Scourge Privateers

[Thundercake]

Maybe this belongs in Order instead. I dunno, if it's wrong, move me.

Anyway, with the recent rumor engine, Shadows over Hammerhal, and people talking Wanderers, I got curious about Scourge Privateers.

Where can I find background information on them in the Age of Sigmar? Is there anything out besides what is in the Hammerhal stuff?

[Double Misfire]

There's a page describing them in the Grand Alliance Order book and they're featured heavily in the recent AoS Novel City of Secrets, check it out:

http://www.blacklibrary.com/new-titles/warhammer-age-of-sigmar/city-of-secrets.html

[DantePQ]

There is any news of Wanderers. I wonder what happened to Araloth and his Elven kingdom. 

[Thundercake]

2 minutes ago, DantePQ said:

There is any news of Wanderers. I wonder what happened to Araloth and his Elven kingdom. 

Sorry, didn't mean there was news. Just people talking about playing them and what a good list is.

[Captain Marius]

My old corsairs are waiting patiently a rebase and repaint if the SPs are whats coming up for the Aelves, i enjoyed painting the fleetmaster from hammerhal, but currently the faction is a bit lacking...

[shinros]

5 minutes ago, DantePQ said:

There is any news of Wanderers. I wonder what happened to Araloth and his Elven kingdom. 

The haven Lileath set up got owned by chaos during the end times it's gone. Wanderer's are separate from all of that, they are aelf nomads that are connecting the ley lines of life magic to bring life to the mortal realms. 

[Oppenheimer]

I spent a lot of time and money on a Scourge Privateers army. Let me tell you: don't waste your time. Sure they look cool but they are not competitive. They have 5+ all over their profiles. The Kharibdyss is inferior to the hydra. Their heroes are cheap but only 5 wounds. The army just crumbles and can't get any momentum. I've lost a unit of 30 corsairs in one round in 2 out of my 3 games.

The only thing that's good besides them being low points is the Realm Reavers batalion. But, it's not enough to carry their army.

[Old Stonebeard]

If you haven't seen it, the only "background" we have on them is a page in the Grand Alliance: Order book. Besides that, everything's in the Hammerhal supplements- as you've seen- and, as others have said, they play a role in City of Secrets.

Unfortunately, almost none of that really provides enough narrative "meat" to theme an army around.

- Alex

[Kyriakin]

Too many of the rules require 1/6 chance (i.e. rolling a 6) along with other things to gain a positive effect.

• Kharibdyss killing with a certain weapon then needing to roll a 6 to regenerate one wound.

• Corsairs needing to force a battleshock and then roll a 6 to remove an additional model.

• The chariot needing to target a monster and roll a 6 to gain its D3>D6 advantage in shooting.

In addition, the kharybdyss wound table is brutal (0-1, 2-3, 4-5, etc.) and the range of the corsair crossbows is pretty pathetic. Plus, no mortal wounds, barely any rend, zero magic and no unbinding.

[Gaz Taylor]

I've just moved this topic as it's pretty much going on the way how the Privateers work.  

5 minutes ago, Kyriakin said:

Too many of the rules require 1/6 chance (i.e. rolling a 6) along with other things to gain a positive effect.

• Kharibdyss killing with a certain weapon then needing to roll a 6 to regenerate one wound.

• Corsairs needing to force a battleshock and then roll a 6 to remove an additional model.

• The chariot needing to target a monster and roll a 6 to gain its D3>D6 advantage in shooting.

In addition, the kharybdyss wound table is brutal (0-1, 2-3, 4-5, etc.) and the range of the corsair crossbows is pretty pathetic. Plus, no mortal wounds, barely any rend, zero magic and no unbinding.

Agree 100% with this. I know this is a common mechanic across the Warscrolls but it does seem to effect the Privateers more than other factions. I'm hoping they get bundled together with some of the other Aelf models to create cool raiding parties, but I think we are waiting on the big reveal to do with Aelves in general before we see this.

[DantePQ]

18 hours ago, shinros said:

The haven Lileath set up got owned by chaos during the end times it's gone. Wanderer's are separate from all of that, they are aelf nomads that are connecting the ley lines of life magic to bring life to the mortal realms. 

was it confimred that it's gone I guess it was Belakor that seen that haven and Lileath lost connection with it, but it doesn't mean it's gone. 

[Oppenheimer]

3 hours ago, DantePQ said:

was it confimred that it's gone I guess it was Belakor that seen that haven and Lileath lost connection with it, but it doesn't mean it's gone. 

Exactly. We don't know what Belakor did with that information. It's not like him to just destroy it. He's not Khorne.

