In 3067, the Word of Blake militia were less than impressed with their available artillery assets, consisting of Padilla tanks and Catapults, as well as a few purchased O-Bakemonos from the Draconis Combine.
The Padilla tanks were sitting ducks in confined terrain, while the Catapults were often too fragile to fight off enemy units. O-Bakemonos were very costly, and the Word of Blake anticipated that their supply would be drying up soon anyway.
So like many of their new designs, the Word of Blake placed their needs on the table, and left it to the various manufacturers on Terra to propose their designs.
The winning submission came from Skobel Mechworks. Codenamed 'Sphinx', the new artillery mech was to prove yet another stunning entry into the ranks of the Word of Blake.

The Sphinx is well equipped for its artillery duties, armed with two massive Katyusha Arrow IV launchers, as well as a staggering 6 tons of ammunition for the launchers. Borrowing a page from the O-Bakemono, the Arrow IV launchers could be reloaded with massive container shaped ammunition canisters, which takes only five minutes with a heavy cherry picker.
4 extended range medium lasers provide reliable backup firepower in a pinch, with enough heat sinks to handle most of the heat debt by either set of weapons.
In order to ensure the survivability of the Sphinx, the engineers at Skobel protected the mech with 17 tons of Krupp armor. While a bit weaker than most contemporary assault mechs, it is still a great deal more substantial than most heavy and assault designs.
3 massive Rawlings jump jets enable the Sphinx to soar like its namesake across most types of terrain, which assists the mech in counter battery actions and artillery duels.
The communications suite is also top notch, in order to help the Sphinx coordinate with spotting TAG units like the Red Shift and Spartan designs. Specially designed for the Sphinx, they can allow instant and secure communications over distances as far away as 300 kilometers.

Sphinxes were first reported in action during a Comstar guerilla raid on a prisoner convoy escorting prisoners away from Alcatraz Prison, New York State in North America.
The guerillas were able to destroy the spotting TAG Blakist units, but the Sphinxes continued to rain down devastating Arrow IV fire until their escorting reloading units were wiped out by several Word of Blake mechs commandeered by the guerillas. Unable to reload their Arrow IV launchers, the Sphinxes withdrew from the battle.
Sphinzes were a feared sight during the Word of Blake jihad, especially with special WMD ammunition loads. They were frequently the very first targets for any anti-artillery aerospace strikes.

Since the liberation of Terra, Sphinxes have been sent to SLDF and Comstar units on the clan border. The Sphinx is proving an especially useful counter to the Clans' own Naga artillery mech.