Pairing the Lich

I'm half on holidays at the moment so I decided to spend some time trying to work out what I would pair with Asphixious2.

I'll be honest, I'm not normally this formal when working out a pairing. I have an idea of the weakness of a list before I play it, then I play it against that weakness and against a bunch of other crap and then I know what I want to drop a list against and what I don't want to drop a list against. However not playing Cryx I decided to do it the formal way and go through all the match ups.


The Mirror
Denny1 shooting - She hasn't got a way to ignore stealth or see through clouds.

Denny2 Scenario - Lich likes to dominate and get forwards

Gorshade2 Theme Force - Don't care about stealth, have no living models for him to turn into bane thralls also don't care about weapon masters. Lich has more tools.

Terminus - Curse + Banes = Dead Terminus. Tough may be a problem but money is still on the Lich here.

Morty Jacks - Almost an auto win

Skarre2 Jacks - Won't kill the lich and he eats heavies

Skarre1 Infantry Swarm - Will get through the Lich's defences and he can't kill enough models. Still Skarre dies super easy and she needs to get forwards to kill Lich. With the Helldiver in the list I'd call it even.

Cygnar
Haley1 - Nightmare. Lich auto loses unless the Haley1 player stuffs up. Look for the mistake, if she doesn't camp focus excarnate her to death.

Haley2 Stormwall - One or two Stormwalls, the Lich cares not. He powers through fairly easily. 

Haley2 Dudeswarm - Without excarnate/Bane Thralls it's going to be an issue. 

Caine2 - Can't see through the clouds but Lich can't hit him with Banes. He can teleport away from the hell diver and RFP on his feat. This one goes to Caine.

Siege - Feat + Mage Sight forces Lich to play very conservatively. Ground pounder is an issue as well. Again it goes to Siege.

Nemo2 - Centurions + Positive charge will keep his jacks alive and the sheer amount of Stormcallers will be an issue. 

Protectorate

Feora2 - He loves Jacks

Harbinger- Can't shoot her to keep her honest. She'll Martyrdom a Tough no knock down unit as much as she wants.

Kreoss - Again loves jacks, clouds will keep Lich safe.

Khador

Irusk1 - without excarnated bile thralls he struggles but man does Irusk hate the clouds.

Even

Sorscha2 - She loses some survivability from Irusk1 but she gains Shatter Storm making the feat less potent. Iron Flesh is a problem without Bile Thralls. 

Sorscha1 - Is a problem for infantry swarms, you don't see her much though.

Vlads - Lich can power through. Clouds bone the Vlads pretty hard. 

Zokatavir2 Theme Force - Don't care about command checks and the bane thralls have tough while the knights like to spread out leaving a couple forwards to trigger vengeance. He doesn't like the clouds either.

Retribution

Ossyan - Shatterstorm is an issue but he doesn't ignore Stealth. 

Even

Vyros2 Jack Spam - More jacks, hooray for Lich

Snipe Feat Go - Iron Lich Stats and teleport + no need to allocate means he can live in his deployment zone if he wants.

Mercs

Bart Galleon - eats the Galleon

Ashlynn - she has a game but Lich will generally power through.

Shae - Tough is an issue without the blood hag. This one might be even. 

Durgen - Kills lots of troops, can shut down Tartarus, Durgen is vulnerable to the feat. Again Even

Trolls

Family Reunion - Lich eats champions.

Doomshaper1 theme - Way too vulnerable to the feat and lich eats multi wound infantry and beasts. Even with the walls.

Madrak2 - Might be even, he tears through infantry. Can't kill Madrak with the feat.

Madrak1 beast brick - high Def can be an issue but everyone can't be behind the wall and Lich dominates the scenario. 

Grim1 - He'll slow you down for a turn but he might not have enough attacks and Lich has a lot more scenario presence. Maybe Even. 

Grissel1 - She can cause issues with her control and has a lot of tough infantry and a lot of attacks and scenario presence. That said she needs to be forwards and you can feat on her. Maybe even.

Cirlce

Morvahna2 - No living models for her to get rerolls, multi wound infantry and beasts. This one goes to the lich.

