Hi All,
After taking a few days to go over the tome that is the new Aeldari codex I think I have figured out how to review the narrative rules. The book contains detailed rules for not only the Harlequins and Craftworld Eldar but also the Ynnarri (as the title gives away). Since the rules don’t interact much I am going to focus on one group at a time to review (as reviewing them all at once would be overwhelming, both to write and read!)
Army Special Rules:
One of the interesting things about Ynnarri is that their rules layer on top of any Craftwolrd rules. Thus while your roster is more restricted you do gain an additional set of rules for your crusade force. We will cover the Paths special rules in the main Craftworld review but know that they are an option as well. The main resource that the Ynnari use are Soul Points (SP). You gain them by killing an enemy warlord, a unit that has a starting strength of 6 or more (unclear if this is # of models), destroying an enemy unit with the most experience, or manifesting at least one power from the Revenant discipline. You can spend these points on a variety of bonuses including: summoning the Yncarne, gaining a free psychic fortitude, getting a special relic on leveling up, getting a free wraith construct, removing battlescars, or getting 1 point of experience for every 2 soul points spent. This mechanic is insanely powerful as all the buffs are very useful. Being able to dump tons of experience on a unit or character is amazing, the relics are mostly useful and being able to remove battlescars at whim is just nuts. They are all pointed pretty fairly and you aren’t likely to get more then 2-3 points per game but it will add up quickly.
Army Relics:
The Ynnari get their own set of relics that are unlocked via the Soul Point mechanic. They are treated as normal relics but they aren’t locked into a hierarchy like Legendary/Antiquity, etc. The first option is a the Soulblast blade, this gives an Autarch a bit of extra combat punch putting him to S5 and AP-3 with 3 damage. You also get a small exploding ability that can trigger one mortal wound a 4+ on nearby units. This is decent in the early part of the campaign if you want to beef up a close combat Autarch. You won’t do much against vehicles but it’s good for taking it out medium and light infantry. Soulsight crown is one of the more obvious upgrades you will want as it buffs the amount of powers a psycher knows and allows you to regenerate wounds after each successful cast, if you bring a wraithseer this is a must-buy. Soulguard Plate (naming conventions straight from the Space Wolves here) this one is a bit of a “meh” bonuses to strength and movement are nice but most units that will want them already have a 3+ save making it redundant. Finally, the Soulsever pistol is basically a buffed pistol that is 2 damage. Only take it if you are completely out of other options, extra damage is nice but not something you are lacking in this codex.
Closing Thoughts:
This is the shortest review from the book. These rules are pretty strong and you don’t need to give up anything to get them which is nice. The Soulpoint abilities are very useful and will make the Ynnari a very effective crusade force. The relics are broadly useful, especially for odd units (like the wraithseer) and can make some fun armies. Next time we will plunge into the Craftworld Crusade Rules!
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