Following the pattern from 500 Worlds, today Games Workshop have released updated Faction Packs for all the armies getting new models and rules in The Maelstrom, which goes up for preorder on Saturday.

Unsurprisingly, there's a host of new units and Detachments for Aeldari and Chaos Space Marines to cover their respective Corsairs, plus an extra Detachment each for any Ork or Votann players who are hearing the call of the privateer lifestyle.

This article covers the new/updated Datasheets. If you'd like to check out the new Detachments, our articles on each of those are linked below:

For this Datasheet review, I'm joined by Sky Serpent to help unpick the Aeldari Corsairs, especially their role in Drukhari, while TheChirurgeon will be covering the Red Corsair side of things.

Before we dive in we'd like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of these rules and points for Review Purposes.

Edit: The update has also dropped a couple of surprise changes/balance tweaks:

Grizzled Company Astra Militarum lost their re-roll 1s to Wound against targets on objectives. This detachment is up there for best non-Necron list in the game, and has completely eclipsed all other Militarum options, so dialing it back a bit makes sense.
Infernal Puppetteer in Scintillating Legion got wording cleared up to ensure it can be activated correctly but also now requires the unit you're using as a proxy to be visible to the model with the Enhancement. This means you need to work a bit harder to operate it from safety, and probably increases the proportion of builds that run a 6-Screamer squad. You only need to be able to see the unit you want to puppetteer via, not the specific model, so a long, strung out squad is now extra valuable.

Both of these seem fine in the abstract, but should definitely have been accompanied by a big point hike on C'tan, and without that it just makes Necrons even better.

Aeldari Corsairs

Wings: Time to sail the starry seas, as a decent wave of Corsair reinforcements hits the Aeldari faction alongside The Maelstrom. The timing is welcome - Aeldari are in a rough spot, and the good headline news is that there’s some real potential here. There's no Datasheet quite as strong as Huron's superfriends, but my take here is that Aeldari get one 10/10 guaranteed-to-see play Datasheet, two that are very good, one probably good, and only one dud. Poor Vyper, you were too good in ninth and haven’t been forgiven yet. Build the new kit as the Starfang.

Sky Serpent: This is an incredible new model release with miniatures full of awesome, piratical flavour and their rules don’t disappoint either. I’ll be taking a look at what this release means for the Drukhari in an Appendage and how the smorgasbord of new options can benefit Commorrite raiding parties.

Prince Yriel

Source: Warhammer Community

Wings: Yriel is a terrifying melee threat only partially kept in check by who he can attach to, which is obviously the two foot Corsair units. He’s got a standard Aeldari defensive profile with an extra wound, but has the good grace to be very nasty on the offence - the legendary Spear of Twilight swings five times at S7 AP-3 D3 Lance, which is an extremely real profile, and you definitely want Yriel leading a unit, because he grants it +1 to hit and Sustained Hits 1 while doing so. He also gets three very close range D2 shots with his Eye of Wrath as well, and his overall setup is pretty nasty into enemy elite Infantry.

In terms of how to use him, you almost certainly just take an MSU of Corsair Voidreavers to provide him with Sustained and hit re-rolls, and use that combined package as a trade piece. He has Scouts 7” so you can still do some pre-game staging with them, and at 95pts on his Datasheet the overall cost to set that up is 160pts, which isn’t terrible given the numbers (and appreciably cheaper than an Autarch/Banshee unit, which is what it needs to clear, though maybe not by enough). He does also still provide a pre-game redeploy, which never goes too far amiss for setting up Infiltrators. I don’t think it’s completely out of the question that he’s good with a full Voidreaver squad - at 10 models, you get two Blasters and a Wraithcannon, and his Sustained is at range as well, and it’ll all be at 2s re-rolling 1s, so you do suddenly threaten to trade up hard if your opponent has non-invuln toys kicking around.

