The Prima Incubatoria

The secrets of Titan construction are shrouded in the mists of time. There are even those who believe that they were not manufactured; that these monstrous machines are the Emperor's very will, manifested in cold plasteel and adamantium. That these ancient machines blaze with a machine life of their own is well known amongst the Adeptus Mechanicus. Indeed each Princeps' first challenge is to attempt to master the fierce spirit of his Titan, lest he be consumed and the machine run wild.

Though the knowledge of their forging is lost and though many and varied are the rituals and incantations involved in preparing a Titan for battle, fret not dear reader. I have anointed myself with the sacred unguents, lit the incense and chanted the litany of awakening, More to the point I have solved the complex mathematical algorithms involved in working out points values for different Titan builds according to the Codex Titanicus!

Many Grox were sacrificed to bring you this post.

So as you may know I'm hoping to run a game of Adeptus Titanicus at BOYL 2016. Depending how my practice game goes will determine how it all works on the day of course but my idea is to provide all the Titans needed (unless you want to bring your own) and enable players to arm them as they please (having magnetised each model) within a points value limit to ensure there's a bit of balance.

I've always liked the idea of hard pressed Titan Legions, starved of resupply drops and spare parts, pressing Warlords into service in a range of battlefield roles they weren't originally designed for. Because of the shortage of Warhounds and Reavers in some theatres of the war, Night Gaunt and Eclipse class Warlords (lighter armed and more maneuverable variants) were often used in scout and fast attack roles. In game terms, I'm hoping a variety of Titan types will make for a more interesting game than just a load of maxed out Warlords unloading into each other.

Nemesis Class Warlord = MegaDeath!
Left Carapace Macro-Cannon, right carapace Plasma Cannon,
left arm Autocannon, right arm Las Cutter

Some explanation is required for the lay out of the roster before I go into the detail of each Titan type. Hopefully, armed with this, players can quickly decide what weapons they want to arm their Titans with, stick them on the magnetised models I'm providing and crack on with the game. Alternatively, players bringing their own can draw up rosters for their Titans according to the points limit.

C   - Carapace mounted weapons

LA - Weapons mounted on the left arm

RA - Weapons mounted on the right arm

These weapons are are represented by a 3 digit code. The first number is the grade of heavy weapon permitted. The second number is the grade of very heavy weapon grade permitted. The letter is a code for which weapons are allowed in that hard point.

A - Any

B - No Very Heavy Weapons or Missile Launchers

C- No Lascannons or Multi-launchers

D - No weapon forbidden by B or C above

Titan weapons work a bit differently here to what you may be familiar with in 2nd ed. Space Marine. All Titan weapons are inter-changeable but have different grades according to what type of Titan they are mounted on. A Lascannon mounted on a Warhound would be grade 2 - the same weapon mounted on a Nemesis class Warlord would be grade 4. Weapon grades represent how many dice you roll to hit with that weapon. A grade 1 weapon has 1 dice to hit while a grade 4 weapon has 4 hit dice to roll. Close combat weapons count as Grade 2.

VSG - Void Shield Generators (number of void shields)

Speed - The first value gives the advance speed in cm and the second value gives the charge speed in cm.

AR - Armour Rating. Only used with the advanced damage system - not sure if this will slow down the game too much yet.

BR - Battle Rating - another way of saying points cost

MVR - Maneuverability - this affects the number of 45 degree turns that can be made in a Titan's move, depending on the orders given.

HM - Highly maneuverable

EM - Extremely maneuverable

LM - Limited maneuverability 

Warhound

C             LA       RA     VSG    Speed     AR     BR       MVR

None     2/0/D   2/0/B       2       24/36      +1     360        EM

So basically Warhounds have two Grade 2 weapons but aren't allowed Very Heavy Weapons, Missile Launchers, Multi-Launchers or Lascannons on the left arm. They can have any Heavy Weapon other than a Missile Launcher on the right arm - or vice versa I guess! Being Extremely Maneuverable, the Warhound can make 1 turn on First Fire orders, 6 turns on Advance orders or 4 turns on Charge/Evade orders.

Reaver (Hun)

C             LA       RA     VSG    Speed     AR     BR       MVR

None     4/0/D   4/0/D       4       20/30       0      700        HM

The Hun class Reaver can mount two Grade 4 Heavy Weapons on its arm hardpoints but aren't allowed Very Heavy Weapons, Missile Launchers, Multi-Launchers or Lascannons. Being Highly Maneuverable, the Hun class Reaver can make 1 turn on First Fire orders, 4 turns on Advance orders or 2 turns on Charge/Evade orders. 

Titans that are Highly or Extremely Maneuverable can be given Evade orders. They move and fire in the Charge segment of the turn but only at Advance rate. They suffer -1 to hit when firing as do enemy Titans when attempting to target the evading Titan.

