Cryx
Also known as The Nightmare Empire, Cryx is a nation entirely under the control of Lord Toruk the Dragonfather and his council of 13 Lich Lords. The majority of the empire is located on a series of islands called the Scharde Isles, to the southwest of Cygnar, but in recent years Cryx has made serious inroads on the mainland and now have many secret underground bases located in the spawling Thornwood Forest, and elsewhere.
Toruk himself is an immortal dragon of immense proportions and is the single most powerful entity in the world (that is known of, at least). Toruk's only goal is the destruction of his dragon offspring, who rebelled against him millenia ago. In the fullness of time, his armies will arise and lay waste to the petty kingdoms of humanity, enslaving them in death and preparing the army of his final victory. Once the nations of men have fallen, Toruk will drag his progeny from their hiding places and devour them once and for all.
Cryx is a nation of undead necromancers and piratical raiders. Cryx armies are typically fast, numerous and lightly-armored. The poor quality of their troops is offset by the power of their warcasters, which rank among the strongest in the game. Cryx is mostly based around melee, soul-powered magic, returning models to play, debuffs, and corrosive attacks.
Cryx for Beginners[edit]
Playstyle[edit]
Welcome to the service of Dragonfather Toruk. Here as a member of the Nightmare Empire, your army will typically (★) benefit from these strengths...
- Good melee abilities
- Fast units
- Plentiful access to Ghostly and similar abilities to let your forces easily navigate the battlefield
- Strong warcasters, with the Faction overall having the highest average focus stat in Warmachine
- Best access to cheap and fast arc nodes
- Plentiful access to debuffs
- Cheap units, letting you field large armies
- Access to corrosive attacks
- Recursion to bring back the dead
- Soul manipulation
Naturally these come with a cost. Your army will typically (★) suffer these weakness...
- Poor shooting capabilities, Cryx are almost certain to lose in a firefight.
- Poor stat lines. Less accurate, less durable, etc
- Little access to buffs (Cryx normally debuffs the enemy instead)
- No special orders (such as Shield Wall) available to the troops.
- A smaller range of mercenaries available for hire.
(★) Everything given above is typical only. It is entirely possible to build a Cryx army that is good at shooting, or slow and durable - there is just fewer ways to do it successfully than in other factions.
Aesthetic[edit]
Cryx models are very varied in looks, more so than any faction other than Mercenaries.
- Undead
- Robot lich lords like Asphyxious1
- Steampunk zombies like Mechanithralls
- Classic zombies like the Revenant Crew
- Ghosts like the Pistol Wraith
- Skeletons in plate armor like Bane Warriors
- Living
- Blighted trolls and ogres such as the Bloodgorgers
- Chicks in bikinis with horns sprouting from their heads such as the Satyxis Raiders
And then there's the warjacks and battle engine, which I would describe as ... spiky evil robots.
Starter Sets[edit]
Mk3 Battlegroup Set
- Contents: Bane Witch Agathia warcaster, Deathripper light warjack, Reaper heavy warjack, and a Slayer heavy warjack. Plus a bunch of peripheral stuff (see picture).
It is a good way to meet the defining traits of Cryx; high mobility, excessive use of Arc Nodes, de-buff stacking and movement shenanigans.
Two Player Battlebox
- Contents: Same as the Mk3 Battlegroup Set, plus a unit of Bane Warriors, plus a bunch of Cygnar models (that you can give or sell to a friend).
This enters you into the realm of units, with all their extra rules. As the enemy will likely field units of their own, the Soul manipulation mechanism of Agathia will possibly see play too. Soul gathering is often present in Cryx, but will not come up in small games which are instead full of robots.
Theme Force Starter - Slaughter Fleet Raiders
- Contents: A unit of Bloodgorgers plus their character command attachment Jussika Bloodtongue, a unit of Scharde Dirge Seers, a unit of Black Ogrun Iron Mongers, Gerlak Slaughterborn character solo, and a Misery Cage solo.
This one is designed to be an add-on to one of the other starter sets, rather than be one all by itself - you'll note it doesn't include a warcaster or any warjacks. It is roughly 35 points.
The Mk2 Battlegroup Set (limited availability)
- Contents: Deneghra1 warcaster, two Deathripper light warjacks, a Defiler light warjack, and a Slayer heavy warjack.
You may not be able to find this any more, as it has gone out of production. Considered the best starter box of its day, it still fares pretty well in the new edition (though due to point adjustments it will not be a 0 pts battlegroup anymore). Deneghra1 is quite a potent caster, and despite the nerfs she received in the 2017 errata, she is still the queen of de-buffing. This box relies heavily on bonejacks, and introduces you into Cryx' thematic element, Corrosion, through Denny's spell and the Defiler's ranged attack.
2017 Cryx Army Box (limited availability)
- Contents: Asphyxious3 warcaster, his pet light warjack Cankerworm, a Ripjaw light warjack, an Inflictor heavy warjack, a Seether heavy warjack, a unit of Bane Warriors with their command attachment, and Darragh Wrathe a character solo.
