Corsairs 1500pt list

First attempt at a list with the new Corsairs. I thought I'd try using no vehicles at all - just Jetbikes and Jet Packs.

Command Crew:
- Corsair Prince w/ Survivor of the Endless Darkness, Jetpack, Void Sabre, Shadowfield, Lv1 Psyker

Sky Burners Coterie:
- Corsair Baron w/ Jetpack
- 5 Corsair Malevolents w/ Jetpacks, 1 Melta Bomb
- 5 Corsair Reavers w/ Jetpacks, 3x Brace of Pistols, 2x Fusion Gun
- 5 Corsair Reavers w/ Jetpacks, 3x Brace of Pistols, 2x Fusion Gun
- 5 Corsair Reavers w/ Jetpacks, 3x Brace of Pistols, 2x Fusion Gun
- 5 Corsair Balestrikes w/ Jetpacks, Felarch, 5x Shuriken Cannon

Titan Breakers Coterie:
- Void Dreamer w/ Jetpack, Lv3 Psyker
- 3 Cloud Dancers w/ 3x Scatter Laser
- 3 Cloud Dancers w/ 3x Scatter Laser
- 3 Cloud Dancers w/ 3x Scatter Laser
- 5 Corsair Balestrikes w/ Jetpacks, 5x Dark Lance

Hate Bringers Coterie:
- Corsair Baron w/ Jetpack
- 5 Corsair Reavers w/ Jetpacks, 3x Lasblaster 2x Blaster
- 5 Corsair Balestrikes w/ Jetpacks, Felarch, 5x Dark Lance

1500pts

The Prince goes with the malevolents, probably along with the Baron in that Coterie. The Void Dreamer goes with the Balestrikes in his Coterie, and the other Baron goes with the Blaster Reavers. Everything in the Sky Burners Coterie will deep strike (with the possible exception of the Splinter Cannon Balestrikes, who may or may not start on the field), the rest will start on the field. The psykers will probably all go Divination.

Obviously the main tactic is to shoot and then use Reckless Abandon and/or Assault Jump moves to get back behind cover.

This is my first Corsair list, and also a very unusual army in general (with everything having JSJ). So, any advice, thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

I'm a little wary that the Reaver Jetpack units will be more suicide drops than anything. You mention hoping to have them jump back behind cover, but if you're planning on landing within 6" of enemy armor for melta purposes, it seems unlikely they'll be able to jump back out of range or LOS of anything. Then you're paying a fair bit for 5 T3 models with a 4+ save and no FNP or anything. Blasters might give them some better range options and ability to pick favorable positions.

Also, you could get 6 splinter cannons on cloud dancers for the same cost as the 5 you have on balestrikes. Better toughness and mobility too.

lessthanjeff wrote:

I'm a little wary that the Reaver Jetpack units will be more suicide drops than anything.  You mention hoping to have them jump back behind cover, but if you're planning on landing within 6" of enemy armor for melta purposes, it seems unlikely they'll be able to jump back out of range or LOS of anything.

Well, assuming I land within 12" of an enemy, I can jump d6+6" away from them immediately after shooting, and then go a further 2d6" in the assault phase. I'd hope that would let at least some of them get to relative safety.

Still, you might well be right here though.

lessthanjeff wrote:

Blasters might give them some better range options and ability to pick favorable positions.

Perhaps, but I already have 10 Dark Lances, and I find Blasters pretty worthless at the best of times. I'd rather have fusion guns for more reliable ant-vehicle.

lessthanjeff wrote:

Also, you could get 6 splinter cannons on cloud dancers for the same cost as the 5 you have on balestrikes.  Better toughness and mobility too.

Ah, that was a typo - those balestrikes are supposed to have Shuriken Cannons. Fixed now.

Though, I might drop/replace them anyway.

Question - (I figured I'd ask here since I was looking at the list) Where can you find the Corsair Eldar codex?

Imperial Armor 11: Doom of Mymeara

Managed to have a game with this list recently. It was a 2v2 against Tau and a War Convocation. Probably not the best trial - as my ally's weird GK/BA army got virtually annihilated in the first couple of turns.

Anyway, we stopped playing after about turn 3, but here are a few thoughts from those turns:

- Accurate deep striking fusion blasters is pretty nice. I actually managed to get 2 units in melta range of the IK, and in different facings, no less (one side, one rear). Along with 5 Dark Lance Balestrikes shooting its front arc. Unfortunately, that was there the good news ended, as their combined firepower did all of 1 hp to it. Boy do I love super heavy vehicles.

Still, with Jetpacks one of the fusion squads managed to get to safety and jumped out to pop a Dune Crawler on my next turn.

- The Reaver squad with Blasters won't be used again without a transport. Too much of a pain to get that unit into range, whilst also keeping it safe.

