With the arrival of my Scythean and extra Shredders, I’ve been able to play two lists that were the major drive to get the models in the first place. While I’ve been using my Saeryn/Carnivean/Scythean list several times, I didn’t get to use my Epic Thagrosh Shredder Spam list until last Friday:
Epic Thagrosh
-Carnivean
-8 Shredders
Striders + UA
2 Spell Martyrs
I could probably fit some more Shredders in there by replacing the Carnivean with a Scythean and dropping the Strider UA, but I feel like 8 of the blighted buggers has enough punch, and I want to invest enough in taking out mobs of units that they can struggle with. The Carnivean’s breath also lets me snipe out problematic models, since if I position the assault right and boost the hit, the POW 14 spray can be pretty devestating.
My opponent also just started a few months back, though he was using the other dragon army:
Goreshade the Bastard
-Deathripper
-Defiler
-Helldiver
-Deathjack
Min Mechanithralls
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Bane Lord Tartarus
Gorman di Wulfe
Ogrun Bokur
Pistol Wraith
I’ve read a lot of scary stuff about Cryx, and this list seems to have a lot of the scariest things. The Deathjack is a single-minded killing machine, Tartarus can churn through infantry and turn them into Bane Thralls, and the Pistol Wraith is immune to everything except Thagrosh. Add on Gorman, who many Cryx players never go without, and an Ogrun to keep the warcaster safe, and I’m not feeling great about my chances. Oddly enough my opponent feels the same way staring all my Shredders, so this should be an interesting match!
Terrain
Terrain is pretty sparse: there’s a small forest about 6" up from the right side of my deployment zone, a Larger forest in the left center of the board, closer to his side, and a large hill on far left in middle. I won the roll and decided to go first.
Setup
I deploy my shredders in a line behind the forest on my right, with Thagrosh, the Carnivean, and the Spell Martyrs behind them. He deploys his Mechanithralls, Necrosurgeon and Stitch Thralls directly across from me, and the Defiler and Pistol Wraith to their right. Goreshade, the Bokur, the Deathjack, and Helldriver are to the thrall’s left, with Tartarus and Gorman in the middle and the Ripper a bit to the right. Striders then advance deploy on the far right, to the right of the forest.
Legion Turn 1
Striders advance up, and the Shredders all run into the forest in a staggered formation. Carnivean and Thagrosh advance up behind them, Carnivean staying to Thagrosh’s left to help screen him. Thagrosh drops tenacity on all the Shredders he can see and himself, and the Spell Martyrs run up and to the right, staying behind the Striders. I’m flanking him, hoping to be able to hit the thralls and Goreshade while the Deathjack, Tartarus, Gorman and the Ripper are too far left to get into the fight.
Cryx Turn 1
The thralls all run forward, with the Necrosurgeon right behind them. Goreshade and the Bokur walk up behind them, while the Helldiver moves up and burrows. Going to have to keep an eye on that guy. The Deathjack, Tartarus, and Gorman all run forward and to the right, but are still another turn behind Goreshade. The Ripper runs left, trying to swing around the other forest and come around my flank - someone else I have to watch out for. The Pistol Wraith runs forward as far as it can, so it is within range of my Striders, and the Defiler follows but stays a bit behind.
Legion Turn 2
I debate whether its feat turn, but decide I’m not going to get the caster kill so hold off. The Striders activate first and move up, taking several shots at the thralls. I kill 2 of the stitch thralls and 2 Mechanithralls, but my opponent informs me that thanks to the Necrosurgeon, the Mechanithralls will be back next turn. I then retreat using reform, leaving enough space for a Spell Martyr to run through at the Pistol Wraith. Thagrosh then activates and arcs Scourge through the Martyr at the Wraith, boosting the hit and killing it. One legendary Cryxian horror down! He then moves up to the edge of the forest and puts Spiny Growth on one Shredder. The Shredders advance through the forest, the one with Spiny Growth taking the lead and putting himself halfway out the other side, hoping to bait a charge. The other moves up in the forest, dropping Tenacity on each other. The Carnivean follows, staying at the back edge of the forest, once again screening Thagrosh. The Spell Martyr runs up, staying to Thagrosh’s right and behind the Striders, who are now in line with the forest.
