Tour De Cryx – Back at it

Its been a while since I’ve had a game – more than I like, honestly, and I am gearing up for a tournament this weekend so I figured I would go through and start looking at the casters I expect to see on the board. While I might not hit every point, I do want to have in my mind what type of matchups I’m looking at, even though I know i’ll just as likely discard them the day of. So, lets take a look! 

My Lists

Currently, I’m looking at Scaverous, Terminus, Coven and Skarre 1/2. I know I want to get my last games with Scaverous in, at a tournament none the less, and want to bring something that compliments him well. Terminus does it by absorbing or scaring away ranged based assassinations, Covern does it by keeping gun lines honest, and Skarre 1 or 2 does it by making armor easier to deal with and scaring off some of the warjack based ranged game. 

I am strongly leaning towards Terminus/Scaverous, so lets just assume that is the way I go. 

I’ve made a couple adjustments to both lists, dropping the Steelheads and 2 Bane Thralls in Terminous for more Mechanithralls and upgrading one inflictor to Nightmare to help with armor cracking. Scaverous I dropped the Warwitch Siren and the Overlords for a machine Wraith and min Bane Thralls, again to assist with the prevalent armor. 

Matchup Preference

In this list setup, I think that Scaverous is the generalist. He takes on lists I don’t know real well, or lists that seem balanced. He really likes low model count lists so that he can get a bead on the caster early and drop them with aggressive positioning of Croes and an arcnode. He’s not a fan of casters with stealth, as he wants to put a lot of shots from the Cutthroats into the caster to finish the game, but is willing to take them on if need be. mid-armor casters are great prey. Terminus, on the other hand loves to see low model count, heavy armor lists. with 18 weaponmasters, Himself, and one of the more powerful jacks in the faction, its likely that he can play the attrition game well. He also loves to see lists with only one or two units, so that he can simply overrun them, hopefully getting first turn and putting scenario pressure on. Terminus hopes to chase of ranged lists simply by his presence, but I don’t want to not drop him when I need to because I’m not about to be head faked. Scaverous prefers to see the high defense lists, simply because he has Icy Grip and Ranged Weapons, keeping the melee defense down a bit. 

Lets go through the list. 

Pairings

• Cygnar
  • Haley 3, Haley 2, Nemo 3
• Cryx
  • Scaverous, Denny 1, Skarre 1
• Protectorate
  • High Reclaimer, Amon Ad Raza,  Kreoss 3
• Khador
  • Vlad2, Sorscha1, Karchev
• Retribution
• • Kaelyssa, Vyros2, Heylnna
• Convergence
  • Mother, Father, Axis
•  Mercenaries
  • Daminano, Magnus 2, Ossrum
• Legion
  • Vayl2, Lylyth3, Fyanna2
• Skorne
  • Makeda 1, Makeda 2, Zaadesh 2
• Circle
  • Wormwood, Kaya 3, Baldur 2
• Trollbloods
  • Horgule 2, Grissel 2, Gunbjorn 1
• Minions
  • Rask, Arcadious, Caliban

I asked the internet, and this is what I was provided. Casters that I’d most likely see in the current meta, so I’ll be taking a look at them to make sure I understand them. This is my first pass at them, hopefully I’ll have a better understanding of them by the time the games roll around. 

• Cygnar
  • Haley 3, Haley 2, Nemo 3

This faction will always, always give me the cold shits. I just can’t seem to shake their ability to simply take me apart in every edition. The complexities of the pairing, as well, cause me no end of grief. Nemo 3, for instance, generally takes apart my Terminus list, as could Haley 3, but almost every other caster out there, including Haley 2, I feel pretty solid with. Pushing for scenario while keeping an eye on caster kill should be the way to go. 

• Cryx
  • Scaverous, Denny 1, Skarre 1

Cryx is an interesting mirror, and I think I try and overrun them with simply more models with Terminus. Denny 1 Ghost fleet is going to be hell to remove, but tough and almost double the models could really cause problems, as well as being able to sac and shield guard. Skarre 1 could prove problematic with stalker spam, but I should just form a fort and push for scenario. Against non-stealth casters or casters who are pretty frail, I can see putting Scaverous (Skarre 1) But the other two feel like a Terminus drop. 