- Likewise, I'm not sure I'd use the Shuriken Cannon Balestrikes again. 24" is quite a short range for a unit relying on JSJ for protection - especially when it only has a 6" move to get into position. Might give them one more go though.

- Dark Lance Balestrikes were okay, though rather short of good targets this game. One squad was eliminated rather easily by a barrage - which is a definite concern.

- Scatterbikes put out some really good firepower, not that that's much of a surprise. One thing I do find interesting is that with the ability to take Dark Lances (along with Jetbike Barons and Princes), you could make a Corsair army that's entirely Jetbikes. No idea if it would work, but if you have a lot of Jetbike models it could be worth a go. I just wish I owned more than 9.

- Not sure about Malevolents as guards for my Corsair Prince. Their inability to score is rather annoying - especially since they ended up deep striking right on top of the relic. 2 wounds and FNP was also rendered irrelevant, as the only thing that hit them was a Stomp from the IK. From about 12" away. Whilst it was locked in combat with an entirely different unit. Aren't Super Heavies just a superb addition to the game?

Anyway, the S6 AP4 hits rendered their armour, 2 wounds and FNP equally useless. Maybe they'd do better against other stuff. I did manage to get into combat with a couple of Ruststalkers, though I only had a couple of Malevolents left at that point. Still, with I5 and the Prince I won without any casualties and could retreat back behind cover.

- The Corsair Prince was good in combat. Void Sabre seems like a really nice weapon. However, I'm still not really sure how I want to run this guy in terms of using a Jet Pack and Shadowfield or Jetbike and Force Shield, and what unit I want as an escort.  I'll probably try the Malevolents again, but I have several other possibilities that I'd also like to try.

- Not sure whether the Void Dreamer was worth it (at least as a Lv3), but this could just be due to his squad's limited targets.


For my next game, I think I'll try some of their vehicles (based on what was discussed in the Reaver Loadout thread). I'm thinking something like this:

Command Crew:
- Corsair Prince w/ Survivor of the Endless Darkness, Jetpack, Void Sabre, Shadowfield, Lv1 Psyker

Sky Burners Coterie:
Corsair Baron w/ Jetpack
5 Corsair Reavers 3x Brace of Pistols, 2x Fusion Gun
- Venom w/ Scatter Laser and Void Burners
5 Corsair Reavers 3x Brace of Pistols, 2x Fusion Gun
- Venom w/ Scatter Laser and Void Burners
5 Corsair Reavers w/ Jetpacks, 3x Brace of Pistols, 2x Fusion Gun
5 Corsair Balestrikes w/ Jetpacks, 5x Dark Lance

Titan Breakers Coterie:
- Void Dreamer w/ Jetpack, Lv3 Psyker
5 Corsair Reavers 3x Lasblaster, 2x Blaster
- Venom w/ Scatter Laser
5 Corsair Reavers 3x Lasblaster, 2x Blaster
- Venom w/ Scatter Laser
5 Corsair Reavers 3x Lasblaster, 2x Blaster
- Venom w/ Scatter Laser
5 Corsair Balestrikes w/ Jetpacks, 5x Dark Lance

Hate Bringers Coterie:
Corsair Baron w/ Jetbike
3 Cloud Dancers w/ 3x Scatter Laser
3 Cloud Dancers w/ 3x Shuriken Cannon

1500pts

The Void Dreamer goes with the Balestrikes again. The Corsair Baron in the Hate Bringers Coterie goes with the Shuriken Cannon bikes, as does the Prince. Depending on the circumstances, they might enter combat to finish off a squad or tie one up. Otherwise, they'll sit back and shoot and the Prince will attempt some psychic buffs.

I like this new list more. It will still struggle with killing things like imperial knights, (I usually have 5-6 bs5 fire dragons, a fusion autarch and WWP blaster archon in a raider and that barely dose it half the time) but what's fine. Just concentrate on the rest of the army.

I am glad to see you taking fusion reavers in venoms. It makes getting into melta range much more likely.

As for the bikes I think just scatter bikes would be best. Shooting at 36" really helps you not have to worry about getting too close to the enemy.

I can see that you are having a hard time finding something to do with your barons. So am I! They are basically just extra expensive wounds for a unit.

I do think the void dreamer has a place in a corsair list, because his powers are really solid. I just think the corsairs lack a solid assault unit and would look outside of the corsair list to find it. Like maybe grotesqes or Grotesquery or the Harlequin's formation that has the troup, shadowseer and death jester in a unit. The quins being my choice.
The shadowseer gives you a really solid psycher and that mask of secretes is great on him. The death jester can be amazing when he works and the troupe master unlocks the amazing warlord traits available to the quins.
I like to have 7-9 players with 5-6+ with Harlequin's caress, troupe master caress, shadowseer with the mask of secretes and deather jester.

colinsherlow wrote:

As for the bikes I think just scatter bikes would be best. Shooting at 36" really helps you not have to worry about getting too close to the enemy.

