Warhammer 40k - Army Rule Review 4 - Aeldari Index - Strands of Fate

[zakludick]

Source

Hello everyone! Zak Ludick from Cape Town, South Africa here!

I am just about done with the Aeldari Index, about time too since the Codex has been launched and I have just a few more items to review before these rules are replaced.

A lot of the unit rules shall the remain the same and with so many Datasheets in the range and in their Index, the Aeldari are not getting many new Datasheets in the Codex.

They are gaining one Phoenix Lord and dropping another, but wait... let me introduce them to you first...

Who are the Aeldari?

The humans of the 41st Millenium often call them "Eldar". They are basically space elves. A race of long-lived and highly psychic xenos who once nearly ruled the entire Galaxy.

Since the start of the 40k timeline I think its safe to say that Galactic dominance started with the Old Ones, then Necrons, then Aeldari. The remnants of the Old Ones possibly being the Aeldari Gods. later on.

Humanity also had their time to shine many thousands of years after the Fall of the Aeldari race.

Diving deeper into the Aeldari lore will see so much story and character to this faction and its many sub factions.

Aeldari
Drukhari
Harlequins
Exodites
Ynnari
Corsairs

In the Aeldari Index/Codex you get to play with Aeldari, Harlequins, Corsairs and the Ynnari. The Ynnari, being a 'new religion' can field Drukhari as well.

Exodites are the only Eldar faction that remains off the tabletop. You know... until Games Workshop wants to make some money...

In any case. The Aeldari experienced the Fall, capitol F, when a great catastrophy involving the dark faction of the Drukhari causing the birth of a new Chaos God - Silaan'thresh, She Who Thirsts. This birth saw nearly half the Eldar race across the galaxy instantly losing their lives, whether they were near the Drukhari or not.

This Chaos God has a permanent connection to the souls of the Aeldari race and eats them should they die. The Aeldari and the other factions have ways around this, each in their own way.

That Chaos God is known to the humans as Slaanesh.

After her/his birth, the Chaos God fought, killed and devoured most of the Aeldari Gods and their Pantheon and their Empire was in ruin.

In the 41st millenium they are a remnant, a dying race who reproduces so slowly, their numbers are always slowly dwindling. There are some who plot the resurrection of their species - the Ynnari. But mostly, the race is led by Farseers who use their ability to predict branching fates and fortunes towards paths that are more likely to see the success and survival of their race.

Aeldari are generally more advanced than humanity and have great weapons and technology available to them. There are warrior temples dedicated to war craft of various philosophies.

So... let's look at their core Army Rule as it is in the Index... this rule saw the Aeldari dominating 10th Edition as one of the main tournament winners. The rule was a lot more powerful and broken at the start of the edition and has been toned down a but to allow the winrates to be more equal to other armies.

The new Codex has a completely new Army Rule for the faction and it will be interesting to see if this will push them back up to insane winrates or tank them, and make Aeldari moan about their new book being horrible and their rules making them useless. Haha!

Army Rule - Strands of Fate

At the start of the game, roll 6 dice.

If you don't like the results of these dice, you can roll them again, but with one dice fewer. You can do this again and again until you are happy, with one fewer dice each time until you have only 1 Dice left, which you can only roll once.

These are now your Fate Dice and cannot be altered unless a rule specifically states that you can.

You can use 1x Fate Dice per phase across your entire army.

Before making a dice roll, you can select one of the Fate Dice, and replace one of the rolls with that result. You then roll the rest of the dice.

Once you have used a Fate Dice, it is used up and removed from your Fate Dice pool.

You can use Fate Dice for any of the following rolls:

• Hit Roll
• Wound Roll
• Damage Roll
• Advance Roll
• Battle Shock
• Charge Roll
• Saving throw

Previous versions

When this rule was first launched they got 12 Fate Dice to start off with.

There was also no limit to how many Fate Dice they could use in a phase and they could use multiple Fate Dice on one unit.

This caused them to automatically hit, wound and to horrific damage at moments of their choosing. Because they got so many Fate Dice, they would spend lots of these dice at the start of a battle to 100% kill key enemy units at the start of the game.

Thoughts and Synergies

One of the main Synergies of this Army Rule is to use Farseers. When a Fate Dice is being used within 12" of a Farseer, the Branching Fates ability turned the Fate Dice into a 6 before you used it.

