Greetings, reader! In this blogpost I’d like to tell about my attempt to break my curse of middling (and some frankly abysmal) tournament results with Corsairs of Umbar.
Corsair faceoff
Corsairs were my second army I got into, and in friendly games they’ve had a stellar track record. I’ve played them pure, allied with Serpent Horde, allied with Mordor and also some unholy Corsair + Isengard + Mordor fun but dumb lists.
In tournaments ranging from 500 to 800p I’ve mostly tried pure and Serpent Horde alliances, but there I’ve always ended up placing at best middle of the pack.
A key facet contributing to this has been time. Time is the distinction between casual and tournament matches. Many, many times I’ve found my army just on the cusp of a victory while the clock runs out leaving me with a draw or loss. The reasons for this are multiple. Shooting takes a ton of time and my typical lists have always tried to integrate multiple crossbows. The army is a slow infantry mass that doesnt have immense hitting power. A D6 battleline can be very difficult to penetrate without Reavers.
In addition, Corsairs (+ Suladan) don’t have “decisive” high impact models that can generate Victory Points with some clutch play. Models such as Gwaihir or Witch King are prime examples of models that due to mobility, killing potential and utility can swing a game. Corsairs are mostly an infantry blob and their tools are mainly shooting which is notoriously unreliable in this game. Relying on a clutch crossbow bolt to pick off a Leader wound is just not even close to the utility of Black Dart or a flying monster heroic combatting into a key piece. So there’s less options to easily capitalize on a minor mispositioning to swing a game. Instead I seem to end up having to rely on my mass of shooting and decent infantry to grind the opponent down which just simply can take a long time.
I tried to go for mass crossbows in one event where the opponent saw my gunline of 12 arbalesters just decided to play for draw instead of foolishly running towards my lines, which was a very good lesson for me that relying on shooting to autowin games isn’t the most reliable strategy, even when the scenario on paper would allow it.
Putting these experiences together I decided that it was time to change my gameplan. Instead of playing passively I would need to be proactive and not rely on mass crossbows so much. I wanted mobility so Suladan and some cavalry would be key. I’ve had good success with Reavers who hardcounter Morannon spam and similar lists, but they have also some abysmal matchups and I didn’t want to make my Corsairs experience more swingy than it already has been.
I juggled between two lists. The first was:
Dalamyr, Corsair Captain, Suladan. 48 models.
The second which I ended up going with was a 44 model variant:
Dalamyr (leader) 90p
- 3 Black Numenorean 27p
- 6 Arbalesters 60p
- 2 Corsairs 14p
- 2 Corsairs with shield 16p
- 3 Corsairs with shield&spear 27p
Delgamar 75p
-3 Black Numenorean 27p
-4 Arbalesters 40p
-3 Corsairs with shield
-5 Corsairs with shield&spear 45p
Suladan with armoured horse 115p
-1 Haradrim raider with bow
-2 Serpent rider
-4 Haradrim warrior with spear
-3 Haradrim warrior with spear&bow
Poor picture but you get the idea of the list.
A very cookie cutter list and the 48 model alternative was similar, I just had more Haradrim and with a no-upgrade Captain that allowed me to get a high model count. In retrospect I’d say dropping Delgamar would be the right choice, but I kinda wanted to use his model and the special rule is very fun.
The tournament was held at a fairly large Finnish event (Ropecon) that has a plethora of different wargame tournaments, boardgames, roleplaying games, cosplay etc.
As a bit of a changeup this was the first local tournament that ended up using Oaths (an additional secret objective that matters for tournament points) that are used in Ardacon and other big events. The event was 650 points and 4 rounds all with 2h of game time.
My first game would end up being Command the Battlefield against Minas Tirith. I was more than a bit nervous as I’ve been crushed by Banner Boromir more than once and in my experience the matchup is one of the more difficult ones. F5 with decent numbers is hard for Corsairs, Rangers can (due to the advantage of halfmoving) actually outshoot the immobile crossbows and there’s just not many options to deal with Boromir outside shooting into the combat praying to kill your own model and dismount Boromir.
For Oaths I would ban my opponent from picking killing my most expensive non-leader model (Suladan) and would pick trying to control an objective marker that gets placed near the center of the board.
