Codex Drukhari is the latest 9th edition Codex to be released for Warhammer 40,000 9th edition. We’ve been lucky enough to receive a review copy and we’ll be taking a close look at the contents in this article. If you would like to support the site then why not order through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself 20% too!
If you would like to watch then you can see our video review from YouTube below!
The Codex weighs in at 120 pages with about of a third of the book given over to lore and background, a small section containing images and painting references. The bulk of the book however is dedicated to rules and gaming content.
I have to say the first thing that struck me upon flicking through the pages of this Codex was the quality and quanity of amazing artwork. We often praise the high quality presentation standards of the 9th edition Codexes but it is especially true of this book and I was blown away by some of the artwork. It’s a shame I can’t say the same about the lore and background itself. I’m not talking about the quality of the writing, there are lots of cool descriptions of the Drukhari, the Dark City and the different factions and units that make up Drukhari society however I was left disapointed that there was no new lore regarding recent developments in the 40k storyline. There was hardly any mention of the Ynnari (a few small snippets in Lilith’s background a quick mention in regard to Vect’s indifference towards them) and no mention of the Great Rift or Pariah Nexus. I was hoping to gain insight into how the Aeldari were reacting to these new developments and gain clues as their future development but alas there is no such material here. I guess this sort of thing tends to appear in Campaign supplements so hopefully the Aeldari get some attention in a future release.
As we have now come to expect, the rules section of the book starts with a very useful colour coded contents page, allowing the reader to quickly locate a specific section. I’ll take a closer look at each section below.
Detachment Abilities
Codex Drukhari shares some similarities with the recently released Dark Angels book in terms of flexible army composition options. When building your army you must designate each individual Detachment as either a Kabal, Wych Cult, Haemonculus Coven or Realspace Raid Detachment. Note, there are no unit restrictions for each Detachment, you can include Wych Cult units in Kabal Detachment for example, however as you’ll see below, certain units will benefit from bonuses if they belong to a specific Detachment (Kabal units in a Kabal Detachment for example).
The Kabal, Wych Cult and Haemonculus Coven Detachments allow you to choose a respective Drukhari Obsession which will apply to all ‘matching’ units in that Detachment. For example if you built a Wych Cult Detachment you’d be able to choose from a selection of Drukhari Obsessions that will apply to all the Wych Cult units in that Detachment.
Each named Kabal, Wych Cult and Haemonculus Coven has its own set of Drukhari Obessions, Warlord Traits, Relics and Stratagems which we’ll look at below. In addition, there are a set of 10 or so ‘generic’ Drukhari Obessions that you can choose to use if your Kabal, Wych Cult or Haemonculus Coven is of your own devising. It’s worth pointing out that units with the Blades For Hire keyword (like Scourges for example) don’t ordinarily benefit from an Obsession, although there are ways to modify this default behaviour.
It’s not the easiest set of army construction rules to wrap your head around but we’re not done yet! The Realspace Raid Detachment allows you to mix all the Kabal, Wych Cult and Haemonculus rules into one single Detachment provided you include an Archon Warlord, Succubus, Haemonculus, Kabalite Warriors unit, Wyches unit and Wracks unit. If you manage to meet this requirement then all units in this Detachment gain a respective Drukhari Obsession. In addition you’re able to make use of the respective Relic and Warlord traits for the selected Kabal, Wych Cult and Haemonculus Coven. Finally all units in this Detachment gain the Realspace Raider keyword and you can swap out the Archons “Overlord” ability for one that buffs all Realspace Raider Core units instead.
So, not the most straight forward of army building rules but definitely very flexible. Do you go all in with a Real Space Raider Detachment and stack all of those Kabal, Wych Cult and Haemonculus Coven Drukhari Obsessions together or do you instead take multiple Detachments and split your different Drukhari factions up. One other thing to consider is the “Raiding Forces” rule which reduces the Command Cost of every Detachment in your army to 0 as long as every Detachment in your army is a Patrol Detachment.
The last thing to mention is that you are not allowed to include Drukhari and non-Drukhari Aeldari units in the same Detachment unless all they all have the Ynnari keyword.
