Eldar Pre-Orders are up, with some rule snippets as well...

Eldar are now up for pre-order, so now we can finally tell GW to shut up and take our money, right?



The complete pre-order product line can be seen here and interestingly, each entry has a little preview of what the options might be...


The first meaningful purchase up on the GW site are the Psychic Cards:

-14 powers apparently, that would be 7 (6+Primaris) powers for each of the Battle and Fate Eldar Disciplines.  Some powers are 2 for 1 powers where they have an offensive and defensive ability so the number of actual powers may be closer to either 21 or 28, depending on how many powers have that dual use.

The Wraithknight pre-order page has some interesting info on how it can equipped:

-Left arm can be equipped with a Wraithcannon (how is this different from the Wraithguard's  Wraithcannon?) or a Scattershield which apparently is just a 5++ (hopefully more though).

-Right arm can be equipped with a Wraithcannon (as above), Ghostglaive (wraithsword dealybob) or a Suncannon (the S6 AP2 Heavy 3 blast weapon).

- Two Shoulder mounts can be Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser, Starcannon in any combination.

This means that the possible load-out is actually more limited than people first thought, assuming these are the only possibilities for the Wraithknight. For starters, the Shoulder mounts are limited to S6 so if you want anti-tank from the Wraithcannon arm mounts, you may not have a good target for the Shoulder mounts but otherwise, this is a great place to load up on S6 for some nasty anti-infantry (2 Starcannons and a Suncannon).

Next up is the Crimson Hunter/Hemlock Wraithfighter flyer combo kit:

Not too much info is given on this entry but it is now officially confirmed that the Crimson Hunter has an Exarch upgrade and can swap the Brightlances out for Starcannons. I'd like to know more about any special "jink" save these guys get or if they can truly be taken in squadrons...Also, the model looks pretty sweet in the pictures so it prob looks less like a goose and more like an awesome flyer in person!

Wraithguard/Wraithblades are up next and man do these models look sweet:

Again, no real new info except the way they can be equipped seems to be settled...

-For a ranged weapon load-out it is either the Wraithcannon or D-Scythe...Is it the Wraithcannon of the Wraithguard the same as the WraithKnight? They are both the same named weapon but not sure if they have the same rules...

-For close combat options, they can either have 2 Ghostswords or a Ghost Axe and Force Shield.

Other pre-orders:
As far as other pre-orders go, there are pretty much just repackages of old units at a slight bargain, except for Dire Avengers which are a great price hike...

-Dire Avenger's apparently has same options for wargear as they previously had (including Exarch) and are virtually doubled in cost...Hopefully rules are better.

-Farseer is mainly included here for completeness but nothing meaningful is provided in the pre-order page but its a new Plastic model that looks ok. It comes with a Singing Spear option only...

-Spiritseer also doesn't provide any real rules insight but it comes with a Witch Staff..Perhaps there are different rules for different Witch Weapons?

-Illic Nightspear hints at his ability to pick out models in units, perhaps with the Character special rule? This is just pulled from the description of the model's capabilities but I would not be surprised if this is our Vindicare assassin and if Pathfinders had precision shots on a 5+.

-Autarch jetbike upgrade kit is silly in that you only get the Autarch bits and the "Jetbike is sold separately" and that this Autarch can be armed with Laser Lance, Fusion Gun or Power Sword. I wonder how weapon options for the Autarch will change?

-Eldar Battle Force now has a Vyper instead of a War Walker...Hopefully this denotes an increased utility for Vypers?

-3 in 1 boxes of War Walkers, Vypers, Support Weapon Batteries and Jetbikes at a slight discount is nice. Now it will be easier and more cost effective to make those lists that include these elements...Now if only the rules are good for them.

Concluding Observations:

-Wraithcannon according to some rumors is apparently a 20-something inch S10 AP2 weapon and both the Wraithknight and Wraithguard are said to have a Wraithcannon as an option on the GW web page...Is it the same weapon or did GW just goof and forget to list the Wraithknight's weapon as a Heavy Wraithcannon? Does this mean Wraithweapons will now have a S value? Time will tell..

-Heavy D-scythe is a blast so does that mean a regular D-Scythe is a blast as well or some form of template weapon?

-Wraithknight can get a Scatter Shield, Wraithguard can get a Force Shield. We know from the old Autarch entry that a Force Shield is a 4++ and if the Scatter Shield is just a bigger version of the Dire Avenger Exarch Shimmer Shield which is a 5++ does that mean a 5++ for Wraithknight and 4++ for Wraithguard?

-Ultimately, it looks like the wargear options for a lot of units have not changed but perhaps this isn't a big deal as the rules for these options are what really needed to be addressed...Here's to looking forward to good re-vamps of our units and their rules!