Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Craftworld Aeldari (DLC)

Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War is a 4X strategy game built on a combat-heavy framework where every faction plays meaningfully differently, and the Craftworld Aeldari DLC leans hardest into that design philosophy. If you have logged time with the base game or any prior faction DLC, you already know the loop: expand across a hostile planet, extract resources, and grind enemy factions into the dirt. The Aeldari do not grind. They maneuver, strike precisely, and evacuate before the counterattack lands. Getting that rhythm right is the entire puzzle this DLC presents. The headline number is 19 new units, which is a substantial roster addition rather than a token handful. You get the expected Aspect Warrior archetypes - Dire Avengers, Swooping Hawks, Dark Reapers, and their kin - each locked to narrow combat roles that force you to compose actual combined-arms stacks rather than just massing your strongest unit type. Wraithguard and their kin anchor slower, harder-hitting lines, while faster skimmer units like the Wave Serpent give the faction genuine mobility options that most Gladius factions cannot replicate. The design tension is real: Aeldari units hit above their tier but fold fast when caught out of position, so every engagement requires you to think two moves ahead. For players who have been coasting on attrition builds with Space Marines or Tyranids, this faction is a deliberate course correction. The unique gameplay mechanics mentioned in the faction pitch are where things get genuinely interesting from a decision-making standpoint. The Aeldari operate on a philosophy of minimizing casualties because their population base is narratively finite, and Proxy Studios translated that into mechanical pressure. You feel the cost of every lost unit in a way that other factions soften. This pushes you toward a style of play that rewards scouting, overwatch positioning, and picking engagements rather than accepting them. In a game that can otherwise devolve into a production-and-push race, the Aeldari DLC introduces something closer to resource-efficient warfare. For newcomers to Gladius itself: the base game tutorial is functional if not exceptional, and adding this DLC on top of your first playthrough is probably a mistake. The Aeldari demand familiarity with the game's terrain system, line-of-sight mechanics, and unit promotion trees before their strengths become legible. Start with a more forgiving faction, get comfortable, then come back. That said, experienced 4X players who understand flanking and overextension as concepts will compress that learning curve significantly. The mod ecosystem via Steam Workshop also means community-created scenarios and balance tweaks are available, which adds replay longevity beyond the base DLC content. The honest criticism is that Gladius as a platform is not the deepest 4X on the market - city management is sparse and diplomacy is effectively absent by design. If you want a Civilization-style political layer, this is not the DLC that adds it, and no DLC will. What Craftworld Aeldari does add is one of the more mechanically demanding and rewarding factions in the roster, with enough unit variety to sustain multiple distinct build approaches. Whether that is worth the price of entry depends entirely on how much you already enjoy the base game's combat loop. Diego, Scout Team