Magnus the Traitor

Template:Mercbox This model is playable only in an Unlimited format.

Magnus has proven to be more than simply a one-man army with a grudge against the nation he once served. He has become a singular lord and master of the arts of war. He relies on no nation's backing and he carves his legend across western Immoren with blood and blade. He is ruthless in his determination to bring the exiled former king of Cygnar back to power regardless of the lives it costs.

Basic Info

Mercenary - In a 2+ caster game, he will work for Template:Cryx Mercenary, Template:Khador mercenary, or Template:Menoth mercenary.

Warcaster abilities:

• Focus Manipulation

• Battlegroup Controller

• Power Field

• Spellcaster

• Independent Model

• Leader

Feat : Hit & Run

1. Models in Magnus' battlegroup currently in his Template:CTRL range can make a full advance or run after all friendly models have completed their activations this turn. Warjacks do not have to spend focus to run during this movement.
2. While in Magnus' Template:Control range, models in his battlegroup gain Parry.

Hit & Run lasts for one turn.

Abilities

• Template:Backstab
• Template:Feign Death
• Template:Repair
• Template:Resourceful

Weapons

Scattergun
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		SP8			1			Template:-			12
Foecleaver
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				7				13
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Powerful Attack
Mechanikal Arm
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				5				11
Template:Knockdown

Spells

{{Category: Template:Arcantrik BoltTemplate:BlurTemplate:Death WardTemplate:Iron AggressionTemplate:ScourgeTemplate:Snipe }}[[Category: Template:Arcantrik BoltTemplate:BlurTemplate:Death WardTemplate:Iron AggressionTemplate:ScourgeTemplate:Snipe ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Steelies
• Template:The Kingmakers Army. Magnus gains Feign Death in this theme.
• Template:The Irregulars

Thoughts on Magnus1

Magnus1 in a nutshell

Magnus1 is a battlegroup caster with decent infantry support and a strong assassination via his Renegade warjacks, either by using the Obliterator Rockets or an arced scourge. He also has the ability to upkeep some nice spells on his battlegroup while at the same time handing out a full stack of focus.

He serves as the Mercenary battlebox caster designed to be simple to use for newer players while not being too nasty. As such, he can be taken with almost anything and has a spell to make it better, however, he is slightly below average in terms of overall power. He compares most closely with Stryker1, having similar spells, but is inferior in most respects.

Feat thoughts

Many people use it early to gain board position on objectives - it also lets you prevent infantry charges. It can also be used to do exactly what it says, which isn't bad. It's better than it sounds, but nobody is scared of it. Despite not being technically bad, it is probably one of the weakest feats in the game.

The main thing wrong with Hit and Run is the "Hit" part. Magnus has no native threat extension, so most of his battle group has a static 9-11" range. This is not far enough to allow you to get an actual alpha strike and then retreat to a safe distance from retaliation. Lanyssa Ryssyl and the Steelhead Ironhead can assist with this problem in a limited capacity.

Spell thoughts

• Arcantrik Bolt - Rarely cast but making a Jack stationary and disrupting with Eiryss it is good.
• Blur - Strong on Trencher Infantry in Kingmaker's, and just fine on pretty much any infantry, or Magnus himself where he can upkeep it for free.
• Death Ward - Used anywhere you have high ARM. Probably your biggest jack who is about to see melee. You'll most likely have it on a Toro or a Nomad. Among the less sexy ARM buffs in the game as it's kind of a bad Arcane Shield.
• Iron Aggression - This spell is often cast on a Mangler for a terrifying Thresher of doom if you can pull it off, but a Nomad will do since it can then charge free.
• Scourge - This spell is best used via a Renegade that ran into position to knock down a caster
• Snipe - Anything with guns works fine. A Renegade with Snipe is to be feared.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• While his feat is far stronger than it seems, it is often very hard to utilize.
• Very generalized with no particular strengths and no tricks beyond his Renegades
• Anything with stealth or immunity to Knockdown spoils his assassination run.
• If you want a ranged jack caster then Captain Bartolo Montador does a better job. Magnus is only really better at the assassination.
• Snipe and Blur are decidedly better on units (and sometimes solos) over jacks, so usually he will only safe half of the possible focus with resourceful.