Kromac - Lots of heavies but you can't use your spells and Kromac is the bigger assassination threat. Even

Kruegar1 - Lots of infantry removal and you can't feat on him with Skyborne.

Kruegar2 Scenario - Lich gets a lot in the zone, has no problem just running into him.

Kaya2 - Lich eats the heavies.

Legion

Saeryn - Crowd control and she ignores the clouds. She has his number. 

Vayl2 - Doesn't care about the clouds, excarnate or hellbound. Angels will kill Lich as will her feat if he spends too much focus and stays forwards. 

Lylyth2 - Will straight kill him. He needs to stay in his deployment zone for most of the game. He eats the heavies if he can get there. It's not a good match up but he can create a wreck marker in the zone and sit in it camping all his fury to get ahead in scenario. Even

Vayl1 - She's fast, pulls back and RFPs. It's an issue. If you can feat on her she just dies. Even

Skorne
Rasheth - Eats the heavies and the Gators.

Morghoul1 - eats the heavies.

Hex2 - Can be an issue with all his infantry killing ability but Lich can probably still power through.
Even

Xerxis Brick - Lich powers through brick armies like no ones business.

Makedas - Lich has to be conservative because they will straight kill him given half a shot. That said he can power through most of their armies without a lot of difficulty.
Even.

Minions
Rask - Eats Gators like no ones business


What Does this Tell Us?
As it stands there are 3 things Lichs pair needs to be able to handle. Harbinger (and they should have a game against ), Cygnar, Legion and Iron Flesh. Also we want to create an issue for our opponent by having a list with different threats and requiring different tools to beat. If we modify the Lich list to have bile thralls we can take Iron Flesh off the list but that does depend on how confident we are with the Lich's pair handling that match up. Suggestions:

The Big One:

Denny1:

Cryx

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

30 models

[00] Warwitch Deneghra (0 / 5 WJ remaining)

[02]  >> Skarlock Thrall

[10]  >> Nightmare

[05]  >> Defiler

[04]  >> Nightwretch

[02] Warwitch Siren

[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

[02] Master Gunner Dougal Macnaile

[09] Wrong Eye

[00]  >> Snapjaw (Companion)

[09] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (9 grunts)

[10] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (9 grunts)

Helps With - All the bad match ups. All this really does not want to see is a wall of ARM stacking jacks/beasts and Asphyxious deals with that. 

Also:

Skarre2
She doesn't care about covering fire, and can deliver the death jack a long way. She can also lock down Legion lists with her feat. Suggested list(ish):

Cryx
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
19 models

[00] Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast (0 / 6 WJ remaining)
[02]  >> Skarlock Thrall
[12]  >> Deathjack
[09]  >> Malice
[10]  >> Harrower
[05]  >> Defiler
[02] Warwitch Siren
[02] Warwitch Siren
[03] Pistol Wraith
[03] Pistol Wraith
[06] Black Ogrun Boarding Party (4 grunts)
[02] Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls

Helps with: Cygnar a bunch. This list gives no shits about POW 10 shooting. It keeps the Harbinger honest with Martyrdoms and has defiler sprays with auto corrosion and black spot it's a real issue for Menoth. Locks down legion beasts with her feat and kills them with her jacks and Black Ogrun. 

Still a problem: Khador. Pairing with her means bringing in the bile thralls on the Lich so you can deal with iron flesh. 

Cryx

Standard Army

PCs: 50 / 50

38 models

[00] Pirate Queen Skarre (0 / 6 WJ remaining)

[02]  >> Skarlock Thrall

[19]  >> Kraken

[02] Satyxis Raider Captain

[01] Scrap Thrall (3)

[04] Satyxis Blood Witches (5 grunts)

[02]  >> Satyxis Blood Hag

[08] Satyxis Raiders (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Satyxis Raider Sea Witch

[03] Mechanithralls (5 grunts)

[02]  >> Brute Thrall (2 Brute Thralls)

[02] Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls

[09] Wraith Engine

Now I'm just mucking around. Skarre1 addresses a lot of the Lich's weaknesses. She is also a buff caster so you don't have to worry about anti magic. I put in the wraith engine because it's good with her but also to keep the number of models down to speed up turn times. You have to hold your feat until you can kill a Stormwall against Cygnar.