This is great when you might have rolled some 1s and 2s in the mix. Also, with 1 or more Farseer, you could then cycle out all the trash dice early in the game.

This is still a strong Army Rule, despite the toning down of the rules. However, this is all going away and being replaced by Battle Focus in the 10th Editon Codex.

Thank you for reading!

Warhammer Review Library

Army Rule and Detachment Rule Reviews

Faction	Detachment	Review Number
Agents of the Imperium		Army Rule #2
Astra Militarum		Army Rule #1
Astra Militarum	Combined Regiment	Detachment Rule #1
Astra Militarum	Bridgehead Strike	Detachment Rule #2
Space Marines		Army Rule #3

Datasheet Review list (Alphabetical)

Faction	Unit	Review Number
Adeptus Custodes	Prosecutors	#1
Adeptus Custodes	Knight-Centura	#54
Adeptus Custodes	Shield-Captain	#61
Adeptus Custodes	Shield-Captain in Allarus Terminator Armor	#70
Adeptus Custodes	Trajann Valoris	#40
Adeptus Mechanicus	Archaeopter Fusilave	#13
Adeptus Mechanicus	Archaeopter Stratoraptor	#14
Adeptus Mechanicus	Archaeopter Transvector	#15
Adeptus Mechanicus	Belisarius Cawl	#53
Adeptus Mechanicus	Corpuscarii Electro-Priests	#97
Adeptus Mechanicus	Onager Dunecrawler	#110
Adeptus Mechanicus	Serberys Raiders	#55
Adeptus Mechanicus	Serberys Sulphurhounds	#56
Adeptus Mechanicus	Technoarcheologist	#104
Aeldari	Asurmen	#155
Aeldari	Autarch	#175
Aeldari	Autarch Skyrunner	#185
Aeldari	Autarch Wayleaper	#187
Aeldari	Avatar of Khaine	#195
Aeldari	Baharroth	#187
Aeldari	Corsair Voidreavers	#213
Aeldari	Corsair Voidscarred	#215
Aeldari	Crimson Hunter	#219
Aeldari	Dark Reapers	#165
Aeldari	Death Jester	#205
Aeldari	Dire Avengers	#207
Aeldari	Eldrad Ulthran	#199
Aeldari	Farseer	#201
Aeldari	Farseer Skyrunner	#221
Aeldari	Fire Dragons	#225
Aeldari	Fire Prism	#227
Aeldari	Fuegan	#229
Aeldari	Guardian Defenders	#64
Aeldari	Hemlock Wraithfighter	#161
Aeldari	Howling Banshees	#217
Aeldari	Illic Nightspear	#233
Aeldari	Jain Zar	#183
Aeldari	Karandras	#153
Aeldari	Maugan Ra	#87
Aeldari	Night Spinner	#65
Aeldari	Rangers	#149
Aeldari	Shadowseer	#80
Aeldari	Shining Spears	#147
Aeldari	Shroud Runners	#151
Aeldari	Skyweavers	#157
Aeldari	Solitaire	#167
Aeldari	Spiritseer	#169
Aeldari	Starweaver	#173
Aeldari	Storm Guardians	#177
Aeldari	Striking Scorpions	#179
Aeldari	Support Weapon	#189
Aeldari	Swooping Hawks	#191
Aeldari	The Visarch	#159
Aeldari	The Yncarne	#203
Aeldari	Troupe	#197
Aeldari	Source	#209
Aeldari	Prince Yriel	#92
Aeldari	Voidweaver	#171
Aeldari	Vyper	#211
Aeldari	Warlock	#223
Aeldari	Warlock Conclave	#231
Aeldari	Warlock Skyrunner	#235
Aeldari	Warlock Skyrunner Conclave	#237
Aeldari	Warp Spiders	#239
Aeldari	War Walker	#251
Aeldari	Wave Serpent	#252
Aeldari	Yvraine	#181
Astra Militarum	Aegis Defence Line	#146
Astra Militarum	Armoured Sentinels	#148
Astra Militarum	Attilan Rough Riders	#154
Astra Militarum	Baneblade	#156
Astra Militarum	Banehammer	#160
Astra Militarum	Banesword	#166
Astra Militarum	Basilisk	#170
