Theme - Scourge of the Broken Coast
This mk3 Theme Force is somewhat similar to the mk4 Legacy Army "Black Fleet". If you're planning on starting a mk4 Black Fleet army you may get some use out of this article, espcially the In a Nutshell, the Theme Weaknesses, and maybe even the List-Building Tips sections. |
Borne on a black tide to bring death and suffering to the mainland, the pirates of Cryx instill terror in the hearts of those who live on the Broken Coast. Comprised of swift Satyxis and merciless Black Ogrun, raiding parties join Cryx's warcasters and their battlegroups in executing their bloody assaults.
Theme Rules
- For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.
Theme Restrictions
An army made use the Scourge of the Broken Coast theme force can include only the following Cryx and Mercenary models:
- Cryx warcasters
- Non-character warjacks
- Barathrum
- Kharybdis
- Living Cryx models/units
- Devil's Shadows Mutineers
- Death Archon solos
- Misery Cage solos
- This army can also include one Mercenary solo and one Mercenary unit that will work for Cryx.
- These models/units can be included even if they have the Partisan [Cryx] rule.
- Mercenary units can have non-Ranking Officer attachments
Full model list
Requisition Points
You can spend each Requisition Point on either:
- One Scharde Dirge Seer unit
- One Cryx CA
- Three Misery Cage solos
- One other small- or medium-based Cryx solo with a point cost of 5 or less
Theme Bonuses
- Cryx warjacks in this army gain Gang Fighter.
- Up to one Satyxis Blood Witch unit in this army gains Ambush.
Thoughts on Scourge of the Broken Coast
Scourge in a nutshell
This is a fully fledged sub-faction; the theme provides both melee and ranged options for your core units; it has both light, medium, and heavy-ish infantry; and one of the theme benefits affects warjacks. There are many possible army builds within this theme force, and I don't expect it to be "solved" anywhere in the near future.
Scourge is an amazing theme and it's very caster-independent, that is to say a lot of the units are essentially self-sufficient so you can take any caster you like (as opposed to needing one to shore uo the theme's weaknesses). However while every caster can be good in Scourge, they're not all good with the same things. Some want to make use of the Gang Fighter benefit, some want to make use of all the good guns, some want to focus on the melee troops, and some want hybrid builds.
Unit Recap
This is a quick summary - for more details refer to each model/unit's actual article.
Black Ogrun are medium-based, multi-wound troops. They have low DEF, medium ARM, and Tough. They're the best option Cryx has for "heavy infantry", though they are nowhere near the likes of Man-O-War, Cataphracts, etc.
- Black Ogrun Boarding Party - Decent melee, bad-to-ok gun, and the cheapest unit of multi-wound troops in the game. Their preferred targets are heavy infantry and light 'jacks, but really they're in your list to be ablative armour.
- Black Ogrun Ironmongers - Support unit that repair warjacks
- Black Ogrun Smog Belchers - Decent melee, good gun. They have cannons that create smoke clouds. Good against a variety of things.
Blighted Trollkin have a similar statline to Black Ogrun, except they have only a single hitpoint and cost about half as much points per model.
- Bloodgorgers - Melee unit that mulches enemy infantry
- Marauders - Ranged unit, good against a variety of things.
- Jussika is a character command attachment that can attach to either type of Trollkin unit.
- Gerlak is a character solo that buffs Trollkin.
Satyxis are small-based, single-wound infantry. They have high SPD, high DEF, and low ARM. They're light skirmishers.
- Raiders - Melee unit with good threat range. They can "pray" for a different buff each turn.
- Blood Witches - Melee unit with a shorter range, but special weapon effects vs living models.
- Gunslingers are a trio of pistol wielding girls.
- Blood Priestess, Axiara, and Severa are solos that support your warcaster, support your army, and shoot enemies respectively.
- See also the #Satyxis Force section below.
Scharde are small-based, single-wound infantry. They have bad-to-average stats.
- Scharde Dirge Seers - Support unit with magic abilities.
- Scharde Pirates - Cannon fodder unit.
Other. There is a medley of other units and solos that fall under the "living Cryx" heading, which fulfill a variety of specialist roles. See the #Full model list section, above.
Warjack thoughts
Gang Fighter shouldn't be underestimated, especially on the cheaper warjacks. It is relatively easy to get a warrior in position before the warjack activates, and a simple +2/+2 buff can make Cryx jacks very devastating.
- Barathrum and Kharybdis are both excellent warjacks for their points cost, and will be your go-to options first and foremost.
- 7 point Scavenger - If you can trigger Gang and Finisher, it's effectively a MAT 9, P+S 13 weapon master
- 8 point Stalker - MAT 9, P+S 14 with two Blessed attacks. And Jump.
- 10 point Slayer - MAT 9, with two attacks at P+S 18 and one at P+S 14. It's not too shabby for 10 points.
