Warhammer 40K: Eldar Have Been Robbed
Let’s talk about how everything that once made Eldar special has been taken from them.
Since the start of 40K, the Eldar (later known as the Craftworld Eldar) have been a major part of the game – both in the lore and on the table. They’ve got a deep rich history, with a ton of cool units and unique units. They tend to make use of both their advanced tech and their culture to field armies, unlike any others we see in 40K. The Eldar have long been one of the most iconic and popular 40K armies and have a hallowed place among the fandom. Now, we’ve slowly seen everything that makes the Eldar cool and unique stripped away, to the point where they’ve lost much of their flavor that endeared them to their diehard fans. Let us take a look at what’s happened.
What Makes the Eldar Unique
When looking at the Craftworld Eldar list there are few hallmarks that stand out, that have traditionally been critical features of the army. These include:
- Extensive use of grav vehicles
- Focused units with all of one weapon type rather than mixed weapon units, which has allowed them to take large units of all heavy weapons
- Mobile units that could move and shoot and have high access to assault vs. rapid-fire weapons
- Lance Armed Elite Jetbikers
- Winged troops with a high rate of fire weapons that can deep strike and then return to reserve to do it again
- Unique heavy walkers that work more like monsters than vehicles
There are other factors that go into this, but these are just a few of the core things that have made Eldar stand out. Now, let us take a look at how these have been stripped from them.
You Get Grav, And You Get Grav, Everyone Gets Grav!!!
Back in the day, Grav-tanks were the domain of the Eldar. Sure a couple of other factions could occasionally use grav, the Land Speeder being the key exception. And yes, their Dark Eldar brothers had grav-vehicles, but except for the Dark Eldar any kind of grav was super rare. And no one had durable grav units like the Eldar. Slowly this has started to change over time. Necrons became a real faction, and the Monolith hovered. T’au came into being, and they used real grav tanks. The pool grew. Still, the Eldar had the best Grav tanks; they matched both heavy defensive ability with being fast, which back in the day meant they could move twice as far as other tanks.
However, over time the dilution grew. We got more types of Land Speeders. Necrons got more grav vehicles. 8th finally really blew the lid off things. Marines got a whole line up of both fast and heavy grav tanks. The Custodian Guard also got their hands on common grav tech. At this point, more factions have access to the tech then don’t. Worse, for the Eldar, was that the 8th rules made their grav tanks more on par with everyone else’s. They move 16 inches in a world where most other tanks move 12, including a lot of the grav (the Impulsor moves 14), and they get all the same rules and benefits as the Eldar. Eldar grav mastery has been reduced from being their bailiwick to getting a few extra inches of movement.
The Thieving Primaris 
8th also brought the Primaris Marines around to steal more of the Eldar’s stick. Not only did they get easy access to grav units, but they “borrowed” the idea of focused mono-weapon armed units. Now Marines have hyper-focused units. Now they can take whole squads of heavy weapons, without having to pay for mooks. Now Marines have access to two infantry assault units, one heavy and armed with chainswords and one faster and using scary masks. Marines even get piloted scout walkers. Primaris also get easy access to assault weapons and, through traits and stratagems, some very mobile units. Heck, they are even about to get a unit of heavily armored troopers all armed with melta guns.
The Same, But Better
A high profile example of the dilution of what made Eldar special is the fact that they’ve had some of their units straight-up stolen by other factions and made better. Take, for instance, Shining Spears – this is an elite unit of jet bikers armed with lances and rapid-fire guns. They are good in combat and shooting. Well, now you’ve got Vertus Praetors, elite jetbikers armed with lances and rapid-fire guns. The Vertus Praetors are overall a much better unit the Shining Spears, though their extremely higher cost sets them apart.
The most painful new unit for the Craftworlders is the brand new Pteraxii Skystalkers. Compare the new units stats above, with the stats for classic Swooping Hawks below.
These are the same unit. Seriously, the Skystalkers are just Swooping Hawks but better. They have the same gun, but with one more shot. They both fly. They can deep strike and then fly away to do it again also. They both get to throw grenade packs, but the Skystalker’s is much better. They have similar stat lines, only the Skystalkers get an extra attack and wound, while the Swooping Hawks get a much less critical couple of inches of movement. They are even in the same price range, currently 13 pts for a Swooping Hawk and 15 for a Skystalker. They also kind of look the same. Who knows, maybe this is a shrouded hint that the Eldar have secretly taken over the Ad Mech?
Final Thoughts
Overall we’ve seen a major eroding of what made Eldar special. Some of it has been due to giving out their unique types of units to other factions. In some cases Eldar units are just copied (it seems one Mr. B. Cawl is responsible for “borrowing” a lot of Eldar ideas for the Imperium). In other cases, the rule changes of 8th have robbed them. 8th made their skimmers work more like other factions skimmers, while also removing most of what set units like the Wriathlord apart from their dreadnought counterparts in other factions. At the same time, Eldar have languished with a slew of old models, getting only minor updates during PA. They’ve been repeatedly passed over in favor of other armies, many of which have gotten multiple updates. All while large sections of the Eldar army are stuck 20 years in the past. Even their plot and affect on the story was effectively stolen by the Ynnari. If you asked me today what made an Eldar army special or unique at the opening of 9th Edition, I’d be hard-pressed to tell you.
Let us know what you think about what’s happening to the Eldar, down in the comments!
