Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

There is so much information avaliable for Imperial forces, how they fight, how they are organised, their numbers, their Chapters, Regiments, how they recruit, their worlds.

If your want to collect an entire space marine chapter you have a lot of information to work from and rightly so as they are very much the main "characters" in 40k

But for other factions, the Craftworld Eldar in particular, there seems to be not very much at all to work with so I want to gather as much information and sources as I can, and get a cohesive understanding of just how the CWE function as the wikis don't seem to cover this well

Will update this post as more information is added, just looking through my books for pictures to add now..

Note: this is for standard Craftworld information, specific Craftworlds have their specialities and differences which can be mentioned in their own sections

Craftworlds


Organisation and Structure


Large Engagements:
Eldar Technique for destroying an enmy army that outnumbers it many times over (Source Original Apocalypse book). Made up of the following warhosts to break apart and defeat the enemy army:


Fleet

Specific Craftworlds
Saim-hann
Major Craftworld, Lots of Windriders

Biel-tan
Major Craftworld, Lots of Aspect Warriors

Ulthwe
Major Craftworld, Lots of Psykers and Black Guardians

Alaitoc
Major Craftworld, Lots of Rangers

Iyanden
Major Craftworld, Lots of Wraith constructs

Altansar
Minor Craftworld, Possibly lots of Dark Reapers?

Il-Kaithe
Minor Craftworld, None known

Lugganath
Minor Craftworld, Use of Corsairs presumably?

Iybraesil
Minor Craftworld, None known

Yme-Loc
Minor Craftworld, Lots of Titans, Heavy Armour, Grav tanks. Probably reflects in their armies and tactics?

Mymeara
Minor Craftworld, Stealthy, lots of Shadow Spectres


Sources:

You are a bit off with regards to Wraith units and Guardians.

Wraith units are more seen as desperate choices by the Eldar, something they are not willing to do unless the situation calls for it. Bringing a Wraith construct to life requires the installation of an Eldar's spirit stone, which is (in Eldar eyes) akin to necromancy, a distasteful act outside of the most desperate causes. Iyanden is known for their heavy use of them because their numbers of living Eldar to do the fighting is highly reduced having barely scraped by a Tyranid attack.

Guardians are not what we'd consider 'regular' soldiers, either. They are conscripted civilians. All Eldar are trained as Guardians to function in defense of the Craftworld.

 curran12 wrote:
You are a bit off with regards to Wraith units and Guardians.

Wraith units are more seen as desperate choices by the Eldar, something they are not willing to do unless the situation calls for it. Bringing a Wraith construct to life requires the installation of an Eldar's spirit stone, which is (in Eldar eyes) akin to necromancy, a distasteful act outside of the most desperate causes. Iyanden is known for their heavy use of them because their numbers of living Eldar to do the fighting is highly reduced having barely scraped by a Tyranid attack.

Yeah I know all that, I'm talking about the role they play on the battlefield, Wraith units are used as hard hitting, tough units, which is what shock troops are

Guardians are not what we'd consider 'regular' soldiers, either. They are conscripted civilians. All Eldar are trained as Guardians to function in defense of the Craftworld.

They are what we would consider regular soldiers in terms of today's armies regarding battlefield role, they perform the role of regular troops on the battlefield manning war machines as well, Dire Avengers can be considered regulars too.

Just because they are drawn from a Craftworlds citizens doesn't mean they do not perform the task of regular soldiers, again I am talking about battlefield role.

They also do have training and the nature of the Eldar mean they are no less potent than Aspect Warriors just not as specialized and as well practiced.

I've always been of the opinion that Guardians aren't brought to the field unless the Craftworld is at stake. Guardians aren't soldiers, their millitia and as such shouldn't be used unless the actual Warriors won't be enough.

With this in mind, it would be fair to consider the average Eldar warhost to be comprised mainly of Aspect Warriors supported by Guardians and not the other way around.

Question: Why do they let Guardians pilot the grav tanks and war walkers instead of having, say, a path of the pilot? It seems to me that a War Walker causes just as much death as a Dark Reaper yet the Dark Reaper needs a war mask to avoid becoming enthralled in war.

I think Alex nailed it, Guardians are a Militia force that support the Aspect Warriors, of which the Dire Avengers are the most numerous and would fill the role of general infantry, and are only called for in the most dire of situations and not for general use.

I'm surprised you would think otherwise given your username, Korlandril, since the first 3 battles depicted in the Path of the Eldar books clearly shows that Aspect Warriors form the core of Alaitoc's warhost. It also clearly depicts the Aspect's as being much better trained, Korlandril spent virtually every day training in the discipline of the Striking Scorpian whilst as an artisan he would have had the militia training to perform the duty but clearly spent his days sculpting statues and not perfecting his shooting.