Astra Militarum	Bullgryn Squad	#174
Astra Militarum	Cadian Castellan	#158
Astra Militarum	Cadian Command Squad	#178
Astra Militarum	Cadian Shock Troops	#184
Astra Militarum	Catachan Jungle Fighters	#186
Astra Militarum	Chimera	#196
Astra Militarum	Commissar	#200
Astra Militarum	Death Korps of Krieg	#202
Astra Militarum	Deathstrike	#204
Astra Militarum	Doomhammer	#206
Astra Militarum	Field Ordnance Battery	#162
Astra Militarum	Gaunt's Ghosts	#208
Astra Militarum	Heavy Weapons Squad	#182
Astra Militarum	Hellhammer	#210
Astra Militarum	Hellhound	#212
Astra Militarum	Hydra	#214
Astra Militarum	Infantry Squad	#216
Astra Militarum	Iron Hand Straken	#218
Astra Militarum	Kasrkin	#60
Astra Militarum	Leman Russ Battle Tank	#190
Astra Militarum	Leman Russ Demolisher	#220
Astra Militarum	Leman Russ Eradicator	#222
Astra Militarum	Leman Russ Executioner	#224
Astra Militarum	Leman Russ Exterminator	#226
Astra Militarum	Leman Russ Punisher	#228
Astra Militarum	Leman Russ Vanquisher	#230
Astra Militarum	Lord Solar Leontus	#232
Astra Militarum	Manticore	#234
Astra Militarum	Militarum Tempestus Command Squad	#236
Astra Militarum	Munitorum Servitors	#238
Astra Militarum	Ministorum Priest	#240
Astra Militarum	Nork Deddog	#180
Astra Militarum	Ogryn Bodyguard	#150
Astra Militarum	Ogryn Squad	#152
Astra Militarum	Platoon Command Squad	#172
Astra Militarum	Primaris Psyker	#188
Astra Militarum	Ratling Snipers	#164
Astra Militarum	Regimental Attachés	#176
Astra Militarum	Rogal Dorn Battle Tank	#241
Astra Militarum	Scout Sentinel	#242
Astra Militarum	Sergeant Harker	#243
Astra Militarum	Shadowsword	#244
Astra Militarum	Sly Marbo	#245
Astra Militarum	Stormlord	#246
Astra Militarum	Stormsword	#247
Astra Militarum	Tank Commander	#90
Astra Militarum	Taurox	#198
Astra Militarum	Taurox Prime	#248
Astra Militarum	Tech-Priest Enginseer	#194
Astra Militarum	Tempestus Aquilons	#249
Astra Militarum	Tempestus Scions	#250
Astra Militarum	Ursula Creed	#192
Astra Militarum	Wyvern	#81
Astra Militarum	Valkyrie	#168
Black Templars	Black Templars Gladiator	#102
Black Templars	High Marshall Helbrecht	#38
Black Templars	Marshall	#46
Black Templars	The Emperor's Champion	#63
Blood Angels	Astorath	#131
Blood Angels	Baal Predator	#2
Blood Angels	Brother Corbulo	#132
Blood Angels	Captain Tycho	#133
Blood Angels	Chief Librarian Mephiston	#134
Blood Angels	Commander Dante	#135
Blood Angels	Death Company Dreadnought	#136
Blood Angels	Death Company Intercessors	#137
Blood Angels	Death Company Marines	#138
Blood Angels	Death Company Marines with Jump Packs	#139
Blood Angels	Furioso Dreadnought	#140
Blood Angels	Gabriel Seth	#66
Blood Angels	Lemartes	#32
Blood Angels	Librarian Dreadnought	#141
Blood Angels	Sanguinary Guard	#93
Blood Angels	Sanguinary Priest	#142
Blood Angels	Sanguinary Priest with Jump	#143
Blood Angels	The Sanguinor	#144
Blood Angels	Tycho the Lost	#145
Chaos Daemons	Beasts of Nurgle	#98
Chaos Daemons	Daemonettes	#29
Chaos Daemons	Lord of Change	#75
Chaos Daemons	Nurglings	#82