Kabals, Wych Cults and Haemonculus Covens
So lets have a closer look at those different Kabals, Wych Cults and Haemonculus Covens. As mentioned above, each of the named versions give you access to a unique Drukhari Obsession, Warlord Trait, Relic and Stratagem. We’ll start with the Kabals, of which there are four named options to choose from.
We’ll have a closer look at Vect’s own Kabal of the Black Heart first.
Obsession : Thirst For Power – Units that benefit from this Obsession can count the Battle Round as one higher when calculating their Power from Pain bonuses. In addition it grants the same bonus to units with the Blades For Hire keyword too. Affected units also gain a Leadership buff and can re-roll a single hit roll when they shoot or fight.
Warlord Trait : Labyrinthine Cunning – Every time the opponent uses a Stratagem you can roll a dice. On a 6 you gain a CP.
Relic : Writ of the Living Muse – Nearby Core units can re-roll wound rolls of 1.
Stratagem : Agents of Vect – This Stratagem costs 0 CP and can be used once per game when an opponent uses a Stratagem (excluding a Command Re-roll). That Stratagem now costs an additional 1 CP every time it is used!
There are three more named Kabals. The Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue focuses on, you guessed it, poison weapons. Its Obsession buffs poisoned weapons and provides a nice debuff to Combat Attrition tests for enemy units that lose a model to a poisoned weapon’s attack. It also has a nice Stratagem that lets you redeploy some of your units at the beginning of the first turn.
The Kabal of the Flayed Skull wants you to bring lots of units that have the Fly keyword, buffing said units ranged attacks and increasing the movement of your flying vehicles.
The Kabal of the Obsidian Rose looks really interesting. It allows each of your units to re-roll a single wound roll each time they make attack and adds 6″ to the range of most of their weapons. It’s their Stratagem that I really like though, allowing you to surprise an opponent by attacking with your fleeing models before they are removed. What’s more, if those models manage to destroy an enemy model they don’t flee!
Like I said their are also ten generic Kabal Obsessions that you can use to represent a Kabal of your own devising. In most cases you can choose two from the selection in the book, unless the Obession is listed as “All Consuming” in which case you only pick one. Some of my favourite picks are :-
Toxin Crafters (All Consuming) – When attacking with a poisoned weapon, a to hit roll of 6+ changes the Poisoned Weapon ability to a 2+. In addition you can re-roll wound roll of 1 with a Poisoned Weapon.
Merciless Razorkin – Splinter weapons gain exploding hits on 6’s to hit.
Lets move on to the Wych Cults, of which there are three named Cults and a selection of nine generic Cult Traits. The Cult of Strife is perhaps the most famous of the Wych Cults so we’ll cover this one first.
Obsession : The Spectacle of Murder – Your Cult of Strife Wych Cult units strike first in the Fight Phase and gain a +1 bonus to their charge rolls if the target unit is not already engaged.
Warlord Trait : Blood Dancer – A hit roll of 6 in melee grants 2 extra hits.
Relic : The Phial Bouquet – A really nice relic, allowing you to gain the effect of a random Combat Drug each turn (which stacks with any duplicate effects).
Stratagem : No Method Of Death Beyond Our Grasp – A 2CP Stratagem that lets a unit shoot or fight again. Can only be used once per Battle Round though.
There are two other named Wych Cults. The Cult of the Cursed Blade is a mortal wound machine. Its Obsession causes mortal wounds on attacking units when you roll a 6+ armour save. The Warlord Trait improves this to a 4+ and then the Relic inflicts D3+3 mortal wounds when the bearer is slain! The Cult of the Red Grief focuses instead on speed and maneuverability, gaining buffs to charge and advance rolls and with a Stratagem that lets units fall back into transports.
The nine generic Cult Obsessions work in the same way as the Kabal Obsessions. Here are a couple of my favourites :-
Berserk Fugue (All Consuming) – Grants exploding hits on a 6 if the model charged, was charged or performed a Heroic Intervention. In addition it grants a 5+ FNP save too.
The Art of Pain – Counts the Battle Round as one higher for purposes of the Power from Pain ability.
Finally we come to the Haemonculus Covens and again we have three named choices and a selection of ten generic Coven Obsessions. I will cover the Prophets of Flesh in a bit more detail here and give an overview of the others as well.