Tricks & Tips

• The feat gives Parry to Magnus during his whole activation. So it can be used to go around an enemy ignoring free strikes, and get the Backstab bonus on your melee attacks.
• Devil Dogs or a Buccaneer can trigger Feign Death by throwing a net on Magnus. With the right positioning, you can't miss with the net, and it causes no damage.
• Scourge is an automatic knockdown if it's being channeled through a Renegade within 4" of its target, as a 2" deviation is less than half the width of the AoE plus half the width of the target's base.
• Likewise (although this is a rarer use) the Obliterator rocket is an automatic knockdown if used within 5"
• You need to be unlucky to lose either a renegade's arc node or its movement to free strikes.

List Building Advice

Strategy

His most compelling win condition is to knock down the enemy caster then blow them to pieces, but he has plenty of army support to play an attrition game.

Theme thoughts

• Asphyxious4 - Magnus1 desperately wants a damage buff, Gaspy provides this in Dark Shroud and there are also worse targets for Death Ward.
• Nemo4 - He can summon in a Steelhead Ironhead and bring Diffuser with a servicable RAT with him for even more threat extention. Alternatively have him run a Prime Axiom for some Watcher drags. Magnus can put Snipe or Death Ward on it depending on the situation.
• Idrian Skirmishers are great targets for Snipe, as are solos like Gorman1 and Eiryss1.
• Lanyssa extends melee threat ranges. Magnus cannot do that himself and boy does he wish he could.
• The classic merc mainstays should make up the rest of your list: Harlowe, Aiyana & Holt and two units of Kayazy Eliminators, for damage fixes, magic weapons and 4 strong independent women that don't need no caster input to do great.
• Crosse1 - Discombobulate makes his Arcantrik Bolts and Scourges suddenly very terrifying. A decent target for Snipe or Blur, too.
• Croes Cutthroats - Crosse sets up Backstabs, these guys follow up. Snipe or Blur go very well on them, too.

• Sniped Trencher Long Gunners and Blur on Trencher Infantry is compelling.
• The Steelhead Ironhead gets him the melee threat extension he desperately wants for his warjacks and the Arcanist provides more focus if you have the points.
• Boomhowler2 - Gives you a rolling cloud wall with Trencher Infantry.

• Honestly this might be an inferior choice to Kingmakers for him due to the lack of Trenchers, but the Ironheads, Arcanist and Alexia2 are always nice.
• Steelhead Ironhead doesn't need a roll to extend the threat range of your warjacks, unlike Lanyssa above.
• Steelhead Arcanist relieves the focus burden or can clear clouds from your path.
• Blur goes well on any of the DEF 13 infantry in the theme. He can also use it to keep Alexia2 safe(r).
• The only damage buff/ARM debuff comes from Gorman's Rust bomb, which has a short range (can be buffed with Snipe) and only works on construct models.
• Any of the theme's artillery does take Snipe rather well, allowing them to stay far back and still affect the battlefield.
• Rocinante - Guard Dog keeps him safe, especially if you have Blur on Magnus, it is perfectly content with Power Up focus, and there are worse targets for Snipe.

• Princess Delores Graciela - On her mini-feat turn she has the ranged output of an entire unit, so Snipe goes very well on her. Making his Toros MAT 7 is also very handy.

Battlegroup

• He enjoys the presence of one of his Renegades for channeling Scourge and its knockdown rocket.
• Apart from that, a quartet of Nomads work as well with him as any other merc caster, especially with Death Ward on one of them. But really there is no wrong answer as all of the mercenary warjacks are effective in their own right, and he has a spell to support any of them.
• Toros take well to both Iron Aggression and Death Ward and give him access to Delores.
• A Death Warded Swabber or Rover make for a very sturdy Shield Guard. The Swabber also protects Magnus from blasts and pop&drop tricks that Feign Death doesn't cover already.

Starting a 25 point Brawl list

In 2021.03 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.

Theme - The Kingmaker's Army

Magnus the Traitor: [+30 WJP]

• Mangler: [14 pts]
• Freebooter: [9 pts]
• Renegade: [8 pts]

Kell Bailoch: [3 pts]

Steelhead Ironhead: [4 pts]

Trencher Infantry (Min unit): [9 pts]

• Command Attachment: [Free] Template:Grey

Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Min unit): [8 pts]

Template:Brawl

Other

Trivia

• Released in Warmachine: Escalation (2004)
• In his original fluff, he deserted from Cygnar when he stabbed Stryker in the back and-left him for dead, hence the origin of the special rule. This has been tacitly retconned as Stryker and Magnus are becoming good pals in the recent novels, and the attempted murder is never mentioned.