A few years ago, Games Workshop finally begun taking some unprecedented steps to update the models of one of Warhammer 40,000‘s most popular factions: the ranks of the Aeldari, the lithe, elven aliens who have been part of the tabletop game for nearly 40 years. But even with those significant updates, the line of Aeldari models was still home to some of the oldest miniatures that Games Workshop still sold… but next year, that’s finally going to change in a huge way.
As part of a special preview event ahead of the upcoming Warhammer World Championships, today Games Workshop revealed the upcoming revamp of the Aeldari’s rulebook for the latest, 10th edition of Warhammer 40K. Alongside the updated rulebook will be a swath of new miniatures focusing on one of the unique elements of Aeldari culture: the Aspect Warriors, clans of specialized elite operatives dedicated to specific schools of martial thought, and their fabled, legendary leaders in the Phoenix Lords.
Although these units and heroes are key elements of Aeldari lore—and often fundamental pillars of an Aeldari army—players of the faction have spent literal decades running those Aspect Warriors with the same models while watching Games Workshop find ever-increasing ways to sell people a new Space Marine. Up until relatively recently, many key models in the Aeldari were based on sculpts that been around for the best part of 20 years. Some of the oldest among these models were those of the eight main Aspect Warrior archetypes: the Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions, Swooping Hawks, Dire Avengers, Warp Spiders, Fire Dragons, Dark Reapers, and Shining Spears. Many of these models were so old that they were still cast in metal or eventually resin, and Games Workshop took its sweet time updating them bit by bit over the years. The Howling Banshees received a model overhaul in 2019 (replacing models from 2006), while the Dark Reapers and Shining Spears were updated as part of that 2022 line overhaul (replacing models from 2006 and 1999, respectively), and the Striking Scorpions were updated this year through the smaller-scaled skirmish game Kill Team (replacing models again, from 2006).
Today’s news brings almost every other Aspect Warrior class to contemporary plastic miniature standard. The Fire Dragons, Swooping Hawks, and Warp Spiders will all receive updated plastic multi-part models to replace metal and resin kits from 2006, 2000, and 1994, respectively. Alongside those mainline squads, the company also unveiled updates for their accompanying Phoenix Lords—the elite hero units that are the heads of each Aspect—in the form of Fuegan (the lord of the Fire Dragons), Baharroth (the Swooping Hawks), and, for the very first time in miniature form at all, Lhykis, the lord of the Warp Spiders, alongside the Dire Avenger lord Asurmen. Putting Lhykis aside as a brand new character, these other miniatures all replaced “current” models from 1994.
It should be stressed that Games Workshop charged for these practically ancient miniatures with the same kind of pricing that any of its contemporary miniatures would command, despite their ever-increasing age—and Aeldari players were simply supposed to deal with it and look on as other factions received regular new miniatures and refreshes. As a life-long player of the faction, it’s been wild to me in my off-and-on journey with Warhammer 40K as a grown adult has been played with the same miniatures I could buy as a 10-year-old getting into tabletop gaming for the first time. And it’s taken most of that life for that to change!
But at long last, it now is. There’s still some Aeldari models that are showing their age—among the Aspect Warriors at least, Asurmen’s Dire Avengers haven’t been updated since 2006 either, and the Striking Scorpion’s leader, Karandras, is now the last remaining un-updated Phoenix Lord sitting at 30 years old (and counting). Hopefully with the new rules for the faction coming some time in 2025, it won’t take that much longer to see these remaining alien legends get the shiny new plastic treatment they deserve too… and hopefully these new models, as lovely as they look now in 2024, aren’t still on shelves by the 2060s. After all, in the grim dark future of the 21st century, there must always be new plastic soldiers to purchase.
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