Scourge Ship Overview: Wrath of the Cruisers

The Vicious Jelly Cruisers!

On to the Cruisers! Scourge Cruisers are just plain made of Anger and hate. . . ok. . . maybe my anger and hate. Scourge Cruisers are without a doubt the most aggresive cruisers in the game. While they have poor armor they have some of the best speed as hands down the BEST! Close Action Weapons in the game while having much more powerful or more weapons of their Frigate Cousins. Lets go over them all!

Light Cruisers:

Yokai-class Light Cruiser:

The Yokai is the first Weapons Free Cruiser that we will go over. This beauty is just plain mean! It has Occulus weapons like all Scourge have and they have Scald. On top of that, They still have a decent Close Action Weapon. This trend will continue to its bigger brothers.

Strix-Class Light Cruiser:

This evil. . . Ok, there are kids reading this so lets not finish that bit. When I first encountered the Strix I did not respect it during the beta. Back then it was cheaper than a Madrid and it gave me such a knee jerk reaction that I pushed for it to be changed. It got increased in points to be one of the most expensive Light Cruisers in the game, and you know what? I could not be happier!

The Strix is a powerhouse. OH, it WILL die and its biggest weakness is bombers but this little thing with Hydra Support and silent running can be one of the most annoying thing to come across. If you want a battleship destroyed, this CAN do it. I HATESESS IT!

Cruisers:

Sphinx-class Cruiser:

The Sphinx is a meaner, tougher version of the Yokai. We will see this between the 2 main factions. They sort of just grow up in ship tiers. The Sphinx has all of the deadly grace that the Yokai has but loses 2" of speed, gains some armor and Point Defense. Still a monster I will not like seeing across the table. . . 

Wyvern-class Cruiser:

The Wyvern is the big brother to the Strix. Like the Sphinx, this ship is just a tougher slower older brother. While limited to 2 in a group, seeing a Battlegroup of 3 of these across the board is not unheard of. . . It does not have the initial fast strike of the Strix but it is still a scary ship to see. . .

Ifrit-class Cruiser:

The first Burnthrough Laser toting ship of the Scourge. They made some changes since the beta. It still has the two different firing modes but now it is indeed a choice on which to use. The Scourge Burnthrough Laser is special, with either a spread shot that lacks the punch of its more focused counterpart or the said counterpart that can actually light up an opposing ship, is more accurate but does less overall damage. A versatile weapon that gives you the option of where to best use your shots.

Hydra-class Fleet Carrier: 

Arguably the best Fleet Carrier in the game and carries the second best bombers in the game as well. This is going to be a hated ship. Bombers with Scald that can reach out and touch you are 30" is just plain scary. Not only a BEAUTIFUL ship in look and design it is also dangerous and goes together will with a number of ships in the faction. Watch this one.

Chimera-class Troopship:

The Chimera is likely the most "normal" as cruisers go. It does not excel at one thing but it does arguably the most important job. It gets boots to the ground and Defense Batteries up and going.

Thoughts:

The Cruisers of the faction are just plain annoying. While not tough (4+ save is decent) they have a deadly grace that will make anyone respect them. Watch for the players who like to sneak units across the board. It WILL happen and you will hate life. Scourge want to be in scan range more often than nought so be careful on things like expanding the table size, you will unwittingly decrease the capabilities of this faction, for they don't like head on fights like the PHR and UCM, instead they will use sneaky underhanded tactics and laugh all the way to what was your Cradle World.

All images from the Dropfleet Commander Rule Book are owned by Hawk Wargames (C) 2016