[DantePQ]

Also isn't he  still trapped inside of stone ? 

I guess Araloth and Haven and Belakor makes for awesome story arc plus ghosts of Bretonnian Knights 

[Aezeal]

8 hours ago, Kyriakin said:

Too many of the rules require 1/6 chance (i.e. rolling a 6) along with other things to gain a positive effect.

• Kharibdyss killing with a certain weapon then needing to roll a 6 to regenerate one wound.

• Corsairs needing to force a battleshock and then roll a 6 to remove an additional model.

• The chariot needing to target a monster and roll a 6 to gain its D3>D6 advantage in shooting.

In addition, the kharybdyss wound table is brutal (0-1, 2-3, 4-5, etc.) and the range of the corsair crossbows is pretty pathetic. Plus, no mortal wounds, barely any rend, zero magic and no unbinding.

They are not meant to be played alone, that is obvious. Just use all dark aelves you have.

[Oppenheimer]

4 hours ago, Aezeal said:

They are not meant to be played alone, that is obvious. Just use all dark aelves you have.

I'm afraid that's not obvious. Why do they have a battleline if Scourge Privateers only if you're never meant to play them that way.

[Aezeal]

36 minutes ago, Oppenheimer said:

I'm afraid that's not obvious. Why do they have a battleline if Scourge Privateers only if you're never meant to play them that way.

Meant .. meant.. maybe to strong a word.. anyway GW meant us to play the game without points. They gave you the option.. yes.. but with the numbers of faction they split aelves in they just didn't leave any well rounded factions which have more than a handfull of units  and which cover all roles (except wanderers) an army needs. It's just not very smart to play them solo. I'd just consider them sort of specialized (or thematic) detachment which can form an army. Taking only one part of an army doesn't make it well rounded.

[Percivael]

I love the aesthetic of the Corsairs. I play a maritime themed mixed dark Aelves army (with some Seraphon Thralls) I've got all of the scourge privateers units and unfortunately they are the worst units in the army - they are just frustrating. The Kharibdyss should have a lot better warscroll than it does - it was a strength 7 monster in 8th. That awesome central head should have its own attacks with 3 damage, -2 rend. 

I really hope they do encorporate the Corsairs into the new sea Aelves they've been teasing. And take the opportunity to improve those warscrolls!

[Kramer]

@Percivael It's a shame isn't it. Even supported with the Fleetmasters command ability 20 of them could only kill 8 clanrats last week. 

A 4+ 5+ for an elf is... underwhelming. Even with the 4+ 4+ attack next to it they (as we say in Dutch) couldn't strike a dent in a bar of butter

But they are very cool looking. 

[Kyriakin]

Although they have aged pretty well and have the AoS dynamism, I am not convinced the Corsairs would still cut it within a largely new faction anymore.

For a low-overhead FEC/Seraphon situation, I think they are still good enough. But alongside a large investment (i.e. with many new models), a brand new battleline release may be required. Ditto the chariot, which never felt nautical to me.

However, I think the Kharibdyss and BAF could still carry over OK, like a few of the existing Sylvaneth units did.

EDIT: I should have made it clearer that the above was regarding the miniatures, rather than the concept/rules.

[Aezeal]

11 minutes ago, Kyriakin said:

Although they have aged pretty well and have the AoS dynamism, I am not convinced the Corsairs would still cut it within a largely new faction anymore.

For a low-overhead FEC/Seraphon situation, I think they are still good enough. But alongside a large investment (i.e. with many new models), a brand new battleline release may be required. Ditto the chariot, which never felt nautical to me.

However, I think the Kharibdyss and BAF could still carry over OK, like a few of the existing Sylvaneth units did.

All the units need is a few point drops to be competative. But the faction as a whole is just to small and not well rounded so needs to be played with other darkelves or other order stuff.

[Circus of Paint]

From what I gather (I'm not much of a gamer myself but I do read the Warscrolls to see how they synergise) - like most of the mini-factions, Scourge Privateers seem to suffer just as much from the current Allegiance rules as they do for having supposedly sub-par rules as individual units.

I get why Corsairs are Battleline-only for pure SP armies, but hopefully GW will start making more flexible Warscroll Battalions that can "slot" these mini-factions into more thematically flexible armies. 

I quite like the idea of Realm Reavers making some of the following changes;

-  The Corsairs in that count as Battleline. Simple.

-  The Kharibdyss and Scourgerunner Chariots are optional, instead adding the option for any additional number of additional SP units.

-  The Fleetmaster(s) can use his Command Ability even if he is not the general. Fleetmasters aren't supposed to be leader material anyway.

