodge off a busy roundabout.
TELL ME!
@@Le_Petomane it’s from either a white dwarf or promo pamphlet I scanned in. I couldn’t tell you which one off the top of my head because I foolishly didn’t add those details to the file names. The photo looks to have been taken around 92-93 due to the products featured but could have been published later
Gracias
Even with all these valid criticism, i still fricken love eldar and would collect then if i could justify paying gw prices anymore 😂
"THAT'S NOT VEAL!!!!!" 😱
Irony that Finecast wasn't very fine at all
Goddang the people wanted Gundam. Then one day it was Tau much. Ill see myself out.
This is why I stopped buying warhammer in the early 2000s. I saw how many of my friends older brothers were showing their older model armies and talking about how they cant use them anymore because they are outdated.
They can't use them in tournaments. Aside from that surely they can do what they like?
Even then - surprise, surprise - all the old Eldar minis are still tournament viable. I even use 90s minis for Kill Team.
Honestly if they just employed people who actually like the games they'd probably make way more money.
They got loads of fans working for 'em, problem with those is that they're often too reverent about the IP to actually make some stuff that's actually interesting instead of fan fiction, re-makes and references.
Though the biggest problem 40k has is that they're to beholden to the money holders. Look at most other game systems GW has and they're mostly very good (albeit particular) with impressive models while the mass appeal chasing makes 40k very bland
A lot of studio staff have really drank the kool aid big time, they are overly loyal to the company, what GW needs is genuine punks to change shit up, and challenge the big wigs w interesting ideas like, I dont know, 3d Printing, and selling STL files of their old discontinued stock
Look at how well Trench Crusade and 28mag is doing, it captures fanmade content much better than the former and has radically fun and creative approaches.
They just dont want to lose their main purchasers; 40 year old mothers.
Nuetral faction ? They're the goox guys right..right...right guys !?!
Here's the thing: if GW would balance their armies and not invalidate them with new rules, I'd just keep adding to stuff. I'd have three or four 10k+ armies. Instead, i just read lore now.
do the same for squats !
Well I learned one thing, why aspect warriors are called that, now I feel a bit dumb lol
I audibly said holy shit when I saw eldar instead of imperial guard/tyrannids on the title
Point of order - the Eldar army is a 'toolbox', not a swiss army knife. Space Marines of yonder past were a swiss army knife army, as they generally had a tool to deal with anything that the army might bring in any given list, but none of those smaller 'swiss army knife' tools were as good as the dedicated thing. Jack of all trades, master of none. The Eldar in contrast were a toolbox, who had a box of dedicated tools they could bring to a fight, but as a result of those tools taking up a lot more space, they would often lack some of the ones needed to deal with specific issues on the battlefield.
The analogy here is that a space marine army can fit a bunch of smaller, less effective tools with a much wider coverage in(small swiss army knife) while the Eldar need to bring a toolbox, and only have so much space to bring all the tools they need for a given job!
This has been a pointless nitpick, but I feel like you're the kind of creator who would appreciate those!
Yes, I suppose the toolbox analogy would have been better.
I dont need that many secrets
I don't think it's relevant that the Vyper and Falcon are old. They're perfect as they are. Remaster not needed.
I don’t want the veal.
You probably cut it out of the history because it's not very relevant, but the Aspect Warriors got updated sculpts in 3rd edition, before all that finecast rubbish came out. Unfortunately, these 3rd edition resculpts were absolute arsenal.
Wow, another recycling video? I learned so much last time
2025 will be recycling awareness year
Can we get some olden demon dice please??
Who are the Elda? 😉😁