After their bruising defeat in the
battle of Basilica 953371, the Word Bearers of the Morbid Fane chapter face a new enemy: an entire damn Titan Legion. I've wanted to try pitting my space marines against an army of Titans ever since I got my hands on Legions, and my friend Aaro was kind enough to oblige me. Neither of us took this too seriously; both of us had a lot of fun.
**
Because I knew I'd be facing Titans, I invested in some neutron lasers by splitting a box of Cerberus tank destroyers with a friend.
One of my favorite units in old Epic were always the tunnelers, because they're just so silly. I love them. I even built one in
28mm, and I think there should be a mission in
Darktide where you're deployed in a Termite. So when a friend asked if I wanted a box of 8mm Termites on a pretty steep discount, well, you bet I did.
Three Termites are enough to transport a tactical detachment and attached HQ, so that'll get us started.
In total, I brought my two demi-companies of infantry, an armored company and a sky-hunter phalanx with two pairs of Land Speeders and Javelins. The allied contingent was an Auxilia armored company of a Leman Russ Vanquisher squadron, two Valdors and a Shadowsword.
My opponent brought an Axiom maniple of a Warlord, a Reaver and two Warhounds, and borrowed two of my Questoris Knights and an Auxilia sub-cohort.
**
We set up my Titanicus terrain for some Legions action. I need some smaller terrain pieces! These were designed for a game where the smallest thing on the table is a Warhound Titan.
We rolled for a mission and got Stronghold Assault, which meant two neutral objectives and one objective in each player's deployment zone. For secondary objectives, I picked Breakthrough and my opponent chose Control the Battlefield: I'd have to pass some secretly pre-selected units over his table edge, and he'd get victory points for each table quarter he controlled.
The Crucius deployment was simple: line abreast, with the Warlord standing on the objective. Titans may not have any tactical strength to control contested objectives with, but it doesn't matter if they can kill everyone before they get close enough!
As for me, I deployed my infantry in the dubious shelter of the buildings, and the tanks in what I think of as a Team Yankee/World War III parking lot. I really just wanted to throw my tanks at the Titans and see what happens.
My strategy is going to be to secure the neutral objectives and hope the Titans' firepower isn't enough to kill everyone.
**
As the first turn started, the traitor army surged toward the towering loyalist Titans, which hung back and opened a devastating fire.
One of the first casualties was my Shadowsword, defeated in a volcano cannon duel by the Crucius Reaver.
The first fire phase also marked the Legions debut of templates, as the Warlord opened fire with its quake cannon.
Some follow-up shots from the Warhound skulking behind the fuel tank nearly wiped out the Leman Russes, with the sole survivor breaking and fleeing.
Traitor return fire knocked down some void shields. At this rate, the butcher's bill would be steep.
Victory points:
Loyalists: 0 VP
Traitors: 0 VP
**
Undaunted, the traitors pushed for the neutral objectives.
On the right, the Contemptor Dreadnought Talon
Septuaginta centesimae mortes secured their objective, while one tactical detachment and the missile launcher marines hoofed it over to the left.
Enemy fire knocked out half of the Contemptors and blew up a Kratos.
On the left, the loyalists destroyed a Valdor and one of the brand-new Cerberus tank destroyers, as well as two Predators, sending the survivors fleeing off the battlefield! Traitor fire knocked down the shields on the Crucius Reaver and damaged it slightly.
The casualties keep mounting, but we've captured an objective!
Victory points:
Loyalists: 0 VP
Traitors: 4 VP
**
It's Turn 3 and my army looks a lot smaller than it used to.
This is the turn I sent in the Outflanking Sky-Hunter Phalanx, to see if I could get in a couple of multi-melta shots on an unguarded Titan's rear armor.
As the skimmers moved in, the Crucius Warhound on my right redeployed, and the Auxilia infantry garrisoning the buildings charged!
The Contemptors shot down half of the charging infantry and finished off the rest in mêlée, but the Javelins on my right and one of the Land Speeder squadrons were wiped out!
On my left, the loyalist Reaver made an about turn to destroy my Javelins.
On the right, the heroic Contemptors were destroyed by the Warlord Titan. My Kratoses knocked down the void shields on the loyalist Warhound and damaged its hull.
While the losses piled up, the neutral objectives stayed in traitor hands.
Victory points:
Loyalists: 0 VP
Traitors: 12 VP
**
Turn 4 opened with a charge order for the damaged Warhound, but as it strode into the overwatch fire of Kratos squadron Behold! his mercies flourish, the barrage of lascannons was too much for it to withstand, and the Warhound toppled over.
In the enemy rear, the Termites emerged and disgorged a Word Bearers Tactical detachment to secure the table quarter.
My army was looking dangerously thin on the ground!
Especially after the surviving Warhound wiped our a Predator squadron.
On the right, the Word Bearers surrounded the Auxilia infantry as it wiped out my Land Speeders, and at the moment of their triumph, slaughtered the loyalists with bolter fire.
I'm so proud of this, it's the most villainous Word Bearers-y thing I've ever done in a wargame.
Victory points:
Loyalists: 0 VP
Traitors: 20 VP
**
After Turn 4, it was pretty obvious that I was going to win on victory points, but we were enjoying the game so we played until the end, although nothing much really happened. On the last turn, the Warlord blew up the last surviving Kratos, and only a batch of lucky saves stopped my Whirlwinds from scoring an engine kill on the second Warhound.
Final score:
Loyalists: 7 VP
Traitors: 35 VP
**
So, this was not a 100% serious game of Legions Imperialis. But it was definitely 100% fun, and, I think, a successful introduction to Legions for my esteemed opponent. The amount of firepower coming off a Warlord Titan is absolutely hilarious, and the sheer intimidation of one of them standing on an objective is awesome. I have to get one of my own.
Speaking of hilarious, this has to be the funniest case of new model syndrome I've ever had. Every single Titan-killer unit I got for this - the Valdors, Cerberuses and Shadowsword - promptly blew up or ran away. I think I got like one neutron laser shot off from one of the Valdors. I fully expected the Termites to somehow explode or scatter off the table.
On the positive side, the Kratoses were, once again, brilliant. They're becoming one of my favorite units, as they can take so much punishment while hurting the enemy. I'm delighted that the
Ruin of the Salamanders supplement has been announced, as not only do the Saturnine Terminators look gloriously silly, but there are Fellblades and Glaives and everything, so surely a heavy armor formation like the Auxilia super-heavy company must be coming for the marines? I want Fellblades, but I also just want more Kratoses. Entire formations of Kratoses.
Oh, because of the insufferable people who claim the plural of codex in English is codices, my official suggestion for the plural form of Kratos is Kratices.
Another nice surprise was the Contemptors, who held up a lot better than I expected under fire. I'm also beginning to feel that every army could use an Auxilia sub-cohort. They're cheap infantry for sitting on objectives, what's not to like?
The more I think about it, the more I believe a Titan army could actually be viable, and would definitely be fun.
**
Legions continues to be great fun, and I'd like to thank my esteemed opponents for some excellent games. Here's hoping for more next year.