Sure on paper DEF 13, ARM 17 looks terrible becauae lol dietoguns, but on the table your opponent will be distracted by your infantry. If you spam 2 to 4 Slayers you've got a serious threat. - A Kraken can be screened by all the medium bases and reach over them with it's 4" noodle arms.
Theme Weaknesses
Troops have Low Power
The majority of your attacks sit in the P+S 10 to 12 range, which means you'll struggle vs ARM 18+ targets.
You'll want to bring a caster with ARM debuffs and/or use your Mercenary slot to bring an ARM-fixer (Ragman, Void Archon, Asphyxious4, etc).
You may also want to put some heavy hitters in your battlegroup, as opposed to utility 'jacks.
Satyxis - Low Resilience
While Satyxis are hard to hit, especially vs ranged attacks, their ARM is terrible so anything that does hit them will shred them.
Watch out for auto-hitting attacks such as Electro-Leap and Eruption of Spines. Also, Satyxis can be bullied by hazard templates such as Covering Fire and Scather.
Terrain Mitigation
There are only two units that can get Pathfinder - Bloodgorgers when they charge, and Raiders if they pray for it. No one has Pathfinder natively.
You'll want to bring a caster with Ghost Walk and/or Saxon
List Building Tips & Early Purchases
General
List building in this theme is so diverse, you could start almost anywhere. What you'll probably want is:
- A combat unit (plus that unit's associated solo, if applicable).
- Blighted Trollkin Marauders with their CAS and Gerlak Slaughterborn is one solid option.
- Satyxis Raiders with their CA and a Satyxis Raider Captain solo is another commmon option.
- Satyxis Blood Witches with their CA will let you take advantage of the Ambush benefit.
- Some of the excellent support solos. You'll probably want to get all of these, eventually.
- Axiara Wraithblade is great and should be your first free card. Her Tactician ability is invaluable, especially if you're running multiple medium-based units.
- Severa Blacktide is an excellent use of your second free card, and should be included even if you don't have any other Gunslingers.
- A Satyxis Raider Captain is a great way to get the Gang Fighter bonus where you need it, even if you don't have other Satyxis for her to buff.
- Satyxis Blood Priestess and a Misery Cage are great support pieces.
- Warjacks
Starter Set
Unlike most themes, Scourge has a starter set (note that the box is labelled Slaughter Fleet Raiders becauae it predates the themes merging). It's a decent purchase as you save about 8% over buying the contents individually. The contents are:
- A 10-man unit of Bloodgorgers plus their character command attachment, Jussika Bloodtongue.
- A 3-man unit of Scharde Dirge Seers
- A 3-man unit of Black Ogrun Iron Mongers
- Gerlak Slaughterborn, a character solo
- A Misery Cage solo
- This adds up to 34 points, plus Gerlak who you'll take as your first free card.
You'll notice that there is no warcaster or warjacks included. It goes very well with the mk3 Cryx starter box, the one with Bane Witch Agathia. She fixes a lot of the weaknesses that Bloodgorgers (and Scourge in general) have.
Merc Options
Generally the Merc you pick will be to cover some weakness that isn't already covered by your caster.
- Asphyxious4 is a very powerful merc unit, he's practically an auto-include in every Cryx list. With reference to the Scourge theme, he brings an ARM debuff to help your troops, some interesting Merc warjack options to stack with Gang Fighter, and respawns models for the Blood Priestess to use as Sucker targets.
- Void Archon is a powerful merc solo. This is the only Cryx theme full of living models that he get souls from. He also brings a ARM debuff which is great.
- Orin Midwinter provides protection from enemy spells.
- Ragman is another ARM-fixer. If you're going Troll/Ogre heavy, he benefits from the mass of medium bases blocking LOS to him and the plentiful access to Sac Pawns with Tough for when the enemy does get a bead on him.
- Saxon Orrik is Pathfinder on a stick.
- Wrong Eye & Snapjaw with Satyxis can be fun, stacking Star Crossed on high DEF models works wonderfully. Snapjaw is also a good, hard hitting heavy.
25 point list (Brawlmachine)
In 2020.10 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
- Asphyxious1: [+28 WJP]
- Severa Blacktide: [Free] Template:Grey
- Satyxis Raider Captain: [3 pts]
- Warwitch Siren: [3 pts]
- Satyxis Raiders (Min unit): [9 pts]
- Command Attachment: [3 pts]
- Satyxis Gunslingers: [6 pts]
25 point list & Expanding it (Satyxis)
In 2019.02 juckto wrote this expansion guide. It's relatively newbie friendly.
Template:Header For Step 1 I recommend getting the Cryx battlebox and adding the Raiders, the Gunslingers, and a Misery Cage
- Agathia1: [+29 WJP]
- Deathripper: [6 pts]
- Slayer: [10 pts]
- Reaper: [13 pts]
- Misery Cage: [2 pts]
- Satyxis Gunslingers: [7 pts]
- Satyxis Raiders (Max unit): [16 pts]
- Command Attachment: [Free] Template:Grey
- 25 points total (58 points worth of models)
Template:Header For Step 2 we're going to swap out to another caster who can really dial the Satyxis' damage level to 11, and fill up on the rest of the Satyxis options.
