I am a happy camper right now – this book has been a long time coming! Before we get to stuck in, thanks to Games Workshop for supplying this codex (and all the cool new minis!) for us to review.
There is a lot to cover in this 200 page tome but right now I wanted to give some first impressions and hot takes on some of the rules and how this book fits in the context of the wider game. As of writing this I was planning a pod cast to go alongside this as well as a YouTube video – we shall see how it all plays out since I seem to have broken my hobby drought and am feverishly painting my Aeldari again.
For starters let’s clear up something – this is not Codex Craftworlds – Its Codex Aeldari. It contains all the data sheets for the Asuryani (craftworlds), Anhrathe (corsairs), Rillietann (harlequins) and Ynnari in one hefty book. This alone has meant we have some new rules to allow them all to live together in harmony.
The Asuryani
These craftworlders make up the bulk of the rules and data sheets in the new codex Aeldari. As in part codex, all the old units are there with one completely new unit and some tweaks to others. With 15 HQ, 3 Troops, 9 Elites, 6 Fast Attack, 6 Heavy Support, 1 Dedicated Transport, 2 Aircraft, 1 Super Heavy and 1 Fortification players will be spoiled for choice (especially in the special character laden HQ).
HQ
HQ sees all six phoenix lords back and a force to be reckoned with on the table. They share a common profile with unique wargear for their aspect, a special rule or two that is unique to each and then a common rule that makes their aspect Objective Secured and gain +2 LD – which due to key words also affects themselves! ObSec Phoenix Lords for the Win!
The Avatar is back with a vengeance, and this might be the first time he is representative on the table as he is in the lore. I cannot articulate how happy I am to see this and how keen I am on the new mini. Farseers are now immune to perils and their runes now let you roll extra dice for strands of fate which is a nice to have. Autarchs dropped to two data sheets – a bare bones bike version and the new plastic kit combo build that, despite claims online to the contrary, did not see the options fully interchangeable so the autarch on the cover of the codex is actually an illegal load out!
A special note on the other named characters – Illic is now a sniper to be feared, Eldrad is still the top farseer and Yriel is now Craftworld and Corsairs which will be important later.
Elites
Elites is also a very cramped place to be if you are on the craftworld train. All the wraiths live here including the Wraithlord now and all gained the -1 damage trait as standard. Lots of tweaks on these units and they are more consistent in their output which is nice, and the weapons all have a reason to be chosen which again is good design. We have the Warlocks now elites as well (though you can take a unit of warlocks for every farseer without a slot) with unit sizes of 1-6 on foot and 1-3 on bike. When taken in units of one they gain CHARACTER but also go up in points. 3 Bikes seems like a decent unit in my mind while the foot unit is more limited. You will also likely always go the singing spear now.
Aspect Warriors form the rest of the Elites – Dire Avengers, Fire Dragons, Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions. Dire Avengers are now a truly elite version of your line infantry with more shots and even a strat to shoot twice after losing a model. Fire Dragons become the slag creating anti vehicle monsters they once were (with a combat strat for mortal wounds vs vehicles). Howling Banshees race across the table while improved power swords, advance and charge built in, improved profile and ignoring overwatch! Scorpions pour on the attacks with exploding sixes to hit, mortal wounds on sixes to wound, even more attacks than the banshees and the ability to set up in an advanced position. Did I mention all aspects now have a 5++ save? They even get extra abilities for the exarch by paying points for exarch powers!
So, what is the downside of these aspects? Points. A unit of 10 Howling Banshees will easily run 200 points and they are still T3, W1 and 4+/5++ with just 12 wounds total for the unit. This means these units need to excel at their job because when caught out of place or doing something they do not do well they will falter.