As for Alex's question, it's an odd one. It's probably down to a conflict or omission from the various fluff of the last 30 years, it would make far more sense for the pilots of the Engines of Vaul to be Aspect Warriors like the Crimson Hunter pilots, or maybe it is a path thats just never been covered before.

 ALEXisAWESOME wrote:
I've always been of the opinion that Guardians aren't brought to the field unless the Craftworld is at stake. Guardians aren't soldiers, their millitia and as such shouldn't be used unless the actual Warriors won't be enough.

Yes they are very much a militia, but in the CWE forces they do play the role of what regular forces in todays army. BUT a point to remember is a CWE does not act like a conventional army today so they aren't primarily composed of regular soldiers

If we were to use the British forces as a model for units a CWE army would look like this:

Lots of different Special Forces such as SAS, SBS, SRR amongst others. This would be where the majority of the numbers are and their roles would be determined by the specialty and that's what they would be doing throughout the battle, if hypothetically you can imagine something like that

Your Dire Avengers would be the more elite regular units, and the guardians are playing part of the role of regular forces in terms of battlefield role

With this in mind, it would be fair to consider the average Eldar warhost to be comprised mainly of Aspect Warriors supported by Guardians and not the other way around.

That is exactly what I mean, I am talking about Battlefield roles

Question: Why do they let Guardians pilot the grav tanks and war walkers instead of having, say, a path of the pilot? It seems to me that a War Walker causes just as much death as a Dark Reaper yet the Dark Reaper needs a war mask to avoid becoming enthralled in war.

That's one of the more interesting things, this sort of doesn't mesh with the whole Aspect Warrior thing

I read somewhere Windriders are sort of trainee Grav Tank crew and they would advance on to bigger vehicles, so maybe this is a path but it is just not named? For non-grav units I am sure I also read they do train specifically for those roles so they would be more advanced in training than regular Guardian defenders

I think as well Guardians are mostly made up of former Aspect Warriors, so it may be the case War Walker pilots were former Dark Reapers?

See on the other hand i always think people just understimate Eldar guardians and their battlefield role.

We are speaking about a race that can live thru millenia, wich can easily devote 20-40 human years on their life to a fully focused all knowing military trainning (general tactics, piloting,artillery, demolitions etc etc ) and when he's done he can just *retire* to other ways and still 500-600 years later be capable to fully remember all those knowledge and still remain at his physical peak and people still refuse to consider them true soldiers???

Aspects are the best of the best fighting units equivalent to our current days S.E.A.L., SAS, Spetznas and similar units across the world just to name a few and very very specialized in a single way of figthing and killing, that's why the overall vehicles are manned by guardians guardians who take too seriously the *artillery* duty may slip into the Dark reaper path, those who enjoy *piloting and fighting* with the tanks may gravitate to bikes/vypers and finally join the Crimson Hawks.


CWE probably have a little number of regular soldiers, rather young Eldars who are probably learning the overall war knowledge, but still capable to muster the whole craftworld as warriors if needed, not only as part of the aspect paths they may already walked but also as a trained guardian with centuries of expertise.

I recall it used to be that Guardian Defenders were simple citizen militia while Storm Guardians were former Aspect Warriors, hence why they could occasionally bring aspect warrior wargear like Fusion Guns as holdovers from their former paths.

Robin5t wrote:I recall it used to be that Guardian Defenders were simple citizen militia while Storm Guardians were former Aspect Warriors, hence why they could occasionally bring aspect warrior wargear like Fusion Guns as holdovers from their former paths.

That's interesting, is that from older fluff or recent?



Looking in the current Codex they still don a war mask, though war mask is a state of mind not a literal mask, its on page 35.

Also on this page it says Storm Guardians are rare so Defenders are more common and if the enemy gets close they start a fighting retreat, their main tasks being supporting the Aspect Warriors in fighting

From my 2nd edition codex.

All Eldar are trained and ready to fight as guardians when needed, this makes them the most common troop amongst all their warriors. the guardians are primarily a defensive force, ready to protect their craftworld from any direct attack.

Unfortunately the eldar are so low in numbers their specialist warriors rarely muster enough forces to act alone on great numbers.

Lord Perversor wrote:
From my 2nd edition codex.

All Eldar are trained and ready to fight as guardians when needed, this makes them the most common troop amongst all their warriors. the guardians are primarily a defensive force, ready to protect their craftworld from any direct attack.

Unfortunately the eldar are so low in numbers their specialist warriors rarely muster enough forces to act alone on great numbers.

Aren't there billions of Eldar in each Craftworld? Heck, even ten million of them would be enough to muster enough Aspect Warriors to make a sizable force.

 Lord_Inquisitor_Doge wrote:

Lord Perversor wrote:
From my 2nd edition codex.

