Contemptor Kevin's Combat Patrol Premium Issue 2 Review

Welcome back Combat Patrolers!

Having finished the "base" Aeldari and Chaos Space Marine Combat Patrols, the premium issue arrives to give us modern centerpiece units to the patrols in the form of a squad of Howling Banshees and the 2022 Chaos Daemon Prince. We also get a new narrative scenario to pit these two Combat Patrols against each other. So let's dig in.

Narrative Materials

We get a short page explaining the units in this premium issue. We have Howling Banshees (Aspect Warriors who emulate the murderous god Khaine and the seer Morai-Heg), who wear masks that let them scream. We also have the Daemon Prince, which are the chosen of the Gods given immortality, incredible strength, and bizarre arcane powers. We see their Hellforged Weapons and built-in Infernal Cannon. We also have a quote from a Daemon Prince: "I have burned worlds, sacrificed countless mortals and broken starships in the cold void. And now granted my princedom, I can truly begin!" Chilling!

Howling Banshees - Credit: RichyP

Hobby Materials

We get two units for three different Combat Patrols this Premium Issue. The Aeldari receive five Howling Banshees, while both the Chaos Space Marines and World Eaters share the Daemon Prince.

The Howling Banshees are a murder-blender of a kit, as each of their weapons are loaded with [ANTI-INFANTRY 3]. They can either take Banshee blades (2 attacks, S4 AP -2 D2) and Shuriken Pistols (S4, AP -1, D1), or swap both out for Mirrorswords which double the number of S4, AP -2, D2 attacks. These monsters can also advance and charge, and can modify a hit roll or wound roll to an unmodified 6. They also have a 5++ Invulnerable Save to ranged attacks and 4++ in melee. The Goonhammer review of the 10th Edition Aeldari Codex described them as "elite infantry killers" and in Combat Patrol they will feast. The only units from the other three Combat Patrols that they won't wound on a 3+ are the Bike Chaplain, Helbrute, Psychophage, Hive Tyrant, and Brutalis Dreadnought. For most of the bread and butter of the Combat Patrols, the Banshees will feast. The Howling Banshees also have choices in terms of wargear under the datasheet: The Exarch can decide between Banshee Blade, Executioner, or Triskele.

Jain Zar & Howling Banshees. Credit: James "Boon" Kelling

Luckily for the forces of Chaos, the Daemon Prince is ready and willing to eat them up. In addition to giving nearby Heretic Astartes Infantry units the benefit of cover, the Daemon Prince can reroll a single hit wound and single wound roll, plus what it gets from Dark Pacts. Banshees are wounding this monster on 6s, while the Daemon Prince is wounding all of them on nothing worse than a 3.

World Eaters Daemon Prince. Credit: Corrode

We are instructed to build the Daemon Prince on foot. While we get all the parts for the Daemon Prince (including the AOS specific bits), the instructions specify the foot version and leave off the model's magnificent wings. I have not had time to build my Daemon Prince yet: while my forges have been hot, it's also been in context of a severe deep freeze (and thus the need to shovel snow and break ice), writing out articles on this here Goonhammer website, as well as painting through my backlog of Ultramarines. So when we get to the World Eaters Combat Patrol in a few months, we'll return to this big guy.

Credit: Dan "Swiftblade" Richardson

Gaming Materials

We get the datasheets for Howling Banshees and Heretic Astartes Daemon Prince. The Howling Banshees datasheet is identical to the current Codex datasheet. The Daemon Prince datasheet, however, is missing the Lone Operative ability.

We also get a new narrative mission: Dark Coronation. This mission pits the Aeldari Combat Patrol plus Banshees against the Chaos Space Marine Combat Patrol plus Daemon Prince. The Aeldari are trying to render the whole coronation black comedy and prevent the Dark Apostle from ascending to become a Daemon Prince. The Daemon Prince, however, does not arrive until the start of the Chaos Space Marine third turn. At that time, it replaces the Dark Apostle. If the Dark Apostle has been killed, the Daemon Prince still spawns in. The objectives are to score 5 VP for each objective held in the Command Phase. The secondary objective is the Daemon Prince: the Aeldari get 15 VP for killing it, the CSM player gets 15 VP if it is alive. While this particular mission is more balanced than it would have been against the dire Space Marine Combat Patrol, I would definitely rather fight the Aeldari with my tide of bugs.

Final Verdict

The Howling Banshees are a brutally effective unit. I note that in one of the past week's Competitive Innovations, a showcase featured an Aeldari vs. Aeldari matchup where both Aeldari players had Howling Banshees in their list. Meanwhile, a Thousand Sons list highlighted this week featured the Tzeentch Daemon Prince as a Warlord. So both of these premium kits are good investments. I will enjoy building and painting the centerpiece for my World Eaters Combat Patrol, while Alice will enjoy building one of her 40K murderblender units. Because the Premium Subscription is only $3 additional per issue, the last Premium Issue (Issue 15) and now (Issue 37), the subscriber is paying an additional $66 to receive effectively a free Chaos Daemon Prince. That is an insanely good deal, because the Chaos Daemon Prince is both competitive and rocks.

Until next time Combat Patrolers!

PROGRAMMING NOTE:

The week of February 9, 2026 will *not* have a new Combat Patrol review owing to a confluence of work events that require my focus elsewhere. We will resume the reviews the week of February 16.

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Tags: reviews | combat patrol | Contemptor Kevin | Hachette