Obsession : Connoisseurs of Pain – Each turn, Characters, Grotesques and Monsters with this Obsession regain one lost wound. In addition, units with this obsession can only be wounded on a 4+ (unless the attack has a strength of 8 or more).
Warlord Trait : Diabolical Soothsayer – Can choose to add +1 Toughness or +1″ Movement and +1 Attack to this model’s characteristics.
Relic : The Vexator Mask – Negates Overwatch and forces a single enemy unit within 3″ to fight last.
Stratagem : Sins Writ Large – Gives a re-roll to hit bonus to a unit of Infantry within 6″ of a Haemonculus unit. Normally costs 1CP but will cost 2CP if used on a unit of Grotesques.
The Dark Creed Coven specialise in Leadership shenanigans, first dishing out Leadership debuffs to enemy units and then gaining bonuses to their hit rolls against said units. In addition they have tricks to prevent the enemy from performing actions. The Coven of Twelve have a mixture of abilities and rules. From improved AP on their melee weapons and the ability to shoot whilst performing actions to reduced damage against their Warlord.
Here are a few of my favourite generic Coven Obsessions :-
Dark Technomancers (All Cosuming) – When a unit with this Obsession is chosen to make a ranged attack you can choose to enhance their weapons. You get get extra damage and a re-roll to wound but you’re not able to benefit from any re-rolls to hit. If you roll a 1 to hit the model suffers a mortal wound (D3 if it’s a Vehicle or Monster.
Hungry For Flesh – Units with this Obsession can re-roll charges.
Lords of Commorragh
So as you can see, Drukhari players have a lot of options to choose from when building their army, but we’re not done yet. In the same way that a Space Marine player can upgrade certain Character models when they muster their force, Drukhari players are able to promote either an Archon, Succubus or Haemonculus unit in each Detachment using the Lords of Commorragh rules. For a small increase in points and power each of the aforementioned units can be given a “Master” keyword, and access to a new ability, Relic and Warlord Trait.
A Master Archon for example gains the Splintered Genius ability, allowing it to fight twice once per game. The Soulhelm Relic option grants a 5+ FNP and and -1 to hit effect and the Consummate Weaponmaster Warlord Trait buffs the damage of the Warlord’s weapons.
A Master Succubus gains the ability to consolidate an additional 3″ in any direction. The Dancer’s Edge Relic is a very nice weapon, with a great profile and a chance to ignore invulnerable saves too! The Warlord Trait grants extra attacks based on the number of models within 2″.
A Master Haemonculus gains the ability to come back to life at the end of a phase with D3 wounds remaining. The Relic is fantastic, being able to disable the Aura abilities of a nearby enemy model (amongst other effects). The Warlord Trait allows the Haemonculus to revive D3 modes to a nearby Wrack unit.
If you’re using a Realspace Raid Detachment you can upgrade all three units rather than just one.
Favoured Retinues
If you do decide to promote one of your leaders using the rules described above you also unlock the ability to upgrade either certain units in your army too. For each Master Archon in your army you may upgrade a unit of Kabalite Warriors to Trueborn, giving them a 2+ BS, +1Ld and the ability to ignore all to hit modifiers when making a ranged attack. Likewise for each Master Succubus you in your army you can upgrade a unit of Wyches to Hekatrix Bloodbrides and for each Master Haemonculus you may upgrade a unit of Wracks to Haemoxytes.
You have to pay a little extra in terms of points and power for each unit upgraded in this way, and they must be taken at full strength but you do get a few interesting buffs. A unit ot Kabalite Trueborn become execellent tank/aircraft hunters and a unit of Hekatrix Bloodbrides become great Space Marine killers with the -3AP bonus on their melee attacks. Haemoxytes become solid tarpits with their increased saves and ability to reduce the damage of an attack to 0!
Stratagems
There are 24 unique Stratagems in the Codex once again split into different categories. As expected you get the usual ‘additional Warlord Trait/Relic’ options but I’ll also list a few of my favourite picks here too.
The Torturer’s Craft (Battle Tactic) – Costing between 1 and 2 CP depending on the unit selected, this allows models to re-roll wound rolls in the Fight phase.