Something like that anyway, would encourage Order players to take at least a small number of SP units (which synergise with each other but nothing else), but also not be punished for not going SP-exclusive?

[Kewldown]

Hi guys,
A fair warning I write walls not posts, so this is a long read but I hope it helps.
I might write an indepth analysis of the units as I feel I could still talk alot more haha.

I am relatively new to age of sigmar I've played less than 20 games and about 10 games of Scourge Privateers, so my expertise is limited,

However I will say Scourge Privateers are better than people give them credit. As odd as it sounds underestimation seems to be a strong point for Scourge Privateers. People look at the unit stat lines and throw their big models at them to crush them and this is how we take them down! This will only fool them for 1-2 rounds tops but that can be all too late. I have even managed to down Behemoths like terrorghiest quite comfortably in 1 round so they have the killing power, its just a little situational and undwhelming in comparison to other armies.

I would simply say if you like the theme of pirate-esque monster hunters these guys are great, if your looking for something highly competetive prehaps move along.

Today I ran a full flavour list with them at a 1000pt tournament (I was so committed I even took the allegiance, this was a mistake). I came 5th out of 12 players in which the top 3 players were playing much more competitive lists.

All in all I came to some conclusions and maybe other players might find this information useful.

• Im going to break down how each unit performed for me but for those who don't want to read the whole thing heres a summary.
  
  Taking them as Scourge Privateers is largely underwhelming.
  The Realm Reaver Battalion is beautiful for so many reasons.
  As a battleline Black Arc Corsairs have very little staying power, this in itself is problematic.
  The Scourgerunner Chariot, performed acceptably but was underwhelming at delivering the monster slaying potential I hoped for.
  Black Arc Fleetmasters are affordable but lack any true survivability or true killing potential.
  Finally the Kharibdyss is more like a weird Japanese paper weight, with a glass cannon threat level unless your fighting a relatively "Weak" unit.
  Overall the models are just okay, and they only excel at defeating units with the "Monster" trait or Low Bravery.
  
  My Overall Soloution: Play them as Order.
  Scourge Privateers are great "Monster" slayers and for the most part acceptable harrasment units.
  They have no staying power, this is resolvable with some of the below models to build a more well rouned army.
  
  Liberators are a great battleline when kitted out with Warswords and Shields, they tarpit well and are still capable of dealing some damage.
  Take an Eldritch Council Archmage to back that your units up, just adds a bit more staying power.
  Grand Alliance Order Allegience abilities are too good to pass up so why should you?
   
• Black Ark Fleetmaster may have fabulous hair but he doesn't do much on his own. Effectively a complete support unit which I think is quite weak for a general.
  
  My solution was to get him under Order rather than Scourge Privateers. Granting him some nice bonuses. In my store we roll for the Command Trait so I don't really care much for it but Master of Defence is my preference. I then either take Relic Blade or Talisman of Blinding Light as my artifact depending on how I intend to play him.
   
• Black Arc Corsairs have great looking armour but Jesus they are wearing cardboard boxes and fighting with spoons, the most damage I got out of a 10 man unit was 9 wounds, and I more often was doing about 3-5 wounds, before they got thrown off the table in a singular round. Overall I found their close combat underwhelming.
  
  My solution was simple, I'll take the crappy ranged crossbows and put a small unit in front, This worked better than expected, however corsairs are quite "light" in terms of protection. The next game I play I am going to run the Liberators as a battline to tar pit for me instead of the Black Arc Corsairs.
  
  In the 1000pt tournament I played, I took 20 Crossbow corsairs as a ranged "support" unit and 10 Wicked cutlass corsairs to act as a tar pit, and they proved quite deadly, honestly I was surprised. I expected them to just lay a little ranged support to soften my opponent up/whittle the down and walk away. However when coupled with the Black Arc Fleetmasters command trait, they were quite comfortably dealing 12+ wounds a turn.
   
• Scourgerunner Chariot, its got wheels, harpoons, horses and fabulous capes but for all its promise its just a little lacking.
  
  Occasionally It crippled a "Monster" but really its not predictable/reliable. It was nippy and it had a reasonable amount of ranged firepower but not enough to take out entire units, I found it a capable hero hunter/point control tool.
  
  My solution was odd. Basically Ignore the D6, its just not going to happen as often as you would like. However I found this model to be very good at harassing and picking off weaker strategic locations. It spent most of its time 16" away from the weakest protected strategy marker on the board shooting at it and charging in on at it on turn 3-5 picking up the point and killing the remainder of the unit. if you have a spare 300pts I would say the reliability of this model dealing D6 wounds a turn is significantly increased and that's also not the worst way to spend the points, although personally I will not be doing so.
   
