Mandrakes/incubi

So I'm kinda looking if I want to buy either Mandrakes or Incubi, as I don't have much time to play myself currently I wanted to ask here if anybody has experience with them in 8th edition or even knows a battle report where they are used. thanks in advance

I have used both at various points in 8th. I think mandrakes are all around more useful. They don't require a transport to be effective have a really quite potent shooting attack and are reasonable in combat. For the same points incubi are only effective in combat and to be fair they do a pretty good job against the right target but for most of those targets we have better ways of doing it.

Like Lord Weston said, incubi have a very niche role in our army that unfortunately isnt all that useful even though they're very reasonably priced at the moment. They could do with a points increase and getting rule that sets them apart Like wound rolls of a 6+ do a mortal wound in addition to any other damage filling the mortal wound gap in our army. Then give Drazhar a +1 to wound roll on Incubi and you can justify taking them. Which leads us on to...
Mandrakes! Fantastic little unit, something about having -1ap in an army of 0ap or 4ap just seems nice and the mortal wounds are brilliant. They're not too shabby in melee either! Again they could use something minor, maybe a stratagem to make baleblast mortal wound on 5+ or something to let them redeploy 9" away from an enemy (I wouldn't say no to it being like black cornucopians and regenerating the squad when they reappear!). Both units have beautiful models you won't regret painting, they're not essential picks but can definitely be useful.

Thanks guys, I will go with a pack of mandrakes then. I would love to get lhamaeans but paying 20 bucks for 15 points is just not in it for me.

You will find mandrakes are much more fun to play good choice

Tho CA might make Incubi a bit better, at least Mandrakes will always get a chance to do something where Incubi always has that chance to do nothing.

Btw is there any way to get a court of archons (I know they're not called that anymore) cheaper by e.g getting AOS models that look similar? I'd love to play them but they're ridiculously expensive.

I've seen people convert up Medusae by using Flagellants as the baseline body. Also seen some use various ghosts either wholesale or as converting bases, including Spirit Hosts and Myrnmourn Banshees.

Ur-Ghuls can be done well enough with Crypt Ghouls, particularly if you greenstuff over the eyes or use the ones with hollow sockets.

As for the Sslyth, Melusai Blood Sisters/Stalkers is the obvious pick. Use them as-is, or combine their tails and your Dark Eldar torso, head, and arms of choice.

Lhamaeans should be doable with just various bitz from the Dark Eldar kits. Should be easy to scare up a few ones just from your spare bitz. Combine a wych head and arm with kabalite body and legs, and you should be pretty much done. Should be basically free with your existing infantry.

Basically all of these are cheaper ways to get the Court models. Now if only they were worth fielding...

You can pick up some cheap ur Ghuls on eBay right now from the Blackstone fortress kit aswell as the information above. You can make 2 medusae from one kit as it comes with a and head that can be thrown on any dark eldar model for a quick conversion (use unarmed arms from raider kits). Melusai work well for Sslyth though they're a little bigger, grab a shard carbine from a scourge kit for them and whatever blade you like. I've been looking for a good Lhamean proxy for years and have settled on practicing greenstuff til I can create a corset and suitable skirt on a wych model.

I haven't used Mandrakes in 8th, but I DID use Incubi heavily. I was pretty satisfied with them. Get them in melee, you tear through most things; get caught with your tail in the breeze and you're going to get shot to pieces. Pretty standard Incubi stuff.

Just mowing through people in close combat is incredibly satisfying.

Mandrakes were incredible in the Index, and they're still good but they didn't get the same benefit from our Codex as many other units did.

Burnage wrote:

Mandrakes were incredible in the Index, and they're still good but they didn't get the same benefit from our Codex as many other units did.

Thats why they got cheaper

amishprn86 wrote:

Burnage wrote:

Mandrakes were incredible in the Index, and they're still good but they didn't get the same benefit from our Codex as many other units did.