Eviscerating Fly-By (Strategic Ploy) – Used on a Wych Cult unit that has the Fly keyword. If they move or advance over an enemy unit you can roll a dice for each Wych Cult model in this unit. On a 5+ inflict 1 mortal wound on the enemy unit. If the enemy unit is an Infantry unit, this becomes a 4+. The CP cost varies depending on the number of models in the Wych Cult unit.
Swift Outflanking (Strategic Ploy) – For 1 CP you can move a Drukhari Transport into Strategic Reserves at the end of one of your Movement phases.
Shock Prow (Wargear) – Allows you to ram enemy units with your Raiders and Ravagers. Against Vehicle units it inflicts D3 mortal wounds but againts non-Vehicle units you roll a D6 for each model within within Engagement Range. If you equal or exceed the Toughness value you inflict 1 mortal wound. Used in the Charge Phase and costs 1CP.
The next section of the book is the Army Rules sections, covering Warlord Traits and Relics. We’ll go through each section below.
Warlord Traits
Kabals, Wych Cults and Haemonculus Covens Warlords each get a table of three Warlord Traits to choose from. I am not going to list them all here but I will pick my favourite from each table.
Hatred Eternal (Kabal) – Allows the Warlord to re-roll all hits and wounds! Excellent! (By the way Drazhar has this one).
Precision Blows (Wych Cult) – Each time you roll a 6 to hit you inflict a number of mortal wounds equal to the Damage value of the weapon.
Master Regenesust (Haemonculus Coven) – The “Fleshcraft” ability restores 3 wounds instead of D3.
I think the Kabal and Wych Cult Warlord Traits especially are excellent and I’d always be looking to spend a CP or two to use some extras in my army.
Relics
There a six generic Relics in the Codex (don’t forget you get Kabal/Wych Cult/Haemonculus Coven specific Relics in addition to the Lords of Commarragh options too!). I’ll pick a few of my favourites heres.
The Helm Of Spite – Allows the wearer to attemp to deny one Psychic Power. If successful, the Psyker suffers a Perils of the Warp.
The Djin Blade – An old favourite, basically a souped up Power Sword which grants extra attacks but with a chance to damage the bearer.
The Triptych Whip – A very nice weapon with respectable AP and Damage which grants an extra 3 attacks each phase. It’s also a Poisoned Weapon (2+).
I’ll cover the Chapter Approved section of the book here. Just as we’ve come to expect in other Codexes, the Drukhari get access to four unique Secondary Agendas. There are two “Purge The Enemy” and a single “No Mercy, No Respite” and “Battlefield Supremacy” option.
Take Them Alive! (Purge the Enemy) – An oddly named objective that rewards up to 4 points per Battle Round for destroying enemy units in melee.
Beasts for the Arena (Purge the Enemy) – A Wych Cult focused objective with a potential 15 points up for grabs at the end of the battle if you manage to destroy certain units with melee attacks with your Wych Cult units.
Fear and Terror (No Mercy, No Respite) – An interesting objective that rewards victory points for each enemy model that flees. If you’re leaning into the leadership manipulation mechanices provided by some of the Obsessions described above this could be quite a strong pick.
Herd The Prey (Battlefield Supremacy) – With a total of 8 victory points up for grabs for getting units into table quarters, this objective pairs quite well with other Secondary Objectives such as “Engage On All Fronts” or “Linebreaker”.
I actually quite like the Secondary Objectives in this Codex and I think you could find a use for one of them in most games.
The Crusade Rules section is next, but I’ll come back to this at the end. Next we’ll head straight to the Datasheets section and have a closer look.
Just before the Datasheets themselves there is a single page which provides a description of some of the unique Drukhari abilities that appear of some of the Datasheets themselves. This includes the Power From Pain, Combat Drugs, Poisoned Weapons, Blade Artists and Insensible to Pain abilities.
