Eldar Corsairs: Thoughts After The First Game

Its good to be back in good old Lansing. The move went pretty smooth. I am basically unpacked and the construction of the 40K basement of epicness has begun. Samsquatch Monster has been cleaning and getting the mountain of Tau and Space Wolves stowed away and organized. The Judge will be moving in over the next week. The 40K cave will have 3 tables as well as our 3 individual hobby areas as well as a fume hood for priming and an Airbrush Station. It should be very very nice.

As promised I am going to give my initial thoughts after using the Eldar Corsair list from Imperial Armor 11. I was going to do a full battle report, but the details are a bit foggy as it was a week ago and the game was pretty short. We only went 3 turns. I took on CVinton and his space wolves. I don't believe in doing things halfway so if I am going to test an army list or a new codex I want a tough opponent. I went with a foot list for the Corsairs, since I have been on a Footdar kick as of late.

My initial assessment of the viability of a foot list was flawed. If you look at the army list a foot list is possible thanks to the jet packs and relentless rule it provides. The amount of fire and flexibility of the units is clear. The real issue is the lack of protection. Also a lack of an Avatar means leadership tests. Granted the higher leadership values make the units hardier, but not invulnerable. The low armor saves are akin to Kabalite Warriors. Normally this is not an issue......when they are in transports or in cover.

Because the Corsairs use a high percentage of Craftworld weaponry, my brain decided I could run the Corsairs like Craftworlders. I should have been running them Like Dark Eldar. A strait up foot army hoofing it across the table was not a good idea with the Corsairs. I totally ignored the many different deployment options.

You have whole units that can scout, deep strike, outflank and arrive via webway portal. These deployment options let you run a decently viable foot list as long as you don't come in piece meal. Cvintons Long Fangs tore my army up very quickly and the Wolf Priest lead swift claw pack hit the heart of my army and laid it to waste. The whole lynchpin of the army was the Phoenix Bomber and it was dealt with after the first turn. After that the army kind of evaporated. The bomber is a very potent vehicle. The devastating amount of fire it laid down made it a very high priority target. Despite having a 4+ save it still fell to a torrent of missile fire.

I was also not very impressed with the Void Dreamer. The protections and enhancements the Void Dreamer provides are not that great. The lack of any runes of warding means the one anti psychic power is basically useless to the rest of the army as it only protects the Void Dreamer and the unit he may be joined to.

I am going to have to step back and really take a hard look at how to run this list. It has the weapons of a Craftworld army with the speed and mobility of the Dark Eldar. You can run it many different ways as well depending on your unit selection. I am milling the idea of a Corsair Variation of the Webway list. The main difference being that only about half of the army will arrive via portal, while the other elements will be on board and arriving by deep strike. Having the portal on the board lets you keep your deep strikers safe by giving them the option of coming out of the portal if no decent or viable deep strike position is available.

So I like the army, but I am unsure how viable it is. Granted I have only gotten one game in with it. I hope to get 4 or 5 more with the new list I am building taking advantage of the many deployment options.

Next time I will have some thoughts on Necrons. I played OST this past week with both my Craftworlders and my Dark Eldar. He was using Cvintons new Necron army. I was not prepared for to fight this new codex. Although I have read it cover to cover, I was not ready for how it played and flowed on the table. I was soundly beaten in both games in only 4 turns. The sheer torrent of fire was overwhelming. Tesla is powerful, but more on that next time.

Until then................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!

Imhotek... Imhotek... IMHOTEK!!!

I finally got my mitts on the new codex. Already, everyone is bitching about how overpowered the Necrons are now, and how cheesy the army is, and blah, blah, blah... I say it's about time that the Necrons became a competitive army again!

The first thing that struck me was the reduced point costs. Last time I played the Necrons, SeerK handed me my butt. The reason I bring this up is the fact that I had 36 models in my army, while he had over 75. Now model counts will be more in line.

I am a little confused about the new "we'll be back" rule. Now, by themselves, resurrection protocols and the everliving make sense, but what confuses me is why most IC's and HQ have BOTH powers. It would seem that the everliving would make the resurrection protocols superfluous... Maybe there is something I am missing in the reading.

The new weapons are pretty boss. Having the tesla weapons do an additional 2 automatic hits for every 6 rolled on the to hit roll is beefcake.

The Monoliths became a little bit less powerful. The portal gained some power in the fact that a unit does not need to be within 18" to be pulled thru, however, it can no longer pull a unit put that is engaged in combat. Fair enough, that tactic was pretty dodgy.

Resurrection orbs now only affect the unit they are with, giving their resurrection protocols roll to a 4+, and not any model within 6". I'm kinda sad to see this, but there can now be multiple orbs out on the field now with the royal court. We will see how this shakes out.

And my last thought for the day: Imhotek the Stormlord - Baller at large

I was already enthralled with the fact that I had a namesake to put in my army, but damn. Humiliating defeat makes that model so sweet. (if a model loses his last wound to Imhotek, you get to add d3 additional hits to add to your combat result). This is gonna make him a hand to hand beast. Then his superior strategy makes him seize the initiative on a 4+. Finally, the Stormlord makes the first round night fighting and has the ability to keep this effect up.

Well, that's it for now. I am typing this on the blogger app, and it's making my thumbs sore.

I need to stew on the scarabs. I think with their new rules I can think of some really heinous uses for them.

-Stormlord