You may not be able to find this any more, as it has gone out of production. This box unleashes the whole rulebook upon you - from units to power attacks and solos. Its 50 points limit is slightly behind the most popular 75 pts tournament formats, but prepares you well for such a challenge.
Other good early purchases[edit]
No matter what your point of entry was, there are a couple of solos who perform admirably no matter what. Thus, they should be high on your purchase list:
- Pistol Wraith - Great flanking solo, with excellent ranged capabilities and the Incorporeal advantage, which makes particularly annoying against armies who lack magic weapons. Limited to the undead themes.
- Warwitch Siren - Jack tuner and offensive utility solo, she eases the Focus burden on your caster, and helps you against occasional Disruption, if you face Cygnar. Limited to two warjack-centric themes.
- Machine Wraith - Excellent filler solo, who can either linger in zones to score/contest, or mess with your enemy's jacks. Limited to the undead themes.
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Broken Egg Games - Product Placement
You can get high quality acrylic tokens for all the spells, effects, abilities that Cryx can use. You place these tokens next to the model(s) affected during your game. |
Starting a Theme Force[edit]
Theme Forces "compartmentalize" the full range of your Faction's models into smaller subsets that are thematically related to one another. By restricting yourself to a narrower range of models, you unlock additional in-game benefits which vary from theme to theme.
Theme Forces aren't compulsory, but the benefits of playing in-theme are so great that most players never play out-of-theme.
When you first start playing you should ignore theme forces, and just buy and play a few models you like the look of. Also, you can't even use Theme Force rules in games under 25 points.
However you should start looking into themes sooner rather than later, because otherwise you might end up owning, say, 80 points worth of models but can only field a 25 point theme force (because very little of your collection work together in the same theme). You should focus on collecting just one or two themes to begin with, not every single one in the Faction (unless you're a "Collector Completionist").
If you're on a bit of a tight budget, you'll want to buy stuff that can fit into more than theme. Unfortunately this is just the support models and you don't want to overload your army with non-combat models, so I'm not suggesting you should buy all the models in the list below but rather they're worth looking into.
- 4 themes
- Black Ogrun Iron Mongers - Mechanics
- Machine Wraith - Harassment piece
- 3 themes
- Aiakos1 - "Junior" Warcaster
- Misery Cage - Warcaster support
- Necrotech - Mechanic
- Scrap Thralls - Filler models
- Soul Trapper - Trap souls
- 2 themes
- The Withershadow Combine - Warcaster support
- Axiara Wraithblade - Army support (living themes)
- Darragh Wrathe - Army support (undead themes)
- Deneghra0 - "Junior" Warcaster
- Hellslinger Phantom - Ranged combat
- Pistol Wraith - Ranged combat
- Satyxis Blood Priestess - Warcaster support
- Skarlock Thrall - Warcaster support
Theme Forces[edit]
Black Industries[edit]
Black Industries is Cryx's warjack-centric theme.
This list was last updated: 2018.04 (Edit)
Warcasters
- All Cryx warcasters
Warjacks
- All non-character Cryx warjacks
- Deathjack
- Malice
- Other character warjacks can be taken, but only if they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.
Units
- Black Ogrun Ironmongers
- Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (★)
- Cephalyx Overlords (★)
- Withershadow Combine
(Warcaster Attachment)
Solos
- Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius
(Junior Warcaster) - Iron Lich Overseer
('Jack Marshal) - Machine Wraith
- Necrotech
- Scrap Thralls
- Soul Trapper
- Warwitch Initiate Deneghra
(Junior Warcaster) - Warwitch Siren
Mercenaries
- Up to one solo
- Up to one unit
(★) Because Cephalyx are specifically allowed in this theme, they don't use up your Mercenary slot.
Dark Host[edit]
Dark Host is all about Banes, the elite undead of Cryx.
This list was last updated: 2017.06 (Edit)
Warcasters
- All Cryx warcasters
Warjacks
- All non-character Cryx warjacks
- Character warjacks can be taken, but only if they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.
Units
Solos
- Bane Lord Tartarus
- Darragh Wrathe
- Machine Wraith
- Necrotech
- Scrap Thralls
- Skarlock Thrall
(Warcaster Attachment) - Soul Trapper
Battle Engines
Mercenaries
- One solo
- One unit
The Ghost Fleet[edit]
The Ghost Fleet is all about zombie pirates and ghost pirates. It is very recursive (lots of zombies regenerate every turn) and has proven very strong at a competitive level when led by Deneghra1.
This list was last updated: 2017.09 (Edit)
Warcasters
- All Cryx warcasters
Warjacks
- All non-character Cryx warjacks
- Character warjacks can be taken, but only if they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.
Battle Engines
Solos
Units
- Blackbane's Ghost Raiders
- Black Ogrun Ironmongers
- Revenant Cannon Crew
- Revenant Crew of the Atramentous
Mercenaries
- One solo
- One unit
Infernal Machines[edit]
Infernal Machines is all about Thralls, the cheap and disposable undead cannon fodder of Cryx. It represents the entire output of the necrofactoriums scattered across all of western Immoren.