Power From Pain
The Power From Pain rules apply in the same way as the previous 8th edition Codex, you gain additional stackable bonuses during each consecutive Battle Round, however some of the bonuses themselves have changed. During the first Battle Round, affected units now gain a 6+ invulnerable save. On Battle Round two affected units can also Advance and Charge. During Battle Round three, affected units gain a +1 to hit with melee attacks and Vehicle and Monster units are able to fire Heavy Weapons in Engagement Range with no penalty. During the fourth Battle Round, affected units gain a 5+ invulnerable save and finally during the sixth Battle Round units become immune to Morale tests and those units with degrading profiles count their number of wounds remaining as double.
Blade Artists
Pretty much every unit in the Codex has this ability improving the AP of melee attacks by 1 every time they make an unmodified wound roll of 6.
Poisoned Weapons
Weapons such as Splinter Rifles or Agonisers have this ability to automatically wound on a specified roll value. The most common is 4+ but there are several ways to improve this too.
Insensible to Pain
An ability mainly found on the Haemonculus Coven units which grants a 5+ FNP.
Combat Drugs
These work in the same way as the 8th edition Codex and with mostly the same effects. You can choose either one effect from a selection of six or roll twice on the table and get both rolled effects. The only big change is the “Splintermind” effect which now grants +1BS and Leadership.
Datasheets
There are 27 Datasheets in total, we’ll take a quick look at each one below. Note I did not spot any points changes for these units compared to the latest Chapter Approved.
Archon – Not many changes to this unit, in line with other 9th edition Aura abilities its Overlord ability now only affects Core units and Incubi. The Phantasm Grenade Launcher has also disappeared.
Succubus – Gives a nice re-roll wounds of 1 bonus to nearby Wych Cult units and has a neat ability to prevent enemy units from falling back if you win a roll off (with an advantage if you are equipped with a shardnet and impaler)
Haemonculus – Has an aura that provides a +1 Toughness bonus to nearby Haemonculus Coven Core units and can also heal models in Haemonculus Coven Monster or Grotesques units within 3″.
Lelith Hesperax – Wow, a real blender of a unit. 7 attacks on her profile at 2+ with a S4 AP-3 D1 weapon profile. She has a lot of extra abilities too. Exploding hits on 6’s to hit, a -1 to hit ability, improved consolidation movement rules and the ability to either charge after advancing or falling back or to fight twice in the fight phase. She also shares the Succubus’s abilitis to prevent an enemy from falling back and wound re-roll wound aura.
Drazhar – Some interesting changes to this Datasheet. First the addition of Blade Artists mean he has potentially AP-4 attacks now. He has a cool Ancient Warrior ability which reduces incoming damage and a nice aura to buff nearby Incubi’s wound rolls. The Tormentors can now be used to try and force an enemy unit to fight last too!.
Urien Rakarth – Another packed Datasheet, Urien is truly a master Haemonculi. He can dish out mortal wounds at the beginning of the Fight phase and even come back to life after being destroyed. He is quite resilient at Toughness 5 with 6 wounds, a 4+ invulnerable save and the ability to halve the Damage characteristic of attacks that target him.
Kabalite Warriors – They gain an additional attack and the Blade Artists ability.
Wyches – Just like the Warriors, these too gain an extra attack and the Blade Artists ability
Wracks – Very similar to the previous iteration with addition of the Blade Artists ability.
Court Of The Archon – An interesting retinue style unit that can be used to make nearby Archon units untargetable to ranged attack.
Incubi – A solid close combat unit, although relatively fragile at toughness 3 with a 3+ save. They gain the same Tormentors rule as Drazhar and have a large amount of WS2+ attacks with decent strength, AP and damage.
Mandrakes – A crafty hard to hit unit that can deploy anywhere on the battlefield (outside of 9″ of enemy units) with the option of redploying mid game. Fairly decent ranged attack profile too with the chance of doing some mortal wounds. This unit is one of the few with the Blades For Hire keyword.
Grotesques – You guessed it, now have Blade Artists ability.
Beast Master – I love this unit, if only for the model itself! He buffs nearby Beast units, improving their leadership and providing a re-roll hit rolls of 1 aura. He can also pick a friendly Beast unit and allow them to charge even if it has advanced.
Clawed Fiends – These are your bruiser beasts, with Strengh and Toughness 5 and a base 5 attacks (which increases to 6 if they take any damage. Pretty good melee profile too at AP-2 Damage 2. Also pretty fast at 10″ move.
