New to Cryx

[Father_Turin]

Hey everyone, I have decided to dabble a bit in Cryx, moving over from my steadfast electric swans.
So far all I have is the battle box and Terminus (his model is what made me want to get into Cryx since Apotheosis). I'm planning on getting the following:
pGhaspy
McThralls
Bane Thralls (the full monty, unit, ua and Tartarus if I can, but that gets pricey)
Siren
Seether
Deathjack
Withershadow Combine

What else can I get that can create relatively modular lists with the three casters I'm looking at? Is there even a way to have modular lists? With Cygnar I am very used to having lists that I can swap out the caster with little modification (after all, after squire, junior, gun mages and black 13, there aren't many points left to play with besides the battlegroup).
Ultimately I guess my question is, can I build a decent core of models and swap stuff around with different casters, or do I pretty much need completely different types of armies for each caster?

PS: can you effectively play Terminus without the infantry swarm brick? Or is that gimping yourself?

PPS: I love armor piercing (ah, hunters), and getting it on a melee attack is just awesome. That being said, can either of the ghaspy's work with cankerworm and a couple ripjaws to utterly murder jacks/beasts, or is a heavy still a good idea?

Sorry for the long post.

[Drzombieface]

Terminus is an infantry brick caster. That's what he does. He uses a huge army as a delivery system for his sword to their caster's face.


The Cankerworm is pretty good with pAsphxious, but its biggest down fall is the lack of an arc node. If you don't feel like running a heavy, spending 10-15 points on CW and a couple Ripjaws isn't that great of an alternative, point wise. I wouldn't recommend it with eAsphyxious. I've tried it out in several eGaspy lists and it just never feels as good as the Deathjack or a few arc nodes.


A Necrosurgeon is to Mechanithralls like the Monolith Bearer is to Zealots. Sure, you can play them without the Surgeon, but they're so much better if you do. Bringing back 3 Thralls a turn? Yep. Count me in.

[Mathai]

And if you like one surgeon, you'll love two. Basically, as long as the unit isn't wiped out you're gonna have a fresh unit next turn.

[Father_Turin]

So for just 9 points I get a unit that hits as hard as non cma stormblades, get back up to six a turn and with terminus are tough and take shots for him? Yeah, I guess for that I can live with playing a brick army. Coming from the land of snipe and arcane shield tax, it also seems well worth it to toss some brute thralls in for trample blocking and hitting like a freight train, is the payoff worth it?

Two other questions about mcthralls. Is it worth it to keep them as a second wave to take advantage of malediction, or the big guy sort it out on his own?

Second question, it seems like mcthralls go from dangerous speed bump to a nice heaping helping of murder with crippling grasp and pDenny's feat (I myself have learned the hard way that pStryker's feat is hyperbole thanks to this). Should I use the thralls with her as well, or does she just make any Cryx infantry absolute murder, and would bane thralls work better?

And I lied, I have a third question. Coming from Cygnar, stealth never bothered me, so I never bothered to think about using stealth much. Is stealth integral to denny's survival? If so, how do you deal with anti stealth pieces? Is it really as simple as running up a node and arcing venom all over thier face? There doesn't seem to be a ton of blast damage in Cryx, which is usually my biggest fear when running gun mages with anyone besides Siege or eNemo. Also, I love me some eCaine. So much so that a bunch of my friends have started playing him. I always have trouble with terminus and his swarm, so is that the answer?

[Gamingdevil]

So for just 9 points I get a unit that hits as hard as non cma stormblades, get back up to six a turn and with terminus are tough and take shots for him? Yeah, I guess for that I can live with playing a brick army. Coming from the land of snipe and arcane shield tax, it also seems well worth it to toss some brute thralls in for trample blocking and hitting like a freight train, is the payoff worth it?

Definitely, when I play McThralls, my first options for filling up 1 or 2 points are Brutes. Mostly as a speed bump, but the hits are nice as well.

Two other questions about mcthralls. Is it worth it to keep them as a second wave to take advantage of malediction, or the big guy sort it out on his own?

The big guy sorts out anything on his own. If you're committing him anyway, might as well do it first so the rest of your army benefits from it as well (might want to do this due to his feat anyway), but he's not there to support his army, it's the other way around.
Especially the McThralls should be in front of Termy to stop big nasties from getting to him, they're out best road block.
Played 2 games against Krueger yesterday who was happily slaughtering my army, while he couldn't touch Terminus, my army was all but gone but as soon as I ate his beasts, I had free reign anyway.

Second question, it seems like mcthralls go from dangerous speed bump to a nice heaping helping of murder with crippling grasp and pDenny's feat (I myself have learned the hard way that pStryker's feat is hyperbole thanks to this). Should I use the thralls with her as well, or does she just make any Cryx infantry absolute murder, and would bane thralls work better?