I think I would like Yriel to be 5-10pts cheaper, but he’s grown on me a bit the more I look at him. The basic issue he has (and this covers a lot of the Corsair rules) is that he’s written like a 10-model Voidscarred unit is a scary thing, not a bit of a joke at 160pts, but Voidreavers being a cheap way to turn on his abilities is a definite saving grace, and non-Aspect Host Aeldari builds are always starved for any good offence with re-rolls that isn’t just Fire Dragons.

Kharseth

Credit: Warhammer Community

Wings: Pirate Space Wizard why not. Kharseth is a mixed utility and buff piece, who again attaches to the two foot Corsair units (and has Scout), and is again going to be running around with a MSU of Voidreavers a lot of the time. Before we hit stats, Kharseth has the very high value utility ability of a 12” anti-Reserves bubble - only from themselves, not their unit, but this is still something Aeldari have been desperately missing, and as a faction they’re particularly weak to 6” Deep Strikes, so this is a very good addition to the range.

Combat-wise, defensively they’re a foot Farseer, while offensively they have a high volume D1 Anti-Infantry 2+ gun that hits at a decent AP-2 Ignore Cover, so will chip anything that’s footslogging. Once the foe has been hit by this, the buff switches on, which is that the rest of your army gets +1S against that target for the rest of the turn. That means it’s now time for a fun memory game of whether we can remember anything good in the Aeldari Codex that really wants +1S. The good news is that there are a couple of solid answers to this, and they’re in the builds that are potentially interested in this guy more broadly. You can get some big value from pushing Dire Avenger Shurikens up to S5, and D-Scythes and full Warlock Conclave Flamers both hit at S7, and would love to be S8.

This makes Kharseth immediately of interest in all the slightly janky tier 2 Aeldari plans that I love so dearly. Guardian Battlehost loves amping up the Shurikens they use for output, Wraith Host enjoys the extra Psyker and buff to D-scythes (and also Ghostaxe melee), and Seer Council, my favourite of the bunch, adores this new addition. Unlike Shadowseers, Kharseth does have the Asuryani Faction Keyword, so can be used to trigger all the Stratagems, sets up your big Conclave bombs with the buff, and stops your army faceplanting if your opponent remembered to bring a couple units of Deathshroud Terminators.

They’re not cheap, also checking in at Yriel’s 95pts, and Aeldari are in rough place, but Kharseth does so much for all the strategies that are nipping at the heels of playable that I very much expect to see them in the builds that break through to X-1s and the odd 5-0. The S boost is also appealing to Drukhari, but I’ll let Paulie cover that in the Sky Serpent Zone.

Corsair Skyreavers

Wings: We’ve had multiple rounds of nerfs trying to clamp down on how cheap Aeldari are allowed to get small, fast units that score and move block, so there’s an extent to which I could just tell you that these are 75pts for a 5-model unit, have Deep Strike and Scouts 7”/M12” and you and I would both know that they’d see a lot of play even if they were armed with wet pool noodles.

This is probably a good thing because on some level they kind of are - the default loadout on them is a melee weapon with 3A at S4 AP-2 D1, and that’s the kind of profile that has never been good since Marines got a second wound. However, you can give two per 5 a special weapon, and while you can’t take duplicates, you can take a fusion gun and a blaster, and they have Grenades, so they’ve got the tools to occasionally seize the moment and make the opponent cry. They also have a neat ability that at the end of the Fight Phase, if they were eligible to Fight, they can either Fall Back d3+3” or make an equivalent Normal Move if they’re not engaged. While they are mediocre in a fight, the combined output of a Grenade, shooting and their melee will probably clear a unit of Flayed Ones or something, after which you can hopefully set up to consolidate towards an objective then jump a wall or off an area plate (minimum 4” on the move is very helpful). Definitely feels valuable on UKTC boards, and probably does some work on GW too. Slightly less good in a world where some enemy Infiltrators are Chaos Chosen-equivalents now, but you work with what you’ve got.

