Sphinx ? The Simple Enabler

[Dubstep]

"The answer to its riddle is writ in blood" - Dawnlord Vyros


The Simple Intro

The Sphinx is a simple myrmidon. He is a cheap beatstick that has his uses. If the Phoenix is an ornate longsword, the Sphinx is a club. He has no movement shenanigans, no extra defences, and no super cool weapons. What he does have are two wolverine claws and a gun that enables portions of your army. He's also one tough sucker for his low point cost, usually forcing your opponent to commit more points to killing him. He's not meant for clearing out large swarms of infantry (unless hes with vyros), but rather for destroying heavies many times his point cost while supporting your magic.

Simple.


The Simple Stats

He runs on a Vyre chassis, so that means no force field, slower speed, higher armor, and a gun that can’t be disabled. His gun is lowish range, has the same power as a handcannon, and lowers the defence of an enemy model hit against magic attacks. He has a single reach, average p+s weapon and a single non-reach, below average p+s weapon, both of which are open fists. The open fists are awsome because they allow for some nice double handed throws. All together, this Myrmidon seems simple. Here is the kicker. He's our cheapest heavy at seven points. Boom. Mind blown.

We now have a cheap, melee beatstick. Retribution style.


The Runespear Cannon

The Sphinx's gun is an enabler. It enables battle mages, Artificers, Lanyssa, A+H, the list goes on. Unfortunately, the Sphinx has an issue that every non-character myrmidon must face... Rat 5. What this means is either you must sacrifice your movement to aim, boost with a focus, or marshal to Sentinels, although I don’t recommend this option as it cripples his melee ability. It is situational, but still it can make that clutch spell more reliable. Our low magic ability battle mages need all the help they can get.

Do NOT get the Sphinx for his gun, however, as it is not very powerful by itself. See it as a nice bonus to a melee beatstick.


Simple Synergies and Tactics

pVyros - He likes the Sphinx. He generally likes all reach jacks for flank, but he likes the Sphinx more because he's a cheap heavy with reach. Inviolable Resolve can make the Sphinx tough as nails, as well as mobility giving pathfinder and a small speed increase, and if needed you to can use his gun to snipe an annoying solo with Birds Eye. His feat can sometimes be useful for the Sphinx, allowing for pseudo-thresher attacks.

eVyros - He has romantic relations with the Sphinx. Similar reasons as the original, except you add synergy to the mix. With ConPow and +2 synergy, you have a 7 point jack that could remove the Avatar in a single turn. Bazinga! His feat can get the Sphinx right into combat, giving him a large threat range. One good stratagy is to use a fully synergyzed Sphinx to trample toward the enemy caster, clearing the way of any small based models in the way of Vyros and opening up an assassination run.

Garryth - Although Garryth doesn’t directly support the Sphinx, he likes this Myrmidon. By enabling the battle mages and gallows you now can reliably use those push/pull shenanigans to create assassination vectors that you would have had trouble creating before. Also can make death sentence more reliable.

Rhan - Not his favourite myrmidon, as the Sphinx doesn’t have arcnode. However, he can make the Battle Mages more effective outside his feat turn, which can help. He also likes the cheap beatstick to put the final blow on some caster. TK can give him a small threat increase, and polarity shield can help him survive a bit longer.

Ossyan - Ossy likes him because he's a cheap beat stick. Can give him a small speed/defence increase, as well as Chronomancer and Chrono Cannon increasing his accuracy slightly. One fun strategy you can do is the Ossyan-pinball wizard. Use the Chronophage cannon on a reasonably high armor target, then hit him with the Sphinx. You can now use a team of battle mages to push and pull that target so that the temporal distortion is automatically over your actual target. Good for ensuring the effects of the Distortion.

Arcanist - Bring a pair of these if you want to marshal the Sphinx. ConPow and the extra focus can give this jack 3 p+s 18 attacks. Not bad for a 7 point marshaled jack.

Aiyanna & Holt – Although she already has a high MA, the bonus doesn’t hurt. As well, if the Sphinx is able to hit a single model in a unit (and he survives), Aiyanna can kiss that model and affect the whole unit. She can also make the Sphinx’s weapon magical, which can help in certain situations.

Sentinels - Pronto can effectivly remove the Sphinx's Rat/range problem, as well as creating a yo-yo ranged attack at will. With pronto, you can boost this jacks threat range up to extreme lengths. Wouldnt recomend without some arcanist support however.


*** Read below for additional ideas and info

[Demeritus]

Not bad but you left out Kaelyssa and Ossyan. While the Sphinx is not a premier heavy it definitely is solid and for its point cost is hard to complain about what it is and what it does. Another thing is that it has two open fists which means it can do double handed throws which have definitely come in handy for me and being able to do that in a 7 point durable package is great.

[AJ the Ronin]

I haven't try it yet but I'm considering using one marshaled with Invictors in list where Vics may end up doing melee duty (list without Sentinels or Harbeldiers).

Heck, you don't even have to Marshal it. If the caster don't need a node and will field Invictors a Sphinx that still in the battlegroup but tag along with the Invictors should be quite a threat to most things in the game.

[Dubstep]

Thanks for the double handed throw. Totally forgot to include that.

@Demeritus - Only reason I didnt include Ossyan and Kae is that the Sphinx doesnt offer them anything other than his beatstickyness. They offer to him what they would any other jack, and if you want to know what they offer you can go look at their guide.

@AJ - The only reason i wouldnt consider marshaling the sphinx is that it lowers the sphinx's melee power by alot, even with arcanist support. With a griffon this is ok because hes only a 4 point missile, but i just dont see spending 7 points just to get the flank bonus on a few vics :/

Edit: Discovered something fun with Ossyan. Playing Ossy-pinball as we speak.