Razorwing Flock – A very cheap, fast and fragile unit.
Khymerae – Slightly weaker than the Clawed Fiends but can be taken in bigger units and have a 5+ invulnerable save.
Reavers – These appear to get a substantial points cut (unless I’m misreading something), an extra attack and the Blade Artists ability!
Hellions – Slightly slower than the Reavers but with the ability to fall back and charge to compensate. They get a lot of attacks and some interesting weapon options.
Scourges – Very similar to their previous incarnation, albeit with an extra attack. This unit is a Core unit but only has the Blades For Hire keyword and not Kabal or Wych Cult. Keep that in mind when you’re looking to benefit from Aura abilities.
Talos – The Talos can be equipped with a range of melee and ranged weapons. It also has the Blade Artists ability too.
Chronos – The Chronos is not as obviously stong as the Talos however it has a cool “Reservoir of Pain” ability which lets it heal nearby Core units, even returning dead models to the unit.
Ravager – This vehicle trades tougness and armour for speed and firepower. It only has 11 wounds and a 4+ save (with a 5+ invulnerable save against ranged attacks) but its fast at 14″ movement on its top profile and packs 3 heavy weapons. it’s no slouch in melee either, with a potential 6 x WS4+ attacks at Strength 7 AP-1 thanks to its Chain Snares and Bladevanes. It gets the Blade Artists ability and access to the Shock Prow Stratagem described earlier.
Raider – A very similar profile to the Raider, trading two of the heavy weapons for a transport capacity instead. Carries 11 models now too which is a great update!
Venom – An even faster, smaller transport with great shooting ability and pretty decent in combat too. Its Flickerfield gives it a 5+ invulnerable save against ranged attacks and a -1 to hit ability. Oh, and it now carries 6 models too!
Razorwing Jetfighter – A lightly armoured aircraft unit with access to a range of heavy weapons and missiles.
Voidraven Bomber – More wounds than the fighter and carries the Void mine. You can drop this once per battle in your Movement phase and all units within 6″ suffer D6 mortal wounds on a roll of 4+ (5+ for Character units). I’d much prefer these types of effects to be multiple use myself.
Note : As with in other 9th edition Codexes there have also been sweeping changes across weapon profiles.
At Sprues and Brews we always get excited about Crusade, it’s probably our favourite way to play Warhammer 40k so to say we were a little bit excited about the Drukhari Crusade content would be an understatement. Just like other Codexes, in this section you’ll find Drukhari specific Agendas, Requisitions, Battle Traits, Weapon Enhancements, Battle Scars and Crusade Relics. In addition there are a host of new rules for the unique Drukhari Crusade mechanic – Territorial Dominance!
Territorial Dominance
Life is cruel and hard in Commaragh, especially for a Drukhari hoping to cling onto whatever power and control they are able to calve out in this nightmare of realms. In order to thrive (or even survive) this treacherous and unforgiving environment, an aspiring Lord must continually launch raids into realspace to claim valuable resoures such as slaves, kill trophies and other exotic prizes. With this wealth they gain both respect and influence, able to leverage their hard won spoils for more power and control over domains within Commorragh. But one must never become complacent with one’s own success, for Commaragh is full of ambitious rivals who would not hesitate to place a blade in your back and claim your hard won position for themselves.
A Drukhari Crusade puts you in the position of a lowly Drukhari leader seeking to calve out an empire of their own within the Dark City. You begin by choosing one of your Character models to become an Aspiring Lord, granting them the Aspiring Lord Keyword and giving them access to a unique Crusade ability.
During your games you’ll acrue Raid Spoils points, representing the captives, loot and other spoils of war that you collect after battle and fetch back to the Dark City. Inbetween games you can use these Spoil Points to either claim new territory in Commoragh or bribe or barter wih Commorragh’s other powerful players for services, supplies or favours.
When you decide to claim a territory you spend some of your Raid Spoils points and roll randomly on two tables of 132 different combinations of locations in Commoragh. Each territory you claim grants a specific ability (from a selection of 12) for you to use in your games. For example if you manage to claim the Fleshpits territory then after each game you’re able to use the Relic Requistition for 0RP. The Hall of Hooks territory grants an ability to use a Wargear Stratagem for 0CP during your game. There are some really interesting and useful abilities on offer for ruthless and power hungry Archons.
