Review starts after the break!
Deneghra, the Soul Weaver:
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| Deneghra, the Soul Weaver Art |
Denny3 is lean and mean in terms of abilities and tactical focus. She wants to debuff your army, steal a bunch of souls, fuel some helljacks, and camp like a boss. Mortality is a helluva debuff spell, and she can spread it around like no other (especially considering her only other competition is Grim2). While that may not be the debuffing heights of Denny1, it is not at all going to be pleasant to have inflicted upon you. Denny3 also gets points from me for being pretty survivable for a Huge based warcaster, while also being able to probably play fairly aggressively if she needs to. The biggest knock against Denny3 is that she doesn't do much other than Mortality, camp, and maybe fuel some helljacks, but she is so good at those things that I think she'll be just fine on the tabletop.
Meta Bending: 3/5
Denny3 also has the unfortunate fate of coming after Denny1 and Denny2; two of the strongest controlling and debuffing 'casters in the game. Combine that with the fact that Cryx already has plenty of very powerful 'casters, and Denny3 may have a hard time finding a spot in the rotation with current favorites. She also has the immediate problem of not having Inflictors available for a Shield Guard, and anything that can deny souls (either via rules, or army composition) will also be a pain. But Denny3 should still be very effective against anything she can stick Mortality on and get souls from, which is still a lot of things. She also gets at least some metagame consideration for being a really nasty drop against Trollbloods. I think she has lots of potential to be a nasty 'caster, but the million dollar question is if anyone is going to really put her into the rotation.
Coolness: 4/5
Similar to Protectorate, I have never had a great love of Cryx model design. But even I cannot deny how awesome it is to have your newest 'caster riding on a big winged dragon-thing, ripping out souls and using them to do all kinds of shenanigans. I don't love the "screaming bird" aesthetic of Denny3's mount, but that is consistent with Cryx bonejack design so its at least thematically appropriate.
Sepulcher:
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| Sepulcher (from TempleCon Keynote) |
I reacted to the Sepulcher the same way I did to Victor: now that is what I was expecting out of this faction's first colossal. The Sepulcher is every bit the gun platform that the Kraken is - it trades out range for a bigger AOE and less random (though more focus intensive) secondary guns - and it brings a very valuable secondary source of Mechanithrall regeneration to the table. Although the Sepulcher is a lot harder to move around the battlefield than a Necrosurgeon/Stitch Thrall, it is also many orders of magnitude harder to remove. The Sepulcher can sit back and provide fire support for the Cryx army (something rarely seen) all while fueling the Mechanithrall tide. And all for a point less than the Kraken.
Meta Bending: 4/5
This is a theoretical value, based on the possibility of Cryx players making the necessary adjustments in order to get the Sepulcher on the table. Similar to Khador, Cryx army configurations tend to be fairly straightforward: lots of infantry, maybe a few character warjacks and/or bonejacks. Throwing a colossal into the mix can do a lot to confound conventional counter lists. The Sepulcher makes a stronger case for inclusion than the Kraken did by supporting the army via Mechanthrall recursion while also giving you some neat-o guns to work with. I can absolutely see this thing being a big pain the ass, if it makes it into lists. Similar to Victor, time will tell how much of an impact this new colossal will have on the faction at large.
Coolness: 4/5
What we have here is a huge robot that eats corpses, spits out mechanical zombies, all while streaming out gunfire. Gunfire that includes an Arcing Fire, AOE 5 shot with Critical Paralysis. That sounds pretty damn awesome to me.
Barathrum:
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| Barathrum Art |
Barathrum is an okay melee warjack, with a few nice things baked in that will hopefully help it actually get into melee (Dig In, Advance Deployment), do work in melee (Counter Charge, Soul Drive), and possibly even survive after that melee (Drag Below). Barathrum also has Feedback on its fists, which may help with some assassination runs (by putting a few extra damage onto a 'caster) or pick off journeyman warcasters. None of that is especially remarkable, and poor 'ol Barathrum is still just ARM 17 when it does get hit, but I think the defensive measures (coupled with native DEF 13) should help it to at least close the gap against guns/magic and try to get some work done in melee.
Meta Bending: 1.5/5
As much as I hate to say it, I can't see Barathrum doing anything to change the way Cryx players approach using a battlegroup, or the way others go about fighting it. Self-buffing Cover is nice, and will help in some cases, but even with the Cover Barathrum isn't getting to a high enough DEF where the dedicated shooting factions aren't going to be able to land shots on it, and any decent POW shots coming his way are going to hurt with the low ARM. Add to that the relatively mediocre output Barathrum will have when it gets to combat, and I don't see it having much of an impact. Though it could make for a fair scenario piece with Dig In and Counter Charge, if you were able to position it towards the back of a zone and avoid lists with boostable guns.
As much as I hate to say it, I can't see Barathrum doing anything to change the way Cryx players approach using a battlegroup, or the way others go about fighting it. Self-buffing Cover is nice, and will help in some cases, but even with the Cover Barathrum isn't getting to a high enough DEF where the dedicated shooting factions aren't going to be able to land shots on it, and any decent POW shots coming his way are going to hurt with the low ARM. Add to that the relatively mediocre output Barathrum will have when it gets to combat, and I don't see it having much of an impact. Though it could make for a fair scenario piece with Dig In and Counter Charge, if you were able to position it towards the back of a zone and avoid lists with boostable guns.
