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Hello fellow Cryxians i have recently seen Cephalyx Drudges and Overlords and im really liking the models but nobody i know has used them or Played against them i dont want to waste my money.
can anyone share experiences and opinions on them?

If it helps i have pDenny, pGaspy and eGaspy

They're needed if you want eGaspy's upper tiers, and they aren't very badin and of themselves, but when you start looking at them they're pretty low on the "Hey, what about these guys?" list. All of the drudges become useless when their relatively easy to kill leader dies, the drudges die in droves on their own even with Tough, and then you start looking at what you could do elsewhere for the same points. A full unit of Blood Witches for the same price, one more point gets a full unit of McThralls with Necrosurgeon, and two points more opens the door to the rest of our infantry options.

They can be decent with casters that give buffs and debuffs, but then the cheaper McThralls are more effective and with a Necrosurgeon more lasting. Overall they're pretty much our worst infantry option possible. In an army full of amazing infantry, most people leave these guys at home.

Now, the Overlords you could make a case for, particularly with Scaverous.

Drudge Slaves are horrible...while the loss of the leader makes it laughable that they even exist.

Overlords...my god, 3 pow 12 sprays are so awesome after a while with just using Venom...but they work best with drudges because they would like to live vs. normal shooting...which kind of kills the boner.

I've been 'enjoying' using the eGaspy theme with them in it on vassal, but as much as some may want to like them....Drudges are .......sooooo horrible.......I mean....crippling.

Thanks guys i guess i will buy them later in filling the collection

What about using them together when the drudges, if the leader dies, are "extra hits" for the overlords, given their fragility? Seems like it could work.

I think they are an interesting unit, but definitely something to explore after you have played the game a bit.

Between them, Mcthralls, and Revenant Crew, you have comparable melee output, but the McThralls' .5pt/model outclasses the others.

Honestly i only liked the idea of eGaspy tier 3 having two units of overlords, as i have said before my local league is all about tier 2+ and wanted to know if that was worth it but posting a list never get the right response (all i get is Switch this for banes or max out Mthralls)

Overlords are much rated, Drudges require too much support for a fodder unit.

Maybe when they finally get added to some sort of mercenary force they'll be interesting.

skrulnik wrote:Between them, Mcthralls, and Revenant Crew, you have comparable melee output, but the McThralls' .5pt/model outclasses the others.

As far as straight melee output yes, but McThralls also get the benefits of Necrosurgeons putting them back on the board and 1pt Brute Thrall attachments that do handy things like attract bullets, stop tramples, and crush heavies.

xantalis wrote:Honestly i only liked the idea of eGaspy tier 3 having two units of overlords, as i have said before my local league is all about tier 2+ and wanted to know if that was worth it but posting a list never get the right response (all i get is Switch this for banes or max out Mthralls)

The right response? So we should say go for it, spend your money that way, they are awesome? Before you have said the following:

xantalis wrote:Hi ok eGaspy is my newest caster and id like to know how balanced this list is

xantalis wrote:Thanks but i refuse to get banes & BLT cause EVERY other cryx player i know has them (in my group everyone has cryx and another faction)

In a different thread when we were talking about a 15 point list people suggested that you try bloodgorgers or satyxis raiders when you said you wanted to avoid banes and Tartarus. Something I can understand totally by the way.

Look, some casters are brilliant and some are not, but when you go to a tier list that brilliance can be reduced by what you are required to take. I believe that one of the Caine2 lists forces two lancers (arc nodes) on a caster that wants to do the killing himself rather than via spells. I believe that Asphyixious2 is one of these casters whose tier list limits its own effectiveness and I own a max and min squad of drudges.

Personally I have suggested that you take the following:

Lich Lord Asphyious
- Deathripper/Nightwretch (your choice)
- Helldiver
Bane Knights (max)
Cephalyx slaver & Drudges (min)

Still in theme but only tier one so for tier two go for:

Lich Lord Asphyious
- Slayer
Bane Knights (min)
Cephalyx slaver & Drudges (min)
Withershadow Combine

You've still got the drudges in there so you can test them out yourself and see how useful they are in different situations. The bane knights will enable you to threaten heavy targets with weapon master charges. The slayer can also do a good amount of damage to a single target. And the withershadow is required but allow a free upkeep of hellbound and can cast POW 12's with their Dark Fire spells.

Your choice of warcaster is a pretty big issue. You want to play eGaspy and not use banes of any sort? Sure you might get points for "Hey, that was different", but that's about it. His feat is entirely infantry dependent, his clouds are best for infantry that do not provide their own defense against ranged, and he doesn't have any DEF debuffs or MAT buffs. Tartarus + Bane Knights were practically designed for him. Raiders can be decent with him but suffer from MAT6 and can't use CMA or Power Swell during feat since they're all solos at that point. They also bring their own defense against ranged attacks with Pathfinder and +2 DEF bringing them up to a very respectable 16 without concealment. Bloodgorgers aren't bad, but likewise do not get Gang during feat and being medium-based you'll find it difficult to get more than two in melee range with your target.

If you absolutely do not want to use Banes, but absolutely do want to play Cryx, you may want to pick a different warcaster. Both Denny's, Coven, Scaverous, both Skarre's, Venethrax, Terminus, and even pGaspy aren't nearly as Bane-centric as eGaspy. Heck, the only casters I can think of that are more bane-centric are the Goreshades, but outside of his feat you could make a case for no banes with pShade as well. Not a good case, but a case nonetheless.

Kirbinator wrote:

skrulnik wrote:Between them, Mcthralls, and Revenant Crew, you have comparable melee output, but the McThralls' .5pt/model outclasses the others.

As far as straight melee output yes, but McThralls also get the benefits of Necrosurgeons putting them back on the board and 1pt Brute Thrall attachments that do handy things like attract bullets, stop tramples, and crush heavies.

All of which bring them back up to the cost of the others.
Canny players will also find ways to cap the surgeon before thinning out the McThralls.

That's fine, but capping Drudge's leader by the same means cripples the unit so, so , so badly. Loss of CMA, and the new Command Bubble decreases significantly.

Ok i tried a game with proxy Cephalyx overlords and drudges, two units of each (thanks to eGaspy Tier3)
I found it quite fun in three games i won two both with caster kills on turn 3 .
I know this list is in no way competitive but its fun i played at 35 pts and i think to make a good list you would need to be 50/75pts min for a balanced tier game.
Both games I Used a Cephalyx Brick supported by Cankerworm, a Defiler and a Scavenger.My basic idea was let the drudges die asap, they worked fine for a feat turn, and Bash, parasite then 4/5 Overlord sprays is a sure caster kill. (Both games I won the Scavenger still had not activated F.T.W)

So you managed to get 4/5 overlords in spray range on top of drudges being of high enough MAT rolls to hit the caster? Neat.

I slammed the caster with a Defiler and then sprayed him from a forest in the first game then over a river in the second after slamming with a scavenger. Having Overlords makes the pathfinder units in cryx better for me now I am in no doubt now im buying them and a cannon for non tier games for ghost shot combos