Legio Exhortor - The Proclamators

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

LEGIO EXHORTOR

“Let our guns carry the voice of the Omnissiah, that their roar may echo across the stars”

Title: The Legio Exhortor Ordo Titanicus

Grade: Tertius

Patent: Pre-Imperial, Graian Mechanicum

Warden Domain(s): Anostos Statum, Anostos Struix, Deepgloom

Cognomen: The Proclamators

Allied War Houses: Sadavir, Ny’zaar

Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus

Named for the belief that their guns’ roar is a literal manifestation of the Omnissiah’s war-cry, the Proclamators conduct war from afar, a doctrine born from gruelling conflicts fought against the greenskin menace since the Legio’s inception.

The Legio Exhortor’s efforts as part of the Great Crusade garnered them a mixed reputation among their peers, lauded both for their expert Ork-fighting skills as well as the precision marksmanship of their crews, while their detractors oft equated the Legio’s disdain for close-quarters fighting to cowardice. Long before the Horus Heresy would ravage the Galaxy, such accusations had manifested as bitter rivalries between the Legio Exhortor and several other Legios, most notably the Death Stalkers, who’s feud with the Proclamators would be violently demonstrated a dozen times over before the Heresy’s end.

Legio Trait: Death from Afar

The Proclamators favour warfare at maximum range, with their Princeps and Moderatii renown as some of the most proficient sharpshooters across the Legios, warriors to whom the greatest of feats is neutralising an enemy before it is even capable of retaliating. However, most of the Legio scorn even the prospect of close quarters engagements and are poorly predisposed to make such attacks.

When making a shooting attack with a weapon at its Long range, a Legio Exhortor Titan may re-roll any to Hit rolls of 1. Additionally, Legio Exhortor Titans apply a -1 modifier to Hit when making Smash Attacks.

Legio Specific Stratagem: Predatory Machine Spirit (2)

Over the centuries, the disposition and tactics of the Legio Exhortor’s Princeps has bled into the machine Spirits of their Titans, and when the god-machines wrest back control, a frenzy of fire inevitably follows.

This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Exhortor player. Reveal this Stratagem when a Proclamators Titan would be required to make a roll on the Awakened Machine Spirit table (see page 44 of the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook). Rather than rolling, the Proclamators player may instead choose to automatically apply the Predatory result, choosing which of the Titan’s weapons to attack with rather than selecting at random.

Legio Specific Stratagem: Cry of the Omnissiah (1)

To Legio Exhortor crews, the din of their Titans’ fire is the roar of the Omnissiah themselves, and the clamour of their fellow Titans’ guns serves to push them to great feats of valour.

This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Exhortor player. Reveal this Stratagem when a Proclamators Titan fails a Command check when being issued an order. As long as another Proclamators Titan in the Battlegroup has already successfully been issued a First Fire order this phase, the Titan ignores its failed Command check and the order is automatically issued, allowing additional orders to be issued to other Titans as though the initial Command check had succeeded.

Legio Specific Wargear: Warhound Apocalypse Launchers

To complement the extended distances that typify Legio Exhortor engagements, as well as augment the long-ranged flanking manoeuvres preferred by its Scout Titans, Proclamator Warhounds are often outfitted with reduced-payload apocalypse missile launchers, allowing them to strike at a foe from further than conventional loadouts would allow.

Any Legio Exhortor Warhound may select a single Warhound Apocalypse Launcher as one of its arm weapons for 10 points. This uses the weapon profile of the Reaver carapace Apocalypse Missile Launcher, but decreases its Dice value to 4 and loses the Carapace trait as well as changing its firing arc to Front Arc.

Legio Specific Wargear: Paired Volcano Cannon

The Proclamators have been known to outfit their Warlords with paired Reaver volcano cannon as carapace weapons, gladly accepting the increased power drain of these weapons in exchange for the augmented range they provide.

Any Legio Exhortor Warlord may select Paired Volcano Cannon as its carapace weapon for 60 points. This uses the weapon profile of the Reaver arm Volcano Cannon, but increases its Dice value to 2 and gains the Paired trait as well as changing its firing arc to Front Corridor.

Legio Specific Personal Traits:

A Legio Exhortor Princeps Seniores' Personal trait can either be generated from the table on page 55 of the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:

2. Systematic Destruction:

Skilled at exploiting any opening they are afforded; the Princeps has mastered coordinating with their fellow Titans to systematically tear apart the foe across the battlefield.

The Princeps' Titan may enact Split Fire orders without the need to make a Command check.

2. Bringer of Ruin:

The Princeps knows well the value of overkill in sowing dismay among an opposing host, and takes pains to utterly obliterate their foes as a demonstration of the Legio’s might.

Each time the Princeps’ Titan destroys an enemy Titan, any surviving models in the destroyed Titan’s Maniple must increase their Command characteristic by 1 to a maximum of 10 for the following Strategy Phase.

