Contemptor Kevin's Combat Patrol Issue 28 Review

Issue #28 is the second of the three Aeldari Windrider issues. However, unlike last week’s issue (which was a package for the unit’s instructions and not a whole lot else), this issue has a ton of narrative materials. So let’s get through a surprisingly dense issue! As always, thank you to Goonhammer and Hachette for the opportunity to review these models, magazines, and materials.

Narrative Materials

The meat of this issue is in the Narrative Materials, at least from a reviewer’s perspective. The hobby materials are the same as last week’s and the gaming section is a copy/paste from the Core Rulebook. Luckily, as opposed to last week’s weaker effort, Hachette is giving us a ton of interesting bits.

We start off with Wraith constructs - what they are made up of (souls and psycho-conductive Wraithbone), how durable they are (stronger and more resilient than Imperium technology), and they heal. Sounds like a fantastic deal for the Aeldari!

Wraithguard Squad - Credit: RichyP

We do get insight into how these reanimated souls see the world: not as mortals perceive it or how machines perceive the world via sensor input, but instead “as a shifting mass of spirits, perceiving the world of the living through the veil of life and death”. Reader, this seems like Final Fantasy VII stuff to me. Well, that would explain why Alice is my Sister in Cetra who when she returns to 40K, will be playing Aeldari.

Credit: Keewa

Turning from nostalgic memories of my childhood (1) to the grim darkness of the current era, we have a section on the Drukhari. The issue is clear: they're Aeldari who are jerks. But these jerks lurk in the webway and delight in causing pain and suffering (2) in order to “revel in lives of abject villainy”.

Drukhari Archon. Credit: Corrode

We get a brief history of how the Drukhari came to be (hiding in the Webway during the birth of Slaanesh, so they're still psychotic degenerates), and their species problem (Slaanesh is still eating them, and so when they die they suffer the super-death that all Aeldari suffer when their souls are eaten by Slaanesh). So they go out to obtain prisoners for fuel and anguish in order to renew what's left of their souls.

Drukhari Alliance of Agony | Credit: Garrett "John Condit" Severson

At most the Drukhari are “uneasy allies” with the Aeldari on the basis that both teams have their jerk nature in common and aligned, but because both factions are jerks “distrust and distaste will be felt on both sides”. I think this is the first time that Hachette has admitted the Asuryani can be jerks, honestly!

The Narrative then turns to a campaign called “War Zone Bastior,” in which the Imperium is fighting against Hive Fleet Leviathan in Sub Sector Bastior. We also learn the big heroes of War Zone Bastior: First Captain Severus Aggeman of the Ultramarines (the ‘Eavy Metal Boxart version of the Leviathan Captain is explicitly Aggeman), Captain-General Trajan Valoris of the Adeptus Custodes, Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius of the Ultramarines, and Lord Solar Leontis.

Lord Solar. Credit: Scott Horras "Heresy"

Then we get a section dedicated to the Horus Heresy. “None today know what the Imperium might have been”, the issue proclaims as it tells of how the Great Crusade faltered because The Emperor failed to heed the threat of treachery within from His Primarchs. The Emperor’s most favored Son, Horus, recruited half the Primarchs to his cause and led a civil war that left him dead, Him interred within the Golden Throne of Earth, and the Imperium “an empire in decline.” Now the Imperium has “entered a dismal regression, falling into fear, superstition, and ignorance” with “religious zealotry…firmly established at the heart of its paranoid government.” Meanwhile, the Traitor Legions of Chaos “are an unending scourge on the rest of the galaxy” led by Abaddon the Despoiler and his Black Crusades.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

This issue finally ends its narrative with Bonds of Honor, Part 7. This continues the story of Silver Templars Squad Askarton as told to a bunch of Novitiates entering that Chapter's Fortress Monastery. Sergeant Askarton took an oath of moment to find his bolt rifle, got authorization from his manager, and went out to go scour every starship in the system for his gun. The first ship they encountered was a broken down shuttle, which did not have the missing gun but had people who didn't answer a knocked door.

Blood Angels Space Marines and Necrons on Boarding Actions Terrain by Pendulin

Blood Angels Space Marines and Necrons on Boarding Actions Terrain by Pendulin

Blood Angels and Necrons in Boarding Actions. Credit: Pendulin

During the search, they noticed an Aeldari ship out the window.

Also, the Silver Templars are not good at baking bread.

Hobby Materials

Two more Windrider Jet Bikes. I will refer the reader to my review from last week, and will do the same for next week. The issue does not contain additional instructions or painting information, so I hope you kept the previous issue.

Gaming Materials

There are two parts to the gaming materials in this issue. One is the datasheet for the Windriders. The second is Pages 5-10 of the Core Rulebook’s Core Rules. Both of these gaming materials are available from other sources (specifically, the 40K App has these). This isn’t helpful for, say, me. But it is probably helpful for someone who did not buy Leviathan or the core rulebook.

Final Verdict

Once again, you’re getting two Windrider Jetbikes for $15, which is a significant discount over the Games Workshop retail price. But unlike last week, you get oodles upon oodles of 40K narrative lore to enjoy. I think that makes this issue an absolute winner.

Until next time Combat Patrolers!

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Tags: Review | combat patrol | Contemptor Kevin | Hachette