MKII Model Review

Jacks rule so they go first.

Deathjack: An amazing brute with a deep grid, terrific stats and a plethora of unique abilities which make this jack the finest in all the IK. With two P+S 18 attacks, arm 19, two free focus every turn and the ability to cast spells and consume. souls the DJ has no equal on the battle field

The DJ suffered a few substantial nerfs in MKII but none are overly worrisome. Firstly the DJ can no longer necrovent but as a trade you no longer have to feed it a FOC to keep it from going crazy. True that loss of fluff tames the dj down a bit but ultimately it's for the greater good, er, bad.

The Nightmare is my favorite jack in the game. This speedy son of a bitch has earned more kills than I care to count. As far as I can tell the Nightmare is essential in almost every cryx list and especially with Mortenebra.

While spd 6 is great for a jack, with Morty the nightmare can potentially move 23" in a single turn. With 2". Reach the nightmare has an effective threat range of 25". Game Over.

The nightmare kept its bond with Deneghra so that while in her battle group it gains stealth. The imprint "ghostly" is fantastic in that it let's you ignore free strikes and terrain. If only it ignored intervening models.

On the down side the nightmare's grid is shallow for a heavy requiring you to play with a tad more finesse than with other heavies. All in all the nightmare is A+

The Seether: was pretty cool in MKI but was rife with issues, namely I played infantry machine and never ran much more than a few nodes and the Cankerworm. That being said, MKII has provided some serious incentive to fielding jacks so now the seether shall see the light of day.

With MAT 8 and one free FOC per turn the seether is nigh but guaranteed to box whatever it charges. MKII granted the seether a chain attack which allows it to make a power attack for free. (With some exceptions). Frankly this jack, while more expensive, has taken the Cankerworm's place on all my lists. So again, great MAT, better DEF than most heavies (irc), decent pow+str, two open fists, a deep grid and decent movement makes the Seether another A+ jack.

The Slayer is still the red-headed stepchild of all Cryx players. Its utility was increased in that it is now cheap as dirt for a heavy and boasts a killer pow 22 combo strike. This little guy on a charge is going to cause some serious grief. Lamentably with low armor and a shallow grid the Slayer isn't going to last long after its initial assault so pick your targets well. Overall rating is a solid "B-"

The Leviathan is a confusing jack. I don't own one, and with its current stats I'm pretty sure that will go on unchanged. There is really nothing special about this maritime heavy. It looks cool. Has a ranged attack with ROF 3 and a cool looking claw. But, well, that's really it; and it's as expensive as the nightmare or seether, both of which I'd take over the levi' any day. Overall grade "D+."

The Harrower is still cool. Pricey and "OK." As of yet I don't know why I'd take it over the nightmare.

The Stalker is perhaps the one jack which benefited from MKII more so than any other jack in the faction. Let's be honest now, the stalker was a sissy, waste of time, no good wreck marker waiting to happen. Now, while still a wreck marker waiting to happen, the stalker comes with a few added tryx and the potential to be an assassin. Honestly though the damage grid on this glorified bone jack is so pathetic that even taking into consideration its high def and cool abilities the jack is still scrap. "C"

The Cankerworm is no more. I'd prefer to not talk about it. You bastards! You know who you are! "F"

Nodes: single in purpose and mind though different in cost. Much energy was spent on an in faction argument concerning the nodes and their steep point cost. Mostly it was one dink saying "they are fine" vs the Cryx community. Ultimately the community prevailed as PP recently updated the stats for the nightwretch and defailer. Same points as before but the defiler finally has the spray attack it should have always had and the wretch has "powerful shot." Awesome. For still being too expensive and because I say so, the nodes get a "B."

To Be Continued...

The Next Tournament Has Been Declared!

After a successful month long 750 point tournament the LGS owner has already unveiled his plans for our next tournament. This time we're talking 350 points in one night of furious miniature combat!

What to bring, what to bring? So many choices. The question is, will this be a mangled metal/tooth and claw event or is it open to whatever?

