Nightwretch

Nightwretch Cryx Light Warjack

Prime This model is available in two Prime Armies, Dark Host and Black Fleet. It can also be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can view the other Mk3 models that made it into a Legacy Army at this page. Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules.

Carrying a particularly volatile mixture of lead shot and alchemical waste byproducts, the projectiles explode with a concussive blast that can be heard for miles. In seconds entire companies can be reduced to a smoldering heap of flesh flayed from bone.

Basic Info

Nightwretch
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Medium SPD 7 STR 7 MAT 5 RAT 5 M.A. N/A DEF 14 ARM 14 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 20 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA U UNIT SIZE N/A COST 7 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Warjack - All warjacks share the same set of special rules. Most notably being big and stompy. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.

Abilities

• Construct
• Arc Node

Weapons

Doomspitter
		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW			LOCATION
		6			1			3			14			Head
Bash
		RNG				POW				P+S				LOCATION
		0.5				0				7				-

Theme Forces

• Cryx
  • Black Industries
  • Dark Host
  • The Ghost Fleet
  • Scourge of the Broken Coast. Nightwretch gains Gang Fighter in this theme.

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model in the Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Mortenebra is leading the army. It gains Accumulator [Soulless] in this theme.
  • Mercenary and Convergence players can use it by either:
    • putting it under the control of Asphyxious4 in various themes,
    • putting it under the control of Mortenebra in Strange Bedfellows.

Thoughts on Nightwretch

Nightwretch in a nutshell

The Nightwretch is arguably one of the two best arcnodes in the Cryx arsenal. The Nightwretch brings every advantage you would expect from an ‘Cryx Death Chicken’. Good value, enough boxes to probably survive one good hit with one or two functional systems, high speed, and most importantly an arcnode.

The Nightwretch is effective against an unusually wide variety of targets. High armor targets frequently sport lower defense scores. With this in mind, the 14 power gun can actually deal non-trivial damage against well armored enemies if it uses a boost.

Against high defense targets with lower armor scores, the Nightwretch can come within 4” to abuse the minimum scatter rule to guarantee a partial hit. A boosted partial hit will kill a 5 box 12 armor solo on average dice. Trading an arcnode for a solo might not be favorable, but in the case of some very critical models like Eiryiss, it might be necessary.

In terms of melee combat if falls behind it’s more melee oriented brethren, but surprisingly not by much. Cryx bonejacks used in melee are sometimes better used simply to do slam power attacks.

Most any use of an arcnode in Cryx will probably land it in retaliation range of an opponent nearly guaranteeing that the counter attack will destroy it unless immediately followed up by the rest of your army with a serious to moderate engage. If you are committing an arcnode for this accept that it is likely to die. It can absolutely be worth it provided you arc an important spell, such as a debuff on a powerful enemy.

In the later stages of the game, warcasters are more likely to personally cast spells rather than use arcnodes. If you find they are not necessary for their node, they make excellent jamming or contesting units as they require an awkward amount of offensive resources to kill thanks to their high defense.

Combos & Synergies

Cryx casters are infamous for their debilitating debuff spells. Use arcnodes to press your casters presence without risking your neck.

• Captain Aiakos - He needs arcnodes as much as any Cryx caster and his feat gives it Assault and +3 Speed, so it can charge 13" and shoot, which is still not better than running 20" and arcing, but it's cute.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Its damage grid has just enough boxes to allow the bonejack to take a good hit and keep going, but a second one will likely leave it crippled if not totally destroyed. This sets the tone for Cryx bonejacks being fast and hard to hit, but easily damaged if they are struck.
• Despite the advantages of the gun, it is 2 points more expensive than a Deathripper. Since many arcnodes simply spend their entire existence running and arcing spells, this can mean it does the exact same thing as a ripper while costing more of extras that are not necessarily going to be used.

Tricks & Tips

• Slam a target to cause damage and leave it knocked down. This has the added benefit of leaving the Nightwretch out of combat afterwards so its arc node may still be used.
• If blast damage is enough to kill your target then move within 4" of them. The most the AOE can then scatter is 2" which means at least part of your target's base will still be under the edge of the AOE.

Other

Trivia

• Released way back in Warmachine: Prime (2003)
• Sculptor: John Winter
• Nickname(s): Bonechicken, Deathchicken, Chicken (these names can refer to any of the Cryx arc nodes)

