It was one hell of a box, by the way: you got three whole starter armies (Marines, Orks and Eldar) and a Warlord Titan. Space Marine was an expansion to the original Adeptus Titanicus, which I think is where the whole 6mm Epic thing started. I've still got a bunch of my 6mm Titans, which I recall were to represent Legio Draco:
Space Marine et al. were followed by Epic 40,000, which was so unsuccesful it pretty much killed epic scale for GW altogether; 6mm resurfaced briefly with Specialist Games' Epic: Armageddon, but then vanished altogether. I played some Space Marine back in the day, but never really got around to any of the later Epic stuff. Now, though, I have the new Adeptus Titanicus starter set.
So yeah, I'm kinda reneging on my resolution to not start new projects, but in my defense (sort of), I already have quite a lot of Epic... Technically, new Adeptus Titanicus is a different scale from the old Epic stuff. We reckon it ends up being something very close to 1:200 scale, so this means I can assuage my regret at not getting to build any 1:100 terrain. I also feel that the scales are close enough that I can use these plastic ruins that came with the old Epic 40k boxed set with new AT.
I should try to find some of the Space Marine era cardboard buildings.
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First, though, it's time to build the models from the starter set.
Cerastus Knight-Lancers
We'll start with these two little guys, since they have no weapon alternatives so there's no magnetizing or anything like that to be done. Like the two Renegade Armigers I already built for Warhammer 40,000, these Knights will also represent Auxilia Daedra and bear their black and silver heraldry. The body is Gunmetal Grey with a Black Ink wash. I used what I learned on my previous (28mm) knight build and painted the body and armor plates separately, and it was worth it. The armor is Black and Natural Steel, also with a light Black Ink wash.
I rather liked the trans flag stripe I painted on my Mechanicus knight, so I've repeated it on these guys as well.
In keeping with the Auxilia Daedra theme, I guess this has to be Cerastus Knight Banner Hircine, on account of the spear. I have to say, I'm not crazy about the models; I don't really like the gangly look. We'll see if they're any good on the battlefield.
Reaver Battle Titans
My first proper Titans! My Titan Legion is going to be Legio LXIX Venefica, or the Venom Legion, and these two are the first models to sport their green and gold colours. I got started while I was still working on the Knights by assembling and painting the Reavers' legs, and the backsides of all the little armor panels. The upper body was easier to assemble and paint in one chunk, but obviously magnetizing the weapons would be a thing. I started with the carapace weapons, where GW has made it delightfully easy: a 5mm magnet slots right into the carapace. The process is similarly easy on both carapace weapons, like this turbo-laser destructor:
Unless, that is, you fuck up the polarity of the magnet you're supergluing into the base of the rocket launcher, and get it stuck in there so badly that you end up building an entirely new mount out of green stuff. This time I stuck a magnet inside there, the right way around.
Once I cut it down a little bit, it doesn't look so bad, does it?
Next it was time to magnetize the shoulder mounts. I carved a more-or-less round hole in each:
And superglued in a magnet.
I used Primal Horizon's 1/8" * 1/16" magnets, and they fit in nicely without being overly fiddly. On the weapon side, I shaved a magnet-depth bit off the ball joint and just superglued a magnet on top of it.
When I was angry with myself for fucking up the Apocalypse Missile Launcher, I ordered a replacement, which meant I had doubles of the arm weapons. It's a bit of a drag that you would have to magnetize the connecting arms as well to be able to swap weapons from left to right, but I couldn't be bothered and just made a left-side and right-side Gatling Blaster.
Here's the gatling blasters and Reaver carapace weapons.
There's also the second set of Reaver weapons, and frankly, it's a bit weird that I had to go to imgur for the assembly instructions, as none were included in the box! This doesn't usually happen with Games Workshop. Also, I had to go to the online store to figure out which Titans went on which bases; all in all, this is the worst-documented GW product I've ever bought. Nonetheless, here are the shooty weapons.
Meanwhile, I was also practicing my Daedric on the carapaces and painting the heads. These are really models where I can't imagine not painting them in parts and then assembling them. The armor is obviously done in my favorite color, Luftwaffe Camo Green, and the edges are Old Gold with a Flesh Ink wash, as pioneered on my Custodes. The metal bits are just Gunmetal Grey with a black ink wash.
And the close combat weapons:
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So here they are! I'm extending the starship naming convention from my Rogue Trader tabletop campaign to Adeptus Titanicus, which means my first Reaver Battle Titan will be called Cum ergo videritis abominationem desolationis, quæ dicta est a Lorgar propheta, stantem in loco sancto, qui legit, intelligat, referred to in brief as the Abominatio Desolationis.
While I was at it, I decided to see what it was that the prophet Daniel had to say about the abomination of desolation back in the day and found, somewhat to my surprise, some excellent Chaos theology. Therefore, I give you the Reaver Battle Titan Deos tuos non colimus, et thronum auream, quam erexisti, non adoramus, or in short, the Non Adoramus.
I think I want to run my Legio Venefica as Legio Damicium ruleswise. Since I don't really know how I want to play, I would ideally like to start with a legion that doesn't commit me to a specific playstyle. Damicium's abilities revolve around tanking damage, basically, and that's something that always comes in handy.
Warhound Scout Titans
Finally, the Warhounds: the Canes ad Lacerandum. Keeping with my Book of Daniel theme, they will be the Regnum transiit a te and the Et regnum erit velut ferrum.
