Starting Cryx

So you’ve decided, it’s time to start collecting a Cryx army. But where to begin?
Have no fear! I’m here to help.
NOTICE! These guides are intended for beginner to intermediate players.
STEP ONE! Buy the Cryx Battlegroup. This gives you Warwitch Deneghra, 2 Deathrippers, 1 Defiler, and 1 Slayer. All are excellent models. I’ll go through each briefly.
WARWITCH DENEGHRA: Privateer Press chose her for the Battlegroup for a reason. She is a caster that will work well in very diverse army lists, giving you a solid foundation to expand your collection. Basically, it doesn’t matter which models you take with her. She will make them better. Deneghra isn’t just the best debuff caster in Cryx, she’s the best debuff caster IN THE WHOLE GAME!
2 DEATHRIPPERS: Cheap, 4 point arc nodes. Do not underestimate the humble Deathripper. As with any arc node, these will help keep your caster safe, but the Deathrippers also have some impressive bite. With ridiculous speed and good hitting power, charging a Deathripper or two into combat at the right moment can definitely turn the tide in your favor.
DEFILER: A somewhat pricey arc node with a nice gun. While not a faction specialty, this will help you get use to the shooting rule. Find a clump of infantry, hit them with a debuff spell, and spray away. Watch the enemy wilt under a torrent of acid. Nice!
SLAYER: A cheap, heavy warjack (or helljack, if you prefer our faction term). This guy is a straight forward beat stick. The Slayer can dish out a ton of pain. Just don’t expect him to take many hits. Learn him, use him, love him. If in doubt, put the Slayer in your list. It’s always nice to have a cheap heavy warjack ready to pound face.
With the initial purchase of the Battlegroup of out the way, I recommend a few small games to get the feel for Warmachine’s rules and the flow of the game. The Battlegroup gives you a nice cross section of the Cryx style, including debuffing, melee, ubiquitous arc nodes, and a taste of decent shooting.
From here, it’s time to get a UNIT, a SOLO, and a warcaster ATTACHMENT. I recommend a minimum unit of 6 Bane Thralls, a Warwitch Siren, and a Skarlock Thrall. Let’s take them one at a time.
6 BANE THRALLS: Well-priced death machines. Bane Thralls are absolute terrors to face. They have Stealth, which makes it harder for enemies to shoot them down. They’re Weapon Masters, which gives them an additional die when rolling for damage. And they have Dark Shroud! What is Dark Shroud, you ask? Any enemy model in a Bane Thrall’s melee range has its armor reduced by 2! They’re walking debuffs! How awesome is that? Used smartly, Bane Thralls can make anything else in the Cryx arsenal hit harder. For this reason alone, they are my favorite unit.
WARWITCH SIREN: A versatile, 2-point solo, the Warwitch is a fine addition to any Cryx army. Where the Bane Thralls are all about raw power, the Warwitch gives you access to a host of powerful abilities. This gal can give a Cryx warjack some extra juice, stop an enemy warjack dead in its tracks, melt the faces off an entire formation of enemy infantry, and take over a living enemy model. Not bad for 2 points! The Warwitch finds a place in the majority of lists I play.
SKARLOCK THRALL: And last, but certainly not least, the Skarlock gives Cryx warcasters basically a free spell a turn. A free friggin’ spell (up to 3 Focus in cost)! Warmachine is a game of resource management, namely the Focus your caster generates, and the Skarlock brings some excellent efficiency to the table. I use the Skarlock in almost every Cryx list I play.
Here’s a sample 15-point list, which is the point level I recommend when starting out a new faction or learning the game from scratch.
Warwitch Deneghra (+5 warjack points)
Slayer Helljack – 6
Defiler Bonejack – 5
(6) Bane Thralls – 5
Warwitch Siren – 2
Skarlock Thrall – 2
With these models, you will have a healthy cross-section of the abilities Cryx brings to the table. Is this the be-all end-all of 15-point army lists? No, but it’s not meant to be. What this list does is give you is a taste of the Cryx play style and of Warmachine as a whole. It has a powerful caster, a heavy jack, a light jack, a unit of infantry, a solo, and a warcaster attachment. And it is wholly made from models that are cheap to obtain (i.e. the Battlegroup) or are models I use again, and again, and again.
I hope you found this article helpful. Please look forward to more Cryx Tactics!
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.

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.