Hail of Doom: Adds -1AP on Shurikens within 12″ (although not on a 6 to wound). Not really useful for primary Craftworld builds, but a Guardian bomb alongside Harlequins has shown up occasionally as a successful tool in combination with the above, and that’s plausibly likely to increase in popularity since Guardians got a price cut. C+ The universe of Warhammer 40k always exacts a price, however, and the one that the Eldar paid for their twisted ways and pride was one they paid in blood and terror – and one that the galaxy continues to pay.

Suggested starting kits: Start Collecting! Tyranids, Hormagaunt Brood, Termagant Brood, Genestealers T4, an extra wound, and a 3++. This makes him considerably harder to shift than a normal footseer, and one of the few units in the game able to hit a 2++ with Protect. Seriously though, we’ve been through the Runes of Fate powers and seen just how good they are, and these are the guys that get to wield them. You want those powers, so you want one of these.Webway Warriors: You can use Webway Strike an extra time for each detachment in your army with this trait. Very much not worth a slot now you can use Strategic Reserves as an additional source of Deep Strike. D Stratagem – Court of the Young King – 2CP: An ASPECT WARRIOR unit gets +2″ to their charges and re-rolls hits of 1 if they make combat. Alternatively, if they use this within 6″ of the Avatar, get +3″ and re-roll failed hits instead. Stratagem – Pathfinders 1CP: A Rangers unit in cover can only be hit on an unmodified 6 for the rest of the phase. Why not to play them: They do not fare well in close combat. At all. Ever. That excellence in firepower comes at a price and that is being very vulnerable up close and personal. The T'au also have zero psychic power among their number which can cause serious disadvantages against enemies that do have it. They are also not quite as mobile as other so this can also get you in trouble. The best of the rest Even without a codex of their own, Craftworlds Eldar have undergone some rapid developments following Games Workshop’s drive to encourage armies to play to their strengths.

Suggested starting kits: Start Collecting! Craftworlds, Wave Serpent, Dire Avengers, Avatar of Khaine The rules: The basic ruleset is 100% free. But what about that hefty tome you may have stumbled across? It’s mostly stories, pictures, and flavor text. It does contain some more advanced rules, but they’re not required to start. Falcon’s Swiftness: +2 Move. Honestly kind of fine, and flips over to being actively good if you’re bringing the Avatar, as almost none of the other mobility options in the book work with him. C+

Craftworlds Eldar Lore

Attribute – Stoic Endurance: Your units automatically pass combat attrition tests, and your vehicles count as having double wounds remaining for statline purposes. Where they differ is in the costs and the rest of their stats. The foot Autarch has plasma grenades and a star glaive to use with his 4A (-1 to hit, Sx2, AP-3, d3 damage) and weighs in at 80pts. Being cheap is his main attraction, and he can be a good choice to slot into a gunline army (and is another good user of Faolchu’s Wing). There’s a rich vein of fiction to explain the Aeldari in more detail. Gav Thorpe’s landmark omnibus, Path of the Eldar , covers many aspects of the Aeldari, while Ghost Warrior explores the newly formed Ynnari faction, and The Masque of Vyle focuses on the Harlequins. Faolchu’s Wing: Gives an INFANTRY model 12″ fly speed, but doesn’t change their keywords. Probably the best of the bunch, as it lets a foot farseer stay mobile while saving on the bike upgrade. A The Wraithlord is one of the newer kits CWE have access too and is not only beautiful in it´s own, it comes with a huge selection of spare bits and is very customizable. That on it´s own is already quite useful. And the stat line of the Wraithlord is not bad, either. T8 and 10 Wounds with a 3+. But you are paying 85 points for a unit without an invulnerable safe. So - like pretty much all Wraith units - they are a tad bit too expensive in points and suffer defensively. And with a Movement of 10, they´ll be in the mix Turn 2.

Celestial Shield (1CP) : Gives a GUARDIAN unit a 4++ vs shooting. Powerful on a Guardian bomb, especially combined with Protect for a 3++. Can also be handy to try and save a Support Weapon in a pinch, as they have the right keywords. B So in conclusion, this set is like the infantry-brother of the Start-Collecting set. You get your first Troop choice, a cheap HQ and a Transport. While these boxes are discussed here like they are "rivals" the truth is that they complement each other perfectly. The Spiritseer really adds to the Wraiths, the Wave Serpent can be used both with Wraiths and Infantry and the Guardians are there to fill out your basic troop needs. There are a ton of Warlord Traits to select in 9th edition, with the absolute best being reserved for Custom Craftworlds. They get access to Expert Crafters, simply one of the best Warlord Traits available to Eldar players. With it, you’ll get to re-roll one hit and one wound roll each time a unit shoots or fights. That means your damage just got an incredible buff, giving you the ability to chip away at your foe with impunity.Vaul’s Might (1CP): Lets two support weapons re-roll wound rolls of 1 for a phase if they’re close to one another. Has always looked terrible, and Expert Crafters makes it look comically terrible. F Children of Morag Hei: Get +1 to hit rolls if half the models in your unit have been destroyed. Way too hard to set up for a pretty mild payoff. D Forewarned (2CP) : Intercept shoot at a deep striking/redeploying unit with a unit that’s within 6” of a Farseer. Basically the best version of this effect in the game, extremely good with Dark Reapers, War Walkers and sometimes even a big Guardian squad if they try and bring deep strike melee to bear on it. Make sure to set up to maximise this if you have a good user. A If you want to play infantry heavy and without Wraith Constructs, however, this not for you. The discount is great but you won´t be using any of the units included bar the Farseer, who in itself is the cheapest selection and has - as we discussed - better alternatives available. Linked Fire (1CP) : We’ll explain this in the Fire Prism section. If you have them, you’re spamming this. B+

