Imperial Armour 11, Part 2: Final rules for the new models!

I've had some time now to review the final version of the rules for the IA11 Eldar vehicles that I reviewed earlier - in their experimental form - here. A more complete review of the book itself will follow later.


First off, let me say that I am THIS EXCITED by the prospect of having new Eldar rules to play around with, whether they be semi-official or no. Since it looks like I may have to wait another year or so to get a new Eldar Codex in my hot little hands, IA 11 could not have come at a better time.

I was not terribly thrilled with the first batch of experimental rules published for the new Eldar models, but in nearly every case, my exceptions have been addressed. Yay! So let us quickly go through the units which I reviewed before and see how they've changed...

Shadow Spectres
 First off, the Spectres have been moved from the overloaded Heavy Support section to the Fast Attack section. This will appeal to some Craftworld Eldar players, as there is not much competition in this FO slot. Additionally the unit size can be expanded up to 6 models rather than 5.

The unit has not changed much otherwise, excepting the Prism Rifle. The Prism Rifle now comes with a diffuse setting, dropping a S4 AP5 small blast marker as an alternative to the standard "focused" mode. It's range has been improved one step, and the Ghostlight range increment for contributing models reduced from 6 inches per firing model to 6 inches per 2 firing models. It's worth noting now that the Ghostlight fires at the highest BS of the squad, not just BS4.

Overall the unit has improved significantly, and I find myself upgrading my unit rating from 6 pointy ears to 7 (out of 10). Moving the unit to the Fast Attack slot and refining the Prism Rifle/Ghostlight has made them a little more versatile than in their Alpha version. I would definitely consider bringing the Shadow Spectres in a higher-point game or for a Spearhead game.


Warp Hunter
Not much change here! The vehicle has been given a BS4 and the D-cannon upgraded to a 5-inch (Large Blast) template, but otherwise remains unchanged. Still, it's enough for me to upgrade my original rating (7 Elfstones of Shannara) to a solid 8.

 Hornets
Great Googly-Moogly I love these models! I was unable to locate my copy of the experimental rules, but honestly there's no great need for in-depth statistical analysis. The main change here is the addition of the Aerial Assault  rule, allowing the Hornet to move at cruising speed and fire both guns, and this trick works with the Scouts rule as well. Be still my beating heart (and thank you, Dark Eldar)! It's a great looking model with good rules (perhaps too good?). 

I gave them a pretty good rating before; does this mean that Aerial Assault enough to kick my original rating from 8 sparkly fairy wings up to 9? No, though if I'm honest I feel like the Hornet is a little bit too good to be balanced... based on the 4th edition codex it's probably just fine, but how will I feel about it in the next edition?

In the next article we'll talk about the other beta-rules updates...