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I'm looking to build the Elucidian Starstriders kill team to use in a big campaign weekend, one that includes both a kill team campaign, as skirmishes, linked with larger 40k battles. I was thinking about using the rogue traders as the kill team portion of the campaign, and the larger battles represented by an entirely freeblade Imperial Knight army.

Are there any players out there who are using Elucidian Starstriders in kill team? How do they play? Any tactics we should be aware of?

I’ve only gotten one game with them in, but I’ll give some impressions

First, they’re quite weak in my opinion. They are not for people playing to win

Second, they revolve around cps and the trader herself. The problem there is how commander rules interact with this. I am not sure if Vhane can be taken as not a commander strictly RAW but if you can’t, the kill team simply does not work

Now how the kill team does work is based around cps, of which you will get 3 a turn with Vhane (reason 1 why the team revolves around her). The team has very limited damage potential. The cannon is neat and Vhane and her assassin are solid combat chars (but not the best ones). What you have is strategems to do mortal wounds and increase damage. Nitsch can do a mortal wound with a plus 3 to hit and Vhane can do a final mw attack immediately after fighting. The assasin can rock damage d3 for a turn on her blades. All of these cost 2 cps and will be your primary source of wounds in a game. There are a number of other clever strategems to play in a turn too. Vhane can throw down a reroll 1 bubble for example. Which is why the extra cost a turn is so necessary

Yeah I gotta say, after a few games, I've been struggling. Even against the Gallerpox, but the game I played against Deathwatch I got roflstomped. I don't overly mind, because I'm playing them for the sweet models and characters, but I wouldn't ever take these dudes into a game and expect to win unless you fight maybe Craftword/Dark Eldar.

The main thing I find is, Rotor Cannon does pretty well if he lives for longer than a turn and Prond wrecks if she can make it in

This sounds pretty disappointing, and considering how much the RT box costs I think i'm glad I passed on this release. Awesome models, but if they literally just suck then thats a bummer.

Vhane is a Commander all the time; there's no way to take her otherwise.

MadSpy wrote:
Vhane is a Commander all the time; there's no way to take her otherwise.

It never clearly says that. Commander skills and their advances are fairly distinct from the two team leaders.

Narrative/open play KT is where its at. I looked through their rules and didnt think theyd be overly good. That is not really a worry as my fellow gamers are more into the fluff than playing to win and you can make some really cool match ups, even if the points dont match up. I think you could do some awesome RT vs RT goups, using the starstriderrs as a base and changing around some characters, weapons and rules a bit. Two RTs fighting over some valuable cargo in a port/space hulk/space port/cargo hold onboard one of their own ships, RT vs an inquisitorial group using similar rules, talking about and using specifically picked forces for a more balanced game, surviving a horde till a shuttle comes to evacuate etc.

Though Starstriders seem weak, does it help that you can have 7 specialists on the field at once (omitting Elucia)? Or do they just suck so bad that it doesn't really matter?

wisetiger7 wrote:
Though Starstriders seem weak, does it help that you can have 7 specialists on the field at once (omitting Elucia)? Or do they just suck so bad that it doesn't really matter?

without vhane, they flat suck. The get pretty much nothing.

With vhane, they have some tricks they can pull. Not enough to beat someone really optimizing their KT, but enough for some fun games.

Vhane has the Commander keyword baked in to her datasheet so I think she has to be a commander

So there's no way to use a model with a Commander keyword, unless they are your Commander and the mission allows for Commanders?

wisetiger7 wrote:
So there's no way to use a model with a Commander keyword, unless they are your Commander and the mission allows for Commanders?

Maybe!

Again, the kill team does not function without vhane. Play with vhane. This isn't a competitive kill team so its ability to be played at events is pretty much a non factor.

Sorry to kick at a probably dead thread, but has anyone tried these lovable champs against the factions who aren't top tear? Do they do alright? How do they compare when facing stuff like Scions/Astra Militarum or Tau or Tyranids?

They do decently against someone not playing to hard. The biggest issue is they are entirely built around their commander. If she goes down or isn't in the right place at the right time the rest of the team is not gonna pull it's weight compared to a more balanced team.

I just played my first game with Starstriders a couple nights ago against Orks. I thought I was gonna lose bad. I used everyone but Vhane for 100 points. My opponent had two boss nobs with power claws (one kommando combat, one boyz zealot), a comms loota, grot leader, grot shield, and the rest kommandos.

Four main takeaways:

1. The gunner's rotor cannon is awesome for taking out huge fighty threats. I perched my rotor cannon gunner (heavy) up high, with the comms and medic close by. I took out one power claw nob the first turn, and the other in the second turn, so they never got into any action, which saved my bacon. Rotor cannon for the win. I understand this was particular to my case, as my opponent only hit on 5's at best, 6's pretty much most of the game, so the gunner was never really threatened. Keeping him alive against a decent shooty army will be a problem.

