A topic I love and am spending some work on lately!
I'd like to add some notes to Calisson's (excellent) list. The first thing to note is that there are different kind of raiders and raiding parties.
- There's the basic black ship corsairs, who raid and enslave for a living usually led by a fleetmaster or a bunch of captains. They wouldn't have too many exotic items or units unless they hired it.
- According to the Malus Darkblade novels, highbourns have a ritual of making their first raid and profit from it. It is a bit like a ritual for coming of age. Of course, such a house might always have a sibling or two in the raiding business to generate a steady income for the family as well. Masters and Dreadlords can be a regular sight, but usually in small numbers (unless they are "allies" or family).
- There's the "black arks", the floating isles which roam the seas. In theory these can house any kind of army but they would have a Sorceress or a whole coven of magic to control the island. It is noted explicitly that these house all kinds of monsters in their hull as well, so the joint force of magic and monsters is implied once more.
- There are land raiders. These travel by land mostly, but can be part of a Black Ark or even be transported by ship and then settle on land for the "raiding season" (yes, they have seasons). They focus on survival on land. This is where Dark Riders and Warlocks come in. Shades would be commonplace here.
It could be noted that Shades used to be "Dark Elf Scouts", which in essence they still are. This makes them the most versatile unit fluff-wise. There is no reason to assume these couldn't be Corsairs with a scouting mission or a tribe hired by Corsairs.
SorceressesCalisson mentioned their weather forecasting abilities. Mages used to be employed on ships to help control the weather before the Sundering. The High Elves still practice this and consider this the "norm", if I'm not mistaken. The Dark Elf sorceresses could still be used for it but they also tend to be employed for:
- Countering the High Elf mages, if the ship plans to sail close to or raid Ulthuan shores (because they know enemy ships have mages)
- Helping to enslave creatures from the depths of the seas, as is noted in the Beastmaster fluff.
- Expeditions... which is actually important. It were lost and captured Dark Elf sorceresses that spread the necromancy which spawned the Tomb Kings and later the Vampire Counts.
Beastmasters and sea monstersIt would be convenient for a ship to hire a beastmaster who would lure a monster along. Why nurture and care for a monster for a long time if you can pick up a new one on your way, and send it to the enemy to cover your retreat?
This is not explicitly mentioned in the fluff, but it is implied that some monsters like the Kharibdyss are never really fully tamed. They are goaded into battle and then left to wreck havoc.
Medusae with or without shrineFluff wise they seem to have little in common and yet it somehow feels fitting. The reason isn't the fluff but the original Medusa and her connection to Poseidon. And the originally unrelated Naga do seem to blend in popular art.
https://www.google.be/search?q=Naga&tbm=ischIf you're adding monsters, they can be added too. Combined with the shrine, they can really expand your options in an army.
PegasusCalisson mentioned them as needing harder fluff modifications, but I would include them merely as an uncommon sight. It transports almost like a horse. That doesn't mean it's easy, but it's easy to imagine that a master or dreadlord (or sorceress) would take this kind of mount along. I think one can be justified easily enough.
