The Cryx Matchup

This is my modest contribution to this thread on the PP boards regarding the Minion matchups for Cryx. Arlaharen and the rest of the Gator folk have already written a good deal of useful tips and tactics in dealing with Cryx (with more hopefully coming), and I thought I should add my own since I like to think about stuff and readers might benefit from my perspective.

In general, I think a well-played Cryx list is still one of the worst matchups for Gators due to mass undead, increasing amounts of tough BS, cheap infantry that hit like sledgehammers and lots of movement debuffs and control.

Importance of melee positioning and "staggering"

Cryx is the best melee faction in the game, all things considered. There is a reason people ALWAYS have Cryx in mind when preparing tournament lists, because if they don't, they will probably lose to Cryx and their "infantry-that-kills-anything spam" skew.
Cryx generally sucks balls at the ranged game (with exceptions like pDenny pirate gunline lists that prove both the rule and that pDenny is the ultimate turd polisher), and their spell assassination is nowhere as good as it used to be in Mk1 (despite being decent, it's not really a core game plan amongst most of their casters anymore). To make up for this, in a straight out melee scrap, Cryx will generally have the upper hand. They will hit more often, harder and for cheaper than other factions for less points and keep doing it until you are dead. How fluffy.

This is why they get hosed by Cygnar, Retribution and PoM, who can play a very good ranged game and can blow them up before Cryx makes it across the field to fight on their terms. It's also why Gators, as a largely melee subfaction, don't do great vs Cryx in principle since you have to beat the masters at their own game, so to speak. Therefore, it is very important if you want to come out victorious against Cryx to at least have good positioning when it comes to melee engagement, whether you are getting the alpha strike or receiving it. Good staggered positioning leads to good piece-trades, which is one of the fundamental concepts of Warmachine.

Let me elaborate on this slightly: Have you ever had a single Doom Reaver run up in front of your bunched-up, flanking Gatorman unit, at max CMD range from his unit leader, and not have any solos or ranged attacks nearby to deal with it? As a result, that Gator unit's entire activation is spent dealing with this one Reaver. They can't really run past him to kill his comrades as they will take free strikes, they can't move away as they will take free strikes. You can probably block some free strikes using 2 Gators to block LoS, but even then you are not in a good spot. That unit will probably in turn get charged by 5 other Doom Reavers, and the Khador player has now traded 1 Doom Reaver for 5 Gatormans. Good trade, wouldn't you say?

Often a good player will put a couple of models a few inches in front of the rest of his unit just to add as an ablative wall to absorb charges, trading those few models for what you charge in there. You can't really get to the back models either, because as a largely melee faction, you might not have the ranged attacks to deal with the 3 guys in front to clear a charge, or reach the guys in the back at all. Whatever is put up front will be traded for whatever you wish to kill it with. This is what I mean by the "staggering" of melee positions. It's like the "waves" of an army, where you have the anvil (tough or expendable units) go in front, followed by the hammer to clean up (hard-hitters who are usually squishier). Except it's all one unit, and all placement skill.

Well, good Cryx players will be really good at the staggering game since that is one of their core tactics. Oh, and Cryx have Ghostly, Curse of Shadows and Ghost Walk, so can cheat the stagger game better than most, making them even better than you in a melee scrap. They can also do stuff like turn your living dudes into their dead dudes and go through your dudes to get at the backfield stuff. Ain't life grand? Fortunately Gators have some such cheating of their own.

It's difficult to write a descriptive tactica about staggering and piece-trading. They are skills and perceptive abilities you will develop as you play the game and a pattern you will see repeated over many games.  The best way to actively develop this is whenever you move a model, try to think one or two turns ahead - if I move this Gator forward, what will threaten him, and what do I have to threaten things who threaten/kill him? And so on, and so on. It's like a dance... OF DEATH.

Importance of attrition + Dealing with Cryx feat turns (armor)

Cryx is also really good at attrition. They can bring their guys back to "life" with things like Necrosurgeons, Death Toll, Goreshade2's Elite Cadre for Banes, etc. They are mostly fearless (except Satyxis!) and have quite a bit of tough. Their crappy 1/2 point models can destroy your 2 pt models on expected dice values with the standard Cryx buffs/debuffs. If you let the fight go on long enough, they will eventually outlast you simply by virtue of having more attacks than you, turn after turn.

They also tend to have OP feats that destroy your will to live along with your army. This can range from really powerful debuffs and denial (ie. Deneghras, Coven, Skarre2) to big burst damage/activity potential (ie. Skarre1, Lich1+2, Scaverous, Mortenebra). Either way, you're going to have a pretty shitty turn. A lot of the time this is no different than the average Warmahordes game and you just grind through and move on. But when it comes to a feat like Denny2's or Lich2's that are really strong against the melee oriented, elite infantry style of Gatormans, then you better have a plan for it or you're going to lose the game right then.

The average 50pt Cryx list. Notice the small number of warjacks
and many small-based models. Source.

Which warlock should I use?

Why Rask isn't great

Rask is a baller. If his testicles weren't internal, he could use them as a seat. He is a little OP, but still has his non-favourable matchups. The typical Cryx list is one of these.

• He has little attrition potential. He can protect himself pretty damn well, and has Admonition for a warbeast, but outside his feat he doesn't do all that much to make his guys harder to kill or stand their ground. Gators are naturally good at attrition, but Cryx are better and Rask doesn't give us the attrition edge we need to hang in the fight.
• Fury is usually not needed to kill Cryx ARM. POW 13 charges are enough to handle even Mortenebra ARM lists - only Deathjack and Krakens might prove to be an issue (and not a crippling one).
• Inhospitable Ground is not as ballbusting against the pathfinder/ghostly stuff you see in Cryx lists as it is against a lot of other hard-hitting melee units.
• Shooting upkeeps off your own stuff is kinda cool though.

