The Aeldari are a dwindling race, so to maintain an effective fighting force every craftworld must draft its butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers into a local militia. Formed into units of Guardians, these citizens take up arms in times of war, providing battlefield support to dedicated Aspect Warriors as infantry and vehicle crews.
Aeldari seldom do things by halves – despite being a militia, each Guardian is a highly trained match for the most elite of the Imperium’s soldiers. The upcoming Codex: Aeldari gives them the boost they need to put on their war face* and go toe-to-toe with the galaxy’s threats.
Guardian armour is tougher. This reactive thermoplas mesh now grants its wearer a respectable 4+ Save characteristic – without compromising the flexibility they need to pull off acrobatic Battle Focus moves.
Likewise, the humble shuriken catapults taken to battle by Guardian Defenders are more deadly than before. On top of the Shuriken ability we showed off earlier, these elegant armaments now have longer range and more reliable Armour Penetration – someone’s clearly sharpened the shurikens.
Guardian Defenders usually accompany a Heavy Weapon Platform armed with powerful ordnance, and new rules make it easier than ever to put these floating death-dealers to work. Alas, the close combat specialist Storm Guardians were left without a hovering battlefield buddy… until now.
After many failed attempts to mount a giant sword onto their grav platforms, the Storm Guardians have finally hit upon a solution. By replacing the heavy weapon with a powerful shield generator, these squads can sprint across the battlefield safe in the embrace of a glowing force field.
Combined with their upgraded armour and the probability-twisting powers of the Strands of Fate special rule, these Serpent Scale Platforms can ensure each squad reaches its objective unscathed, ready for a deadly charge. Sufficiently large units can even bring two along for the trip, in case one suffers an unfortunate mishap along the way.
All Guardians are trained to take and hold objectives, freeing up the skilful Aspect Warriors – like the grim Dark Reapers – to unleash Khaine’s wrath on the enemy. In fact, while they’re defending these objectives, both varieties get a neat bonus to help them drive off the warriors of lesser civilisations.
While most craftworlds train their Guardians as a conscript militia, drawn from artists and artisans in times of war, Ulthwé maintains theirs as a standing army, guided by powerful Warlocks. This imparts the famed Black Guardians with discipline and skill far in excess of their part-time comrades.
There’s plenty more to see from Codex: Aeldari, which will be arriving very soon, so sign up to the Warhammer Community newsletter and don’t miss a single reveal.
* War masks, actually. Find out more about the Asuryani paths in Path of the Eldar.