On Friday night I got a chance to finally set Goreshade3 on the table for the first time, matching up against Rob’s Legion of Everblight list. Got a couple of pictures in the midst of things.

His Legion list was led by Lylyth2, who had two Ravagores, a Shredder, and a Naga Nightlurker in the Battlegroup. Plus support staff and two Strider Deathstalkers. Oh, and the Blightbringer. How can one forget that monstrosity? The list was tight and shooty, and was going to be a rough challenge for my force.

Just a bit of shooting in the opposing list… There used to be a left flank of Mechanithralls…

My force was Goreshade3, with a Leviathan, Hell Diver, Deathripper, and Nightwretch in the battlegroup. Mechanithralls, Bile Thralls, and the Revenant Crew of the Atramentous formed the bulk of my force, with the Withershadow Combine and a Necrotech rounding it out.

Goreshade3 stares down the massive form of the Blightbringer that rose beyond the forest.

The battle ended up being pretty close. My side took horrific casualties, but I got some luck in one of the Ravagores destroying their own objective and the speed of Goreshade to dominate the right zone. The Everblight player was only able to toe the Blightbringer into the zone to contest the following turn, so all I needed to do was take it down. The Leviathan turned to melee, and as always hit like a truck. The Helldiver also did some damage, but the beast was still up and only Goreshade was left. He charged in, and did a ton of damage but not quite enough (I think it was only five boxes left). Legion was then able to swoop in for the caster kill with ease.

I made some placing mistakes, and got muddled by the forest in the middle for a turn too long on a couple of key pieces. Overall I was pleased–Lylyth certainly butchered my forces but I wasn’t shot off the table and got more competitive as the game went on in my estimation. A few dice higher, or perhaps putting Scything Touch on the Leviathan rather than keeping the focus on Goreshade3 for his run in that last turn would have swung it to a win for me.

Great game and fun opponent–it’s good as I’m learning Cryx to play against people who have familiarity with the force.

366 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

28/366

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 3 (Win/Loss: 1/2/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Cryx:

1 Win (Caine)  /  2 Losses (Asphyxious, Lylyth2)

Another week of the Journeyman league at Drawbridge Games, and that means more painting progress and more games! It’s a brand-new year, so a brand-new start to my gaming record. I’m not declaring this the Year of Cryx for me, but I’m planning on playing a lot of Cryx to get myself used to the faction and options. I’ll still squeeze in some Trollbloods (and maybe occasional Skorne) no doubt, but for the time being it’s the legions of dead for me.

Given that, I’ve added two new painted portions of my Cryx force: some troops and a nasty little bonejack. They bring me up to 18 points painted for January, toward the 366 points in 366 days challenge for 2016.

A Cryxian mainstay: a minimum unit of Bile Thralls. 

The little bonejack that could: the Helldiver. The little marker on the left signifies when it’s completely underground. 

For the league this week, there was good turnout and some beautiful painting progress by every player. I played two games myself. First, a match against Cygnar led by Caine. Then a mirror match against another Cryx player, facing Aspyhxious. For both games, I continued experimenting with Lord Exhumator Scaverous and his magic-slinging Rube Goldberg army of death. But before I get into those battles, some of the other great-looking action that took place.

Terry’s gorgeous Protectorate of Menoth force led by good old Kreoss against Dan’s aggressive Sorscha2-led Khador army. 

Ryan’s Cryxian nightmares face off in no man’s land against the Protectorate faithful.

Nasty Khador-0n-Khador action as Colton’s Karchev-led Warjacks (on the left) powerslide into the “friendly” forces on the other side. Tony’s Cygnar build the “Flying V” as they surge up into the crossroads to take on their snowy adversaries from the north. My favorite moment from my game against Ryan’s Cryx. My Withershadow Combine, thanks to some Telekinesis from Scaverous to get positioning correct, managed to actually get their Dark Industries ability to trigger–destroying one of his light warjacks and replacing it with one of my own. This shot shows the aftermath, as the newly-created Defiler moved up and acid-bathed the opposing Slayer and infantry behind. 

Despite the ten point swing of Dark Industries, however, I still managed to lose the game. I was clearly winning in the piece trade and scenario, and really only had the Slayer, a single bonejack, and Asphyxious left. The Helldiver surfaced and managed to flub its rolls, so Scaverous had to use his feat, Telekinesis Asphyxious out of combat, then tried to blast him with Feast of Worms and spells, plus the boosted attacks from the  Withershadow as well. Yet after the smoke cleared, Aspyhixous was still improbably standing there–thanks mostly to stinky rolls. He moved his remaining arc node up to just hit range against Scaverous, and then blasted my caster to bits with his own feat turn–thanks to a HUGE damage roll in his final chance to finish me off.  Still a blast of a game. 

My other game was against Tony’s Cygnar and Caine. I was really nervous about the pairing, as Caine and the force of Gun Mages and the Black 13th definitely project a ton of destruction that my single-wound infantry simply could not handle. I had to use the terrain on the board to fully obstruct line of sight as much as I could, relying upon Ghostwalk on bonejacks and then Mechanithralls to get them into safe position against the imminent shooting death of my army. 

Luckily the battle was won by scenario before it got to that. The No-Man’s Land was the strip of road down the middle of the board in the picture above, and on the first turn where it could be scored (I have something, opponent has no models), this was the layout. The Cygnar Warjacks and Caine didn’t advance up to contest the zone–trying to draw the Cryx into a spot where his feat turn would be spectacular. That meant I had one chance to sneak a quick win if I could take out the six Gun Mages. 

Moving my arc node into place, Scaverous went first. He used his feat, then started with a Telekinesis to move one of the Gun Mages into the center of the others. He blasted that mage with a Feast of Worms, which took out that one and one other and left the survivors reduced in armor. Another Telekinesis slid the one toeing the road on the left out of the zone. Finally an Excarnate took out a third Gun Mage–adding a new Mechanitrall to my side and leaving only two Gun Mages left standing in the zone. The Withershadow Combine then moved up, and finished the two off with their feat-boosted Dark Fire spells. I’ve struggled with Scaverous in prior games, but this was the first where I really felt like I pulled off his complex victory game successfully. 

So with the start of the new year, I’m at a tied 1/1 with Cryx. Last year my record was helped immensely by playing Skorne (which I know really well) and a lot of brand new players in my area–gotta be honest about that. I’m hoping to carry a winning record forward for 2016, but it’ll be an uphill climb. The more I play Cryx, the more I enjoy them but also the more I fear that I have a Hordes gambler’s brain rather than a Warmachine architect’s brain.

366 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

18/366

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 2 (Win/Loss: 1/1/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Cryx:

1 Win (Caine)  /  1 Loss (Asphyxious)