Why Calaban looks good, but is bad

Calaban is practically a Cryx caster, except way shittier.

• He can potentially shred infantry with his feat BUT that relies on him using Bone Shakers on Cryx models. As you may know, Cryx models generally have crappy stats and aren't so sweet at killing each other without any of their mental buffs. You would probably get more out of the feat putting Spiny Growths on everything.
• His spells don't really do anything. Carnivore works only against living so does blah (and living DEF in Cryx is not really high enough to worry about for a Gatorman). Parasite does blah since ARM is not a problem. Occultation does blah since they don't have guns, although it could theoretically protect you from an offensive debuff (if only Cryx didn't have cheap SPD 7 arc nodes). The meat node ability on his gun is not only crap, it doesn't even trigger on Undead stuff (thus is very blah).
• His attrition potential is possibly even worse than Rask's, outside his ability to put Spiny Growth on all the things as a result of his feat.
• Generally sucks horse dick.

Why Barnabas is decent

Barnabas is a respectable Cryx matchup. He can attrition reasonably well with Iron Flesh and his feat, Warpath allows you to get beasts into good positions, and he himself is a tough croc able to put some work in. Swamp Pits can also make ye olde Deathjack crap itself.

• His feat helps in slowing down infantry as well as knocking down those Satyxis and DEF 13 warjacks. It's also nice to make all Gator melee attacks pretty much auto-kill since you can't reroll to hit vs Undead and 5s are not as certain as they appear.
• Iron Flesh Posse can be problematic for many Cryx lists to deal with, at 16/18. Just pray the Withershadow and their lol-tastic dispel bot isn't around.
• Swamp Pits as noted helps take care of Deathjacks, and sometimes block up a certain part of the board to force Cryx players to spend the Skarlock's activation casting Ghost Walk (woe unto the Cryx player).
• However, he lacks the recursion powers or the ability to gain the upper hand in the melee staggering piece-trade game that Maelok does (unless you take a lots of Spitters and Croak Hunters, which is not advisable for almost any other matchup for Barnabas since it lacks any kind of punch).

Why Maelok is best

Maelok is a mighty warlock made of rotting flesh and other evil things. He is so evil, he kills baby crocodiles just because some dude said he couldn't do it. Sure showed him. Maelok is the best matchup we have against Cryx and is as close to a fair one as we get if one builds the list correctly.

• His list usually comprises of almost all Undead models, thanks to Death Pact and Witch Doctors (which you take for the strong synergy with his feat and his grindy playstyle). This shuts down a lot of Cryx's abilities and makes Cryx players bitch about Undead being OP.
• He has great recursion potential with Revive. Each Revive is an almost guaranteed 2 dead Cryx models, and an ARM 18 reach model in their face. Bringing 1-2 back a turn adds up FAST as the model count on the table gets lower and lower.
• He has 3 magical melee attacks! That's kinda cool. I guess. And a spray... at Focus 6. It's not that sweet but it can be cute for taking out incorporeal things that hide behind walls and contest zones.
• His feat allows you to cheat the staggering stage hard. So hard that it makes Cryx players jealous. It means that for 1 turn, all the Gatormans get all their attacks and you get in their backfield and cause problems. Not only that, but all Undead models get +2 ARM for that round, making them even harder to dislodge. Throw in a few Spiny Growths and Death Pact, and you've got one of the few lists in the game that can absorb a Cryx feat turn without falling on its knees and cursing the gods and heavens for forsaking it.

Bow before his rotting majesty!

Other cool stuff

• Thrullgs are reasonably sweet because without guns on the other side, they have a good chance of living long enough to do something cool. They have 3xMAT 7 magical melee attacks (only one with Reach despite having 2 long ass arms), cannot be targeted by spells and cause damage to spell casters in their CMD (sweeter vs Circle Druids or Hex Hunters than against Cryx usually, but you never know). He can also hit upkeeps off your dudes, in the rare event that your Gator unit with Curse of Shadows or Crippling Grasp lives longer than a turn. As such, he is best kept back and protected and used as required rather than charging wherever he can.
  Most importantly, he is your ace in the hole vs Terminus because he can strip off Terminus' focus and make him mortal. Well, killable. Again. A smart Terminus player will know this and may be willing to overextend a bit in order to kill the Thrullg, giving you a bit more table positioning. A foolish Terminus player will run in front of him camping focus, proclaim his status as an immortal god and then probably die.
• Croak Hunters are one of the few ranged attacks you have available. They are great for sniping out lone models blocking charge lanes or contesting zones and such. Remember they also have gang fighter, so even without poison can do good damage on the charge.
• Ironback Spitters tend to do pretty well vs Cryx in my opinion. Having a good, reliable boostable gun with auto-Corrosion can do some sweet stuff. They suck in melee and will get shredded by charging infantry but that gun will allow it to make its point back in opening doors for the rest of your list.
• I also quite like the Totem Hunter vs Cryx. He can get hosed by tough, but his very high mobility makes him like a quasi-ranged attack and he can scare a lot of Cryx casters in the mid to late game. He also makes a pretty good trade for Tartarus, or at least force the Cryx player to keep him back.
• Witch Doctors - they make your stuff Undead. Undead is sweet against Gators, but super sweet against Cryx. They also give you the opportunity to fail tough rolls, which you should absolutely not rely on. Tough on a 5man unit is nowhere near as nutstomping as it is on 3x10man units. They also have Dominate Undead which in a blue moon can do cool stuff like turn models around or have Banes kill Tartarus or whatever, but it is generally not as good as making things Undead since it requires a succession of dice rolls to do anything cool. Sacrificial Strike, on the other hand, can do some serious work late game when you want to put the last few points on an enemy caster, clear a charge lane, or snipe out that annoying Machine Wraith that's been contesting a zone all game.

