Aeldari Combat Patrol: Box Contents & Tactics Guide

The Aeldari Combat Patrol is a balanced Warhammer 40,000 starter box containing nineteen miniatures led by a powerful Farseer psyker. It gives new and veteran players a fast, versatile force designed for quick Combat Patrol games or as the foundation for a full 2,000-point Craftworld army.

When starting an Asuryani force in Warhammer 40k, picking the right entry point saves both money and painting time. The Aeldari rely on speed, precise shooting, and fate manipulation rather than heavy armor to win battles. Inside this boxed set, Games Workshop bundles a mix of psychic leadership, mobile jetbikes, a durable wraith construct, and flexible infantry. In this review, we examine the box contents, battlefield tactics, assembly options, and expansion paths.

Let us examine what makes this starter army such a strong pick for tabletop commanders.

What Is the Aeldari Combat Patrol Box Set?

The Aeldari Combat Patrol is an official Games Workshop army box designed for small-format Warhammer 40k games. It provides a complete legal roster containing a character leader, battleline troops, mounted cavalry, and a heavy walker.

In Warhammer 40k tenth edition, Combat Patrol is its own standalone game mode with streamlined unit rules, balanced datacards, and fixed enhancements. This format allows hobbyists to assemble a single box, paint their miniatures, and jump straight into competitive games without worrying about complicated army list building or points calculations.

Purchasing these models together in a single box set saves roughly thirty to thirty-five percent compared to buying individual plastic sprues separately. For newcomers entering the tabletop hobby, it represents the most cost-effective way to build a functional Craftworld strike team.

From what we have seen on local gaming tables, this set offers surprising tactical variety because every unit fills a distinct battlefield role.

Complete Box Contents and Miniature Breakdown

Opening the box reveals nineteen multipart plastic Citadel miniatures along with their corresponding gaming bases and transfer sheets. The kit contains high-grade sculpts updated during the major Aeldari range refresh.

The specific models included in the set are:

• 1x Farseer: The psychic commander of the force, armed with a witchblade or singing spear, directing fate from behind allied battle lines.
• 1x Wraithlord: A towering ghost-warrior walker constructed from wraithbone, carrying heavy weapon options and a formidable ghostglaive for melee combat.
• 6x Windriders: Swift jetbike cavalry capable of redeploying across the battlefield to eliminate enemy objective holders.
• 10x Guardians: Versatile line infantry that can be assembled as either Guardian Defenders with a heavy weapon platform or close-support Storm Guardians.
• 1x Heavy Weapon Platform: An robotic grav-sled that accompanies Guardian squads to fire missile launchers, bright lances, or shuriken cannon bursts.

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These sprues come with numerous cosmetic extras, including bare and helmeted heads, sculpted cloth banners, and extra weapons to personalize your squad leaders.

Evaluating the Core Units on the Battlefield

Each miniature in the box fulfills a specific purpose, creating a force where mutual support is essential. The Aeldari cannot survive prolonged attrition battles, requiring commanders to coordinate unit abilities carefully.

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each datasheet ensures your strike force strikes hard while minimizing incoming retaliatory fire.

Here is an in-depth breakdown of how each unit operates on the tabletop.

The Farseer: Psychic Support and Fate Dice Manipulation

The Farseer is the strategic brain of the army, utilizing ancient psychic disciplines to guide allied shooting and protect vulnerable units from enemy fire.

In tenth edition, the Farseer ability to modify dice values is game-changing. With the Branching Fates rule, your Farseer can change an existing Fate die into an automatic six once per turn. This guarantees lethal hits on high-value anti-tank shots or ensures an invulnerable armor save succeeds during critical enemy shooting phases.

The Farseer also projects offensive psychic strikes, hurling mental witchfire at enemy infantry squads within eighteen inches. Keeping this character positioned near your Wraithlord or Guardian line maximizes their aura benefits while shielding them from enemy snipers.

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The Wraithlord: Heavy Armor Anchor and Weapon Options

The Wraithlord is the toughest model in the box, providing high toughness and numerous wounds to anchor your battleline. Because most Aeldari infantry have light armor saves, the Wraithlord is a durable shield that draws enemy fire away from fragile jetbikes.

Equipped with a ghostglaive, the Wraithlord delivers devastating melee strikes capable of crushing enemy armored dreadnoughts and monstrous creatures. On its shoulders, it can mount dual heavy weapons such as bright lances for long-range anti-tank fire or scatter lasers for clearing infantry swarms.

