Theme - Magnum Opus

File:Mk4 icon.png Template:Red This mk3 Theme Force has no equivalent in mk4. Nearly the entire CG range was put into their Legacy Prime Army, instead, which is both better and worse in some regards.

The Crucible Guard has unleashed its standing army in a show of force that unveils its impressive military innovations and tactical flexibility. Its highly trained and specialized soldiers fight in concert with skilled combat alchemists and support units to push up the field in a haze of alchemical smoke, backed up by the might of the Golden Crucible’s advanced war machines.

Theme Rules

For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.

Theme Restrictions

An army made use the Magnum Opus theme force can include only the following Crucible Guard models:

• Crucible Guard warcasters
• Non-character warjacks
• Crucible Guard units
• Crucible Guard solos
• Gorman solos
• Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter
• Crucible Guard battle engines

• This army can also include one Mercenary solo and one Mercenary unit that will work for Crucible Guard.
  • These models/units can be included even if they have the Partisan [Crucible Guard] rule.
  • Mercenary units can include attachments, including Doctor Alejandro Mosby.

Full model list

Literally the entire faction is included, even the Partisans.

(Note that, since Gorman and Hutchuk are explicitly on the list of allowed models, they do not use up your "Up to one Merc solo" slot.)

Requisition Options

Each Requistion Point can be spent on either:

• One Crucible Guard weapon crew unit
• One Crucible Guard command attachment
• Three Crucible Guard Mechanik solos
• Two small-based Trancer solos
• One other small- or medium-based Crucible Guard solo with a point cost of 5 or less

Theme Bonuses

1. Crucible Guard solos and Crucible Guard weapon crew units in this army gain Reposition [3"].

   Template:Reposition 3-alt

2. You can reroll your starting roll for the game. Your starting game roll can only be rerolled once as a result of this special rule.

Thoughts on Magnum Opus

Magnum Opus in a Nutshell

Magnum Opus is an infantry-focused theme force. It’s large differentiating option from Prima Materia is the inclusion of general Mercenary units and solos.

Since this theme allows everything in the Faction, the only reasons not to use this theme force are:

• If double shield guarding Vanguards in Prima Materia are what you want for your army.
• You really want to start with your upkeeps in play turn one.

Theme/Faction weaknesses

As this theme basically is the Faction, anything which is good into Guard will be good into Magnum Opus and vice versa.

Guard rely heavily on shooting, as well as continuous effects which layer on top of one another. They are thus vulnerable to lists with powerful anti-shooting tech (such as cloud walls, mass Stealth, or terrain exploitation). Additionally Guard struggles in melee, relying on their 'jacks & battle engines once the enemy has engaged. High speed enemies or enemies with lots of Ambush are thus huge headaches, as is anything tough enough to weather a turn or two of shooting before engaging.

Guard has few tools to deal with anti-shooting tech, and must often push into their merc options (such as the Steelhead Arcanist's ability to delete clouds) or accept that some portion of their army will not function properly into such lists.

Going first and racing up the board aggressively with battle engines & 'jacks to set the pace of the engagement can be a strategy, one which is made much more viable by the "reroll to go first" theme benefit. On the other hand, going second and picking the right table edge that favours your gunline is critical for Guard, as that single decision can swing entire games.

Counter-Ambush is remarkably strong in Guard thanks to the ability to take Hutchuk and another Ambushing Merc (or even a whole unit!).

Jamming is very viable in Guard, thanks to the huge amount of resources needed to remove a forward unit of Rocketmen.

List Building Tips

Magnum Opus' defining feature as a theme is how open it is and how easy it is to get value out of the theme benefits. It's recommended to bring both available units of Dragon's Breath Rockets (there's really not a good reason to not), but beyond that there is really no obvious or standard way to build the theme. A few notable models include:

• Rocketmen are Guard's premier skirmishers, and thanks to their winning combination of speed, high DEF, and high model count they excel at jamming and contesting space up the board early in the game. The solution to fast enemies or enemies which exploit terrain is to slow them down on their side of table, a roll in which Rocketmen fit perfect.
• The Railless Interceptor is a major damage dealer, and not too shabby in melee. It is both tough enough and large enough to slow down entire enemy flanks, and threatening enough at range to not be ignored.
• Magnum Opus allowing Gorman & Hutchuk without taking up your Merc slot is huge. Merc solos are generally above the curve due to their limited availability, Gorman & Hutchuk especially so.
• Vanguard's are still very much useful (despite not being at peak efficiency like in Prima Materia), especially for a list which wants to hang back and trade volleys at range.
• Trancers are regarded as one of Crucible Guard's most powerful & skill intensive models, with most top players taking 3 or 4 in every list. Slam on a 3 point solo is very, very good for a list which doesn't want to see enemy models within 10".

Starting a 25 point Brawl list

In 2020.10 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.

Syvestro1: [+28 WJP]

• Vindicator: [15 pts]
• Toro: [13 pts]
• Aurum Ominus Alyce Marc: [4 pts]

Rocketman Stinger: [Free] Template:Grey

Rocketman Ace: [3 pts]

Crucible Guard Mechanik: [1 pt]

Ragman: [3 pts]

Failed Experiments (Max unit): [14 pts]

Template:Brawl

Caster thoughts

• Aurum Adeptus Syvestro loves Transmuting Rocketmen or Steelhead Halberdiers under Mosby, which is only possible in this theme.
• Marshal General Baldwin Gearhart & Mr. Clogg is the faction's dedicated infantry caster, Assault Troopers and Storm Troopers enjoy his Deceleration spell, and basically everyone enjoys his damage buffs.
• Lukas di Morray really benefits from having Doctor Adolpheus Morely around (along with his accompanying mercs), which isn't possible in Prima Materia.

Other

Trivia

• Released with the launch of the CG Faction, 2018.06
• Magnum Opus is Latin for "Great Work", and in modern usuage it refers to a creation that is considered to be the greatest work of a person's entire career.

Other CG models

• Category: Magnum Opus