If you did take a Cronos...?

What upgrades would you take?

No previous experience needed for this one, if you had to take a Cronos, what would you give it?

I am presuming we would only take one in a list and it is a non-Coven list so most of the list would love to get their hands on a token (granted that if we took haemys they would be riding with wyches or something).

In one of my lists this would mean a portal list that would probably use mandrakes (I know, not the best), hellions, bikes, scourges and maybe even a talos.

I am thinking I would only take the spirit vortex as I am not too keen on sending my cronos into cc - or am I wrong?

Curious in what you thought.

I think it's best to use it with a WWP, since it's pretty slow and the abillity to grant a pain token to a unit within 12" is realy great, but 12" isn't too far away. A WWP may counter this problems, as it takes care of the speed problem and provides a tightly packed center in wich as many units as possible can take the pain tokens.

I'd take my Cronos probably as is, because 20pts for the spirit vortex is expensive, but if I had the spare points it is a good option, since the Cronos as Monstrous Creature can fire both it's weapons. This means two pain tokens per round, yai!

The spirit probe however is a suboptimal choice. A Cronos, in my opinion, should never be in CC. If I have the choice to fire a S4 Template (possibly even plus a S3 Blast) or to take 2 S5 base-attacks in CC, I know, what I'd take.
Additionaly T7 is good, but a 3+ save isn't realy great.

I think that additional Big Blast with AP3 is worth some points. Even if it's S3, AP make it sooo much better... Oddly enough, it does not negate FNP Oh well, at least for 1 wound You get additional Pain Token.

I'd run it with Spirit Vortex as a must. 100pts is still way cheap for a HVY slot.

A few reasons why I consider the SV a must.

1. Its a MC so it can fire 2 weapons a turn.
2. It offers a greater range than the stock template weapon.
3. It offers another way to get a quick pain token (i.e. only requires a single casualty).
4. While the str value is low the MEQ AP is nice.
5. It uses the BIG blast marker.

While the Cronos stock 3+ AS is not the best giving the Cronos a SV opens up the ability to get itself FNP faster which is a must against all those Space Pup Long Fang ML heavy lists and GKs shooting.

I will say based on the times I have used the Cronos with the Vortex upgrade and every time coming out of a portal:

I have always had a target to fire at AND have always netted at least 1 kill with it - 2/3 of the time the siphon was also in range and it too has netted a kill most of the time.

The only real problem it has is that after generating 1 or 2 tokens right when it shows up is that it becomes the first priority and it dies to shooting right after.

So other than needing a pain token for itself first, there is still no guarantee it will survive. I think it is this reason I stopped using it as I get 2 or 3 tokens out of it and then it dies a turn and a half later.

I think my record for it's survival is a total of 3 turns once and that was only because I got it too close to an enemy objective and it got charged - my bad.

100 points for 2-3 Pain tokens and attracting a lot of fire? Haemunculus would be proud:)

Lets go with a lesser scenerio where it only last 2 turns......in those 2 turns would you say it drew considerable attention from your opponent while at the same time doing a bit of damage and making your other units better?

I would also hazard a guess well more than 100 points of your opponent is going to be tied up focusing on the Cronos.

I get all giddy when I have an opponent who goes all "tunnel vision" when they see a specific unit hit the table especially when said unit only cost 100 points.

The Vortex is great. I also give it the probe just so it can get stuck into a unit with little weapons that can harm it and pump out pain tokens (or atleast get a 3rd token before being powerfisted to death). It's not really supposed to survive, since it will draw a lot of fire once it starts pumping out pain tokens, but it's cheap enough that it's not too big of a loss.

I've pretty much used one as a staple in my WWP list for quite some time.

It does indeed draw alot of fire, but that's because it's an MC coming out of a WWP most times. But as has been pointed out, it takes alot more fire to kill it that it is worth. The secondary benefit to that though, is it's already done its job. If you get 2 turns and say 3 tokens out of it. That's 3 squads set with FNP, or a squad with FC, FNP and another FNP, and coming out of a portal, those are very ready for a charge into soft back lines.

As far as strategy for using it, don't forget, you can give it a token itself. If you are looking at a large torrent of fire type army, or expect it to get hit with lots of shooting, start with FNP on the Cronos. with T7, and a 3+/4+, it will frustrate opponents to no end. As far as CC, the only thing I send it after is vehicles, mostly because it doesn't count as being engaged, so it can shoot still.