2. Larsen van der Grauss’ Voltagheist Transference tactic is sneaky. Teleported him behind his lines to assassinate my opponent’s lone grot leader, which reduced his CP for following turns. Note: doing so will probably lose your 5++ bubble for your other units.

3. Sanistasia Minst’s Healing Serum was way more useful than I thought. Healed 6 flesh wounds during the game. Ran her up behind a grunt and the dog who got in combat with two boyz, charged her in the turn after, and she kept healing them for three turns.

4. Keeping models together in choke points and strategic retreats is great. My opponent charged one of my models flanked by two other models (a 5 inch charge distance), to which I replied with a retreat, adding 3 inches to the charge for a distance of 8. First roll was a 4, but Orks get rerolls. He rolled a 7, which would normally have been a successful charge, having gotten within 1 inch of the target model. But it would have put the charging model within 1 inch of one of the other flanking models as well, models which he didn't declare as targets of the charge. So the charge failed.

5. Also 7 specialists was nice.

In conclusion, this was our second game, and we probably missed some nuances. I also caught my opponent unawares of the abilities these models offer (most of which I didn't realize beforehand either). In the future, he will probably protect his grot leader a bit more, and not be apprehensive about just blitzing across the field.

For those who complain about not having weapon/equipment upgrades and unit choices, Being able to field 7 specialists makes up for that. I think the army is fun, lots of tricks, lots of specialists, etc. But if your opponent has gone against rogue traders before, they will probably be ready for those tricks. And against competitive armies, and armies with a good mix of decent shooting and decent fighting, Starstriders will fall apart.

Given what you've said, are the starstriders at a disadvantage against an experienced opponent or are they at a advantage if not in their close quarters terrain with lots of LOS blocking and opportunity to channel enemies into choke points?

I haven't had much kill team experience, but it's the little tricks that helped me win the game. Height advantage for the gunner, narrow confines with retreat/force fail charge, and teleport assassination/ backfield objective grab are what helped me turn a losing mission to a 3-3 tie in victory points.

This was my second game, so I'm not that experienced of a KT player. But I'm an experienced tabletop wargamer, so I know how to eke out a tie or win when I need to. I can thinking outside the box, exploit the board, and either focus on objectives or prevent my opponent from winning. And I usually play underdog armies, so this was right up my alley.

Based on that, to answer your question, if both players are experienced, I would say Starstriders fall in somewhere in mid or lower-mid tier. In other words, if you're lucky, or a good general, you should do alright. If you're unlucky, or not a good general, you're probably going to have a tough time on the tourney scene. But if you're up for a challenge, 7 specialists and a good bag of tricks make this KT pretty fun.

Hope that helps.

It’s good to hear you had a fun game with them. I’m looking forward to playing them more (I can’t not use them, their figures are just too cool), so nice to know they have the capacity to succeed.

I am currently playing a league that doesn't allow the use of commanders. This faction is very underpowered. They die to a stiff breeze and need to roll a 5 to even damage anything. Rotor cannon is nice, Knosso Prond is useful if you can get her charge off. If the enemy gets the charge onto her, she's squishy enough to be deleted without even getting her attacks. It's a shame that they don't seem to have playtested this faction against anything but gellerpox or using any of the missions in the core rulebook.

I just have hope that, because they changed stuff in the big FAQ like drone saves to 4+ for Tau and the flail to 1 dmg instead of d3 for the DG, they're not afraid to change a few stats, and may buff up our team a little now that they've shown themselves to be pretty bad. I think everyone should've had a 4+ save, and hot-shot las gun stats. And why does Elucia not get 2+ to hit with her fluff?

 Tiberius501 wrote:
I just have hope that, because they changed stuff in the big FAQ like drone saves to 4+ for Tau and the flail to 1 dmg instead of d3 for the DG, they're not afraid to change a few stats, and may buff up our team a little now that they've shown themselves to be pretty bad. I think everyone should've had a 4+ save, and hot-shot las gun stats. And why does Elucia not get 2+ to hit with her fluff?

At this point I'm not sure what would help them. It feels like they would need so many buffs to be viable again factions like Death Guard that it would require almost a complete rewrite. T3 with 5+, 1-2 wounds and lasguns against T5, 3+, 5++ with missile launchers on steroids is a joke. I feel like I'm in a shootout with a Colt Peacemaker from the 1800s while my opponent has an RPG and plate carrier, but we both have the same amount of guys.

Mb I bringing beck a dead thread but if somebody is searching for info
I have just finished my first campaign battle with starstariders for 100 pts. and it was pretty ok even without Vane.
So my thoughts:
1. heavy guy is pretty good. d2 damage profile is something useful. max 5 hits with +1 to hit from comms specialist probably will let you kill some amount of emperor's enemies
2. also shotgun ability to deal mortal wound is cool something like psybolt for shooting phase.
Actually 2 wounds units is also helpful. As a quick review I think they can do something at least until my opponents don't remember all my stratagem abilities
mb commander missions will be a problem but it gives at least a great amount of CPs