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I am looking to get into Warmachine and I was interested in the Cryx Army....I wanted to know what were the best Warjacks,Warcsters and Units to get for someone staring out new to the game.... I have a limited budget so our advice and help would really make my day and wallet alot happier...Hints are more then welcome and once again Dakka your my only hope!

Thanks!


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I am so far looking at a deathjack and a Seether

Well if considering your a new player and on a budget, i would say get the battlebox. You can get a useful assortment of jacks and a pretty good caster.

In case you want use a specific caster it might be better to start differently but, for a general approach the battlebox would be a good idea.

Some advice:

Jacks: The deathjack is awesome, but expensive ( money and point wise) and due to his amount of special rules probably not the best jack for a beginner. The seether is another awesome jack, that will function with most cryx casters. The deathjack and seethers, are probably the most used heavy jacks in the cryxian arsenal.

The other heavies are not bad ( well the corrupter is propably), but are more useful with certain casters.

Some cryxian casters rely heavily on arcnodes, so at least a pair of bonejacks of choice would be good ( if you dont want the battlebox that is). In case nightwretches or ripjaws would probably be the most useful.

Units: Banes! Bane knights and thralls are some of the best infantry units in warmachine. Bane thralls are the more popular( and hated) ones, but in the end it boils down to preference ( i for one love my knights). Other good units would be the satyxis raiders ( especially with either version of skarre) and mechanithralls ( with necro-surgeon). Other units are still good but not that useful for a newer player ( bile thralls, the withershadow combine....). On a budget i think mechanithralls and bane knights are easier to afford, but bane thralls are in every other cryx list.

Solos: Bane Lord Tartarus is a "must have" when using banes. The skarlock thrall is great with a lot of casters. The warwitch siren is also very popular, due to her flexibility. If your going for a unit of satyxis raiders, a raider captain makes them even more awesome

Just some general advice here

After the battle box, as a second caster I would go for Iron Lich Asphyxious (aka pAsphyxious, Asphyxious1). Still has the spells that are helped by the arc nodes in the battlebox but a different playstyle. But everything that Vombaticus said I totally agree with.

I have read completely different points of view, I heard that Bile Thralls were some of the best in the game and someone said that a Deathjack would be something that was pinnacle for my army in the future, I would rather spend the few extra dollars now and get the warcaster and warjacks that I will use for a long time coming then get the battlebox and just have some stuff I might use alot now and phase out later. I did hear Bane Lord was a good idea, and I was thinking of the brand new warcaster they just came out with? But wanted to know the ups and downs of the other options.

Cutthroatcure wrote:I have read completely different points of view, I heard that Bile Thralls were some of the best in the game and someone said that a Deathjack would be something that was pinnacle for my army in the future, I would rather spend the few extra dollars now and get the warcaster and warjacks that I will use for a long time coming then get the battlebox and just have some stuff I might use alot now and phase out later. I did hear Bane Lord was a good idea, and I was thinking of the brand new warcaster they just came out with? But wanted to know the ups and downs of the other options.

Ok, so you want the stuff your gonna use alot in the future. That's understandable, but when starting out it is best to play the smaller size games because as soon as you get to the larger (25 and upwards) there can be a whole load of interactions that need to be understood to play the armies in a good way. With this advise in mind the Deathjack isn't something I would recommend getting straight away. It is 12 points and though it can do alot for your army it is a big target and easy to take down. Then you're stuck with half your army versus the majority of theirs. 35 point games go for it but learn the rules beforehand.

So, the battlebox contains pDeneghra, three arc nodes and a slayer. pDeneghra is a dangerous warcaster due to the amount of debuffs she can cause the enemy. She is good at all sizes of game and can deal with most of the armies out there. The arc nodes are useful in all of cryx apart from Terminus and possbily the Skarres, but cases could be made for Skarres. As for the slayer, it is fast, can hit hard, costs 6 points and if you get the plastic version (most recent) of the battlebox you can magnetise the arms and thus save money when you get the heavy jack kit and do the same there.

I recommended getting pAsphyxious next as he will use arc nodes as well as pDeneghra just for different purposes. He'll be looking for the spell assassination against weak armoured casters or improving the hitting power of his army so he can go in and do the job himself. Again, he is useful in small and large games alike. Using both these casters will give you a good feel for the basis of Cryx and thus when you get to the trickier casters, like scaverous (the latest one) you'll have the tactics to build upon and thus kill your enemies.