Ultimately, while they will not fulfil the apparent dream of you wanting these as a real melee unit, they’re a really good utility piece for 75pts in a slot we 100% know that Aeldari want lots of, and their existence is a pretty decent shot in the arm for the Faction. I’d give better than even odds that the next 5-0 Aeldari list I review has 3x5 of these.

Sky Serpent: I think a unit with a Flamer and Shredder may be interesting to harass enemy chaff early on, bathing them in flames and monofilament mesh, move blocking and setting up an Overwatch opportunity too. An omission I’d like to note is the Felarch miniature has access to a Raiding Hook instead of a pistol but this option has no rules, perhaps an opportunity for the future.

Wings: Great point about the Torrent weapons - maybe you do 2x blaster/fusion and 1x shredder/flamer (or vice-versa) to give some flexibility in what you can tangle with early on.

Starfang

Credit: Warhammer Community

The Starfang whips, it’s a light harassment Vehicle that’s priced to move and does a bunch for you, and it’s only Skyreavers being the same price that stop it being a lock for lists. It’s fast (M14”) and has Scouts 7”, so can get a long way across the table out the gate, and the new model is chunky enough that you can do some decent move blocking with it. It’s fairly flimsy at T6 3+ 6W, but does have Smoke, so can probably choose not to die to small arms fire if you need to force a real gun onto it. It’s also got a somewhat decent offensive setup - it mounts a Disintegrator and a Starfang Grenade Launcher, which is basically a Disintegrator but d3 Blast instead of flat 3 shots. Not setting the world on fire, but potentially worrying for opponents because it has the reach to get to juicy targets. Also, because it has a gun called a Grenade Launcher, it gets Grenades, which is again very useful on something that can cross the entirety of No Man’s Land on a whim.

This also provides its unit ability, which is that it can grant a friendly visible Aeldari Infantry unit Stealth at the start of the enemy Shooting Phase. It’s a little random, but could be of some interest for any list setting up a Warlock Conclave/Guardian/Farseer tarpit, or maybe Wraith Host. Really though, you want this because it’s 75pts, very speedy, and can put a little bit of damage where it’s needed at a crucial moment. You can also theoretically take a unit of two, but you should never even slightly consider doing this except maybe in Eldritch Raiders where there’s some very strong Stratagem synergy

Vyper

Wings: Poor Vyper. In theory, it gets better - the new kit does away with the underslung shuriken catapults, and you now get to take your choice of a bright lance, starcannon or scatter laser on top, and a missile launcher or shuriken cannon below. This makes them less anemic, but the price goes up to 75pts to compensate, and the Datasheet ability is still the fairly naff application of -1 to Hit to a foe it shoots. You could take one with missile/lance, but at that point you’d want to spend 10pts more on a double lance War Walker, and you should consider a shuriken/starcannon one for exactly as long as it takes to look at the Starfang datasheet again and observe that it’s massively better in almost every way.

Also - the new kit is massive compared to the old one, solidly an inch longer and more than that wider, to the point where just rebasing old ones is probably not going to cut it - serious conversion work will be required to update them. Given that, and the fact that every single Aeldari player is going to build their first new one as a Starfang, you will not see these at all - the old Datasheet was bad, so a buff needed to be point neutral, not more expensive (especially when accompanied by a model change that’s a functional downgrade even as it’s a huge aesthetic improvement). Just take a Starfang.

Appendage: Corsairs in Commorragh

Credit: Sky Serpent

Sky Serpent: It is not just the Asuryani generals excited by the Anhrathe release; there will be Archons readying their realspace raids who are eager to welcome in new options to the fore.

It’s important to note that while these datasheets bring some synergy to the Drukhari force via Kharseth and the Starfang (your Commorrite forces bear the AELDARI keyword after all), your Skyreavers and Voidreavers won’t be benefiting from your army, Detachment or stratagem rules so make sure if you are adding these to your raiding party that there is value there.

Prince Yriel is a good fighter but will be better served in an Aeldari force and his own Detachment when an Archon will likely be a better performer, however I’d love to see him paired with Lady Malys for the meme opportunity of redeploy upon redeploy.

