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Hi all.

As the title says im new to WM and me and my friend are starting

Ive chosen to do Cryx as i feel it will satisfy my want for a dark eldar army and a vampire counts army :p

And i like the models. So thats all cool ;p

I was just loiking at the models and was hoping someone could give me a run down on the available themes please?

Just from an outsider looking in

J

When you say themes are you talking about Theme Forces for the different casters? Or more like play styles for the casters and what works with whom?

In all honesty. Im not totally sure. I really dont know a great dealabout the game yet. Just wanna know like what possible theme (as far as fluff lists) i could do

Well, you might be in luck with wanting to play a "true to fluff" list.

Every warcaster has what is known as a "theme list" which gives you extra bonuses in exchange for limiting your unit selection (there's a bar at the top of the list that tells you what units you are allowed to take). Some of them are better than others, and not all of them are worth accepting the unit restrictions you need to take, but the best ones either really bring out the warcaster's personality or else literally just hand you bonuses for taking what you would normally take anyway.

I honestly don't know much about Cryx (other than they are one of the factions in the game people seem to say are really good) so I can't make any recommendations about which ones are good, although Pirate Queen Skarre seems pretty good and her tier list is literally just vampire pirates and dark orcs...so there's that.

http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSkarre

 Lordjig6 wrote:
In all honesty. Im not totally sure. I really dont know a great dealabout the game yet. Just wanna know like what possible theme (as far as fluff lists) i could do

I would also second on checking out what dementedwombat has posted as well, although I would not worry too much about trying to make a theme list and learning the basics of the game at first and what goes together really good with what caster you got and building up and learning that caster really well before doing another one. Also, I would like to add that the theme list sometimes can actually hinder what the caster can use or is really not suited to his playstyle (Yes, I am looking at you Amon...)

IMO the Cryx community at the PP forums is one of the best there. There are a lot of really good players who also play Cryx and are willing to help people out.

Battlecollege is OK (it is getting better) but I found much better info on the PP forums.
http://privateerpressforums.com/forumdisplay.php?26-Cryx-Community

Just watch out for Ponies. The Cryx forums are full of Bronies

You say that like it's a bad thing.

 dementedwombat wrote:
Well, you might be in luck with wanting to play a "true to fluff" list.

Every warcaster has what is known as a "theme list" which gives you extra bonuses in exchange for limiting your unit selection (there's a bar at the top of the list that tells you what units you are allowed to take). Some of them are better than others, and not all of them are worth accepting the unit restrictions you need to take, but the best ones either really bring out the warcaster's personality or else literally just hand you bonuses for taking what you would normally take anyway.

I honestly don't know much about Cryx (other than they are one of the factions in the game people seem to say are really good) so I can't make any recommendations about which ones are good, although Pirate Queen Skarre seems pretty good and her tier list is literally just vampire pirates and dark orcs...so there's that.

http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSkarre

This is definitely the case, some casters get absolutely killer theme lists (see the Cygnar warcaster Siege's new theme list in the most recent No Quarter for an example), while others are pretty rubbish when you consider what the caster normally likes (see the Cygnar warcaster epic Caine's No Quarter theme force, it limits you quite significantly in terms of both jacks and units from what he'd normally take). I can't help you so much in regards to Cryx themed forces, and I definitely wouldn't recommend them as a starting point, simply because if you pick a hard to run list, you could get demoralised.

Theme lists are basically another layer of complexity, a layer that can be really confusing for a new player.

They can give advantages, but if you don't have the basic mechanics of the game down yet you won't be able to use those advantages fully.


If you want to start Cryx. I would pick up the Battle Box and maybe a Scarlock. Learn the basics of the game and expand from there.

 Lordjig6 wrote:
In all honesty. Im not totally sure. I really dont know a great dealabout the game yet. Just wanna know like what possible theme (as far as fluff lists) i could do

Bear in mind, all lists are essentially 'fluff' lists. This isn't like 40k where only certain builds are considered to conform to the background, and other lists are gouging out the fluff.

*warcaster turns up, demands resources for mission and moves out*. That's how it workd.

If you like something, field it. Don't get hung up on whether you should or not. Leave that kind of thinking back with 40k, thank you very much. There is no right way, or wrong way as to how 'a' warmachine army looks, or should look.

Brilliant cheers guys. I can see theres a big following for this game lol... ill look at those links now

Deadnight wrote:

 Lordjig6 wrote:
In all honesty. Im not totally sure. I really dont know a great dealabout the game yet. Just wanna know like what possible theme (as far as fluff lists) i could do

Bear in mind, all lists are essentially 'fluff' lists. This isn't like 40k where only certain builds are considered to conform to the background, and other lists are gouging out the fluff.

*warcaster turns up, demands resources for mission and moves out*. That's how it workd.

If you like something, field it. Don't get hung up on whether you should or not. Leave that kind of thinking back with 40k, thank you very much. There is no right way, or wrong way as to how 'a' warmachine army looks, or should look.

I agree with this, with a few exceptions. The biggest issue is that there are units that tend to "work better" with certain casters, other units, and solo's. Ideally you want to create blocks of units that compliment each other AND YOUR PLAY STYLE.

The beauty of this game is that just about anything can be good if not great. It's all in how you as the player use and support them.


My advice to a new player is this.

1. Get the battle box, you will use the caster and in the case of Cryx most likely the bone chickens.
2. Play a bunch of games at the battle box level to get the rules down, you will also start to get a feel for synergy and feats.
3. Bump it up to 15 points by adding a solo. When comfortable (read bored) move to next step.
4. Bump to 25 and add a unit and some support. Also start playing scenario. This is the first level of multiple interactions and real synergy. This is also where you start thinking of deployment setup and first turn maneuvering.
5. Bump to 35 and start using timed turns
6. Bump to 50, get into a few tournaments
7. Profit.

Yeah, everything can be good. But not everything is good with everything.

There is lots of Synergy in this game.


An analogy will probably help. Mustard is great with Hot Dogs but not with Ice Cream. You want Chocolate with your Ice Cream instead of Mustard.

If you like a particular unit, its almost never going to be a bad choice. But you could make a bad choice by pairing it with something that doesn't compliment it. If a pairing lacks synergy in Warmachine, its usually a sub-par list.

So we really can't tell you what is good and bad, but we can tell you what goes with a specific thing you have in mind. Got a caster you really want to use? Or a unit you just love the look of? You can really get some mileage out of those questions.

Also, since each faction has multiple radically different potential playstyles it can be hard to make useful generalizations about a particular faction. There's always an exception. Circle for example is the Hit and Run glass cannon faction, but as an exception you can run a list with lots of Wolds who are slow, durable, and hit hard. So neither glass cannon nor hit and run. Cryx is even harder to pin down to a specific style.

I'm of the opinion that Warmachine & Hordes's list-building design means that 'fluff lists' are way easier to get away with. As mentioned, the Theme Lists aren't always great, but they're there as a little reward for those people who play with thematic units in games big or small.

And again, like any minis game, you're entirely able to play a fluff-heavy list.

I'm personally of the opinion that the nature of balance (IE everything is totally broken so it's all good!) means that pretty much everything has its place. If you're attached to a particular unit or model or anything, there's probably some way to make it legitimately good without an arm and a leg 40k style.

Probably.

 AduroT wrote:
You say that like it's a bad thing.

It is

Specifically about theme lists, here's what I (and others) think about most of them... although it's due for an update soon.

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?101658-Sanctjud’s-Cryx-Theme-List-Spotlight