You mentioned that you have heard "heard that Bile Thralls were some of the best in the game". Did this person tell you why? This game has been compared to rock, paper, scissors for a good reason. Things that kill this extremely well won't do so well against that other thing in the army. Bile thralls are superb against infantry, other lightly armoured stuff and hard to hit items. The downsides are that they are very easy to kill, can't crack armour and slow compared to the rest of cryx. When starting the game generally you are playing at small points and most of that stuff is jacks. Bile thralls are not that useful then. At 25 points and upwards they are.

Vombaticus recommends good stuff for the simple reason that those things have a use at all point levels. Bane Knight/Thralls are always dangerous, Bane Lord Tartarus helps them out alot, Satyxis raiders are fast and hard to hit, good at tying up enemy shooting or hitting jacks. Mechanithralls with the Necrosurgeon will just keep coming back again and again. I've heard tales of people ending their games with more models than they started with. The Warwitch Siren helps with focus management and other stuff. The Skarlock is great with most casters as it can cast spells for free thus helping out with focus again.

I totally see what you are getting at, I have been reading alot this morning and at some point would love to have Scaverous for not only his sweet Scythe but also because he seems quite good...My main idea so far was other then the battle box(Which is a good deal and I will get) I want to get the Asphyiouxs just because at a later time his combo's with a Death jack can be nasty...I am currently looking at 12-20 point games at my FLGS..How is a Seether? Also Bane Knights and Bane Lord were another purchase I was planning on. Advice? I just want good looking army as well as one that will be fun on the field...I am not lost when it comes to wargames and understand the basic rules of Warmachine I just like to know the good points...Also thanks for your time

Nothing in my post contradicts any of what you heard. I just figured what might be more or less useful for a new player and tried to show you some options.

Bile thralls are awesome and they are ridiculously powerful with some casters ( egaspy, scaverous) . But they are pretty point intensive and have the worst defensive stats in the whole game. So as a newer player you will probably not get that much mileage out of them especially if they are your only infantry unit, because your enemy will kill them asap.

Bane Lord Tartarus is one of the most powerful solos out there, but to get the most out of him you will need some bane knights or thralls, because 2 of his abilitys only work on banes.

Again the deathjack is great, especially with the new caster ( scaverous) and you will probably never regret using it, but in the beginning it might be hard for a new player to put 12 points in a single model and use it to full potential.

As i said, those suggestions were just general advice and if you dont want to buy the battlebox and concentrate on scaverous, then lets try something else.

Scaverous feat boost magic attacks and reduce the cost of spells so lets try to take advantage of this and his spell list.

Warjacks: The deathjack profit from his feat so its in. Seether as second heavy to kill enemy jacks/ beasts. ( not necessarily needed)

Due to the amount of debuffs/ offensive spells scaverous uses i would take at least 1 ( better 2)bonejack with an arcnode( preferably a nightwretch or 2)

Units: Banes! They are always awesome. (Full Thralls with unit attachment preferably)
A minimum unit of bile thralls ( fun with telekinesis and excarnate).
The witherhadow combine, pays 1 upkeep, destroys jacks ( even more efficient through telekinesis) and boosted magic due to the feat.

Solos: Warwitch siren, boosted magic due to feat and hands out free focus for the jacks.
Bane Lord Tartarus, because he is awesome on his own and makes banes even scarier!
Skarlock Thrall, again always good, even better with the feat
Gorman di Wulfe, a mercenary that works for cryx, can help to keep scaverous alive due to blocking los with clouds, can blind heavy beasts and jacks and pretty much always great

Edit: double ninjad

I was agreeing with your Battlebox Idea and can see myself picking one up. Your list looks awesome and the magic feat from Scav seems like it will really boost some fun stuff..I am totally going to go with some Bane Knights and Bane Lord as well as a Warwitch Siren...Which Bonejack would you suggest?

I just recently picked up Cryx last May and this is what I have gotten so far:

Battlebox (magnetize the arms and head of the slayer so you can make other jacks or Malice or Erebus later)
Bane thralls with unit attachment (officer and standard)
Bile Thralls
Nightmare (Seether or Deathjack would work, too)
Mechanithralls and brute thrall
Skarlock thrall
Warwitch siren
Bane Lord Tartarus
Bloat thrall
Scaverous

I also have lots of models from other games, so picked up the card deck to proxy and/or use non-PP models.

The battlebox has 3 bonejacks so you will have plenty. Also pDeneghra is a good caster. Good price $$$-wise.

I prefer Bane Thralls over the Knights because they have stealth and tough (from the standard). I believe all Banes are spendy $$$-wise.

Bile thralls are money once you start playing games where you start running into infantry. But as said they can't be your only infantry. You want banes or mechthralls to go with them. Bile thralls usually die, but take up alot of the enemies shooting/casting to do so, letting your other units advance without much problem.

