Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I am starting up a corsairs army and picked up the book recently. I have no idea what is good with them. I am looking to build to a list of 1850 to 2000k points and will be using them in mostly competative games. What units do I stay away from and what units should I pick up?

I have a couple specific questions also as I put together my list.

Reavers in a transport vs on foot. I think I am going to use them in squads of 5 with fusion guns or flamers. Are they better with jump packs or in a transport?

Should I not even bother with reavers and go all jetbikes?

I know that ill be picking up some Hornet squadrens as well. Any credibility to Vypers?

Do I stay away from war wasp walkers and the elites section entirely?

As for heavy support, which tank reigns supreme? Ive heard balestrike bands are awful.

Fire prism vs lynx vs warp hunters.

Im basically lost! I dont play vs eldar much in my meta. This will be a competative army but am I going overboard with my thinking? Id like to lean more to a mech playstyle.

Thanks for the help!

Hi there!

I don't play corsairs, but I do play Eldar and have a friend that plays corsairs.

Hornets are what Vypers wish they were. Better AV, and better rules. Always take the Pulse Lasers. Although an argument can be made for scatter lasers, you should be taking them elsewhere in the army. For a decent army, i'd recommend AT LEAST two, either alone or squadron'd together. Fantastic looking model too. I think they're the best looking Eldar Vehicle.

For heavy support, Warp Hunters. Ridiculous range and they're a modified D'weapon. Two of them means you have a very good chance of simply deleting any unit on turn 1. Daemon princes, knights, whatever big expensive model your opponent has gets nuked if it starts on the table.

The Lynx is probably great, but i've not used it since the rules update.

Wasps are pretty good. As an eldar player, 3 War Walkers with 6 scatter lasers is a pretty beast unit. Wasps will be just as good, for 30 points more. They get some nifty bonuses to keep them alive too.

Troops. Reavers are flexible, and you can equip them out for almost any role. See what your army needs, and equip to match.

Even with reavers, taking two squads of jetbikes should be standard. Even if they're just units of 3 without upgrades, their scoring ability is unmatched. Probably best to take those scatter lasers here if needed. While Dark lances are pretty good to spam, you'll have good high strength shooting elsewhere.

 thekerrick wrote:
So I am starting up a corsairs army and picked up the book recently. I have no idea what is good with them. I am looking to build to a list of 1850 to 2000k points and will be using them in mostly competative games. What units do I stay away from and what units should I pick up?

I have a couple specific questions also as I put together my list.

Reavers in a transport vs on foot. I think I am going to use them in squads of 5 with fusion guns or flamers. Are they better with jump packs or in a transport?

I use both. My fusion gun guys are in Venoms and my flamer guys go on foot. Both options are viable.

Should I not even bother with reavers and go all jetbikes?

If you don't have a plan on how to use them, then Reavers would be less preferable to jetbikes. Scatterbikes are amazing for Corsairs. That being said, I think you can use them any way you like. I've seen a very good tournament list that mixed scatterbikes with splintercannon bikes to great effect.

I know that ill be picking up some Hornet squadrens as well. Any credibility to Vypers?

I generally avoid Vypers as they seem too fragile and not killy enough for me.

Do I stay away from war wasp walkers and the elites section entirely?

Pretty much the same story as Vypers, for me.

As for heavy support, which tank reigns supreme? Ive heard balestrike bands are awful.

Fire prism vs lynx vs warp hunters.

I don't use any of them, personally.

Im basically lost! I dont play vs eldar much in my meta. This will be a competative army but am I going overboard with my thinking? Id like to lean more to a mech playstyle.

Thanks for the help!

My own lists consist of basically two recipes.

The first (mono corsairs) is an even split between fusion toting reavers in Venoms (with scatter lasers), flamer toting jetpack reavers, and scatter laser jetbikes. I also purchase a promethium pipe set. (The Reavers can hop out, utilize the Torrent buff because they're Relentless, then double move far enough away to avoid most return fire.)

The second list consists of a Prince, a Dreamer, and several bike squads, accompanied by a Dark Eldar Grotesquerie (the Dreamer goes in with one squad of grots to increase their mobility and buff their survivability with a 5++ save from his Shimmershield) and an Eldar Seer Council (the Prince accompanies them to tank wounds with a Shadowfield, potentially rerollable if the first Farseer, who rolls Runes, gets Fortune, and to provide a -2 Ld penalty with the Mask of Secrets so as to enhance the capabilities of the second Farseer, who rolls Telepathy.)

If you have a psyker Baron/Prince, don't keep him too close to other units aisde his own. Corsairs' Perils table is very unforgiving.

Wow thanks for the help so far guys. This has steered me in a few dirextions.

One more question. Falcon vs vyper for reavers?

 thekerrick wrote:
Wow thanks for the help so far guys. This has steered me in a few dirextions.

One more question. Falcon vs vyper for reavers?

Do you mean Venom? Vypers can't transport anything. I prefer Venoms.

Also, the Corsair Perils table can be mitigated by a few things. If you're Fearless, or on a bike, then then you can't be pinned, and the Fearless rule also prevents you from running away. (So a Prince with the Mask of Secrets, a Void Dreamer in a knot of grotesques, and a few units of Clouddancers will ignore most of the Perils table's effects.)

With my corsairs I go with the jetpacks far faster than any of the transports. Speed is the name of the game with Corsairs and the jetpacks give them 6+d6 + 2d6 move after they shoot at something within 12 inches. Add that to the increase in their armor save, and their ability to deepstrike and its totally worth it.

