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**amrogers3**

Looking to start a Warmachine army. Trying to decide between Menoth and Cryx. Both seem really cool. Read several online articles and can't decide. Looking to you guys to help me figure it out.

Cryx is more tricks and infantry based and Menoth is more about heavy armor and throwing weapons, correct?

How is Menoth's ranged and melee attacks? And is Cryx or Menoth stronger in melee?

**Dais**

You might have already seen this posted elsewhere but here are my impressions on the two factions.

Protectorate of Menoth:
Background- At first glance The people of the menite faith appear to be stereotypical fire and brimstone “burn the heretic” zealots. In reality this stance has been a very recent development in mankind’s oldest faith. At it’s core the menite faith demands only that one adhere to the canon of true law, the laws set forth by Menoth himself. Over the last few centuries their culture has been shaped more by the scrutators, a caste of priests who’s traditional role it was to judge and execute herectics and oversee priests’ adherence to the true law. In recent times certain passages have been reinterpreted by the now ruling-class scrutators to further support their control over the church and government. With perhaps the exception of the valiant paladins of the wall, the faithful masses are eager to crusade against the nonbelievers in the pitched and fervent state the priests rile them to. Menites however, are not blind followers. Miracles and divine magic are well known and commonplace examples of their god’s favor.
Aesthetics- Visually and thematically the Protectorate borrow from many real world religions blending elements of Catholicism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and more with unique fantasy tropes. One of the unique visual qualities of the army is how few exposed faces there are. Most menite models wear masks concealing their faces. Many models have ornate and finely crafted ceremonial armor as well. Their elemental affinity is, unsurprisingly, fire and they use it with greater frequency than most other factions use elemental attacks and resistances. The classic knightly and priestly appearance grants the protectorate a more grounded classical fantasy appearance than any other warmachine force. Indeed, if not for the warjacks themselves menite models would fit in many fantasy settings.
Gameplay- The Protectorate of Menoth is almost paradoxically the faction best suited to running massed jacks. On average they can run one more than the other warmachine factions without taxing their focus resources. They owe this mastery of warjacks to their phenomenal support models, even when supporting infantry Protectorate has the best support. Protectorate infantry run the gamut from slow and defensive, fast and evasive, powerful melee hitters, strong ranged skirmishers, to even strange specialist units. Their warcasters are generally less armored or less evasive than those typical of other factions with very few possessing ranged attacks. Their spells are usually short-ranged damaging spells or buffs for their allies. Protectorate jacks are moderately armored and slow with average accuracy, but become extraordinary under the effects of common support effects. Protectorate has very little magic support since arcane magic is an affront to Menoth, but their non-magical support blows away every other faction. The choir of menoth unit deserves a special mention as it’s presence is so profound it has shaped the development of new faction models and are one of the few must-have units in the entirety of the game.

Cryx:
Background- The undead forces of the dragonfather work tirelessly and mercilessly in hidden conclaves across Immoren to support the dark industries that fuel their hidden war machine. They build horrible machines and undead abominations under the nose of mortal forces using the corpses of the fallen and battlefield debris as material. Their only objectives are to bend the world to their dragon god’s will and slay his draconic offspring.
Aesthetics- Visually, Cryxian models have a gruesome and dangerous look to them. Their warjacks have an almost insectoid appearance while many of their undead infantry embrace either the twisted steampunk or classic fantasy aesthetic. Cryx can be very eclectic with their undead knights, steam zombies, ghost pirates, living pirates, celaphax allies, and other assorted nightmares. Cryx has an elemental affinity of poison, acid, and corrosion that is represented more through theme than actual gameplay, though it can appear in the game on certain acid-spewing models.
Gameplay- Cryx is a highly melee-centric offense army. Some of their jacks have ranged attacks but they have virtually no ranged infantry. Defenses in cryx are stronger on the evasion side than being heavily armored. They have a larger stable of strong stealth models than any other faction -possibly being rivaled by Circle. Cryxian forces have fairly strong magic including several solos with strong spells and warcasters that tend to average a touch higher than the norm. Cryx tends to have offensive upkeeps on both friendly and enemy models. They have few defensive buffs, finding it much more fun to debilitate their enemies and watch them squirm. Cryx is seen as a very strong infantry faction, but they have more tools to run more jacks than Khador. Their warjacks tend to be more glass cannons with an emphasis on speed and melee accuracy over armor -they are in fact the most lightly armored heavy jacks in the game. On the surface they appear very much like Circle, but their playstyle is based more on dirty tricks than subterfuge.

**Grey Templar**

Menoth's playstyle, like all factions, is dependent on what Warcaster you are running. But the one common thread with all Menoth armies will be a unit of Choir.

As for Warjacks, we have a good mix of ranged and melee with a preference towards melee.

There are 2 distinct chassies of heavy Warjacks. the "Crusader" body is speed 4, the "Reckoner" body is speed 5.

Crusader body Jacks,

Crusader: A good all around jack. it is armed with a Mace and an Open Fist, which makes it melee only of course. the main advantage to this Jack is that it is cheap, its the same point cost as many Light jacks. this means it can be brought in startling numbers.

Guardian: A little overpriced for what it brings. its the only menoth heavy jack that has an Arc Node. As we don't really have much use for Arc nodes for most Casters it becomes just an overpriced heavy jack. Compared to the Crusader it swaps the Mace for a Spear, which is one less power on its attacks, but it has Reach, Critical Pitch, and powerful charge. One thing to note is that this Warjack has the most hit boxes out of all Menoth's warjacks.