In conclusion:   Maelok > Barnabas > Rask  > Calaban @ 50pts and above. I think at 35pts Barnabas is probably just as good as Maelok since he doesn't need quite the same 'critical mass' to do his thing well.

Other stuff to watch out for

• Bane Knights have Vengeance AND ignore rough terrain and free strikes. Vengeance weapon masters will do some serious, serious damage to Posse units. This means that you must absolutely kill as many as possible in one turn as you can. Try to line this slaughter up with your feat turn.
• Bane Thralls hit ridiculously hard, and pretty accurately when you factor in Tartarus and all that other Cryx stuff. They don't ignore free strikes, nor do they have reach however. You can kind of tie them up with buffed Gators, and often you will have no choice in doing so because they will roll tough 6 times in a row. Try to avoid getting charged as much as you can - knowing your fundamental movement rules and melee ranges pays off here. They are also prone to just running into melee with your Gators, reducing their ARM by 2 so they can die to whatever else Cryx has on the board.
  They also will totally bend you over the table with Goreshade2 if you didn't stock up on Witch Doctors.
• Tartarus must die. So must Gorman. If you can trade pretty much any single non-warlock model for these (including a Wrastler), it is probably a good trade. This makes me very sad but it is the reality of things.
• Satyxis are living. YAY. This means you can hit them pretty reliably. Raiders will usually get the charge on you though, so focus on positioning for an effective countercharge AND avoid getting jammed up by them. Cryx can be pretty good at scenario play, I hear.
• Blood Witches aren't usually something to worry about too much (besides the UA), though they DO have magic weapons... P+S 12 free strikes will probably kill ghost Gatormans.
• Cryx has some of the best upkeep removal in the Blood Hag and the Withershadow Combine. This can suck for Iron Flesh and Death Pact. It is very satisfying to revive a Gatorman and then charge them with Maelok's feat though (if you hit those straight 7s... 14/16 with Stealth and Undead is totally fair game for support models with long-range nukes).
• Mechanithralls hit at P+S 15 and each cost 25% of a Gatorman. They are "only" MAT 5 though, so without a buff/debuff they might miss you. But if they hit, you're probably dead. They also have Necrosurgeons. These are a high priority target who just happened to have Sac Pawn so are hard to shoot (you guessed it, Maelok's feat + needing straight 7s to hit support models).
• Blackbane's Ghost Raiders are pretty terrifying due to our lack of magical weapons. Their DEF of 13 is just high enough to be annoying to FURY/MAT 6 warlocks. Essentially, these more or less go whereever they want and will always get their attacks before you can deal with them. Sucks to be a Minion.
• Deathjack - Swamp Pits / ignore him / throw him around / cup your nuts and charge him with everything you have left. Or if you're playing Rask, a Posse with Fury should do it.

Basically, heaps of infantry that doesn't have too hard a time at killing your infantry/casters/anything at lower cost.

Terminus

Terminus is stupid to the point where I feel I should make a special section for him. He is basically the epitome of rock/paper/scissors in Warmahordes. Do you have enough damage to kill my DEF 14/ARM 24+ caster? If not, you are not going to have a fun time. There are basically three aspects to him that make him suck for Gators:

1) Gigantic "FU" Tough aura

We have nothing to deal with Tough outside Crit Consume on Barnabas. So if the Cryx player keeps rolling 5s, you're not killing anything no matter what you do or how many lambs you sacrifice. Much fun. Such games design. Wow.

2) ARM camp + Sac Pawn

As you may know, Gators of the past had problems with ARM greater than 19. This is because the highest P+S in the faction is 17 on the Wrastler. As a result, Gators would have almost insta-lost any 1 zone scenario against lists with Gargossals.

In response to this, Gators got Rask. Rask has Fury and the ability to remove upkeeps and camped focus at ranged. Rask is pretty amazing. But even Rask cannot shoot Terminus' focus off because he has a neat ability called Sac Pawn [pretty much anything in my list, bitches!]. This ability more or less means Terminus can camp at ARM 22+ or so and tell your Posse and heavies to suck his dust pipe, even if you play Rask (which you probably shouldn't, for reasons described below).

Thankfully we have Croctors who make things Undead and more or less deny him a feat. This is sweet because it makes Cryx players complain about Undead.

I assure you that the limp-wrist is just for show. This dude
will bitchslap the scales right off your back. Source.

3) Flight + hits like a truck

Not only does he camp ARM like a boss, but he will bitchslap you to death from a long ways away since he is effectively MAT 9, POW 18/16 with Malediction up. Oh, he also a POW14 SP10. You know, for lolz.


I don't have any tips other than "take Thrullgs, keep scenarios in mind and play much better than your opponent".

