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| Photo courtesy of Warhammer Community |
What's up folks! NoName1 here with the first in a series of articles chronicling my return to 40k after a brief hiatus, and going through the Eldar/Aeldari piece by piece as I relearn my Space Elves for the new edition
Basics first: Aeldari (as they're now called) can draw from three different Factions outside of Forgeworld - Craftword, or Asuryani, Dark Eldar or Drukhari, or Harlequins - or they can mix and match between all three under the umbrella of Ynnari.
Any of these can be combined in separate Detachments in a single army, but that quickly limits your options, and all of them now have a lot of internal synergy that works best if they're run in groups together. A lot of Craftworld Characters and Psychic Powers, for example, provide various re-rolls specifically to Craftworld/Asuryani units but not to other Aeldari. Ynnari allow you to run nearly any Eldar unit in any combination, but they lose their signature special rule.
But, there are strengths and weaknesses to any combination. First off, here's a quick summary of each Faction as they stand now:
Craftworld/Asuryani:
Ancient Doom - You can re-roll failed to-hit rolls in a Fight Phase in which this unit Charged or was Charged by a Slaaneshi unit. You must add 1 to any Morale Tests for this unit if it's within 3" of a Slaaneshi unit.
Battle Focus - This unit can shoot in the Shooting Phase as if it hadn't Moved or Advanced (except heavy weapons)
Psychic Powers (Farseer) -
Guide: WC 7, Friendly Asuryani unit within 24" may re-roll failed ranged to-hit rolls
Doom: WC 7, re-roll all to-Wound rolls against single target Enemy unit within 24"
Fortune: WC 7, Friendly Asuryani unit within 24" rolls a die for each Unsaved Wound, and ignores it on a 5+
Psychic Powers (Warlock) -
Conceal/Reveal: WC 6, Enemy units must subtract 1 from to-hit rolls vs. Friendly Asuryani Biker/Infantry units within 3" of the Warlock -or- Target enemy unit within 18" does not benefit from Cover.
Embolden/Horrify: WC 6, add 2 to Leadership of friendly Asuryani Biker/Infantry units within 3" of the Warlock -or- Target enemy unit within 18" has -1 Leadership
Enhance/Drain: WC 7, during the Fight Phase add 1 to all to-hit rolls for friendly Asuryani Biker/Infantry units within 3" of the Warlock -or- Subtract 1 from all to-hit rolls for target enemy unit within 18"
Craftworld armies probably benefit the most from running all-Craftworld units. The amount of Synergy Warlocks/Farseers add is crazy, and Doom is the only ability any non-Asuryani Aeldari will benefit from. However, Battle Focus isn't great compared to what it used to be. It makes a fast army even faster (nice), but no longer allows units to shoot and then move, which was the real secret sauce (although incredibly obnoxious, so good change!)
Power from Pain -
Turn 1: Ignore an Unsaved Wound on a 6+
Turn 2: Re-roll Advances and Charges
Turn 3: +1 to-hit in the Fight Phase
Turn 4: Automatically pass Morale
Turn 5+: Subtract 1 from Leadership of enemies within 6"
Combat Drugs -
Can be rolled for or picked, but if picked, you can't choose the same option twice until you've used all the options once. Results are +1 Attack (1), +1 Strength (2), +2" Move (3), +1 Toughness (4), +1 WS (5), or +2 Leadership (6)
Gaining that 6+ on Turn 1 is a big buff, even if it never goes down to a 5+ the way it used to. The other buffs are all very scary, especially cumulatively and with Combat Drugs on top (!)
Dark Eldar/Drukhari have gotten big buffs in this edition, and the latest Edition's focus on frailty by itself brought them more in-line with other armies by making most armies more fragile.
I also really like the new rule for Combat Drugs - that you can pick you results, but you have to make them all different, or you can roll for them as before.
With some careful list building though, getting each result on different units actually works out really well, by letting you make sure the units that need +1 Attack, Toughness, or Strength are the units that get them, and guaranteeing that someone gets those bonuses at all. If you roll, on the other hand, you could roll a fistful of 6's and be sorely disappointed.
Harlequins:
Rising Crescendo - Units with this rule may Advance and Charge in the same turn. In addition, they can Retreat and still shoot and/or Charge in the same turn.
Psychic Powers (Shadowseer) -
Twilight Pathways: WC 6, Visible Friendly Harlequins unit within 3" may immediately move as if it were the Movement Phase (included Advance). This can only be cast once per unit per turn
Fog of Dreams: WC 7, Target visible Enemy unit within 18" must subtract 1 from all to-hit rolls targeting Harlequin Infantry Units.
