The Battle of Bitter Tower has opened the hostilities between Legio Venefica, sworn to the Warmaster, and loyalist Legio Crucius, on the desert world of Lautan Lama. Now it's high time to put the terrain I built and my lovely Dropzone Commander buildings to the test, in a battle over the fuel tanks at Depoh Minyak.
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**
My opponent brought a Precept Battleline Maniple, consisting of:
Warlord Titan - 385 pts, princeps seniores
Paired Turbo-laser Destructors - 35 pts
Mori Quake Cannon - 20 pts
Sunfury Plasma Annihilator - 45 pts
Bi-folded Power Containment - 20 pts = 505 points
Warbringer Nemesis Titan - 325 pts
Belicosa Volcano Cannon - 55 pts
Gatling Blaster - 15 pts
Melta Cannon - 35 pts
Bi-folded Power Containment - 20 pts = 450 points [955]
Warhound Titan - 180 pts
Vulcan Mega-bolter - 10 pts
Inferno Gun - 20 pts = 210 points [1165]
Reaver Titan - 250 pts
Volcano Cannon - 25 pts
Laser Blaster - 25 pts
Apocalypse Missile Launcher - 10 pts
Bi-folded Power Containment - 20 pts = 330 points [1495]
To match that points value, I'll definitely be bringing all my Titans! Here to defend the honor of Forge World Icterida is my Legio Venefica force: a Ferrox Light Maniple, and in a Titanicus first for me, Knight support from Auxilia Daedra.
Reaver Battle Titan Deos tuos non colimus, et thronum auream, quam erexisti, non adoramus - 250 pts, princeps seniores Modthryth
Melta Cannon - 35 pts
Power Fist - 20 pts
Vulcan Mega Bolter - 10 pts
Reinforced plating - 10 pts = 325 points
Reaver Battle Titan Cum ergo videritis abominationem desolationis, quæ dicta est a Lorgar propheta, stantem in loco sancto, qui legit, intelligat - 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
Turbo Laser - 20 pts
Vulcan Mega Bolter - 10 pts = 210 points [845]
Warhound Regnum transiit a te - 180 pts
Plasma Blastgun - 30 pts
Vulcan Mega Bolter - 10 pts = 220 points [1065]
Acastus Knight Banner Molag Bal - 150 pts
+ Acastus Knight [130], 2 × twin magna lascannon & ironstorm missile pod [70] = 350 points [1415]
Knight Armiger Banner Meridia - 85 points [1500]
**
With our battlegroups ready, we set up the terrain. I apologize for the poor picture quality, but the fact is that we played this game during the Finnish winter, so while some light would be nice, there simply wasn't any. As we were still learning the rules, we chose the Titanic Clash scenario.
We put the little tank farm in the center of the table, and scattered the Dropzone buildings around it. Legio Crucius started deployment by setting up their Reaver to cover the tank farm. I placed one of my Warhounds on my right to go harass it, and was mildly surprised to find the Warlord on the Crucius extreme left. I set up my Reavers and Acastus Knights in the center, and the Armigers on the left flank, where they could go bother the Crucius Warbringer.
While our forces advanced on the right, the action opened in the center, where my tiny little Armigers dashed forward, and my shooty Reaver, the Abominatio Desolationis, exchanged fire with its opposite number to little effect.
The Acastus Knights opened up on the Warbringer, and I have to say that the magna lascannon is absolutely hilarious. Four blast templates per Knight is ridiculous, scattering all over the place and managing to hit the Warbringer, the enemy Warhound sheltering behind a building - the shot must have somehow bounced off the Warbringer's shields - and bringing down the other building.
In retaliation, the Warbringer gunned down one of the Armigers, and the Warhound took off to the Crucius left. I wanted to send the Regnum transiit to flank the enemy Warlord, but Legio Crucius had other ideas!
The Warhound managed to survive the Warlord's fire, and actually knocked down a couple of void shields in return.
Turn 2 rolled around, and the Armigers tried to put a building between themselves and the enemy Warbringer - only for the wildly firing Acastus Knights to bring it crashing down!
The Warbringer shot down another Armiger. On the right, the combined fire of the Non Adoramus and the Regnum Ferrum managed to drop the Crucius Reaver's shields, and I got a shot in with the Non Adoramus's melta cannon. Meanwhile the Regnum Transiit's void shields nearly miraculously held under a second turn of fire from the Warlord.
