Theme - Operating Theater

File:Mk4 icon.png Template:Purple This mk3 Theme Force is somewhat similar to the mk4 Legacy Army "Dark Operations". If you're planning on starting a mk4 Dark Operations army you may get some use out of this article, espcially the In a Nutshell, the Theme Weaknesses, and maybe even the List-Building Tips sections.

The inscrutable Cephalyx tirelessly perform diabolical experiments on their captives deep below the earth. Masters of powerful psychic energies and advanced surgery, these alien beings shape both the minds and bodies of lesser creatures to create heavily modified laborers and warrior slaves to suit the sinister agenda of their vast underground hives.

Theme Rules

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

Theme Restrictions

An army made using the Operating Theater theme force can include only the following Mercenary models:

• Cephalyx warcasters
• Non-character monstrosities
• Cephalyx solos/units
• Non-Cephalyx units with Cephalyx Dominator command attachments
• Asphyxious the Sanctified and Annihilation Servitors
• Void Archon solos

• This army can also include Bloat Thrall, Machine Wraith, and Pistol Wraith solos. These solos are considered to be Mercenary solos instead of Cryx solos.

Requisition Points

• Two Cephalyx Agitator solos
• One other Small- or medium-based Mercenary solo with a point cost of 5 or less

Theme Bonuses

1. Operating Theatre is a Cephalyx theme (and therefore fulfills the requirements of Selective and Limited Employment)
2. Monstrosities gain Hyper-Aggressive.

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3. Drudge models in the army gain Rise

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4. One Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges unit gains Ambush.

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Cephalyx Unique Rules

Refer to Cephalyx Rules.

Thoughts on Operating Theater

Operating Theater in a Nutshell

This theme force is used to field the inscrutable forces of Cephalyx. Most Cephalyx models can play in this theme only.

Playing as a Cephalyx player is like playing as the dealer in a game of three card monte. Most of your Cephalyx Drudges and your monstrosities are awful, but some are going to be outstanding. And you get to decide which ones. Which of your heavies becomes the arc node for the turn. Which of your Cephalyx Drudges leaps from a poor MAT and decent attack power to an amazing MAT and attack power. And which of your Drudges gets turned into a walking bomb or spray. But there is one way to "win" a game of three-card monte as the punter that's illegal in the real world. Punch the dealer in the face. In your case it's not just your Warcaster; you need to keep your unit leaders safe. The death of the Mind Bender or Mind Slaver leave you with awful troops who need to huddle together. If your Cephalyx Dominator dies your mercs run away. And your Cephalyx Agitator and Cephalyx Overlords are the key to actually hitting. Everything else is disposable.

For really heavy armour you can use one of the Mind Bender's tricks and a Combined Melee Attack well to give Drudges in the Slaver unit a MAT in double figures, and a P+S just short of 20. This is not something even the most extreme ARM-skew lists are going to survive if they make contact. Defensively, Thralls have all the DEF of a heavy warjack, and ARM high enough to make blast damage not much of an issue (although they die to any direct hits). Oh, and they are tough. As, thanks to the Dominator, are any mercenaries you brought along (always assuming you didn't shank the Dominator on turn 1 so that your opponent couldn't take your mercs out of the game on turn 3). This means that a Cephalyx list is basically a massive wave of tough, almost blast-immune infantry that excels at breaking heavy armour. And gets destroyed by enemies with good spot-removal abilities.

Theme weaknesses

The Cephalyx have fallen far behind the power curve and only rarely gets new models, having received only four since inception (Cyphon, Stygius, Void Archons, and Gaspy4) besides Dominator-attached units. They never really caught on with the players and are likely to languish for some time due to unpopularity.

List Building Tips

• Drudges are effectively an all-or-nothing proposition. Awful troops but sometimes quantity has a quality all of its own and many lists simply can't kill 60+ points split between Drudges and Alexia Ciannor & the Risen fast enough. This works out at just over a point per model for tough troops (with Alexia recycling the killed drudges for even more annoyance).
• Spamming Monstrosities can work pretty effectively. They are cheap, tough and with a Cephalyx Agitator hit hard.
• A duo Agitators should always be your first equisition option. You need them to run your Monstrosities at maximum potential. bring even more if you plan on spamming Monstrosities. The Warden is especially spammable at 10 points.
• Machine Wraiths are essential as cheap flag campers and also to mess with enemy jacks. Against something like Devastator spam they are a godsend.
• It is the only theme where you can essentially field all the merc units together, so long as you bring the attachments.
  • Alexia1 - A very good addition to a drudge spam list, as she recycles fallen drudges into risen and thrall warriors.
  • Press Gangers can either ambush or advance deploy giving you an important scenario edge. Fallen unit members fuel Alexia and can be Shanghai'd back by the remaining Press Gangers.
  • Croe's Cutthroats work very well with ambushers as the enemy has to turn around to deal with them, exposing their back arcs. Thexus can also turn models around telekinetically.
  • Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Aiyana is a damage buff on a stick and Holt is a nice shooty quasi-solo, which is rare in the theme.
• Mobius is a good shooting solo on it's own. He doesn't need Bloat Thralls in the list to justify himself.
• Pistol Wraiths are Incorporeal flag campers and double the price compared to Machine Wraiths. The two extra points are supposed to be justified by their short range guns and soul collection mechanic. It's debatable if that is indeed true.
• Asphyxious4 - An auto-include, providing a cloud wall, an easily applyable damage buff and the man himself has the same output as your average combat heavy.
  • A Toro under him is a real work horse and gives you access to:
    • Princess Delores Graciela - She is an entire gun platform on her own and thus synergises with Thexus especially.Use the feat and TK to line 'em up, then have her unleash fire on them, Hex Blast strips pesky upkeeps.

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 its playstyle and expanded it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.

Cognifex Cyphon [+29 WJP]

• Doctor Stygius [Free] Template:Grey
• Wrecker [14 pts]
• Subduer [11 pts]
• Warden [10 pts]

Cephalyx Agitator [2 pts]

Machine Wraith [2 pts]

Cephalyx Dominator [1 pt]

• Kayazy Eliminators [4 pts]

Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (Max unit) [10 pts]

Template:Brawl

Other

Trivia

The very first theme force released in mk3, it actually had its rules written into the core rulebook.

Cephalyx came out the year after Convergence, and while they had enough models to become a mini faction, PP decided to make them a Mercenary theme force instead, which turned into a failed experiment as players did not want to buy into Mercenaries to play them at the time.

This theme force does not represent the race of the Cephalyx in its entirety. There are multiple hives spread in the undergrounds of western Immoren, that are all more or less hostile to each other. Operating Theatre represents the hive that hid under the Thornwood forest, which Aspyhxious struck a deal with to give Cryx a foothold on the mainland.

Other Mercenary models

• Category: Operating Theater