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I realise that a good many people may not have even seen the new Tomb Kings book, but for those who have, I've got the question I posed above: What is the Necrosphinx for?

At first I assumed it was a monster hunter, killing off other big creatures, but this is severely misleading since I decided to run a few simulated battles against a variety of monsters and the Necrosphinx just doesn't have the punch to do the damage and there's no way the special attack is reliable enough to be counted.

For the record the creatures I've tried the Necrosphinx against are:

Arachnarok
Ghorgon
Hell-pit
Doomwheel
Hydra
Giant

In each case the Sphinx, even if it won, came out severely damaged by it's opponent and the one time the special attack worked against the Hell-pit it just regenerated, so no luck there! Funnily enough the Giant won most easily as two-thirds of it's attacks stunlock the Sphinx and it doesn't take long to die that way. The Sphinx just doesn't have the initiative to keep up.

I'm starting to think it might be more of a character killer, joint attacking with another unit into their elite infantry or knights and trying to killing blow the characters?

So, what do you all reckon?

You dont get regen saves against Killing Blow, nor armor, so the HPA would have dies...

However I agree, hoping for one attack to KB on the 6 is just kinda meh...

Hell my bret lord has 4 attacks and it worries me sometimes.

Yeah, I'm not sure about the Necrosphinx either. Only one HKB attack is pretty lame. It's T8 slows up most enemy monsters(except Giants ), but it really can't kill monsters reliably. It's good about killing warmachines since it flies, but Carrion do just as good for a 3rd the points.

Still suffers from the cannon to the face monster syndrome.

I thought it was only armour that was cancelled by Killing Blow, so that's a mild improvement, but it's still not winning any awards yet.

I think, as was just pointed out, warmachines are going to be the major problem, as always. It's hard enough keeping my Bloodthirster safe from firing lines and the Sphinx is a hell of a lot slower than that.

But enough on that, I could rant all day about how most monsters often barely seem to make their points back in a whole game but cannons often exceed their value every turn!

I'm still going to take the Necrosphinx in a few games, I reckon with the lore of light and Nehekhara it could still be good for something.

Doesn't the Decapitating Strike do D6 wounds too?

It's not great, by any means. But it seems like he can take most monster's attacks on the chin with T8 (Firestorm Blade or Awesome Strength Bloodthirsters are the only threats that come to mind), which lets him grind them down, his one big attack/turn making him a little better at it.

The Thunderstomp makes him better at killing infantry, though he has to give up his Strike.

He can fly.

...seems like he's sorta' kinda' good at a few things. Weird, for a monster.

Armor and Regen can't be taken for Killing Blow, just ward. Good to know too; I hadn't realized Regen was cancelled till I read the rule again as well.

Does it have heroic killing blow with the special attack?

One attack per turn swings with strength 10 and heroic killing blow. I feel like they could have given the whole model heroic killing blow without being too unbalancing, but hey-ho.

Anyone else read the title and think of "Buttfer" jokes?

"What's the Necrosphinx for?"
"Pooping, silly."

It's not bad for what... 235pts? Throw it against a much more expensive dragon or greater daemon and if nothing else you've neutralised said beastie for most of the battle.

My Stegadons will be kind of worried about them
I am not really liking the recent stat-creep on monsters, first the 8 wounds giant spider thing, now T8 sphinx?
But then neither are as bad as hydras or hpa.

I'm interested to see the Sphinx in action. I think with a low armor save, and only 5 wounds, it'll be pretty vulnerable to getting whacked by poison or lots of Str 3 hits. And it's no more durable against cannon fire.

If it didn't have T8, it'd need to be significantly cheaper.

Like any big monster it needs to be in combat to avoid all of the unwelome attention it will receive. With good use of terrain and its ability to fly, it should make contact with its chosen target without being shot up too much.

It's also in an army list which can pretty easily heal it.
On paper, once in combat, you should be able to heal it to keep it in fighting shape.

-Matt

Well I have been thinking about it, and I personally think its designed to be an anvil against low end troops, and a Monster killer.

I suggest it takes the Breathe Weapon, as this helps it deal with the two most annoying monsters the HPA, and the Hydra.

I have also noticed that it should hold its own, or win any combat against a roughly even unit, even for a front charge and because it flies, it should be able to get quite a few flank charges instead. I did the math and it actually breaks even against 20 man squad of Phoenix Guard unless you count in Caradryan, but then your fighting a unit you should have tried to avoid at all costs.

Remember, healing's going to cap at one wound per turn. Still a significant advantage, but not a get-out-of-jail-free card either.

Red_Zeke wrote:Remember, healing's going to cap at one wound per turn. Still a significant advantage, but not a get-out-of-jail-free card either.

Why is it capped at 1 per turn, is that some rule I missed on the Statues? I would have thought it would be one per successful augment spell from Nehekara?

Yeah, its a limit on statues.

I think TK is a really great book. And they balanced monsters very well. They are all fairly cheap. They all have a 4+ armor save, which isn't anything against other monsters, but against Core units it means they can wade through a lot more, which means you need to stop them before they get there.

If you get a necrotect nearby they add a weak ward save for 60 pts. They can be healed, admittedly slowly.

Sphinx can even fly.

