White Dwarf #34 - New Dark Eldar & Wicked Conversions

The Dark Eldar seem to be very much on the outer when it comes to the WH40K universe. There don't seem to be that many players despite having probably the nicest and most advanced miniatures in the range - ball and socket joints are pretty standard across the line.
Thanks to the mastery of Jes Goodwin (who designed an amazing miniatures range) and Phil Kelly (who worked with Goodwin for years on a definitive background) the Dark Eldar are a very well fleshed out civilization.
This week sees the preview of the first of 3 weeks of releases to add to the current range - the Haemonculi and their minions the Wracks.
Like previous releases, they dominate this week's White Dwarf - so if you'[re not into Dark Eldar... WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?
+ + More After The Jump + +
~ WARNING - 
I am not a photographer, so expect dodgy pictures below.

So - the Haemonculi - what an interesting place to start in the world of releases. Twisted, mutated and not someone you'd want to get matched up with on a blind date, the Haemonculi are pretty evil even by Dark Eldar standards. They keep the dead alive, the wounded fighting and children's nightmares populated - see they're not that bad! This miniature is a strange one. The fact his spine goes over his head and he levitates off the ground with it makes me wonder. It's pretty striking (kind of reminds me of Fabius Bile) but certainly not something you'd add to your army to make it pretty!

And by the Haemonculi's side - the Wracks. Stupid name, but sweet minis!
I'll have my hands on these pretty early next week, so keep your eyes peeled as I also have the previous Finecast release to compare it to.
The Wracks are almost exactly the same as the previous release but with some extra bits and more poseability.
I might add - the paint jobs on the Wracks in this issue aren't that great. Am I wrong?

Part of the new Wracks kit comes with parts to make a Raider pilot and gunner and a Venom pilot. Looks like they're building the Wracks into a force all of their own. All will be revealed in the new Codex I guess.

For a more indepth look at the Haemonculi and their Covens - this article fleshes (no pun intended) them out a lot. Looks like these Covens will rival the power of the Kabals!

Now this is interesting - Coven vs Coven in an exclusive White Dwarf mini game. I'm wondering if they are setting the Dark Eldar up to do the infighting we read about in the old Codex but on a larger scale. Maybe we will see Dark Eldar vs Dark Eldar battle reports?!

This article is interesting - 4 pages on how to photograph your models! Could they be getting a lot of crappy submissions? Seems like a lot of room to devote, still, it's handy and if I had a better camera - entirely possible. 

Dark Eldar are the masters of pain, of modification and therefore conversions abound. This is a really great idea for a Raider conversion, and it looks amazing! We also get a better look at the vehicle conversion crew parts included with the Wrack kit.

Paint Splatter, as you may know, is SOOOO hit and miss - and this week it's a miss in my mind. To me the skin tone on these guys is all wrong - it's too pink! They're Dark Eldar!!
Now if they went with this new alternate scheme GW are rolling out (right), then that would be really interesting. These guys look flayed!

The Designer's Notes give a pretty good overview of the mindset of Steve Buddle and how he went about squeezing more bang for your buck into the new kit. Interestingly he doesn't give any credit to the previous kit designer... oh Steve! There's some more info in here about what you get in the kit and also about the new weapon, the Ossefactor.
Having read this I do get a better idea of how he came up with that Haemonculi - very twisted!

Verdict

If you like Dark Eldar, this is for you - but it's pretty single track!
Other articles this month, BTW, is a cool story by Phil Kelly in Codex: Apocrypha, a quick look at Blood Bowl on tablet and that's about it.
Interestingly, the Incubi Darkness Spray and the Talon of Horus book appear in the front of the issue, but there's nothing on them in the issue itself! 
How odd!