Spettroveggente e Spettri, Arcamondo Iyanden

The Eldar that perform the task of removing the souls of the dead and interring them into Wraithbone bodies are the Spiritseers, who walk the Path of the Seer and are specially attuned to the dead. They are present on the battlefield as the third variation of Eldar psykers (the others being Farseers and Warlocks), and when fielded, can enhance Wraithguard, Wraithblade and Wraithlord units; their command of the dead lets them interact with the living more efficiently. This used to be referred to as "Wraithsight", and there was a penalty where the Wraith units' visions became clouded with old memories from their former life, but nowadays a Spiritseer can mark targets for the Wraith-units that they can see more clearly.

So a Spiritseer is an Eldar version of a necromancer, except they're a) not mad, b) have good personal hygiene and c) don't use decaying corpses for minions, just the souls which they put in perfectly working bodies. Hey, that doesn't actually sound bad at all. At least it's slightly more pleasant than how Wraithknights are made...

However, just like most everything else in 40k, there is a downside. You see, it's been stated that in order to commune with the dead, a Spiritseer has to psychically go into the Infinity Circuit. Each time they do, it gets harder to return to their body in the realm of the living. Whether this is because they get obsessed with staying there, or if it's just difficult to return is unclear. In any case, a Spiritseer's soul will eventually fade into the Infinity Circuit and never return to their body, leaving it a soulless husk.

There is, however, one final way a Spiritseer can serve his or her living kin even after passing into the Infinity Circuit, and that is to have his or her spirit implanted in a Wraithbone chassis, becoming a Wraithseer. Because in the 40k universe, even death may bring no end to duty.

Iyanden has a high proportion of Spiritseers due to the fiasco of Hive Fleet Kraken's arrival, and it looks like they will only grow more common as the Eldar’s situation grows darker…

A Spiritseer has fairly standard numbers for a general low-level HQ model; 7″ movement and strength/toughness 3 are standard for Eldar of all sorts, and weapon/ballistic skill 2+ are likewise about what you’d expect, though they are notably a notch above the Warlock in that respect. Leadership 8 and two attacks are nothing to write home about, but four wounds puts us on the high side for most psykers, especially since the Spiritseer is a mere 45pts. A 4+ invulnerable save comes standard on the model, as with all Craftworlds psykers. At 65pts each, the Spiritseer is not unusually cheap for a psyker, but given that they have access to some of the best powers in the game we can hardly consider it an unfair price.

Special Rules and Wargear

Spiritseers come with the usual rules for all Craftworld models- Ancient Doom for rerolls against Slaanesh and Battle Focus for improved mobility when shooting. A Shuriken Pistol and Witch Staff (melee, AP0, Dmg2, always wounds on 2+) round out their armament; the Witch Staff, although very similar to the Witchblades carried by other Eldar, is interesting because of its fixed damage and because it cannot be exchanged for the usual Singing Spear.

Beyond that, the Spiritseer comes with the Spirit Mark ability, allowing all Wraith units to reroll hit results of 1 against any target that is within 6″ of the Spiritseer.