Playing for Assassination

Warmahordes games typically have two win conditions - either win by scenario (5 control points in SR 2013), or win by having the only warcaster/warlock model on the table (assassination). There are usually three playstyles with which one can achieve these goals:

1. Attrition - this playstyle focuses on making efficient trades, sacrificing as little as possible, and generally killing your opponent's stuff while keeping yours alive. The idea is to improve your relative position on the table so that your forces become relatively stronger and your opponent's become relatively weaker, thus allowing you to assassinate or win on scenario a few turns into the game without the possibility of strong resistance or retalition.
   Examples of attrition tactics include recycling dead bodies (Necrosurgeons, Shamblers), hit and run (Vayl, Stalkers), having really resilient stuff that can take a counterpunch without collapsing (Gatorman Posse, IF Kayazy), having enough hitting power to reliably one-rounding heavy targets, and so on.
2. Board Control/Scenario - this playstyle focuses on obstructing your opponent's ability to manoeuvre so that you can control important areas of the board (usually the areas that give CPs).
   Tactics for this playstyle include power attacks (ie. throws), speed debuffs (Crippling Grasp), jamming, movement denial feats (eDenny/ eKrueger/Gorten), generating terrain and generally being an asshole.
3. Assassination - this playstyle focuses on somehow killing the enemy caster as quickly as is safely possible.
   Tactics for this playstyle involve removing/ignoring defenses like buff spells and focus (Arcane Assassin, Eyriss), placement and movement shenanigans (Shifting Stones, Apparition), contrated high power attacks (mobile heavies/casters) and having massive balls of steel.

Obligatory old-school gaming reference

The Purest Form of the Game

Many believe that Warmachine is at its heart an assassination-oriented game, and the assassination playstyle is the purest form of Page 5:

• Mk1 tournament games were won on assassination more often than not, and lists were designed around that.
• The Hardcore format traditionally encouraged an assassination playstyle by having dice down being equal to 'both players lose'.
• The game bears many similarities to chess, which operates on a similar principle. 
• See previous comment about steel balls.

Despite the "purity" of the assassination style, it has fallen out of favor as a preferred winning strategy. I argue this is due to the risk/reward of the assassination playstyle relative to attrition/scenario play.

Risk vs Reward

I think the main reason assassination has fallen out of favour as a competitive playstyle is that it provides the same or lesser rewards than an attrition playstyle, while also being significantly riskier.
If you win a game by assassination, you get 1 VP on your scorecard along with any CP you scored in that game (probably not many).
If you win a game by scenario, you get 1 VP on your scorecard, and 5 CPs that will serve to elevate your overall ranking.
If you win a game as a result of attrition, you get 1 VP, probably a couple of CP, and a good deal of KPs.
In terms of reward therefore, you are likely to get quantifiably more out of a scenario win than you are out of an assassination win, at least in a tournament setting.

In terms of risk, an assassination playstyle necessitates more risk than the alternatives, or at the very least, more focused risk - less redundancy leads to higher potential for each singular die roll to influence the outcome.
First, you will usually have to involve your caster in the assassination, either by use of a feat, a buff, a debuff, a placement effect and so on. Often, this means that your caster has to have the opposing caster in his control area, which in turn means that you caster is probably in threat range of most of his army next turn.
Secondly, you are probably banking the outcome of the game on a smaller number of dice rolls than a scenario win strategy. Most assassinations rely on making a few attacks - the fewer dice are rolled, the more likely you are to get screwed. A ~58% chance of success (dice at expected value) also means a ~42% chance of failure.

Because of all these factors, failure means you will in turn be assassinated next turn more often than not and at much lower risk on your opponent's part.

So why else has assassination fallen out of favour?

First, I think Hordes becoming a fully-fledged competitive sister game to Warmachine (not really the case early Mk1) has made assassination lists less viable, as the transfer mechanic takes emphasis away from winning the game with two-three high POW attacks on the right target. Playing against Hordes pushes you to play for attrition as killing warbeasts simultaneously decreases your opposing warlock's survivability by taking away potential transfer targets - not to mention the loss of resource generation, animi and damage output. Abilities that bypass transfers are quite rare (Grievous Wounds?), the casters who can do it reliably are often crapped on (Garryth, eMorg, Thyra) and Cryx players are too busy spamming OP infantry to take Stalkers. There are alternatives, like manipulating fury on beasts to block transfers or moving them outside the opposing warlock's control area - these are good tactics but poor strategies.
Hordes might come second in almost everything PP does, but I think it has had a significant impact on how tournament games are played.

Second, the changes to Steamroller over the years have also changed how players approach competitive play. Scenarios have become more important to the game, and not respecting the scenario conditions means you are likely to lose on scenario. As scenario play becomes more popular, assassination play has become less so (zero sum).

Third, the mass reduction in threat ranges between Mk1 and Mk2 has had a pretty big impact on how easy it is to keep your caster safe. There are still a few models that can go a million miles and hit really hard (ie. my buddy Molik Karn), but such models are far less prevalent than they used to be. The reduction of advanced deployment from 12" to 6" is also a big deal, as is the greater distance between each player upon deployment (first player deploys 7").

Finally, arc nodes. I think the increase in relative cost of arc nodes from Mk1 to Mk2 is a factor in the decrease of assassination play. Mk1 Warmachine lists usually had an arc node (unless you played Khador, which traded arc nodes for charging 22" on average). Lancers, Revengers, Guardians and especially chicken bonejacks were very common. Spell assassination was a common strategy amongst all the factions with arc nodes, and THE strategy for Cryx.
Fast forward to a few years of Mk2 and I haven't seen a Revenger in YEARS (except for the one I have on the lower level of my case next to Calaban). Same thing with Lancers and Guardians. Bonechickens are still pretty common, although you see one or two per list these days, compared to the 4-5 you saw in Mk1. Sometimes Haley and Nemo players take Thorn (because he is sweet), and Ret players regularly take a Phoenix with Rahn (since it is also one of their best combat jacks). But on the whole, spell assassination as a reliable tactic or list strategy is gone.


