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Hello, after moving to a new apartment, I ended up dusting off my old Warmachine pieces and decided to try to get them painted after sitting in the closet since battle engines were announced. I had started off with the battle box, and from there i chose some units that I thought looked cool, so here is what I'm working with.

Models:
pDeneghra
12 mechanithralls
2 brute thralls
1 necrosurgeon with stitch thralls
1 Tartarus
6 bane thralls with UA
1 slayer
1 death ripper
2 defilers

I was looking at eGoreshade due to his apparent synergy with the models I already have. Mechanithralls make excellent reanimator fodder and he inherently strengthens bane thralls. But, I'm not really dead set on him. Since I'm not very experienced at the game, I'm not really sure what I'm lacking, or how to properly play a unit heavy army. I just sort of have it in my head that I'll be basically running forward with mechanithralls screening and intercepting stuff and just grind them down with units that can easily replenish their numbers. But, that seems like it's too simple of an idea for it to actually work out in this game. Anyway, thanks for any advice.

MOAR BANEZ. Especially with Goteshade.

Most Cryx player run a full Satyixis unit with UA and Blood Hag, because they WILL charge on Turn 2 and mess up peoples day with Power Swell.

Minimum Bile Thralls are also popular because its a unit the opponent HAS to deal with, otherwise Purge will do horrible things.

As with most Cryx lists, you'll need more Banes, with Tartarus and Gorshades Elite Cadre you'll likely need an additional until of Banes just so you have enough extra banes.

The Kraken is great with Gorshade2, however I don't suggest investing in a collosal when you're first starting up. Instead look at the Desecrator, it's a nice all-round jack that with some good positioning can devastate your opponents single wound infantry.

Also with his Feat remember that you can position the model anywhere within formation. Do you have the bulk a unit on the left hand side of the board that needs to contest a zone? with the feat you can shift most of the unit up to 16".

Other than that, it's basic cyrx models, satyxis raiders, a MIN unit of Bile Thralls, the power solos, Warwitch Siren x2, Skarlock, pistol wraiths x2 , Gorman Di Wulfe

Thanks for the replies guys. What I'm gathering from this is that maybe I'll have trouble with other single wound units. Should the slayer end up getting played very often, and how important are arc nodes to a list like this?

Since I already inadvertantly built toward what kind of feels like a net-list, I'll probably stay away from raiders since their models aren't particularly appealing.

But, the bane riders and blood gorgers looked pretty good, but am not really sure how they function on the battlefield.

I'll probably pick up some non-pp bane looking dudes at some point for when I end up flooding the board with them through the various bane abilities- the banebilities. Unfortunately, I'm just a poor boy...

Also, any greater insight on how an army like this actually functions on the table top would be greatly appreciated. I've looked through a lot of batreps the past few days and haven't found many that used eGoreshade.

For a starting force this is great.

I would play this for a bit and kind of learn the game and see if you like pDenny as your caster.

Really, that should be your next decision. What caster do you want to use? Whatever you buy next will probably be based on that.

Otherwise I would suggest that you get some of the solos and support pieces. A Warwitch siren and a skarlock thrall are two excellent choices.

I also prefer defilers for my arcnodes. Though everyone has their own preferences.

I've played a lot of pDenny. And the things you have here will work great with her. But I have very little knowledge of eShade.

What I'm gathering from this is that maybe I'll have trouble with other single wound units. Should the slayer end up getting played very often, and how important are arc nodes to a list like this?

No, you'll tear through Single Wound infantry, You'll be hitting like a mac truck and you'll most likely have 2-3 times more single wound infantry on the field than they do.

Bane Riders are good, and work really well with his feat.

Bloodgorgers however tend to fill the same slot as Bane Thralls. Bloodgorgers are useful as they are medium based infantry for you to hide behind. However with Gorshade2's elite Cadre,stealth, Dark Shroud, and their UA giving them Tough Auto-stand up. the Bane Thralls are a significantly better investment.

Alright, thanks for all the replies guys. I think I'm probably set as far as models go. However, I'd really appreciate any tactical advice you have to offer, Like, what are my weaknesses and how do I try to counter them? What would a typical turn 1 look like? What kind of terrain placement am I looking for?

I've read a lot of people talking about jamming and attrition, but I'm not really sure what that means, what it looks like, or how to employ or defeat such strategies. I never really got all that much experience playing, so I only really know about assassination, which an army like this doesn't seem quite as well suited for.

Cryx's main weakness is that it falls over is a stiff breeze. Actually hitting them is an issue though due to lots of access to Stealth and Incorporeal.

It also doesn't hit as hard as other armies (aside from BANEZ)

However, it has a lot of debuffs, eGoreshade's Curse Of Shadows is an excellent spell which stacks with Tartarus's Dark Shroud. So charging banes at a unit with Curse of Shadows cast on them basically means they're at -4 ARM, can't free strike you and you can move through models, so you can engage whoever you want.

Attrition is mostly just doing more damahe to the other guy and mitigating his damags to you to make zone control easier

Jamming is tar pitting and making it difficukt for the opponent to move away without getting hurt.