2. Gargant Killer:

The Legio’s history is one of constant conflict against encroaching Ork invasions, and many of its veteran Princeps have experience fighting crude ‘Gargant’ Titan-constructs, learning at great cost how best to avoid their deadly melee weaponry – experience that would prove invaluable as civil war gripped the Imperium.

Attacks targeting the Princep’s Titan that use Weapon Skill rather than Ballistic Skill suffer a -1 to Hit modifier on top of any other modifiers.

​

Hey folks, wanna give a quick disclaimer from the get-go - there aren't any minis on the horizon for this, basically just a fun exercise in making some homebrew rules for a Legio I'd already made some background for. This came about 'cause I've been borrowing a friend's copies of the Rulebook & Titandeath (to get a scoop on the lore), and heard there was talk from the HH weekender that a future addition to the system might be a framework for creating individual Legio rules.

I've tried to balance these using the existing Legio rules, but I've no experience playing the game, and I'm not super familiar with the system, so lemme know what you think!

Edited February 6, 2020 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[Mendi Warrior]

Sounds cool. I believe it nicely conveys the character of the Legio. I think it would definitely be worth trying on the field. Maybe with your friend and his forces.

 

How far away is your horizon? Any chance there might be minis hidding a bit further? 

[Sherrypie]

They look pretty nice. You should play the game though, could clear some thoughts :D

 

I like the conditional trait they have, where you hit well on long range but suffer for it should the enemy close in. Carapace volcanoes though, oof, that's pretty interesting. I'd say 50 points is a tad cheap for that, given you fire twice but only roll heat once.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Thanks for the input folks, glad you like the direction I went with

 

Sounds cool. I believe it nicely conveys the character of the Legio. I think it would definitely be worth trying on the field. Maybe with your friend and his forces.

 

How far away is your horizon? Any chance there might be minis hidding a bit further? 

 

I mean, never say never - after almost a decade without doing any miniature work, I did end up buying the Betrayal at Calth & Burning of Prospero box-sets, but tbh it's just not a priority for me at the minute

 

They look pretty nice. You should play the game though, could clear some thoughts

 

I like the conditional trait they have, where you hit well on long range but suffer for it should the enemy close in. Carapace volcanoes though, oof, that's pretty interesting. I'd say 50 points is a tad cheap for that, given you fire twice but only roll heat once.

 

Thanks for the feedback - as I'm not super well-versed on the rules, I just applied the same formula used to convert the Reaver's Laser Blaster to the Warlord version - that goes from 25 to 50 points, doubles it's Dice value & gains the Carapace & Paired traits, but I appreciate that in practicality that might be a more significant change for the Volcano Cannon. For the time being, I've bumped it up to 60 points, that feel like a decent alteration? 

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Against all odds, I spent the last few days putting this together:

While I was putting them together, I wanted to mess around with adding some point defence weapons to the Warhounds & Reaver akin to those mounted on the Warlord & Warbringer Titans, so I drew inspiration from the classic titan head weapons for the Reaver's Avenger Bolt Cannon, and appropriated one of the Warlord's Maulers for its rear arc (I've positioned one of the Warlord's Volcano Cannon to try and hide its absence). For the Warhounds, I drew from the cover art for Betrayer, cutting down the left-over Vulcan Megabolters to a single barrel and the central rotary pivot to imitate a Heavy Bolter muzzle and added them in place of the detailing on the Warhounds' noses that resemble fangs.

I also had a look at the Custom Legio rules from White Dwarf, and came up with the combo I think I'll use to represent Legio Exhortor in place of the homebrew rules:

• Legio Trait: Gunnery Command: This seemed like a no-brainer for the Legio, as I'll likely be First Firing a decent amount if I ever get round to a game and there's no better choice for the theme
• Legio Trait: Elite Magos: I figure choosing two Legio Traits pays off more than extra stratagems or wargear, as they apply constantly, so having a trait that helps mitigate the potential to run hot from loads of ranged weapons and increased chances to reignite void shields seems great, and in combo with Gunnery Command, the three most likely orders I'll be giving all have a boost, meaning I can avoid Maniples and Stratagems that effect command rolls
• Legio Specific Stratagem: War Doctrine - Offensive Surge (Legio Fureans): Getting to shoot twice with one weapon across a whole maniple seems really appealing given I'll likely be focusing on setting up firing lanes, and pretty much applies to all Titans in smaller games
• Legio Specific Wargear: Warchest - Chasmata Pattern Laser Destructors (Legio Tempestus): Again, adding range to weapons is very thematically appropriate, and really serves to boost the sniping power of my Warhound & Reavers

Edited October 11, 2019 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[Fajita Fan]

I love the head damage, that's a great idea.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

So with the impending release of the Titanicus Knight Battleforce, I've been mocking up the schemes for the two knight houses I'll have accompanying my Titans:

HOUSE NY'ZAAR:

HOUSE SADAVIR:

I love the head damage, that's a great idea.

Head damage? If you mean the slight nicks on the Warhounds, it's because I wanted to use the side plates with the longer 'jowls' but removed the spikes on the trim to make them look a bit less Traitor-y

[Fajita Fan]

The eye on the Reaver.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

The eye on the Reaver.