Troops
We only have three choices now (yes technically corsairs make it four but that’s for later). Guardian Defenders (who have the eighth ed Dire Avenger Profile), Storm Guardians (a light combat unit) or Rangers (forward deployment snipers). With exactly zero ways to move units to troops in the codex most armies will have three of these units in them and you have to make sure they do not feel like a tax. I can see several running nothing but rangers (which ties in well with one of the secondaries) but thirty defenders with the new improved shuriken weapons is thirty old dire avengers who get built in rerolls while holding objectives – not a bad call in my mind. Its only storm guardians I hesitate with now but at least they are cheap!
Fast Attack
We get a bunch of bikes in this slot – Wind Riders, Vypers, Shroud Runners alongside three aspect warriors – Warp Spiders, Swooping Hawks and Shining Spears. Vypers remain familiar but have lost their underslung upgrade option (no shock since there has never been a part for this). Wind Riders also feel familiar but have a rule for their twin catapults when attacking enemy on an objective which is a nice reason to keep them stock… almost. Shroud Runners would be a welcome addition were they not thirty-five points a model. The pre-game move, 2+ save in cover and BS2+ scatter lasers will make them great harassment units… they just need 5 points per model off the top!
Shining spears get new models and a trimmed down unit size (3-6) but pick up a few extra attacks. Swooping hawks can now redeploy instead of battle focus movement which is potentially amazing for getting out of dodge but also for getting objectives in a pinch. Warp Spiders saw their fire power jump up, gained the warp jump movement (not as fast as years gone by but still) and a free move when charged. For me, the Spiders are going to be a must try with hawks a close second.
Heavy Support
Only 1 Aspect warrior here, the Dark Reapers. They join the Support Weapons, War Walkers, Fire Prism, Night Spinner and Falcon as the Heavy Support section. Reapers are sadly a shadow of past glories, limited to five models (no more no less), suffering the penalty for moving and shooting (unless you take an exarch power) and only ignoring dense cover with their reaper range finders. When you are paying thirty points a model it is a hard sell sadly. War Walkers sitting at 55-85 points per mode pending weapon choice seem pretty viable and the support weapons all look like they are valid choice as well which is nice.
Grav Tanks are something the Aeldari are renowned for, and the three heavy choices are all once again valid choices. The Night spinner brings high rate of fire with an indirect attack profile and flat two damage which is all good stuff. The Falcon gives you versatility without loss of offence and the ability to customise the weapon load to fill any gaps in your list. The Fire Prism (with the formidable link fire stratagem when you bring 2-3 of them) is a dependable damage dealer again. I can easily see me using three of each of these in my test games – often in one list! They all sit in the 150-170 points range but if you go silly expect to get closer to two hundred points each though.
Dedicated Transports
The Wave Serpent remans the sole choice here – the falcon deserved to move here but thems the breaks. With a 5++ ad built in ‘transhuman’ (never wounded on 1-3) this tank might just be the best transport in the game again. It is not cheap – again pending weapons – but worth the 150-180 points it costs.
Aircraft
I feel like the Aeldari Aircraft are paying for the sins of their former editions. Both are expensive (170-210 points per model), both lost their ‘wings of khaine’ extra turn and both remained as fragile as prior. Offensively they both got a little boost, but the days of the Aeldari Aircraft are now long gone.
Super Heavy
The Wraithknight joined us in sixth edition and has had many ups and downs over the years. 9th edition is an up from 8th which is nice – its more flexible in the way you can arm it, has built in 5++ and -1 damage and its weapons are more consistent… but that is offset by a truly silly points value with it starting at 400 points and only rising to well over 500+ pending its weapon load. I did so want to use multiple wraithknight again but alas its not meant to be.
Fortification
Hang on – did Games Workshop make these useable? They did! Yay! They also tie into a secondary if you have them? Yay! I might have to build and paint mine now to give them a go.
The Anhrathe
Its going to be a short synopsis since we have just three units to cover for the corsairs – Prince Yriel, Void Reavers and Void Scarred.
Prince Yriel is the only HQ with the Anharthe Keyword and thus the only HQ option for a corsair detachment. Unfortunately, he is also Iyanden which limits him in other ways. Ninety points is still a steal for him! Decent combat profile and the autarch abilities combined with his own reserve’s modifier means you will not feel bad about using him.