I had a spare plastic ruin bit, so I went for a slightly more scenic base than usual. I think that means this one is the Regnum transiit a re.
The Warhounds didn't require quite as much separate assembly; I did the legs and bases in one go, then the torsos, carapace, heads and weapons separately. Magnetizing the weapons was quite easy, or maybe to be more exact, I was jaded enough at this point to just cut off the ends of the weapon arms and stick on a magnet.
I tried to be a little more elegant with the weapons, and shaved off the bottom of the sockets and stuck a flatter magnet inside.
I think the end result works quite adequately!
The Titans themselves were a fairly simple but satisfying paint job.
And here they are complete with heads and weapons! First, the Regnum transiit:
And the Regnum ferrum.
And the rest of their weapons:
**
So that's the starter set assembled!
I have to say, these are some of the best models I've ever built. The Reavers and Warhounds especially are more like small, high-quality scale models than Warhammer miniatures, and building and even magnetizing them has been deeply satisfying. I know some people are put off by the high cost of Titanicus models compared to other GW stuff, but I think they're worth it.
**
The obvious thing to do now was to try the game. I'm lucky enough that my good friend and colleague also has some Titans, which he was kind enough to bring over. I don't really have any proper epic terrain yet, so we set up a 4'×4' table with some improvised scenery.
That's Seamanship Hill in the foreground, the Del Monte Tower to the right, Communism Peak in the middle, and Bitter Tower at the back. We're playing the Titanic Clash scenario from the basic rules. You can see my opponent's Titans on the left, representing Ryza's own Legio Crucius: a Warlord and two Warhounds. I brought both my Reavers and the Regnum Ferrum. By coincidence, the two forces were exactly the same combined scale.
I had no real idea what I was doing, so I set up the Non Adoramus and Regnum Ferrum to attack on the right of Communism Peak, and hid the Abominatio Desolationis behind Del Monte Tower, so the opposing Warlord wouldn't immediately blow it up!
We were therefore quite dismayed to see the Warlord climb onto Seamanship Hill and open fire on the Non Adoramus!
One defining factor of this game was that I was very lucky with my void shield saves. Still, the Non Adoramus and Regnum Ferrum surged forward, engaging the lead Crucius Warhound.
The Crucius Warhound lost its shields and started taking heavy damage, so its princeps opted for a glorious death and charged at the Non Adoramus, while the other Warhound backed off to engage the Regnum Ferrum.
The Non Adoramus opened up on the enemy Warhound at point blank range, and won the honor of scoring Legio LXIX Venefica's first kill as its laser blaster tore apart the Warhound's legs. This sent it staggering back - straight into the Regnum Ferrum!
The collision knocked out the Regnum Ferrum's Vulcan mega-bolter, and the Crucius Warhound collapsed at the foot of Bitter Tower.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, the Abominatio Desolationis emerged from the shelter of Del Monte Tower and turned to face the enemy Warlord.
My improbable streak of void shield saves continued as the Abominatio withstood the barrage of fire from the Warlord, and charged in!
As the Abominatio and the Warlord traded blows at point-blank range, the surviving enemy Warhound dodged out of the Non Adoramus's fire arc, its shields easily shunting aside the parting shots from the Regnum Ferrum's plasma blastgun. And with that, the battle was over!
If I recall correctly, the Regnum Ferrum ended the battle structurally compromised, but the destruction of the Crucius Warhound means that the Battle of Bitter Tower is technically a Legio Venefica victory. I certainly hope this was just the opening skirmish of a very long war!
**
For future reference, this was the Legio Venefica force in the Battle of Bitter Tower.
Reaver Battle Titan Cum ergo videritis abominationem desolationis, quæ dicta est a Lorgar propheta, stantem in loco sancto, qui legit, intelligat (Princeps Seniores) - 250 pts
Melta Cannon - 35 pts
Power Fist - 20 pts
Turbo Laser - 20 pts = 325 points
Reaver Battle Titan Deos tuos non colimus, et thronum auream, quam erexisti, non adoramus - 250 pts
Volcano Cannon - 25 pts
Laser Blaster - 25 pts
Apocalypse Missile Launcher - 10 pts = 310 points [635]
Warhound Et regnum erit velut ferrum - 180 pts
Plasma Blastgun - 30 pts
Vulcan Mega Bolter - 10 pts = 220 points [855]
I was very happy with my Warhound, and for my next game, I'm seriously considering bringing two Warhounds and a Reaver, which could make a Fortis maniple.
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So, impressions. The rules are quite complicated, but not insuperably so. They're quite different from Space Marine, which I apparently remember better than I thought, since it caught me out a few times! I never thought the void shields could take that much punishment, and it's going to take a moment for me to internalize that in this game, getting up close and personal to a Warlord Titan can be a good idea!
Like I said, I was tremendously lucky on my void shield saves. I like the void shield rules, as you really need dedicated weapons to beat down the shields, and then the ones that do damage to armor. The Vulcan mega-bolter on my Warhound was simply excellent for the first, and just in case I want my Reavers to get up close and personal in the future as well, I think I'm adding a carapace Vulcan to my next Forge World order.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed myself, but I feel like I'm going to need several more games with just the basic rules before I get a handle on how this really works. But I'm very happy with my purchase, and delighted to be playing epic again after, well, decades!
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