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One or two years ago I bought a WFB army lot over ebay and there were amongst other things some Warmachine Cryx models. Until now I've just put them aside but yesterday I stumbled across them again and noticed how nicely sculpted they are. Short story, I kind of fell in love with the models and think about getting into Warmachine now. The problem is that I have no idea what I should add to these minis and I don't really wanna spend a lot of money right now on this project as I have many others going on...

So here are the models I currently own:

6 Bane Thralls
Bane Lord Tartarus
Deathjack
Goreshade the Bastard & Deathwalker

I know it is not a lot, but a start at least... So what would you reckon to add to this group which isn't too expensive? More Bane Thralls? Is the Battlebox worth it?

For the beginning I don't need a huge army and it doesn't have to be really competitive, as I don't plan on attending tournaments in the foreseeable future.

I know this isn't really specific but I appreciate every bit of help!

Actually the battlebox might be good for you. You get Deneghra and 3 arc nodes. The slayer won't do you much good but might be nice to have.

Goreshade is hard to use and not really much good.

Deneghra is one of the best casters in the game and really needs the arc nodes, plus her with the deathjack is very good as he can use her spells.

I would say, get the battlebox and a Skarlock.

From there if you want some low cost troops I'd get some mechanithralls and a necrosurgeon with stich thralls. They're cheap and work well with Deneghra too and can help screen your more expensive stuff from charges.

Bane spam is powerful but it's a significant investment; getting into Cryx on a budget I'm going to have to agree with obsidianaura. The battlebox also gives you the advantage of letting you play in battlebox-only learning formats.

I'd 2nd/3rd the battlebox and skarlock.

For little cheap purchases I'd look at the Pistol Wraiths and 'jack wise I'd pick up a Stalker. Love those little guys!

First, thank you for the quick answers! So as it looks, the battlebox is a good purchase. Can you tell me, how big my army would be around pointwise with these additions as I have heard/read that 35 or 50 seems to be the normal point size for games.

Another option I have just seen is the All-in-one armybox which is due to be released at the end of may. Am I mistaken or would this be a really good deal? It has Deneghra which you all recommend as well as a unit of Bane thralls which would be good with Tartarus. And also two arc nodes which seem to be good. Are the Bane riders any good? Concerning deathjacks, I have heard that the deathjack is a really good option which is nice as I already have it... So with this army box it wouldn't be a big step up to 50 points if the game really suits me I reckon and the price of 115 $ isn't too bad either. And the addition of a rulebook would be a big plus as well...

I don't think we're supposed to post individual pts cost so i'll just summarise...

The 'jacks in the battlebox come in at 19 pts (not taking into account dennys warjack bonus pts) and the all-in-one army boxes are all 35 pt armies to get people up and running.

If you were to only get the battlebox you would probably want to add in the Bane thralls UA and the warwitch at a later date anyway so it may be worth just going for the army deal!

The all in one is a good deal and has really good units. You can even use the extra thralls you have now in case you get lucky and create a bunch more during a game.

First thing before you buy any more models is to look over all the casters. Go to the PP site or battlecollege or something. And pick the one you think you would like to learn with.

Once you pick a caster then you can make more knowledgeable buys from there.

The battle box idea is not bad if for no other reason you get 3 arcnodes and pDenny (non-epic version). Anohter thing worth looking at is the plastic banes. You can get an entire unit for pretty reasonable. You also will want to get the Bane thrall unit attachment (Officer and Standard bearer).

 obsidianaura wrote:

Goreshade is hard to use and not really much good.

Of all the advice you are getting, this is the only point I disagree with. A lot of what I'm going to write may seem like jibberish, but come back to this post after your first few games if it does.

For smaller games (which is what you should be playing as you are learning), pGoreshade is very, very good. Free unit of Bane Thralls as a feat (and the only way to get infantry in battlebox games)? Sold.

Also, he really only has two spells you want to cast. Shadowmancer is great early or during warjack assassination runs, as someone mentioned the Stalker. It already has stealth, but gaining that additional -2 ARM on his Grievous Wound, Arcane Assassin attacks is awesome.

The second is Mage Blight. Because a 14" bubble of no spells, no feats is awesome, entirely dependent on if your opponent has arc nodes or not.

Thanks a lot for the battlecollege tip! I've been exactly looking for something like this!

So having studied a bit the different unit leaves me with several questions and thoughts. You mentioned that in the battlebox there is the non-epic version of pDenny. What does that mean? Are there differences between the different sculpts for a model statwise? Because I have seen that for several models, there are different sculpts? Or are the cards that come with the models different? Since I would have to buy the card set for cryx anyways that would not be a problem, right?

As far as I can tell by now, the all in one battlebox would be a good start as I think I'd like pDenny as a caster and I would get a stock of Units for a fairly cheap price. If I were to add more units afterwards, would be a second unit of bane thralls good, or something else? But are 2 arc nodes enough? As in the battlebox there are 3 at a far lower point total. Also, the warwitch siren seems to be something as a must have. Furthermore it seems as the addition of a skarlock would be good. Again, what is the difference (if there is one) between the skarlock commander and the skarlock thrall?

Thanks for your help. I know I have a lot of questions, so I really appreciate it!

The "p" in pDenny means Prime Denny, the first one. There's also "eDenny", who is the same person but at a later point in the story, with different (but often similar, at least in theme) statistics and abilities. For some casters, there would be a 3Denny/Denny3 - Goreshade3, for example, who is further in the story than even eGoreshade. In game terms, they have different models and cards and might as well be completely different people.

