Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey dakka land,

I've been drawn to warmachine for some time (decent prices, great sculpts, nice rules I hear too) so when my gaming group decided to give WM a try I figured what the hey.

I've always loved the Cryx sculpts, the metal/biological hybrid is to cool.

I really don't know which army i'd like to play but a Jack heavy list, but I hear the Cryx's power lies in numbers and not their Jacks.

My main question is what should I start out buying? 
What do most of the Cryx players make an army out of? 
Which rulebook should I buy?


Thanks in advance,

Are you looking at bonejacks or the crazy Helljack things?

If you're fine with bonejack armies, I think you can start with Asphyxious or Deneghra (starter box).

If you want the helljacks, I've been told that Skarre or Goreshade the bastard.

Um...from there I dunno.

I started playing cryx at the beginning of the summer. I have been playing warmachine for as long as prime has been out.

In order to start playing you should get the battle box. It has a good mangled metal army, of about 300 points. And it is the best way to learn, and get games in, by playing other people?s started boxes. I like to get the other casters pretty quick and see what play style you like. Each caster for the army had different powers, so look into them.

Depending on how well you know the game, if you have played it a few times, or have friends that play the game, will determine what book to buy.

If your new to the game get Prime for warmachine, it has the basic rules and deals with focus, however it has had lots of erratas that you can get off the Pirveteer press page. If you know the basic rules get primal the hordes book, other then the focus rules, it has all the current rules in it. So likely get prime, as it does not seem that you have played this before.

If you can find it get the coloured stat card set, as it will tell you what most of your options for your army are, and let you see what you and and proxy things in games.

After a few weeks and learning the rules start to expand.

Great game, and you picked a fun faction

david

You'll probably find this advice elsewhere but here's my 2 cents:  Important buys:

1.  Scarlock.  This guy goes in EVERY army.  He casts any of your caster's spells Foc3 or less as long as it doesn't have range "Caster" or "Control".  That's like 3 free focus every turn!  I just wish the model wasn't so butt ugly.

2.  Pistol Wraiths.  These guys are just plain pesky.  They are very good at shooting, which Cryx usually sucks at.  They are incoporeal which means that they are hard to harm without spending effort for most non-menite factions... (Menites have blessed weapons on a bunch of units, so try to hide from them).  They assassinate solos and unit leaders well, and have a "death chill" chain attack that can mess up jacks by making them forfeit either movement or action.  Don't expect them to live long after attacking though, since they become vulnerable after every attack - so some careful placement is necessary to get the full worth out of this unit.

3.  Bile Thralls.  Being swarmed by infantry?  Just blow up your little walking puss bag for autohits against everything in its 5" front arc - with corrosion.  While they're hard pressed to hit stuff with their spray due to low RAT, the purge is the bane of most infantry.

Pretty much everything else is a "to suit your taste" type decision.  I'd recommend you stay away from the Harrower.  He seemed like a good infantry killer, but in retrospect, a trampling Slayer is almost as effective, and a good deal cheaper.

To be honest, I've been rather drawn to the Terminus model. I believe he would make a great center piece for an army as a Warcaster.
Gabe is letting me borrow his Prime book for a while so I can read up on exactly what everyone does. I've also started lurking on the PPP board

Skarlock is a must in any army list.

Gaspy is a good caster to learn the game with as his spells are pretty much in your face offensive type spells.

For jacks, plenty of bone chickens to channel spells through. Deathrippers or night wretches are the way to go. Ignore the defilers for the most part.

Heavy jacks, the slayer is a really good heavy. The DJ is also a beat stick, although a good deal more than a slayer. The seether is another good heavy, but watch the command of your caster. Although, its alot easier to use a seether now since the bane lord has command 9. The reaper is disappointing for the most part and the harrower is too focused to get alot of solid use out of. The levithan is a pretty good jack, but tends to be a focus hog.

Pistol wraiths are nice. I try to take 2 in every 500 point battle.

Bile thralls are decent infantry killers if you can get them in range to purge.

1. Get the battle box. This is standard advice for "I'm starting WM / starting a new faction / etc". It's designed to be played *against other battle boxes* (not in generic 300 pt games). Play it against other people's battle boxes and get a feel for the list. The Cryx battle box features Deneghra as the caster, she's a real whore. I hates her. Oh, and pick up Prime.

2. Expand from there up to 500 points. You'll probably have plenty of jacks; the only thing you might want to do is trade out that Slayer (which isn't very good run by Deneghra) for a couple more bonejacks. The Deneghra army relies on bonejacks to arc spells at the enemy, as Deneghra herself is very fragile. Maybe a couple of infantry units as well - Bile Thralls are a popular choice for Cryx (These guys basically just run at the enemy and explode; they decimate enemy troop formations), as are Bane Thralls. Some solos wouldn't hurt either - the aformentioned Skarlocke is a good one

At this point you'll have a 500 point army. You'll want to move out from there to other casters. Each caster has a very different playstyle - a Cryx army run by Goreshade will play very differently than one run by Asphyxious. Also you'll want to pick up the Deathjack - it's by far Cryx's best heavy Warjack, and it's also probably the best of the Unique warjacks. It's the only Unique that I think can be safely played in any 500 point game (the other uniques are expensive relative to what they bring to the table at 500).

www.battlecollege.com has writeups of all the Cryx casters, units, and Jacks. I suggest you spend a LOT of time there.

As someone starting Cryx as well, I'll tell you: Battlebox. Get used to the mechanics of Denny as she is not just a whore, but indicative of the sneaky tactics used by any Cryx list.

Once you've gotten used to that and want to move up, ignore the Defiler forevermore and pick up a couple more Bonejacks, a skarlock, pistol wraith and the infantry unit of your choice. I like Mechanithralls. Bane Thralls are also good. I'm not a fan of the Bile Thralls, but that's a ridiculous personal preference because I think the models are gross; they're hellaciously effective.

I also concur that you should go to the battle college and read up there.

Bane Knights are freak'n awesome. I had a really hard time fighting them a few games ago. Definitly worth a look.