Warhammer 40000 Conquest - Dark Eldar Review Part 001 Packmaster Kith

First in a series of faction reviews for the Warhammer 40000 Conquest starter box. These are not intended for competitive play, there are bunch better sources out there for that and I don't see Conquest having a competitive community in  the Michiana area and my neck of Northwest Indiana. This just gives me something to write and maybe help some gamers that may have interest in the game but have yet to pull the trigger on it.

With these faction reviews I will break them down so that I'm not going over every single card in one go, making for a lengthy read. I'll start with the Warlords and their signature cards and maybe any other cards that tire directly into the Warlords theme. Following posts will cover units, attachments, events, locations and ally cards respectively.

Why Dark Eldar first? Well, because there isn't an Adepta Sororitas/Sisters of Battle faction yet and Dark Eldar is the army I'm into right now in 40K despite having lousy new codex.

The Dark Eldar's starting Warlord is Packmaster Kith. Her traits include Warrior, Succubus and Wych. Kith has the basic starting pool seven resources and cards with an attack of 2 and 6 health. Kith's ability allows her to put a Khymera into play at whatever planet she commits to. This base theme to Kith's signature cards as well.

In the Packmaster's signature cards are four Kith's Khymeramasters. These guys cost 2 resources, have 1 command, 1 attack and 2 health. As a reaction after entering play these beastmasters allow you put a Khymera into play. See where this is going?

To give this Warlord some mobility we get the Khymera Den. A 1 resource location that allows you to exhaust it move any number of Khymera you control to a target planet. this can be incredibly helpful to shore up an important battle or to save these cute and cuddly hellbeasts from getting slaughtered.

Continuing with the Khymera theme is the Agoniser of Bren, a 1 resource attachment that also boasts 3 shield points. This weapon when attached to an army unit confers +1 attack for each Khymera you control. Too bad this is a signature card.

 

Skipping past the last signature card is the Beasthunter Wyches at 3 resources, 2 command, 1 attack and 3 health. This wych card allows you pay 1 resource for another Khymera to be put into play your HQ after playing a Dark Eldar event card. This unit is going to have some circumstantial usefulness, but gives you another outlet to get Khymera into play if you need it.

Last, is the 2 resource Pact of the Haemonculi signature event card. As a Deploy Action, sacrifice a unit to force the opponent to discard a card from his/her hand and allowing you to draw two cards. Because Khymera tokens count as units this card isn't going to force you sacrifice a superior unit.

These Khymera shenanigans are not your main path to victory. What they will do more often is just give you a few extra units to win battle. Potentially it can give you a decent number of Khymera to overwhelm a battle but that isn't likely to happen very often, as this is more of a support gimmick unless it something that is built upon more later in the game cycle.

 

The game was just released eleven days ago and I am already seeing a lot negative feedback on Kith and the Dark Eldar in general. I guess it just goes with the faction regardless of what game it is. In all honesty i think it's too early for it though. The game just got started and there is bound to be some balance issues with such a limited amount of cards.

In terms of Kith's ability and numbers compared to the other warlords, yes she appears to be the weakest. That however does not make her useless. Maybe the designers should have started with an Archon, Haemonculus or Succubus, but Kith forces you to think when building her deck and during game play. She's the challenge mode of this game. Despite my gripes on the changes to Wyches in the miniatre wargame, challenges such as that and making Kith work is something I enjoy in all games.

Next up I will cover the army unit cards within the Dark Eldar faction.