Eldar Power Maul

As you know, the Craftworlders (unlike the Dark Kin) have access to not only Power Swords, but also to Lances (where they actually make sense), Axes and Mauls.
The model range gives us enough examples for the first three, but surprisingly not a single one for the Power Maul. Nada! Not even for their Fantasy or LotR counterparts!
Given, blunt force is not something associated with elves in any setting I know. But still, the option is there, and I want to make use of it.

So, any suggestions on how to build a lore-friendly Eldar Power Maul?

plasma grenade on a stick? For DE I would use a Dark Elves scepter (black dragon kit)

The Wraithblades' Ghost axe might be a good jumping off point, although that specific weapon is too big for average eldar hands.  Cut it down to the right size, remove the axe blade, and space 1-3 more spikes (or flanges) around the head and it might just work.

Alternatively, there is always this guy in the wrack kit.

eohall wrote:

plasma grenade on a stick? For DE I would use a Dark Elves scepter (black dragon kit)

There are also Dark "Aelf" maces in the Cold One Knights and Chariot kits. Or I could replace the head of an Impaler with that of a chain snare. But since Dark Eldar can't have Power Mauls, I'm looking specifically for a Craftworld- or High-"Aelf"-looking one.
A plasma grenade would be too small, sadly.

I like the idea of it being closer to some sort of scepter than an actual maul. Alternatively, the 'Elven Mace' in Skyrim could provide some inspiration. It's more like an axe with four edges than a maul, but making that weapon could be fiddly if a substitute weapon can't be found.

I think the piece from the wrack shown above is the best option.

Cavash wrote:

I like the idea of it being closer to some sort of scepter than an actual maul.

Yeah, I'd go with this too. Maybe have a lightning effect, implying that the weapon is less about brute force and more about delivering an electrical charge.

Maybe I could do something with the head of this scepter.


It's not a very impressive looking weapon though.

After grabbing the last Forsaken Ones box from my store (I still have a Chaos army after all - and why GW would even discontinue this unit is beyond me), I noticed it included a mace; suitably big, but strangely elegant and not even all that Chaos-y looking. So I decided to try and combine its head with the Wrack power maul as a shaft:


It's a huge weapon for sure. But on the other hand, it is going to make an Eldar hit with Strength 5.
There's probably some form of anti-grav technology involved...

I know you'll hate me for this, but you really wouldn't want anti-gravity on a maul.

The Shredder wrote:

I know you'll hate me for this, but you really wouldn't want anti-gravity on a maul.

Don't worry, I don't.
What I meant is that the weapon becomes lighter to wield, but the effect could also be reversed when it hits.

Rokuro wrote:

The Shredder wrote:

I know you'll hate me for this, but you really wouldn't want anti-gravity on a maul.

Don't worry, I don't.
What I meant is that the weapon becomes lighter to wield, but the effect could also be reversed when it hits.

I've been trying to work out whether that would work, and I think my brain just melted.

Rokuro wrote:

The Shredder wrote:

I know you'll hate me for this, but you really wouldn't want anti-gravity on a maul.

Don't worry, I don't.
What I meant is that the weapon becomes lighter to wield, but the effect could also be reversed when it hits.

Anti-gravity would (presumably) negate the weight of the maul, but not the mass. So when swung, the maul would still retain all of the inertia of a body with that mass at that velocity, and be able to do significant damage to the unfortunate maulee. I think.

Granted, you would miss the acceleration due to gravity on the downswing, so you would have to do a bit more work to make sure it is up to speed. But since it wouldn't take as much effort to carry it around with you on the battlefield (and you could leave it hovering in the air while using your gun!) the average weedy space elf would probably come out ahead.

Or, it could be magic. I mean, it's your head-canon after all.

FWIW I think it should look pretty cool. If it was held across the body into a gun-cradling arm it would bring a great "I'm going to beat your head to a pulp" vibe.

That's the thing though - most of the impact is from the weight, not the mass. The entire point of weapons like maces and mauls is that they're a weight on the end of a stick.

You'd basically want one of star trek's mythical "inertial dampeners" to control when and where inertia would apply to the weapon.  Not having to overcome initial inertia would mean you could swing it easily, like it was already moving.  If inertia was restored mid swing, it'd hit at full strength.  These dampeners would probably have to be pretty common in the universe anyway or crews would be plastered all over the inside of their battleships the first time it took a significant impact - the trick would be finding one that would fit in a weapon.

To be honest though the fluff guys never cared much about physics:

stilgar27 wrote:

You'd basically want one of star trek's mythical "inertial dampeners" to control when and where inertia would apply to the weapon.  Not having to overcome initial inertia would mean you could swing it easily, like it was already moving.  If inertia was restored mid swing, it'd hit at full strength.  These dampeners would probably have to be pretty common in the universe anyway or crews would be plastered all over the inside of their battleships the first time it took a significant impact - the trick would be finding one that would fit in a weapon.

I'm pretty sure the Eldar could have built something like that long before humans started building spaceships.

Rokuro wrote:

stilgar27 wrote:

You'd basically want one of star trek's mythical "inertial dampeners" to control when and where inertia would apply to the weapon.  Not having to overcome initial inertia would mean you could swing it easily, like it was already moving.  If inertia was restored mid swing, it'd hit at full strength.  These dampeners would probably have to be pretty common in the universe anyway or crews would be plastered all over the inside of their battleships the first time it took a significant impact - the trick would be finding one that would fit in a weapon.

I'm pretty sure the Eldar could have built something like that long before humans started building spaceships.

Meanwhile, the humans shake their heads and just build some guns.

Try to find dark elf cold one riders mace bit. It looks great on my shadowseer conversion that I made last night

The Red King wrote:

Try to find dark elf cold one riders mace bit.  It looks great on my shadowseer conversion that I made last night

I have one. But I think it would suit a Dark Eldar, rather than a Craftworld Autarch.

I converted a shadowseer miststave with it. Maybe trim the flanges a bit?