I also prefer my Lynx over the warp hunter (fire prisms are not worth discussing when comparing). On occasion I do bring units of 5 balestrike squads with dark lances and jet packs. Its somewhat expensive, but damn do they pack a punch. The cool thing about that unit is that they can move 6 inches, shoot their dark lances, then jump back 2d6 into cover. I don't think they're in the same catagory as the lynx or warp hunter, but they're not a complete waste of 150 points either.


I'll second the perils chart comment made above. I don't try to cast anything with more than 1 die... far to dangerous.

Yes I meant venom not vyper. Ok if I write up a list and post it here? Looking to order soon. You guys have been great!

Ok I made a list. Its at about 1800ish points so if we can adjust to add or take away units to get it to 1850 that would be awesome.

Command Crew

HQ- Corsair Prince
Survivor of Endless Darkness
Jetpack
Void Sabre
Shadowfield

HQ Void Dreamer
Jetpack
Mastery Level 3



Primary Cotiere- Titan Breakers

HQ

Corsair Baron
Jetbike

Troops

3x Cloud Dancer Jetbikes
3x Scatter Laser

3x Cloud Dancer Jetbikes
3x Scatter Laser

3x Cloud Dancer Jetbikes
3x Scatter Laser

Fast Attack

Corsair Hornet
Kinetic Shroud
Pulse Laser

Corsair Hornet
Kinetic Shroud
Pulse Laser




Cotiere- Sky Burners

HQ

Void Dreamer
Jetpack
Mastery Level 2

Troops

Corsair Reaver
Jetpacks
2x Fusion Guns

Corsair Reaver
Jetpacks
2x Fusion Guns

Corsair Reaver
Jetpacks
2x Fusion Guns

Fast Attack

Corsair Hornet
Kinetic Shroud
Pulse Laser

Corsair Hornet
Kinetic Shroud
Pulse Laser




Cotiere- Hate Bringers

HQ

Void Dreamer
Mastery Level 2


Troops

Corsair Reaver
2x Fusion Guns
Falcon

Heavy Support

Corsair Lynx
Kinetic Shroud


The idea is that the prince and void dreamer from the command crew deepstrike with the jet pack reavers. The rest are on their own. What do you guys think? I like the idea of a lynx. Not sure if I should add a 3rd coterie for it but who knows. That extra psyker is nice. Id like some psyker stuff going on as my current army (kdk) has none.

Thoughts?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ick just looking at this i think id rather have venoms for my reavers. What do i do with my princes and void dreamers? They seem so awkward to put in.

Sadly, void dreamers have a 0-1 limit in the corsair army, so you'll have to take at least two barons in other coteries. One coterie can have a dreamer no problem. Similarly, 0-1 lynx or 0-1 warp hunter units.

Remember your prince has to be your warlord. Having a bike is too good to pass up for that important T4. If you really want him to deepstrike, give him a MKG, but otherwise run him with the bikes and the Mask of Secrets relic instead.

Hornets don't need kinetic shrouds - the point of them is to keep them cheap! 80 points for 4 shots S8 is great. The range should keep them safe for the most part. Increasing the cost by 20% for a 5++ is a bad call for me.

The Lynx, Warp Hunter unit and void dreamer are 0-1 per detachment - not per army.

Running a double CAD or similar will allow you to access more than the 0-1 though you suffer thanks to the allies penalties.

Also - Run the army as a CAD... the raiding fleet is nice, but the limits and taxes are huge to make it work. The CAD is better

Did not know that about the HQs. Ill fix this up and post again!

Really thanks for the help guys. Eldar in general are super foreign to me.

I agree with Massaen on dropping the Fleet Raiding Detachment for a CAD, not having to take the Baron taxes or have to deal with the shortage of Heavy Support slots or the Internal Politics rule makes it the obvious choice. I'd also roll on the Strategic table every time for your Warlord trait, getting the re-rolls to reserves trait is a great replacement for Sky Burners and the army wide Stealth (Ruins) and Move Through Cover trait is very useful for this army as well (a jet pack/bike army that doesn't have to take dangerous terrain checks every time it moves is great).

Personally, I like the Fleet Raiding Detachment. The Skyburners are the best of the bunch, for the coteries, but the other ones have their uses as well. I guess the biggest reason I like them is the extra Fast slots that you end up getting over a CAD style army.

I guess its a question of what you want to bring with you. If Lynx and warp hunters were not 0-1 i'd say CAD 90% of the time, but as it stands I don't generally use up the heavy slots.

How many Hornets do you run to need more than 3 Fast Attack slots?

I run a Lynx and two 5 man Balestrike units. I think the biggest problem is the Internal Politics rule, makes deployment annoying, and the Baron tax, to make them anything like usable is about 150pts, points I better spent on a second 6 man Cloudancer unit with all Splinter Cannons.

Hey guys I just want to say thanks for all the help.

After thinking about it and really looking at what I wanted in the army I realized its just Eldar. I dont have much interest in jetpack units, I dont like having to take barons as a tax. Id rather just go Mechdar because the Eldar get the same access to the FW tanks. The only real thing I lose is the Dark Eldar guns and Venoms which isnt a huge loss to me.

But thank you still!

 Imateria wrote:
How many Hornets do you run to need more than 3 Fast Attack slots?

8. in 3 coteries when I run them all.

I'm not sure there is such a thing at too many hornets

[img]


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hum... well, upside down but that's what I took to a tourney recently. Got 2nd place out of 60 something people. Pic quality kinda eh

I run 2x2 pulse hornets and find that more than ample - I can go 3x2 if I like but I find the return diminishes as their preferred targets fall and you are better with either multishot lighter weapons (scatter lasers) or you need heavier weapons (Eldar D Weapons) to deal with targets.

Hornets are awesome for sure but I always find the balance of the list is important.