In the end, is the move away from assassination a good thing or bad thing? I don't think it is really either - it just 'is'. The alternative is we could go back to Mk1-style eVlad casters that make assassinations much more certain by throwing ridiculous buffs on a handful of models*, or Goreshade being able to exchange a Blackbane's Ghost Raider almost anywhere on the board for a Deathjack that gets to activate and insert his metal into your caster. Personally I prefer the way things are now than the way they used to be.

In summary, the way the game is at present, if you enjoy assassination and like that aggressive playstyle, you can still be competitive in building your lists around it. There is nothing wrong or right about playing for the assassination. However, it is riskier, and therefore a less reliable path to victory than attrition/scenario play in most balanced matchups.

Blindwater Assassination

One of the nice things about Gators is that (almost) all their casters have some legit assassination tactics, on top of being quality attrition warlocks (due to Gatorman Posse, shooting denial and Spiny Growth).

Barnabas - The "Drop 'n' Pop"

This is basically the oldest trick in the WM book, but weaker since Blindwater has far less guns than PoM and Barnabas's feat is a straight-up inferior version of pKreoss' feat. I wish it was 'non-amphibious enemy models have their base DEF reduced to 5 and must sacrifice movement or action next turn' instead. You don't get LoS advantage like you would with KD, but then there is a ton of anti-KD tech out there that it would bypass... I digress. Here is how it is done:

1. Activate Barnabas
2. Charge a living enemy trooper (charging gives you an extra 3" of range on the feat which you will probably need to catch the enemy caster).
3. Feat to knock down enemy caster and everything in the way
4. Kill your now-KD target with the Blood Cleaver, giving you a free Flesh Eater at the enemy caster
5. Cast 2 more Flesh Eaters at the enemy caster
6. Shoot KD enemy caster with Ironback Spitters and Croak Hunters

I admit I use this tactic more than I would like - sometimes because I come upon bad matchups and feel my odds of victory are better with this than playing out the game, and sometimes just because I like to cup my nuts of steel and gamble.

Maelok - The "ScoobyDoo Ghost Gator"

I think this is probably the most potent assassination in Blindwater because it is really unpredictable, and the only sure defense is distance (or Polarity Shield/Hellbound type stuff)- which is a problem when you are faced with an grindtastic Gator list threatening to win on scenario. It is a bit like a weaker but more focused version of eGaspy's feat:

1. Activate Maelok
2. Revive some Gators in your control area (if you managed to get a small heap of souls last turn, then you get more Gators! Yay!)
3. Feat and finish Maelok's activation
4. Charge enemy caster with incorporeal Gators, or whatever else in your army that can get there and do the job (heavies for example)

That's about it. Against a living warcaster, 2 Gators are likely to get the job done - rerolls are pretty cool. You just have to make sure you have LoS, beware magical weapons, and try to keep Maelok semi-safe in case the assassination fails - the less heavy stuff there is on the table at this point, the better it is.

Rask - The Best Gun In The Game™

Rask has really viable assassination options:

• Boundless Charge for 2" of threat range/ free charges on beasts
• Fury for +3 damage
• Paralysis Bolt to bring high DEF casters to their knees
• Arcane Interference Bolt to remove those pesky defensive upkeeps and focus adding to ARM

I have one-shot several hardy casters after hitting them with Rask's gun and charging them with a single Furied Gatorman (2x POW 16s at MAT 7s with rerolls = better than many heavies).
Snapjaw in particular becomes an absolute terror under Rask, with a 14" threat range against living models at P+S 20 (Fury + Boundless Charge + Bloodthirst + Elasticity). Turns out this is pretty good at killing Gargossals as well.
Anything that stops or hinders ranged attacks can hurt this assassination run of course (Stealth, Blur, DEF buffs, etc.)

And unlike his fluff blurb, he never actually applies the finishing blow himself. What a douche.

Calaban - The "Yeah Nah"

The "Yeah Nah" tactic of assassination is something that looks sweet and legit, but isn't. Here is how it should go:

1. Activate Calaban
2. Shoot a squishy enemy living model with LoS to the enemy caster with your voodoo meat gun
3. Pop feat and finish activation
4. Kill every infantry model in your opponent's list, and use the fury you generate via the feat to periodically throw boosted Bone Shakers into your opponent's caster through the meat node.
5. Fail and die

Much like the phrase "yeah nah", it doesn't really mean anything, but sounds deep and meaningful. I think I have actually pulled this off once or twice, but repeated self-inflicted blows to the head to reduce the mental strain of playing Calaban seem to have affected my memory. It is also very matchup dependent, which makes it even less appealing. It's a decent feat, but more for defensive than offensive purposes IMO.
This makes me want to write another article about exactly why Calaban sucks - I know you love them! Watch this space.... maybe.

The Gator Rise Missile 

This trick can potentially be pulled off in any list that includes a Blackhide Wrastler. I have already written about this trick at length here so you can have a look at it there. The summary is basically that it is an effective and unpredictable way to deliver a heavy beast to the enemy caster and bypass the engagement lines, but I feel it is very risky (even risky for an assassination).

