Warmachine: Cryx- The Bold, The Beautiful, The New
The new Forces of Warmachine book for Cryx is finally out, and there are a bunch of new toys for the followers of the Dragon God to play with.
The book contains several new units for Cryx in MkII. The rules and stats for a few of these have been out for several months now, but since not everyone keeps up with the interwebz I figure it’s worth going over Cryx’s new toys.
Lich Lord Venethrax
This guy represents the biggest, most obvious place to start. He’s the new Warcaster for Cryx. Venethrax is a mix of magical-death-dealer and melee monster, similar to Goreshade or Asphyxious. A P+S 14 reach melee weapon and an additional damage die against Warbeasts will make you want to get him in there. Add in the Dragon Slayer spell which gives him +2 STR and ARM and he’ll really mess up opposing Warcasters and Warlocks. Tack on the Soul Harvester spell and his Feat and there’s a good reason this guy is commonly described as the Anti-Everblight Warcaster. For those who haven’t heard, Soul Harvester can be cast onto a friendly unit and whenever that unit kills enemy models in melee, Venethrax gains the soul tokens. His Feat causes a 3″ cloud effect that not even eyeless sight can see past to be centered over every destroyed enemy model in Venethrax’s 14″ control area.
The reality is that this guy can be great against any army that includes living models. So long as your opponent fields at least one full infantry unit, Venethrax players will have the chance to reap additional focus. Try (or watch out for!) this: Cast and upkeep Soul Harvester on a solid melee unit that is hard to kill. Bane Thralls, Bane Knights, or Blackbanes Ghost Raiders often make good targets because of their stealth, ghostly, or incorporeal rules respectively. Have that unit charge in and eliminate a decent chunk of an enemy infantry unit. Then activate Venethrax and cast Soul Harvester onto a different unit that’s about to charge a different group of infantry. If you can get the first charge off and kill just ten enemy models over the course of a turn, you could gain an additional 10 focus next turn that can be used to Arc Hellfire into the opposing Warcaster.
Ripjaw Bonejack
The Ripjaw is the newest variation on the bonejack chassis. This little guy has the same statline as a deathripper or defiler with the the obligatory Arc Node and a 5 point cost. Instead of a ranged attack, the Ripjaw has a P+S 10 armor piercing star melee attack OR a star action that can reduce a hit models’ DEF by -2 for one round and stop it from advancing while in the Ripjaw’s melee range. I know what some of you are thinking, ‘a P+S 10 armor piercing attack isn’t good’. Consider this: How many ways does Cryx have to debuff ARM values from spells, Feats, and special abilities? Let’s say you’re running Asphyxious. You cast Parasite onto a Juggernaut to reduce its ARM to 17. Then you put Scything Touch onto the Ripjaw. When the Ripjaw charges the Juggernaut, it will be at an effective P+S 12 versus an ARM of 7. You’ll be rolling 3d6 damage with a +5 modifier to the roll! That’s the same type of damage you’d expect from the Behemoth or an Angelius. Unlike those models, the Ripjaw has an Arcnode and is cheap enough to be practically expendable. If you don’t fancy tackling opposing Warjacks, try going after Solo’s and Cavalry models.
Satyxis Blood Witches
This is one of those units that’s been available on shelves for some time, now. They have the same statline as the Satyxis Raiders, so SPD 7, decent DEF, and low ARM. They’re a cheap unit, only costing 6 points for the full 10 models. What they bring to Cryx is a cheap means of taking out opposing infantry units. Gang gives them an effective MAT 8 and STR 12 with their main weapon, high enough to reliably hit those DEF 15 opponents, and strong enough to reliably take down a Man-o-War Democorps model with two witches. Their magical weapons will let them go after incorporeal models, including Zealots with the Monolith Bearer. The special rules on their knives let them either create cloud effects when they kill an enemy model, or have one death potentially turn into two. I can’t describe the full rules, but think something similar to Chain Lightning. I gotta say, I like ’em! SPD 7 makes up for the lack of reach, and the MkII morale rules mean you won’t have to worry about them fleeing off board. Of course, for 2 points you can also field their UA.
The Satyxis Blood Hag
Behold the UA for the Blood Witches. She can give a Blood Witch unit Incorporeal for one round, denies your opponent Tough, or Healing in her command range, comes with the normal Blood Witch abilities as well as the ability to remove upkeep spells on enemy models she has hit. Since officers tend to be prime targets of enemy attacks, the Blood Hag also comes with Stealth to help keep her safe. Note, these abilities read a little differently in the book. They have been errata’d by PP.
Satyxis Raider Sea Witch
The Sea Witch is the UA for the Satyxis Raider unit. She costs the same as the Blood Hag, comes with all the Satyxis Raider special rules, and gives the Satyxis Raider unit some neat rules. Once per game her unit gains what is effectively Weapon Master, they always have pathfinder, and so long as she’s in play, her unit has +2 DEF versus ranged and is immune to blast damage! All of these rules will help to keep the squishy Satyxis Raiders alive and healthy long enough to do some damage.
Satyxis Raider Captain
Noticing a Satyxis theme here? The Captain is a solo. She has Advanced Deployment, Pathfinder, Sprint, and the Commander special rules. Her P+S on her melee weapons is fairly low, but weapon master with a reach, chain weapon means she’ll be just as deadly. If she passes a command test, she can give a nearby Satyxis raider unit +2 movement for a turn, turning Satyxis Raiders with the UA into SPD 9 pathfinders from hell with reach weapons and a turn of weapon master to boot! It practically guarentees the Blood Witches will get the first strike on their targets. Friendly Satyxis in the Captains command range cannot be knocked down. This ability combined with Force Barrier on the Satyxis Raiders and UA would make for a nice mobile screen at need. The Captain costs two points and can be purchased in pairs for your Warcaster.
Warwitch Siren
Lastly, we have the Siren. Think of her as a mix of Greylord and Arcanist. She’s got Stealth, and SPD 7 meaning she’ll get to wherever she’s needed. Her weapon has reach and Shadowbind, though chances are you’ll be fielding her for her magical abilities. The Siren can choose between Venom (that nice spray attack), Seduction (ala Epic Deneghra), or Power Booster. This last spell can either remove disruption from an friendly Warjack, or give a friendly Warjack a Focus point if it doesn’t already have one on it. Think about that last part. This makes the Siren best off as a compliment to your Warjacks- she won’t run them for you. What she can do is coordinate well with the Withershadow Combine, or give out an extra focus here or there to allow a Warjack to run or make a Special Attack while allowing your Warcaster to save an extra Focus for something else. She’ll also pair well with a ranged Warjack like the Leviathan or Corrupter. Those ‘Jacks will often only need 1 focus to boost either the ranged attack OR damage roll, and the Siren can provide that. She’s cheap at just two points and again, you can field two per Warcaster.
That rounds up the new models in the Cryx book. I’ve barely touched upon the possible tactics and combos you can use with them. have you fielded any of these yourself? Have you faced them? What were your experiences?
