Lich Lord Asphyxious or as many people know him, Gaspy2. A very clever name to say the least. I have been meaning to try him out for some time but I have not been able to get around to it until last Wednesday at my weekly Warmahordes League.
Unfortunately I do not own the model but I do have the Cryx faction book. So I just proxied him with a medium base and my match was under way.
Just for the hell of it, I decided to proxy in some Bile Thralls. I had no idea if I was going to win or loose the match, I just wanted to get in some practice with him and the Biles so I could see if they are to my style of play.
My match was against a friend who was using Grand Exemplar Kreoss or Kreoss2 to some. He also brought along a Paladin of the Order of the Wall and some Exemplar Bastions along with him. Note this wasn't his full list but I was really only worried about these units. Oh, and Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios.
Now my group consisted of; Gaspy2, a full unit of bile thralls, full unit of bane thralls (I am probably hearing a lot of people screaming "Why not bane knights!?" to answer this, money is tight.) a skarlock thrall, one deathripper and a free slayer.
I started first and for the first two turns, it was my units running up the field why Gaspy2 was laying down caustic mists as much as possible. Reason being because of a Heavy Jack that had a large cannon on the opponents team.
Now some of you are familiar with the technique known as the "Bile Bomb." If done right, this technique can and will destroy waves of single hit infantry units. If you are lucky enough to have you opponent play to your likings, you might be able to hit a couple of heavies, lights, solos or maybe even get a random shot on the enemies leader. This involves the use of the Bile Thralls that I proxied in. These units are pretty much bullet magnets. They have absolutely pathetic stats but most people know what they can do. They have a special ability called "Purge" which automatically hits anything in its front arc in a set distance. The damage is barely in the double digits but the nice thing is that it also applies corrosion to anything it hits. So if you happened to hit a single box unit with the purge but didn't kill them, don't worry. There is 66% chance they will die next turn. Since this was my first match with Gaspy2 I didn't want to be THAT guy or girl (don't want to be sexist here) who pulls a one turn Bile Bomb. If you don't know what this technique is capable of doing, please watch this video. It will enlighten you on the obscenely stupid amounts of destruction you can sow.
Once the third round came into play, I was ready to take out the first priority target of my friend's army. Eiryss. She is absolutely stellar for whoever can take her. I have learned my lesson from her before as she can and will strip off all of the focus on your warcaster if she can drawn line of sight to them. To make matters worse, you do not replenish your focus for one round. This is a huge setback to all warcasters as this means no spells, no boosted anything, no allocating focus and no overboosted power field. She pretty much sets up the caster assassination run like nobodies business. Thankfully I was able to take this solo out first which saved me from a lot of trouble down the road.
Next, I tried out a purge just for SaG. I was able to hit a few units with it, but nothing major since my friends units were all multi hit along with an ability that says we can split the damage between our entire unit instead of one person take the full brunt of it. Then it was time for the banes to charge in.
I was only able to kill two of his bastion units, but that was alright for me. The remaining 3 bastions were out of range of the other banes.
I knew that my friends turn was going to be crushing but I didn't realize how bad it was going to be. He moved Kreoss2 in, blasted two of my thralls to oblivion with spells. Then Kreoss used his feat. This was the killer. His feat says that every friendly model in his control range gets an extra attack and auto hits in melee...let me start with this. His heavy jack two hit killed my little deathripper. The remaining bastions killed all but 1 of my bane thralls. His paladin, other solo and light tore through my bile thralls like a hot knife through Jello.
Normally I would be shaking in my boots if something like this happened with another caster. This was not the case. The next round was going to be the final one of the night If I didn't do something. His heavy was able to charge my caster the next turn, so I did what Cryx is known for...I played dirty.
I moved my slayer in to take out another solo of his that had been a thorn in my side. Then I had Gaspy2 charge one of the bastions. Before my charge ended, I used Gaspy2's feat. What his feat does is it can bring back up to 10 warrior unit models that have been killed, give them incorporeal and undead while turning them into solos for one round. Once their turn comes up, they MUST charge. Now continuing on with the charge attack, I was able to kill the bastion in question which aided in my plan. I was able to place 9 of my recently re-deceased bane thralls back onto the table and with some fanangling, on their turn, 4 of them were able to get the charge off on Kreoss2. The second Bane Thrall was able to take Kreoss2 down and win the match for me. (I know, had I used bane knights I would have had more to get to him and this was true. We tested this out with proxied knights and I would have been able to get 7 bane knights to charge Kreoss2. I am not sure if the damage would have outweighed the thralls though.)
All in all, it was a fun and destructive match and Gaspy2, along with some Bane Knights, are on my list of models to acquire next.
I think I have started to grow in experience using the Cryx and I think I have become decent with them. I am however, far off from being a good match up for some of the other league members and the other Warmahordes players that I know in the outlying area. When it all comes down to it though, page 5 it. "Play like you have a pair."
