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Post by forgemaster on Mar 14, 2017 12:50:24 GMT
Hey guys, a little late to the discussion, but I have been playing Cephalyx since the original all in one boxes were released. Here are my latest MK3 lists if anyone is interested. (Cyphon 1) Cognifex Cyphon [+29] - Wrecker [14] - Wrecker [14] - Wrecker [14] - Subduer [11] - Subduer [11] Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (max) [11] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [19] - Cephalyx Dominator [1] Cephalyx Agitator [3] Cephalyx Agitator [3] Cephalyx Agitator [3] (Thexus 1) Exulon Thexus [+29] - Wrecker [14] - Wrecker [14] Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max) [12] Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max) [12] Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (min) [8] Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (min) [7] Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (min) [7] Thorn Gun Mages [9] - Cephalyx Dominator [1] Thorn Gun Mages [9] - Cephalyx Dominator [1] Cephalyx Agitator [3] Cephalyx Agitator [3] Cephalyx Agitator [3]
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Post by Ajax on Mar 14, 2017 19:13:16 GMT
Curious, what are the TGM doing for the Thexus list that aren't covered by something else? Why take TGM over Croe's? I guess the utility of the TGM shots are great, but 10 points for a 3 man unit just seems ridiculously expensive.
Have you run into any major problems with the two wrecker battlegroup?
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Post by forgemaster on Mar 14, 2017 21:42:30 GMT
For me the TGMs have been great at jam clearing with black penny but also have been very useful in hunting solos. Just over all nice flexibility and ranged attacks. The Wreckers are typically held back for a second wave attack with the first wave being Slavers/Drudges that get a combination of CMA and boosts from the Bender/Drudge squads. Prep for Surgery keeps the Drudges around as a nice bonus.
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Post by smartalek on Mar 14, 2017 22:13:38 GMT
Curious, what are the TGM doing for the Thexus list that aren't covered by something else? Why take TGM over Croe's? I guess the utility of the TGM shots are great, but 10 points for a 3 man unit just seems ridiculously expensive. TGM might be 3 points a model, but they're worth their weight in gold. They're a toolbox unit that provide great utility with their shot types. Having 6 thunderbolt shots let's you push away heavies, and clear zones with ease. The Incendiary shots are fantastic against things with vengeance (lots of Ret Sentinels in my area). Black Penny is pretty good for unjamming drudges. Additionally, using Both Barrels let's you get some damage onto opposing jacks/beasts. They're a bit squishy at 14/11 and 1hp, but the Dominator providing tough really helps. No real issues. You have to know the matchups where you need one forward to cast spells through. Usually it's only Hordes matchups, to use Rampager to pull out enemy heavies. The fact that Adrenal Flooded slaver drudges hit for PA16 helps you crack armor with only 2 heavies in the list.
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Post by Ajax on Mar 17, 2017 19:38:10 GMT
So I gave my Thexus list w/ Croe's Cutthroats another play last night, and though I'm enjoying the flanking/synergy w/ TK, I don't think it's coming up often enough for me to warrant their inclusion. Backstab is great, but my meta tends to be a little heavier on armor (like most metas these days, I believe). Pow 10's, even with the additional die on backstab attacks, doesn't seem to crack armor well enough on its own. I can see adding Aiyana and Holt making them great, but that would mean sacrificing yet another heavy.
I think I'll be modifying my list to take out the croe's and an agitator, and putting in another full unit of benders and a warden.
Mercenary Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] Operating Theater
(Thexus 1) Exulon Thexus [+29] - Wrecker [14] - Wrecker [14] - Subduer [11] - Warden [10] Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (min) [7] Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (min) [7] Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max) [12] Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max) [12] Cephalyx Overlords [0] Cephalyx Agitator [3] Cephalyx Agitator [3] Fuel Cache (Steamroller) [0] Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (max) [11]
Any feedback or thoughts?
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studderingdave
Junior Strategist
May the Gods have mercy on your soul.
Posts: 114
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Post by studderingdave on Mar 18, 2017 21:20:44 GMT
the loss of poison on Croe's really hurt. I have opted to take them out of my Thexus testing as well.
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Post by Ajax on Mar 19, 2017 15:24:13 GMT
I ended up playing in a local steamroller yesterday that had specialists, so I ended up taking my croe's there anyway.
Really glad I did, because I ended up getting a top of 2 assassination on pLylyth camping 2 with 7-8 croe's shots.
So they've certainly got their uses, they're fantastic when they work, but I'm not entirely sure they're good enough in the warmachine matchups. That being said, I did play against hordes all three of my rounds, and the croe's would have had great impact against in each of those games (I dropped Bart into both of the circle matchups I had, and he really struggled with hitting def 14 prowl/stealthed heavies).
Time to get in more reps, I suppose!
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Haight
Junior Strategist
Posts: 396
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Post by Haight on Mar 20, 2017 0:14:35 GMT
the loss of poison on Croe's really hurt. I have opted to take them out of my Thexus testing as well. But they have backstab... which works on non-living stuff. With a TK caster with a to hit score of 8 and mock-nodes, this is still pretty good isn't it ? I mean, i get pretty darn good mileage out of mine. Full disclosure: i play Ceph, but I am not highly talented with them.
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Post by CodFather on Mar 20, 2017 7:20:59 GMT
Borrowed some ceph and had my first game today. Played the standard 60 drudge, 2 wrecker build.
