How Warmachine's Cryx Dread Armada will play: dreadtides and swarm attacks
Image: Steamforged Games / Warmachine
Steamforged has published its first look at how the Cryx Dread Armada will play. The new army launches on October 15 as a FronTier on MyMiniFactory, with free rules in the Warmachine app. Warmachine developer Fraser walks through the army's two main gameplay themes. Steamforged stresses that the Dread Armada is not a re-release of Cryx's existing Black Fleet army.
Dreadtides
The army's unique faction rule is dreadtides. These are physical markers on the table, summoned by certain Dread Armada models. Dread Armada models close to a dreadtide gain benefits against enemy ranged attacks. Dreadtides also move across the battlefield, and when they crash into enemy forces they strip their defences and leave them vulnerable. The army also has several ways to create and use shallow water terrain.
A swarm that stacks debuffs
Steamforged calls the Dread Armada a classic swarm army built from many low-cost units. That includes its warjacks, which cost less than other armies' warjacks but have lower stats. No single model hits especially hard. Instead, the army makes many weaker attacks and relies on stacking negative effects on a target, combining dreadtide debuffs with other individual effects to make each attack more dangerous.
Steamforged describes the result as an army that attacks in waves. It sets up an attack with dreadtides for protection and support, then surges forward together against a weakened target.
What's next
Steamforged hasn't published unit stats or full rules yet. It says more Cryx Dread Armada rules previews are coming before the October 15 launch.
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