On Turn 3, I took two gambles. I gave the Non Adoramus first fire orders, to try to finish off the enemy Reaver with the melta cannon, and left the Regnum Transiit facing the Warlord to keep it occupied. Neither was exactly successful: the melta shot failed to damage the Reaver, and it relit its void shields in the repair phase. The Warlord finally stripped the Regnum Transiit's shields and severely damaged its body, knocking out one of the weapons as well.
The Regnum Ferrum moved up to engage the enemy at close range, and the Abominatio Desolationis as well as the Acastus Knights advanced. The lone shaken Armiger tried to move around to the rear of the Warbringer, which was also lumbering toward the fight on the Crucius left.
Then it was time for the fourth and last turn. With the Regnum Transiit structurally compromised, there was very little choice except to run away from the Warlord. That also meant I was down on victory points, so we needed a result to swing the battle. So the Regnum Ferrum moved left to gang up on the Warbringer, and the Non Adoramus got a charge order and barreled at the enemy Warhound with the traitor allegiance ability activated.
When the time came for the Non Adoramus's boosted power fist attack, I managed to roll triple ones, so not so much as a dent appeared on the enemy Warhound.
We were more successful with the Warbringer. The Regnum Ferrum knocked down its shields and hit its already damaged legs, and the Abominatio Desolationis delivered the final blow with its volcano cannon. The dying Warbringer lurched forward, crashing into the Regnum Ferrum and destroying it!
The collision sent the Warbringer reeling backward, until it almost unbelievably, but perfectly, fell over backward onto the last surviving Armiger.
And with that, the battle was over. Legio Crucius lost their Warbringer, but the combined loss of one Warhound destroyed, another structurally compromised, and the Armigers wiped out, was enough to make the final score a Crucius victory.
That finale could hardly have been more Titanicus.
**
So, we lost on points, but at least we took out that Warbringer. That means a kill marking for the Abominatio desolationis:
And for the volcano cannon, which landed the mortal blow.
Here's some better-quality pics my opponent took.
I was quite happy with my tactics; I didn't expect the enemy to concentrate so heavily on one flank, but it gave me the opportunity to gang up on the Warbringer and destroy it. The Acastus knights were hilarious, and even the Armigers did good work distracting the enemy Warbringer.
The MVP of my battlegroup, though, was clearly the Regnum transiit a te, for tying up an enemy Warlord for almost the entire battle and actually living to tell the tale.
We used the full rules, except for Princeps traits and Stratagems, so next time I expect we'll go the whole hog. Those Crucius guys certainly got their orders off, and at first it felt like they were putting void shields up as quickly as I knocked them down. I also mostly forgot about my maniple bonus for armor rolls, not that I think it would have made a huge difference. Like last time, I rolled pretty well on my void shield saves, and bizarrely won every roll for the Opus Titanica except the last one; and then rolled a spectacular triple 1 on the allegiance ability attack. You win some, you lose some. Had some rolls gone differently, maybe we'd have smashed the enemy Warhound; on the other hand, maybe the Crucius Warlord would have reduced the Regnum Transiit into molten slag latest on turn 3.
After two games, I have to say that I unironically love my Reavers and Warhounds. I definitely want to get some bigger Titans at some point, but these guys keep coming through for me, and the Envious legio ability means I almost always get the command check bonus for orders. I'm also quite seriously thinking about building a corrupted Reaver. Or two.
**
The most important thing is that we had a great time playing. I admit that this was only my second game, but Titanicus is slowly but surely creeping up my list of favorite wargames ever. It's in a similar place as old Necromunda was, where I kind of hope GW would release more content, but on the other hand, I've got my rulebook and my Traitor Legios, and I'm going to get years of enjoyment out of this.
Having a great Titanicus experience also deepens my ambivalence about Legions Imperialis. On the one hand, yes, it would be awesome to add infantry, tanks, flyers and everything to this; on the other hand, we're having an excellent time without them. I was really excited for Legions Imperialis when it came out, but the months-long delay and total lack of explanation made me feel a bit silly, and I'm still on the fence.
Anyway, Titanicus is a wonderful game and I for one really hope I get to play more of it.
