[Wargaming] Cryx Steamroller pairings

Tomorrow I'm travelling down to Northampton for my second Warmachine tournament of the year. It should be about double the size of the last one, with 16 players signed up for four rounds, and I'm looking forward to it. I've had my Cryx on the back burner for while so that I can learn how to use some of my Circle Orboros models at weekly gaming, which has been a lot of fun. But it will be nice to get the undead back on the table. 

After my disastrous results at the last tournament I attended, I'm setting my sights low. I would like to win one game, and if I manage that I'll be happy. 


I've been thinking quite a bit about my list selection. I plan to continue with my Venethrax run, so my first list is unchanged from last time:

Lich Lord Venethrax
*Helldiver
*Helldiver
*Skarlock
Min. Bane Thralls
Max. Bloodgorgers
Max. Satyxis Raiders
*Sea Witch UA
Gerlak Slaughterborn
Pistol Wraith
Satyxis Raider Captain
Saxon Orrik

I was pretty happy with how this list performed; it had once decent match up that I should probably have won, and one poor matchup that ended up being closer than it had any right to. So I want to see how it fares against some more varied opponents.


My second list has been causing me some headaches though. My Deneghra theme force has, I think, reached a decent place but still needs a bit more testing. However I'm not entirely happy with it as a tournament force. Most of that is down to Deneghra herself. She's one of my most played warcasters, but not consistently, and I still struggle to use her spells and feat effectively whilst keeping her safe. I'm therefore going to shelve that list until I get the chance to play it casually a few times and really get a handle on how it works.

That leaves my looking for a second list to pair with Venethrax. There's a bit of a theme going around the global Warmachine community  at the moment of 'Cryx different, not Cryx harder'. Basically that means that most players are familiar with the usual Cryxian lists and tricks, and that we need to break the mould somewhat in order to be successful.

As such I've been looking at some of the theme forces for the warcasters that I own. Three in particular caught my eye. The first is for the Witch Coven, and owuld give me a very different list to the Venethrax one, with more of an emphasis on spell slinging. I came up with this:

Witch Coven
*Deathripper
*Deathripper
*Slayer
*Slayer
Max. Soulhunters
Darragh Wrathe
Pistol Wraith 
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren

Much like Deneghra though, I want more practice with the Coven and I'm not sure if a tournament is the right place for that! They're complex, and I think would be overwhelming in a timed turn environment as I've only really played them twice before!
One of only two times I've played the Witch Coven, and it was a four-player free-for-all game. At a 
free play release event. And I took a battlegroup only list. Not the best practice for a tournament! (Credit: David Brown)

The second list I looked at was for Terminus, with all the undead pirates:

Terminus
*Harrower
Max. Blackbane's
Revenant Cannon
Max. Revenant Crew
*3 Riflemen
Captain Rengrave
Darragh Wrathe

This is certainly different, and has a surprising amount of speed to it. I'm itching to try it out, but Terminus is just a little too similar to Venethrax to make it a good pairing I think. Plus he's a pain to transport, and I have no spare Blackbane's if I take a full unit. Maybe another time.

The third theme list I looked at was for Skarre, but then I found a list online that I liked the look and sound of. Lamoron over on 'The Overseer' has been having a fair amount of success with a fast, incorporeal and cavalry heavy list for her that I found very interesting indeed. His is a 50pt list, so I'm not sure how it will work at this lower points level, but it was easy to cut down.

Skarre
*Cankerworm
*Skarlock
Min. Blackbane's
Min. Mechanithralls
Machine Wraith
Necrosurgeon & Stitch thralls
Max. Satyxis Blood Witches
*Blood Hag UA
Max. Soulhunters
Darragh Wrathe

It's fast, a nightmare for opponents without magical weapons, has lots of rfp to prevent recursion mechanics, and is deceptively good at cracking armour with Skarre's feat. I'm a bit worried that it's too similar to the Venethrax list, but it will be fun to see how it does.

Lamoron's 50pt version of the Skarre list in action. I'm looking forward to seeing how well the cut-down version does. (Credit: theoverseer.dk)

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