Corsairs vs War Convocation

Has anyone got any suggestions for how to beat a 1500pt War Convocation list with Corsairs? Especially the Imperial Knight.

I have access to plenty of infantry (Jet Pack or otherwise), 5 Venoms (which can also proxy as Vypers) and 4 Wasp proxies. I don't own any other eldar vehicles, but can use DE allies if that helps.

Add WWP Eldar fire dragons! Haha!

Otherwise Hornets are really good with outflank. I own 2, but will be getting two more soon. Also warp hunters will vape an imperial knight with it d3+1 D-shots because the knight shields won't help against barrage

It's hard to say without knowing what you have. Multiple ravagers, haywire guns on scourges plus the titan hunter coterie can be a big help.

colinsherlow wrote:

Add WWP Eldar fire dragons! Haha!

Well there is that. If at all possible though, I'd like to find a method that doesn't involve branching fully into Eldar.  

colinsherlow wrote:

Otherwise Hornets are really good with outflank. I own 2, but will be getting two more soon. Also warp hunters will vape an imperial knight with it d3+1 D-shots because the knight shields won't help against barrage

Unfortunately, I don't own either of those.  

colinsherlow wrote:

It's hard to say without knowing what you have.  Multiple ravagers, haywire guns on scourges plus the titan hunter coterie can be a big help.

Well, I can give you a list of the models I have (my group doesn't care about WISIWIG, so I won't bother listing exact weapons - assume any model can have whatever it needs. Likewise, Corsair models can be assumed to have Jet Packs as needed.):
- 1 Ravager
- 3 Raiders
- 5 Venoms (can also proxy Vyper Jetbikes)
- 4 Wasp Walkers
- 1 Talos
- 1 Cronos
- 9 Jetbikes (can be used as Reavers or Cloud Dancers)
- 15 Scourges (can also be used as Jet Pack Balestrikes)
- 10 Grotesques
- 5 Wracks (which I mention for completeness sake)
- 30 Warriors
- About 25 wyches (read: WIP Corsairs   )
- Jet Pack Corsair Prince
- Void Dreamer
- Various other HQ models (I have a couple of Archons that can also serve as Barons, a Haemonculus, Urien and 2 Succubi)

colinsherlow wrote:

plus the titan hunter coterie can be a big help.

What would you use in the Titan Hunter Coterie?

Titan breakers

Haywire Scourges.
Haywire anything, really.
In addition to breaking face against Vehicles, against War Convocation they're still useful after vehicles are dead. s4ap4 will put holes in all the ADMech/Skitarii dudes, who rock 4+ armour on (mostly) t3 platforms.

2x 5-bird Scourge units with 4 Haywire Blasters each are stock in my tournament list. I've used their mobility to bust open the sides of many Knights. No regrets

Outflanking/deep striking Wasp Walkers with Scat, to get at side armour. And because re-rolling 4++ the turn you DS is glorious.
Outflanking Cloud Dancer bikes with anything except poison.

For the Titan Hunter Coterie, get some Cloud Dancers with scat or maybe even lances as troops. Then use either your wyches or other Scourges as Balestrikes. I'm knocking together 2x 5-man Dark Lance units with jet packs. Love 'em.

For dealing with the rest of the War Convocation, you should be fine. Poison poison poison, same as always. Use your Cloud Dancers to jump-shoot-jump and you'll be laughing.
Beware 30" grav, but it's t5/4+ so your poison can end it.
Everything they've got on the ground except for castellan robots and their kataphron dudes on tracks is t3. Many are multi-wound.
Corsairs can spam s6 with the best of them; Instant Death for breakfast.

Yeah I'd go Balestrike all the way. Skyburner Balestrike, outflanking Vypers, outflanking bikes with a lance etc. to pull the shield in whatever facing you want and let rip with your ravagers, raiders or what have you. I think Corsairs are gonna be great at handling knights.

Then just blast the hell out of the infantry with scatter lasers.

Thanks for the advice, guys. One thing to bear in mind though - one of the Cult Mechanicus bonuses gives Stealth and Shrouded. Thanks to War Convocation, he can use the same bonus twice and the IK will also be affected. So, for the early game at least, the Imperial Knight (along with most or all of his other stuff) will be enjoying a 4+ cover save in the open and a 2+ cover save everywhere else.

I mention this because you're talking about getting around it's shield, but a lot of the time it'll have a at least a 4++ regardless.


