Review: Aeldari Eldritch Raiders Battleforce & new Vyper

The Aeldari Corsairs raid the galaxy with style in the new Eldritch Raiders Battleforce. After literal decades of waiting, the ancient Vyper jetbike finally receives a plastic update, now buildable as either a Craftworlds Vyper or the baroque Corsair Starfang. Alongside it comes Prince Yriel in his new Corsair garb, the first-ever Void Dreamer model, the winged Skyreavers, and the returning Voidreavers. In this comprehensive review, we unbox the entire battleforce in a 4K video, examine every build option with high-res sprue images, and let you know whether these swift raiders are worth adding to your collection.

The Eldritch Raiders battleforce will be available for pre-order starting Saturday, 14 February 2026. The pre-order period lasts two weeks, with the official release date set for 28 February 2026. Please note that there will be only one production run, so the box is available only until stocks last, and might sell out fast with independent retailers.

Eldritch Raiders battleforce unboxed

The adversaries of Huron Blackheart in the next Warhammer 40,000 campaign book The Maelstrom are Prince Yriel and his Eldritch Raiders. To match this, a battleforce is being released that contains all the new Aeldari Corsairs models.

Here I go through all of the box contents of the Eldritch Raiders battleforce, inc. a page-by-page flip-through the assembly guides:

These items were kindly provided to us free of charge by Games Workshop. Thoughts and opinions are our own.

The Eldritch Raiders battleforce contains a mix of old and new models, 23 plastic miniatures in total. The RRP is £160 / €206 / $255.

Included are:

• 1 new Prince Yrien
• 1 new Void Dreamer Kharseth
• 10 new Corsair Skyreavers
• 10 Corsair Voidreavers
• 1 new Vyper / Starfang
• 2 Aeldari transfer sheets
• assembly instructions

Prince Yriel reviewed

The newly designed Prince Yriel kit comprises one small sprue with a 40mm base. The model is monopose, but you can choose between a bare head with the Eye of Wrath, or a richly decorated helmet (for some reason without the bionic eye), both with imposing topknots.

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

Whereas the old version of Yriel looked more like a Craftworlds Autarch, the new Yriel now wears the archaic-baroque garb of the Corsairs. Like almost all Aeldari characters, this model also stands on remnants of forgotten Eldar architecture. I like the dynamic pose, as if Yriel is just spinning around and preparing to strike with his Spear of Twilight. I do miss the gauntlet that the old version wore for protection against the life-draining effect of the spear though. I thought that was a nice narrative detail, but apparently Yriel no longer needs it after being brought back to life by Yvraine (wasn’t the spear also transformed into one of the legendary Crone Swords? Well, apparently GW isn’t taking Ynnari lore that seriously anymore…)

Kharseth, the Void Dreamer reviewed

Kharseth also appears on a small sprue like Yriel, but the base size is 32mm. There are no build options here: the model is monopose.

Void Dreamers, the seer-navigators of the Corsair fleets, had rules in the Corsairs army list in Forge World’s Imperial Armour books back then, but never received official models. Until now. Kharseth is also the first non-male Seer model (finally), and their insect-like helmet is a welcome callback to the first Eldar Farseer sculpt from Rogue Trader times. The pose is very three-dimensional thanks to the billowing robe and cloak, I love it.

Corsair Skyreavers reviewed

The Skyreavers are a new unit for the Aeldari’s Corsair fleets, whose winged jump packs are inspired by early Rogue Trader illustrations and the old Corsair upgrade sets for the old Guardian models from Forgeworld. The two-part sprue builds 5 models on 28mm bases and is included twice. This gives you 10 models in the Eldritch Raiders box. However, once the kit is released individually, I’m pretty sure the box will only contain 5 models, like the Craftworlds Aspect Warrior boxes.

The build options:

• Pose 1 can be built as Felarch or regular Skyreaver. The regular Skyreaver has the choice between two different right arms with shuriken pistols (13 and 14), as well as a right arm with power sword. The Felarch can additionally choose between a right arm with blaster pistol (15), neuro disruptor (16) or an arm with sickle (17). Additionally, there’s a right arm with power sword and mistshield (18), or chainsword and mistshield (2).
• Pose 2 can receive either an arm pair with flamer (42), blaster (43), fusion gun (44), or shredder (82), or alternatively an arm pair with shuriken pistol and power sword.
• Pose 3 can receive either an arm pair with flamer (42), blaster (43), fusion gun (44), or shredder (82) (though each special weapon is only included once per sprue), or alternatively an arm pair with shuriken pistol and power sword.
• Poses 4 and 5 each have an arm pair with shuriken pistol and power sword.
• Interchangeable parts: 15 heads on ball joints (10 bare heads with half-masks, 5 helmets), as well as 5 winged jump packs (which all look almost identical, though some have small decorative rings on the “feathers”).

