The Inside Scoop on Gaming

This is probably going to be a bit of a weird review, mostly because the subject is so unfamiliar to a traditional role-playing review. Dragon magazine used to review minatures, though, so I at least have some sort of precedent.

The Eldar Guardians were originally meant to be emergency troops that an Eldar Craftworld - an enormous spaceship-arcology - fielded in the event that regulation Aspect Warriors don't have the bulk to carry the war. In the new version of the Eldar Codex, or so I'm told, Eldar Guardians are now the standardized troops that every Craftworld field, with the more specialized Aspect Warriors acting in their particular roles.

What are the minatures like? The original Guardians were fairly simple and almost weedy in comparison to the new ones. The pointy helmets are still here, but the major facets of the armor have all been changed as well. There's a new pair of over-the-shoulder vents, as well as a pair of back vanes that lend the minature a much more bulky appearance - as a matter of fact, the over-the-shoulder vanes almost serve the same purpose as the shoulder pads on Space Marines, to lend a distinctive appearance to the minature and to mark it on the battlefield. I'm not sure what function the vents perform in the fluff, or if they're even needed, but they do lend nicely to the vaguely insectile appearance of the Eldar. In addition, the rounded appearance of Guardian armor has been changed to a more angular, boxy feel - the plates on their legs have straight edges, and tend to cover much larger areas. The shoulder blades are nicely defined, too.

The Guardians arrive on several different sprues, with legs, left arms and heads on one sprue and right arms, weapons, fluff and vanes on the other. Both the torso and the legs are multi-part kits, but the poseability factor is almost nil - you simply clip them together with superglue and go. With the legs, poseability is immediately limited by the fact that the tabs on the legs are designed to fit onto their opposite number. In other words, you can't clip a left leg off of one part of the sprue and a right leg off the other and fit them together without removing the tab. Some legs also have waist tabards that don't fit well with certain leg sprues. In short, you can forget about clipping the legs off of the sprue and throwing them into a box. The torsoes are identical save for one female torso; and the proportions here are a bit exaggerated for what's supposed to be a fairly willowy race.

The heads are similar save for tiny soulstones dotted here and there, and, in a nice touch, a crystal tear dripping from the eye of a few helmets. It's not a bad look, especially if you paint it correctly. There are also unhelmeted heads included, but they're very similar to each other, and don't quite carry the angular features of the Eldar - the hair, especially, tends to make them look like Beck. The arms are fairly standard - one has a shuriken rifle, while the other is positioned so as to cup the underside of the rifle. Single-handed use of a shuriken rifle is going to require some modelling work. The rifles themselves have been updated, for the better - the barrel flares back towards the base, provided some space for highlighting and the like.

As for the detail, the Eldar have their fair share. All of them are liberally decorated with soulstones, tiny cloth banners and the usual faux-wings on the ankles. Fortunately, you can either highlight them or leave them with the rest of the minature - they don't stick out if you paint over them. There's alternate vanes, one of which is studded with tiny ovals; I assume that it must be a communications vane, or perhaps an extra power storage device. The ammo slings are nicely done, with egg-shaped grenades and banana-bone style ammuniton clips. There's even a fair number of Eldar runes that link the ammo clips to the belt, which is shaped to sling around the waist.

Once assembled, they look nice. Now, as for the flaws:

- The vanes are tiny. I mean, they're about as large as a fingernail clipping, and while they aren't that difficult to clip off, they are a pain in the ass to stick onto the bodies. One of them is currently bouncing around my dorm room as we speak - it's around here somewhere, but the odds of finding it are remote. In addition, I'm not sure if the vanes have a left-and-right orientation or if you can simply interchange them between the slots in the back of the minature. It would be nice if Games Workshop were to actually include some instructions on how the minatures are supposed to go together, besides the obvious exploded diagram on the side of the box.

- The waist and crotch area on some of the Eldar is fairly ill-defined. Most of them have a waist scarf, but the scarf doesn't project enough to really make for a good paint job - and there's a triangular projection that made me confused until I consulted the box again. On other crotches, there's no join between the waist and the leg, which makes it harder to define the edge of the minature.

Other than that, the Guardians aren't bad as minatures. I couldn't comment on their utility within the game, but the minatures are nice, and the price - $22 for sixteen minatures - isn't that bad. The more Games Workshop shifts over to plastic, the more happy I am to buy their products, although their current deal with Satan apparently precludes them lowering the price on their lead and/or pewter minatures. If you're looking for some interesting minatures to paint, or some nicely sculpted generic warriors, I think that I can recommend these Guardians with confidence.

