Welcome back Combat Patrolers! It's been a busy weekend, with the battles between the Chaos Space Marines and Aeldari in the Maelstrom. And this week, the war continues even in Combat Patrol Magazine, because Issue #39 features the Corsairs' Craftworld bretheren's elite Wraithguard. They have weapons that could, in theory, crack even the
Helbrute's armor. But is this a good issue to buy?
As always, thank you to Goonhammer and Hachette for the opportunity to review these models, magazines, and materials.
Narrative Materials
This issue has no narrative materials.
Hobby Materials
This issue gives us 5 Wraithguard, from the 2012 Aeldari release. Right now (Winter of 2026), they aren't very good because they are still paying for the crimes of the Aeldari index. But as with any Aeldari unit, their potency in-game waxes and wanes. They'll be good again in 11th, I best.
Because this is the extra/alternate unit for the Aeldari Combat Patrol, the entire kit is in this one bag. These are beefy models, by Aeldari standards, standing on 40mm bases and standing tall. The poses are a bit stiffer than what you would see from a modern-day 40K kit, but they do not look completely out-of-place in an Aeldari army. Combat Patrol has us build the Wraithguard with Wraithcannons.
Credit: Greg Narro
This issue sacrifices the narrative materials in favor of having all of the hobby instructions for the Wraithguard: we get the instructions and which parts go with which torso. We also get a full painting guide using the paints we have so far. We don't have a lot of edge highlights, but we do get as far as shading. We also get a small background table, which tells the story of the unit.
Gaming Materials
We get the Wraithguard datasheet, which has one ability: You cannot use stratagems on the Wraithguard. They have 5 attacks when at full strength, S14 and BS4+. Yeah, it's a pretty powerful gun (it will wound every single Combat Patrol unit on a 2+ or a 3+), but very limited.
We get more Core Rules, specifically the Edition Launch version of Strategic Reserves and Terrain Features. We also get some terrain cards to represent the various terrain types, and this issue has instructions how to use them. So far the cards released have been 1) Battlefield debris and statuary, 2) Craters and Rubble, and 3) Barricades and Fuel Pipes. So we finally have rules for all the cards that we've received in the subscription so far.
The issue comes with Scenario 25: Ghost Vanguard, which has the Aeldari player unleash the Wraithguard, Guardian Defenders, 3 of the 6 Windriders, and the Farseer. The Chaos Space Marine Player gets 10 Legionaries, 5 Havocs, and the Dark Apostle. There are 3 objectives, and Primary Scoring is at the end of the player's command phase. If one objective is controlled, score 5 VP. If more objectives are held than the other player, score an additional 5 VP. The two duke it out, presumably using the Core Rules to determine who gets first turn.
Final Thoughts
Shorter review this time without a large narrative section to go through and analyze. A box of new Wraithguard is $65.00 from GW's webstore. This issue retails for $15.00. Sure, it winds up in various gift boxes sometimes, but when Wraithguard are good you're going to need 15 of these guys and maxing out on these for less than 75% of one box are a fantastic deal. Plus, they don't look all that difficult to build.
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