Some casters have an "alternative sculpt" where the model has been updated, often due to a switch to plastic. These are still the same caster, though. For example, Kaya the Wildborne has an older metal sculpt and a newer plastic sculpt. These are still the same character in the game, though, unlike prime vs epic. On a similar note, it's good when collecting Warmachine miniatures to watch out for older boxes. In the olden days, units came in a certain minimum size and you bought blister packs to bring them up to full strength if desired. For example, the Gatorman Posse used to come in a unit of three, and you could buy two more blisters of one model each to bring it up to its full strength of five. Now, though, the Gatorman Posse has been released in a full unit box, with all five models. If you were to buy the old box of three it might be difficult to find the matching two blisters. Many units are similar.

With the card box, keep in mind that the card box's purpose was to update people's cards from mark 1 to mark 2. It's not something you usually need to buy to play the game. Whoever traded the models to you should have given you the cards, but if they didn't, the card box may be your best option. Just make sure those models are actually included in it. I think you can also order individual cards from Privateer Press' parts store.

The Warwitch Siren is extremely good. The Skarlock Thrall is also very good and finds a home in many, many Cryx lists. It is completely different to the Skarlock Commander, who I don't really know anything about. For your other questions, I think usually you would be best served by trying the game and seeing what you like.

sprantl wrote:
Again, what is the difference (if there is one) between the skarlock commander and the skarlock thrall?

Hive fleet got most of it, so I'll touch on these two. The Skarlock is a warcaster attachment (i.e. attaches to your warcaster only) that can cast one spell of your warcaster's under COST 3 per turn. The spell cast cannot have a range of SELF or CNTRL. It has some other abilities, but that is mostly what you use it for.

The Skarlock Commander is a Unit Attachment that can be added to two specific units (Bile Thralls and Mechanithralls). His key ability is that he has a higher Command statistic, allowing the unit to spread out a bit more than normal. He also has Dark Fire, a RNG 10, POW 12 Magic attack, as well as Disbinding, which makes enemy upkeeps on the unit he is attached to immediately expire.

Well I can't complain that there were no cards included as I have bought a Warhammer army and they just came with it.

Okay thanks for the clarification concerning the different casters and the skarlock!

Goreshade1 will be sweet when the Inflictor comes out. Right now he's alright. Goreshade2 and 3 are better.

Also, Bane Spam is Not a powerful list on anyone except Goreshade2. Banes are really pretty easy to kill and are a very transparent run right at you unit. It's alright with Goreshade2 due to his ability to bring back dead ones and keep making more of them during the game that can truely give a difficult to deal with number of them. This is not to say Banes are a bad unit at all. They can be used effectively in many situations as part of a larger plan, Knights and Riders for instance make great flankers with their Ghostly rule, just don't spam them and expect to do well. Do get the Bane Thrall Officer and Standard though. That was a truly stupid UA that shouldnt have been made and really makes the unit more survivable.

I concur with the above statement of getting a Skarlock. They are an awesome solo who can pull a lot of work with most of our Warcasters. Do note that Goreshade1 however is not one of those Warcasters.

McThralls are a good unit with any caster who can help them hit, ie Denegrah/Skarre/Asphyxious3/Scaverous. If you get them you definitely want at least one if not both units of Necrosugeon and Stitch Thralls to go with them. Skarlock Commander can be a great 1pt investment here as well for the increased Command Range, plus he can be pretty killy in melee for just 1pt.

Get Bane Riders. They're the most durable warrior models we have, and they hit really hard, really accurate, and from a good distance away. There have been a lot of additions to the game lately that can deal with large swaths of single wound light/medium infantry (why the aforementioned bane spam is bad now) and you'll want these tough guys to get thru that.

Satyr Raiders are pretty good. They'll kill a few things and die, but they're Super fast and annoying for most things to kill and will jam up your opponent.

Blood Witches are a great 6pt attachment to the 2pt Blood Hag. Fun unit with the worst of casters, and incredibly good with others, especially ones with Parasite. If that first sentence didn't tip you off, definitely get the Blood Hag if you use the Blood Witches though. Her mini-feat and Entropic Aura abilities are incredibly good.

All the Arc Nodes are good. Different people/casters prefer different ones. I'm particularly fond of Rip Jaws.

Stalkers are alright. Scavengers less so.

Reapers are nice. Slayers are cheap... Corruptors are maligned but I like running one for a nice boostable gun with some fun effects.

Malice is nice and I prefer him over Reapers but some prefer that Reach and Sustained Attack. Nightmare is better than Erebus for your character Slayers.

Leviathan is great if you can give it three Focus a turn, Aikos is good for that if you can spend the 3pts on him. Harrower can be good if you get the right conditions. Desecrater is meh.

Seethers are alright. Free Seethers are Great via Withershadow Combine. Inflictors are the best non-character warjack in Cryx, it's a shame they're not out yet.

Avoid Revenent Pirates like the plague. Probably hold off on Black Bane's and Cephalyx Drudges as well for awhile.

Iron Lich Overseer is the best Jack Marshal for long ranged light Warjacks. It's a shame we don't have any, so it's kind of meh.

Bloodgorgers die even easier than Bane Thralls, but will blow up the world with any caster who can make them hit harder. They're great with Asphyxious1.

Uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh... That's probably enough stream of thought vomit for now. I can elaborate on parts if you want.

Cool, thanks for the broad overview, that helped a lot. So right now I have bought a unit of bile thralls, a skarlock and a pistol wraith in addition to the deathjack, gorshade1, tartarus and 6 banes. Further I am planing on picking up the all in one army box when it comes out in may which would give me 2 more unit choices, amongst the other stuff. So I supose that would already be a good basic stock for an army to choose from. Well I guess I just have to wait some more time, but as I said I'm not in a hurry.