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

The kit is quite modular, as all arms have flat contact points at the shoulders and are therefore interchangeable. Additionally, the Skyreavers are fully compatible with the heads and arms of the Corsair Voidreavers and vice versa.

Similar to the plastic Swooping Hawks (my review here), I have to criticize the poses. We once again have these typical leaping-off-from-ruins poses that we’ve seen countless times with jump troops, and which GW somehow always seems to struggle with. The Skyreavers look better in 3D than in two-dimensional pictures, but most of them still look as if they are stumbling or falling to me. Some of the arms with melee weapons don’t really seem to match the body’s movement either. The Drukhari Scourges are much more believable to me, even though those models are already several years old.

What also bothers me is that the models are quite busy. The Corsairs on foot all wear individual cloaks. These have been omitted from the Skyreavers to make room for the jump packs, but instead each Skyreaver has a differently decorated right shoulder pad, with fur, feathers and scales. Combined with the (too) wild poses, the expansive jump packs, and the eclectic weaponry, I find it a bit much. The fact that the shuriken pistols are far too large even for heroic scale doesn’t help either.

All in all, not a bad kit, but I’d recommend not blindly trusting the instructions and instead experimenting yourself with different viewing directions and arms (and leftover parts from the Voidreavers) to get the best out of the available body poses.

Corsair Voidreavers reviewed

The Voidreavers originally appeared in the Kill Team: Nachmund expansion as the Aeldari Voidscarred kill team. The kit comes on a three-part sprue that builds 10 models on 28mm bases. For Warhammer 40.000 you can build all models with either shuriken rifles or pistols and power swords, but the sprue also contains many alternative parts for special operatives in Kill Team. In the video above I flip through the Voidreavers instructions, where you can see all the options.

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

New Vyper / Corsair Starfang reviewed

The highlight in the box (at least for me) is the new Vyper, which can alternatively be built as a Corsair Starfang. Originally released in 1997, the old Vyper was the oldest plastic kit still in production in Games Workshop’s range, and after decades of waiting, there’s finally an update.

The kit comprises one sprue with two medium-sized segments, a new small transparent sprue with half-open and completely closed windscreens, a transparent stand, and a 105mm oval base.

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

The build options:

• For the Craftworlds Vyper, there’s a plain bonnet (part 13), 2 plain wing segments (16 and 17), and 2 slightly different torsos with helmets (8 and 9), one of which you use as pilot and one as gunner.
• For the Vyper’s turret weaponry, you get a bright lance barrel (47), scatter laser barrel (48), starcannon barrel (49), which slots onto the weapon body (45 and 46) and can be swapped even without magnets. Additionally, there’s an underslung shuriken cannon (27 and 28) and the new underslung Aeldari missile launcher (29 and 30).
• For the Corsairs Starfang, there’s a decorated bonnet (14) as well as two decorated wing segments with tassels (18 and 19), matching the baroque style of the Corsair armour. Plus two bare-headed pilots with fur jackets (10 and 11).
• For the Starfang’s weaponry, you get alternatively a disintegrator cannon barrel (50) for the turret, as well as an underslung Starfang grenade launcher with hallucinogen grenades (31 and 32).
• You can choose between two closed windscreens or two half-open windscreens.

The main weapon’s axis can be tilted up and down, and the turret itself rotates 360 degrees if you don’t glue it. If you rotate it exactly 180 degrees backwards, you can nestle down the turret facing to the back for a more streamlined shape. You can see this in the studio paint job of the Starfang, but it’s possible with both the Vyper and Starfang builds. Personally, I’d always leave the turret in the elevated position, that looks more battle-ready to me. But nice to have this option.

Perhaps you should even think of glueing the turret in place. As I show in the video above, the turret is unfortunately quite wobbly. Perhaps this will improve with a few layers of paint, otherwise, you’d have to make the socket thicker with some putty or a thin layer of plasticard so it doesn’t have so much leeway. I also couldn’t align the top hull perfectly where it meets the exhausts at the back. It’s not as bad as with the Falcon hull, but I had to fill the seams with some putty.

Despite this minor criticism, I think the new Vyper looks genuinely brilliant. It stays true to the old design but brings it to a modern standard, incorporating elements of the Venoms and Voidweaver that have since been released. The only thing I’m missing would have been an alternative build with transport capacity instead of a turret. And the lack of some turret-mounted weapons and the underslung twin-catapults from the old kit is a bummer, since the updated datasheet only covers the weapon selection from the new kit. But as an Aeldari fan, you’re grateful for anything, right.

Where to get

You can find the latest GW releases at our 🇬🇧/🇪🇺 partner stores Wayland Games, Element Games, and Firestorm Games, at 🇩🇪 Taschengelddieb and PK-Pro, and at 🇺🇸 Noble Knight Games with a welcome discount of up to 20% over RRP. Using our links helps to support Tale of Painters at no additional cost to you, so thank you very much for using them!

I hope you found this review helpful, feel free to leave a reaction or comment below, or post your questions here or discuss on our Discord channel.