Cryx Turn 2
The Necrosurgeon bring back the Mechanithralls, who deploy up as far as possible and charge one Strider who didn’t retreat back far enough. Thankfully, with their abyssmal MAT they all miss. The Defiler moves up and tries to spray the Striders, but also fails to hit. The remaining Mechanithralls run forward, trying to engage the Striders but falling short. One breaks off and engages the lead Shredder - thats going to be annoying.The Deathjack then moves forward, finally able to get between Goreshade and my pack of beasts, then casts Hexblast at the Striders, killing 2. Goreshade hangs back and arcs Hexblast at the Striders through the Defiler, but the scatter drops in on the Mechanithralls that moved in! Luckily his damage rolls are bad and they all survive. The Bokur moves up to the right of the Deathjack, creating a wall that Gorman is all too happy to move behind. The helldiver pops up, moves up, and burrows again, getting closer to my lines. The Ripper continues to run around the forest, but still finds itself pretty far out. Tartarus runs up, managing to use his reach to engage the Strider that is surrounded by Mechanithralls.
Legion Turn 3
I don’t think I’m going to get a better situation, so this turn is where I go all out. First my Striders activate, and all retreat back. The one engaged by all the Mechanithralls and Tartarus is carved up by the free strikes, but the remaining ones kill all the Stitch Thralls and all but 3 of the Mechanithralls. Thagrosh then activates, casting Manifest Destiny and activating his feat, then flying up and spraying his breath at Tartarus and the remaining Mechanithralls. Boosting the hit and damage, he manages to kill Tartarus, and lucky rolls mean I kill the Mechanithralls as well. The only one left is the one engaging the lead Shredder, but he quickly falls as one of the back Shredders walks up and chomps him. Now the chaos begins. Two of the closest Shredders run rabid and walk up to the Deathjack, but thanks to the aura of the Deathwalker behind the helljack, fail to do any damage. Another Shredder runs rabid and walks up to the Bokur, and eats it with 2 attacks. The Carnivean then charges forward and sprays at the Deathjack, clipping one of the Shredders fighting him but also getting the Deathwalker and Necrosurgeon. Though nothing happens to the beast or jack, boosting to hit on the two undead warriors kills both. 2 more Shredders charge the Deathjack, and with good rolls take on one of its arms. The remaining Shredders run up, preparing for the feat. The Spell Martyr then moves up, interposing itself between Thagrosh and the Defiler.
Thagrosh’s feat then activates. One of the Shredders moves up to try to get Gorman, but manages to miss. In spite of this, I’m able to get 3 Shredders into melee with Goreshade, dropping him to 10 health. The remaining Shredders pile on the Deathjack, shattering its other arm. Though its at 6 hp, it still has its cortex and movement.
Cryx Turn 3
My opponent is reeling. Not only is his army in shreds, his Warcaster and strongest model are badly wounded and surrounded. Deciding he has to kill Thagrosh, he comes up with a plan fit for a Cryxian. The Deathjack first tramples out of the Shredders, managing to take only 1 point from the free strike before squishing the Spell Martyr. One of the Shredders is also crushed, allowing me to reave its fury and go up to 3. Goreshade then moves up into the jacks’ place, camping most of his focus so he only takes 3 points from the 3 free strikes, and then pops his feat, creating a line of bane thralls behind the Shredders. He then burns the focus and blasts Thagrosh with a hex blast, and great rolls mean he does 6 points. This proves to be his undoing, since this spawns a Shredder that I put in base-to-base with Thagrosh, blocking the Bane Thralls from charging him! The Defiler moves up and by boost its sprays does a few points to Thagrosh, and the Helldiver finally gets into position and charges him, dropping him to 5. The bane thralls then charge in, and while 2 are able to get to Thagrosh, they both have to take free strikes from the newly spawned Shredder who promptly eats one of them. The ones that aren't able to make it to my warlock tear the poor Shredder apart, and while the last one hits Thagrosh for lethal damage, I transfer it to one of my Shredders, who promptly implodes. The Ripper runs forward, still far out of range from being able to affect the battle.
Legion Turn 4
I don’t even get an activation, as the Shredders surrounding Goreshade frenzy and tear him apart.
Aftermath
Wow, that match was nail-bitingly close! I thought I had him once I used my feat and tore through his army, but he managed to get just enough space, and if not for my defensive Shredder spawning, I would’ve been done for. The Shredders were excellent, and feat turn was devastating. However, the rest of my army really helped clear the path for them. The Striders were able to harass my opponent so he closed in, I needed a Spell Martyr to take down the Pistol Wraith, Thagrosh’s spray took down Tartarus, and the Carnivean dropped the Deathwalker. I felt really good about this win, since these days when I play against my usual opponents, I can pretty accurately figure out if I’m going to win or lose even before we play. This time, I had no idea, and the game swung back and forth. In the end, I managed to scrape the win using one of my Warlock’s special rules that I almost forgot about!
I'm trying to add a few pictures to the battle reports, but keep forgetting until the end! Hopefully next time, I'll just be able to take a picture of the terrain and deployment rather than trying to explain it.
