Crucible Guard Theme Force

Prima Materia

• Added “Death Archons” to Army Composition
• Added the following benefit:
  Warjacks and battle engines in this army gain Cutting Edge. (During your Control Phase, remove d3 damage points from each friendly model with Cutting Edge. Additionally, when a warjack with Cutting Edge is allocated 1 or more focus points while within its controller’s command range, it is allocated 1 additional focus point.)
• Removed the following benefit that begins with:
  Friendly models/units can begin the game affected by the upkeep spells of warcasters in this army …
• Changed the requisition option of “Two Trancer solos” to “Two small-based Trancer solos”

Dev Notes: The two Crucible Guard theme forces presented a unique problem: Magnum Opus is basically everything the Faction has to offer, and Prima Materia is not. Our goal was to not remove any models from existing theme forces, as that would disrupt some players’ model collections. We also didn’t want to “split” Magnum Opus and suddenly have players who could no longer build legal lists.

So, with this in mind, we decided to push Prima Materia toward being more of the warjack-centric theme force and give it another strong theme force benefit to really emphasize that in the form of Cutting Edge. With this ability, warjacks will hardly ever suffer from disabled systems on turns where it matters, and the increased focus efficiency of battlegroups can be very powerful. This ability offers a strong reason to consider the restrictions of army composition that this theme force requires.

Magnum Opus

• Changed the requisition option of “Two Trancer solos” to “Two small-based Trancer solos”

Dev Notes: For both Prima Materia and Magnum Opus, we have changed the free Trancer requisition option to specify only small-based Trancers, as we want to avoid allowing Ascendant Mentalists to be available as a 2-for-1 free option.

Crucible Guard Warcasters

Lukas di Morray

• Changed Juicer ability text to:
  Juicer: During your Maintenance Phase, you can place one juice token on this model. For each juice token on this model, this model gains +1 FOCUS. At the end of each of this model’s activations, roll a d6. If the result is equal to or less than the number of juice tokens on this model, then it suffers 1 damage point for each juice token on it. This model cannot spend focus points to reduce this damage.

• Added Detox (★ Action) ability to model
  Detox (★ Action): Remove any number of juice tokens from this model.
• Changed Health Care ability text to:
  Health Care: This model does not suffer damage from Juicer while it has two or fewer juice tokens on it and is in Little Alyce’s command range.
• Changed feat text to:
  Di Morray immediately gains one juice token and 1 focus point, then warjacks in his battlegroup currently in his control range gain 1 focus point. Additionally, di Morray gains Range Amplifier this activation. (When a model with Range Amplifier casts a spell and is the point of origin for the spell, the spell gains +5 RNG.)
• Removed Mirage spell
• Added Telekinesis Spell

Dev Notes: We’ve redesigned Lukas in several significant ways. Juicer now provides players with a consistent buff that grows throughout the game to extreme levels of power…but at a severe cost. Note that juice tokens add +1 FOCUS, increasing both the actual stat and the number of focus points this model can have maximum. The most important decision to make when playing Lukas is how high to allow his juice tokens to become and when to use Detox to reduce to safety.

Lukas can almost always safely be a FOCUS 7 ’caster. On his first turn, he’ll become FOCUS 6 with a single Juice token and then FOCUS 7 on turn two with his second juice token. A player could, if they wanted, leave Lukas at this stage for the remainder of the game, but as mentioned previously, the tough decision is how far to push things.

At three juice tokens, Lukas is a FOCUS 8 ’caster with a 50/50 chance of taking 3 damage at the end of his activation. At FOCUS 9 and 10, Lukas has some are real powerhouse turns, but he is likely taking some damage from pushing the drugs that far in his system. FOCUS 11+ is where Lukas becomes one of the strongest spellcasters in the game by far but is most assuredly ruining his body in the process.

The Detox action allows Lukas to “pull back” any time he wants. Since he doesn’t make the roll to take damage until the end of his activation, you can push his juice token up during his Maintenance Phase to an unsafe level, cast a series of spells while he is FOCUS 8 or 9, then Detox back down to safety.

Lukas’ new feat is also another mechanic in which he can manipulate this new juice system, immediately gaining +1 FOCUS (and focus point) and also giving out another focus to all the warjacks in his now larger control range.

