40K: The Drukhari Return – The ‘Raider Review’
The Drukhari are back with a new Codex and they are going to be plenty mean – and a tad confusing for Tournament Organizers and Players. With lots of benefits for stuffing detachments on the tabletop, these Raiders from Commorragh are going to swoop on the scene and steal your stuff!
I’ve already tipped my hand here, but I think the Drukhari are going to be messy for 40k, but a good book over-all. Their units got a good look by the design staff and, for the most part, went down in points and up in effectiveness.
Archons are one of the few (maybe only) unit in the book that actually went up in points. However, with all the new rules, options, and dirty tricks – its totally justified. Plus, the Archons are going to help unlock a lot of those tricks due to how Detachments work. And, as we’ve mentioned before, Warlord traits are going to be easy for them to grab:
There are a TON of Drukhari Obsessions that can be included in your army as well. The Kabal of the Black Heart is probably going to show-up just about everywhere as well, either as a primary detachment or as your “splash” patrol just to unlock stratagems/traits/combos.
An Archon and a couple of squads of Kabalite Warriors isn’t going to run you a ton of points, either. We’re talking sub-150 with options if you just want to get these benefits. In fact, The Drukhari have the potential to be a horde army – a horde army with a gunboat-load of poison weapons. I know everyone is worried about Flyrants right now, but after this book drops, I have a feeling Monsters are going to become a bit more scarce.
The Drukhari are going to be confusing to play with an against. There are 4 different Kabals, 3 Covens, and 3 Wych Cults – each with their own Obsession, Warlord Trait, Relic, & Stratagem to choose from. Oh, and some generic ones for laughs. Typically, that hasn’t been an issue for most armies considering the Matched Play limits that are baked in. However, the army formerly known as Dark Eldar wants to push those limits – and break them.
If you don’t have detachment limits, you can theoretically run 10 different Raiders, each with different rules and, depending on who they are next to, possibly different stats. It’s going to be ‘fun’ keeping all that straight. This is an inherent problem that Players and TOs are going to have to work together on. And it’s going to mean if you are playing against them, you are going to want to know their rules to help those players “remember” their rules.
“Which Kabal are you a part of?” “I’m not a Wych!” “That’s not what I meant…”
The Dark Eldar Drukhari have a lot of potential – that much is clear. Couple all that with how they can work with those other Aeldari Allies and that helps shore-up any weakness (like a lack of anti-psyker/psychic powers). It will be a chore to keep it all straight, and I’m sure there will be a lot of yelling about detachment and limits/exceptions for the Drukhari, but over-all I think they are very prepared for the new edition.
Welcome (back) to the to the tabletop Drukhari.
What are you most excited about for the Drukhari? Are you ready to face the Dark-kin on the tabletop?
