A Corsair Army is sooo....frustrating

[Iron Father Ferrum]

The first faction I collected in both 40K 3rd Edition and Battlefleet Gothic were Chaos, because the model ranges were at that time mostly plastic for both games and so could be collected easily and cheaply.  My first love in both games were Eldar, so when I had a Big Boy Job and 4th Edition came around, I splurged for a Craftworld army and a Corsair fleet.  Consequently, I've always kinda wanted a Corsair army to go with the Corsair fleet (I don't have it anymore, but that might be corrected in the near future).

 

So I'm looking at the new codex and trying to figure out the best way to build a Corsair, or at least Corsair-themed, army and frankly it's ticking me off.

 

First and foremost, neither of the two types of Corsairs have Battle Focus so right off the bat they don't benefit from the army rule. . . which seems odd.  They also don't have the Asuryani keyword, so they can't benefit from most of the codex's detachments or stratagems.  In fact the only detachment that they can benefit from is the Ynnari one. . . which comes with its own issues.  So as I brainstorm how to do this, I've reached the following conclusions about the methods of Corsair army building.

 

 

Version #1: Actually using just Corsairs without the Ynnari Detachment

 

Since Voidreavers are Battleline, you can take up to six squads of ten (plus an additional maximum of three squads/30 Voidscarred), so you can actually build out a decent number of infantry models for an army.  Characters for an army are slightly more problematic, however.  The Farseer's Guide ability keys off AELDARI (not ASURYANI), so Corsair squads can benefit from it -- but they can't join a unit, so they're vulnerable to enemy attacks.  Autarchs -- which would otherwise make good conversion fodder for a Corsair Prince -- are of even less use since both of their abilities really want them to be leading a squad, but again they are not allowed to attach to Corsairs.  The only characters I've found that can actually attach to Corsairs are the Visarch & Yvraine, but if you take them in a non-Ynnari detachment you can't take, say, Eldrad for the CP battery.  Thematically, the Visarch makes for one hell of a lethal Corsair Prince!

 

All that being said, the best Detachment to take for them is, I believe, actually not in the codex.  I like the Armored Warhost from the Grotsmas calendar for this build.  Non-Ynnari Corsairs can ride in both the Falcon & Wave Serpent, and they can benefit from both the War Walker's Crystalline Targeting and the Vyper's Harassment Fire.  And while the Corsairs don't have Battle Focus, all of these vehicles do.  You'll want a psyker character or two to pick up the Enhancements (the Spirit Stone of Raelyth turns any Farseer into a Bonesinger, so that's an excuse to use that old model if you have it).  And, the Detachment's stratagems target the vehicles so you can actually use your CP on something other than the generic stratagems.

 

 

Variant #2: Using Corsairs in the Ynnari Detachment

 

So the other option is to run the Corsairs as Ynnari.  This has the advantage that your Corsairs themselves can benefit from your stratagems!  This has the disadvantage that your Corsairs can no longer ride in any APCs!  That's right, Falcons & Serpents have a "No Ynnari Allowed (unless you're a character)" rule, and the Drukhari Raider (which becomes available in the Ynnari detachment) only carries Drukhari units.  So there's a bit of thematic coolness in that you can pick up some Dark Kin -- common enough when it comes to pirate raiding -- but you also take a big mobility hit.  Because of the APC issue, I think the only way to run this is to supplement them with other infantry, and probably Drukhari ones (again for the theme) though you could include Rangers or Guardian units if you really want to.

 

 

Variant #3: No Corsair units, just proxies

 

If you want to play Corsairs without needing to maneuver through the keyword hurdles that come with fielding Corsairs, you could proxy some.  At this point, the sky's the limit on what units you can proxy as Corsairs -- I'm sure someone has come up with some killer conversions of Avengers or Swooping Hawks or whatnot -- but the units that really the most "Corsair-y" of the standard Craftworld list are Guardians, Vypers, and War Walkers.  Coincidentally, most of these unit types see a huge buff from the Guardian Battlehost Detachment.  I'm not going to harp on the options here because you can basically do anything you want.

 

 

So yeah, those are the ways of building a Corsair army that I could work out.  Did I miss anything?  Do you have any preferences?

[Bouargh]

I understand as I usted to have the same target.

 

One point you might have missed is the rumored corsair faction that is tuning around...

 

But rumours are just and only that.

 

Anyway, I may face the same dilemna, eventually. My own approach might be to base it through proxies into a Drukharii list instead of Aeldarii. For me this fits better to the theme as set into the old FW campaign book. Of course without any Haemonculus covent unit....

 

Yet, as my current modelling rhythm has slowed down a lot, that might do I would not do anything related to pointy ears too soon... even if I have enough models on sprues. I even consider recasters for ooP models.

Edited March 5 by Bouargh

[Crimson Longinus]

On 3/4/2025 at 12:08 AM, Iron Father Ferrum said:

First and foremost, neither of the two types of Corsairs have Battle Focus so right off the bat they don't benefit from the army rule. . . which seems odd. 

 

It is super weird, and I see zero justification for it. I suspected it would have been a mistake, but so far FAQ has not corrected it.

 

On 3/4/2025 at 12:08 AM, Iron Father Ferrum said:

The only characters I've found that can actually attach to Corsairs are the Visarch & Yvraine, but if you take them in a non-Ynnari detachment you can't take, say, Eldrad for the CP battery.  Thematically, the Visarch makes for one hell of a lethal Corsair Prince!

 

I don't think you can even take Ynnari characters outside Ynnari detachment at the moment as disparate paths only works on Harlequins not on Ynnari...

 

On 3/4/2025 at 12:08 AM, Iron Father Ferrum said:

This has the disadvantage that your Corsairs can no longer ride in any APCs!  That's right, Falcons & Serpents have a "No Ynnari Allowed (unless you're a character)"

 

So I don't think it actually works like this. Units gain Ynnari keyword, but the models don't, and the limitation is about models. Could use a FAQ to clarify for sure though.

 

 

 

[Crimson Longinus]

On 3/4/2025 at 8:11 PM, Bouargh said:

One point you might have missed is the rumored corsair faction that is tuning around...

 

But rumours are just and only that.

 

Was the rumour that they would be a separate faction? I remember just hearing about couple of new units...

 

 

[Iron Father Ferrum]

If they want to give us a Corsair detachment, I'd smile happily.

[Trokair]

Are any of the Legend options worth considering?

 

I seem to recall that things like the Wasp was a Corsair flavoured Warwalker.

Edited Friday at 10:49 AM by Trokair

[Bouargh]

6 hours ago, Trokair said:

Are any of the Legend options worth considering?l.

 

I seem to recall that things like the Wasp was a Corsair flavoured Warwalker.

It is a good point. Yet the risk with legends is to be locked into friendly games only. There are a few recasters offering bits or ooP models but not so much. Wasp walker and corsair jetbikes are the easiest to source... Infantery is more tricky.

 

[ThePenitentOne]

I was going to recommend Legends- Yriel, Cloud Dancers and Voidreavers are there.

 

Easy enough to convert. By yeah, if you play pickup games at venues that exclude Legends, or if you really enjoy tournament play that may not be an option.

 

Either way, Corsairs SHOULD be expanded. A Yriel/ generic commander dual build would be nice. And I think you'd want a detachment built for them. 

[Crimson Longinus]

So, it seems Corsairs got Battle Focus in the new FAQ.

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Crimson Longinus

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Well that helps!  I may need to rethink this rant.

[TheMawr]

If you play with legends rules, the autarch on jetbike can now also lead cloud dancers.