Hello all. I have been summoned from my holiday slumber by some poor fool who chanted “Eldar Corsairs” three times in a mirror. After mercilessly talking this individual to death, I figure I would pivot to share my thoughts on the new Eldar and Chaos Box set.
Eldar
Eldar Autarch
Simply put, my dear Autarch with a reaper launcher:
I am so happy they added this back. While all the old autarchs with fusion guns and wings (or reaper launchers and Wings) are still out in the cold this brings back so many old conversions. Whether it will be worth taking a reaper launcher in the new book I cannot say but I am thrilled they were willing to bring back a fan favorite. Beyond the competitive options, this also is a rewarding narrative decision. Autarchs are usually aspect warriors before they get their commands, and so what weapons they use say a lot about the paths they used to walk.
Rangers:
I, for one, welcome our new thigh-high overlords. While I like these models a lot I feel like they aren’t immensely better then the old sculpts. Oddly enough, this is a compliment as the old metal and resin sculpts were quite good. I think they made the right call not to re-invent the wheel here. Hopefully the rumors of them moving to elites will also bring with it an upgrade for their performance. I am also interested to see that the Eldar now have drones, reinforcing that the Tau cannot, in fact, have anything special.
Shroud Runners
I am a little conflicted on these models. The sculpt are beautiful but it seems weird to have a stealthy unit flying with mounted mini guns. It’s sort of like giving Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell a gatling gun. It’s cool but also….weird. I am still curious to see how this unit operates on the table as the weapon options are so different there will have to be some reason they combined them. Given that these are the first genuinely new models since the Wraithknight and Wraithseer back from 2012 or so, I am just happy to have some new options.
Chaos
Warpsmith
I do find it very convenient that this box will highlight the one HQ that I didn’t have any copies of for my Night Lords. I am excited that there will be weapon options available and curious to see if there are any other goodies. The sculpt looks good, I wonder if there will be non-plasma pistol options?
Chosen
Oh my sweet poor little Chosen. You should be so much better then you are. You’ve suffered from either having no official kits, being easily kitbash-able and in general just kinda sucking. As a Night Lords player I am T-H-I-R-S-T-Y for non-daemon units and ones that the 8th legion uses in the fluff. I am a little worried about the mix of weapons as previous releases may mean that each squad has to take a bizarre mix of combat and shooting weapons. Given how Chosen have previously worked as a build-a-bear type unit I think they will maintain it but who knows.
Forgefiend
Yup….there’s one here……they must have a lot of extras to get rid of. I feel bad for it, being the one old model in a box full of new options. I don’t have any of these models currently and I’m torn about whether or not to keep them, I am stickler for the no-daemons Night Lords but I think these might be acceptable as they are also known for being pragmatic.
Final Thoughts
I am super pumped. There are some head-scratchers here, but most of the models look amazing. The fact that there are so many options for the Autarch, and even the Warpsmith, makes me very excited for both armies to (hopefully) receive new books in 2022. I hope this release heralds exciting new things for the Rangers and Chosen units (maybe we even will be able to still upgrade them to Pathfinders) and I feel pumped to get a release featuring two armies I play.
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