-Darren MacLennan

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Eldar Guardians Battle Squad
Author: Designed by Jes Goodwin and Mike McVey Category: miniature Company/Publisher: Games Workshop Line: Warhammer 40,000 Cost: $22 Page count: Not applicable ISBN: Not applicable SKU: Not Applicable Capsule Review by Darren MacLennan on 09/29/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction Far_Future Space	This is probably going to be a bit of a weird review, mostly because the subject is so unfamiliar to a traditional role-playing review. Dragon magazine used to review minatures, though, so I at least have some sort of precedent. The Eldar Guardians were originally meant to be emergency troops that an Eldar Craftworld - an enormous spaceship-arcology - fielded in the event that regulation Aspect Warriors don't have the bulk to carry the war. In the new version of the Eldar Codex, or so I'm told, Eldar Guardians are now the standardized troops that every Craftworld field, with the more specialized Aspect Warriors acting in their particular roles. What are the minatures like? The original Guardians were fairly simple and almost weedy in comparison to the new ones. The pointy helmets are still here, but the major facets of the armor have all been changed as well. There's a new pair of over-the-shoulder vents, as well as a pair of back vanes that lend the minature a much more bulky appearance - as a matter of fact, the over-the-shoulder vanes almost serve the same purpose as the shoulder pads on Space Marines, to lend a distinctive appearance to the minature and to mark it on the battlefield. I'm not sure what function the vents perform in the fluff, or if they're even needed, but they do lend nicely to the vaguely insectile appearance of the Eldar. In addition, the rounded appearance of Guardian armor has been changed to a more angular, boxy feel - the plates on their legs have straight edges, and tend to cover much larger areas. The shoulder blades are nicely defined, too. The Guardians arrive on several different sprues, with legs, left arms and heads on one sprue and right arms, weapons, fluff and vanes on the other. Both the torso and the legs are multi-part kits, but the poseability factor is almost nil - you simply clip them together with superglue and go. With the legs, poseability is immediately limited by the fact that the tabs on the legs are designed to fit onto their opposite number. In other words, you can't clip a left leg off of one part of the sprue and a right leg off the other and fit them together without removing the tab. Some legs also have waist tabards that don't fit well with certain leg sprues. In short, you can forget about clipping the legs off of the sprue and throwing them into a box. The torsoes are identical save for one female torso; and the proportions here are a bit exaggerated for what's supposed to be a fairly willowy race. The heads are similar save for tiny soulstones dotted here and there, and, in a nice touch, a crystal tear dripping from the eye of a few helmets. It's not a bad look, especially if you paint it correctly. There are also unhelmeted heads included, but they're very similar to each other, and don't quite carry the angular features of the Eldar - the hair, especially, tends to make them look like Beck. The arms are fairly standard - one has a shuriken rifle, while the other is positioned so as to cup the underside of the rifle. Single-handed use of a shuriken rifle is going to require some modelling work. The rifles themselves have been updated, for the better - the barrel flares back towards the base, provided some space for highlighting and the like. As for the detail, the Eldar have their fair share. All of them are liberally decorated with soulstones, tiny cloth banners and the usual faux-wings on the ankles. Fortunately, you can either highlight them or leave them with the rest of the minature - they don't stick out if you paint over them. There's alternate vanes, one of which is studded with tiny ovals; I assume that it must be a communications vane, or perhaps an extra power storage device. The ammo slings are nicely done, with egg-shaped grenades and banana-bone style ammuniton clips. There's even a fair number of Eldar runes that link the ammo clips to the belt, which is shaped to sling around the waist. Once assembled, they look nice. Now, as for the flaws: - The vanes are tiny. I mean, they're about as large as a fingernail clipping, and while they aren't that difficult to clip off, they are a pain in the ass to stick onto the bodies. One of them is currently bouncing around my dorm room as we speak - it's around here somewhere, but the odds of finding it are remote. In addition, I'm not sure if the vanes have a left-and-right orientation or if you can simply interchange them between the slots in the back of the minature. It would be nice if Games Workshop were to actually include some instructions on how the minatures are supposed to go together, besides the obvious exploded diagram on the side of the box. - The waist and crotch area on some of the Eldar is fairly ill-defined. Most of them have a waist scarf, but the scarf doesn't project enough to really make for a good paint job - and there's a triangular projection that made me confused until I consulted the box again. On other crotches, there's no join between the waist and the leg, which makes it harder to define the edge of the minature. Other than that, the Guardians aren't bad as minatures. I couldn't comment on their utility within the game, but the minatures are nice, and the price - $22 for sixteen minatures - isn't that bad. The more Games Workshop shifts over to plastic, the more happy I am to buy their products, although their current deal with Satan apparently precludes them lowering the price on their lead and/or pewter minatures. If you're looking for some interesting minatures to paint, or some nicely sculpted generic warriors, I think that I can recommend these Guardians with confidence. -Darren MacLennan Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)

Eldar Guardians Battle Squad