All Eldar are trained and ready to fight as guardians when needed, this makes them the most common troop amongst all their warriors. the guardians are primarily a defensive force, ready to protect their craftworld from any direct attack.

Unfortunately the eldar are so low in numbers their specialist warriors rarely muster enough forces to act alone on great numbers.

Aren't there billions of Eldar in each Craftworld? Heck, even ten million of them would be enough to muster enough Aspect Warriors to make a sizable force.

There are billions on the larger ones but if I recall rightly only thousands of Aspect Warriors.

pm713 wrote:

 Lord_Inquisitor_Doge wrote:

Lord Perversor wrote:
From my 2nd edition codex.

All Eldar are trained and ready to fight as guardians when needed, this makes them the most common troop amongst all their warriors. the guardians are primarily a defensive force, ready to protect their craftworld from any direct attack.

Unfortunately the eldar are so low in numbers their specialist warriors rarely muster enough forces to act alone on great numbers.

Aren't there billions of Eldar in each Craftworld? Heck, even ten million of them would be enough to muster enough Aspect Warriors to make a sizable force.

There are billions on the larger ones but if I recall rightly only thousands of Aspect Warriors.

They are said to have low numbers but that's in comparison to when they used to rule the galaxy inhabiting millions of world's so their current numbers could be billions while still being "low" in numbers

Are there any sources on Craftworld numbers and aspect warrior strength? That's the kind of information I was interested in

 Korlandril wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 Lord_Inquisitor_Doge wrote:

Lord Perversor wrote:
From my 2nd edition codex.

All Eldar are trained and ready to fight as guardians when needed, this makes them the most common troop amongst all their warriors. the guardians are primarily a defensive force, ready to protect their craftworld from any direct attack.

Unfortunately the eldar are so low in numbers their specialist warriors rarely muster enough forces to act alone on great numbers.

Aren't there billions of Eldar in each Craftworld? Heck, even ten million of them would be enough to muster enough Aspect Warriors to make a sizable force.

There are billions on the larger ones but if I recall rightly only thousands of Aspect Warriors.

They are said to have low numbers but that's in comparison to when they used to rule the galaxy inhabiting millions of world's so their current numbers could be billions while still being "low" in numbers

Are there any sources on Craftworld numbers and aspect warrior strength? That's the kind of information I was interested in

The Valedor novel gives a number for the Aspect Warriors of Iyanden I think. It also lists their Guardian numbers.

 Korlandril wrote:

Robin5t wrote:I recall it used to be that Guardian Defenders were simple citizen militia while Storm Guardians were former Aspect Warriors, hence why they could occasionally bring aspect warrior wargear like Fusion Guns as holdovers from their former paths.

That's interesting, is that from older fluff or recent?



Looking in the current Codex they still don a war mask, though war mask is a state of mind not a literal mask, its on page 35.

Also on this page it says Storm Guardians are rare so Defenders are more common and if the enemy gets close they start a fighting retreat, their main tasks being supporting the Aspect Warriors in fighting

Believe it was the 3rd ed codex.

pm713 wrote:

 Korlandril wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 Lord_Inquisitor_Doge wrote:

Lord Perversor wrote:
From my 2nd edition codex.

All Eldar are trained and ready to fight as guardians when needed, this makes them the most common troop amongst all their warriors. the guardians are primarily a defensive force, ready to protect their craftworld from any direct attack.

Unfortunately the eldar are so low in numbers their specialist warriors rarely muster enough forces to act alone on great numbers.

Aren't there billions of Eldar in each Craftworld? Heck, even ten million of them would be enough to muster enough Aspect Warriors to make a sizable force.

There are billions on the larger ones but if I recall rightly only thousands of Aspect Warriors.

They are said to have low numbers but that's in comparison to when they used to rule the galaxy inhabiting millions of world's so their current numbers could be billions while still being "low" in numbers

Are there any sources on Craftworld numbers and aspect warrior strength? That's the kind of information I was interested in

The Valedor novel gives a number for the Aspect Warriors of Iyanden I think. It also lists their Guardian numbers.

I haven't read that yet, I will be reading through it though at some point that's the info I want thanks

From my dusty memories of older fluff I always took it to be that the guardians are elder who are currently treading the path of the warrior - in general terms where as the Aspect Warriors are threading a particular path as per their Aspect.

Essentially ALL Eldar have at some point been guardians or Aspect Warriors and as such I take it that really every single elder could if needed be mobilised as a well trained and skilled force.

I don't see the aspect warriors as being the army, the guardians are. The aspect warriors are specialists and at much lower numbers.

At least with the new Craftworlds Codex, emphasis is placed on the Guardians.

"Though some Eldar Warhosts still compromise only Aspect Warriors, the millennia have taken their toll, and it is all too common for warhosts to rely on a core of Eldar Guardians"- Codex: Eldar Craftworlds