Mangled metal provides some challenges that I'd have to really take a serious look into solving. First off Cryx isn't know as the jack casting faction.

Only recently in Legends did our faction receive it's first true jack caster, Mortenebra. Don't get me wrong, she is full of win, but her most effective spells are triggered vs. living models; jacks are not living models so what point do they serve?

Cankerworm: This jack is a missile of uber destruction which can chew through the hardiest warjacks in the game. It's fast, stealthy and has one of the most effective/efficient damage grids I've ever seen. The systems are so spread out that it can take a tremendous amount of damage and still not lose a single one. The main problem I foresee is that with certain casters and the lack of bile thralls I'd find myself without any corrosion sources for the cankerworm. That's a big deal and limits my caster choices if I choose to run the worm.

Nightmare: While only being in my possession a short while it has already amassed a fine collection of warcaster shulls to line its trophey shelf. The prey ability is amazing, the out of turn movement really helps line uf the charge or seek better positioning to ensure the win. While the jack has decent pow+str attacks and reach, arm 18 isn't all that hard to break and its damage grid only has two more boxes than the cankerworm! Needless to say it's pretty damn squishy. That being said, when taken with Deneghra it gains stealth and becomes a lot more menacing, especially vs. shooty jacks. The nightmare also has an imprint ability which makes it ghostly allowing it to move through obstacles, ignore terrain and free strikes. Very handy.

Deathjack: I'm not sure I even need to write an opinion. General consensus is that this beast of a jack is the best jack in the game. Terrific stats, tons of damage boxes, two open fists with p+s 18 and a head attack that's pow 15! The deathjack can Necrovent which places a 5" AOE centered on him dealing pow 12 boostable hit on everything in the cloud, g-night Vilmon! But wait, there's more. The Deathjack comes equipped with two skulls of hate, these bad boys are the driving force behind this maniacal monster of mayhem. The skulls of hate provide the Deathjack with two focus during my control phase, allow the deathjack a 360 degree front arc so it can charge and slam in any direction and make it so the deathjack can cast any spell on my warcasters' list! Essentially everything amazing about Cryx is rolled up into this one big nasty jack. What else can I say? I love him! Well, now for the negatives. He's so damn expensive, at 154 points that's 44% of my army and paints him as a pretty big target. Kill him and it's game over basically. He also suffers from being unbound, which means that if for any reason I cannot allocate him three focus he then goes nutty and charges my caster. That's bad, especially since most anti jack casters my nemesis runs have all sorts of ways to wipe a cortex out. Did I mention he was expensive? I did? Well I'm going to say it again, negative #1 is his point cost, that alone will keep him in the bag.

Slayer: BARF! He's terrible, great to have as a fig thanks to the Withershadow Combine and their dark industry's ability, but that's it. The slayer is way too expensive for the paltry stats it has. Abysmal pow+str, the worst MAT of any heavy in the game and a damage grid a Bone jack would laugh at. Not much point talking about this guy, he's never going to see the table top unless I really want to have a casual game. NEXT!

Arc Nodes: Deathrippers vs. Defilers. Until Legends Defilers were considered the worst of the arc nodes. Overly expensive for a single shot, non aoe corrosion blast with only pow 12. However, once the Cankerworm hit play the evil Cryxian warcasters found utility in the deFAILers as another corrosion source. In Mangled Metal this is a big deal. I'd have to run at least two, maybe even three. Should I opt for a cast which has access to corrosion causing spells the likelihood that the defiler will see play diminishes. The deathripper is an efficient arc node which is cheaper than most solo's. It has a sustained attack and can headbutt or slam other jacks around keeping them knocked down and opening charge lanes for the big boys. I really should invest in Nightwretches, maybe I'll buy a blister. Moving right along.

