Wraith Engine

99% of this website is about Mark 3 (mk3), which is the previous edition of the game (2016 to 2022). The reasons for this are explained here. 1% of the website is about Mark 4 (mk4), but only in regards to which mk3 models are useable in mk4 Prime and which are mk4 Unlimited. See Legacy Armies for more detail.

Wraith Engine Cryx Battle Engine

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Dark Host. 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.

The Wraith Engine stalks the battlefields of western Immoren shrouded in the impenetrable shadow of death and pain. Ephemeral and elusive, it can become incorporeal at will or hide its presence in a cloud of ectoplasmic smoke. Like a great, necromechanikal specter, the Wraith Engine appears suddenly among its victims, slashing them to ribbons with its scything talons and drawing their souls into the glowing, green furnace of its innards.

Basic Info

Wraith Engine
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Huge SPD 7 STR 10 MAT 7 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 12 ARM 18 / 20 (★) CMD 10 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 26 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA 2 UNIT SIZE N/A COST 15 N/A N/A (★) 20 vs ranged & magic, thanks to Unhallowed Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Battle Engine - All battle engines share the same special rules, most notably being immune to a bunch of stuff. Click here for the long version.

Abilities

• Construct
• Undead
• Incorporeal
• Rapid Strike - This model can make one additional melee attack each Combat Action.
• Dark Shroud - While in this model's melee range, enemy models suffer -2 ARM.
• Inscrutable - Opponents cannot take control of this model.
• Soul Bondage - Once per round when a living enemy warrior model is destroyed within 2" of this model, you can replace the destroyed model with a Machine Wraith solo. The destroyed model is RFP'd and does not provide a soul token.
• Unhallowed - While in this model's command range, friendly Faction undead models gain +2 ARM against ranged and magical attacks.

Weapons

• Scything Blade (x2) - 2" reach, POW 5, P+S 15 melee weapons. (Effectively P+S 17 with Dark Shroud)

Theme Forces

• Black Industries
• Dark Host
• The Ghost Fleet

Thoughts on Wraith Engine

Wraith Engine in a Nutshell

The Wraith Engine is a support piece that you take for Unhallowed and Dark Shroud, the occasional Soul Bondage, and the occasional melee attack. It spends most turns running into the best board position to apply Unhallowed and/or Dark Shroud where you need it.

It'd be nice to get into combat more often and with MAT 7 and three P+S 17 attacks it's not bad at combat. The problem is that it is so fragile it depends on Incorporeal and/or keeping its distance to survive, and attacking means you lose that. Also it lacks any capability to boost attack or damage rolls or to buy extra attacks.

Combos & Synergies

• The normal caveat : stuff which makes the enemy easier to hit/damage makes this model perform better at combat.
• The Wraith Engine works well alongside any Undead swarm.
  • Weaker troops (any of the Thralls) will still die to direct hits, but get better at surviving blast damage.
  • Stronger troops (like the Banes) start shrugging off direct hits and laughing at blast damage.
  • Undead warcasters love extra ARM.
• Necrotechs and Necrosurgeons can repair the Wraith Engine.
• Darragh Wrathe can speed it up with Death Ride.
• Terminus can give it Tough with Shadow of Death.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Rather squishy - it has as many health boxes as a beefier light jack.
• Its main defensive measure is staying incorporeal - which means its combat abilities are almost irrelevant most of the time in most of your games.
• With its passive power it is a bit of a boring model, for what should be a centerpiece of your army.
• Your warjacks and that handful of non-undead units will not benefit from Unhallowed. Similarly, the Wraith Engine won't benefit from your battlegroup spells either.
• Cryx and the Grymkin (and Skorne to some extent) are the main factions where people expect incorporeal spams. They will rarely be completely helpless against your Wraith Engine.
  • Dispatch quickly models with Exorcist, and be vary of magic guns and blades.
  • The Vindicator at the Crucible Guard can take away Incorporeal, and the rest of their army (their Nebelwerfer, Gorman, etc) can de-buff you up to the point that even trivial damage will hurt a lot.
  • Protectorate Sanctifier also deprive you of Incorporeal in a large radius, combined with a huge base means none of that passive bonus applies to a large swathe of the board.

