S&M Thoughts: Top Cryx Warcasters, Pt. II
9 Minute Read
Nov 21 2010
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Strategy and Method Thoughts is back, this time returning to some old favorites.
Mr. Black here once more, and dear readers I must apologize to you. I intended to get this particular sequel out much sooner, but it seems that I’ve been having some trouble finding another Photo Editor who was willing to work within my comfort zone and not censor my photos without my consent.
The search did not go well…
In fact, out of the entire BoLS staff I could not find a single person who was willing to work with me on this project once I gave them a brief summery of the pictures/content I wanted to include. Honestly, I have no idea why, but I have collected two of the harsher responses I received, the names removed as to protect the original speakers:
“RE: Please stop sending things like this to my work email. I am in serious risk of getting fired now and the IT staff are already giving me weird looks/avoiding me.”
“RE: Dude, what is wrong with you?! Seriously? Crap like this is just sick and wrong! I actually enjoy playing wargames, ok? How am I supposed to look at my models the same way, much less even touch them, after seeing that?!”
Some of you may be wondering what happened to my last Photo Editor… Well he resigned from the position rather suddenly, leaving me only a small note on my laptop:
I understand now why he’s a photo editor and not a writing editor. That is the worst blood writing I have ever seen.
So with that dear readers I am left to my own devices. Unfortunately I was not prepared for such and thus must resort to stock photos in the BoLS archive. Anyway, enough about my work life, let’s jump right into my favorite Cryx Warcasters, Pt. 2.
Lich Lord Asphyxious
What happened to you man? I mean really? Asphyxious, in his Prime/Non-Epic state was one of the baddest guys to walk the Nightmare Isle. He had it all: Cool name, up-and-coming status, a warwitch willing to do anything for him (anything)… And what has he become now? Look at him, he’s pathetic! Now I know what you’re saying, “but Mr. Black, his epic rules are so rad and look how ballin’ that model is!”- And to that I say yes, on the surface he may look cool and all that, but let’s take a closer look at just what Asphyxious has become.
Problem: Something happened to him to cause him to begin grievously overcompensating. His old weapon Soul Splitter just doesn’t cut it anymore. No, we couldn’t be satisfied with Sustained Attack, we had to upgrade to the giant, pulsating, fleshy eye-rod Daeamortus. What does Daeamortus give us? Soul tokens from a distance. Yeah, sure, whatever, that’s so much better than Sustained Attack… Now take a gander under his robe. No, I’m serious, look at it. Look at it. Again with the overcompensating thing! He has not one, not two, but four giant soul-tentacles emerging from under there! What-the-hell? I could also mention the upgraded pauldron size, but I think that’s just assumed to mean “Hey! Look at me! I have low self esteem!” (looking at you Epic Vlad!) so we’ll skip that…
My point is this: yes, I know back in his prime version Asphyxious simply couldn’t gather Soul Tokens as well as some of the other casters/solos. It’s not something to be ashamed about, I mean he was competing with the likes of Terminus, the Withershadow Combine, and Soulhunters (it’s in their damn name even!), so I’m really not sure why he felt the need to go so overboard with the Soul Token gathering! I mean it’s nice that that’s his “thing” now- but really, would you want to be known as the guy who was so obsessed with his lack of ability to get Soul Tokens that now he’s the guy who overcompensates because of his lack of ability? Hell, even his feat, Spectral Legion is based around yanking souls back to his service… I swear Asphyxious, it’s like your just throwing a tantrum and yelling “I USE SOULS TOO! IN FACT I’M THE BEST AT USING SOULS! PLEASE LIKE ME!!”
Just grow up man, remember how awesome you used to be…
Of course now this is about my favorite Cryx casters, and I will admit that, the above (very good) points aside, Epic Asphyxious still has probably some of the best combination of spells in the entire Cryx arsenal: A fantastic AoE effect in Death Knell, a token/trigger denying ability in Excarnate (which while not nearly as good/overpowered as it used to be is still handy… But again with the denial of Soul Tokens thing!), one of, if not the best ARM debuffs in the game with Parasite, and a Panic Button in Teleport. Combine all that together and you get a fantastic mix of spells that, given the addition of a few Arc Nodes, can lead to complete battlefield control and destruction! Top all that off with the cherry that is his feat and you have one of the best ‘caster assassins to boot as well!
Simply out, point for point, spell-for-spell, Lich Lord Asphyxious is one of the best choices in the Cryx army. Used properly he is a rockin’ sockin’ engine of destruction, and that overcompensation issue just pushes him to try all the harder.
Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast
Ok, so Asphyxious has his share of issues in becoming an “Epic Caster” what about Skarre, my favorite lovely lady of Cryx? I’m not ashamed to admit it, I loved her due to her Great Rack in her prime version… Focus Factory and Skarre Bomb where nice as well, but let’s face it, I simply can’t turn down a horny woman (specifically woman, not girl) with Great Rack and a love of blood magic, I just can’t! So how is Skarre fairing in her epic form? Well she is still boasting Great Rack, which is still the best amongst the Satyxis ladies, and she traded her tactics of knocking things down with a Ram attack… Huh, well that’s alright I suppose. Not as useful in my mind, but it has a certain “I don’t know you, that’s my purse” aspect to it… Not very Skarre-like, but I can dig it…
Also new to her she has a- Wait, what? What is that thing? Why does Skarre now have a gigantic Hand Cannon? That… That doesn’t seem right… I always liked Skarre cause of her Great Rack… W-why does she have a Hand Cannon now? Did she always have that and just… Like never use it? No no… I’m reading to much into this… … She’s also sporting a massive, lumbering wooden… bone… Bonewood thingie on her base now too?! What’s going on here?! Is she trying to tell me something? I thought the knee-high boots and chainmail girdle was just her way of being a seductress but the more I look at it… Is she hiding something? I.. I don’t want to think about this anymore… Let’s just focus on her abilities and spells and not her… blunderbuss and… and…
Skarre has lots of great abilities… ones that don’t require you to focus on her Hand Cannon or Great Rack to love. Like Sea of Fate for example, arguably the best warcaster ability in the game. I love efficiency and nothing does that better than being able to boost after the result- never again will I waste a focus either double ones or three on triple sixes! Sure, the focus factory is gone, but we can learn to love again!
Now, I could go down her spells one-by-one, but honestly that would take too much time so I’ll say this: Out of every Cryx caster which has turned to the Epic side Skarre changed the most fundamentally. I love her new spells, her feat, and her abilities and think there is huge potential in her- the only drawback? Just like a good woman, Queen Skarre is complex, she is not for the newcomer to try and tackle right away or she will break you, and not in the fun way… I love Epic Skarre because she is truly a tactical powerhouse, I look at her spells and combos and stratagems begin to blossom in my mind, evil, wicked tactics that hearken back to when Cryx was the Bastard’s Faction. Use her right, take your time to get to know her, and Skarre will be a true force to be reckoned with… Even if she is sporting a Hand Cannon…
Lich Lord Terminus
Honestly, I didn’t even see him placing on this list. Weird thing to say in a list of your favorite casters, but let me explain!
Initially, the Witch Coven of Garlghast had this spot, I mean that would have been the obvious choice wouldn’t it? Three lovely ladies who seem to enjoy being in blinders constantly? Where do I sign up? But I realized if I said something like that then people would think I’m a bit weird. More so, I realized that while I liked the Coven a whole lot in MKI, I don’t really care for them in MKII, don’t know specifically what it is, just don’t.
Next I thought “Gorshade the Cursed”, but do I really want to say the High Emo Elf King is one of my favorite casters? Yeah, you can see my reasoning can’t you? Sure, I like Bane Thralls as much as the next unit, but when I really sat down and thought about it I saw that amongst my top favorites one thing was missing: Raw power. And I do enjoy raw power, I exert it often, and if there is one Cryxian warcaster that embodies that better than the rest it has to be Terminus!
Now, just to get it out of my system let’s start with the bad things about Terminus: his sculpt. The pictures in the book make him out to be some gigantic monster, a winged horror capable of tearing a part the very core of Caen itself and reshape it to his will, a figure of unrelenting terror!
And what do we get instead? An oversized Pug with clown arms who looks like he rides the short bus to Blackwater with his tiny hand and inability to hold his sword the right direction. Ok, that may be a but mean, but it’s what I see when I look at it. Can he be re-sculpted and re-positioned? Absolutely, but I just cannot fathom that of the available poses and ways he appears in the book the minds at Privateer Press said “How can we make him look as least threatening as possible? I know! Let’s pose him like a turtle tumbling backwards down a hill! Yeah, that’ll do.”
As far as his actual abilities and stat-line go? Well let’s just say that despite all I said above he made it onto the list in favor of a coven of bondage witches and Deneghra’s thong-ghost.That displays true power, dear readers! He has one of the best melee stat-lines in the game and all the terrifying attacks to back it up as well as the most devastating template attack in all of Cryx (perhaps the game). Now on top of all that make him tough as nails, almost totally immune to ranged attacks due to Sacrificial Pawn, and downright unkillable during his Feat Turn! He’s a venerable one-man-undead-army! I know Cryx is usually about finesse, but we all tire of the same tactics every so often, even if they are meticulously evil, and we all have the desire for unstoppable ravaging bloodshed in us (at least I assume we all do), so having such a beast at our beck and call is a great thing! It’s always a treat when I get to put this whiffle-ball of model on the table!
Now spell wise… Ehh, ok, Terminus doesn’t much care for that area, they distract from the killin’, but what he does have he does well, not notably able to exert his own blood frenzy to ‘jacks in the form of Ravager. His other spells? Well, kinda lackluster compared to our other lists… But let’s not forget one critical effect: Shadow of Death. This lovely ability makes all undead near Terminus Tough, and given that we’re melee based and Terminus should be leading the charge and you have a powerful anchor for the rest of your army!
That’s pretty much it about the Big Bad Lich. He’s a rampaging monster and makes his units the same, so go a head and enjoy it! Move forth and crush all those who oppose you! That’s how I enjoy playing him, just treating the opponent as a roadblock to bigger and better fights, and I can tell you this- Utterly crushing someone who (in your mind anyway) never had a chance to begin with- Absolute Bliss.
~And that sums it up, dear readers, my top favorite Cryx Warcasters! Are they better than the rest? That’s a matter of opinion. But for me these choices represent the core of the Cryxian Mindframe and embody what I love about Warmachine as a whole!
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Author: Guest Columnist
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