Our local events always use alternating deployment for Maelstorms which makes them far, far more palatable. This game is a great example of how this alternating warband deployment can really amp up the fun aspect of this otherwise fairly miserable scenario rule.
Initially my opponent would deploy Hurin with a dozen warriors. I would deploy Dalamyr in the center of another board edge. Beregond would roll a 1 and not arrive. Suladan would roll a 4 but I decided he could deploy close enough that I didn’t bother modifying it. I also kinda wanted for Boromir to deploy near Suladan’s warband so he would be split from Hurin. Which is exactly what ended up happening. Boromir deployed near Suladan, but due to terrain and screening figures couldn’t swarm them. This allowed Delgamar who rolled perfectly to appear behind Hurin and I was quite happy my opponent hadn’t screened this deployment option as this would allow me to fire some throwing weapons to the unprotected backs of Rangers in that warband.
After deployment. Rare to see a Maelstorm game actually use the entire battlefield.
Delgamar's forces flanking Hurin
The plan worked better than I could have imagined. Delgamar dismounted Hurin and two rangers were dropped by frankly disgustingly good shooting from my Corsairs.
During the following two turns a great battle would rage between Hurin and Delgamar’s warbands which were quite evenly matched. Due to the terrain I wasn’t too scared of Beregond deploying to reinforce that side as it would be quite difficult to get his warband into the action immediately, and a decent number of crossbows from Dalamyr’s warband were overwatching for that deployment. Hilariously enough, Beregond ended up rolling 1 for two more turns in a row which was exceptionally good for me.
On the other side of the field I was on the run. Suladan would be able to escape with his cavalry and a few infantry models, but around 6 Haradrim would end up getting run over by Boromir and his lads. I levelled archers and crossbows into Boromir’s combats multiple turns in a row but just couldn’t dismount him nor even kill my own models despite hitting the combat multiple times. After Suladan reached the safety of Dalamyr’s warband I called a heroic March to swing some more troops towards the Hurin debacle that was still thoroughly in the air. On the same turn Beregond decided to finally arrive bringing some much needed reinforcements to said clash.
Suladan and his Serpent Riders would race there, with Dalamyr slinking behind them to get away from the wrath of Boromir. My gameplan was to clear Hurin and Beregond’s warbands off the two board quarters while having the remaining Haradrim and Corsairs delay Boromir and his battleline as long as possible.
The reinforcing Serpent Riders with Suladan managed to turn the tide of the Hurin brawl decisively, and the entire board segment would be cleared of Gondorian forces, breaking the Good side in process. I tried to contest the third quarter where Boromir had originally arrived with a rider, but he would be sniped through in the ways by the holding Rangers who all passed their courage checks with ease.
My forces holding the contested quarter were slaughtered with alarming speed which would end up being a key issue. I had shot into Boromir’s combats for almost every round and only on the second to last turn finally dismounted him. At this point he had killed at least 8 of my models in that quadrant which in addition to some excellent rolling by the warriors broke me and let my opponent double my numbers there.
The game would end up being a 5-5 draw, yet thankfully I had managed to score my Oath while my opponent was a turn away from scoring his. The game was an excellent time that I thoroughly enjoyed, which is frankly rare for a Maelstorm scenario.
The next matchup would be Retrieval against a Dragon centered Moria. Now, in other scenarios I didn’t find this matchup too threatening. With Fly and Firebreath the Dragon is a hyper dangerous piece, but I’ve got a plethora of models and my army doesn’t care at all about splitting up. So I’d be more than happy to spread out and crush the goblins wherever the Dragon wasn’t.
Retrieval however was a bit dangerous. I have no tools to stop the dragon from slowly barging and killing its way through my backline so in my mind I’m on a timer elsewhere. The gameplan was therefore simple. Deploy spread out and try to crush the goblin army while drowning the Dragon in expendable models.
Retrieval deployment
My opponent had played against a very shooty Dale list and that influenced this game. He had lost multiple wounds from a turn or two of Dale archery and in this game he didn’t want to expose the Dragon to my crossbows. This was pivotal as I could spread out and advance on the goblins while the Dragon swung around and started coming in from a flank. On that flank he charged or got charged by one or two models each turn and was just taking a long time to get a move on as a I managed to kill my own models one turn with crossbows.