Mechthralls are a cheap unit (points and $$$) and with a necrosurgeon can actually be very hard to kill.

I got Nightmare for my Heavy jack. I really like reach and prey. Stealth with Denny is helpful, too and the imprint can save you some focus. I hold him back and let the enemy caster move up and then use him for alot of assassinations. He has killed alot of casters for me while people worry about my Banes and Biles. However, Seether or Deathjack could work well in this slot, too. And probably have a bit more synergy with other casters, especially Scaverous. I believe Seether is the best priced $$$-wise.

Skarlock, warwitch and BLT are pretty much must haves. And as solos are reasonably priced $$$-wise.

The cryx battle-box is both cost effective and competitive.

one thing to remember about warmachine is that a lot of the synergy is based off what caster you are running, so a unit may be more or less effective with different war casters.

If you do not want to start with the battle box, i would suggest you select a caster and work backwards

Caster -> Jacks -> units -> solos

that is usually the order i make my lists in.


while i do not play cryx, i have played against the A-LOT. you cannot go wrong with the following purchases:
Death Jack
Bile thralls
Bane X (knights or thralls)+ Bane Lord Tartarus
Scarock
Pistol wraiths

I am gonna play scarverous Def at some point and so working backwards is what i have been currently doing...I have really learned alot from this topic...Thanks for all your help!

If you are for sure picking up Scaverous then these models tend to work well with him

Any caster units such as
Deathjack
Warwitch Siren - Maybe even two
Skarlock
Wither Shadow Combine

A seether is very focus efficient if you do not want to use Deathjack.

For troops the banes are always good. If you want to focus on his tier list then you will need mechanithralls instead.
Biles work well with him due to Telekinesis and Exacarnate. They both give you ways to increase the threat range and bring more back.

My limited experience with him so far indicates he wants caster solos and lots of troops. And as with most Cryx casters you want a couple of arcnodes. Alot of stuff to try to fit in!

I am also going to use Asphixious for a while, I will grab Scaverous later. I like how Asphixious looks gameplay wise.

If you want Scavs, the First things you want in his list is Deathjack, Combine and Skarlock, and for a bonus, Malice. After that he's one of those casters that just makes everything work.

Sounds super fun and like I will have few models which is awesome!

Picking up the plastic Helljack kit and some magnets is a good budget concious way to go, gives you three jack options for the price of one. Also the faction deck is a good idea as it will let you proxy easily and decide what works for you and your play style.

Today I bought the BattleGroup Box and now have Denny and a slayer and some bone jacks...I am gonna still try and magnetize the slayers joints for when I get later hell jacks

Not a bad idea at all with the Slayer. I'm planning on picking up the 2 player starter set for myself at some point, and magnetizing all the jacks within for exactly the same reason.

Even the bone jacks?

The Bone Jacks i wouldn't really worry about, you have to buy them all individually (or packs of 2) so why bother?

That was my thought Process when I was thinking about the magnetizing of them.

I really recommend Bane thralls with UA, Bane knights and Bane lord Tartarus. Building your army around these guys is an sure thing, because they are few of the most hard hitting and survivable units in WM. Bonejacks always come handy, and as for heavy warjacks Deathjack is an superb monster killler, while if you want some more strategic play then Nightmare is for you. For warcasters, eDeneghra is an good all arounder, pGaspy is best for beginners, eSkarre for infranty heavy lists and Montenebra for warjack heavy lists. Try out the best caster that suits for your needs and playtest units if you want to be sure about their effectivness.

For more information, I really suggest visiting this place: http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiCryx

TheEpicChaosdude!!! wrote:For warcasters, eDeneghra is an good all arounder, pGaspy is best for beginners, eSkarre for infranty heavy lists and Montenebra for warjack heavy lists. Try out the best caster that suits for your needs and playtest units if you want to be sure about their effectivness.

Not to say that any of this is incorrect, but I would be a little more specific. eDenny is the best all around caster for scenarios. She's got a lurning curve when it comes to using her properly and she can be difficult to use to her full potential without experience of various scenarios and opponents, but once you have a thorough understanding in practice (not just in theory) of why she's great everything will come together.