[joelker41]

I mean its fine if you were telling us what it does, not necessarily how to use it.

I mean it's nice and all just not sure its a 'tactica'.

[PG_Dawnlord Ed]

Oh, I dunno. I think it covers all the bases. Perhaps I'm just a bit biased, but I don't see the Sphinx as a complex and subtle piece of hardware.

It's a solid start. Perhaps if folks have had experiences not covered here, they could be edited into the tactica?

[NEoJoe]

I think it's just fine all in all, but I would go on more of a limb to mention the Sphinx's durability. Compare it across all similar costed heavies, you won't find anything flat-out harder to kill (Juggernaut is it's biggest rival there with more armor and boxes, but DEF 10 blows). The surprising durability combined with the rock-bottom cost means he's a sweet beatstick that doubles well as a trade piece that takes more than your opponent wants to give. I think he's just fine for Ravyn and Garryth if they don't want a battlegroup, but mostly Garryth.

Basically, sometimes you can take the Sphinx for his defense over his offense. He's just a rugged dude for 7 points, and Reach means he holds more ground.

Otherwise, thanks for the write up

[FerrusManus]

Maybe you should have also mentioned Lanyssa in the synergies, free charge (and extra threat range) is very nice for cheap heavies, and since 2 of Lanyssa's spells are offensive so she can benefit from Sphinx cannon as well.

[Dubstep]

@Ferrus - I did include her with the battle mages and other spell casters, but didnt really go in depth as all it really does is enable those spells and not increase their power much.

@Everyone - Thanks for all your input. This would be my first guide ever, and I'm still learning a bunch. Keep it coming

[Gho5t]

Even though certain model synergies may not seem special or spectacular, I think it's beneficial for new players and those unfamiliar with the model to be able to see in writing what you can pull off with said model. Even if it only serves as a reminder, I think it's a good idea to present it. Imagine if this is the first tactica a new player reads. My two cents.

[AJ the Ronin]

@AJ - The only reason i wouldnt consider marshaling the sphinx is that it lowers the sphinx's melee power by alot, even with arcanist support. With a griffon this is ok because hes only a 4 point missile, but i just dont see spending 7 points just to get the flank bonus on a few vics :/

Agreed.

Yet, in certain circumstances where you are tight on points the Sphinx/Invictors tag team is quite good. Vics can double up as a melee unit and the Sphinx (as part of the battlegroup of course) will not only do its stuff but help the unit with the flank bonus.

Didn't knew it was your first write-up. Pretty good debut.

[Steamwitch]

With the open fist on a reach weapon is it possible to lock an opponent who cant retaliate? The only power attacks I use are 1/2 handed toss, headbutt, and armlocking sheilds. Usually I go for an outright kill on Sheild carrying jacks. But what Im not sure of is this. Reaching Jack head/arm locks a non reach Jack. Can the locked Jack move because they arent in.5" melee range? Basically lets say I know I cant wreck the Jack in question. Am I able to lock it with reach to be safe from retaliation from locked Jack?

[Demeritus]

With the open fist on a reach weapon is it possible to lock an opponent who cant retaliate? The only power attacks I use are 1/2 handed toss, headbutt, and armlocking sheilds. Usually I go for an outright kill on Sheild carrying jacks. But what Im not sure of is this. Reaching Jack head/arm locks a non reach Jack. Can the locked Jack move because they arent in.5" melee range? Basically lets say I know I cant wreck the Jack in question. Am I able to lock it with reach to be safe from retaliation from locked Jack?

No, Colossals & Gargantuans get around this because their ruleset specifies that they can make power attacks from 2" out. Other than that, all other jacks are held to the standard rules for weapon locks.

[Steamwitch]

garglossals doing this is what raised the question. Sorta wonky but dems the rules.

[The Key of E]

Yeah, the Sphinx was the first model released to have an Open Fist with Reach. It was clarified quite quickly that it can still only do Power Attacks within 0.5", not 2".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Gargossals don't have "Reach weapons" per se, but rather a 2" melee range natively. It specifically says that they can make Power Attacks within 2".

[PG_Dawnlord Ed]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Gargossals don't have "Reach weapons" per se, but rather a 2" melee range natively. It specifically says that they can make Power Attacks within 2".

You are correct.

[Ralphus]

The Sphinx's gun is already Magical. Of course why wouldn't Lady A want to re-magic his gun. :P Of course, his claws could use the buff.

[Daishi]

I thought the Nightmare had two open fists with reach?

[PG_Dawnlord Ed]

I thought the Nightmare had two open fists with reach?

It may. But it doesn't matter. Power attacks have a range of .5 inches. Properties of a weapon do not apply to power attacks unless specifically stated.

[The Key of E]

I thought the Nightmare had two open fists with reach?

So it does. Huh. I thought the Sphinx was the first.

Interesting that Nightmare has Reach but Deathjack doesn't (not that Deathjack needs to be even more overpowered, mind you).

Regardless, what Ed said is correct.

[Sparkfire]

Curse you dubstep, makin me want to buy a heavy warjack, the sphinx kit and continue my attrition game with kaelyssa. Excellent write up, makes me consider something I used to dismiss.

Kaelyssa synergy: Kaelyssa likes backlashing heavy warjacks, Mage hunter strike force likes hitting, battlemages like hittting and knocking things down with a crit. Double twos hitting oppose to missing is nice. Granted you could also run Eiryss and sphinx for he price of Phoenix, enabling the warjack lockdown at the same time... Not that I'm suggesting dropping a Phoenix for the pair, but you can.