Satyxis Raiders Are Awesome

So. Sorry about the delays, gentle readers. Unexpected family visit along with an unexpected hospitalization in the family means not a lot of time for Internet things at night after work, and it's hard to write a thoughtful blog post at work. Things are slowing down now, and I'm left wanting to talk about something with some meat to it. I think I'll try to talk some about Hordes later, with the (IMO) very disappointing Hordes final release. But now, I'm firmly in a Warmachine mode. So let's talk Cryx. With all the Satyxis love going around, and what with my declaration I was going to talk about them, let's do that. This isn't going to be hugely organized.

So. I think where I stand on the Satyxis Raider debate is pretty obvious, what with the title and all. They are awesome. I liked them in Mark I but they were hard to use and so they kind of got overlooked by MOAR BAEN I can't even finish that inane phrase I'm sorry. Whatever the case, they were not well-loved in Mk. I, and there were good reasons for that.

That was then. This is now. The Satyxis Raiders are -fantastic- for Cryx. They have a very valuable role in Cryx - they AD. They're fast. You still have to take the UA, but when you do, you also make your fast unit practically immune to everything but CRAs and spells from range. Most spells aren't scary to a well-spaced unit (except chain lightning, beware chain lightning - it eats Satyxis alive) and if your opponent wants to CRA individual Satyxis Raiders, so long as they're not pegging the Sea Witch, who cares? Let them blow their CRAs on something like that rather than blasting an arc node in the face.

If you're playing reasonable-sized games (35-50 - less isn't fun, more just gets too kitchen-sinky) then, if you're going to take a unit, you take a full-sized unit with UA. I don't think a minimum-sized unit will do much for you - they're hard to kill at range but die in droves in melee, and you want some survivors left to CRA and make use of Power Swell to smash up light jacks. The main use of the Raiders, I think, is to run in and tie up stuff. They do that VERY VERY well. Reach and a 14" run mean that they're almost up half the board with a first-turn run and max AD. You can do this with a lot more safety than you could before, because you have nothing serious to fear from range (note: don't rush Caine, it ends poorly). So you can tie up something ranged relatively early to help your other things advance. This is an important role, and one that I think can't be undersold. Cryx is a faction that's very vulnerable to early game shooting and, by and large, we don't have any answers to that. Yes, yes, yes, we have a unit with Stealth, and one with Incorporeal. But most of the time you're just relying on the poor DEF of your units and the only reasonable DEF of your jacks to stay safe. Satyxis Raiders can help mitigate this. You probably aren't engaging anything first turn unless your opponent is dumb, but you can threaten it second turn, or even a charge - a 12" threat range on a charge is nothing to sneeze at. Yes, they hit like little girls, but they hit hard enough to kill infantry on the charge. Power Swell is for when you see a chance to mess up light jacks or beasts, or heavy infantry.

Backlash is nice and useful for nickle and diming warcasters if they pack light jacks. Without Skarre this isn't reliable for actually assassinating casters (and even with Skarre I wouldn't really count on it - I find the jacks tend to die too fast or else I can't reliably damage it, but an unwary warcaster can be in a terrible position pretty quickly). but a couple points here and there can really make it easier to finish the assassination. I've seen this multiple times, especially against the Retribution - their light jacks are squishy enough to actually damage. All that said - don't make a list based around Backlash. It's doomed to fail. This isn't Prime Mk. I, it ain't gonna happen.

So, who likes them? Well, everyone, actually. Or everyone except Mortenebra. I think all casters can make good use of them. However, to get the best out of them, I think you need a way to boost damage. Either version of Asphyxious, Deneghra, and Epic Goreshade (surprisingly) seem to do pretty well with them. I don't really like them with the Coven, if for no other reason than I don't really need their speed and they don't get much out of Occultation.

My favorite use has been with pGaspy. They are -fantastic- with Scything Touch on them. P+S 11 hits light jacks hard enough to scare the ones without shields, and, as in Mk. I, that's who they prey on - throw Parasite on and you can even scare the big boys without having to resort to CMA. You no longer have to worry about getting them killed by Gaspy's Feat, so the one downside from Mk. I is gone. and all you've got left is awesome stuff. They help mitigate Gaspy's vulnerability to ranged by tying up the ranged units that may shoot him in the face until he dies. I love them here.

Also, Epic Asphyxious likes them. They work well with the Feat - don't scoff! One good critical hit on the caster and the game's over. He helps them hit harder, which means they're very much useful for something besides Feat fodder. My favorite eGaspy list has a unit of them.

So that's the broad outline. They're a fantastic unit that every Cryx player should own.