Introduction
So, the new, long awaited, CID cycle for Convergence of Cyriss has finally begun, and there are some Cryx goodies! I don’t know much about CoC and I can probably count on 2 hands how many times I have played against them, so it won’t surprise anyone that I can’t actually keep their jacks apart.
I did do some research for this post, but it will still be written mostly from a Cryx point of view, because that’s what this blog is about.
Rules
The man, the machine
Alright, stat-wise, this guy is a beast, being a beefy 15/17 with 18 boxes, just like his final Warcaster incarnation. He actually gained a MAT and a SPD in his transition, at the expense of 2 FOC. I appreciate him going (back) to SPD 6, because, in my opinion, the only reason he went to speed 5 in the edition change, was because of the power of Asphyxious 2 and his feat in Mark 2, which they also nerfed in other ways; classic double tap. PP using the opportunity of his new body to rectify this pleases me.
Aside from that he is a MAT 7, (effective) P+S 18 that can buy up to 5+ attacks, all this on a flying model that threatens 11″ unsupported.
Him being so much of a super solo makes him excellent additions to a Skarre 1/2 army because they like high impact models to feat on. With Flight, Ghost Walk casters, such as Coven or Deneghra 1/3, will also appreciate him as an assassination option.
The price to pay for this impressive vessel is of course our favorite Lich’s (im)mortality. By picking up Soul Vessel, that means the essence that was once safely tucked away in a phylactery is now “vulnerably” wading into battle inside this avatar of destruction.
On top of all this, he brings some (great) army support with his Leadership ability, which can let Wraith Engines charge a casual 15″ under Death Ride, or lets Venethrax’s battle group really up their threat range to crazy levels when facing a living army.
Spells
For his spell list, he brings the signature (boostable) Cryx nuke in Hellfire, which has some nice utility as well. He can also bring a cloud wall to any list that includes him by way of Caustic Mist. Normally he can only cast 2 of these, but it shouldn’t be too hard to get him 1 extra soul to pump out 1 extra.
Flicker is a very interesting spell for him because it puts his personal threat range at an impressive 13″ completely unsupported.
This also puts the rest of his unit (see below) at 11.5 or even 13.5 against living models, their preferred targets.
Energizer would of course be (strictly) better, but I’m not sure we need even higher numbers on Stalker threat ranges aside from Aiakos 1, so maybe it’s for the best.
The sidekicks
These little (recurring) guys are pretty exciting. By themselves, they don’t look like much, but considering that they have Murderous, Flight, and gain Bloodthirst and Dark Shroud from Asphyxious, they can be quite potent. Worst case you throw them somewhere to apply an easy ARM debuff, they die and you put them back.
They also seem like excellent fodder for Skarre 1’s Ritual Sacrifice, Mortenebra 1’s Sacrificial Lamb, or even Goreshade 2/3’s feat, as they are new models being put into play rather than existing ones getting returned. In a pinch, one could also get shanked by a Blood Priestess to get a spell off; unlike most other things you can take in Scourge of the Broken Coast, these guys aren’t DEF 13+ and/or Tough.
The fact that they also come with Flight can get them into really annoying positions, and with effective P+S 8 + charge bonus, they might actually kill a support model without needing to resort to Puncture.
They can pass on souls to Asphyxious, so an extra Caustic Mist now and then will probably not be out of the question. Judging by other soul collecting models however, extra souls is nothing to count on and he probably won’t be effectively FOC 8+ even a majority of the time, unlike a certain “sentient gate” with Partisan [Cygnar]. Nevertheless it’s definitely a nice to have and a potentially big boost in power.
Battlegroup
Something I have glanced over before is his Interface-like ability that lets his warjacks use his focus when they are B2B with Asphyxious. This can be pretty big for ranged models, or even melee jacks, as long as you can put Asphyxious somewhere they can end up B2B with him. Sadly, I don’t think this works with a crippled cortex as that specifically prohibits the spending of focus.
Another fact is that he can take any mix of Mercenary/Convergence/Cryx jacks and they will always count as Friendly Faction, which is honestly quite huge, even in a faction of debuffs, because many feats or certain spells (oh hi, Skarre 1) do actually care.
Aside from that, it also means that any warjack will pick up Gang Fighter in Scourge of the Broken Coast and all heavies will benefit from Carapace in Black Industries. This may be particularly valuable as other faction’s warjacks are often more durable and/or don’t require debuffs to hit hard.
He can also take Cankerworm, which makes this little guy an option with any of our casters in any theme, which I’m honestly quite happy about as he is my favorite light jack.
Since he can take so many different options, the possibilities are endless:
Ranged options
Any list will be able to add some solid ranged support from the Galleon or Blockader. The Galleon even brings threat extension to your other models, which is quite big. On the other hand, the Convergence colossals might not be very attractive due to the low RAT of 3.
A Mariner or even a Mule might also be interesting though, as a more budget ranged option, though possibly not better than in-faction options, such as the Desecrator.
Lights
Galvanizers are a cheap source of Grievous Wounds and bring some extra repairs to your lists. The Negators can potentially do a lot of damage between Flank and debuffs. One of the better Convergence light might be the Diffuser, as it still has a reasonable chance of hitting a boosted Beacon shot even with RAT 3 due to Luck.
In Mercenaries there are some nice combat lights available in the Swashbuckler, Talon and Buckaneer and even a relatively cheap Shield Guard in the Vanguard.
For Cryx I would probably recommend the same (combat) lights I would with recommend with our other juniors, so Stalkers, or in certain cases Scavengers or Shrikes to apply Dark Shroud.