Chaos Knights	Knight Abominant	#94
Chaos Knights	War Dog Brigands	#30
Chaos Knights	War Dog Executioners	#31
Chaos Knights	War Dog Huntsman	#77
Chaos Space Marines	Abbadon the Despoiler	#50
Chaos Space Marines	Haarken Worldclaimer	#41
Chaos Space Marines	Khorne Lord of Skulls	#37
Dark Angels	Asmodai	#16
Dark Angels	Azrael	#17
Dark Angels	Belial	#4
Dark Angels	Deathwing Knights	#20
Dark Angels	Deathwing Terminator Squad	#99
Dark Angels	Lazarus	#62
Dark Angels	Land Speeder Vengeance	#101
Death Guard	Biologus Putrifier	#5
Death Guard	Blightlord Terminators	#10
Death Guard	Chaos Lord	#36
Death Guard	Lord of Contagion	#52
Death Guard	Tallyman	#39
Death Guard	Malignant Plaguecaster	#71
Deathwatch	Corvus Blackstar	#72
Deathwatch	Deathwatch Veterans	#114
Deathwatch	Watch Captain Artemis	#122
Deathwatch	Watch Master	#124
Drukhari	Grotesques	#45
Drukhari	Haemonculus	#8
Drukhari	Raider	#35
Drukhari	Scourges	#7
Genestealer Cults	Aberants	#47
Genestealer Cults	Hybrid Metamorphs	#58
Genestealer Cults	Reductus Saboteur	#33
Grey Knights	Brother Captain	#25
Grey Knights	Grand Master	#48
Grey Knights	Strike Squad	#51
Imperial Agents	Callidus Assassin	#9
Imperial Agents	Culexus Assassin	#69
Imperial Agents	Eversor Assassin	#105
Imperial Agents	Exaction Squad	#111
Imperial Agents	Imperial Navy Breachers	#113
Imperial Agents	Inquisitor	#115
Imperial Agents	Inquisitor Coteaz	#117
Imperial Agents	Inquisitor Greyfax	#121
Imperial Agents	Inquisitorial Henchmen	#123
Imperial Agents	Lord Inquisitor Kyria Draxus	#126
Imperial Agents	Rogue Trader Entourage	#127
Imperial Agents	Subductor Squad	#128
Imperial Agents	Vigilant Squad	#26
Imperial Agents	Vindicare Assassin	#129
Imperial Agents	Voidsmen-at-Arms	#130
Imperial Knights	Canis Rex	#76
Imperial Knights	Armiger Helverin	#22
Imperial Knights	Armiger Warglaive	#43
Imperial Knights	Knight Castellan	#83
Leagues of Votann	Brôkhyr Iron-master	#27
Leagues of Votann	Brôkhyr Thunderkyn	#78
Leagues of Votann	Cthonian Beserks	#86
Leagues of Votann	Sagitaur	#3
Leagues of Votann	Ûthar the Destined	#44
Necrons	Obelisk	#11
Orks	Battlewagon	#34
Orks	Hunta Rig	#28
Orks	Zodgrod Wortsnagga	#89
Space Marines	Kayvaan Shrike	#23
Space Marines	Marneus Calgar	#42
Space Marines	Razorback	#21
Space Marines	Vanguard Veteran Squad with Jump Packs	#103
Space Wolves	Arjac Rockfist	#68
Space Wolves	Fenrisian Wolves	#91
Space Wolves	Wolf Guard	#74
T'au Empire	Breacher Team	#88
T'au Empire	Darkstrider	#12
T'au Empire	Kroot Carnivore Squad	#19
T'au Empire	Pathfinder Team	#79
T'au Empire	Piranhas	#107
T'au Empire	Razorshark Strike Fighter	#95
T'au Empire	Stealth Battlesuits	#67
Thousand Sons	Ahriman	#108
Thousand Sons	Ahriman on Disc of Tzeentch	#109
Thousand Sons	Exalted Sorcerer	#59
Thousand Sons	Magnus the Red	#49
Tyranids	Barbgaunts	#6
Tyranids	Lictor	#106
Tyranids	Raveners	#96
Tyranids	Screamer Killer	#24
World Eaters	Lord Invocatus	#100
World Eaters	World Eaters Chaos Spawn	#18
World Eaters	World Eaters Daemon Prince	#85