I think you may have eSkarre mixed up with pSkarre on this one. pSkarre is our premier infantry caster hands down. Dark Guidance is amazing and her other spells and her feat lends very well to infantry. Many people bring a couple Stalkers or similarly small number of jacks with pSkarre and fill the rest of their points with Infantry.

eSkarre is a brilliant all around caster. She can hold her own in melee thanks to Great Rack knocking people down on hit (not on damage!) and Takkaryx's Life Trader ability. Admonition makes her very slippery for your opponent to take down. Her signature ability Seas of Fate make your warjacks (and herself) incredibly focus efficient. I wouldn't leave home without at least one heavy Jack, usually two if points permit. Toss a couple of Foci on your Reaper, shoot at something without boosting. If you hit, great! If you miss, choose whether or not it's worth boosting the shot. When your jack whacks something but its target is close to death anyway, hold off on boosting until you know you need to do it to finish off the opponent. Her synergy with Satyxis Raiders is top notch as well. Not only does she make them fearless when within her command range, her Black Spot debuffs targets' defense and gives them another free attack with their Reach weapons if they box something. Granted, Black Spot does that for anyone, but given the Raiders' speed and Reach they often find the most use of it for clearing out other infantry.

pGaspy is indeed very nice to start out with. He's pretty straight forward, but all around a strong caster. He does a bit of everything and does it well. eGaspy is just plain awesome, but don't be surprised if you catch a few dirty looks from people who know what he can really do. Actually, never mind that, people start the looks when you mention Cryx.

Thanks, and why does not more people take Egaspy?

Cutthroatcure wrote:Thanks, and why does not more people take Egaspy?

Here is someone else's perspective on him, possibly answering your question...

"Lich Lord Asphyxious (aka eGaspy/Gaspy2) – This guy is much different than his previous incarnation. While pGaspy excels with a balanced list, eGaspy wants to have loads and loads of infantry for his feat. He can cover the advance of his army by casting Caustic Mist 3x to have a 9” wall of clouds. Using this in conjunction with terrain greatly helps an all melee army get in and engage a ranged army unscathed. He is one of Cryx’s best counters to the gun-line that Cygnar can easily form (the others are Terminus and pGoreshade). His spells are there to lay waste to enemy infantry and either add to your own ranks or fill up Gaspy with souls. He is also hard to kill because you can cast Hellbound, so that he can’t be charged.

His armies are usually nowhere close to balanced. His list should be filled with infantry for the feat fodder and a few nodes. Bane Lord Tartarus & General Gerlak Slaughterborn are usually key models for his feat, which can be used to destroy their army or assassinate the enemy caster (although it is almost always used for the latter)."

Take from - http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?29960-So-you-want-to-serve-the-Dragonfather...what-you-need-to-know-to-be-a-loyal-minion

There are probably a number of reasons eGaspy isn't quite so visible in certain places. One thing is that Cryx casters range from good to amazing. We don't really have a *bad* or even lackluster caster outside of maybe eShade and people still like him. When you have that calibur of selection to choose from, no single caster gets all the praise outside of specific instances when a caster is simply designed for something. Situations like that are pSkarre and infantry, eDenny and scenario control, and Mortenbra with Jacks.

Another aspect is many people are just recently getting into the game. Many of us pick up a caster or two and really try to learn them to their proper potential. Heck, I'm still trying to learn to play eSkarre properly.

Well awesome!

Kirbinator wrote:There are probably a number of reasons eGaspy isn't quite so visible in certain places. One thing is that Cryx casters range from good to amazing. We don't really have a *bad* or even lackluster caster outside of maybe eShade and people still like him. When you have that calibur of selection to choose from, no single caster gets all the praise outside of specific instances when a caster is simply designed for something. Situations like that are pSkarre and infantry, eDenny and scenario control, and Mortenbra with Jacks.

Another aspect is many people are just recently getting into the game. Many of us pick up a caster or two and really try to learn them to their proper potential. Heck, I'm still trying to learn to play eSkarre properly.

Ya, that's basically what I'm doing. I do plan on getting all of the casters but right now I have pDenny and pGaspy and I'm focusing on building up my forces from there. Since really you can only take one or two casters in any typical sized friendly game, I don't see it as important to have EVERY caster as I do see it as important to have at least one of every jack and most of the units. Plus, I'm still learning as well. Only played a handful of games so far.

I have to agree with seeing the reason to get all the caster's because really they can totally change your army even if it is the exact same list...I would get them all before I got most of the troops...But I so far have a Slayer Jack and PGaspy ordered and a Pdenny currently built.

Having a new caster certainly changes the way your army operates, but certain casters really demand certain styles armies. Having a jack heavy pSkarre list or an infantry heavy Morty list will just welcome you to a few games of sadface.

Beyond that, it can take a while to fully develop how your chosen caster and army operates against different opponents. Jumping from one caster to the next every couple of games doesn't really get you a proper feel for what they can do until you are well versed in

Now, if you take our more balanced casters like the Denny's, pGaspy, eSkarre, Venethrax (to an extent), Scavvy, etc. and become very comfortable with the rest of the army on its own, you can start swapping out casters to get a better feel of who does what and why.