Showing posts with label Warmachine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warmachine. Show all posts
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Cyrxian Casters and why I love them
I play a table top war game called Warmachine and Hordes or Warmahaordes to some. In the past six or seven months that my wife and I have been playing it, I have discovered one faction in particular that suits me fairly well. Now, I am by no means an expert at this game. Just like any other game that involves some type of competition against another human I have had to learn what other types of factions there are and how they play along with the play styles of different opponents.
This type of game can be very fun but it can also be very frustrating at times. To give you an example, the first tournament I ever went to (mistake number 1) I was paired up with a rather friendly gentleman (mistake number 2 which beat the crap out of mistake number 1.) I then found out at the beginning of our match that this young man was a veteran player who had attended many qualifying matches to try and get into some of the more hardcore tournaments that are more than likely nationwide. Needless to say I was shaking in my boots a little bit. Thankfully this man was not a jerk about it. He was very humble and rather informative. We started our match and three rounds later he had wiped all of my army out (I was using trolls at the time) and I had only taken out two of his models. It was frustrating at first since I was playing with the more adamantly hardcore players but a very good learning experience for me as to how some of the cream of the crop play the game.
Now I started to think that my Trollbloods weren't really my type of play style. They are more of a support group and generally I do play supportive. I have learned in this game that there is a rule called "Page 5" and I have taken it to heart and I use it more now than I do logic sometimes. "Play like you have a pair" is the rule. It didn't feel to me as though I could play this way with trolls.
The event officer of the league that I play in wanted to get a match in with me and I agreed. He set up his army of the Cryx battlebox with the Warcaster Deneghra. I had my trolls and never faced Cryx before. He pretty much mopped the floor with me and I soon started to think about picking this group up instead and my event officer told me how fun they were to play. I caved and I soon discovered how fun it was watching most of my league teammates sigh when they had to fight me as Cryx have a bunch of glass cannon and annoying little units to work with.
My first Warcaster was of course War Witch Deneghra and she is rightfully feared and respected. Did I say respected? I meant resented. Though I did not win and have not one a lot of matches or tournaments with her and my skill, she is just super fun to play with and figure out all of the little tricks that can really shut down your opponents next big plan and have them change up their strategy on the fly. I have learned that if you can get her to the right place, you can make the opponent bend to your plan of attack. Here are just a few reasons why I think Deneghra is awesome.
1. She is not the best thing to send into melee but if for some reason she does get within melee range of an enemy unit, she has the unique ability of moving out of combat without taking a free strike, that is, if she survives an all out onslaught.
2. Along the lines of melee, if the enemy attacking her does not have a weapon with reach on it, then she can move just out of melee range, ignoring a free strike and then strike back at the opponent. As my league officer would put it, "Dirty dirty Cryx."
3. Another nice thing about her is that Deneghra has an ability that makes it so ranged attacks cannot hit her from a certain distance, making her even more difficult to hit from a ranged attack. A con of this is that a ranged attack with an AoE on it can deviate and still hit her. If this attack can be boosted to hit and damage which most people would on a caster, this AoE attack can and will one shot this caster if you are not careful with her.
4. Deneghra's spell list is suited for a plethora of shenanigans in almost any situation. Crippling grasp comes to mind as it will slow down heavy jacks or beasts from charging to you and debilitate units to the point of not being able to cut through butter. If you can have this spell hit the opposing caster, your opponent is going to have a rough match and more than likely will be cursing you most of the game.
5. Another spell that comes to mind is Scourge. A very powerful spell that can have very good damage potential against annoying solos or even lesser armored casters but this is not why I like it. Anything that is hit by this move is knocked down and vulnerable to melee attacks always hitting until they get back up. I have won a match this way by actually using this move on one of my own light warjacks. The spell hit the light, a heavy jack of mine along with the opposing caster. The light warjack was knocked down, the enemy caster was knocked down but my heavy was not. My heavy was the Desecrator. A flexible heavy crabjack that has an ability that makes him immune to knockdowns. I then had my Desecrator politely walk up to the enemy caster, beat the crap out of her (Sorscha) and managed to turn a losing battle into a win.
6. The one thing everyone who has ever played against Deneghra is her once per match feat. The Withering. This ability pretty much shuts every enemy down that is foolish enough to get close to her as it implies a hefty penalty to nearly every attribute of nearly every enemy model along with a few other special rules for one round. Most people know that this is going to happen and it cannot be avoided. What I have seen in recent games in many people would rush up and try to fake me out into using it too quickly so that I would be on more of the defensive than offensive sides. This has worked to both mine and their advantages since my dice are actively trying to kill me at times.