Epic Thagrosh
-Carnivean
-8 Shredders
Striders + UA
2 Spell Martyrs
I could probably fit some more Shredders in there by replacing the Carnivean with a Scythean and dropping the Strider UA, but I feel like 8 of the blighted buggers has enough punch, and I want to invest enough in taking out mobs of units that they can struggle with. The Carnivean’s breath also lets me snipe out problematic models, since if I position the assault right and boost the hit, the POW 14 spray can be pretty devestating.
My opponent also just started a few months back, though he was using the other dragon army:
Goreshade the Bastard
-Deathripper
-Defiler
-Helldiver
-Deathjack
Min Mechanithralls
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Bane Lord Tartarus
Gorman di Wulfe
Ogrun Bokur
Pistol Wraith
I’ve read a lot of scary stuff about Cryx, and this list seems to have a lot of the scariest things. The Deathjack is a single-minded killing machine, Tartarus can churn through infantry and turn them into Bane Thralls, and the Pistol Wraith is immune to everything except Thagrosh. Add on Gorman, who many Cryx players never go without, and an Ogrun to keep the warcaster safe, and I’m not feeling great about my chances. Oddly enough my opponent feels the same way staring all my Shredders, so this should be an interesting match!
Terrain
Terrain is pretty sparse: there’s a small forest about 6" up from the right side of my deployment zone, a Larger forest in the left center of the board, closer to his side, and a large hill on far left in middle. I won the roll and decided to go first.
Setup
I deploy my shredders in a line behind the forest on my right, with Thagrosh, the Carnivean, and the Spell Martyrs behind them. He deploys his Mechanithralls, Necrosurgeon and Stitch Thralls directly across from me, and the Defiler and Pistol Wraith to their right. Goreshade, the Bokur, the Deathjack, and Helldriver are to the thrall’s left, with Tartarus and Gorman in the middle and the Ripper a bit to the right. Striders then advance deploy on the far right, to the right of the forest.
Legion Turn 1
Striders advance up, and the Shredders all run into the forest in a staggered formation. Carnivean and Thagrosh advance up behind them, Carnivean staying to Thagrosh’s left to help screen him. Thagrosh drops tenacity on all the Shredders he can see and himself, and the Spell Martyrs run up and to the right, staying behind the Striders. I’m flanking him, hoping to be able to hit the thralls and Goreshade while the Deathjack, Tartarus, Gorman and the Ripper are too far left to get into the fight.
Cryx Turn 1
The thralls all run forward, with the Necrosurgeon right behind them. Goreshade and the Bokur walk up behind them, while the Helldiver moves up and burrows. Going to have to keep an eye on that guy. The Deathjack, Tartarus, and Gorman all run forward and to the right, but are still another turn behind Goreshade. The Ripper runs left, trying to swing around the other forest and come around my flank - someone else I have to watch out for. The Pistol Wraith runs forward as far as it can, so it is within range of my Striders, and the Defiler follows but stays a bit behind.
Legion Turn 2
I debate whether its feat turn, but decide I’m not going to get the caster kill so hold off. The Striders activate first and move up, taking several shots at the thralls. I kill 2 of the stitch thralls and 2 Mechanithralls, but my opponent informs me that thanks to the Necrosurgeon, the Mechanithralls will be back next turn. I then retreat using reform, leaving enough space for a Spell Martyr to run through at the Pistol Wraith. Thagrosh then activates and arcs Scourge through the Martyr at the Wraith, boosting the hit and killing it. One legendary Cryxian horror down! He then moves up to the edge of the forest and puts Spiny Growth on one Shredder. The Shredders advance through the forest, the one with Spiny Growth taking the lead and putting himself halfway out the other side, hoping to bait a charge. The other moves up in the forest, dropping Tenacity on each other. The Carnivean follows, staying at the back edge of the forest, once again screening Thagrosh. The Spell Martyr runs up, staying to Thagrosh’s right and behind the Striders, who are now in line with the forest.
Cryx Turn 2
The Necrosurgeon bring back the Mechanithralls, who deploy up as far as possible and charge one Strider who didn’t retreat back far enough. Thankfully, with their abyssmal MAT they all miss. The Defiler moves up and tries to spray the Striders, but also fails to hit. The remaining Mechanithralls run forward, trying to engage the Striders but falling short. One breaks off and engages the lead Shredder - thats going to be annoying.The Deathjack then moves forward, finally able to get between Goreshade and my pack of beasts, then casts Hexblast at the Striders, killing 2. Goreshade hangs back and arcs Hexblast at the Striders through the Defiler, but the scatter drops in on the Mechanithralls that moved in! Luckily his damage rolls are bad and they all survive. The Bokur moves up to the right of the Deathjack, creating a wall that Gorman is all too happy to move behind. The helldiver pops up, moves up, and burrows again, getting closer to my lines. The Ripper continues to run around the forest, but still finds itself pretty far out. Tartarus runs up, managing to use his reach to engage the Strider that is surrounded by Mechanithralls.
