Craftworld Eldar rumors

I find myself in possession of a small amount of time; insufficient to make meaningful progress on my Deathwing army, yet sufficient to address the recent "Craftworld Eldar" rumors posted on BoLS here...


If you don't wish to make the jump, the rumors are as follows for a 2012 Eldar release:

Eldar mid to late 2012. Possibly 1st or 2nd official 6 ed codex - believable but hardly surprising.

Guardians being redone. Will include new weapons platform and storm guardian bits. - I'm declaring shenanigans on this. Business wise this does not  make sense. Unless the price of the box were to go up significantly, I don't think we'll be seeing Defender/Storm guardian combo boxes next year.


One possible caveat to my analysi: if the box sets are released in sub-unit-sized amounts (say 6 guardians per box with bits for both) or with limited amounts of SG bits (10 guardian defenders with enough bits to make 2-4 of them stormies, for example) then this prediction could come true.

Avatar getting new fine cast version with weapon options (spear/sword) not as big as FW model, but larger than current. - Double shenanigans! This rumor would carry more weight if they hadn't already ported the existing Avatar model over to Finecast. It's not like GW to invest the added effort of recasting a metal model when they are planning to revamp it less than a year later!

Lots of new mech options. Jump pack/jet options for walkers similar to new FW models, but unclear if this is new model or upgrade to current model. Upgrade packs don't seem likely, and current model is decent, so I have my doubts about this rumor completely. - While I find the jump walker concept interesting, I don't see it being a standard option.

New tank options...built on wave serpent/falcon chassis still. Hydra like flak turret, Bonuses against flyers and skimmers. Dcannon tank. And some pulse cannon monster tank...scorpion? - New grav tank variants? I should hope so, but the price of the falcon as it is now needs to come down. An anti-aircraft options would be much appreciated, though I doubt most players would stock up on superheavies. So, again, shenanigans. P.S. Eldar absolutely require a flyer option like the Dark Eldar Nightwing.

New jet bikes and vypers. - While I'm skeptical, that would figure. Last month I finally acquired enough jetbikes to build a fully Saim Hann army

New warlock sculpts. New aspect sculpts, aspects still likely fine cast.- No surprises here. Eldar psykers have had new models introduced with every codex release.

Some sort of shimmershield device. Portable cover save for a unit, but static once deployed...model in design for it. Sounds fishy to me? But the de have the portal...who knows, I say unlikely. - This reeks of wishful thinking and sounds inelegant and un-eldar-like.

From obvious dept comes the nightwing and some form of bomber. Neither look at all like de ships, or existing FW. Definitely eldar. - This is probably a given.

Drop pod of some sort that can carry 20 troops, 10 wraith guard, or 1 wraith lord. Deploys as firebase that has higher cover rating for guardians. Sounds like a bastion that drops into play with a weapons platform attached. Not sure I buy into this rumor completely, it seems too complex the way it's been described. And I never saw any evidence of this in design before. - I highly doubt we will see anything like a vehicular deep strike transport. However, given the strong prevalence of webway assault in Thorpe's Path books and the DE Codex, I'm betting the farm they introduce wraithgates again (formerly Eye of Terror campaign wargear).