Legends Datasheet Review list

Faction	Unit	Review Number
Deathwatch	Deathwatch Terminator Squad	#112
Deathwatch	Fortis Kill Team	#116
Deathwatch	Indomitor Kill Team	#118
Deathwatch	Kill Team Cassius	#120
Deathwatch	Proteus Killteam	#57
Deathwatch	Spectrus Kill Team	#73
Deathwatch	Veteran Bike Squad	#84
Imperial Agents	Inquisitor Eisenhorn	#119
Imperial Agents	Inquisitor Karamazov	#125

Thank you for reading!

** Images in this post are from the Warhammer app, or Warhammer.com or otherwise referenced.

Tag List:
@aussieninja, @new.things, @alonicus, @dungeondog, @xenowolfza, @riesakashiya, @tomster-17, @exptrader, @borsengelaber, @jacobtothe, @fredfettmeister, @mirroredspork, @kheldar1982, @surrealis, @oblivioncubed, @owen-turner

*PS, Should you wish to be removed or added to the taglist, please let me know!

Cheers!
@zakludick

Hive South Africa

Comments

[makerhacks]

Remember to stop tagging me please

[zakludick]

Damn. Aaaah. You are off the snippet. But I think you got copied over.

My apologies.

[aussieninja]

I knew that the Eldar had a weird relationship with Slaanesh, but I didn't realize the Chaos god drank all the Eldar souls. That's wild. I guess that's why they have the soul stones in their armor and stuff.

The Drukari don't follow Slaanesh right? They're all about pain and misery and Slaanesh is about gluttony which seems like the opposite.

[zakludick]

So... the Drukhari were dedicated to a life of hedonism. That is what spawned Slaanesh.

They have toned down certain elements of the story these days but basically drugs and orgies and stuff.

Slaanesh is the God of Excess meaning heights of pleasure, pain, everything to the max. Things are so goddam beautiful and painful and loud and the smells and feelings so intense.

In a book I read there was a human sorceress heretic that used a spell to induced such levels of pleasure in those she fired on that their minds would shatter from the shock of that intensity.

So... as that Australian YouTuber says: the Drukhari murderf*cked Slaanesh into existence.

So Drukhari don't worship she who thirsts but they cause pain and torment to offer up as a smoke screen to hide their souls.

And you are spot on Aeldari have soul stones. Their soul goes into the stone instead of Slaanesh.

They have an artificial afterlife on the Craftworld called an Infinity Matrix.

[aussieninja]

Ahhhhhh, thank you for that additional context... that all makes sense. I always thought that the Drukari were like the Chaos versions of Aeldari, but it seems like they're just another faction who are a little more rock and roll than the others.

[zakludick]

They are undoubtedly evil and sadistic, but Aeldari, known as Craftworld Eldar and Drukhari both often end up joining the Anhrathe during their younger years.

So after infancy and childhood, when they have their "gap centuries" young Eldar join the Corsairs because of their wanderlust and become pirates, raiders and mercenaries.

Sometimes Drukhari end up going to the Craftworlds after this and changing their philosophy and vice versa, Aeldari becoming Drukhari.

Meanwhile the Harlequin Troupes who serve the Laughing God Cegorach (The last surviving Eldar God) travel to ALL Eldar to perform their dances. Aeldari and Drukhari may join them too and become Harlequins.

So yeah, not Chaos Eldar. More just sadistic Eldar. The worst being the Haemonculus Covens.

[aussieninja]

40 years of lore-building has really created such incredibly rich storylines.

[zakludick]

Absolutely! It is monumentous!

[hivebuzz]

Congratulations @zakludick!
You raised your level and are now a Dolphin!

Check out our last posts:

	Our Hive Power Delegations to the January PUM Winners
	Feedback from the February Hive Power Up Day

[zakludick]

Victory! I feel better being in the Dolphin bracket again! phew

[hivebuzz]

Congratulations @zakludick! That's a great achievement and a testament to your dedication to Hive.

[zakludick]

Thank you.
I have a target of 11k, 12k and 13k HP for the end of the year. We shall see...

[hivebuzz]

Isn't that 3 targets rather than one 🤔😜

[zakludick]

Well yes. A Low, Medium and High targets!