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| The Dark Eldar are the latest army to advance into 7th edition, complete with a Raymond Swanland cover image. |
Since the release of the new Dark Eldar codex, the internet has been abuzz with the complaints of angry Dark Eldar players. Much of this consternation and anger has been focused towards the actual rules in the book, with detractors claiming that it was a shallow and superficial update. While the book brings the Dark Eldar into the 7th edition, each unit received only a bare minimum of attention, with most units being virtually identical to their previous renditions with minor point cost adjustments and, in some cases, the trimming down of special rules. And instead of adding a few new units (like the Ork codex), they simply removed some, including almost all the special characters, like the much loved Baron Sathonyx (and Duke Sliscus who I just converted…), and, to the shock of many, even Asdrubael Vect (most assumed he would be the book’s Lord of War, but instead they did not get one). Having read through the book, I can confirm that all of the anger is founded in reality, though anyone who has been following this blog for awhile will know that it rarely tends to dwell too heavily on the rules side of Warhammer 40k. So, this review is more to delve into the imagery of the book. If the rules are a bit underdone, surely the presentation is still top notch? Games Workshop has excelled at that for years. After all, the 7th edition rulebook was one of the most impressive books that Games Workshop has ever released (excellent printing, binding, image curation, etc). I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, despite Games Workshop’s pedigree, the art direction in the new Dark Eldar codex mimics the rushed nature of the new rules much more than it does the quality found in the new core rulebook. I would like to use this post to talk about what makes me say this, and comment about the new 7th edition codex format.