You're right. The only reason I picked Shuriken Cannons on one was that I kinda wanted my Prince to be in combat, and that seemed unlikely at 36" away.

colinsherlow wrote:

I can see that you are having a hard time finding something to do with your barons. So am I!  They are basically just extra expensive wounds for a unit.

Basically, yeah.

I'm also struggling to find a place for my Prince. He feels rather out of place as a melee character in a shooty list. And, I just couldn't find the points for a Malevolent Band.

Assuming that I give him a Jet Pack or Jetbike, do you think there's a better unit in my list for him to join?

colinsherlow wrote:

I do think the void dreamer has a place in a corsair list, because his powers are really solid.

I'm actually using him for Divination at the moment.

colinsherlow wrote:

 I just think the corsairs lack a solid assault unit and would look outside of the corsair list to find it.  Like maybe grotesqes or Grotesquery or the Harlequin's formation that has the troup, shadowseer and death jester in a unit.  The quins being my choice.   

The main issue with that is that most of his powers only work on Corsair units.

Not all of his powers are corsair faction only. Some are just corsair faction meaning having a corsair character in a dark Eldar or Eldar unit would work as well. As well as some just being the power can effect the dreamer and his unit. Read the powers more closely ;-).

Prince on bike every time. The prince is more of a tax in my opinion. I will gear him for combat, but only for a counter assault on weaker units or as a clean up kind of character. I like the bike, shadow field and sabre. To save a few points I would drop his psych level and give the psych level to a baron to save a few points. If you want to try something goofy make your prince and a baron daemon summoner's ;-). Put them on bikes, became bikes can't be pinned.

colinsherlow wrote:

Not all of his powers are corsair faction only. Some are just corsair faction meaning having a corsair character in a dark Eldar or Eldar unit would work as well.  

Not quite - the unit would have to have the corsairs faction. Just having a Corsair model in the unit wouldn't count.

Though, if the Void Dreamer himself is in the unit, you're good.

colinsherlow wrote:

Prince on bike every time.

Buggery.

colinsherlow wrote:

The prince is more of a tax in my opinion.  I will gear him for combat, but only for a counter assault on weaker units or as a clean up kind of character.  I like the bike, shadow field and sabre.

He might be a tax, but I still like him.  

If he's on a bike (and presumably skulking at the back, out of harm's way), do you think he really needs a Shadowfield over a Forceshield?

colinsherlow wrote:

To save a few points I would drop his psych level and give the psych level to a baron to save a few points.

The main reason I wanted the psychic level on my Prince, over a Baron, is so that I could use the Baron as ablative wounds and/or a challenge-monkey, without also losing my psyker. You're probably right though.

colinsherlow wrote:

If you want to try something goofy make your prince and a baron daemon summoner's ;-). Put them on bikes, became bikes can't be pinned.

They can be mind-controlled, though.

A unit that has a corsair model unit is corsair faction.
If I have an Eldar unit with a corsair character in it the unit has the corsair and Eldar faction. If a power says corsair faction this works. If the power says corsair faction only then it doesn't (like Path-ward).
I don't have the BRB on me, but I would risk my minions souls on it!

The summoning is more for crap and giggles. But I think you should try it and see how it goes ;-)

I do like the prince quite a bit as well. It is just the lack of a solid combat unit that makes him feel like a tax. Him on a bike in say a quin unit could be pretty boss!

colinsherlow wrote:

A unit that has a corsair model unit is corsair faction.  

I'm afraid it doesn't work like that - in the same way that attaching a Jetbike character to a unit of infantry doesn't make it a Jetbike unit.

"While an Independent Character is part of a unit, he counts as part of the unit for all rules
purposes, though he still follows the rules for characters."

So, a Corsair unit with non-corsair models attached is still a corsair unit.

Likewise, an Eldar/DE/Harlequin unit with Corsair models attached is still just an Eldar/DE/Harlequin unit for all intents and purposes.

That said, GW doesn't do a good job of defining units, so I'll bring this up in the rules thread and see if there's a consensus.

http://www.thedarkcity.net/t13348-what-counts-as-a-corsair-unit#151992

If you're right, it certainly opens up some interesting options if you roll the right powers.

colinsherlow wrote:

The summoning is more for crap and giggles. But I think you should try it and see how it goes ;-)

It is a fun idea, I just don't trust myself with Perils. Too many bad experiences with VCs in WH Fantasy.

I'll probably try it sometime though - if only to give my friends a laugh.

colinsherlow wrote:

I do like the prince quite a bit as well. It is just the lack of a solid combat unit that makes him feel like a tax.  Him on a bike in say a quin unit could be pretty boss!

I still want to try him in a unit of DE Reaver Jetbikes, but I'm struggling to come up with the rest of the DE detachment.