Asuryani Review - Part Ten; Fliers

Stormraven spam may have caused a change in the rules of 8th Edition, but the Aeldari truly rule the skies.

Crimson Hunter

The anti-flyer Aspect. It has the usual Airborne and Hard to Hit rules to give it protection. To help it hunt other Flyers, it re-rolls failed wounds against models with the Fly keyword. In 8th Edition, that also includes units like Jetbikes, Assault Marines and Bloat Drones. It's armed with 2 Bright Lances and a Pulse Laser, to bring opposing vehicles down.

Wings of Khaine is a great rule. Allowing the Hunter to turn 90° both before and after moving. This means it can strafe up and down your back line, while the long range on it's weapons punishes opposing Fliers and Vehicles. For 160 points, it's a great package. In an Iyanden army, it has to lose 8 Wounds before it loses any effectiveness too.

This unit appears to have replaced the Nightwing in the interceptor role.

Crimson Hunter Exarch

For an extra 15 points, you gain re-rolls of a 1 for shooting, and the option to replace it's Bright Lances with Starcannons. I wouldn't recommend the weapon swap, but the re-roll is probably worth it.

Now that you no longer take these as squadrons, the Exarch feels strangely out of place. The point difference almost makes it feel like an auto upgrade to the regular Hunter.

Hemlock Wraithfighter

Proving to be quite fearsome on the table top for a bargain 200 points, the psychic aircraft is back. It shares the Wings of Khaine, Hard to Hit and Airborne rules with the Crimson Hunter. It also has built in Spirit Stones to give it the ability to ignore wounds on a 6.

It's role is different. The short range of it's weapons means that it wants to strafe their lines, not yours. 16", Assault d3, S12, AP-4, D2. It has two of them and they auto-hit. Good at hurting anything, units that are too numerous to worry about the guns are usually not a threat to it. While it's that close, it's Mindshock Pods give enemy units -2 Leadership. The cherry, on top of this icing, on top of this delicious cake: It's a Psyker.

It can deny one power, and cast one. It know Smite and any one power from the Runes of Battle. It can only cast the debuff half of the power, but those are potent enough options. It's also a Wraith Construct for the purpose of the Stratagem that heals them.

The final unit review is in Part Eleven, Lords of War.