Coolness: 4/5
For all the efficacy problems Barathrum may have, it is damn sure not lacking in style. I really like the way it looks in the concept art, and I also appreciate a warjack that is designed solely with murder-shovels for hands. There is no mincing intent about the purpose of such a creation.
Shrike:
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| Like this, but a bonejack. |
The Shrike has a gimmick similar to the Mad Dog - trample over enemy models like a madman - but it is much better equipped to do so. This is because the Shrike is significantly faster and has Flight, which goes a long way in facilitating it flying through packs of infantry and shredding them up. The Shrike is also MAT 7, which ends up being less accurate than the Mad Dog due to Crusher, but the Shrike is still likely to hit average infantry DEF values. So if you're looking for a cheap little trampling warjack, the Shrike fits the bill.
Meta Bending: 1/5
Unfortunately, I don't know that anyone is really going to be looking for a cheap little trampling warjack in Cryx. The Shrike has the unenviable role of being largely redundant in purpose - Cryx seems to have been dealing with enemy infantry just fine up until now, and it doesn't bring anything noteworthy or new to that tool box. It is also a very squishy model; DEF 16 is great for dodging attacks, but any that connect are going to make a mockery of it at ARM 13 and 18 damage boxes. I don't think the Shrike is at all useless (it seems well designed for its job) but in a faction that already takes the bare minimum of warjacks, it doesn't bring nearly enough to the table to shake up lists.
Coolness: 1/5
No offense to Cryx players, but I need to take PP to task for a second. I'm fine with re-using general model ideas (its impossible not to in a game this big) but this is something else entirely. The Shrike is a more limited version of the Razorwing Griffon (which at least had two Open Fists for utility). Aside from Amuck, the backs of the two cards read exactly the same. Any "cool" factor this model may have had is dashed by the fact that we've literally seen it all before.
Soul Trapper:
Efficacy: 4/5
Like all super-cheap solos, the Soul Trappers have one job, and they are wholly devoted to it: get souls and pass them around. That narrow focus (and the general quality of the rules they have to achieve that job) makes them very effective models in that role. They are also dirt cheap so you aren't paying a lot to potentially exploit the skills they bring to the table. The biggest downside they have (which is also a strong balancing factor) is that their defensive stats are absolutely terrible - DEF 11, ARM 12, 1 wound - so if your opponent wants to kill them, they're going to have a pretty easy time doing so. That frailty is why they are so cheap, but it is also going to be the biggest hindrance to them doing well on the tabletop.
Meta Bending: 2/5
I go back and forth on how much influence the Soul Trappers will have on Cryx internally, and on the meta as a whole. I think they have tremendous potential to snowball with some Cryx 'casters - any Asphyxious, any Deneghra, Venethrax, Scaverous - but I wonder how often that will actually happen. I think they're a lock with Deneghra3 to give her a cheap, easy source of soul collection; with anyone else, I'm not sure its worth freeing up the 1-3 points (on lists that are already finely tuned) just on the off chance that you get to run away on the soul train. I think they'll be useful, and they're immediately up there on the list of "best 1 point 'filler' models", but I don't think Soul Trappers are going to be that big of a deal outside of Denny3. Or maybe I'm just being hopeful.
Coolness: 2/5
This is where my inherent lack of love for Cryx's theme comes out. I think the Soul Trappers are pretty awesome mechanically, but I really dislike them aesthetically. I would be jazzed as hell to try them out if I played Cryx, but they certainly aren't going to be the models that make me jump ship (er, onto the ship I guess).
Cryx Overall Release Rating: 3.5
Cryx is very similar to Cygnar, in that they received a couple of very cool, interesting releases, and then a clutch of "fun" models that aren't quite as impressive. The Shrike and Barathrum are both perfectly playable, and should be enjoyable in the right lists, but neither are terribly exciting.
On the other hand, the Sepulcher and the Soul Trappers are very interesting. The Soul Trappers are a cheap, easy drop into a lot of lists, and while they may not shake up the current favorite lists, there is a chance that they will give someone like Scaverous (so close, yet so far away) another chance to see table time. And there is always the very sound possibility that I'm off base and Soul Trappers will end up being the most obnoxious and omni-present thing out of this book. The Sepulcher seems like a fantastic colossal in general - it plays into Cryx's recursion game just by standing around, and it brings some very scary shooting to the table. It may see limited use just because Cryx does so well with its infantry hordes, but I don't think any of that is the Sepulcher's fault.
And then there is Denny3. The pervasive feeling I've read/heard is that she is outshone by her other incarnations, or other powerful Cryx 'casters. While I cannot refute that, I will say that she seems to be quite beastly on her own: her ability to regularly camp up to high ARM, with Grave Wind on herself, all while fueling her spells and warjacks with souls, seems like it could be very nasty to have to deal with. She is a very straightforward 'cater on paper, and I don't imagine she'll have any super secret tricks that come out after use, but there is a lot to be said for high defensive stats, immunities (thanks to being a battle engine), and good 'ol Mortality.
Overall, I think Cryx got "winners" in the right spots - 'caster, colossal, support solo. That should be enough to keep Cryx players in the dojo for awhile.
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Next up: Ios is on the march, with shiny new Retribution releases to review. Until then, thanks for reading!
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