Reaver (Goth)

C             LA         RA       VSG    Speed     AR     BR       MVR

3/1/A      3/0/B     3/0/B       4         20/30       0      750          -

The Goth class Reaver can mount a weapon on its carapace - this can be any choice of Grade 3 Heavy Weapon or Grade 1 Very Heavy Weapon. It can also mount two weapons on its arm hardpoints which can be Grade 3 Heavy Weapons. They aren't allowed Very Heavy Weapons or Missile Launchers on the arm mounts. Having normal maneuverability, the Goth class Reaver can make 1 turn on First Fire orders, 4 turns on Advance orders or 1 turn on Charge orders.

Warlord (Nightgaunt)

C             LA         RA       VSG    Speed     AR     BR       MVR

None      3/0/D     3/0/B        2        20/30       0      510        HM

Nightgaunts have two Grade 3 weapons mounted on the arms but aren't allowed Very Heavy Weapons, Missile Launchers, Multi-Launchers or Lascannons on the left arm. They can have any Heavy Weapon other than a Missile Launcher on the right arm - or vice versa. Being Highly Maneuverable, the Nightgaunt can make 1 turn on First Fire orders, 4 turns on Advance orders or 2 turns on Charge/Evade orders. 

Warlord (Eclipse)

C             LA         RA       VSG    Speed     AR     BR       MVR

3/1/A      3/0/B     3/0/B       4         16/24       0      875          -

The Eclipse class Warlord can mount a weapon on its carapace - this can be any choice of Grade 3 Heavy Weapon or Grade 1 Very Heavy Weapon. It can also mount two weapons on its arm hardpoints which can be Grade 3 Heavy Weapons. They aren't allowed Very Heavy Weapons or Missile Launchers on the arm mounts. Having normal maneuverability, the Eclipse class Warlord can make 1 turn on First Fire orders, 4 turns on Advance orders or 1 turn on Charge orders.

NB - Support Weapons (the bloody big missile on the carapace) can
replace any carapace mounted weapons. They can be loaded with a variety of munitions too!

Warlord (Death Bringer)

C                     LA         RA       VSG    Speed     AR     BR       MVR

2 x 3/1/C      3/0/B     3/0/B         5        14/21       0      1000          -

The Death Bringer class Warlord can mount two weapons on its carapace - these can be any choice of Grade 3 Heavy Weapon or Grade 1 Very Heavy Weapon although Lascannons and Multi-launchers are not allowed. It can also mount two weapons on its arm hardpoints which can be Grade 3 Heavy Weapons. They aren't allowed Very Heavy Weapons or Missile Launchers. Having normal maneuverability, the Eclipse class Warlord can make 1 turn on First Fire orders, 4 turns on Advance orders or 1 turn on Charge orders.

Warlord (Nemesis)

C                     LA         RA       VSG    Speed     AR     BR       MVR

2 x 4/1/A      4/1/A      4/1/A        6        12/18       0      1340       LM

The Nemesis class Warlord can mount two weapons on its carapace - these can be any choice of Grade 4 Heavy Weapon or Grade 1 Very Heavy Weapon. It can also mount two weapons on its arm hardpoints which can be Grade 4 Heavy Weapons or Grade 1 Very Heavy Weapons. Having Limited maneuverability, the Eclipse class Warlord can make 0 turns on First Fire orders, 2 turns on Advance orders or 1 turn on Charge orders, although this must be done at the end of its charge move.

Hopefully that's all as clear as mud! Just to add to all that you can also fit Devices to your Titans to further augment their capabilities. Each device increases the Battle Rating (or points value) of your Titan by 15%.

Devices include: 

Cameleoline - adds 10cm to the range of any incoming shots thus making the Titan harder to hit at longer ranges

COBRA - Command Override Battle Reaction Automation. Allows a Titan to react more quickly so it can fire a turn segment earlier than its current orders would dictate.

Jump Packs - These enable Titans to fly over short distances! With charge orders Titans can fly over other Titans and buildings. Only available to War Hounds, Night Gaunts and Hun Class Reavers.

RELAY - this system allows a Titan to take control of support missiles fired by other Titans and home them in on a target using their own line of sight.

These little extras should help players make their total Battle Rating/points values up to the limit. I'm thinking a Battle Rating limit of somewhere around 3000 should work well. It's enough to bring along a fully armed Nemesis as well as a couple of lighter armed Titans that have been boosted with a few devices. I'm quite keen to award some crew enhancements too, to further individualise and lend character to players' Titans, but I figure that could be done randomly on the day. 

The advanced close combat rules sound quite fun too - each player has to select a particular mode of attack secretly using a set of attack cards. Each players' choice of attack will affect the outcome of the close combat - do you play safe with a controlled attack, go wild with an all out attack or fight defensively? It's a bit like rock, paper, scissors but with gigantic robots! Oh and did I mention that I'll be giving each player a scenario objective so it won't all be just about blowing lumps out of each others' robots - mostly but not all! Hopefully there'll be a chance of salvaging a tactical victory if your Nemesis Titan goes up in a ball of plasma in the first turn!

I have a practice game booked in for mid June but hopefully will get something in before then - feel free to let me know of your experiences with the game in the mean time!

Oh and do let me know if you're interested in coming down to the Foundry and joining in at BOYL 2016. I'm probably aiming for the Saturday at the moment but need to check what else is going on when the timetable is released...