Objective Secured

The Corsair HQ form the heart of any raiding force on the table – and just when you though the army rules and aethermancy were enough to wrap your head around, the Corsairs thrown even more at you…

The Corsair Prince

Boasting a statline not to dissimilar to the Eldar Craftworld Autarch, the Prince is a tool box of abilities and customisation. He has 1 built in unique rule called Force of Will which allows corsairs within 12” who can draw line of sight to him to reroll regroup tests which works well given the problems corsairs have with this particular test. His other notable buff is the base strength of 4 over the typical eldar 3. This boost is a significant one, allowing him to threaten typical enemy infantry with average chances to wound – and with special combat weapons threaten them even more.

Wargear wise it’s a massive list. He starts with a 4+ save which can be increased to 3+ with Void plate or he can wear ghost plate from the dark eldar scourge. He can be given a jet pack or eldar jet bike. He has several options for invulnerable saves (5+ for him and his squad, 4+ for him or 2+ for him but lost on a failed save). He can be made a level 1 psyker for relatively low cost.

Weapon wise is a veritable smorgasbord of gear. Most of the options from the Dark Eldar and Eldar book are there (notable is the power WEAPON which the other races typically just get a power sword), as well as a few new toys… the dissonance pistol, the balelight and the void sabre.

The dissonance pistol is a S5, Ap4 pinning pistol. Nothing to interesting I will admit. When multiples of them get shooting is where it’s at. They have a similar rule to the Eldar vibro cannon called Vibro Pulse – For every model in a unit that rolls a 6 to hit when shooting with a weapon with this rule and while targeting the same unit, add +1 to the strength (max S10) and subtract 1 from the AP (min ap1) when resolving to wound rolls FOR ALL WEAPONS with this special rule during this shooting attack only. By itself, the best the prince can manage is S6, Ap3 on a 6 to hit but with a few friends packing the same pistol (or 2!) it’s quite easy to get a high volume of high strength, low AP hits. Its also reasonably priced for a special pistol (its also half the cost of the blast or fusion pistols!)

The Balelight is another unique pistol. For starters its 1 use only. Not normally a concern since shooting with pistols is almost always 1 shot before you hit combat (though with reckless abandon its less prevalent with the corsairs). The corsairs who made this basically strap a bunch of pistols together and rig them to shoot all at once. Its range is limited to just 8” and its only S3 and Ap6 but the rules it has make up for it. It fires 3d3 shots (between 3 and 9 essentially) and has the blind and rending rules. Against low initiative enemies the blind rules can be enough to justify the cost of the pistol (still less than the fusion or blast pistols!) and the 3d3 rending can also be a surprise from time to time. Unfortunately, the prince already has the brace of pistols wargear item (like most corsairs – more on that later!) which almost makes this unique and flavoursome pistol obsolete.

The Void Sabre is a weapon every price you build or face will likely wield. It’s a melee weapon with +1S, AP3 and rending. It’s also only 5 more points than a power weapon. In the hands of a prince this weapon is lethal and worth every point. With the princes high WS, I and attacks combined with base S4, he can quite happily cut his way through most enemy infantry and even threaten light to medium armour.

The last part of the prince is his rule called First Prince.

You are given the option of selecting 1 of 6 unique traits the prince has though you are not required to do so if you do not wish to (though I struggle to think why you would not!)

Collector of Ancient Treasures: one of the Princes weapons becomes Master-Crafted, and the Prince also gets access to the relics lists of Dark Eldar, Craftworlders and Harlequins. In addition any character from the same detachment can make one weapon Master-Crafted for 10pts.

There are plenty of options worth taking from these books – The Shard of Anaris, Armour of Misery, Mask of Secrets, Uldanorethi Long Rifle and the Spirit Stone of Anath’lan are all worth considering for the prince if you go this way.

Reaper of the Outer Dark: Your prince gets Rampage and any unit in the detachment can take the Rage rule for free, but are forced to declare charges against enemy units within 8″ even if you shot against another unit. This gets around the usual charge what you shot at rule (especially when stacked with reckless abandon). With the right unit, it’s entirely possible to gun down an enemy unit, trigger reckless abandon to get within 8” of a second enemy unit, and then wipe it out in combat!