As said before, Cankerworm might be a superb addition as well, between his P+S 13 Armor Piercing, Reposition and great damage grid, he can be a real nuisance.
(combat) heavies
I’m not sure if we can find (m)any combat heavies that would be worthwhile, though our jacks often hit slightly less hard than out of faction options due to the availability of debuffs. We’re also faster, but less durable.
So, when looking at the other factions, we could get some relatively cheap yet durable and/or heavy hitting options from Mercenaries, such as the Nomad or Toro. If we want some more utility, the Rover looks appealing and I think the Swabber looks fantastic, being basically a Reaper and Inflictor rolled into 1 for the same cost! It doesn’t hit particularly hard, but can be a solid anchor for your list. Freebooters are cheap and can be surprisingly fast, make sure you have a source of knockdown though.
Note that all of them are SPD 5 and MAT 6, like our crab jack chassis, which might make them less appealing.
In CoC, we’re lucky that our new junior is MAT 7, which means one of the strengths of Cryx heavies (high MAT) is already offset. There are some (very) slow heavies in the Cipher, Monitor and Inverter. Upside to them is that they’re 10/19 with 32 boxes, which is really durable in Cryx. The former 2 rely on their guns to be useful before lines close, so don’t look too appealing at RAT 3, but the Inverter can hit really hard under Gaspy. It’s still really slow though, so you might want to bring some threat extension even besides Bloodthirst, such as Telekinesis or Dark Waves.
The other heavies here (Assimilator, Modulator , Conservator) are even less durable than our crab jack chassis at 11/18 with 28 boxes, offering the same SPD 5 Pathfinder, but without Steady. Again, the former two rely on guns to be relevant so I would stay away from them, but the Conservator actually looks really nice, being a Shield Guard with Hand of Vengeance, which makes it relatively hard-hitting, and 2 Bucklers making it quite durable. It’s also cheap.
I’m not sure I would particularly recommend taking Cryx heavies with him, as they will often be better served by being on your full caster. The reason you would take the ones from other factions is precisely because you’re able to.
One thing that needs to be said is that, if you start taking a Vector, then it’s likely that most, if not all of your battle group will be Convergence jacks, due to Induction not working between “factions”. If going this route, I would say a mix of Conservator(s) and Diffuser(s) would be best, when looking for raw output or utility hard to come by in-faction. Maybe add Cankerworm just because you can.
Strange Bedfellows
So unfortunately, this theme force will not be usable in Cryx, but it does have a bunch of Cryx models, so I might as well say something about it.
First of all, I see some people complaining about the fact that it’s not available to Cryx and while this saddens me a bit as well, I do understand the fluff reasoning. It’s specifically Mortenebra and Asphyxious (4) that are working with the Convergence and not the other way around. Even if the theme is available to (begrudgingly) work with the rest of the Convergence, I can’t imagine most/anyone of CoC being ok with working for the evil Nightmare Empire.
On the bright side, that also means we have to buy less models, so win-win!
On the theme itself, I honestly can’t comment that much, as I don’t know the Convergence of Cyriss all that well. Mortenebra 1/2 both like jacks, so I’m guessing they can definitely do something by being allowed a mixed battle group, much like the new Asphyxious. I think Mortenebra 1 in particular will like having access to some solid shooting to trigger Overrun as well as the stacking efficiency of Sacrificial Lamb and Induction.
If any infantry would be taken, I expect it to be mostly Angels, maybe assisted by a handful of Thrall units, most likely Carrion Thralls to synergize with Aurora.
TEPs will be valuable as ever.
I assume Asphyxious and Nemo 4 will both be quite big in this theme and that is most likely the intent.
What I’m really sad about is that Mortenebra and Thralls themselves aren’t included in CID, even though I understand that this is not about us. Though with the theme only having Angels and Thralls for infantry options, maybe some complaining from CoC players would help.
Mortenebra was added to Hearts of Darkness and barely anyone cared, certainly not Infernals players. I suspect her getting added to a niche Convergence/Mercenary theme will elicit a similar response.
Mechanithralls are fine, but are almost exclusively used to add Brute Thralls to and preferably to be put in Ambush for delivery. Then there’s the Skarlock Thrall and Soul Trappers and that basically concludes the Thrall models that actually see play.
You sometimes see Necrosurgeons, but they honestly bring back lackluster models and don’t do much else, hence are kind of overcosted.
I personally think Carrion Thralls are probably fine, but they don’t really have a role in our jack theme. Not sure if they will have a place in Strange Bedfellows though, as they fly, so do have synergy with Aurora 2, so maybe.
Bloat Thralls are seen almost never, even though they and Mobius are actually not that bad.
Soulhunters in turn suffer from their over reliance on souls as well as their extreme fragility. They will probably compete with Angels in this theme and thus I fear they will fall by the wayside.
The cream of the crop of bad Thrall models, have got to be the Bile Thralls though, as they got hit really hard in the edition transition. They were already very hard to deliver due to their victim stats in MK2, but at least there was Excarnate to make up for it. I understand that their massive Purge was changed to something more streamlined, but they should’ve received something in return.
Now they are just slow models with horrible victim stats that need to kill themselves to do anything useful and can easily get tied up in melee.
As is, I would like them to get a rework, or at least a massive price cut, Clear! and/or Gunfighter.
Anyway, as said, all of this is just wishlisting and is unlikely to happen in a CoC CID, but a lich can dream, right?
Smeerlapperij 