We are going to get stuck into the Corsair elites in just a second, but thought it was probably prudent to take a quick look at the only Lord of War available to the corsairs first – the Vampire Raider!
Corsair Lord of War – Vampire Raider
The space marines have their thunderhawk (and soon to be storm bird!) and Eldar have the Vampire Raider. This massive (forgeworld) flyer is a drop ship for the discerning corsair prince when orbital assault is required and access to a planet is denied by other means – or just when the prince wants to show off! Such is the value of this vehicle of war, princes have been known to abandon entire coteries of their own crew to ensure the Vampires survival!
Game wise, this beast is expensive (and I am not talking dollars and cents though that is a thing!). At over 700 points, the Vampire is hugely costly. When you look and see its only AV11, 12 hull points and can’t jink… yeah, it’s a worry!
Standard eldar BS is combined with a pair of Twin Linked Pulse Lasers (the same as those mounted on the falcon grav tank) along with a nose mounted scatter laser. Buying it for the guns you aren’t! It does come with the corsair kinetic shield which does somewhat help with the lack of jink and low AV.
Rules wise it carries 30 models which is nice – and being super heavy it can carry multiple units as well though only 3 units may disembark from the single rear ramp per turn. It’s not an assault vehicle either so what ever gets out better pack some serious fire power to make it worth going into hover model! It also packs deep strike, supersonic and, importantly, strafing run.
It also has the option to – for free – swap the pair of twin linked pulse lasers for 1 of 2 weapon options though either reduces the transport capacity to 20. The first swap is for ‘twin linked phoenix missile launchers’ which could mean you get 2 or are swapping it for 1 – its not very clear. Thankfully, its an option that should never be used! The other option is for a single twin linked Pulsar. Previously this was not twin linked and the model is certainly not packing a pair of barrels – but regardless, this is the way you should be running this thing if you have one. It’s the same weapon that the Eldar Revenant packs (2 shots, Destroyer, large blast, ap2) and with BS4, strafing run and twin linked, this weapon should always be on target!
Sadly, despite all this – the Vampire is not worth looking at in all but the largest of games. It’s a huge model for starters meaning its time on a 6×4 table will be utterly brief and it will always be in range of every enemy weapon! On top of this – an allied Scorpion Grav tank with the cost of 2 windrider jet bike units and a spirit seer is only a few points more than the Vampire! I know which I would prefer…
Corsair Elites
The corsairs have an interesting mix of elite choices even though they only have 3 – we get a shooty veteran unit, a combat veteran unit and a walker unit… sound familiar?
Voidstorm Band
The Voidstorm are essentially the veterans of the corsairs. Comprised of nothing but Felarchs (the squad leaders from the Reavers), this unit has a multitude of options available to them. They start at 5 models and can go up to 10, with all of them wearing heavy mesh armour and able to swap their las blaster much like the reavers (though their brace of pistols also have a close combat weapon included in the swap). 1 in 5 can have a special weapon, again a mirror of the options for the reavers.
Grenades can (like the reavers!) again be safely avoided for the cost and the void hardened armour is just as avoidable. Jet packs are available for a few points per model and are always welcome if you are not utilising the dedicated transports.
A special mention need to be made about the void plate harness – a whopping 10 points per model to give them a 3+ save (up from a 4+) – which almost doubles the base cost per model! Pass!
Lastly, any model may take up to 2 of a select list of weapon options – close combat weapon, power weapon, venom blade, dissonance pistol or blast pistol. There are some interesting things you can do with this – dual wielding pistols is expensive but with enough 6’s to hit those dissonance pistols will make a mess of any non-vehicle models they are in range of. With a full unit and a baron all dual wielding dissonance pistols (22 shots, BS 4) and the baron or another model casting prescience on the unit, you can reasonably expect those 18ish S5, AP 4 hits to be S8 or even S9 and AP1! That’s a worry for anyone!
Malevolent Band
The malevolent band is something of a quirky unit. With an profile identical to the reavers though boasting an extra wound, and starting with a brace of pistols and combat weapon as standard, you could assume this was the short range version of the voidstorms. There is so much more here though!
Starting at 5 models, able to increase to maximum 10 and able to take jet packs or heavy mesh armour is all pretty standard. They don’t have access to transports at all so I expect its either a Vampire (um… no?) or jet packs – and that make the heavy mesh kind of redundant since the jet pack gives the same save.
For every 5 models, 2 can upgrade their combat weapon to a venom blade, power weapon or melta bombs. They have no option for a character either but at least these mix and match options allow you to have a melta bomb and then a few combat weapons in the squad. Still not impressive though really.
Then you hit their special rules…
Reckless abandon and fleet are the norm. They don’t suffer dancing on a blades edge which is nice – but also redundant since they are fearless! They also boast furious charge, rage and feel no pain! While T3 and 4+ save (because lets face it – you took the jet pack!) is a little bit of a let down, the fel no pain helps against small arms fire and combined with 2 wounds means you have to point decent guns at them to put them down consistently. They also have a unique rule – Curse of the Void – meaning the unit is never a scoring unit and all eldar, dark eldar, corsairs and harlequins suffer a -1 to their LD value when within 12” of at least 1 model from the malevolent unit.
4 attacks each on the charge at S4 base with a handful of special combat weapons is enough to easily ruin enemy troops and threaten some more significant assets. Sadly, they are not cheap at that point and I have to ask if the points could have just been better spent on more guns elsewhere.
Wasp Squadron
The Wasp Assault Walkers are the corsair variant of the Eldar War Walker. With an almost identical statline and weapon options (though the splinter cannon and – somewhat redundantly – dark lance are both added as options), Wasps perform a similar fire support role to the traditional War Walker.
The come standard with Fleet, Scout and Reckless Abandon which makes them extremely mobile and pack Kinetic Shrouds as standard. For a few points they can add Void Burners to allow them to deep strike, making them even more mobile.
The wargear that makes them really cool is the Wasp Jump Pack which comes standard. It can be used in either the movement or assault phase – not both. The movement phase option lets it move up to 12” – but at least 8” while ignoring intervening terrain and models at the expense of only being able to snap fire in the following shooting phase. The assault phase option allows the wasps roll an additional dice when determining charge distances (using the 2 highest results) and gaining the Hammer of Wrath Special rule for that phase inflicting D6+1 hits instead of just 1.
Either use grants the Wasps a 4+ invulnerable save against shooting attacks thanks to the Kinetic Shroud with rerolls on failed saves until the beginning of the controlling players next turn.
The Wasps are a great fire support for the corsairs, in a slot that will easily be the last selected for the faction in question. They are cheap enough to field 2-4 comfortably in a list and versatile on the table. Of the 3 elites – the Wasps are my first pick.