The Totem Hunter

This guy is a ninja and is capable of killing the squishier casters, especially if you can get Fury on him. However he will need the Prey bonus to do so for the MAT/damage buff, and the odds of you getting a Totem Hunter onto a moderately skilled opponent's caster early game are very slim. You would be better off preying an AD unit or key support piece and focusing your efforts on killing that, saving a potential Totem Hunter assassination for late game.

*Sidenote - History Lesson: Blood Legacy in Mk1 was not only +3 to all stats for a round, but also fully-boosted attack and damage rolls and an additional attack per melee weapon. And the Drakhun had d3 initial attacks. It's also why the fastest caster kill on hardcore record was eVlad feating on 4 Widowmakers who killed a focusless Skarre with 4 fully-boosted RAT 10 POW 10s.

Learning to swim - a guide for new players

If you intend to play Blindwater as a faction, my first piece of advice would be "run for you life, and don't look back". Minions are the weakest faction in the game. You've heard it plenty of times before, and it won't always be the case, but playing Gators is like strapping a rabid hungry monkey to your leg and wondering why you're having trouble walking and losing so much blood. If you intend to carry on, however....

EDIT 08/2015 - Blindwater has received some really good releases since this guide was first written - Jaga Jaga, the Sacral Vault and Croak Raiders, all of which are excellent and cover Blindwater's bad matchup vs weapon master infantry swarm and provide a decent ranged game. Gators still lack a few things but in my opinion are about middle of the pack in terms of competitiveness thanks to its strong warlocks and very strong individual pieces.

"Faction" Summary

In the style of the threads on PP beginner forums:

Blindwater Melee: Gatormans excel at eating things, which is difficult to do at a distance. The backbone of any good Blindwater list is the Gatorman Posse, who are arguably the best medium-based infantry in the game. Durable, hard-hitting, and tactically adaptable, Gatorman Posse are an elite melee force to be reckoned with. Like the Posse, most models in the faction boast two or more base attacks which helps them make up for their lower table numbers.

Blindwater Ranged: Being primarily a melee faction, ranged has historically been the weakest point of the faction. But this has changed a lot with the introduction of Croak Raiders, one of the best ranged units in the game, and the Sacral Vault, which provides accurate shooting on top of its support capabilities. The Spitter warbeast also boasts a great boostable gun..

Blindwater Magic: The general theme here is that of voodoo, shady swamps and blood magic. This translates into excellent resilience for both our warlocks and their army, while also leeching life force (both enemy and friendly) to bolster their units or impede the opponent in some way. Blindwater forces are also often accompanied to battle by Witch Doctors who use sacrificial magic to manipulate the veil between life and death.

Blindwater Warlocks: Blindwater's warlocks are on the whole much more powerful than the average warlock and carry the faction on their backs in order to make up for lower list synergies. The general theme of our warlocks is durability and a good mix between troop buffing and battlegroup spells, with a strategic theme of denying enemy ranged combat or excelling in a grindy attrition fight.

Blindwater Warbeasts: Blindwater's beasts are based around the theme of the swamp - amphibious creatures who like it rough and dirty, such as monstrous oversized alligators, turtles and octopuses. Although rather unimpressive in terms of their combat stats, our beasts generally have great animi (Rise, Spiny Growth, Elasticity, Submerge) bring a lot of tactical utility with their myriad of combat abilities and multiple open fists.

General Advice

This is some general advice for any new players to Warmachine, and for veteran players wishing to pick up another faction:

1. Start small, build up. I see a lot of complete noobcakes wanting to rush straight to 35 or 50pts so they can "play proper games". Maybe this is a holdover from WHFB and 40k, where you had to invest a couple of hundred bucks off the bat to get to 500pts to play bare minimum games, but Warmahordes thankfully doesn't work that way. Although games are much better around 50pts, you can still have a meaningful and challenging game at 15/25pts using only battlegroups. That's the beauty of the system, it scales very well.

Thus I recommend starting at 15pts, and building up to 25pts, 35pts and 50pts over a period of at least a month but more likely 4-5 months (depending on how much free time you have). This gives new players time to get familiar with core mechanics like focus/fury, power attacks, activation order and gloating, and gives experienced players time to adjust to their new faction's intricacies and feel out where they would like to expand.

2. Don't over analyze - go with your gut.
In my experience, and in my observation of other players, too much rationalization and agonizing over the 'right' faction and caster will just lead to more pseudo-rationalism and frustration down the line. You are better off choosing a faction or caster that you think is cool, playing a few proxy or Vassal games with it, and sticking with that choice if it feels right. The best faction decisions I've made have come about this way (eButcher + Blindwater).

Having said that, you also have to accept that realities do not usually match expectations, hence the importance of trial.
If I chose my faction by theme alone, I would be playing Khador without a doubt - wolves, (slavic) women, winter and war. Also bears. That is my inner calling, as I identify Central Europe as my spiritual homeland. Also axes and melee are way more awesome than guns, and tanks are better than DPS.
However, that is not actually how Khador plays. Khador probably would not take any jacks at all if it weren't for warjack points, Khador's focus mechanic is boring (except with Butcher2), and you spam small-based infantry. That is not how I like to play Warmahordes.
Another example, my second faction in Mk1 was Protectorate of Menoth, purely because I really liked Kreoss2 and the Testament of Menoth in the fluff and art. Unfortunately, both their playstyles in Mk2 are about as exciting as watching a dog lick its balls for an hour. I got frustrated for a few months, having spent quite a bit of time and money on the faction before deciding to move on (1).

If you play Blindwater for a while and realize playing an underpowered grindy faction with almost no releases each release cycle is not for you, cut your losses and play something else.

