My favorite part of the Dark Eldar have always been the Kabals, and my massive Raider fleet loaded with splinter cannons. Here we are getting our first preview of the Kabals.
via the Warhammer Community
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/03/27/codex-drukhari-preview-the-kabalsgw-homepage-post-3/
Kabals are the closest thing Commorragh has to a standing army – part militant cell, part crime family, part macabre hunting lodge. It’s the Kabals that hold the majority of the political power in Commorragh, not to mention the firepower, and the vast majority of realspace raids will feature at least one Archon and his chosen warriors.
In Codex: Drukhari, your Kabal Detachments will form the backbone of your army, and you’ll be able to choose from no less than four Drukhari Obsessions to dedicate them to – or combine them with a variety of devious strategies…
As the most powerful Kabal, the forces of the Kabal of the Black Heart benefit from treating Power From Pain as one turn higher than it’d usually be. In practice, this allows you to re-roll Advance and charge moves from the very first turn, which opens up all sorts of insidious tactical possibilities. We’d recommend deploying as much of your army as possible in reserve on Raiders, deploying them with Screaming Jets, then charging each Raider into the softest of your opponent’s infantry in order to help screen them from shooting in the next turn, or to deny a more dangerous unit a shooting attack!
Speaking of Stratagems, if you’re looking to make the most of your Command Points, you’ll find this Kabal ideal thanks to the Labyrinthine Cunning command trait.
In short, the Kabal of the Black Heart is the ideal choice if you want to beat your foes through cunning and clever manoeuvring.
One of the most fun things about playing a Drukhari army is poisoned weaponry. What Toughness is the opponent you’re shooting at? Who cares? You’re wounding them on a 4+ anyway (just watch out for vehicles). Monsters and swarms of infantry alike have a lot to fear from massed splinter rifle fire. If you’re looking to make the most of your poisoned weapons, look no further than the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue. It gets better when you mount up in Raiders, thanks to the return of splinter racks – a simple upgrade that makes this vehicle even more effective as a shooting platform.
Even Characters aren’t safe from your splinter weapons thanks to Soul-seeker, a powerful Artefact of Cruelty that’s ideal for slaying enemy leaders.
This is the ideal Kabal for a traditional Drukhari army; pack as many gunboats as you can and unleash a salvo of splinters on your foes (just make sure to include a couple of dark lances while you’re at it…).
If you’re mounting your army in Transports, you’ll want to make sure to check out the Kabal of the Flayed Skull.
Not only will units firing from Transports be more accurate, but your flying units will be able to negate any cover. We’d recommend taking a couple of Razorwing Jetfighters to take full advantage of this. Should anyone try to challenge your aerial superiority, shoot them down with Masters of the Shadowed Sky.
You’ll get the most out of your Kabal of the Flayed Skull by mounting multiple small units of Kabalite Warriors in Venoms armed with a blaster per unit. As well as offering you loads of Command Points, you’ll be able to benefit from the much-improved weapon profile for this powerful darklight gun.
It’s effectively now an Assault krak missile launcher. For less than 20 points, it’s a steal, but if you’re feeling particularly insidious, take a blast pistol on as many Characters as you can. Having received a similar enhancement, you’ll be able to win any duels your Characters find themselves in by disintegration – the true Commorrite way. If you want to go all-out, Scourges have received a points reduction. Though a unit with four blasters and a blast pistol won’t benefit from your Kabal Obsession, they will certainly melt any armour they come across.
Don’t fancy fielding loads of vehicles? Don’t worry – there’s a Kabal for that. By using the Kabal of the Obsidian Rose, you’ll be able to protect your Kabalites by keeping them at range while benefiting from Rapid Fire at 15″ (not to mention 24″ blasters and 42″ dark lances).
We’d recommend using larger units of 20 Kabalite Warriors. You’d think this would make you vulnerable to a bad Morale test, but well, this is where things get fun.
For a mere Command Point, you’ll be able to transform a potentially devastating failed Morale test into a huge swing in your favour – and best of all, you only need to slay a single model not to fail!
Meanwhile, Kabal of the Obsidian Rose Archons are nothing short of nightmarish to displace. If you didn’t think trying to break a shadowfield was hard enough, consider if you also had to reckon with -1 to your hit rolls?
The Armour of Misery indeed! For extra fun, keep a few Sslyth nearby to intercept the wounds that do get through…
With these Kabals on your side, you’ll have a terrifying number of ways to destroy your enemies – and if you can’t pick which one you like the best, you can just stack up Patrol Detachments. You can kick off your Kabal with a set of Kabalite Warriors. Come back tomorrow, when for even more insights into the new Drukhari codex.