Thats why they got cheaper

A lot of our stuff got cheaper!

Yeah but for their points they are well costed.
They can DS, have invul, -1 to hit, can do MW, has PfP, can shoot, and can Melee, the only problem is the T3.

Turn 3 DSing them can change the game into your favor, Fall, shoot 20 shots at a target, then can charge with re-rolls and hitting on 2+, 3A at S4 -1ap. They are great at killing things off objectives and even good against other targets Kabals are bad at.


I have done Brigades of Black Heart and drop 15 of them turn 2 with great effect, remember BH +1 the turn for PFP, that means turn 2 they re-roll charges and +1WS

amishprn86 wrote:

Yeah but for their points they are well costed.
They can DS, have invul, -1 to hit, can do MW, has PfP, can shoot, and can Melee, the only problem is the T3.

Turn 3 DSing them can change the game into your favor, Fall, shoot 20 shots at a target, then can charge with re-rolls and hitting on 2+, 3A at S4 -1ap. They are great at killing things off objectives and even good against other targets Kabals are bad at.


I have done Brigades of Black Heart and drop 15 of them turn 2 with great effect, remember BH +1 the turn for PFP, that means turn 2 they re-roll charges and +1WS

Mandrakes don't benefit from the Black Heart Obssession (or any others!), which is why I think they're relatively weaker in the Codex than our other units.

Oh crap i forgot about that, no wonder why my batrep they drop on Turn 3 when i was reviewing the video lol.

Im getting the rules mixed up, way to many, im playing Necromunda, kill team, aos, bloodbowl, 40k, underworlds, i need to stop playing some of these.

I tried mandrakes today by proxying them in a 750p game, was pretty underwhelmed but on the other hand my opponent had a pure tanklist with parsk, a leman russ and 2 hellflamer tanks while I used 2x5 kabalites with shredders, 2x5 kabalites with blasters, 2 archons with cheap stuff and a razorwing with desintegrators, needless to say that I had no chance and the Mandrakes against this list didn't have a chance to shine. I'm gonna try the court of archons by proxy on thursday thanks for the tips for conversion

Yeah Mandrakes are anti-infantry, but if they can charge a tank to tie it up thats good too.

amishprn86 wrote:

Yeah Mandrakes are anti-infantry, but if they can charge a tank to tie it up thats good too.

456 points died in overwatch on parsk due to the 1p stratagem that gives him 5s to hit in overwatch for the entire phase (wtf GW) on that unit, combine that with all the rerolls and I had nothing that could tie him up.

You can charge outside of LoS so he cant OW, or AOV it, or Vex Mask.

Guard can put out some really disgusting lists at small points the sheer amount of tanks is really rough to deal with using a take all comers/ more "normal" list.

amishprn86 wrote:

You can charge outside of LoS so he cant OW, or AOV it, or Vex Mask.

As said I picked an easy going list which means no vect and no black heart and there was no way for me to charge him without LoS.

Well 1st, i gave you suggestion for next game, next time have los terrain, take more anti-tank, take something to stop OW if thats a problem (most players do) and finally dont take 500pts of anti-infantry in a 750pt game.

LoS terrain is so much more fun to play with. I would have at least 2 in No mans zone if you can. Terrain is a part of the game, ignoring it equal to ignore stratagems.

Yes will do thanks, I didn't play for about a year so I mostly ignored stratagems too , I just wanted to try to play WYSIWYG since there's just 2 blasters in the box. Didn't work out so I'll get back to try to copy the blasters with greenstuff and Oyumasu Bluestuff

Yeah thats fine.

8th double if not triple the shooting damage, twin link is twice the shots, the damage chart is more damaging, so.... oh so man re-rolls etc.. You really need to play a bit differently

Thing is there was no way for me to bring down those tanks anyways and the mission was basically an elimination. Anti-tank weapons is not enough to kill a tank-only list with just many enugh guardsmen to fill a battallion.