While we all know Psykers are banned from Commorragh, it’s totally fine to hire one for your raid in Realspace, just don’t tell Vect! Kharseth the Aethymancer has the opportunity to be a great force multiplier while screening your backfield or expansion, denying 12” is great for an army who is already good at screening. Fury of the Void won’t combine well with Splinter weaponry but suddenly Dark Lances reach a tipping point versus T12, Incubi versus T5, etc etc, I don’t know if the Void Dreamer is an auto take but he will be joining all of my raids for the foreseeable.

Stealth via the Starfang can add a thin layer of survivability to units and may have an interesting combination with Wracks and I think this skimmer will be a useful addition to Drukhari forces owing to Scout and Grenades.

Corsair Skyreavers are an incredible new kit and as discussed earlier, will be seen in Craftworlds in droves. Yes, Drukhari already have access to a proliferation of fast moving, MSU units who will have additional benefits but the ability to Scout and move through walls still brings a lot of play and could add another layer of move blocking and caging to Spectacle of Spite lists for example.

You’ll likely see a few of these units make their way into Drukhari lists with Kharseth, Skyreavers and possibly a Starfang while Cegorach will continue to laugh at the inability to bring them into Reaper’s Wager Detachment.

In summary, the new Anhrathe are a welcome addition to Drukhari forces with some new unique options which complement the Dark Eldar playstyle but hope still remains for a future Reaper’s Wager-esque Detachment or the implementation of the Drukhari or Blades For Hire keywords in a future revision.

Chaos Space Marine Red Corsairs

Rob: Not to be outdone, there are a number of new units for the Chaos Space Marine forces, representing the renegade raiders under the command of Huron Blackheart, as well as other rival warbands reaving their way through the Maelstrom. There are four key units to look at here: Huron and his retinue, plus a Reave-captain and the Red Corsairs Raiders.

Huron Blackheart

Source: Warhammer Community

Huron is an absolute beast, and has received a clear glow-up from his older, smaller incarnation. He's fairly durable, sporting Toughness 5 and a 3+/4++ save with a Feel No Pain 5+ to make him feel just a bit beefier. That's good because he also has the Deep Strike rule and can join Terminators, Legionaries, Chosen, Masters of the Maelstrom, and Red Corsairs Raiders. You'll almost always want him with the Masters, though what else you join them to will depend on your detachment. That said, you'll most often want that additional unit to either be Legionaries for the re-rolls to wound or Chosen for the ability to advance and charge.

Huron's updated melee profile gives him an incredibly solid 6 attacks at S8 AP-3, 3 damage, marking him firmly in the "good" melee profile category. He comes with two abilities: Lord of Badab is an aura that gives nearby INFANTRY units +1 OC if they aren't battle-shocked - a handy ability and one that makes his own unit OC 2, or even 3 if you're taking Legionaries. His other, more useful ability is Hamadrya's Knowledge, a psychic ability that gives his unit a reactive Normal move of D3+3". That's very nice to have, and hilariously it'll combo with the Plunder ability in the Masters of the Maelstrom unit, so you can use Huron's ability to make a reactive move, then activate Plunder once per game to do D3+1 mortal wounds to a target within 12".

Overall, Huron is great, and although he's pricey for a Chaos Marine character at 120 points, he's worth the investment. The reactive move alone is a huge value add, and having a second unit which can reactive move in a turn if you're running the Veterans of the Long War or Renegade Warband Detachments is huge. Huron will shine brightest in the new Huron's Marauders Detachment, but he has plenty of play elsewhere.

Masters of the Maelstrom

Huron's Red Corsairs get their own version of the Wardens of Ultramar, with a unit that's smaller but a bit tougher and sporting more raw damage output. The Masters of the Maelstrom is composed of five models; three with four wounds and two with three each, giving them a hefty 18 wounds to work with, and of those three are T4/3+ space marine bodies with four wounds each. The unit comes with a variety of shooting attacks, of which the most notable is Garlon Souleater's Mind Wrench, and a variety of 2-damage melee attacks - 13 in total, all of which hit on 2+ at S6 AP-2, 2 damage. That's not bad, and makes them a solid upgrade over five Chosen for 15 points less.