To make use of all of this dangerous drug-fueled focus, Lukas needed a powerful new spell to complete his package. We see him as a ’caster who wants a substantial battlegroup (given how much focus he can produce each turn and during his feat) as well as an extraordinarily strong spellslinger. With that in mind, we replaced Mirage with Telekinesis, one of the most potent spells in the game.

Crucible Guard Battle Engine

Railless Interceptor

• Added Build Up Power [1] ability to model
  Build Up Power [1]: If this model advances during its Normal Movement, it gains 1 power token. This model can have up to three power tokens at any time. During its activation, this model can spend power tokens to boost one attack or damage roll for each token spent.

Dev Notes: We felt the Interceptor was missing a boost mechanic to really make the most out of all its impressive weaponry. We didn’t want to give it the option to simply boost all of its attack and damage rolls each turn, or even on one specific gun each turn, but instead wanted to provide players with an option as the game progressed.

Build Up Power was the perfect mechanic for what we wanted, but it only existed as a set “d3” tokens. We’re updated the ability to create a bracketed template so that we can control how many power tokens a model generates based on that specific model; otherwise, the rule functions exactly the same.

Crucible Guard Warjacks

Liberator

• Changed text of Node Capacitor ability to:
  Node Capacitor: When a spell is channeled through this model, after the spell is resolved roll a d6. On a roll of 1, this model suffers 1 damage point to its first available Arc Node system box.

Dev Notes: We’re happy with the Liberator’s role and overall damage output for its cost, but the Node Capacitor drawback was triggering more often than we’d like to see. By changing the rule to trigger only on a roll of 1, the use of the Arc Node is far more reliable turn to turn.

Suppressor

• Added Shooting Gallery ability to model
• Increased POW of Pyrodraulic Jet ranged weapon to 14

Dev Notes: The Suppressor is a ’jack that, by design, wants to get up close and personal with the enemy to make the most out of both its melee attacks and its ranged attacks thanks to Dual Attack. Unfortunately, we felt that the ranged aspect was falling a bit short, both in regard to accuracy and a bit on damage. We’ve added Shooting Gallery to the ’jack to further incentivize the idea that this warjack is meant to get stuck in close to the enemy to get the most out of its abilities while also increasing the base POW on its sprays so it is more capable of dealing damage once it’s up close.

Vindicator

• Changed Maul melee weapon POW to 7 and P+S to 18
• Changed Multi-Chambered Compression Cannon ranged weapon POW to 15
• Added Powerful Attack ability to Multi-Chambered Compression Cannon
• Removed Psychoactive Gas attack type from Multi-Chambered Compression Cannon
• Added Withering Humor as an attack type ability to Multi-Chambered Compression Cannon

Dev Notes: The Vindicator felt a bit lacking in its overall damage output and utility for its point cost. We increased the POW on both of its weapons and increased the efficiency of its ranged attack via Powerful Attack. Furthermore, to make the turns where this ’jack is shooting instead of fighting in melee (which it now does as well as a Toro), we replaced the Psychoactive Gas attack type with Withering Humor, a key debuff that is useful in any Crucible Guard army.

Crucible Guard Units

Rocketman Unit

• Added Defensive Action (Order) ability to unit

Rocketman Captain

• Removed Defensive Action (Order) ability from model
• Added Death from Above ability to model
  Death from Above: This model can use Death from Above once per game at any time during its activation. Models in this unit gain +2 to attack and damage rolls against enemy models without Flight . Death from Above lasts for one turn.

Dev Notes: For Rocketmen, we wanted to take the same approach we’ve taken on some other legacy units recently: Make the unit better by itself and not so reliant on its CA in order to be viable. What helps Rocketmen survive long enough to perform their Strafing Run order is the Defensive Action order, which has only been available on the Captain and thus could be sniped out. Now the Rocketmen baseline have access to both of their orders, allowing them to choose each turn the best way to approach the enemy and begin laying down some firepower.

With the core unit change, we needed the optional Captain CA to now provide another aspect to the Rocketmen that they would greatly benefit from: attack and damage buffs. We weren’t looking for a flat buff every single turn, as there are warcasters capable of providing that sort of utility, but instead we decided to go the route of a strong mini-feat. The Captain now gives the unit +2 attack/damage against non-flying models once per game, which when paired with a ’caster such as Bennet and her Down Range spell, means a unit of Rocketmen can do some serious damage.