 

Oh! It's actually an avenger bolt cannon, with the cowling remodelled to accommodate it:

 

While I was putting them together, I wanted to mess around with adding some point defence weapons to the Warhounds & Reaver akin to those mounted on the Warlord & Warbringer Titans, so I drew inspiration from the classic titan head weapons for the Reaver's Avenger Bolt Cannon

[Fajita Fan]

I know what it is, I just love that you modeled head damage like that.

[Reyner]

The dark scheme for the knights is really good. 

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

The dark scheme for the knights is really good. 

 

Thanks, they're from an aquatic world so their scheme is supposed to evoke the feeling of deep oceans - heavily rusted metal for the trim, and then swirling patterns that are meant to imitate algal blooms/ bio-luminescent creatures on top of the dark grey plate

 

I know what it is, I just love that you modeled head damage like that.

 

Fair, I was just confused by 'damage', the trim's a bit patchy from the fact it's shaved off spare armour panels but hopefully I can sort that with some modelling putty and it'll look fairly seamless

[Fajita Fan]

Wait, that’s not meant to be battle damage? It looks like he took a quake cannon to the head, I love the look.

[Mendi Warrior]

Very cool stuff!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Wait, that’s not meant to be battle damage? It looks like he took a quake cannon to the head, I love the look.

 

Yeah, it's just a lil' messy from where I had to combine bits of trim from different plates, hopefully it'll look equally cool once it's cleaned up and painted 

 

Very cool stuff!

 

Thanks!

[Fajita Fan]

No!  Keep it! It looks amazing, I wish I'd thought of that. I need to redo the head on the my brawler Reaver so I might steal the idea.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Like plenty of folx, I've been eyeing the new started set being released next weekend, and trying to figure out how it's gonna fit into my existing collection (which still sit unpainted, partly 'cause I'm awaiting some weapon swaps with kits in the new set), so I've come up with a rough army list that I can draw smaller forces from & start creating lore/ planning iconography around:

 

Fortis Battleline Maniple:

• Warlord - 2 x Bellicosa Volcano Cannon, Apocalypse Missile Launchers
• Reaver - Volcano Cannon, (Chasmata Pattern) Laser Blaster, Apocalypse Missile Launcher
• Reaver - Volcano Cannon, (Chasmata Pattern) Laser Blaster, Apocalypse Missile Launcher

Venator Light Maniple:

• Reaver - Melta Cannon, Gatling Blaster, (Chasmata Pattern) Turbo Laser Destructor
• Warhound - 2 x (Chasmata Pattern) Turbo Laser Destructor
• Warhound - 2 x (Chasmata Pattern) Turbo Laser Destructor
• Warhound - Plasma Blastgun, Vulcan Megabolter
• Warhound - Plasma Blastgun, Vulcan Megabolter

 

The whole list comes to 2,380pts, which gives me enough room to add a single Acastus Knight. Basic idea is to have the Fortis maniple sit backfield with its long range loadouts, reliably dropping first fire apoc missiles for the first couple of turns to weaken voids (the Gunnery Command trait should help with this) while the Venator moves downfield to push the objective/ engage advancing titans (the Warhounds will squadron up by loadout).

 

I haven't figured out how exactly to split this into smaller forces yet, but I'm curious as to how the chasmata turbo laser warhounds'll play out, as they'll be operating at a range band unusual for their class. 

 

What do y'all think?

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Finally managed to get some paint down for a test panel!

Also here's the revised mock-up with the altered colours:

The only mini I can actually paint at the mo is the Warlord (both of my Warhounds and the Reaver are both awaiting weapon swaps with the contents of the new starter set) so I'm ... considering diving straight in at the deep end? Bad idea?

Edited February 7, 2020 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[Fajita Fan]

Which bronze is that? Scorax or however it’s spelled? I like it. Edited February 3, 2020 by Fajita Fan

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Which bronze is that? Scorax or however it’s spelled? I like it.

 

It's balthazar gold over a black basecoat, washed with thinned down brown ink and highlighted with a 1:1 mix of balthazar gold and chainmail (the old paint, not sure what the equivalent would be now)

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Slowly plugging away at the Warlord, but it's taking a while and as the first mini of the Legio, I wanted to make sure the patterning I'd planned looked okay, so I mocked up a colour arrangement as a guide for later on:

[Sherrypie]

That chipping looks good on the test piece, nice and grimy.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

That chipping looks good on the test piece, nice and grimy.

 

Thanks - I'm new to having to paint large flat surfaces, so I figured rather than try and apply techniques that might not work well on that kinda surface, I'd incorporate plenty of weathering over a clean finish to give it some visual interest in a different way

[Rabenga]

I think your golden. Less planning more painting! Now get cracking!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

I think your golden. Less planning more painting! Now get cracking!

 

I'm getting there, this is the biggest mini I've ever painted and I'm pretty fussy so it's taking a while