This weeks discussion will focus on movement of troops and how to analyze your game. I found a weakness and I forced myself to play against it.
Aggressive play
I have mentioned before that I am a pretty conservative player. I don’t always play like “I have a pair.” This week I resolved to throw all caution to the wind and get into my opponents face as fast as I could. The idea was if I know how the game feels when playing it safe, and I then learn how the game feels when I play aggressively I can find my happy middle. Experienced players know their play style. My play style is still malleable.
Having decided to just focus on that one goal above all else this week made the games so much fun. It did not matter if I won or lost, as a matter of fact I may have giggled when the mage hunter strike forge took out my jacks.
Game 1 – DEATH VIA SUSTAINED CANNON ATTACK!
35pt Cryx v. Talion Charter
Bane Knights ran up to greet his infantry. They did a great job of debuffing but I could have staggered them more. Most of them died before they could do anything. If I just held a rank of them back I could have counter charged and it would have been beautiful, sweet carnage.
Nightmare put prey up on the first thing he could reach and charged up the middle. He chewed through the unit, but not without taking enough damage that he didn’t serve his full potential. Next game I vowed to use nightmare to chew through some jacks.
Slayer and deathripper went to the right and took a cannon to the face knocking them down. I need to give two focus to them then so they can stand up and keep running. This was the one case where I could have been even more aggressive.
Game 2 – DEATH VIA ARC NODE CASTRATION!
35pt Cryx v. Retribution
I knew going in what the Mage Hunter Strike Force was going to do. Regardless, the goal of the week was to push the movement of my models to their extremes. Turn one, each jack got a focus to run and Nightmare used ghost walk to push through an obstruction. My Retribution opponent went second and bam, jack after jack fell to his Strike Force. It was spectacular and awesome to see how deadly they were to my jacks. I am glad I did it though because it prepared me for game 3.
Nightmare, still pushing strong, went and ate through his three jacks in the next two turns. I can’t wait to try out Death Jack! The last two rounds all I had left were Deneghra, my Bane Thrall Officer and Nightmare without arms. But don’t count me out yet, Denny went on the offensive and venom spammed two full units down to two models. Eventually the game did go to him, but man was it a fun way to lose.
Game 3 – DEATH VIA MY OWN HAND!
35pt Cryx v. Skorne
This one was probably over before it began. I was up against Baron McFats (Rasheth), two agonizers, 2 Gladiators, a full unit of Gatorman posse, Bronzeback Titan, a task master and a unit of Beast Handlers. It was a tier 4 theme list. So my Ret game prepared me for this because I once again could not use arc nodes. Not because he destroyed them, but because Castigate + the agonizers just locked me down.
So, the jacks just went into the melee with the bane thralls, nightmare and everything else. The goal was to kill the agonizers, but the gatorman posse and the gladiators did an excellent job screening and I could not kill them fast enough. I knew at turn two that the game was over, so I pulled a hail mary. I needed to move Dene or she was dead, but a full advance wasn’t going to cut it and a run would mean I could not feat leading to my destruction next turn. So I did what any self respecting Cryx player would do and I charged into the back arc of my own deathripper (taking him from full to scrapped in one hit) and then feated.
Conclusion: If you haven’t ever done it, take a few games and push your models as far as they will go. Cheer on your opponents as they mow you down. Be aggressive, next week now I know how far I can push to really make my opponents play on MY TERMS!
I have my notebook now so reviewing these games after the fact is so much easier. Experienced and Novice players alike, try this out. Play a few games just to push, not to win and record your results. I was feeling pretty comfortable with this list and thought I knew most of it, but placing myself in these situations forced me to be creative, and to use abilities in new ways.
Sustained Attack 