Codex: Aeldari is is up for pre-order this Saturday, alongside the first wave of new Asuryani miniatures. Ahead of this momentous release, we caught up with design manager Ben Jefferson and the master of the Aeldari Jes Goodwin to get their thoughts on the range revamp that was 25 years in the making.
Jes: We wanted to build on what's come before. We asked ourselves “If we were to make these miniatures again but with the latest materials and technology, what would we do?”
Ben: They're faithful to the originals, honouring the legacy of the great designs of the Aeldari ranges of the past, but finessing them and adding some nice new things in there too.
Jes: We wanted to give long-term Aeldari players something more for their arsenal. There was a lot of material already, but we wanted to modernise it.
Ben: Modernise and solidify. To make sure it was all super consistent, and that the faction hangs together as consistently as possible.
Warlocks
Jes: They were some of the oldest models in the Aeldari line-up. Some of them are really old.*
Ben: There were a couple of things I think you added. Because they were so old, they were simple models. I think you wanted to represent their elegant fighting style and make sure they felt different from the Farseers.
Jes: It was nice to get to design a set of two, right? That way we could offer a mix of heads and helmets, which you can even use on the Warlock Skyrunner. We had to resist that temptation to overburden them with detail. The only thing we really pushed on was to make the wraithbone breastplates a little more wraithbone-y. We wanted to keep it crisp, keep it elegant.
Bare Heads
Ben: The only thing we've never seen before is the bare heads. Everything in there is really faithful to the original art that Jes did. Even the helmetless versions include those same nodes that you see on the helmets.
Jes: The headache nodes!** The bare heads are mainly there for those who want to include them as part of an Ynnari force.
Ben: Craftworld Aeldari go through depersonalisation in order to avoid the gaze of Slaanesh. Bare heads on the models was a really obvious way that we could visually represent the idea of the Ynnari regaining some individuality – essentially treading off the Path in a way that the Asuryani would find abhorrent, terrifying, and risky.
Jes: The Ynnari have the faith that it's not going to happen to them, of course…
Guardians
Jes: These were the bedrock of what we were doing. It was the place to get the anatomy down and make sure they conveyed movement better than they'd had before – they're meant to be one of the fastest infantry units on the table.
Ben: There aren't a lot of fundamental changes. The old weapons platform model had bits of wire on the device the gunner held and didn’t really represent how their technology would work. There are some subtle design changes for it – the gunner's floating control device hovers in the same way that the platform does, for example.
Jes: We exploited that idea a bit more in the range as well, like on the Rangers.
Ben: The biggest change was in the Storm Guardians, which weren't available as a plastic kit.
Jes: It was great to go back and update them.
Ben: One Easter egg is a reference to the old Wave Serpent from Epic 40,000. We wanted to make sure the Storm Guardians had equal use of the weapons platform and the serpent shield was a great chance for a callback.
Jes: Yeah, that’s a really ancient miniature.
Ben: It contextualises the new platform with historical lore and miniature designs. It helps make it feel that they've always had this – it's not brand new.
Thank you so much for the insight, guys! Everything mentioned is available for pre-order alongside Codex: Aeldari this Saturday.
And because Jes and Ben had so much to say, you can look forward to a second piece covering Maugan Ra and the Dark Reapers tomorrow. Subscribe to the Warhammer Community newsletter so you don’t miss out on the latest news and updates.
* They are Aeldari, after all!
** There we have it, their official name, from Mr. Aeldari Himself.