Dice: D6’s are the lifeblood of any 40K game. 12 are acceptable, but you’ll want at least 24, eventually. There is an irresponsible amount of dice to drool over at Chessex and Games Workshop. Ultimately – you have tools you can build lists around, but if you’re planning to play Craftworld, be aware that you’re on hard mode right now. The absolute best way to use the faction right now is as a partner for the vastly superior Harlequins, adding some ranged firepower to help them control the flow of the game. We’ll touch on that briefly where relevant, but most of this guide will focus on pure Craftworld lists. 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. Two big winners here in Ghostwalk and Focus Will, while Fateful Divergence is at least fine. Don’t go too crazy with these though – remember that Smite is actively a good ability, so you shouldn’t sacrifice your access to it on a caster with a “real” one unless you have a good reason. Stratagems But that is mostly advanced tactics. Our goal now is to answer the question - "Whats next?". And the answer is "Fill out a Battalion".

Yriel : If you ever want to take a Foot Autarch in an Iyanden list you should probably take him instead. However, you very rarely want to do either of these things. Stratagem – Warriors of the Raging Winds – 1CP: A BIKER unit can advance and charge, then re-roll charges in the fight phase. A third option costs 90 points and gives him a shield and a gun. While the shield is nice the gun is ... yeah. 2D6 shots is super unreliable, S6 is pretty weak and he´s not even allowed to move without penalty. Hard pass in my opinion.Headstrong: +1 to charges. Helps Shining Spears charge from deep strike and that really is enough to get this an A Shining Spears are the thing right now, at least until the Ynnari Index hits. But even in regular CWE armies they are great - they can do so many things simultaneously. Shoot down cheap infantry like Guardsmen with their Shuriken Weapons, blast Tanks with their Lances and charge into whatever is left. For Aeldari standards, they are quite resilient with a T4, 2W and a 4++. With Alaitoc and Ulthwé, even more so. Their mobility allows them to be wherever you need them to be. 22" move, shoot down a Unit & Fire & Fade out of line of sight. Move 16", shoot down a Unit of Guardsmen and charge the vehicle they were trying to protect. Move 22", Fire & Fade & Grab an objective at the other side of the board. Their downsides come with a hefty price of 34 points per Model (a squad of 5 is almost as expensive as the CHE) and with T4/2W they can get shot to pieces when your opponent focus fires them. Keep them away from Autocannons and Plasma weapons - they are the bane of our Bikers. Both are a flat Damage 2 and Wound on 2+/3+ respectively with 2 Shots per weapon. So every failed 4++ safe is a dead 34 point model. You really don´t want that to happen. Eldrad Ulthran. A named character Farseer for Ulthwe who gets a bunch of extra stuff we’ll cover in a second.

There are many elite units which excel at one battlefield role, rewarding an observant commander who can be flexible on the fly. Harlequins must be used with even more precision – they’re faster and deadlier yet as they caper across the warzone, but their only real armour is surprise. Diviners of Fate: All models have a 6++. Currently, defensively, this is inferior to Alaitoc and inferior to Ulthwe against D1 weaponry on infantry. However, you get to take this and another, so it could be worth a look if you really want one of the others and don’t have any particular needs. C In common with most 8th Edition armies, Craftworlds get a named version of the Objective Secured rule. Troops units in Craftworlds detachments gain this, allowing them to control objectives even when they’re outnumbered by the enemy unless they also have Objective Secured. Ancient Doom 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 in 9th edition

Warding Runes: Ignore MWs on a 5+. I guess that theoretically a metagame could arise where this is good, but it hasn’t happened yet. D 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.

Shard of Anaris : Eldar have no less than three relic power swords, all of which look a bit silly next to modern relic weapons, but this is definitely the least bad. It gets damage d3 and re-rolls wounds all the time, so while it won’t let your Wing Autarch do much to a tank, it does actually let him meaningfully engage with enemy characters or elite infantry. C+ Eldar relics are kind of naff. They’re an early codex and it shows. There are a few gems (including one literal one), but many are very skippable, and the weapons in particular are mostly wildly behind the curve of modern competitors. The upshot of this is that unless you’re planning on either Charging or performing an Action you can pretty much be advancing with a lot of your units all the time, significantly increasing your mobility around the board. Craftworld Attributes Eldar trooos have oscilated wildly in viability over time as point cuts and hikes have slammed into them, so it’s something of a relief that at the moment the dial is turned towards them being at least OK. The January FAQ handed price cuts to all four options here, meaning they all have plausible uses. Guardian Defenders Just about lumbering out of the “other” category for this edition of the guide, a bunch of things about 9th mean that the Avatar is quite a bit more attractive than they ever really were in 8th. They’re still not cheap, but as Expert Crafters they’re pretty deadly in a fight, and bring a handy re-roll charges and fearless aura, which can combine well with trying to push units into combat from deep strike with Ghostwalk. The Avatar Resurgent is also very strong now, because if you’re willing to plow CP into it, this model can speedbump opposing melee brawlers for multiple turns with essential impunity, and will definitely deal at least some damage in return. Are all sensible Eldar players hoping that the Avatar inserts a big straw into whatever Ghaz and the Nightbringer have been drinking recently prior to the Craftworld codex landing? Absolutely, but right now there’s a least a semi-viable frame to build around here. If you’re doing that, strongly consider the Falcon’s Swiftness warlord trait, as getting a 9″ base move is appreciably helpful here. Other HQsSo trying to go with my initial rating system, I´d rate him a (B+) - and he only scraped into the B-category because of his degrading profile. Depending on your Craftworld trait, he´s a straight A (Alaitoc!). All in all it´s a great unit that combines mobility, damage output and a surprising resilience. The first of all Phoenix Lords, Asurmen was the founder of the Dire Avengers Aspect Path, one of the most numerous Aspects of all. He is an exemplar of precision on the battlefield, devastating enemies with his elegant approach to warfare.