A collossus to me is essentially a Giant. But he's cheaper, has armor, has a potential ward, some stat plusses and minuses.

I think it's a good, interesting way to do monsters. Give 'em a BIT of resists, make 'em cheaper. Not crazy powerful. It recognizes how war machines can punch holes in them, as well as spells, they can't hide in units, and I think people in general shy away from them. I certainly think they are viable.

Yea, I agree Duke. I think almost all monsters should have Scaly Skin 5+ at least. High T just doesn't cut it anymore, especially with everything wounding a 6+ these days. When skinks with blowguns become the premier monster killers, something is wrong.

They should have made them, and all undead, immune to posion attacks. Come on now they're animated statues and dead walking things, I dont see posion being effective against either, but of couse Im thinking in a tradional sense.

As for the necrosphinx im gonna say no thanks and wait for the new boxed bone ginat, now being called Necrolith Colossus. I did buy one but I intend on using it as the warsphinx instead.

DukeRustfield wrote:They all have a 4+ armor save,

Constructs have a 5+, not 4+

Yeah, typo. I had the book sitting on my lap when I typed it. But that's why I said not too high. But with their high Toughness too, armor + ward(maybe) + T means they can really shake off a lot of the lowbie Core, which I think they should be able to do.

Poison indeed seems to be a problem for them, as well as a continuing one for all monsters.

OT:
TK's is a really interesting book in general. It's a very unusual way. As I was reading it, I was like, everything is sooo weak. They got almost no resists at all in the entire army. But their point costs are dirt! Settra the uber everliving superdude is only 475 pts. But really they are so cost-effective. Lvl 4 wizards for 210pts with access to a damn good lore. And with their silly casket and heirotitans they got mega magic. I think they can give Skaven a run for their money in terms of variability.

Hit a unit on the flank so you're only taking 2-3 attacks per turn and grind them down with your 5 +d6 attacks.

Jackster wrote:My Stegadons will be kind of worried about them

Worry not fellow lizard thats what giant blowpipes are for.

HoverBoy wrote:

Jackster wrote:My Stegadons will be kind of worried about them

Worry not fellow lizard thats what giant blowpipes are for.

Thats why I am only "kind of" worried, rather than freakin out!
Though how the skinks manage to poison constucts is quite beyond me! Must be some Old One stone melting kind of thing!

Hmm, I would use it as a war machine killer. Seeing as the Necrosphynx can fly about it should easily be able to close with a war machine crew and wipe them out fairly quickly. As a hero/monster killer it's not really too effective seeing as only one of it's attacks has heroic killing blow. To me it wouldn't be worth it's points but then again I would still buy the miniature. It looks so damn cool!

Renbags wrote:Hmm, I would use it as a war machine killer. Seeing as the Necrosphynx can fly about it should easily be able to close with a war machine crew and wipe them out fairly quickly. As a hero/monster killer it's not really too effective seeing as only one of it's attacks has heroic killing blow. To me it wouldn't be worth it's points but then again I would still buy the miniature. It looks so damn cool!

I thought that too at first, but when you really look at it, it's not even the most effective war machine hunter in the book: Carrion fly too, and are respectably tough and strong and at only 24 points you can afford quite a few for the cost of that sphinx, tomb swarms and sepuchral stalkers are the others I'd go for, both can take losses from war machines and still come out on top points wise when they run them down and the the transmogrifying gaze should take care of one before it can even shoot! (Unless of course the war machine doesn't count as having initiative...).

In related news, I tested the Warsphinx in my last game and even though I was against the Empire the one cannon he had taken self-destructed on the first turn! Under those circumstances and with Righteous Smiting cast on it the Warsphinx is pretty incredible, and the fiery roar breath weapon is pretty much an auto-purchase, for me at least.

One thing though, the tomb kings can't march, so the flight range is limited to 10" for them, which while still good is not as reliable as you might like for getting into the right positions.

You could always use it as bait. It will draw a lot of fire, like most monster do, and help out maybe getting those chariots into a sweet postion.

Good point on the fly move.

I'd throw this guy into combat with some of the scariest stuff my opponent had to offer; really make that T8 work. Khornate warriors with halberds are still wounding him on 6's. I'd never throw him up against Plague Monks or, chaos gods forbid, Witch Elves.
That's the weird thing with the Warhammer system; an above-average stat doesn't mean a consistent advantage. Tons of diminishing returns.

I certainly like the way these monsters are going. T8 is insane, sure, but he's made of marble.

He's got options (unlike the Hydra, who just rocks), and no one of them own (like certain special attacks of the A-bomb). He's versatile, tough, and not too expensive.

If the Beastmen book could just tweak their monsters to be a little more like this guy (less expensive, less specialized, more durable), I'd say we'd be in business.

I think a 5+ save is mandatory on all monsters, as stated above.

The spider is a nice monster too; sure, he's pretty scary, but he's also super pricey. The only thing I'm not too crazy about is his eight wounds. Until this point, only the Great Unclean One could take a max-damage cannon ball to the face and laugh (a little).

Makes me a bit nervous to see the stats for some 8th-ed. dragons. The oldest race in Warhammer. The biggest and the baddest of all monsters. If the Great Fire Dragon was any indication...