Stalkers: The following is a write up done by the Battle College. I own a Stalker but have used it all of one time. "The Stalker is not a normal bonejack. It has no arc node, and its statistics are bit different. It moves fast, has stealth, jumps and moves over all terrain. It's a solo killer with some good abilities for suppressing warcasters, but you will almost NEVER get to attack a warcaster with it. For its points cost it's a difficult unit to get the best performance out of, and in many respects it has been eclipsed by the Helldiver. The Stalker is just as good in melee as the Helljacks, and is more difficult to hit than any other warjack in the game. It's difficult to hit without some sort of bonus or boosted attack rolls or additional attack dice. The Stalker can even tangle up models that have a MAT:8 like Exemplar Seneschals. The Stalker is as fast as the other bonejacks but has less armor and fewer damage boxes. Any hit doing twenty damage or more is enough to badly damage this warjack. A series of blasts with a few high damage rolls from things like Winterguard Mortars or boosted AOE blasts from warjacks are enough to cripple the Stalker in one or two shots. The Evisceratiors do a decent amount of damage, but are not at the top of the spectrum, so don't obsess over their ability to mess up warcasters. What the Stalker most needs is for any potential victim to be "debuffed" by spells like Parasite, or to get bonuses to its damage rolls with spells like Scything Touch or Pirate Queen Skarre's Blood Magic feat.Without allocated focus or other assistance the Stalker is a threat to most warrior solos and units, but not able to directly threaten warjacks or warcasters. Most warcasters can laugh off an unassisted attack from a Stalker, and trash it on their next turn. All Terrain: Being able to charge or slam through rough terrain and move through it unimpeded is game winning. This is only one of a few all terrain warjacks that Cryx has, and the only one that can move so swiftly. The second best use I've gotten out of it is being able to move 10" over all terrain when performing a slam attack.Leap: This ability is not often as valuable, since you cannot perform the all important charge or slam, though it will let the Stalker move further to engage the enemy. The Stalker can use leaps to flee combats without taking free strikes, or advance in the face of Centurions standing in front of Darius and jump over them to attack him directly. Anything that stops a Stalker from charging (reductions to SPD for example) will stop it from leaping. Stealth: There are many ways of subverting stealth. Don't have it prance around in front of the enemy out of cover unless you want some Gun Mage Captain Adept wrecking it for you in the first or second turn of the game. You should still take advantage of concealment whenever you can, because rough terrain like woods won't slow it down anyway." -Battle College-

So that's it. Those are my choices for Mangled Metal 350. I have a lot of play testing to do. My concern is ensuring that I can deliver my assassination jack to the opposing caster intact allowing the win. Cryx Jacks are much more fragile than any other faction's, it puts us at a disadvantage tactically. That being said, we Cryx are full of tryx and can easily debuff them down to our level, making it all but a rout in favor of the dragon lord.

That's enough for now, time to play!

-Cheers-

Death To Menoth!....Er, I Mean Legion.

Spring Break Is HERE! Hallelujah.

To celebrate I went to work. Yeah, bummer. But that's ok, I had a match all lined up vs John the Mennite. With the remarkable display of board dominance from eDeneghra yesterday I thought John's army would serve as an equally good target for my eDenny CCHax list. He has loads of infantry, relatively low command and not many leaders to lend a hand with the multiple checks he WILL be making.

Work was excruciating as all I could think about was my impending game vs Menoth. I get a text from John, apparently one of his kids had set the dog on fire and or maybe it was the other way around, I don't remember. What I did know was that I had an itch that needed scratching. Luckily for me there was a poor unsuspecting soul just hang'n around Phoenix Games. Jeff, the blighted Legion Bastardo. Game On!!!

I brought the exact same list as before. (See the previous battle report)

Jeff brought:
Lillyth
Carnivean
Serraph
Serraph
Shredder x 5
Forsaken
Shepherd
Shepherd
Incubi
Striders
Blighted Archers

Geoff wins initiative

We're playing scenario, "Treasure Hunt." It was lame. Mark a spot in the middle of the board. A model on the spot may sacrifice its activation for 2 turns to locate the treasure. Then, a heavy has to pick it up and carry it back to your deployment zone for the win. Simple enough.

To make a long and rather un-interesting battle report short, Nightmare for the win.

-Cheers-