- Asphyxious1: [+28 WJP]
- Deathripper: [6 pts]
- Reaper: [13 pts]
- Slayer: [10 pts]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess: [4 pts]
- Axiara Wraithblade: [Free] Template:Grey
- Severa Blacktide: [Free] Template:Grey
- Satyxis Raider Captain: [4 pts]
- Misery Cage: [2 pts]
- Satyxis Blood Witches (Min unit): [8 pts]
- Command Attachment: [4 pts]
- Satyxis Gunslingers: [7 pts]
- Satyxis Raiders (Max unit): [16 pts]
- Command Attachment: [4 pts]
- 50 points total (90 points worth of models)
To expand to 75 points, it really comes down to what you like the look of, what's available, and what you need to beat your local opponents. Asphyxious probably wants to change his battlegroup - he really wants two arc nodes, for starters. Look at the List Building Advice section for thoughts on what else is worthwhile to pick up.
Template:Header Template:Expand
Starting a 25 point list & Expanding it (Trolls)
If you want to try this theme but are still stuck for ideas, try this. It's relatively newbie friendly.
Template:Header I recommend you get the Cryx battlebox, the Slaughter Fleet theme box, and a Blood Priestess. You'll end up with more models than you can use at 25 points, but the logistics of list design is easier.
- Agathia1: [+29 WJP]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess: [4 pts]
- Deathripper: [6 pts]
- Slayer: [10 pts]
- Reaper: [13 pts]
- Gerlak Slaughterborn: [Free] Template:Grey
- Bloodgorgers (Max unit): [15 pts]
- Command Attachment: [5 pts]
- 24 points total (59 points worth of models)
- Leftover models from the boxsets: Dirge Seers, Misery Cage, Ironmongers
Template:Header For Step 2 I recommend picking up Axiara, Barathrum, and the other type of Trolls.
- Agathia1: [+29 WJP]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess: [4 pts]
- Deathripper: [6 pts]
- Barathrum: [15 pts]
- Reaper: [13 pts]
- Gerlak Slaughterborn: [Free] Template:Grey
- Axiara Wraithblade: [Free] Template:Grey
- Bloodgorgers: [15 pts]
- Command Attachment]]: [5 pts]
- Blighted Trollkin Marauders: [15 pts]
- Black Ogrun Ironmongers: [6 pts]
- 50 points total (91 points worth of models)
- Leftover models from the boxed sets: Dirge Seers, Slayer, Misery Cage
To expand to 75 points, it really comes down to what you like the look of, what's available, and what you need to beat your local opponents. Look at the List Building Advice section for thoughts on what else is worthwhile to pick up.
Template:Header Template:Expand
Satyxis Force
- The Satyxis get a section all to themselves because, prior to the 2019.07 theme remix, they were a stand-alone force. There was a lot of good content in this article about a pure Satyxis army, and it was easier to keep it under a seperate heading than try to merge it.
General
Satyxis are the vicious lady pirates of Cryx, with a dollop of blood sacrifice magic thrown in. Satyxis troops are high speed, high accuracy, low power, high defense, and low armor. Altogether, Satyxis are a light skirmishing army, able to close the gap and engage very well, but lack the hitting power or staying power to win a slugfest.
The core of a Scourge army are the Satyxis Raiders (normally 2 units) and the Satyxis Blood Witches (normally 1 unit in ambush). The Satyxis Gunslingers are a quasi-core unit; they have a small unit size, but provide quite a few attacks. In a good matchup they'll pump out attacks and be MVP, in other matchups they'll be stuck using Black Penny to free up your main units, or taking near-hopeless potshots at enemy solos that are too high DEF and/or ARM.
Satyxis have great "board presence", since one of the two main combat units, the Raiders, have SPD 7 and 2" reach; and the other main combat unit, the Witches, have Ambush. This is amplified against warmachine armies, where opposing jacks will hang back to avoid Feedback damage. This can translate to serious power in a scenario game or even an assasination.
Casters for Satyxis
The best Scourge Casters are IMO Asphyxious1 (or arguably Deneghra1), Coven, a large gap of empty space, Agathia, and Scaverous in that order.
A lot of other casters can run Scourge just fine, but I don’t think they do anything different enough from the top 4, or do better into problem matchups, to justify bringing them over the top 4.
Other
Trivia
- Released in the themeopaclyse (2017.09)
- Updated almost immediately in the Black Fleet CID (2017.11)
- Merged with Slaughter Fleet Raiders in the Remix (2019.07)
Other Cryx themes/models
Rules Clarifications
Template:RC Gang Fighter Template:RC Ambush Template:RC Theme