Warmachine: All Glory to the Cephalyx!

Hailing from the dank sewers of the great cities of Immoren, the Cephalyx perform their twisted experiments in secrecy. Pushing the limits of the body, Cephalyx surgeons precisely fuse metal and flesh to create horrific monstrosities capable of slaughtering mindlessly for the will of their new masters. While the Cephalyx is a new mercenary force(Surprise folks they work fantastic with Cryx!), they also offer players new themed forces for those like their armies to look reminiscent of Judas Priest. With their stat lines released in the lastest No Quarter, let’s take a look at what two of these leather-toting baddies have to offer. 

Exulon Thexus is both the strongest showing and currently the only warcaster for the Cephalyx. Thexus boasts a high SPD, CMD and focus. Thexus sports a nifty ability called Aggressive Reaction, that allows models in his battlegroup to charge/run without spending focus as long as an enemy model is within Thexus’ command range. Given his high CMD, it won’t be hard to give free charges to the monstrosities he brings–Cephalyx warcasters can only control monstrosities. His Spell Driver ability allows him to channel spells through another model within his control area, but damages that model d3+1 points.  His melee attacks aren’t anything to write home about, but as his high focus should imply, this guy’s six spells are where he shines. 

Deceleration,a non upkeep spell, buffs friendly models within Thexus’ command area with a DEF and ARM bonus against ranged atttacks. The spell doesn’t work against magical attacks. Hex Blast is an average AOE spell that nullifies enemy upkeep/animi spells on the model/unit directly hit–looking at you Lamentation users. Influence is a crazy cheap offensive spell that forces the enemy model to make a single melee attack. The idea of repeat casting this bad boy and watching your opponent’s face as their model bashes their own solos to death? Priceless. Psycho Surgery is a run of the mill healing spell. The last two spells second only to his feat in making me squeal with anticipation. Rampager allows Thexus’ to take control of an enemy non character warjack/warbeast and make one full advance and one normal attack with it. It reminds me of Iron Mother Directrix’s spell Domination without the constraints. Thexus’ last spell is Telekinesis, which allows him to place a model completely within 2” of it original position. The RNG on Telekinesis is almost as large as Thexus’ command range, giving players a wide range of targets to choose from. The sheer possibilities that Rampager and Telekinesis open up for Cephalyx players is mind blowing and limited only by the ingenuity of the players. 

We obviously have to talk about Thexus’ feat, Telekinetic Tide. Thexus’ pushes each enemy non-caster model within his control area 2” in any direction. This little guy can potentially mind control a good portion of your opponents forces. The idea of isolating specific models, or utilizing feats to gain strategic benefits from Aggressive Reaction makes me tingly. Not to mention this bomb of a spell is insane for certain scenarios and objective control. 

Euxlon Thexus is begging to take at least three monstrosities in his force. He wants to stay back behind his tanks, tease the enemy army, and channel spells through his Drudges and monstrosities. My only fear is how fragile Thexus is–he has very sub-par ARM and DEF stats–so keeping him well protected and behind his tanks is a must. Other than that Exulon Thexus should be a super fun ‘caster to field.

The other Cephalyx unit I unfortunately don’t have a picture for, but hopefully you can make do with this substitute.

Brilliant! Sight gags! This is clearly my finest hour as a journalist. Anyways, on to the new unit: the Agitator. The Agitator sports Anatomical Precision, which allows a failed damage roll to still inflict one point of damage. It’s pretty nifty and totally thematic. The Agitator is a true-hearted support solo. Influence is a high range magic attack that takes control of target enemy non-warcaster unit and forces it to make one normal melee attack. Thexus has this spell too, but this allows him to save a precious focus.Psychic Assault is fantastic spray magic attack that ignores LOS. But the two stand out abilities for the Agitator are Instigate and Sacrificial Pawn. Instigate offers friendly Drudge and Monstrosity models, within 5” of the Agitator, a +2 bonus on attacks and damage rolls. This insures that your attacks hit and your damage rolls are beastly. Sacrificial Pawn allows the Agitator–when hit by a ranged attack–to choose one monstrosity within 3” to take the hit instead. With the Agitator’s low DEF and ARM ( I see a theme brewing for the crab people), this ability allows him to shuck some of the pressure onto his beefier brethren. 

I want to take at least two Agitator’s so I’ll have options on where to cast Instigate. They also benefit from Thexus’ Telekinesis spell, becoming deadly crab assassins that use Psychic Assault all over the unsuspecting minds of warrior units. Sacrificial Pawn will keep them protected if anything goes too awry, but it’s good to note that these models are extremely fragile.