Tour de Cryx – The Agathia Endeavor Midpoint
After a pair of games with Agathia, I was starting to really get the hang of her, and there was a surprising amount of unlocking to do with her. In a fairly surprising turn of events, I think I was starting to enjoy myself.
When Agathia was first chosen for me by the Internet, I was originally pretty salty. As I made my way through a number of iterations of building lists, I started to feel more comfortable with her, what she wanted, and where she was trying to take my army. Her Overview, last week, showed that I solidified a few concepts, and made a list I was pretty confident with.
And boy did that list hum.
The Games
I wasn’t able to write up Battle Reports for the two games, so I’ll give summaries here. Those reports take so long to write up, they really get in the way of the Tour. I’ll still do then when I can, but I think I can get away with summaries and making the best out of this format.
Game 1
The first game I used my list from the overview exactly as is. A simple gum up the works list that gets into the business as fast as possible. I played into a Cygnar list, and wasn’t really that thrilled at the prospect. Turned out, it was something like this.
Heavy Metal
Major Beth Maddox [+30]
– Brickhouse [18]
– Centurion [17]
– Stormclad [18]
– Squire [0(5)]
Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin [0(4)]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [4]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
– Charger [9]
Lieutenant Allison Jakes [4]
– Hammersmith [12]
Sword Knights (max) [13]
– Sword Knight Officer & Standard [4]
I might be getting a portion of that wrong, but it is basically the list.
What I was impressed with immediately was the ability of the Carrion Thralls to really throw the whole balance of tempo out of sync. I went first, good enough, but with speed 7 and ghost walk and flight, I could simply ignore his army in ways I’d never imagined. Indeed, there were even some really cool tricks I’d not thought about, the favorite of which was to charge the enemy a little off-center from the front line, picking off models that were exposed and were able to get two models on them, either for CMA or for two bites at the apple. Once the charges were over and all the models were finished, simply re-position over the models to allow the second unit, in this case Raiders with two attacks, to charge in and clean up. It was much, much more efficient than I had expected.
Additionally, the Raiders and the Carrion Thralls synergize well with each other because the raiders have feedback and the Carrion Thralls have Finisher. Its a nice little one-two punch that can cause some consternation among the ranks of warcasters.
With the Carrions able to gum up the lines and the Satyxis getting to models under parastie fairly easily, I was able to hold him to his line, and on the top of three I charged in 4 Carrion Thralls to get Maddox. After taking 8 damage from Feedback, they pecked her to death with 4 dice of damage and P+S 11. Good birds!
Game 2
A few days later I played against a friends Damiano Free Company list.
I mean Kingmaker.
The Kingmaker’s Army
Captain Damiano [+28]
– Mangler [15]
– Rocinante [18]
Kell Bailoch [0(5)]
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0(5)]
Sergeant Nicolas Verendrye [4]
Stannis Brocker [0(7)]
Steelhead Halberdiers (min) [7]
Steelhead Halberdiers (min) [7]
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (max) [18]
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (max) [18]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
I was worried about getting shot a bunch, so I tightened up around Agathia and made sure to get her near the Brute Thralls every turn. While it wasn’t always necessary, it was comforting.
This game drug way, way longer than I wanted it to, and at the end, even though I was in a pretty solid attrition position, I was pretty much forced to try and make an assassination run or get a draw. I went for it with everything I had and came up short. Erebus, with a broken arm and three focus, just couldn’t finish the job against Damiano, and Agathia got horsed next turn.
This was an interesting game because I really felt that Erebus’ stat line was more of a hindrance than a blessing. 14/20 with hell wrought meant that often I wasn’t getting even a little bit of attention because all of the negatives are too high. Maybe that was the point, but I was really giddy on getting an extra attack each round with Erebus through hellwrought. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pull it off.
With both of those games in the books, I was really pleased with the list.
Notes and Changes
There are a few notes, however, about her play style and function that I want to expand on.
Though Agathia is protected from assassination, often, through stealth and Brute Thralls, she does still feel extremely vulnerable. While 15/15 isn’t the best, even with Parasite and Focus going up, her armor isn’t anything to write home about. Her defense of 15 feels just on the low side of acceptable, as well, and made me a real coward both games. I kept hiding behind buildings, or trees, or wherever I could in order to try and make he the least vulnerable that I could. Honestly, it worked. If you have the opportunity to go first with shitty terrain or go second with good terrain, I would always make sure that you get the good terrain. It matters in some of the most significant ways.
Erebus feels like he might not be pulling his weight, but I want to get a few more games in with him before I decide if I want to pitch him to the curb. He is a melee only ‘Jack that is stuck in the back of the game with little going on until the end game, but the high possibility to be destroyed even with his excellent stats. I like Freeze and Overtake, but no one is taking pot shots at him.
Carrion Thralls feel amazing. I can’t see playing a list without them, and they pull so much weight in the list by simply dying where and how I need them. When they need to jump over the front line, they can, when I need them to take down some models and jam other models nearby they can, and when I simply need them to die in droves to deliver the Satyxis, oh boy can they.
Satyxis These ladies also have an awesome vibe to them. With overtake, reach and a plethora of other abilities, they are one of the poster children for receiving Ghost Walk every turn when possible. The feat is one of the best delivery systems for these monsters of melee, as well. moving them right outside of aiming range (or better yet, outside of 11″, though that’s hard to really work out right) under feat, through terrain and with stealth really gets them to a difficult to connect defense. Its nothing too impressive, and will still die to even trenchers, but they do the job. I love having 20 of them in the list because the enemy has to be aware the both flanks are coming screaming at them.
Scarlock Thrall I swapped him and a soul trapper and a brute thrall out for the Hellslinger Phantom in the second game, and I think that’s a drastic mistake that cost me the game. everything I can do with the Phantom, I could have done with ghost walk on carrion thralls. I don’t think that, with her FOC of 7 and her backline focus that Agathia really needs the combine, so the Scarlock is a great way to simply save 2 focus a turn. Totally worth it.
Agathia Her spell list is functional, yet surprisingly amazing. Simply having access to Parasite and Ghost Walk is strong, but topping it off with an Armor buff, something in rare supply in Cryx, and a good nuke makes it really hum. Vanish, too, is an underrated spell. Being able to teleport over models, terrain and other problem situation, both at the start or end of her turn is simply awesome. Her Feat is something I terribly undervalued at the start of her assignment, but now it is one of my favorites. Its utility, capacity and versatility make it simply a joy to have on the card. You’re also not wondering if each turn is the perfect turn to pop it. Instead, I realized that I should simply use it bottom of 1 or top of 2 to make sure that I am able to both deliver my army and be in the proper spot to retaliate is key.
Amazingly, I think her list is perfectly fine. I played into a melee Jack list and an infantry heavy shooting/melee combined arms list and did well against both. This is an awesome list to run, with speed, hitting power (P+S 14 Satyxis are no joke) maneuverability and even a but of Jack frustration with Erebus. I want to give it a go a couple more times to see if this really is the list I want.
I also want to try out Ghost Fleet with her, but I think that will be better with my next caster, Denny 2. Thanks, again, guys.
Until next time!