3. Play some trial games.
The best way to assess your decision is to put it in play on the table. I wouldn't recommend any experienced players to buy into a new faction without having played a few games on the table to see how you like the playstyle. Proxy at will.

4. Read and re-read your special rules, then put them into practice.
Once you've got your army assembled, read the cards over and over. Play some games and try out special abilities, even if it's not the most tactically brilliant choice at the time. Every turn is an opportunity to learn. The best way to remember anything is to put it into practice. I have an informed opinion of Boneswarm being really bad since it has failed me on so many vivid occasions. I would not have this knowledge and total lack of respect for its rules had I not played it several times! Likewise, I used to hate on Croak Hunters until I started using them as backline counter-chargers and lane clearers, now I think they are a worthwhile addition to almost any list that can spare the points.

5. Paint your models.
I have a personal guideline that I don't buy any new models unless I've painted everything I already own. This not only leads to a more personal and pretty collection, but will also keep your costs down and keep your purchases focused!

Where do we start?

At the time of writing, we have five warlocks: Barnabas, Calaban, Maelok, Jaga-Jaga and Rask.

I would recommend that you initially avoid Calaban at all costs, since I think he is as well designed as the highway system in Auckland combined with a healthy dose of mind-altering substances, and will probably just serve to frustrate you with his Skornergy. But then again, if he sets your heart aflutter, go for it.
Maelok is quite straight forward and effective but works much better with multiple Posses than beasts (ie. higher point levels). Rask and Jaga-Jaga would both be good at low points levels though - Rask is a very solid caster and probably the most powerful in faction although I would not recommend for low points learning games as he can just hard win a lot of matchups (easy wins are not the best learning experience). Jaga-Jaga is a more passive, support-oriented warlock and would also work well at low points games, despite her feat not doing anything if no infantry is present.

Barnabas would be my pick for your first caster. He is very tough, has a great spell list for low points games, and his feat can be used for the simple and effective pop 'n' drop strategy (feat, KD enemy caster. KD stuff screening caster, shoot/spell DEF 5 caster to death). Barnabas' main weakness (at all levels) is his inability to crack high ARM, but at lower points games you are unlikely to see Gargossals and being unable to kill high ARM models will force you to use your Swamp Pits and power attacks, hence learning more.

To start with, you want to get a solid core of warbeasts:

15 pts

• Warlock (+6)
• Blackhide Wrastler (9)
• Ironback Spitter (8)
• Bull Snapper (3)
• +1 pt

You can fill the last point with a Feralgeist or Swamp Gobbers, both models you will find very useful later on, or just play a point short if you wish to play Mangled Metal/Tooth and Claw games.

This list provides you with a solid core to build on for any warlock you might choose to play in the future, and a good selection of animi.You can read more about the specific models by clicking on the tactica link to your right.

Expanding your force

15 -> 25pts:

1. One full Gatorman Posse (9pts)
2. Feralgeist or Swamp Gobbers (whatever you didn't take in your 15pts list)

Gatorman Posse are AMAZING and are the backbone of the Blindwater Congregation. A full unit is a must if you intend to play Blindwater, and you will take at least one in pretty much every list (2).

25-> 35pts:

This is where it gets interesting!

• If you want to play Maelok, Barnabas or Jaga-Jaga:

1. A second full Posse unit (9pts)
2. Replacing the Swamp Gobbers+Feralgeist with a Witch Doctor or Totem Hunter (-2, +3 = 1pt)

Both Maelok and Barnabas actively make Posse better. Maelok wants them to grind and Revive, Barnabas buffs them with Iron Flesh and Swamp Pits. Jaga-Jaga on the other hand allows Posses to excel by eliminating enemy buffs and terrain considerations. The Witch Doctor is good choice for troop support and utility, the Totem Hunter is a great solo assassin and board controller but takes a little skill to use effectively.

• If you want to play Calaban:

1. Swamp Horror (8pts) OR Max Croak Raiders (8pts)
2. Replacing either the Swamp Gobbers and Feralgeist with a 3pt solo (Witch Doctor is a good choice, as is the Totem Hunter). (-1 + 3 = 2pts)

Calaban doesn't get as much from a second Posse as his fellow Gator warlocks in my experience. He does make the Swamp Horror into a MAT 8 beast however, and can afford to push beasts a little harder with his Fury of 7.

• If you want to play Rask:

1. A second full Posse and sub in 2pts for a Totem Hunter,  OR
2. Swamp Shamblers (6pts), Totem Hunter (3pts), and switch out Feralgeist/Gobbers for a Croak Hunter. (1pt)

Rask can do amazing thing for Gatormans, usually giving them a devastating alpha-strike. However, Swamp Shamblers give you a little attrition which Rask otherwise lacks and also provides him with bodies for his Call to Sacrifice ability, making him ridiculously hard to assassinate. They suck in melee but the Bokor can do some serious damage to a heavy target given enough Shamblers to feed him. Bog Trog Ambushers are also decent as Sacrifice fodder, because with Fury they are very legit counter-chargers late game.