• Kharibdyss if only you was as strong as you look and as tough as your name is to pronounce, you would make me so happy.
  
  Really this guy is a battalion tax. Honestly I've had no lasting joy from him. He's very charge dependant, luckily he has some tools to give him the edge. This guy is effectively a 200pt coin toss.
  Positive: He will kill 75% of a unit. Quite comfortably and even more so with the Realm Reavers Battalion and the Black Arc Fleetmasters Command Ability. Afterwards what remains will simply run from battleshock.
  Negative: He will get charged. After which he will exist only to drive the bleeding stubs of his limbs into the enemy that charged him, (he will do about 4 wounds at best once hes taken more than 5 wounds himself, rapid deterioration aye) before promptly dying.
  
  Solution??? I got nothing, honestly, the best I can say is try and get the alpha strike with him, flank other models don't rely on that absolute abysmal chance of regeneration. Try and keep him close enough to the action that you can make use of his scream. I mean honestly he looks so promising on paper but he just doesn't seem to deliver. I will admit in the 1k tournament I took 2 of this guy (trying to get some work out of him), In some games, they were much more relevant than others, they picked apart units by having the slightly more reliable distance on the charge, but honestly its too much of a gamble for me to recommend. Personally I find them a tar pit model that I try to trade for either a hero or a unit when the chance arrives.
   
• Finally the Realm Reavers Battalion.
  Honestly this is awesome, like just so wonderful. It offers so much for its cost, and it makes every Scourge Privateer unit just a little more valuable. It means your chariot can move a minimum of 25" in a turn. In means a full unit of crossbow Black Arc Corsairs can unleash an astonishing 160 arrows a turn. It means the Kharibdyss can "potentially" heal twice as much a turn (more realistically kill something a turn). The only drawback is the impressively short range, so positioning of your Black Arc Fleetmaster is actually very crucial.
  
  Also the second part, which is very powerful considering the amount of "monsters" in the game. Couple this with the Black Ark Fleetmasters Command ability and I was comfortably killing a monster with a single unit every round, honestly most behemoths and all monsters were off the table by round 2 latest, was utterly disgusting.

[Circus of Paint]

More army composition suggestions;

- Change Battleline criteria for Corsairs from SCOURGE PRIVATEERS to AELF (or EXIlES - see below)

OR

- As I may of suggested before, remove their current Battleline status and give it to the Corsairs only in a Realm Reavers Battalion. (As far as I know, there aren't any other Battalions currently that change army composition, so I think this suggestion is a bit radical in that regard).

- Add a cheap Beastmaster HERO option (looking at the badass one with the sea-beast cloak from the Scourgerunner Chariot). Could easily be a cheap buffer support piece for any MONSTERS (the Kharibdyss especially!)

- Also, didn't all the Dark Elves (pre-GA books) use to have the keyword EXILES or something like that? They should add that back in for all SCOURGE PRIVATEERS, DARKLING COVENS, ORDER SERPENTIS, DAUGHTERS OF KHAINE and SHADOWBLADES units. That way you could take an pre-AoS "Dark Elf" army using EXILES as an Allegiance (which should unlock basic units like Corsairs and Dark Riders as Battleline).

....I'm probably starting to veer off-topic now, but these sort of changes would take me from "I really like the look of these guys" to "I need at least a few units of them!...

My WHQ Fleetmaster is kinda lonely on his own...

[Cyric The Mad]

I was also reading some rules about Scourge Privateers and Im curious about some stuff.

First of all, as far as I can see, Lokhir Fellheart does not have a Scourge Privateers keyword but he has
Black Ark Fleetmaster keyword. In this case is it legal to get Lokhir while having a Scourge Privateers allegience?

My second question is how his command ability "Take Them Alive!" and "Notorious Raiders" would work together.
Do Lokhirs abiility just buff notorious raiders ability and make it 4+ ? Or do we roll seperately for "Thake them Alive!"
and "Notorious Raiders" ?

Thank you!

Cyric

[Kyriakin]

5 hours ago, Cyric The Mad said:

My second question is how his command ability "Take Them Alive!" and "Notorious Raiders" would work together.
Do Lokhirs abiility just buff notorious raiders ability and make it 4+ ? Or do we roll seperately for "Thake them Alive!"
and "Notorious Raiders" ?

I always took it as making two separate attempts (i.e. one for 4+ and then one for 6+, or visa-versa), with the "rule of one" applicable to each.