Delgamar leading the non-dragon side of the board
Dragon threatening the objective at the end
The Dragon would take like 5 turns to finally encroach my objective. All the while I had been rolling extraordinarily hot everywhere else. Goblins were outnumbered by Corsairs who were cutting them down in shooting and melee. Very rapidly I had broken the goblin army and the game ended on the first roll for ending which was simultaneously fine by me but also a bit annoying. I had Delgamar and a contingent of warriors near his objective, and two more turns would have secured his objective easily. Meanwhile the Dragon was almost surrounded by half of my army including Suladan and Dalamyr and I would have been happy to start chucking Heroic Strike at it. Nevertheless, a win is a win and I was happy to walk away with a 3-0 minor win where neither of us had secured our Oath (I had to kill the Dragon, he had to control an objective I had promptly cleared). In this game I have to say I was surprised by how effortlessly my forces swepts through the goblin ranks. My rolling was just out of this world with most combats going my way and goblins dying whenever they lost.
The third game would be a prime example of what can happen against an experienced tournament player if your game plan is “I’m gonna outshoot the opponent”.
I would be facing Ruffians. And on paper you might laugh at me and think this is a free win since Ruffians are a meme army.
But even a meme army has matchups and scenarios where the meme isn’t so funny anymore. The Ruffian armada would outnumber me by 24 models, and had something like 28 bows and 28 whips. That’s a lot of shooting against my mostly D4 army, even if in melee my army would likely prevail. And the opponent was a very experienced and excellent tournament player who loves taking underused weird armies and tends to do with them well. In another tournament my Isengard forces got absolutely pasted by an unholy mass of Woses of all things. He always brings the weirdest armies and still ends up in the top ranks.
The biggest issue would be the scenario. Assassination. That means the opponent would get a huge amount of victory points immediately if a stray arrow found its way to Delgamar or Suladan. Both of which are very fragile 1 Fate heroes that I kind of need to keep near my lines if I’d commit to a brawl. Meanwhile his heroes are practically worthless and it costs him nothing to keep them completely hidden and out of view.
The Oath system would be decisive for this game. As I had a lower model count it was up to me to deploy the central Oath objective which can be deployed anywhere within 9 inches of the center of the board. I decided to go for the big roll-off and place that objective full 9 inches to one side. Either I would win the deployment roll and immediately control it, or I’d be forced to deploy on the 24” line and just commit to a rush towards the ruffian lines.
I banned controlling that objective from my opponent and he had banned killing his most expensive non-leader model.
I won the roll-off and promptly deployed in a firing line near the objective.
My opponent shrugged, and proceeded to deploy all his heroes behind buildings in the rear of the board. My 10 crossbows and 4 Harad bows were standing against 28 Ruffian archers with about 24 inches in between. My opponent said “I aint going to move, do you wanna go grab beers?”.
The dense terrain would ensure the advancing force would have to get into a bottleneck
Now, what would you do in that situation? This has happened to me before when I had a 12 crossbow corsair list. The opponent looks at the approach where they would lose multiple models and be forced into a concave of throwing weapons and they decide quite sensibly to say “nah, I’m happy with a draw rather than an awful game”.
In this case we felt whoever would move to range would be in a huge disadvantage and neither could comfortably win the shooting war. Even if I did win the shooting war, what then? His heroes are still completely out of my reach, and an arrow or whip into Delgamar or Suladan would mean an immediate loss. And if I advanced he could just retreat and force me to move through a withering amount of fire until he could surround my remaining forces. Not good.
I decided that we could chuck some dice and moved my Arbalesters up behind cover while his Ruffians took cover behind some fountains. We peppered each other for a few rounds, and funnily enough traded evenly in terms of models (not even close in terms of points obviously). And after both had lost like 6 models we decided to call the game. Neither would have time to realistically walk up to the opponent and reach their heroes. Neither could break the opponent. There was just nothing to do in this scenario with these lists. Thankfully since I had the Oath marker it would net me nice tournament points so I wasn’t too annoyed by this.
So yeah, some of you might scoff at this but sometimes with super shooting lists the opponent can just decide its not worth it to walk up in range under withering fire and they will be happy to just move their models in circles in their side of the board to take the draw. It’s a reality of the game you need to recognize if you imagine some double Avenger Bolt Thrower or whatnot is going to be your strategy to victory. When you realize the opponent is happy with a draw it can be a real scramble to start running up the board towards them, and if that leaves you in a horrible position are you going to take it either?
