Tour De Cryx – The Deneghra Surprise! Midpoint

Last time, With the preliminary list building out of the way and more than a little bit of doubt about her capabilities in my head, I decided that my first outing with the Wraith Witch would be at a tournament. Seems good, right? well, lets see how that worked out for me, don’t we!

A While back, I’d built the list and was ready to go. I knew that I wanted get in at least three games, and was hoping for four if magic of magics happened. (It did not.) The tournament lasted for only two rounds, but that was, excellently, enough for me to get the feel of both Ghost fleet and Denny 2. Normally, I make adjustments after two games, but seeing as I got a third game in, right afterward, with the same list, I’m going speak to the experience of all three lists, instead of just the two.

The Games 

These games went fairly well. the list performed well, and caused my opponents a pile of headaches, as ghost fleet tends to do. There were three Cryx players in the tournament, including me. Luckily enough, I faced them both! Sadly enough, neither of them decided to drop their Ghost fleet list. In that manner, I may have created a strong anti-Ghost Fleet list, which worked well in the team tournament situation we were playing in. I did win the first game on time, and I lost the second to assassination. I felt good about the second game though, because I think I have a much better chance had I done two things different, one of them being utter aloud “and Denny is incorporeal this turn” on the turn she died. The third game, played against the CID Siege 1 Trenchers list, was also a victory for the undead legions. All three were great games, honestly. Siege is a great Ghost Fleet counter with Explosivo doing lots of excellent work. Pair it with Ground Pounder and he can permanently remove a swath of infantry if your not careful. Whats awesome about Explosivo is that it both RFP’s and is a magic attack, covering a bunch of bases at once. 

What these games taught me, though, was something that the internet already knew: Ghost Fleet is strong. This truth holds to this day, some month and a half after the games were played. What it didn’t tell me, though, was what Denny wanted in her list, how to build for her, and what to take to maximize her potential. I already knew I didn’t want to push hard for the feat turn, and instead wanted to use it as a simple defense drop on the assassination turn. So, what does she want in a list, that wasn’t covered in the first dissection? 

A Whole New List

While Ghost Fleet was good, and served her well, I wanted to make sure that I’d not just gotten Bonus Boner. I didn’t want to toss away useful models, some that might win me the game, for models and units that weren’t pushing my potential to win as far as it could go. 

I looked at some models that I really thought would make her sing prior to getting ghost fleet. The first among those models is the ultimate in Cryxian jack Technology: Deathjack. Bringing 3 free focus to the table, and needing only a single additional to be able to toss out a second Magic 7 Hellmouth, he was something I’d been looking forward to since the edition dropped. Hellmouth is just so good, and the games I’d played just reinforced it, that I needed to at least try it on the table. 

Secondly, the Soul Trappers, after using them with Mortenebra 2 and Agathia, really were starting to shine. I almost always put them into a list if i’m not playing The Fleet, and they perform so well. While it might be a three turn plan, the timing is almost always perfect if you get him souls right away. The key is being able to position him the turn before he needs to gather souls so that he is protected from enemy attacks, within 10″ of a few souls, and within 10″ of the caster. Often, this isn’t as hard as it would initially seem. With all the threatening models that Cryx brings, its easy to overlook him on a critical turn. 

I also wanted to include the Brute Thralls for Shield Guard. After trying them out with Sturgis 2, I’d found them much more reliable than I’d originally given them credit for. They would be able to stop the random shots that could pepper an Incorporeal Denny, while also blocking Line of site to her on potentially critical turns. 

Realistically, that lead me to a fairly boring conclusion: I should play Infernal Machines. With Dark Host unreleased at the time there were no other themes, and all the models I wanted were in theme. Adding ambushing Thralls to the mix to push the opponent inward so they could be better targeted for hellmouth was also a plus in my book.

I took the lessons I’d learned from Ghost Fleet: Hellmouth is Great, Corrupter is awesome, Stalkers are clearly amazing, The Hellsinger is worth its weight in gold, Pistol Wraiths aren’t that bad, and you’ll never cast pursuit; I started building a list for Infernal Machines to see if I was missing anything buy playing only Ghost fleet. This is what I came up with. 

 75 points
[Theme] Infernal Machines

Wraith Witch Deneghra [+28]
– Corruptor [16]
– Deathjack [23]
– Deathripper [6]
Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius [4]
– Stalker [8]
– Stalker [8]
Machine Wraith [2]
Pistol Wraith [0(5)]
Soul Trapper [1]
Soul Trapper [1]
Carrion Thralls (max) [10]
Mechanithralls (min) [6]
– Brute Thrall (3) [6]
Mechanithralls (min) [6]
– Brute Thrall (3) [6]

This was a List I thought had enough teeth to chew into a number of other lists, enough bodies to take the shots if I needed it too, and a number of cool tricks. From Escorted Stalkers, to Pistol Wraith Stationary, to Corruptor shenanigans, I was pretty confident that I could deal with almost every opponent that sat across the board from me, with the exception of a colossal or gargantuan, which he hadn’t seen a ton of lately around here.  

And, I can’t tell you how much I didn’t expect that from her. She’s a caster I derided from the moment I saw her feat was removed and replaced with empty words. Her spell list has a trio of amazing spells that allow for whatever swing you need in the game, and she’s one of the few in the stable with both a defense and an armor buff. This enables her army to do so much more work than you’d expect. 

I went into my first games looking to see if she could work at all, and now I am trying to see if there is more than one build that can make her hum. its a pretty stark turn around for someone who absolutely hated her guts.

Until next time!