New models have me worried about the upcoming book.

Tounguekutter wrote:

I heard rumors that OG Mandrakes had crazy unique rules, but that they were basically just a variant of Dark Eldar with coal-black skin.  I kind of like their mystery and daemonic traits that they have fluff-wise now, but IMO it would be cool if they were more than just a side-dish unit.  They're playable sure, but their purposes limit the amount you want to take them in.

Eh, they were good at appearing, but not exactly good at much else from what I recall.

I'm curious as to what they'll be in later fluff. Given that Ynnari is basically Craftworld with added Deldar bits it makes me wonder whether the Covens and Mandrakes and Drazhar will all be part of some strange alternate setup...

3rd edition mandrakes didn't have coal-black skin, they were painted up light skinned like other models but wore bondage outfits with sculpted nipples: http://kofler.dot.at/40k/units/Dark_Eldar_Mandrakes.gif

They were deployed via tokens. You put three tokens on the battlefield and move them 6" a turn. When they are interacted with by the opponent via shooting, charging etc you can go "Yeah these are the Mandrakes" and deploy them, or just say "Nope not them" and remove the token.

On your turn you can choose a remaining token and go "These are Mandrakes" and deploy them. I forget if they could assault on the turn they come into play but I think they could.

It was interesting but they were basically warriors with ccw and an ap5 laspistol (3e splinter was s3 ap5) that cost as much as aspect warriors so nobody ever used them.

Quote :

Given that Ynnari is basically Craftworld with added Deldar bits

Jes Goodwin describes their aesthetic as "Pre fall" with Craftworld designs being "removing the ornamentation to be more austere" and DE being "add more blades".