Void Reavers are the troops choice for corsairs, 4-9 reaver with 1 Felarch leader. They have a basic guardian like profile with an extra attack built in and come base with a power sword and shuriken pistol which can be swapped for a new shuriken weapon – the shuriken rifle (a rapid fire 1, 24” shuriken weapon). This swap is an all or nothing for the reavers while the felarch can access the neuro disruptor pistol and or a mistshield (4++ save). One in every five models can take a blaster or shredder and 1 in 10 can take a shuriken cannon or wraith cannon – with one caveat – the special weapons replace pistol/sword while the heavy weapons swap with the rifle, so you can have both in the same unit! Ability wise they pick up sixes to hit automatically wound (counting as a six to wound) which with shuriken is a nice ability. They also have a limit saying they cannot be the mandatory troops choice unless the whole detachment is corsairs!
Void Scarred are the elite version or as I have taken to calling them – the kill team version. Lots of unique one wound models, each model can be armed differently, this was made so you can plug and play your kill team. Max unit size is ten models, but its 4-9 void scarred, 1 Felarch and then 0-1 of the Shade Runner (combat character who does 1-2 mortals on the charge), Soul Weaver (like a medic that once per turn can change a failed save to zero damage) and the Way Seeker (a one wound warlock that does not suffer perils). As you can mix and match the sword/pistol and rifles you can take both special and heavy weapons in the unit and the felarch keeps the options of the Reavers but also gets an option for a Falchou – which means the unit he is with ignores light cover when shooting at the enemy.
They keep the sixes to hit auto wound of the reavers and also cannot be mandatory elites in a Vanguard unless the whole detachment is corsairs.
Now we hit the crux of the issue. With only 1 HQ choice, the detachment is limited to just a patrol or a vanguard. A patrol gets us 2 Reaver and 2 Scarred units while the vanguard gets us two reaver and three scarred units. To keep them as Corsair detachments we cannot add anything else which is a huge blow as, despite being specifically able to carry them, the falcon and wave serpent do not actually have an option for the corsair keyword so cannot be part of the detachment! So frustrating! What is interesting is the corsair units (not yriel) also have the Drukhari keyword so neatly slot into drukhari armies and can be carried by Drukhari transports which in my mind opens a number of possibilities. Ill explore that when the models are more available. For now, I will settle for them being in my Craftworld lists as a cool unit… for now.
The Ynnari
The three characters of the Aeldari Ynnari I will not dwell on – most know the Visarch, Yvraine and the Yncarne models by now and have some idea of them being a combat hero, caster, and monster, respectively. What I will talk about is how the ynnari now work.
First – they are essentially a craftworld. They get one unique relic, one stratagem, a warlord trait, and a set of unique craftworld abilities (always strike first and +1 to hit after losing a model in the unit). You do not need the three super characters to make them ynnari anymore which is nice.
The substantial change is you can now mix and match Craftworld/Harlequins/drukhari in the same detachment with them all becoming ynnari! Awesome right? Well… kind of. For every non-craftworld unit you want to add you have to have one craftworld unit in the same slot first. Want harlequin skyweavers? You need a Craftworld fast attack first. Incubi? Craftworld elite first. This is hugely limiting and compounded when you try and take transports as you need a wave serpent for every raider/venom/star weaver you take. Combine this with transports not being useable across core factions (i.e., incubi cannot ride in wave serpents etc) and you have an army that is going to be craftworld with a twist. What is even worse is that Incubi and scourge have a points tax added (+4 and +2 per model respectively) which borders on the unusable. I am sure there will be a combo for the craftworld strats working on drukhari somewhere (as they are now craftworlds) but I just do not see enough value here.