Tricks & Tips

• The Unhallowed bonus applies to itself.
• Stay away from Magical Weapons.
• You can trigger Soul Bondage even if the Wraith Engine runs, and it isn't too hard to get a model within 2" depending on how aggressive you are with the WE. Also it's hilarious to turn a repair solo into a Machine Wraith and then possess the jack that solo was supposed to repair.
• To get the full use out of your points investment, you need to strike a fine balance between committing the WE to combat to make a difference, vs hanging back to keep its buffs.
  • If you're using it on the flank, you can occasionally go after infantry that your opponent overextended.
  • If you're using it to anchor your midline, you should only go into combat vs a heavy that has to die this turn. Because you'll be dead next turn, so you want to make a big dent.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Warmachine: Wrath (2011)

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 : Construct - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Undead - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification:  : Incorporeal      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

Damage & Debuffs All spells do magical damage. Refer to the latest errata. However, feats only do magical damage if they say they do. Feats like Asphyxious1's and Nemo1's are not magical damage feats. (Infernal Ruling) If a weapon or spell does multiple types of damage (such as Chain Lightning doing Electricity damage), then you'll still be hurt by the spell. "Incorporeal" is not the same as "has immunity to all damage types". (Infernal Ruling) "Mundane" weapons can still apply debuffs to Incorporeal models, even though they can't damage them. For instance, an Ironclad could hit an Incorporeal model with a Tremor Attack and knock the incorporeal model down; Small-based Incorporeal models can be Consumeed, etc. (Infernal Ruling) Incorporeal models moving If an incorporeal model declares a charge, then they stay incorporeal until they actually make an attack. So, for example: If they're Countercharged after finishing their own charge movement, they will be Incorporeal while resolving the Countercharge attack. If they fail the charge, they will stay Incorporeal. Entering hazards: "Enters or ends its activation" can only be triggered once each turn. If the Incorporeal model begins its activation outside the hazard, moves into the hazard and loses Incorporeal, it would not take any damage from ending its activation in the hazard. If the Incorporeal model begins its activation inside the hazard, stays inside the hazard, and loses Incorporeal, it would take damage from ending its activation in the hazard. (Infernal Ruling) Charging through models (Edit) You can't charge all the way through your charge target, with the intention to turn around and face them once you're on the other side. Because you aren't able to satisfy the "must keep the charge target in melee range" clause at the point after you are through the model but before you turn to directly face. At that point the target is behind you, not in your front arc, and thus not in your melee range. Your melee range only extends to your front arc. Refer to the latest errata. You can still "skim" through the edge of their base, if you're careful and smart with your positioning. Moving through an Incorporeal model A model that is pushed into an Incorporeal model will go all the way through, only if the push is large enough to get all the through. If the push is too short, the moving model will "bounce back" to where they first started overlapping the incorporeal model. (Infernal Ruling) The core rules that allows models to be pushed through the Incorporeal model will override any ability/spell that uses the phrase "is pushed until it contacts a model" (such as Grip, Drag, and Catch). (Infernal Ruling) Incorporeal vs Slammed/Thrown models ( Edit ) Incorporeal models cannot be moved by someone trying to slam them. Slammed models can move through Incorporeal models. If they have enough movement to get past them, no dramas. If they land on them, you move the Incorporeal model out of the way as per the Rule of Least Disturbance. If the Incorporeal model cannot be moved (i.e. it's a flag) then you move the slammed model out of the way, also by the rule of Least Disturbance. For the purposes of Collateral Damage, only the model(s) you contacted before you applied the rule of Least Disturbance count as contacted. The same logic applies to Throws. Other Incorporeal models can engage enemy models. They can't make free strikes or bodyblock enemies, but they do prevent enemy models making ranged attacks, and everyone gets the 'Target in Melee' bonus. If you push a model to a position where it regains Incorporeal (for instance you push it out of range of an Exorcist) then what happens is (Being Checked by Infernals)

Rules Clarification : Rapid Strike - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Dark Shroud      (Edit) Dark Shroud only applies to your melee range, and this doesn't include behind you. Refer to the latest errata. The ARM debuff still applies during a free strike.

Rules Clarification : Inscrutable - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Soul Bondage      (Edit) The destroyed model does produce a corpse token, because it reached the 'destroyed' step.

Rules Clarification : Unhallowed      (Edit) Unhallowed is supposed to work on magic attacks (spells), not magical attacks (weapons with Damage Type: Magical). (Infernal Ruling).