35 -> 50pts

By now you should have a good feel for the faction and a good chunk of games under your belt, so will know what you want to add in to cover your weaknesses or enhance your strengths. Here are some suggestions, in no particular order:

- Wrong Eye + Snapjaw: This pair are a complete package. Highly independent, good utility (especially against Hordes), hard hitting, very survivable. A good choice with any caster.
- Another Gatorman Posse: Three full Posses at 50pts might seem excessive, but they really are that good. I will almost always run Maelok with 3 Posses at 50pts, and will usually take 3 with Barnabas as well since neither of them are great ARM crackers, so you might as well maximize your advantage.
- Bog Trog Ambushers: these little guys are great at dealing with support staff or providing extra threat vectors since we lack ranged power. I don't usually take them below 50pts, but at 50 they shine.
- Another Snapper and some 3pt solos: Snappers are awesome, and solos are useful. The Thrullg comes into serious consideration here as well.
- Add in some beasts: Rask absolutely loves Swamp Horrors for example - I prefer to run him with a Wrastler, a Swamp Horror and WE+Snapjaw at 50pts. Jaga-Jaga and Barnabas might also appreciate another Spitter instead of a Wrastler, depending on your matchups.
- An army of frogs: goes great with your bask of crocodiles. Croak Hunters are decidedly mediocre combat solos, but in pairs and threes they can almost pull their weight.
- Sacral Vault: This thing is ridiculously good. Get one.
- Croak Raiders: One of the few signs of power creep in the game, these guys are just better than they should be. They don't directly synergize that well with Blindwater stuff, but they do benefit from our buffs and feats!

And that's that!

Those are my recommendations for anyone intending to start playing Gatormans - if you have any criticisms, suggestions, or wish to correct my grammar and/or stylisms, feel free to leave a comment below, or send me a PM on the Privateer boards (Yertle4).

Updated Oct 2014 - Sacral Vault and Jaga-Jaga notes.

(1) I moved on to Skorne near the end days of Mk1, since I liked the challenge of not having pathfinder anywhere, and playing badass melee armies. Then Metamorphosis came out and Skorne got ridiculous amounts of pathfinder, along with one of the most broken warlocks ever made, then Mk2 playtest came out and flipped the faction on its head. I was out.
(2) Unless you are playing the Rask tier for some drunken fun. Maelok and Barnabas usually take 3 Posse.

Totem Hunter

Overview

The Totem Hunter is one of the best all-round solos in the game on account of his good survivability, speed, mobility and damage. His stats are very solid for a melee solo, with a high MAT and SPD. He has a heap of common abilities:

• Fearless
• Pathfinder
• Stealth
• Hunter - amazing on models with guns, but since he has no guns is basically means he can see through forests.
• Jump - get to jump 5" after advancing... really good mobility and threat range boost.
• Prey - get a nice +2/+2 against a model/unit of your choosing.
• Sprint - full advance after finishing your combat action if you kill a thing.

A lot of keyword abilities which sum up to 'comes out of nowhere, kills something, then runs off to do it again'.

Damage

He has two weapons, a P+S 14 reach spear and a P+S 11 buckler. Combined with his high MAT, these are enough to reliably kill almost any infantry model in the game, but throw in the Prey bonus and it becomes almost a certainty. He hits hard enough to seriously damage light jacks and beasts, or even kill softer casters.

Survival

He has Stealth, ARM 15, DEF 14 and 8 boxes. On top of that, he has pathfinder and hunter which means he can use forests and linear obstacles to full efficiency without being impeded by them in any way. If you lose him before he gets to make an attack, it means you made a mistake, played too aggressively and didn't use the terrain effectively, or your opponent put a lot of resources into killing him.

Utility

Top notch precision assassination, or hit n' run troop killing. That's where this guy's utility lies.

Tactica

There's a couple of things you can do with him, most of which rely on maximizing the Prey bonus to take his stats from really good to amazing:

• Pick a crutch or powerful enemy solo you want to die. Joe, Tartarus, Janyssa, Gorman, Eyriss... that kind of thing. Then focus entirely on killing them, and hopefully sprinting away afterwards to force your opponent to dedicate resources to kill him or risk another nasty cut. At worse, you can just leave him behind a wall or in a forest to make sure said solo never gets too close. Rinse and repeat until the enemy caster is the best thing to prey.
• Pick an important unit you want to die. Usually this will be an AD unit like MHSF or Widowmakers, but can also be a unit with crutch UAs like Winterguard or Sentinels. Try to kill a few per turn, rinse and repeat until you can get the caster. I find him invaluable for killing that one Stealth Shifting Stone on Turn 2, for example.
• Hold/threaten a zone or flag. This works especially well if there is a terrain feature nearby that you can use for protection while waiting for your opponent to come into range. Your prey target in this case should be whatever you expect to contest the zone, as long as it's not a heavy.
• If you're facing a list with a low ARM caster like Nemo, Morghoul, Kaya, etc. you can simply prey the enemy caster from the get go and use the Totem Hunter as a constant assassination threat on account of his long leap threat (12" with reach). He usually won't be able to do the job all by himself, but he can scare them a bit.

In my experience, the key to utilizing him effectively is to stay focused on one of the above roles and not deviating from it. If you send him up a flank and 'see what happens', he is likely to just dick around a few turns and then kill something useless and die. If you send him up the middle unprotected, he'll just get killed without retaliation. Bide your time. Make sure you trade him for something worthwhile - if he completes his mission and dies, then you should have come out better off.

In all cases, he works best if he has some cover to run to with his Sprint move. If he doesn't, I prefer to run straight towards their board edge so they are forced to split their force to deal with him. He is pretty much 100% independent anyway, so you lose nothing.

Because of his very high independence, he works well with any caster. He is especially good under Maelok's feat as it gives him even more mobility. He is also really great with Rask's "anything is a threat" assault playstyle.

Conclusion

Gold star! Keep him focused on killing his prey and achieving a beneficial piece-trade, and you'll get a lot of use out of him. He has a place in almost any Blindwater list above 35pts.