The Rillietann
My beloved Harlequins have changed a little but not enough that they will not be useable on their own. Data sheets are still counted on two hands, but they got two pages of stratagems, their own warlord traits, relics, psychic powers, pivotal roles and rather than masques now pick between Light/Twilight/Dark for their faction rules. They even have their own faction ability when run solo. This all alleviated a lot of my concerns – you can still run solo ‘Quinns. You can now also run Harlequins in a patrol alongside Drukhari or Asuryani without breaking army rules so adding some cool tricks might be a thing for some Aeldari forces.
HQ
The Troupe Master and Shadowseer both look familiar and do what they do, one fights and the other casts. We have a minor tweak of how the weapons work and adding things like CORE to auras, but they are pretty similar to eighth.
Elite
The Solitaire and Death Jester again feel familiar with tweaks to their weapons and stat lines. The Solitaire losing the option for relics and traits hurts and he is not core either. Once you add a pivotal role to him, he is close on phoenix lord cost and just not as good in my mind. He feels better and more consistent than eighth but still only ok. The Death Jester gets a welcome boost to his output at range and even gets his own combat weapon which is a nice add. Again, pivotal roles help make him better and I think 1-2 will be in most harlequin lists.
Troops
The harlequin troupe has the most changes to it. The troupe now has a troupe leader squad leader which is fine. The biggest shift is on the weapons and how a troupe is armed. All come with a sword (which is not just a CCW anymore) and shuriken pistol. Any model can take a harlequin’s kiss. So far so good. At units of ten or less models, 0-2 can take a fusion pistol and 0-2 can take a neuro disruptor. 0-2 can take a harlequins embrace and 0-2 can take a harlequin’s caress. At a unit size of 11 or 12, these 0-2 become 0-4. So, what is in the box of models. Oh dear. I can already hear the cries of fusion boat players everywhere. This change does not really impact me that much so I guess that is why I’m fine with it, but I totally understand the frustration from others who will be cutting arms from models. The fact all the harlequin weapons have the same profile now will make the game faster which is good and three unique strats for the three weapons will encourage you to have a couple of each per unit. I can easily see my units of ten being four swords and then two of each combat weapon.
Fast Attack
The Skyweaver bikes are solo again here but have picked up some nice boosts. No rerolls when rolling to hit with ranged attacks is the first welcome upgrade. Bola are now assault weapons – yay! I can use them and still shoot! The Glaive gets a boost as well. Haywire took a minor hit with only mortal wounds on 6’s but flat 3 damage and always wound on 4+ vs vehicles help balance that out. With the boost to shuriken the basic bikes at least also feel more valid.
Heavy Support
The humble void weaver is back baby! 90 points for the same stat line and profile but now no rerolls to hit, units of 1-3, the modified haywire cannon but most importantly the revised prismatic cannon – a baby fire prism which will give people pause when 6+ of these little boats light them up. I have loved my void weavers and I cannot wait to run swarms of the little guys.
Dedicated transport
The Star weaver gets its no rerolls upgrade but still stays the same. Open Topped and measuring to and from the vehicle have been tidied up which is a nice and clean update that is past due.
The Rest
There is so much in this book I am wary of this article becoming a massive wall of text which all blurs together. We get five unique craftworlds to chose from plus a build your own craftworld as options (heroic intervening wraithknights? Why not!). We get four pages of stratagems for craftworlds and two more for harlequins. We get unique relics for Craftworlds, Harlequins AND 1 unique relic per aspect (except crimson hunters ☹ ). We get three exarch powers per aspect. We get 5 – yes five psychic power trees (Fate, Fortune, Battle, Phantasmancy and Revenant) and then a couple dozen pages of crusade rules. We get four unique secondaries for craftworlds and three more for pure harlequins.
When I started reading this book it was overwhelming – so much to take in.
My hot take is the book is good but not busted. Its points feel fair and most of the slots see all the choices valid. The lists I have been writing all feel ok and I must make choices in what goes in the list rather than building and having room to spare. If anything, the craftworld parts might be a few points to expensive but time will tell.
Once I am past my next event Ill have more feedback but for now, Khaine calls, and we answer!