Mirror of Minds: WC 8, Psyker and an Enemy unit within 24" each roll a die. If the Harlequin's roll is higher, the target takes 1 Mortal Wound. Repeat until the enemy unit is Slain or the target rolls higher than the Harlequin Psyker.
*Note for list-building: Troupe Master's and Shadowseers are now HQ options for Harlequins, and Troupes no longer have a Master in them. The Solitaire is still an Elite option.
I really love how Harlequins have weathered the transition to 8th Edition. In many ways, they're the same, since it's likely the army was designed while 8th Edition's rules were already well underway - but now their insane mobility and flexibility from Rising Crescendo are permanent, not tied to awkward bulky Formations the way they used to be. Also, their ability to bounce in and out of Combat has been, if anything, beefed up even more. I am strongly tempted to run pure Harlequin Detachments in any army I run, if not just run Harlequins period.
On the table (having played very little so far, so salt this) Harlequins are likely to be more fragile than ever, but hit much, much harder than before, more quickly, and from starting further away.
Ynnari:
*An Ynnari Army can be composed of any combination of Aeldari units, but may not include Haemonculus Covens units, Urien Rakarth, Drazhar, Mandrakes, or the Avatar of Khaine. Units that are chosen for this army gain the Ynnari Faction Keyword and lose Battle Focus, Power from Pain, or Rising Crescendo. Infantry and Biker units gain the Ynnari Strength from Death ability below:
Strength from Death - Any time an enemy unit is completely destroyed within 7" (except in the Morale phase) of one or more Ynnari Biker or Infantry units, pick one of those units to make a Soulburst action. That unit may immediately do one of the following (even if it had already done so this turn):
- Move as if it was the Movement Phase (including Advance or Fall Back)
- Manifest a single Psychic Power (if it has one) as if it were the Psychic Phase
- Shoot as if it was the Shooting Phase (even if it Advanced or Fell Back this turn)
- Charge as if it were the Charge Phase (even if it Advanced or Fell Back this turn), unless it is already within 1" of an Enemy unit. Overwatch is fired as normal
- Fight as if it was the Fight Phase
*These do allow units to perform the same action twice per turn
*Any Unit may only make a Soulburst Action once per turn
Psychic Powers (Revenant Discipline) -
Gaze of Ynnead: WC 8, Visible Enemy unit within 18". Roll a D6 - on a 1, that unit suffers 1 Mortal Wound. On a 2-5, it suffers D3 Mortal Wounds. On a 6, it suffers D6 Mortal Wounds.
Ancestors' Grace: WC 5, Target visible Friendly Ynnari unit within 18", that unit may re-roll to-Hit rolls of 1.
Word of the Phoenix: WC 6, Friendly Ynnari unit within 18" may immediately make a Soulburst Action (if it hasn't done so already this turn)
Ynnead's Will - Units with this special rule may Embark on any Aeldari Transport (following normal restrictions otherwise) even if that Transport normally doesn't allow non-Asuryani/Harlequin/Drukhari passengers. This is a nod to let Yvraine and the Visarch have access to Transports in any Ynnari army.
Ynnari are an interesting beast. I have a very mixed Aledari collection right now, so I'll be running Ynnari armies as a way to make what I have Battle Forged/legal to field, meaning I'll have much more to say on them in the near future.
In general though, losing Power from Pain and Rising Crescendo is a hell of a tax. Power from Death is good, really good, but limited in that you have to be within 7" of an enemy unit when it dies, which most Aeldari units don't really want to. Harlequins will really like this rule, even if it costs them a lot of mobility, and things like Incubi, Striking Scorpions, and Howling Banshees will love it.
One good news/bad news situation here is that Psykers from each faction retain their own Powers, so if you have Eldrad in your Ynnari army, he can still Doom the crap out of enemies and Fortune your valuable units. On the other hand, Guide and Fortune will only work on Asuryani units, even in an Ynnari army, so your utility is more limited than usual. Likewise for Shadowseer powers, although their Twilight Pathways power can help Harlequin units mitigate the loss of Rising Crescendo. Likewise, the Word of the Phoenix power helps mitigate that loss as well (and works on all Ynnari units, which is awesome!) but you *have* to take Yvraine to get it.
This is supposed to be a quick post, so I'll leave it here for now. But I'm excited to dig further!
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