And it’s not just them: the beauty in the both the Aeldari and the new Chaos models leaves droves of similar products looking dated and second-rate. Aeldari snipers are so skilled that firing from the back of a speeding jetbike is considered only a mild inconvenience. Next, the wargear gives them Dense Cover for a large part of the game, and once per game you can inflict mortals or make the charge much harder. We’ll be taking a look at the finished assembled and painted models a little later in this review along with the updated rules (if they have them) for those units!

Inside the box we get 16 miniatures split between the Chaos Space Marines and the Eldar, with 15 of the models being brand new ones!It’s kind of insulting how bad the value on Chaos Space Marine daemon Engines and Helbrutes is compared to the versions Thousand Sons get, which makes it even funnier that the Thousand Sons versions aren’t good enough to see competitive play.

It’s worth pointing out here that weapons and parts are fully compatible across the two allowing you to mix and match! Along with a robust book of lore describing key moments in the conflict on Daethe, the new Goliath Down rules add a fun twist to the game. the profile contains all of the various weapon options available on the new kit with some tweaks such as a flat 2 damage on the Star Glaive and it is no longer -1 to hit when using it! The same effort doesn’t seem to have been afforded to the rules themselves, though, and what energy there is attributed to this part of the book has been spread quite thinly.

The Aeldari seek to protect the World Spirit of this planet (a collection of the souls of their dead, preserved against the hungry maw of the Chaos God Slaanesh), and the Chaos Space Marines hope to exploit the World Spirit to power their infernal Daemon machines. The world Daethe, in the Nachmund sector, is attacked by the Black Legion Warpsmith D'vok the Unmaker. Cultists are mowed down like wheat before the Scythe and even the Chaos Marines are just shredded by Shuriken fire. We expect there to be more new miniatures still coming (definitely for Chaos) for the factions overall, but this box will probably be released far ahead of any other release wave. This is an older kit, but surprisingly still stands up today with a nice bit of a profile difference between the two builds and a variety of weapon options!

With a host of new figures for the followers of the Dark Gods, as well as a very long-overdue injection of new plastic into the (A)Eldari range, this is a battlebox that fans won’t want to miss. D'vok doesn't care about the attack, as he realized his human psykers are too weak to threaten the final circle. Along with the additional rules included, these missions made for tight, nail-biting, down-to-the-last dice roll matches between our forces. The second mission sees the Warpsmith attempting to protect devices crucial to his exploitation of the World Spirit, with the Aeldari units attempting to destroy them.Smooth and elegant, and yet simultaneously dynamic and striking, if this miniature sets the standard for all future Aeldari releases this year, then 2022 will be an excellent year for fans of the Craftworlds.

Initially I worried that the Chosen would have fixed loadouts on the sprue, but thankfully that is not the case! The 16th is a mighty, smoke-belching Forgefiend – the forces of Chaos can never have too many daemon engines. The other faction in this box could have been a cold turd, or something even worse like Ultramarines, and I’d still have given it 4 stars. They are designed to be the narrative rope that binds the box together – providing reason as to why the two factions are in the box are out for each other’s blood. Ghaelyn is not just the daring commander of the Zephyrborne Hunt, or a skilled combatant who has walked the Path of the Warrior in countless Aspects – she is also a peerless rider, renowned for her spectacular victories in Saim-Hann’s jetbike races.We’re also likely to see a Combat Patrol for both factions at some point in the future, especially given the hype surrounding this release. These are a totally new unit, and one that’s at least promising, because they are both fast and reasonably durable, generally a good combo. He then erects several Noctilith Crowns, dubbing them the "Lens Empyric", to harness the powers here. A great deal of effort has been spent on ensuring the setting and narrative aspects of the box are fully established and explored, and whilst it’s somewhat predictable, it is nonetheless quite good fun. Engagement generally just fuels negativity and toxicity (I genuinely hate myself for even using this word here).