I dislike these matches and for that reason I’ve been moving constantly away from skewed shooty lists. I think the next Corsair list I’ll play might have at most like 6 Arbalesters and go all in on just regular warriors.
In addition, I’ve gotta say that the scenarios are the weakest part of this game. Some of them are absolute bangers like Destroy the Supplies but some such as Heirlooms, Assassination, Moonlight, Storm the Camp and so forth are just frankly atrocious drivel and I’d be very happy if there would be an updated Matched Play Guide with these stinkers swapped to something palatable. I cant think of a situation where I’d want to play Assassination over a simple Fog of War.
Anyways, time for the final game. This would end up being a fun mirror match against another Dalamyr Delgamar Suladan trio (with Bo’Sun and some Reavers in tow). Breakthrough is my favorite scenario in the game. I like objective scenarios and it has the lovely push&pull dynamic to it where you can try to outflank the opponent, crush through the middle, you need to decide how much to leave for defending, etc. Fun scenario.
We would deploy maybe 12 inches from each other in fairly ordered battlelines. My opponent would win the priority and was happy about this and promptly moved up most of his forces to get throwing weapons into my lines if I’d go forward. He had more crossbows than me so I couldn’t really stand back either. I’d need to get the melee brawl rolling and in my favor.
My opponent had, in what would be a mistake, moved with his Reavers in the front rank so I decided on a bold plan. I moved my battleline with all my Corsairs up, heedless of the incoming crossbows and throwing weapons. Since I had an unusual plan in mind.
I called a Heroic Shoot.
Promptly my ranks of Corsairs deleted 4 Reavers. The return fire would see 4 of my Corsairs evaporate under crossbows, but then I was able to fire my own crossbows and dropped a few more Corsairs. This was an excellent start to the game and I want to believe calling the Heroic Shoot was the right choice in this situation. Deleting a number of the fragile D3 reavers would make winning the melee brawl much easier.
State of the board after first turn of shooting. Big holes in both lines.
The following turn my opponent didn’t want me to get charges off, so Heroic Moved to crash into my lines which I accepted. I lost a warrior to throwing weapons, but could then position my forces at my leisure.
During the following turns a very vicious melee would swirl. I wanted to press my initial advantage so I started using Might liberally. Suladan and Delgamar would do heroic combats to cut down Black Numenoreans and ensure traps. I got exceedingly lucky and managed to dismount his Suladan with crossbows fired into a combat. My initial advantage would snowball this game and see me win the melee brawl. The Arbalesters of my opponent would end up mostly fleeing after breaking which allowed me to run up to the rear objective before the game came to a close. Controlling the home, a side and a the rear objective I got a decisive 10-0 major win for the last game with a secured Oath (objective control again, both of us banned killing suladan).
End of the game.
My opponent was an excellent sport even though it was the 4th game of the day which can sometimes be fairly draining. This was a high octane match where a super unused heroic action would in my view be critical for getting the initial lead. Delgamar who throughout the tournament had mostly killed my own corsairs and just called heroic moves decided to show his worth with the Heroic Shoot, a Heroic Combat, a clutch Move and managed to fight off the opposing Dalamyr as well. I’m still not very impressed with Delgamar in general but at least in this match he was doing work.
So in total I would end up with 2 wins 2 draws but thanks to the Oath system I managed to generate tournament points from the draws. This would lead me to place 3rd out of 20 players which I was extremely surprised by and happy with.
To conclude I managed to fight my usual enemy of time better. The games ended naturally and not by the clock running out. Playing a more aggressive style made playing Corsairs much more enjoyable, and when I’ll take them to a tournament next time I’ll go even further with these lessons. Arbalesters are cool and all but they can make the games unfun for opponents and its just not enjoyable for me either. I’ve had so many bad experiences with them where I’m desperately shooting all my crossbows into combat with a big hero and they’re just not doing anything. I think Corsairs will be more exciting for me if I mostly drop them and just focus on the fun regular warriors and maybe go back into some Reavers.
Hopefully you enjoyed this writeup. I’ll leave a few extra pictures here at the end of the tournament. As usual in the Finnish scene the boards were varied and beautiful with some being very terrain dense and others providing more open areas. Big thanks to my opponents for the games and to the TO for organizing the event.
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