Webway Strike (1/3CP): Deep Strike one INFANTRY or BIKER unit for 1CP or 2 for 3CP. Fantastic with Guardians or Scatter Bike blobs, but currently most commonly used with Shining Spears, with Wraithblades and Skyrunner Conclaves also getting a look in. This is a supremely useful ability to have access to. A Do you seek to wield the deadly Ghost Warriors of the craftworlds in large numbers? A combination of Diviners of Fate (for a 6+ invulnerable save) and Wrath of the Dead will make for a tougher, hard-hitting combination of attributes – especially effective with Strength 10 D-scythes and wraithcannons, as they’ll be wounding most targets on a 2+ anyway! Executioner (WC7): Executioner does d3 mortal wounds to the nearest unit within 18″ (note that it doesn’t need line of sight), and then if any die does another d3. This is an exceptionally good alt-smite and one of the best examples of the genre if you can get it to double tap. Having a real chance of just vapourising an entire Sisters unit that’s hiding behind a wall is crazy good for a single cast, and even against bigger targets where the effect never works just having the option on another Smite is good. An important tactical recommendation is that when you’re going after multi-wound units like Intercessors with this, and have some smites to cast as well, you should start by smiting, because if you roll a 1 or 3 for the damage then there will be a model left with a single wound – at which point you pop this for the big damage. This is especially important in 9th, as you can no longer re-roll the damage dice, so getting the opponent down to 1W first is even more helpful. Overall, this is just absurdly potent, and much like Doom is basically always great, not needing any setup. A Howling Banshees, in particular, will benefit greatly from the chance to inflict additional Damage in this manner, as the -3 AP of their power swords means that they’ll likely cut straight through their target’s armour. All of a sudden, that solid line of 2-Wound Primaris Space Marines doesn’t look so intimidating!Starting with their psychic might, the regular Farseers know two powers and get two casts and two denies each, and also have access to the Runes of the Farseer special rule, allowing them to re-roll one or both dice from a cast or deny each phase. This is an incredibly powerful boost, giving you a really good chance to land a key power and stop your opponent’s best one each phase. From a maths point of view with this, when you fail a cast you should (essentially) always keep a dice showing 4+ and re-roll a 3 or less. Denying can obviously be different – if you need to roll a double six then keeping a four isn’t going to help you! The other cool thing with this is that there’s no requirement to have failed the cast to re-roll – so if you roll a 1 and a 6 when casting a key power and your opponent has denies, it can be worth re-rolling the one, as you can’t possibly fail and it might make the deny harder. You can also use this to fish for a super smite if you’ve done all your key casts and have this still available. Superior Shurikens: +4″ range on Shuriken weapons. Lets Dire Avengers in particular reach surprisingly far with their guns, and on 9th’s small board gives lets you operate very effectively. B So, Warhammer 40k uses something called "Detachments". If you want to play "Matched Play" you need to run at least one detachment. Depending on the point level you are playing at there might be an upper limit, too. There are some leagues and tournaments that limit these. While there is no official rule that says you can only play with three detachments, most tournaments follow the suggestion of the rulebook to limit players to three detachments up to 2.000 points. So, in conclusion - if you are interested in playing a Wraithheavy army this set is the way to go and an absolute steal. Bar the Walker, every unit in it is useable and, with a few tweaks, becomes good. The Walker is a bit of a bummer - but you are basically getting him and the Farseer for free. At the end of the day, it´s 60 points. Those won´t win or lose you a game. Now, what is a detachment? A detachment is basically a force organization. Detachments force you to fill out certain roles - for example, the most common is the "Battalion Detachment". For it you need to play at least 2 HQ´s and at least 3 Troops. It benefits you 5 Command Points (CP) which can be used further to buy you access to special rules, Relics or be used in game. Every army usually fields at least one Battalion as there is no more points efficient ration of CP/Points spent. Command Points are a very valuable resource and one should keep the cost of Stratagems in mind when building an army - if you are planning to use a 3 CP strat every Turn you need to have the points in place.