Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Denizens of Commorragh (Kabalite Warriors)

Continuing the series on Dark Eldar, discussing Kabalite Warriors was past due. Dark Eldar have a very unique selection of troop choices to pick from including two units that can become troop selections.

Our dark eldar warriors come with some of the best troop choice stat lines in the 40k universe.

Kabalite Warriors come with BS4 WS4 S3 T3 I5 A1 W1 Ld 8 Sv5+. A very flexible squad size of 5-20, they come with splinter rifles and kabalite armour, with the following special rules; fleet, night vision, and power from pain. One Kabalite Warrior can replace his splinter rifle with a shredder or a blaster. In addition for ever ten models in the squad, one warrior may upgrade his rifle with a splinter cannon or dark lance. If our warriors number 10 or less they can take a Raider dedicated transport or a Venom dedicated transport if they number 5 or less. Just a side note, that Dark Lances are very expensive point wise (25 each) in warrior units.

Upgrading one Kabalite Warrior to a Sybarite grants you one extra attack and gives you a Leadership 9. They get some nice options. Their splinter rifle can be replaced with a both a splinter pistol and close combat weapon for no charge. Following that, you can replace your pistol with a blast pistol, and your close combat weapons with either a venom blade, power weapon, or agonizer. A sybarite is also able to take ghostplate armour or a phantasm grenade launcher.

Kabalite Warriors are a very flexible unit, able to be molded into many different forms on the battlefield. They can be set up in small 5 man Venom units all the way up to 20 man ground infantry. Here is several unit set ups that I see being used.

5 Warriors in a Venom. Here you take a blaster and upgrade your Sybarites pistol to a Blast Pistol. The Venom obviously takes a second splinter cannon. You now have two blaster weapons S8 lance AP2 in the unit, and the venom takes care of infantry with 12 shots. You can use these as types of units as forward armor breakers, flanking units, or last minute objective grabbers.

10 Warriors with a Raider. Here you are either taking a splinter cannon and riding the raider, or a dark lance and letting the raider fly solo. You also have the blaster options above. I see many people that will be using 10 man warrior units, however it's not my favorite. I prefer either the 5 man version above, or the 20 man unit below. The only way I would be using 10 man warrior squads is if they are advancing in raiders with a splinter cannon, blaster and blast pistol. Even then the list would really need to call for it, as I see this sized unit sub par unless your deep striking raiders which I haven't playtested yet.

20 Warriors. This along with the 5 man units are my favorite. You are durable because of your numbers. You can take two dark lances or splinter cannons at this size. Dark Eldar are most often very rich in targets, and 20 warriors in cover are not a very enticing target for most things, and I have found that these units don't often get shot at. Make sure you get your sybarite here for the leadership 9. 20 warriors with Splinter Cannons are my favorite, as it allows for great flexibility in movement and staying in cover. Need that objective 6" out and away from cover, its easy, just move part of your unit to reach out and grab it, leaving the rest in cover. Splinter Cannons with their long ranges are excellent, as you can move or remain stationary and still put down a decent hail of firepower. Using 2 Dark Lances here is also a good option for the same reasons above, except your are firing two Dark Lances every round and may be armed with a blaster and blast pistol as well.

Kabalite Warriors are a very flexible unit in your army. Need heavy weapons, you got em. Need a hail of anti infantry fire, you got it. Need a very mobile unit capable of taking down the heaviest tanks, we have the answer for you. Get a pain token on a 20 man unit, and watch the frustration on your opponent as he tries to take em down

Before you go loading yourself up with Hellions and Wracks, or even Wyches, take a close look at warriors. They fit so well into the Dark Eldar army, it's hard not to take them.