Legion Turn 3
I don’t think I’m going to get a better situation, so this turn is where I go all out. First my Striders activate, and all retreat back. The one engaged by all the Mechanithralls and Tartarus is carved up by the free strikes, but the remaining ones kill all the Stitch Thralls and all but 3 of the Mechanithralls. Thagrosh then activates, casting Manifest Destiny and activating his feat, then flying up and spraying his breath at Tartarus and the remaining Mechanithralls. Boosting the hit and damage, he manages to kill Tartarus, and lucky rolls mean I kill the Mechanithralls as well. The only one left is the one engaging the lead Shredder, but he quickly falls as one of the back Shredders walks up and chomps him. Now the chaos begins. Two of the closest Shredders run rabid and walk up to the Deathjack, but thanks to the aura of the Deathwalker behind the helljack, fail to do any damage. Another Shredder runs rabid and walks up to the Bokur, and eats it with 2 attacks. The Carnivean then charges forward and sprays at the Deathjack, clipping one of the Shredders fighting him but also getting the Deathwalker and Necrosurgeon. Though nothing happens to the beast or jack, boosting to hit on the two undead warriors kills both. 2 more Shredders charge the Deathjack, and with good rolls take on one of its arms. The remaining Shredders run up, preparing for the feat. The Spell Martyr then moves up, interposing itself between Thagrosh and the Defiler.
Thagrosh’s feat then activates. One of the Shredders moves up to try to get Gorman, but manages to miss. In spite of this, I’m able to get 3 Shredders into melee with Goreshade, dropping him to 10 health. The remaining Shredders pile on the Deathjack, shattering its other arm. Though its at 6 hp, it still has its cortex and movement.
Cryx Turn 3
My opponent is reeling. Not only is his army in shreds, his Warcaster and strongest model are badly wounded and surrounded. Deciding he has to kill Thagrosh, he comes up with a plan fit for a Cryxian. The Deathjack first tramples out of the Shredders, managing to take only 1 point from the free strike before squishing the Spell Martyr. One of the Shredders is also crushed, allowing me to reave its fury and go up to 3. Goreshade then moves up into the jacks’ place, camping most of his focus so he only takes 3 points from the 3 free strikes, and then pops his feat, creating a line of bane thralls behind the Shredders. He then burns the focus and blasts Thagrosh with a hex blast, and great rolls mean he does 6 points. This proves to be his undoing, since this spawns a Shredder that I put in base-to-base with Thagrosh, blocking the Bane Thralls from charging him! The Defiler moves up and by boost its sprays does a few points to Thagrosh, and the Helldiver finally gets into position and charges him, dropping him to 5. The bane thralls then charge in, and while 2 are able to get to Thagrosh, they both have to take free strikes from the newly spawned Shredder who promptly eats one of them. The ones that aren't able to make it to my warlock tear the poor Shredder apart, and while the last one hits Thagrosh for lethal damage, I transfer it to one of my Shredders, who promptly implodes. The Ripper runs forward, still far out of range from being able to affect the battle.
If I wasn't about to win, I'd be finished. The Mechanithralls are actually Bane Thralls, since my opponent didn't have enough.
Legion Turn 4
I don’t even get an activation, as the Shredders surrounding Goreshade frenzy and tear him apart.
Out of focus, and surrounded by Shredders. Bad way to go.
Aftermath
Wow, that match was nail-bitingly close! I thought I had him once I used my feat and tore through his army, but he managed to get just enough space, and if not for my defensive Shredder spawning, I would’ve been done for. The Shredders were excellent, and feat turn was devastating. However, the rest of my army really helped clear the path for them. The Striders were able to harass my opponent so he closed in, I needed a Spell Martyr to take down the Pistol Wraith, Thagrosh’s spray took down Tartarus, and the Carnivean dropped the Deathwalker. I felt really good about this win, since these days when I play against my usual opponents, I can pretty accurately figure out if I’m going to win or lose even before we play. This time, I had no idea, and the game swung back and forth. In the end, I managed to scrape the win using one of my Warlock’s special rules that I almost forgot about!
I'm trying to add a few pictures to the battle reports, but keep forgetting until the end! Hopefully next time, I'll just be able to take a picture of the terrain and deployment rather than trying to explain it.
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