The Masters come with three abilities:

Plunder - once per battle, after this unit finishes a Normal move, you can pick a visible enemy within 12" and on a 2+, it takes D3+1 mortal wounds. A fine little melta mine ability that combos with reactive moves like Huron's built-in D3+3" move.
Fleet Command - After deployment, if this unit is on the table or in a transport on the table, you can redeploy up to three CSM units, and you can put those back into Reserves. This is a fine ability to have and good for tricking someone with a unit deployed out wide.
Choice Samples - While Garreon the Corpsemaster (the Apothecary) is alive and on the battlefield, in your Command phase you can either resurrect a destroyed model in this guy's unit or if there's a friendly infantry unit within 3" you can gain 1 CP. This is massive, and more or less the only way for CSM to gain extra CP if you run the Renegade Warband Detachment. In fact, this is so crucial to making some Detachments work that I'd load this guy's unit up with Plasma weapons so you can fire them off with Hazard mode engaged and lose a model quickly.

The Masters of the Maelstrom can attach to Chosen, Legionaries, or Red Corsairs Raiders, and Huron can only a unit they've joined. Chosen give you a lot of value here with 3 wounds apiece and the ability to advance/fall back and still shoot and charge. Plus if you attach this unit to a unit of five models plus Huron, you'll still be able to fit into a transport, no matter how implausible that may look.

Red Corsairs Reave-Captain

Source: Warhammer Community

The Red Corsairs version of a Chaos Lord is, sadly, not much to write home about. He comes with a Chaos Lord profile and your pick of either a Power Maul (5 attacks, S5 AP-2, 2 damage) or power sword (7 Attacks, S5 Ap-2 1 damage, [SUSTAINED HITS 1]). He gives himself +1 Strength and AP on the charge, which is crucial for making his power maul more viable, and he gives his unit free re-rolls on charges against targets on an objective marker.

That's pretty underwhelming, though the power maul at least has 2 damage and the ability to go up to AP-3. The biggest upsides to the Reave-Captain are his cheap cost and the Infiltrators ability, which gives a single model unit a ton of value, plus he can join a unit of Red Corsairs Raiders and Infiltrate with them.

On the whole, it's hard to justify this guy, in part because Red Corsairs Raiders you'd pair him with just aren't great, either. He may have more value as a solo Infiltrator piece to range out wide and do actions where he can be a cheap character option at 70 points.

Red Corsairs Raiders

Finally that brings us to the Red Corsairs Raiders, who are surprisingly more like the Chosen of Huron's forces. These guys clock in at 3 wounds apiece with OC 2 and the Infiltrators rule, which makes them the only Infiltrating unit in the Chaos Space Marines Codex. That makes them an interesting pick as an objective-grabbing unit that can range out wide, something helped by the fact that they become OC +1 for the rest of the game after they kill their first enemy unit. That's really good, and they're really beefy for a unit of Infiltrators.

That said, Raiders' biggest problem is their damage output. 4 Attacks at S5 AP-1 1 damage just isn't much, especially without re-roll. They can take a single Meltagun and Power Fist, and that amounts to a unit that's going to struggle into anything that isn't guardsmen - and even that may not get you ten dead guardsmen. At 90 points they'd be a playable unit; at 100 they'd be an interesting one-off. At 110 they're too much, and will struggle to make the final cut. I see them as maybe a one-off at most, and unlikely to replace Nurglings as your Infiltrators of choice unless you're playing a teams event with a Daemons player.

Wrap Up

There's a lot here, and both Aeldari and Chaos Space Marine armies have a lot of interesting new tools to work with as a result. Of course, this is only part of the story, as how these units slot into the new Detachments is the key second half. If you haven't already, pop on over to our Detachment focus articles on these using the links in the article above.

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