All in all, I really liked her as my first caster in the Cryx faction. I have purchased more and I will cover some of them later but if you ever decide to pick up the Cryx faction, I would suggest getting the battle box and start with that because it will give you a much needed heavy for some added protection as Deneghra is very squishy, along with three light warjacks that are just fun to play around with. Cryx are all about shenanigans and making your opponent curse you under their teeth so have fun and let loose with the undead swarms of the Cryx.
This type of game can be very fun but it can also be very frustrating at times. To give you an example, the first tournament I ever went to (mistake number 1) I was paired up with a rather friendly gentleman (mistake number 2 which beat the crap out of mistake number 1.) I then found out at the beginning of our match that this young man was a veteran player who had attended many qualifying matches to try and get into some of the more hardcore tournaments that are more than likely nationwide. Needless to say I was shaking in my boots a little bit. Thankfully this man was not a jerk about it. He was very humble and rather informative. We started our match and three rounds later he had wiped all of my army out (I was using trolls at the time) and I had only taken out two of his models. It was frustrating at first since I was playing with the more adamantly hardcore players but a very good learning experience for me as to how some of the cream of the crop play the game.
Now I started to think that my Trollbloods weren't really my type of play style. They are more of a support group and generally I do play supportive. I have learned in this game that there is a rule called "Page 5" and I have taken it to heart and I use it more now than I do logic sometimes. "Play like you have a pair" is the rule. It didn't feel to me as though I could play this way with trolls.
The event officer of the league that I play in wanted to get a match in with me and I agreed. He set up his army of the Cryx battlebox with the Warcaster Deneghra. I had my trolls and never faced Cryx before. He pretty much mopped the floor with me and I soon started to think about picking this group up instead and my event officer told me how fun they were to play. I caved and I soon discovered how fun it was watching most of my league teammates sigh when they had to fight me as Cryx have a bunch of glass cannon and annoying little units to work with.
My first Warcaster was of course War Witch Deneghra and she is rightfully feared and respected. Did I say respected? I meant resented. Though I did not win and have not one a lot of matches or tournaments with her and my skill, she is just super fun to play with and figure out all of the little tricks that can really shut down your opponents next big plan and have them change up their strategy on the fly. I have learned that if you can get her to the right place, you can make the opponent bend to your plan of attack. Here are just a few reasons why I think Deneghra is awesome.
1. She is not the best thing to send into melee but if for some reason she does get within melee range of an enemy unit, she has the unique ability of moving out of combat without taking a free strike, that is, if she survives an all out onslaught.
2. Along the lines of melee, if the enemy attacking her does not have a weapon with reach on it, then she can move just out of melee range, ignoring a free strike and then strike back at the opponent. As my league officer would put it, "Dirty dirty Cryx."
3. Another nice thing about her is that Deneghra has an ability that makes it so ranged attacks cannot hit her from a certain distance, making her even more difficult to hit from a ranged attack. A con of this is that a ranged attack with an AoE on it can deviate and still hit her. If this attack can be boosted to hit and damage which most people would on a caster, this AoE attack can and will one shot this caster if you are not careful with her.
4. Deneghra's spell list is suited for a plethora of shenanigans in almost any situation. Crippling grasp comes to mind as it will slow down heavy jacks or beasts from charging to you and debilitate units to the point of not being able to cut through butter. If you can have this spell hit the opposing caster, your opponent is going to have a rough match and more than likely will be cursing you most of the game.
5. Another spell that comes to mind is Scourge. A very powerful spell that can have very good damage potential against annoying solos or even lesser armored casters but this is not why I like it. Anything that is hit by this move is knocked down and vulnerable to melee attacks always hitting until they get back up. I have won a match this way by actually using this move on one of my own light warjacks. The spell hit the light, a heavy jack of mine along with the opposing caster. The light warjack was knocked down, the enemy caster was knocked down but my heavy was not. My heavy was the Desecrator. A flexible heavy crabjack that has an ability that makes him immune to knockdowns. I then had my Desecrator politely walk up to the enemy caster, beat the crap out of her (Sorscha) and managed to turn a losing battle into a win.
6. The one thing everyone who has ever played against Deneghra is her once per match feat. The Withering. This ability pretty much shuts every enemy down that is foolish enough to get close to her as it implies a hefty penalty to nearly every attribute of nearly every enemy model along with a few other special rules for one round. Most people know that this is going to happen and it cannot be avoided. What I have seen in recent games in many people would rush up and try to fake me out into using it too quickly so that I would be on more of the defensive than offensive sides. This has worked to both mine and their advantages since my dice are actively trying to kill me at times.
All in all, I really liked her as my first caster in the Cryx faction. I have purchased more and I will cover some of them later but if you ever decide to pick up the Cryx faction, I would suggest getting the battle box and start with that because it will give you a much needed heavy for some added protection as Deneghra is very squishy, along with three light warjacks that are just fun to play around with. Cryx are all about shenanigans and making your opponent curse you under their teeth so have fun and let loose with the undead swarms of the Cryx.
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