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I've recently brought the war host of naggaroth which gives me 20 corsairs and 20 crossbow man or swordsman (can't think of the official name)

I was thinking giving the corsairs 2 hand weapons and then crossbow man? Any suggestions?

Extra hand weapons are almost never worth it because you are paying to equip all of them with the weapon, but only the front rank gets to use them.

You aren't paying 2 points per extra attack, you're paying 50ish points for 5 extra attacks(not sure of exact point costs here)

IIRC, Crossbowmen are better. Because they have the same melee stats as swordsmen, but also have the crossbow!

If you combine 2 hand weapons with razor standard and you're not facing WE, providing that DE have rerolls To Hit, 5, 6, or 10 attakcs can prove daedly. Most people prefer adding more swordsmen than equiping them with a 2nd hand weapon, but some times it has worked for me.

The thing is, thats only 5 extra attacks. when you could have 5 extra wounds in the unit and a better save to boot!

If your unit lasts one extra round of combat you've gotten more attacks than then extra hands weapons would have gotten you simply by getting another round of melee out of it. Or being able to make it into melee with more bodies.

I've gone with making Darkshards rather then the bleakswords as the added range in my army should prove useful. What I have read is that Corsairs can only have 'repeater handbows' which have a 12 inch range. But that time ill get one round maybe of accurate shooting before being charged? If I don't give them the additional hand weapon I may just leave them standard.

I see your point about paying 50ish points for 10 extra attacks. But. It's consistent extra attacks. Sure they may not all get to use them but they are rank and file for the front attackers to constantly put out 2 attacks each (corsairs that is)

Nah, AHWs are the way to go with Corsairs. Corsairs, like many Dark Elf units, lack strength or armour penetration, so need to make up for it with as many attacks as they can get, which is where the AHW comes in. And if you're running Corsairs 5-wide, you're doing it wrong.

As for Xbows, they're awesome, go for it!