Played against a pretty rough match up for the list, hexy1 with swordsman and reivers. His feat is murder on the drudges, he kills one and they keep chain killing each other, tough was the only thing that slowed him down. Ended up losing the game, but likely would have won if my wrecker rolled slightly better against karn.
ET and drudges are tons of fun to play! The list just has so many tools between the feat, tk rampager and mind bender shenanigans. And having lots of nonlinearity should keep the list interesting to play in the long run.
I do wonder if the list struggles a bit against lots of armour. Do you guys find that adrenal flood and the wreckers do enough work most of the time? I suppose through weight of attacks over a few turns most amounts of armour will crumble if toy have the drudges left alive to do it. I did find that between channeling rfp, and enemy attacks that drudges run out surprisingly fast, but that could have just been the particularly bad matchup.
Anyways, I'm sold on the ceph for now. Was wondering what sort of things the drudge heavy list doesn't want to see besides hexy1? I assume something like nemo3 or even haley2 mass electroleaps is going to be bad, as well as something like rifle/rocket spam khador.
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Post by forgemaster on Mar 20, 2017 14:20:29 GMT
Borrowed some ceph and had my first game today. Played the standard 60 drudge, 2 wrecker build. Played against a pretty rough match up for the list, hexy1 with swordsman and reivers. His feat is murder on the drudges, he kills one and they keep chain killing each other, tough was the only thing that slowed him down. Ended up losing the game, but likely would have won if my wrecker rolled slightly better against karn. ET and drudges are tons of fun to play! The list just has so many tools between the feat, tk rampager and mind bender shenanigans. And having lots of nonlinearity should keep the list interesting to play in the long run. I do wonder if the list struggles a bit against lots of armour. Do you guys find that adrenal flood and the wreckers do enough work most of the time? I suppose through weight of attacks over a few turns most amounts of armour will crumble if toy have the drudges left alive to do it. I did find that between channeling rfp, and enemy attacks that drudges run out surprisingly fast, but that could have just been the particularly bad matchup. Anyways, I'm sold on the ceph for now. Was wondering what sort of things the drudge heavy list doesn't want to see besides hexy1? I assume something like nemo3 or even haley2 mass electroleaps is going to be bad, as well as something like rifle/rocket spam khador. I would think that a CoC list with Iron Mother and 3x Assimilators would not be fun to see from a Drudge perspective.
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Post by Ajax on Mar 20, 2017 16:44:34 GMT
I'd also say anything that can put out a lot of rough terrain/forest and has decent shooting. I've had some trouble slogging waves of drudges through rough terrain, and it's just no fun.
As forgemaster has said above, I've played that CoC matchup with Iron Mother, 2 assimilators, and a prime axiom, and it was rough. Ground Pounder's incredibly strong, and there's no real way to hide your cephalyx leaders.
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Post by smartalek on Mar 20, 2017 17:09:01 GMT
I played int a local, 20 person Steamroller this weekend and went 3-1 dropping only Thexus all day. I clocked Siege, assassinated Issyria, and tabled a Mordikaar. Unfortunately, Butcher1 assassinated me.
Some thoughts on the games: -Wailing on the Ret Banshee is really annoying. I forgot about it a couple of times and needed to either walk with drudges or nothing with overlords. -Void Spirits with Killing Spree, and teleporting are gross. They were able to easily get into the backline and kill drudge leaders/agitators/overlords easily. -Despoiler's bond with Mordikaar makes a void spirit. It can activate the turn it's created. -Khador Devastators are really good at shutting down scenario. I was able to kill 2 of my opponent's 4, but just couldn't clear the other 2 before he killed me.
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Post by CodFather on Mar 20, 2017 17:34:30 GMT
Oh right, coc. Double TEP is really popular these days too, that seems pretty rough, especially if piloted by axis.
Sevvy2 I realized was murder on the list. And earthbreaker bunny ranch is probably bad too with the rough terrain and the sprays.
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Post by Ajax on Mar 20, 2017 18:20:28 GMT
You know, thinking over what problems I do have with the Croe's and drudges doing meaningful damage to heavies (outside of adrenaline rushed drudges on the charge), Aiyana and Holt seem to be able to fill that hole pretty well. +2 Damage on backstab shots means that Croe's can now do meaningful damage to Arm 20 jacks (average of 3ish per shot). Rat 8 handcannons are always welcome from Holt as well.
Adding them into my list would mean dropping the croe's to min and losing an agitator, but that just makes the croe's more of a backline harassment piece waiting for an assassination or heavy damage on a jack/beast.
Mercenary Army - 74 / 75 points [Theme] Operating Theater
(Thexus 1) Exulon Thexus [+29] - Wrecker [14] - Wrecker [14] - Subduer [11] Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (min) [7] Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (min) [7] Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max) [12] Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max) [12] Cephalyx Overlords [0] Cephalyx Agitator [3] Cephalyx Agitator [3] Croe's Cutthroats (min) [10] - Cephalyx Dominator [1] Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8] - Cephalyx Dominator [1] Fuel Cache (Steamroller) [0]
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Post by necromeat on Mar 23, 2017 13:45:46 GMT
Its funny, I have actually gotten so many complaints about the drudge spam, that I am starting convergence to play in pickup games outside of tournament play. They are so violent. Though I have run into three things that have given them issues.
Cygnar with a stormwall and smaller jacks. They all put down those covering fire walls. So sad.
Iron mother and her shrapnel swarm mixed with groundpounder and the battle engine. Scary stuff. (Sadly does ok vs my Ossrum list as well with backlash)
Retribution list with Magister Helynna and Manticores.
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