 Senior Penguin wrote:
Alright, thanks for all the replies guys. I think I'm probably set as far as models go. However, I'd really appreciate any tactical advice you have to offer, Like, what are my weaknesses and how do I try to counter them? What would a typical turn 1 look like? What kind of terrain placement am I looking for?

I've read a lot of people talking about jamming and attrition, but I'm not really sure what that means, what it looks like, or how to employ or defeat such strategies. I never really got all that much experience playing, so I only really know about assassination, which an army like this doesn't seem quite as well suited for.

I will give you feedback on pDenny and your current models. Because you have them and I am familiar with them.

I highly recommend you read about your stuff here: http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?81872-How-to-Fully-Eliminate-and-Reanimate-your-Enemy-(V-2)

Battle college is also OK. Some of the stuff is rather old and doesn't apply. Some is very good.

pDenny is a pretty powerful caster. Learn her spells and always have at least 2-3 arcnodes in her list. Don't be afraid to sacrifice an arcnode if it allows you to get a crippling grasp or key spell onto an opponent. Crippling grasp on a melee unit/jack can pretty much take them out of the game since their movement is crippled and they cannot run or charge. And it stacks with her feat. The feat you can use offensively or defensively. Offensively is the easiest and most obvious. Use it when you want to kill lots of bad guys and/or assassinate. For an assassination run, try to get an arcnode 3-4 inches from the enemy caster. That way you get the knockdown effect even if the template scatters. Then send in your melee troops (often Banes or Tartarus) to kill them off with their autohitting attacks. Oh, and do not forget to use ghostly on your units to avoid terrain.

Mechanithralls you tend to just run forward and try to jam/overwhelm the enemy. They have a hard time hitting so use them on her feat turn or with a debuff like crippling grasp. The necrosurgeons stay in the back picking up corpse tokens. Keep one or two mechanithralls as far back as you can so the unit is never wiped out and then just keep making more. Brute thralls add more boxes and bigger POW fists.

Bane thralls move kind of slow, but hit like a ton of bricks. Tough and stealth can make them rather survivable. Weaponmaster + -2 ARM is powerful. Always bring the UA. Tartarus makes them even better and can even replenish them. I primarily use him for his Curse and as a Solo to kill lots of badguys. If you can get him into a large group of bad guys and thresher he can destroy huge swathes. Because he is so good your opponent will likely do everything they can to try to kill him.

Arcnodes are all their primarily for the arcnodes. Don't be afraid to sacrifice one to get a key spell off, but also don't just throw them all as far forward as possible. They are much more survivable than they look, but they will die. I usually run with 3 in 25+ point games and try to hold one back for the endgame. Use the arcnodes to allow Denny to cast spells and effect the battle while she stays in the back.

Slayer is cheap and dies easily. Use him like a cruise missile to take out important pieces or even the caster. A knocked down caster under Denny's feat is in trouble. That said, you can drop the slayer and run with no heavies and do just fine. The banes and Tartarus are more than capable of doing the heavy lifting.

Skarlock is a great add to this list as he is pretty much ghostly on a stick. He allows your pathfinder-less infantry to move freely. Use him to hand out buffs. If you use him offensively he will likely die. Warwitch is another great add. It can give a key focus to an arcnode to run them into place saving one for Denny for casting or camping. WW also has some other nice benefits. Venom is great for bunched up troops. Her blade can keep enemy heavies without reach stuck in place.

Hope that gives you some ideas. This is only the bare basics. All of these units and denny can be much more involved and nuanced. So read up and play as much as possible.

Mordekiems post is SPOT ON. Keep it all in mind.
I also suggest Warwitch siren, and Skarlock.

Getting a 3 or less focus spell for free once per turn is exceptionally useful. Drop Ghost Walk on your Bane Thrall unit AND your McThrall unit, and watch your opponents skin crawl while you walk through the terrain, immune to non-magical attacks

Something else: Keep in mind, a model b2b with the Necrosurgeon can heal 1d6 boxes back to that model (cough caster cough).

Another suggestion that hasn't yet been mentioned is the Pistol Wraith. If you get them, get 2. Death chill, if you land the hits, locks down jacks and beasts (or other multi-wound models), allowing more board control, the occasional model knockout, and on occasion a pot-shot or 2 at an enemy caster. I've personally knocked half the life off of pSeverius with my wraiths alone.

Something else I can also mention that helped me would be a pair of crabjacks, or a Seether jack. The crabjacks can be MAGNETIZED, which can make your money go further. And the Seether can run and charge for free, which means more focus efficiency, since Cryx casters are typically quite greedy.

Lastly, since you're fairly new to the faction, I suggest pAsphyxious as your next caster. Still a ranged style caster, but a bit more well-rounded. pDenny is a powerhouse (which may spoil you a bit), but you'll learn a bit more from pGaspy about the other aspects of the game.

Thanks for all of your helpful replies people. I think the only thing left to do is to actually try playing again lol. Speaking of, would anyone mind playing against me on Vassal?