Anyway, I'll make a couple of lists based on what you've suggested and see what you think.

For sure, their Shroud-psalm can be a right pain in the butt.

Thankfully, we're mobile to just get out of dodge, pick on the weak/exposed models, and ignore the scary ones until they're vulnerable again.
Obviously this isn't as easy as it sounds, depends on table terrain, etc.
But the arguments stands.

How about just ignoring the titan and focusing on getting your guys into assault?

You'll be hitting first and on a 3+ most of the time. The troop most resilient to assault is kataphrons with flamers, but then you can nullify their t5 with poison shooting that's available to every Corsair troop choice. Shoot, a kataphron is roughly the same points value as a dual s.cannon venom that can kill it with 12 shots. Nothing deployed by the admech will be in a transport so it's not like you'll need heavy weapons to crack them open. You've got better mobility in every way so you dictate when and where assault happens.

Though the admech can pump out some nasty overwatch fire, think of it as an alternative to eating titan pieplates and full BS admech fire. Hiding in close combat also means your felarch/baron/prince is going to town on i3 dudes.

Also remember that nearly every Corsair unit can toss a s4 ap4 blast at 8", helpful against a mostly 4+sv opponent.

You can also throw your shadowwave grenades to blind. With Reavers of the Outer Dark Rage + Reckless Abandon you can attempt to blind one shooty unit, then tie up another one in assault.

While that's going on some jetpack reavers or cloud dancers can be grabbing objectives and darting out of LoS of the big bad Titan.

HokutoAndy wrote:

How about just ignoring the titan and focusing on getting your guys into assault?

You'll be hitting first and on a 3+ most of the time.

Well, bear in mind that the Skitarii units also have doctorines for +1WS, +2WS and +3WS.

HokutoAndy wrote:

The troop most resilient to assault is kataphrons with flamers, but then you can nullify their t5 with poison shooting that's available to every Corsair troop choice. Shoot, a kataphron is roughly the same points value as a dual s.cannon venom that can kill it with 12 shots.

But, if I need to use poison shooting to win, why am I going into combat?

HokutoAndy wrote:

Nothing deployed by the admech will be in a transport so it's not like you'll need heavy weapons to crack them open. You've got better mobility in every way so you dictate when and where assault happens.

Though the admech can pump out some nasty overwatch fire, think of it as an alternative to eating titan pieplates and full BS admech fire. Hiding in close combat also means your felarch/baron/prince is going to town on i3 dudes.

A few things to consider:

1) How exactly am I getting into combat? Am I using a bunch of unsupported 5-man squads in Venoms (with no Princes or Barons to help them)? Or, am I aiming to somehow get a lot of Jet Pack units with 6" moves into melee?

2) I think you might be underestimating their melee abilities. As above, Skitarii can gain bonuses to WS (meaning they'll be the ones hitting me on 3s), whist Cult Mechanicus can choose between +3 strength, reroll all failed to-hit rolls in combat, 3 S4 hits at I10 and Fearless. Not to mention unit abilities - like Vanguard making my units T2 when in combat with them, or Sicarian Infiltrators giving all my units within 6" -1WS, -1BS, -1I and -1Ld.

3) Bear in mind that everything in this army will be fully upgraded at no cost. For example, every sergeant model will have a S6 AP4 power maul and Digital Weapons. One unit will have Zealot. Another will force me to take a toughness at the end of each combat or suffer d6 AP2 wounds. And, then you have the fully-kitted Tech Priest Dominus to deal with.

4) Then you have the actual melee units - like the walker with 4 S8 AP4 I6 attacks on the charge.

5) Finally, you have the Knight itself (and getting into combat will invariably mean getting close to it), which has a 12" move to get into combat. Also, not only does it have a D-weapon attack, it can also stomp units outside of melee. So, it can walk into one combat and obliterate the squad there, whilst at the same time turning a squad up to 13" away to paste with its stomp.

HokutoAndy wrote:

While that's going on some jetpack reavers or cloud dancers can be grabbing objectives and darting out of LoS of the big bad Titan.

With regard to Jetpacks, do bear in mind that it has a S5 AP4 large blast barrage attack.

Corsairs shoot really well as well. Just waste them at range. You can get the first hit fairly easily. Hit them hard on one flank. The majority of their army will likely be unable to to hit you with enough fire power to Burt you. That's what I do against this army. I have crushed this army every time