I'm working on a limited insertion list for a direct action tournament with the limited insertion option. I'm thinking of going with vanilla CA With TAG getting a bonus this season (tactical awareness based on the rumor), taking one of CA big TAG seems like a no brainer. So which one would you take , how and why ? The sphinx and his ability to go easily reach the oponent DZ and murder his order (TO + low ARO with limited insertion => easy to move around). Also, being cheaper than the Avatar means enough point to take a secondary cheap TAG (overdron HRL, xeodron) for more tactical awereness madness. The avatar, supreme machine of murder is less likely to face many ant-TAG dedicated option with low number of oponent, plus the strategos/speculo synergy seems even better with only 10 troop on the oponent side
If TAGs do get a buff, it's likely people will see them coming and plan for killing them - I know you said low number of opponents would make it less likely but I'd still be worried about quality assault hackers, E/M ammo carriers, McMurrough etc. Thinking about that, I'd personally say take the Sphinx, as hidden deployment makes it immune to getting alpha striked.
Heh, it's limited insertion. Your tools will be limited, so will theirs be. I'd go for A-Money, depending on the mission: Combined Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 AVATAR Lieutenant (Strategos L3) MULTI HMG, Sepsitor Plus / DA CCW. (3.5 | 137) STALDRON Flash Pulse / Knife. (0 | 0) Bit Hacker (UPGRADE: Expel) Submachine Gun + Pitcher, Deployable Repeater + KISS! / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19) KISS! Adhesive Launcher / Electric Pulse. (- | 4) MORAT Hacker (EI Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22) SHROUDED Hacker (EI Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) MED-TECH OBSIDON MEDCHANOID Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) SLAVE DRONE Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) Q-DRONE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 26) SHROUDED (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25) IKADRON (Baggage, Repeater) 2 Light Flamethrowers, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9) ÍMETRON . (0 | 4) ÍMETRON . (0 | 4) 6 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army Killer hackers abound to ruin their hacking days, a competent engineer to keep your big beastie rolling, and even a secondary gun for troubleshooting. I'd run that.
Confirmed Tactical Awareness and Fat1 added to all TAGs (some pay for it, the most expensive don't). I would go with the Avatar. If you want to use the Sphinx, use either Shasvastii or Onyx, frankly, to have a solid defense (fireteam or marker spam).
Crys for overdrone/xeodrone. Nows is factible 2 sphinx list, ahah. i thinking in play this list as i can. nox spc ops disguised as sheskin to deterrent maneouver SEF ITS11-01 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 SPHINX Spitfire, 2 Heavy Flamethrowers / EXP CCW. (2 | 106) SCINDRON Flash Pulse / Knife. (0 | 0) GWAILO Lieutenant (Multispectral Visor L2) Heavy Rocket Launcher / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (2 | 43) M-DRONE FTO (Nanoscreen) Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 23) M-DRONE FTO (Nanoscreen) Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 23) SEED-SOLDIER (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17) SEED-SOLDIER (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17) MED-TECH OBSIDON MEDCHANOID (Journalist L1) Submachine Gun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22) SLAVE DRONE Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) TENSHO FTO (Journalist L1) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) NOX (Infinity Spec-Ops) (12 XP) (Chain of Command, Holoprojector L1) Combi Rifle, Zapper, AP Heavy Pistol / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) NOX (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Zapper / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) 4 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army
It kind of depends on what you want. Short version - Avatar supports your list, and the Speculo in particular. Sphinx is a better rambo piece and forces you into sectorial IMO. For direct combat power, the Avatar is a beast with good rangebands and stats, but it has less direct rambo capability than the Sphinx due to the large dead zone for its gun and a sketchy secondary weapon. I have always found that with the dead zone and "kill me and you win" sign hanging from it, its hard to really leverage the Avatar if the opponent is content to stay in hiding. For secondary effects, the Sphinx brings less compared to the Avatar. Hidden deployment is nice, camouflage state is strong. An HFT instead of the trash sepsitor is very nice. The WIP 17 on the Avatar is nice but not really impactful on a single roll. IMM:POS is really hit and miss. But man, strategos is a fucking house. Denying them reserves and gaining an order for other troops is a huge deal. A big element for me is that the Avatar isn't really that much more expensive. A Sphinx needs to bring a LT, and in vanilla particularly thats an added cost. In Shasvasti I suppose your probably taking a vanilla Nox in your link or something anyway, but it still contributes to a much closer cost parity than it looks at first. This season's rule lets an Avatar list get to 12 orders, but bringing the Sphinx to 11 is probably more of a big deal. In vanilla, the Avatar is the clearly better option due to the high cost or SWC of our LT choices. Compared to Shas or Onyx you need to look at the secondary tools in the toolbox or the contents of your second list - is the link better than what you get in vanilla? Are you taking one Noctifier or three (lol). Do you get some value out of several Q drones? Are you dead keen on the unidron link? Is a strategos Speculo or a minelayer Speculo more what you want? And how much do you lean on it - because an Avatar list is really an Avatar-Speculo list IMO.