Yes, it's not as easy as uploading an image from the OEM GUI, but it doesn't involve opening the device or soldering - and while the steps need some attention to follow, I don't see anything complex about them either. Obviously you should check the corresponding device pages/ install step beforehand, to evaluate if you feel up to it - as it varies widely between devices (and sometimes the most interesting devices aren't that easy to handle).
I would expect the WPS (connect) button to invoke the failsafe boot (missing buttons are often not too hard to get working, they'll just need some tinkering to find the correct GPIO). In the worst case, I'd expect the initial installation steps to be able to recover the 1200 from almost any config messup, obviously it's not as comfortable as the failsafe environment, but it should be able to unbrick the device as well.
ipq40xx' swconfig switch driver has a couple of quirks in this regard, but it should still be possible.