In Combat Patrol games, opponents often struggle to bring down the Wraithlord because smaller forces lack concentrated anti-armor weaponry. Positioning the walker in midfield control zones forces enemies to choose between retreating or engaging a deadly combatant.

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Windriders and Guardians: Speed, Shurikens, and Fire Support

The six Windrider jetbikes represent your primary fast-attack asset. Moving fourteen inches per turn, they can zoom across terrain pieces, claim distant secondary objectives, and fire hail-fire from twin shuriken catapults.

Windriders gain re-rolls to hit when firing at enemy units holding objectives, turning them into lethal point-scorers. You can field them as a single six-model cavalry squad or split them into two three-bike units to cover multiple table quarters simultaneously.

The ten Guardians hold home objectives and generate additional Fate dice through their Defender abilities. With a heavy weapon platform attached, they contribute anti-vehicle firepower from behind secure defensive barricades while scoring primary victory points.

Together, these two units provide the mobility and board presence needed to outmaneuver slower opposing armies.

How to Play the Fatebreaker Warhost in 10th Edition

In official tenth edition Combat Patrol games, the Aeldari force is known as the Fatebreaker Warhost. This format uses fixed rules, custom stratagems, and specific enhancement choices to create balanced gameplay against other starter armies.

Success with this warhost relies on patience, baiting enemy units into exposed firing lanes, and using the army rule Strands of Fate at decisive moments.

Let us review the rules mechanics and tactical principles that lead to tabletop victories.

learning Strands of Fate and Movement teamwork

At the beginning of each battle, the Aeldari player rolls six Fate dice and sets them aside in a visible dice pool. Each die represents a pre-determined roll (such as a 6 to hit, a 5 to wound, or a 6 for a save) that you can swap in place of a standard roll throughout the match.

Knowing when to spend a Fate die separates novice commanders from tournament veterans. Using a guaranteed six on a bright lance damage roll can eliminate an enemy light vehicle in a single round. Similarly, spending a six on an armor save keeps your Wraithlord alive to fight another turn.

Combine this dice manipulation with superior movement. Never leave infantry exposed in open ground. Use ruins and obscuring terrain to break enemy line of sight until you are ready to launch a coordinated strike.

By dictating where and when engagements happen, you protect your lighter models while punishing isolated enemy units.

Combat Patrol Game Rules, Enhancements, and Stratagems

The Fatebreaker Warhost gains access to bespoke stratagems that improve movement and survivability. Stratagems like Lightning-Fast Reactions apply penalties to enemy hit rolls, making it harder for opponents to eliminate your jetbikes.

You can equip your Farseer with unique enhancements such as Fate Reader, which grants additional dice manipulation rolls when completing specific battlefield actions.

Secondary objectives in Combat Patrol focus on positioning and tactical patience rather than raw body count. Guarding primary relics and completing scout maneuvers often yield more victory points than trading casualties with durable enemy forces.

Review the free Warhammer Community Combat Patrol rules packet before your match to ensure you understand your unit statline modifications.

Assembly, Weapon Loadouts, and Painting Advice

Putting together an Aeldari force provides an enjoyable hobby experience, offering clean plastic sprues with crisp details. Choosing the right weapon loadouts during assembly ensures your models perform effectively in both Combat Patrol and full 40k matches.

A helpful recommendation is to magnetize the heavy weapon mounts on the Wraithlord and Guardian platform. Using tiny 2mm neodymium magnets allows you to swap between bright lances, starcannons, and missile launchers whenever rules updates shift weapon point costs.

Here are key assembly choices and painting options for your new miniatures.

Building Guardian Defenders vs Storm Guardians

The Guardian kit gives you the choice to build Guardian Defenders or Storm Guardians. For general play, assembling them as Guardian Defenders is strongly recommended.

Guardian Defenders carry shuriken catapults with an eighteen-inch range and include a heavy weapon platform. Their ability to generate Fate dice while holding backfield objectives makes them immensely valuable for army utility.

Storm Guardians carry close-combat chainswords and fusion pistols, requiring them to advance directly toward enemy lines. Because they lack heavy armor, they often suffer heavy casualties before reaching melee range unless transported inside a Wave Serpent tank.

If you only own one box of Guardians, building them as Defenders provides greater tactical versatility in almost every game scenario.

Choosing Your Craftworld Color Scheme (Saim-Hann, Biel-Tan, Ulthwé)

The Aeldari are divided into massive world-ships called Craftworlds, each bearing distinctive iconography and uniform colors. The transfer sheet in the box includes decals for all major Craftworlds.

Popular Craftworld color schemes include:

• Ulthwé: Striking bone-white helmets paired with black armor and gold accents.
• Saim-Hann: Bright crimson red armor with white accents and wild serpent badges, famous for fast-moving jetbike legions and aggressive strike tactics.
• Biel-Tan: Clean white armor panels offset by rich forest-green helms and stylized thorn patterns, representing a militant culture dedicated to rebuilding the ancient Aeldari empire.
• Iyanden: Vibrant yellow armor complemented by royal blue crests, renowned for fielding legions of wraith constructs to compensate for a tragic past disaster.

You are also entirely free to design your own custom Craftworld scheme using your favorite paint combinations and basing styles.

Expanding Your Aeldari Army Beyond Combat Patrol

Once you finish assembling and painting your Combat Patrol, you will have roughly 450 to 500 points of miniatures ready for action. Expanding your collection toward a standard 1,000 or 2,000-point army is straightforward.

Adding complementary units addresses the army few weaknesses, providing anti-infantry screening, dedicated anti-tank firepower, and armored transport capability.

Here are sensible next steps for growing your collection.

Best Next Purchases for a 1,000-Point List

To reach 1,000 points efficiently, consider adding the following kits:

• Wave Serpent Transport: A durable grav-tank that carries your Guardians safely onto mid-board objectives while firing twin bright lances at heavy targets.
• Howling Banshees or Striking Scorpions: Specialized Aspect Warriors that deliver potent close-quarters combat power to counter enemy charge units.
• Autarch: A versatile infantry commander who generates extra Command Points each battle round and brings flexible wargear choices.
• War Walker: An agile two-man scout walker armed with twin heavy weapons that can scout ahead or outflank enemy backlines.

Combining these additions with your Combat Patrol core creates a balanced 1,000-point roster capable of competing in local leagues and casual tournaments.

Retail Value and Cost Savings Analysis

Purchasing the Aeldari Combat Patrol provides substantial financial savings over buying the components individually. The retail price of the Farseer, Wraithlord, Windriders, and Guardians bought separately exceeds the boxed set cost by roughly $60 to $70 USD.

Because every unit in the box is effective in casual and competitive tenth edition play, none of the plastic sprues go to waste.

Even veteran players expanding existing collections frequently buy a second Combat Patrol box to obtain additional jetbikes, wraith walkers, and line troops at a discounted rate.

For anyone wanting to collect Craftworld Eldar, this box represents the undisputed gold standard for starting your collection.

Frequently Asked Questions

What miniatures come in the Aeldari Combat Patrol box?

The box includes 19 plastic miniatures: 1 Farseer, 1 Wraithlord, 6 Windrider jetbikes, 10 Guardians, and 1 Heavy Weapon Platform, along with transfer decals and Citadel bases.

How many points is the Aeldari Combat Patrol in Warhammer 40k?

In standard Warhammer 40k 10th edition, the models total approximately 450 to 500 points depending on current Munitorum Field Manual point updates and chosen weapon wargear.

Can you build Storm Guardians from the Aeldari Combat Patrol?

Yes, the included Guardian sprue allows you to assemble the 10 models as either long-range Guardian Defenders with a heavy weapon platform or close-combat Storm Guardians with assault wargear.

Is the Aeldari Combat Patrol good for beginners?

Yes, it is widely considered an excellent starter set because it includes a balanced mix of psychic support, durable monsters, fast cavalry, and troops, giving new players experience with all core 40k mechanics.

What weapon should I put on the Wraithlord in Combat Patrol?

The ghostglaive paired with two bright lances is the most popular setup, providing devastating melee striking power alongside reliable high-strength anti-tank shooting.

How does the Strands of Fate rule work for Aeldari?

At the start of the game, you roll six Fate dice to create a pool of fixed numbers. You can substitute these pre-rolled dice for hit rolls, wound rolls, saving throws, or damage rolls during critical moments.

Is the Aeldari Combat Patrol worth the price?

Yes, buying the box set saves approximately 30 to 35 percent compared to purchasing each kit individually, making it a high-value entry point for tabletop collectors.