Yes, pDenny makes everything better and McThralls are no exception. They become quite potent with any caster that has a DEF debuff or MAT buff and pDenny/pSkarre are the queens of the heap here. Their only weakness then becomes their poor defensive stats, but that's what the Surgeons are for.

And I lied, I have a third question. Coming from Cygnar, stealth never bothered me, so I never bothered to think about using stealth much. Is stealth integral to denny's survival? If so, how do you deal with anti stealth pieces? Is it really as simple as running up a node and arcing venom all over thier face? There doesn't seem to be a ton of blast damage in Cryx, which is usually my biggest fear when running gun mages with anyone besides Siege or eNemo. Also, I love me some eCaine. So much so that a bunch of my friends have started playing him. I always have trouble with terminus and his swarm, so is that the answer?

Yes, Stealth ignoring pieces have got to go and arcing a Venom or Scourge at them is a good way to do that. Your other option would be to camp, but then she's not casting all those juicy spells.
There isn't a ton of blast damage in Cryx because A) we're not a ranged faction, like Cygnar and B) Biles. Biles can murder entire units with a well placed Purge as long as you can deliver them. Otherwise there's always Warwitch Sirens, Bloat Thralls and/or Scrap Thralls.
Most of our casters have at least one AoE spell as well, you just have to know when to use them rather than spam them with ranged weapons.

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup]

I've found that whenever I've been counting on Terminus to handle it himself, a couple of missed die rolls later and I'm looking at a dead Terminus.

I think - unless you're sitting on a huge pile of focus from his feat the prior turn - you're better off flying in, taking your initial attack, and then letting your grunts swarm in for the kill (with the help of Big T's Malediction). If they fail, you're still camping quite a bit of focus for the counter-strike.

[Decade]

As a voice of distention, I've rather successfully run Terminus without a giant infantry brick. My main Terminus list consists of just one unit of sacrificial infantry, be they Mechanithralls, Revenants or Banethralls. Then its support units/solos such as surgeons, Withershadow, Rengrave, Tartarus and Wrathe. I actually like banes with him because they're stealthy, meaning that an opponent can't easily clear out the screen for their big hitters to go after Terminus. And if the only viable shots are at Terminus, well, at full camp can pretty much ignore almost anything other than warnoun guns or the skinhead *****. Add to the equation that so long as you keep the officer alive, any banes that make their tough checks will stand up automatically at the begining of your turn, negating the knockdown penalty makes for a very good screen.

Something to consider with Terminus if you're not planning to run an infantry brick is an Iron Lich Overseer with a seether. I know many people on the Cryx forums don't like the ILO, but he's been very effective whenever I use him. With a seether, you're getting roughly 4 focus a turn on the thing = 1 from soul drive, 1 from charging/running for free / 1 from free power attack w/ smash & grab, and one from the ILO's jack martial. The key here is that its adds another significant threat to the table, but doesn't tax Terminus's focus. And, almost as importantly, aside from the ILO, who really shouldn't be up in the action, this combo is not in competition for souls on feat turn.

Oh, and welcome to the Dragon's service. Enjoy your stay, and remember, don't drink the water.

[Warlordtheft]

Enjoy your stay, and remember, don't drink the water.

Why not? Tastes like key-lime pie. What do you mean my eyes are begining to glow green?


If you're looking to minimize unit purchases for multiple casters, I'd suggest bane thralls, mcthralls, biles, steelhead riflemen, nyss hunters, black banes unit, and rev crew and rengrave.

Concur with others: Termie needs infantry.

On the PPS: Yes, you can do that and still run a successful army.

[SpiderBite]

. . .tough and take shots for him? Yeah, I guess for that I can live with playing a brick army. Coming from the land of snipe and arcane shield tax, it also seems well worth it to toss some brute thralls in for trample blocking and hitting like a freight train, is the payoff worth it?
. . . keep them as a second wave to take advantage of malediction, or the big guy sort it out on his own?

McThrall Happy Meal -10pts - full Mechanithralls, 3x Brutes, Necrosurgeon
This is my mechanithrall package. Absolutely worth it. With Terminus, I never use them as a second line. I run them as the first, disposable, line, with Banes as the second wave.

. . . Should I use the thralls with her as well, or does she just make any Cryx infantry absolute murder, and would bane thralls work better? . . .Is stealth integral to denny's survival? If so, how do you deal with anti stealth pieces? Is it really as simple as running up a node and arcing venom all over thier face? I always have trouble with terminus and his swarm, so is that the answer?

Den makes everything murderous, especially on her feat turn. Bane Thralls have more survivability with stealth, but tend to be overkill on anything but heavies. McThralls are cheap and keep coming back.
My answer for some anti-anti-stealth is always Satyxis Raiders.
Thus far in my experience, eCaine should just pack up and go get a cheeseburger if he's fighting Terminus. It never ends well for him.