Seeker of Forbidden Pleasures: The prince gets a roll on the Combat Drugs table and unlocks combat drugs for the rest of the army for 15 points a squad. Sadly (for the dark eldar!) the corsairs are better at getting drugs than the dark kin and there are no bad options on the chart.

Survivor of the Endless Darkness: Your Prince gains It Will Not Die and Feel no Pain (5+), but if he ever fails an IWND roll he pins himself and his unit. In addition, your other characters may buy FnP for 10 points. On a jet bike, the FNP becomes ok as its not being negated by the huge volume of S6 weapons on the table these days. It’s not terrible just for extra buff on the prince but I think the other traits are far better!

Traveler of Forgotten Paths: The prince can Deep Strike. Furthermore the prince any Character in the army can buy a multiphase key generator for 25 points (the prince gets his for free), using it instead of shooting. This deploys a webway portal (like in older versions of the dark eldar codex) onto the table, creating an ‘board edge’ for non-vehicle reserves, as well as being able to be used by units not falling back to be placed into Ongoing Reserves. Then can re-enter the table from another webway portal or from whichever method they would normally use. This creates a huge range of deployment options though it’s worth noting that the multiphase key generator can only be used by friendly units and since the individual coteries are not friendly (thanks to allies of convenience) it can limit which portals they can use.

Wielder of Profane Powers: gain +1 Mastery level, which can become Mastery 2 if you bought the generic upgrade that Princes get. They also gain access to Malefic Daemonology and to all psykers in the detachment, but must also generate at least one Malefic power for themselves. Remember too that any Psyker that isn’t a Daemon suffers a Perils on any double when using Malefic. In addition, they replace the Eye of She-Who-Thirsts result on the perils table with Lust for Dark Power where for the rest of the game they must always attempt to cast a Malefic power each turn using at least two warp charges. If they somehow cannot (like other psykers using up the dice before the Prince tries to cast) the Prince automatically becomes pinned.

When building the army, the trait you select can have a profound effect on the way the army plays – chose with care and build the army accordingly!

Void Dreamer

Strikingly similar to a farseer (just a little better at combat though less wounds!), the void dreamer is the go to option for psychic action in the corsairs. Beginning at level 1 (and upgradable to level 3) the void dreamer has a similar list of options available to him as the prince though the lack of a jet bike is a noticeable and tangible loss. He does pack a witch staff as standard (from the eldar arsenal) as well as a brace of pistols so more often than not, an invulnerable save, jet pack and mastery upgrade is about all you will be buying him.

Baron

The last HQ choice for the Corsairs, the baron is a bargain basement HQ choice you will typically be using to run your coteries. His options are exactly those of the prince as well. He does have a couple of notable difference though. He is much cheaper – less than half the cost of the prince! He also has lower stats – with WS, BS, S, W, I, A, LD all 1 point lower.

He also loses the independent character rule and gains the Tyrant rule. Tyrant requires the baron to be assigned to a friendly (ie the same coterie) troops or elite unit at the start of the game which he may not leave during play. No more than 1 baron may be assigned to a single unit and a baron on jet bike may only be assigned to a jet bike unit. An odd point is that the Wasp Assault walker units are an elite unit – and the baron’s Tyrant rule only requires he be assigned (not joined) to an elite/troops unit. I don’t think that’s the intent but the idea of a shadow field Baron tanking hits for the walkers is one I really like for competitive play!

You basically end up with a mini hero in a few units across the army. He can be a great buff for units to protect them in assault, tank wounds with his invulnerable save as well as provide a stable LD value for the unit should it need to regroup. The baron is yet another great tool box!

Summary

All the Corsair HQ choices are solid ones and the variation between them is so little that you should not feel the loss of any of them should you omit one from your force. The Prince is a given in any corsairs force and gives you wonderful options to further customise the way the force plays while the barons are fantastic value for points in the coteries. The only real choice I guess then is the Void Dreamer. He ultimately will be chosen based on how the rest of the list is built… and how nice you are feeling towards your opponent!