As mentioned above, you can also use your Raid Spoils points on supplies and services from rival Drukhari Lords. You might decide to procure the services of a Haemonculi who, for a small fee, will work his fleshcraft on a unit in your army (maybe increasing that unit’s experience or auto passing a unit’s Out of Action test) or perhaps you might attempt to outwit a rival Archon to steal their territory (even better when used against other Drukhari players!).
But you must beware, become too successful in your scheming and power grabbing and you may attractthe attention of a jealous rival or even Vect himself. Each time you gain a new Territory you must roll to see whether you fall victim to an assassination attempt and accrue a Battle Scar for your troubles.
All in all this is a very simple but extremely interesting Crusade system, one of my favourites to date. The fact that you can steal territory from anothe Drukhari player sounds like so much fun and very thematic. I’d love to play through a Drukhari campaign with the other Sprues and Brews guys, each of us chronicling the rise (and fall) of our own would be Lord.
Agendas
There are four Agendas for you to choose from in your Crusade games. My favourite by far is the “Demonstrate Superiority” Agenda which sees each of your Kabal, Wych Cult and Haemonculus Covens units competing for the moset kills. The respective leader of the most successful faction, be that Archon, Succubus or Haemonculi, gains additional experience points.
I also like the “Take Credit” Agenda, which allows a Character unit in your army to gain experience points relative to how successful other units in your army were at completing Agendas.
It’s all very thematic – great job Games Workshop!
Requisitions
There are six Requisitions for Drukhari players to spend their Requisition Points on. There are some cool throw backs to rules and abilities found in earlier editions of the Dark Eldar Codex. For example “Soul Trap” allows an Archon to accrue Soul Points after destroying an enemy unit in melee. After collecting five Soul Points you can spend them to increase the Archon’s characteristics. A few of the Requisitions focus on the Raid Spoils points mechanics, for example “A Constant Source of Disappointment” which allows you to ‘dispose’ of a badly wounded unit in exchange for more Raid Spoils points.
Battle Traits
There are four tables of Battle Traits which apply to Character, Kabalite Warrior, Wych Cult and Haemonculus Coven units. We see the unsual mix of abilities, bonuses and stat boosts here.
Weapon Enhancements
There is a table containing six Weapon Enhancements too. Some of my favourite picks are :-
Agonite – The target of an attack made from this weapon cannot use rules that ignore wounds!
Nerveshard – Each model destroyed by an attack made with this weapon counts as two models during the Morale Phase.
Battle Scars
The Drukhari Battle Scars are very interesting as they do not reduce a unit’s Crusade points when the acquire one. There are four individual Battle Scars, one each for Characters, Kabalite Warriors, Wych Cults and Haemonculus Coven units and apply a range of debuffs to the affected unit.
Crusade Relics
There are only three Crusade Relics in the book, one Artificer, Antiquity and Legendary Relic but my favourite has to be the “Master Clone Field” – a throw back to a piece of wargear from an earlier Dark Eldar Codex.
What most impressed me about this Codex was the quality of the artwork, the flexible army building tools and the superb Crusade content. I get the impression after the short time I’ve spent flicking through the pages of this Codex that it will be an extremely interesting and exciting book to game with. The army construction rules are a bit more complex when compared to other 9th edition Codexes but allow you to build a range of varied and interesting army lists. Do you go for multiple mono-cult Detachments or combine them into a Realspace Raid Detachment. I’m really impressed with the staggering array of Obessions, Warlord Traits, Upgrades, Relics etc. on offer in this Codex.
The Crusade system is just the cherry on top (well actually its my favourite part of the Codex). At its core its a simple system really, allowing you to conquer territories and interact with the denizens of Commorragh with in game effects. The fact that you also interact with other Drukhari players and steal their territories from them means that this particular Crusade system really hits the mark from a thematic point of view.
Games Workshop provided Sprues and Brews a copy of the New Drukhari Codex for Review Purposes
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