• Protectorate
  • High Reclaimer, Amon Ad Raza,  Kreoss 3

Protectorate is a strong matchup (we’re gonna get a theme here) but I don’t feel crazy disadvantaged when playing either. Their spell denial, small model count and high armor makes me lean hard towards Terminus. I don’t feel that I want to subject my Scaverous list to them, but its possible if I see some of the other, squishier casters out there. 

• Khador
  • Vlad2, Sorscha1, Karchev

Once again, this looks like a Terminus situation. Damn if all of these don’t. with a penchant for ranged attacks and heavy armor, I am more than willing to toss him into the teeth once again. Scaverous would need a pretty solid space to hide if he wanted to take them on, but in that case, I feel pretty happy. If I can get good terrain, he’ll likely come out and try to pick off a caster. 

• Retribution
  • Kaelyssa, Vyros2, Heylnna

Armor, Armor, Guns. Its like this meta is all the same, all the time. I have no real argument against it, as it was all infantry and wounds for years prior to this. I think that there is a lot of space here for Terminus to excel, with both his durability against guns and his ability to shred some armor. 

• Convergence
  • Mother, Father, Axis

Man, I wish I knew more about Convergence and how they work in MKIII. i’m going to take a long, hard look at them one of these days. That said, I think Axis with recursion and Father with deceleration are probably going to lean me into Terminus, again. It just seems like the better move. It looks like this is the all Terminus show. 

•  Mercenaries
  • Daminano, Magnus 2, Ossrum

Finally! Something I think I can put Scaverous into. All the casters seem to be vulnerable to assassination, though Mags 2 makes himself hard to target. Guns help solve a lot of problems, as does the feat and raiders long threat with feedback. It won’t be easy, but I see myself dropping Scaverous more often than not. 

• Legion
  • Vayl2, Lylyth3, Fyanna2

Lylyth has guns. If I see her, I should probably drop Terminus, so I don’t get rocked. Vayl 2 has magic, so I’m likely to suffer turn after turn of pounding, but I might be able to survive. Fyanna I just have to keep a bead off of Terminus. If the pair doesn’t have Lylyth 3, I’d likely drop Scaverous, We’ll see how it looks after study – I don’t expect to see a lot of Legion

• Skorne
  • Makeda 1, Makeda 2, Zaadesh 2

Seriously? Shield Guards and Deceleration and Quicken and Clouds. Looks to be another Terminus day. Fine by me, but I would love to get more reps in with Scaverous. Spells get around most of that, as would a running arc node, but it is still bothersome. 

• Circle
  • Wormwood, Kaya 3, Baldur 2

Spam dudes with Ghostly, that can take out big ol’ models without much worry. Seems like the fifty third version of the take Terminus lists. I don’t know why more people don’t play him. Its likely I’ll find out after this weekend! 

• Trollbloods
  • Horgule 2, Grissel 2, Gunbjorn 1

This is one where I don’t want to drop Terminus at all. With the Band of Heroes theme list removing tough, I would much prefer to not grant them that benefit. Scaverous has enough into mixed armies with TK and Feast that I think he is going to be solid into all three lists, though if there is a MK, I am likely to need to drop Terminus, just in case. 

• Minions
  • Rask, Arcadious, Caliban

Caliban, and Rask both really deny Terminus some big boons. Caliban focuses on spells and can RFP with Carnivore, and Rask simply prevents charges from all of my models. Arcadious has a bunch of marauding beasts, but might be scared away by Big T. I honestly think I set up Scaverous here. 

Thoughts

Take Terminus seems to be the order of the day, though I will likely take more Scaverous because I want to play him more. After the tournament I’ll be sliding into what most people have been waiting for – Sturgis 2, and we will see how that goes. I’ve a tournament in April, as well, though I hope to get a few more games on the table before that happens. We will see! 

G’damed meta, with all its guns and armor… so much guns… so many armor…