This list was last updated: 2018.05 (Edit)
Warcasters
- All Cryx warcasters
Warjacks
- All non-character Cryx warjacks
- Deathjack
- Malice
- Other character warjacks can be taken, but only if they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.
Units
- Black Ogrun Ironmongers
- Bile Thralls
- CA: Skarlock Commander
- Carrion Thralls
- Mechanithralls
- WA: Brute Thrall
- CA: Skarlock Commander
- Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
- Soulhunters
- Withershadow Combine
(Warcaster Attachment)
Solos
- Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius
(Junior Warcaster) - Bloat Thrall
- Bloat Thrall Overseer Mobius
- Darragh Wrathe
- Hellslinger Phantom
- Iron Lich Overseer
('Jack Marshal) - Machine Wraith
- Necrotech
- Pistol Wraith
- Scrap Thralls
- Skarlock Thrall
(Warcaster Attachment) - Soul Trapper
- Warwitch Initiate Deneghra
(Junior Warcaster) - Warwitch Siren
Battle Engines
Mercenaries
- One solo
- One unit
Scourge of the Broken Coast[edit]
Scourge of the Broken Coast is about the Satyxis who are the vicious lady pirates of Cryx, with a dollop of blood sacrifice magic thrown in. Satyxis troops are high speed, high accuracy, low power, high defense, and low armor. Altogether, Satyxis are a light skirmishing army, able to close the gap and engage very well, but lack the hitting power or staying power to win a slugfest.
This is a theme with living models.
This list was last updated: 2018.01 (Edit)
Warcasters
- All Cryx warcasters
Warjacks
- All non-character Cryx warjacks
- Barathrum
- Other character warjacks can be taken, but only if they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.
Units
- Black Ogrun Ironmongers
- Satyxis Gunslingers
- Satyxis Blood Witches
- CA: Blood Hag
- Satyxis Raiders
- CA: Sea Witch
Solos
- Axiara Wraithblade
- Misery Cage
- Satyxis Blood Priestess
(Warcaster Attachment) - Satyxis Raider Captain
- Severa Blacktide
Mercenaries
- One solo
- One unit
Slaughter Fleet Raiders[edit]
Slaughter Fleet Raiders is about the non-Satyxis living pirates of Cryx; the blighted Trollkin, Ogrun, and evil pirates of the Scharde Isles. This is a theme with living models.
This list was last updated: 2018.01 (Edit)
Warcasters
- All Cryx warcasters
Warjacks
- All non-character Cryx warjacks
- Kharybdis
- Other character warjacks can be taken, but only if they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.
Units
- Black Ogrun Boarding Party
- Black Ogrun Ironmongers
- Black Ogrun Smog Belchers
- Bloodgorgers
- CA: Jussika Bloodtongue
- Blighted Trollkin Marauders
- CA: Jussika Bloodtongue
- Scharde Dirge Seers
- Scharde Pirates
- CA: Officer
- The Devil's Shadow Mutineers (★)
Solos
- Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius
(Junior Warcaster) - Axiara Wraithblade
- General Gerlak Slaughterborn
- Misery Cage
- Satyxis Blood Priestess
(Warcaster Attachment)
Mercenaries
- One solo
- One unit
(★) Despite being treated as a Cryx unit during a game, the DSM still use up your Mercenary slot during list creation. They are more like a Partisan Mercenary unit, in that respect. (Infernal Ruling)
Models[edit]
Unreleased Models[edit]
- Last Updated: 2019.02
Warcasters[edit]
Warjacks[edit]
| Light
Colossal |
Heavy | Character - Light
Character - Heavy |
Units[edit]
|
Solos[edit]
Battle Engines[edit] |
Mercenaries that work for Cryx[edit]
Refer to Who works for Whom and/or Category: Cryx Mercenary
Other[edit]
Designer's Notes[edit]
Just before the launch of the mk3 ruleset, the game developers did a series of Insider articles about what they saw as each Faction's "Core Identity". Although it's a little dated now, it is still an interesting insight to how they view Cryx 2016.04 Cryx Preview.
Deep Lore[edit]
The forces of Cryx exist solely to devour any and all things at the behest of the Dragonfather. Their martial strengths are speed, surprise, and force in numbers. Enemies of the undying know they must never be lax in their vigilance, for seemingly out of nowhere raiders can arrive without warning, carried across the sea aboard their infamous blackships. A sickening mix of necromancy, soulless science, and the unnatural corruption of draconic blight, Cryx is a fast, numerous, and shockingly powerful army. Specializing in undead hordes, the forces of Lord Toruk the Dragonfather nearly always outnumber their opponents. More, they possess some of the most magically potent and versatile spellcasters in Immoren who can manipulate the souls of the dead. Service in the Nightmare Empire never ends, and as Cryx extends its corrupting tendrils throughout the Iron Kingdoms, even the dead shall be called again to slaughter.
See the Lexicanum entry on Toruk for more history on Our Great Leader.