Templar: Now this is an interesting Warjack that doesn't get much airtime. It has a flail and a shield as its weapons, another melee jack. With its Shield, it is a mighty Armor 21. It has Reach with its Flail and a special rule called Beat Back(basically it gets to move models it hits and then follow them)

Vanquisher: Here we have something pretty darn awsome. This jack has a ranged weapon! The Flame Beltcher. A moderate range AOE weapon that is really good at killing infantry and can damage Warjacks if it gets a direct hit. Plus it lights what it touches on Fire. In melee it wields the Blazing Star, a giant flail that has the Thresher ability(it basically can make one attack against every model in its melee range, that includes friendlies by the way) so it is a pretty dedicated anti-infantry Warjack.

Reckoner body jacks.

Reckoner: This is an awsome Jack, perhaps the best value the Protectorate has besides the Crusader. Like all Jacks of this body it has Speed 5, which is a nice change from the slower older body Jacks. It also has a gun. Slightly more range then the Vanquisher. Unlike the Vanquisher, it is a single shot weapon. But at a respectable P+S13. And it has the Assault special rule(when it charges, it gets to shoot its gun at the Charge target for free) but what really makes the Recknor amazing is that it is pretty good in melee at the same time. It has Reach on its P+S17 melee weapon. And it also has the Ashen Veil special rule which increases its Defense against shooting and Living enemy models.

Castigator: This Warjack has 2 Flamefists as its melee weapons, which are slightly more powerful Open Fists. its also immune to fire. Nothing really special to say about it beyond its one special ability called Combustion where it can light all models nearby on Fire(friendly models too)

Sactifier: Now this Jack is something special. Its bascially a Crusader that gained Reach on its main melee weapon. however, it has 2 special abilities. With Exorcist, all enemy models nearby lose Incorporeal. Which is a nice little ability as models with that can be a real pain, although Protectorate doesn't lack for magic attacks. Its second special rule called Cenotaph lets it collect Soul tokens when friendly living faction models die. It can then turn those Soul Tokens into Focus. Meaning that this Warjack doesn't need much Focus from your Warcaster. Which leaves you with more Focus to use on other things.

**Mordekiem**

amrogers3 wrote:
Looking to start a Warmachine army. Trying to decide between Menoth and Cryx. Both seem really cool. Read several online articles and can't decide. Looking to you guys to help me figure it out.

Cryx is more tricks and infantry based and Menoth is more about heavy armor and throwing weapons, correct?

How is Menoth's ranged and melee attacks? And is Cryx or Menoth stronger in melee?

Menoth does just fine at range and at melee. They got alot of AOEs and weaponmasters.

As for which is stronger in melee it depends. Both have no problems killing stuff in hand to hand and each faction boasts some excellent melee units and jacks.

In general, I think the advantage in Menoth is buffs and synergy. Cryx's advantages are debuffs and speed. But there are so many combos of units, jacks, solos and casters available to both factions that playstyles and armies can vary tremendously.

If in doubt do you like the evil undead theme or the evil religious zealots?

**Grey Templar**

Menoth isn't Evil Religious Zealots. Menoth is Lawful Neutral.

**Crazy_Carnifex**

Grey Templar wrote:
Menoth is Lawful Neutral.

True, but his followers...

**Mordekiem**

Crazy_Carnifex wrote:
Grey Templar wrote:
Menoth is Lawful Neutral.

True, but his followers...

Exactly...

**Grey Templar**

Only the Scrutators

**wargolem**

Cryx is pretty stout at low point menoth at high points. Both are good factions so go with which one you think you would enjoy more.... I will say that the Warcaster in Cryx 's stable are considered a bit overpowered though....

**sandant**

Menoth's followers are Chaotic good at best "Warjacks are evil, except ours, OURS are holy and cool".

**Laughing Man**

sandant wrote:
Menoth's followers are Chaotic good at best "Warjacks are evil, except ours, OURS are holy and cool".

Lawful Evil, by canon (Well, the Scrutators anyway, but they're in charge). IK WAS a 3.5 supplement, remember?

**Grimtuff**

Methinks we need this chart again.

**sandant**

Laughing man wrote: Lawful Evil, by canon (Well, the Scrutators anyway, but they're in charge). IK WAS a 3.5 supplement, remember?

My group only plays 3.5

, and that chart sums it up pretty well.

**amrogers3**

Grey Templar wrote:
Menoth's playstyle, like all factions, is dependent on what Warcaster you are running. But the one common thread with all Menoth armies will be a unit of Choir.

Good writeup. Thanks for the info, help me better understand the Menoth side.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Mordekiem wrote:
If in doubt do you like the evil undead theme or the evil religious zealots?

Hard to say, can I say both?? I run both Necrons and Space Marines in 40K.

**Deadnight**

Grimtuff wrote:
Methinks we need this chart again.

genius.

**Mordekiem**

amrogers3 wrote:
Mordekiem wrote:
If in doubt do you like the evil undead theme or the evil religious zealots?

Hard to say, can I say both?? I run both Necrons and Space Marines in 40K.

Yes, yes you can. I have mostly Cryx, a good number of Cygnar and 35 points of Menoth and am about to get either circle or legion.

With some deal shopping you can get a 35 point list for ~$150ish. Sometimes even less, particularly if you like the battleboxes. Makes getting a new army somewhat reasonable (for a wargame).