Other Cryx models

Cryx Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters	Agathia - Aiakos2 - Asphyxious1 - Asphyxious2 - Asphyxious3 - Coven - Deathjack2 - Deneghra1 - Deneghra2 - Deneghra3 - Goreshade1 - Goreshade2 - Goreshade3 - Mortenebra1 - Mortenebra2 - Rahera - Scaverous - Skarre1 - Skarre2 - Skarre3 - Sturgis2 - Terminus - Venethrax
Warcaster attachments	The Withershadow Combine - Satyxis Blood Priestess - Skarlock Thrall - Doctor Stygius (Partisan) - Madelyn Corbeau (Mercenary)
Other Warjack Controllers	Jack Marshals: Iron Lich Overseer       "Junior Warcasters": Aiakos1 - Asphyxious4 - Deneghra0
Light	Cankerworm - Deathripper - Defiler - Helldiver - Nightwretch - Ripjaw - Scavenger - Shrike - Stalker
Heavy	Barathrum - Corruptor - Deathjack1 - Desecrator - Erebus - Harrower - Kharybdis - Inflictor - Leviathan - Malice - Nightmare - Reaper - Seether - Slayer
Colossal	Kraken - Sepulcher
Units, Solos, Battle Engines, & Structures
Units	Asphyxious4 - Bane Knights - Bane Riders - Bane Warriors - Bile Thralls - BO Boarding Party - BO Ironmongers - BO Smog Belchers - Blackbane's Ghost Raiders - Bloodgorgers - Marauders - Carrion Thralls - Cephalyx Drudges - Cephalyx Overlords - Mechanithralls - Necrosurgeon - Revenant Cannon - Revenant Crew - Satyxis Gunslingers - Satyxis Blood Witches - Satyxis Raiders - Scharde Dirge Seers - Scharde Pirates - Soulhunters - The Devil's Shadow Mutineers - The Withershadow Combine
Solos	Aiakos1 - Agrimony - Axiara - Bane Lord Tartarus - Bloat Thrall - BTO Mobius - Captain Rengrave - Darragh Wrathe - Doctor Stygius - Deneghra0 - Gerlak - Hellslinger - Iron Lich Overseer - Machine Wraith - Master Gurglepox - Misery Cage - Necrotech - Ol' Grim - Pistol Wraith - Satyxis Blood Priestess - Satyxis Raider Captain - Scrap Thrall - Skarlock Thrall - Severa Blacktide - Soul Trapper - Warwitch Siren
Battle Engines & Structures	Wraith Engine
Theme Forces
Black Industries - Dark Host - The Ghost Fleet - Scourge of the Broken Coast
Mercenaries
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Cryx Mercenary
This index was last updated: 2021.11

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Warjack      (Edit) The Cortex/Induction core rule means a warjack cannot have more than 3 focus at any time (maybe 4 if they're really special). Many abilities give out focus and don't state an upper limit (such as Convection and Empower). Despite not stating an upper limit, they are always "hard-limited" by the core rule. A warjack can have more than 3 focus during a turn, though. For instance, a knocked down warjack can Power Up and be Allocated 2 focus, then spend 1 to shake knockdown, then another model could Empower it back up to 3. Warjacks cannot spend focus outside of their activation. For instance, they can't boost free strikes or trigger Powerful Attack on Broadsides. (Infernal Ruling) Inert warjacks Abilities that say they cannot be used if the model is stationary (such as Shield Guard) cannot be used while a warjack is inert, either. Refer "Warcaster Destruction", page 59 of the core rulebook.

Rules Clarification : Construct - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Channeler  and/or Arc Node     (Edit) General It is possible to channel a spell with a range of CTRL. The control range is still measured from the caster though, so channeling it has zero effect ... unless you've got something like Empowered Arc Node or Reaction Drive. Stuff like that can trigger. (Infernal Ruling) Channeling in melee A channeler that is engaged by an enemy model can not channel. A channeler that is engaging an enemy model can channel. (For example, the channeler is standing in the enemy's back arc.) Channeler - LOS You use the channeler's abilities when determining LOS (such as whether you can see your target through a forest). If the channeler has an ability to ignore LOS or DEF bonuses (such as Eyeless Sight), then you only apply that "ignorance" to LOS (but not to the DEF bonus). Caster - Attack roll You use the caster's abilities when determining attack roll modifiers (such as whether a target standing in a forest gets +2 DEF or not). If the caster has an ability to ignore LOS or DEF bonuses (such as Eyeless Sight), then you only apply that "ignorance" to the dice roll (but not to the LOS). Stealth - It affects both LOS and the attack roll Since Stealth has both a LOS modifier (stealth models more than 5" away aren't intervening models) and an attack roll modifier (stealth models more than 5" away are auto-missed) things get a little complicated. If only the channeler ignores stealth, then all stealth models count as intervening models and block LOS, but the caster will auto-miss models more than 5" from the channeler. If only the caster ignores stealth, then only models within 5" of the channeler block LOS, but the caster won't auto-miss no matter what you target. If both channeler and caster ignore Stealth, it works as you'd expect. Stealth Examples     [Show/Hide] Caster has Eyeless Sight, channeler does not. Stealth model is within 5" of channeler LOS - The model counts as an intervening model, as per the normal Stealth rules Attack roll - If you attack it then you don't auto-miss, as per the normal Stealth rules Stealth model is more than 5" away from channeler LOS - The model does not count as an intervening model, as per the normal Stealth rules. Attack roll - If you attack it then you don't auto-miss, as the attacking model has Eyeless Sight. Stealth model is more than 5" away from channeler, and you want to target a model behind it. LOS - The front model doesn't block LOS Attack roll - Doesn't auto-miss   Caster hasn't got Eyeless Sight, channeler does. Stealth model is within 5" of channeler LOS - The model counts as an intervening model, as per the normal Stealth rules Attack roll - If you attack it then you don't auto-miss, as per the normal Stealth rules Stealth model is more than 5" away from channeler LOS - The model counts as an intervening model, because the model drawing LOS ignores Stealth. Attack roll - If you attack it then you will auto-miss, as the attacker doesn't ignore Stealth. Stealth model is more than 5" away from channeler, and you want to target a model behind it. LOS - The front model blocks LOS, so you can't target the rear model. Attack roll - N/A