So are you thinking about jumping into the rough and tumble game of Warmachine? Have the undead legions of Cryx caught your eye? Do you like the idea of zombie pirates, Goth chicks, and necro-mechanical horrors all in the same army? Not sure where to start?
Maybe you already play Warmachine or Hordes and you’re sick of Cryx crippling your army and raising your casualties to fight against you? Want to taste what it’s like on the other side of the table? Turnabout is fair play, right?
Well, search no further! I’m here to help.
NOTICE! These guides are intended for beginner to intermediate players.
So what can you expect when playing Cryx?
SPEED: Cryx is a fast faction. A Cryx player can often choose when and where the engagement takes place. The ability to strike first and strike hardest should never be underestimated, and in this regard Cryx is only surpassed by one faction, the Legion of Everblight.
DEBUFF MAGIC: Cryx is second to none in the ability to cripple an opponent with magic. Cryx warcasters can strip armor, cripple defenses, sap strength, reduce aim, slow movement, shut down special abilities, deny free attacks, and even pass right through the enemy as if they weren’t there.
MELEE: Cryx is all about getting in close and personal. While the faction does have some decent shooting, the real business end of our game is done man-to-zombie.
ARC NODES: Cryx has access to a diverse selection of cheap arc nodes, the best in the game! This allows our warcasters to project their range of influence far beyond other armies, crippling foes that thought they were out of range while keeping our warcasters safe from harm.
RECYCLING: Cryx is the best faction for taking enemy casualties (already a bad thing) and making it even worse. Everything from creating new soldiers to unleashing additional spells is powered by the faction’s insatiable hunger for soul and corpse tokens dropped by living models. For Cryx, the battle field is also a buffet.
So what are the DOWNSIDES to playing Cryx?
DURABILITY: Cryx models tend to have decent defense and poor armor. In a fair fight, Cryx loses. But that’s why you don’t fight fair. Fortunately, many units have unconventional abilities that make them tougher than their plain stats would have you believe. It may be easy to put a Cryx model down. Getting it to stay down? Well, that’s a different story.
SHOOTING: If a classic gun-line is what you like to play, give Cryx a pass. Cryx has access to some decent guns, but that’s not where the faction shines.
WARJACKS: Don’t get me wrong. Cryx has excellent warjacks, and you will be using them. But as a faction, Cryx focuses more on infantry swarms than on lots of big, mean robots.
CHEAP: Expect to buy more models than other players when fielding a Cryx army. The difference isn’t too huge, but a Cryx army will probably cost a little more money than the offerings of other factions.
Still with me? Still ready to give Cryx a try? All right, then!
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.
Pretty good guide, thanks – I’ve only had one game so far using Cryx, and was very quick to realize that going straight at the enemy isn’t a good idea. We were using the basic quick play rules so some rules weren’t allowed, such as Stealth, etc., plus we didn’t know how to use feats and initial attacks – but that’s just more knowledge to soak up for next time.
Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you enjoyed the article. And trust me, once you get the hang of how they work, Cryx can be a truly devastating force to wield and a lot of fun. What faction were you playing against?
The other player was Menoth, but like I said it was the very first time we were playing, so we got a lot of stuff wrong 🙂 I got used to playing Dark Eldar in 40K, so playing Cryx sounds like it will be very similar but maybe a little simpler because of the smaller number of different units.
You’re absolutely right. If you like Dark Eldar, then I’m confident you’ll like Cryx. I get a kick out of playing both for very similar reasons.
I fell into DE by accident, as that was the first army I got into when I started 40k last year (bought an army for cheap and happened to like the way they look). But as I understood the tactics and the background I got to like them more and more 🙂 once I get the debuff units and work with arc nodes Cryx should be quite fun!
Sounds awesome! Well, stay tuned for more Cryx tactics. I’ll be putting up an article on Warwitch Deneghra soon, and I plan to write about all of the Cryx casters. Let me know if there’s anything in particular you’d like to see.
Sounds fantastic! You’ve covered a bit about expanding the starter set, which is great, but how about using units like Blood Witches, Mechanithralls and Necrosurgeon/Grunts, Skarlock, etc? I have all of these on order, which is why I ask 😉
A new article on Mechanithralls is now up. Please enjoy. 🙂