Warmachine: 3 lists for Deneghra 3
Why is it so hard to pin down the perfect list for Deneghra the Soul Weaver?
I haven’t played my Cryx army in quite awhile, but when I saw Deneghra 3 flapping in on those decaying leathery wings, I knew I’d have to paint her up and get some games in. Her playstyle seems pretty straightforward. Get souls. Fuel your warjacks with them. Use them to cast Mortality on things. Wreck those things with the rest of your army. This has been the general plan I’ve kept in mind as I concoct lists for when I finally get her painted up and on the battlefield.
Of course that is kind of an oversimplification. Occasionally you might need to hand out some Ghost Walks to ensure you can easily reach more juicy targets. You’re also going to want to keep Grave Wind up on Deneghra herself in most situations. I mean yeah she’s pretty tough to kill, but every gun in your opponent’s army will be targeting her. Additionally, she wants to operate close to the front since she can only nab Soul Tokens from friendly models in her Command Range. This makes her vulnerable to charges too. For that reason, you’re usually going to want to camp a lot of focus with her. Between that, needing it for boosts, and for the occasional Scourge casting, it will be easy to feel like Deneghra is starved for Focus. If you’re thinking you’ll just get everything taken care of on her feat turn that’s a bad plan.
That’s the problem you run into when you start building lists for her. You need to strike the right balance between models that can help collect souls and actual army to get work done. Plus you’ll need some of the usual Cryx tools like Arc Nodes, and definitely something with Shield Guard for the risk of encountering Eiryss if nothing else.
The other really tricky part is timing. Deneghra wants to have Soul Tokens when she activates so she can cast Mortality to make it easier for her army to kill models to generate Soul Tokens so she can grab them when she activates so she can cast Mortality to… Hey wait a minute I’m going in circles here. Therein lies the problem. If Denny goes first to soften up your opponent that means your army hasn’t activated yet. That means they haven’t generated any Soul Tokens, and Deneghra will have to burn through her own focus. If she waits, your army will have to fight on their own merits without the help of multiple Mortality castings.
Pistol Wraiths are probably the best solution to this problem. They’re fairly self reliant and can hopefully be counted on to grab a couple Soul Tokens before Deneghra activates. Then she’ll have an easier time doing her job, and so will the rest of your army. Then models like Soul Collectors will start to gather the Souls for Deneghra to use next round. If things go right, they can use Soul Transfer to give her their souls, while she uses Soul Weaver to take more from the Pistol Wraiths. This can give her quite a few Souls to play with.
Without further ado let’s look at lists.
Deneghra, the Soul Weaver – WJ: +4
– Skarlock Thrall
– Scavenger – PC: 4
– Ripjaw – PC: 5
– Deathjack – PC: 12
– Scavenger – PC: 4
Ogrun Bokur – PC: 3
Soul Trapper – PC: 1
Pistol Wraith – PC: 3
Necrotech – PC: 1
– Scrap Thrall
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters – Cylena & 9 Grunts: 10
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. – Boomhowler and 9 Grunts: 9
For this first list, I’ve recruited some of Deneghra’s best Mercenary pals. They work great in a Prime Deneghra list tearing up models under Crippling Grasp. They should do just as great in a Deneghra3 list tearing up models under Mortality. I’ve included Soul Trappers and a Pistol Wraith for the reasons I stated earlier. The Skarlock and Deathjack allow for even more castings without overburdening Deneghra’s own focus pool. This, and the whole Cull Soul thing is why I’ve chosen Deathjack over Nightmare for my heavy hitter. The Necrotech is there to heal any damage Deneghra takes, although that point might be better spent on more Soul Trappers.
As for the Scavengers, I must admit I have a softness for them with Deneghra 3. On her feat turn it seems like it would be easy for her to give them Ghost Walk and load them up with focus in the hopes of getting a caster kill. I’ve put them in two of my lists for that reason, but I can’t shake the feeling I’d be better off ditching them for something else. That 8 points could be so many things: a Deathripper, another Pistol Wraith, and two more Soul Trappers for example. I’ll just have to try them a few times to see how they do.
Deneghra, the Soul Weaver – WJ: +4
– Skarlock Thrall
– Deathjack – PC: 12
– Scavenger – PC: 4
– Scavenger – PC: 4
– Deathripper – PC: 4
Pistol Wraith – PC: 3
Soul Trapper – PC: 1
Ogrun Bokur – PC: 3
Mechanithralls – Leader & 9 Grunts: 5
– 3 Brute Thrall’s: 3
– Skarlock Commander – PC: 1
Mechanithralls – Leader & 9 Grunts: 5
– 2 Brute Thrall’s: 2
– Skarlock Commander – PC: 1
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls – Necrosurgeon & 3 Grunts: 2
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls – Necrosurgeon & 3 Grunts: 2
This list really just swaps out the mercs for a nice Mechanithrall/Stitch Thrall recursion force. One point of note is that the Skarlock Commanders add another way to harvest Souls. If I ditched the Scavengers in this list I would probably turn that 8 points into Darragh Wrathe, another unit of Mech Thralls and a Necrotech.
Deneghra, the Soul Weaver – WJ: +4
– Skarlock Thrall
– Inflictor – PC: 7
– Inflictor – PC: 7
– Deathjack – PC: 12
– Deathripper – PC: 4
Pistol Wraith – PC: 3
Soul Trapper – PC: 1
Soulhunters – Leader & 4 Grunts: 9
Soulhunters – Leader & 4 Grunts: 9
THEME: Weft of Souls – Tier 4
Of course I had to throw at least one Tier list out there. That’s not to say this list can’t be dangerous. Nearly the entire army will be gathering Soul Tokens. Plus it’s crazy fast so it will really put the pressure on your opponent to step up for objectives. But if those Soulhunters don’t take out a lot of models in that alpha strike they’ll probably cave pretty quickly. The Inflictors can maybe Shield Guard one or two shots against them if things don’t look too dangerous for Deneghra, but that’s not that much really. If you’re wondering why I didn’t just go with a ton of Mechanithralls when I clearly like them so much well, those little guys just die so quick and you can’t take Necrosurgeons in Weft of Souls. I really think the double Soulhunters can work. Just cram those suckers up there and try to kill every last thing you can. It might take some practice to figure out how to do it just right, but that’s true of every list.
So I think that’s about all the theory-crafting I can do before I actually put d3 on the table. Will I end up getting rid of the Scavengers? Will I need more Pistol Wraiths and other Soul colecting models or will these lists have enough? Will I end up liking her enough to spring for a second unit of Soulhunters and try the tier?
~Hope you enjoyed the article. Do you think I’m on the right track or would you run Deneghra 3 completely differently?