Crucible Guard Infantry

• Reduced PC to 8 for min unit and 13 for max unit

Crucible Guard Infantry Officer & Standard

• Removed Support ability from Officer
• Added Guns Blazing ability to Officer

Dev Notes: Overall, we’re happy with what the core CGI unit can do on the battlefield, but we felt they were a tad overcosted for the role, and so we have reduced their PC accordingly. Similarly, we were happy with the performance of the CGI Officer and Standard with one major exception: Support Fire felt just a tad too limiting for this unit and reduced their overall mobility in a way we didn’t like.

Since the Officer provides Reposition already, we wanted this unit to get the most out of it on every turn. Instead of requiring the unit to Aim to fire twice (via Supporting Fire), we’ve instead upgraded the Officer’s mini-feat to Guns Blazing to allow the unit to remain fully mobile at all times.

Crucible Guard Assault Troopers

• Changed unit STR to 7
• Changed Thermal Hammer melee weapon POW to 5 and P+S to 12
• Added Weaponmaster to Thermal Hammer
• Added Backdraft ability to unit
  Backdraft: When this model hits an enemy model with a basic melee attack during its Combat Action, immediately after the attack is resolved this model can make one additional melee attack against the same enemy model. This model can gain only one additional attack from Backdraft each activation.
• Removed Flame Burst ability from Thermal Hammer
• Removed Brutal Charge from Thermal Hammer
• Added Eruption of Ash ability to Thermal Hammer

Dev Notes: With the release of the Failed Experiment, the Assault Troopers needed something to help differentiate them as a viable alternate melee-fighting unit. Whereas the Failed Experiments are potentially hitting more targets (with Berserk) and striking fast with increased SPD, the Assault Troopers now hit much harder and are better at putting down tougher models by “double tapping” them with their Backdraft ability. The change from Flame Burst to Eruption of Ash on their Thermal Hammers also gives this unit some potential utility in blocking LOS to the rest of your army once they engage the enemy frontline.

Crucible Guard Storm Troopers

• Added Combined Range Attack to unit
• Changed RNG of Concussion Cannon ranged weapon to 12

Dev Notes: We felt Storm Troopers weren’t quite flexible enough with the threat of their ranged attacks, whether on the move or aiming for the extra range. This was partially due to the standard RNG of 10 and partially due to the POW. The addition of CRA means this unit can now credibly threaten higher ARM targets and higher DEF targets yet can still be excellent against standard infantry. Additionally, the increased baseline RNG allows the unit to threaten more of the board, especially once they move into the proper position and can aim on the following turn.

Combat Alchemists

• Added Pathfinder to unit
• Unit gained Swift Hunter ability
• Removed Acid Blast attack type from Alchemical Grenade
• Added Acid Bomb attack type to Alchemical Grenade

Dev Notes: Alchemists were missing both mobility and hitting power when compared to the rest of the Faction. We have to be careful, as this is a unit that can be taken as a free requisition option, but the changes to them we feel are appropriate for the durability of the unit. With Pathfinder and Swift Hunter, the unit can now make the most of its Prowl as it advances up the battlefield, and the increased damage output of the Acid Bomb over Acid Blast makes them a credible threat against the right targets.

Cygnar Battle Engines

Storm Strider

• Changed Build Up Power ability on model to Build Up Power [d3]:
  Build Up Power [d3]: If this model advances during its Normal Movement, it gains d3 power tokens. This model can have up to three power tokens at any time. During its activation, this model can spend power tokens to boost one attack or damage roll for each token spent.

Retribution Battle Engines

Dawnguard Trident

• Changed Build Up Power ability on model to Build Up Power [d3]:
  Build Up Power [d3]: If this model advances during its Normal Movement, it gains d3 power tokens. This model can have up to three power tokens at any time. During its activation, this model can spend power tokens to boost one attack or damage roll for each token spent.

Dev Notes: There is no functional change for the Storm Strider or Dawnguard Trident; we’ve just updated their Build Up Power ability to match the new bracketed version introduced on the Railless Interceptor.

Theme Forces April 2021 Update: