Dragonlover Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 So I threw the following together on Battlescribe, which appears to not have the custom traits usable yet but hey-ho. I'm thinking Splinter Legio (Fortidus) and Fury of the Fallen, then sub in the Warlord for the compulsory Reaver. I'm also tempted at higher points values to go for Legion Specific Wargear: Warchest and nick the Disruption Emitters from Legio Vulpa. Hell, if I can knock 10 points off this list I can do it here. ------------- +++ Noodling around (Adeptus Titanicus 2018) [1,230 Points] +++ ++ Battlegroup (Battlegroup) ++ + Maniple + Venator Light Maniple . Categories: Maniple . Reaver Titan: Apocalypse Missile Launcher, Melta Cannon, Plasma Reactor 1 Green, Reaver Titan Power Fist . . Categories: Titan, ReaverTitan, Arm, Blast, Fusion, Arc: Front, Weapon, Melee, Concussive, Carapace, Barrage, Arc: Corridor, Paired, Arc: 360 Degree . Titan Legion: Legio Fortidus (Daultless) . . Categories: Titan Legion, LegioFortidus . Warhound Titan: Plasma Blast Gun, Plasma Reactor 1 Green, Vulcan Megabolter (Warhound) . . Categories: Titan, WarhoundTitan, Arm, Blast, Maximal Fire, Weapon, Arc: Front, Rapid . Warhound Titan: Plasma Blast Gun, Plasma Reactor 1 Green, Vulcan Megabolter (Warhound) . . Categories: Titan, WarhoundTitan, Arm, Blast, Maximal Fire, Weapon, Arc: Front, Rapid + Titan + Warlord Titan: Apocalypse Missile Launchers, Ardex Defensor Cannon, Macro Gatling Blaster, Plasma Reactor 1 Green, Sunfury Plasma Annihilator . Categories: Titan, WarlordTitan, Carapace, Barrage, Arc: Corridor, Paired, Weapon, Arm, Arc: Front, Maximal Fire ------------------ If nothing else, looks like a fun starting point. Any thoughts? Dragonlover Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5421203 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted November 6, 2019 Author Share Posted November 6, 2019 (edited) First thought: I hate battlescribe. I think I understand that as a list with a venator maniple of a reaver and two warhoubds, plus a separate warlord. It’s extremely hard to read and I’m never sure why battlescribe is required for a game with six units. I will now stop moaning, at least for now. The warhounds with plasma and Vulcan are all good. I think that’s generally the best option for warhounds - especially in a venator maniple where they’ll need to do heavy lifting. I’m not so sure about the reaver and warlord. The point of the Fortidas trait is to have a warlord replace the reaver in the maniple. That way, if a warhound drops the shields off something, you get a free shot with a really big gun from a warlord. In your set up you’ll get a free melta shot. That’s great, as meltas are very powerful guns, but you’re not using the Fortidas trait. The separate warlord doesn’t benefit. I also wouldn’t go for a melee weapon on a Venator reaver. To use it you need to go close to stuff and that’s really dangerous. People will want to kill your venator reaver so it’s generally best to stay far away from them, where it’s a lot safer. I like the warlord’s load-out. If you just swapped it into the maniple and left the reaver out as a reinforcement, you’d be all good. If you were going for 1750 points you could add in another warhound and reaver. Make your two reavers and one hound into a Ferrox maniple (again using the trait, this time replacing a compulsory hound with a reaver) and keep the warlord and other two hounds as a Venator. Two maniples means two seniores. Ferrox maniples are really scary. Is that any help? Edited November 6, 2019 by Mandragola Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5421218 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonlover Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 I use Battlescribe because frankly, faffing about with all the cards and what-not isn't something I can be bothered to do while list building. I didn't see that it had removed the Legio, although I do spell out the plan before the list. I'm thinking Splinter Legio (Fortidus) and Fury of the Fallen, then sub in the Warlord for the compulsory Reaver. That said, I'll write out the list as non-Battlescribe, since you aren't the first person to have complained: Legio: Splinter Legio Fortidus Venator Light Maniple: Warlord Titan - Apocalypse Missile Launchers, Sunfury Plasma Annihilator, Macro Gatling Blaster Warhound Titan - Plasma Blastgun, Vulcan Megabolter Warhound Titan - Plasma Blastgun, Vulcan Megabolter Single Titan: Reaver Titan - Apocalypse Missile Launcher, Melta Cannon, Reaver Power Fist 1230 points I see the other problem, I'd mis-remembered the Venator as being able to take a second Reaver. Ah well, distraction Reaver it is! At 1750 the Ferrox is definitely a decent consideration, and I'll definitely be trying to squeeze in the Legio Vulpa wargear if I go for it. Dragonlover Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5421272 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Wolfhart Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Wasn't it worded in such a way that the replacing Warlord can't benefit from the Venator shot, as it specifically states the Reaver? So, yeah, you can replace that Reaver with a Warlord, but when the Warhounds drop a shield, still the maniple's REAVER gets to shoot. And the maniple's Warlord isn't the maniple's Reaver. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5421296 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted November 6, 2019 Author Share Posted November 6, 2019 (edited) Wasn't it worded in such a way that the replacing Warlord can't benefit from the Venator shot, as it specifically states the Reaver? So, yeah, you can replace that Reaver with a Warlord, but when the Warhounds drop a shield, still the maniple's REAVER gets to shoot. And the maniple's Warlord isn't the maniple's Reaver. Legio Fortidas is a specific exception to this rule. Their trait allows any one titan to replace a compulsory titan in a maniple, and to count as the type of titan it replaces. It works. @Dragonlover, that all makes sense. I just use excel for writing lists. All the costs go in a column and you just have to click the top of the column to get a total of whatever's in there. Or you can write a cell to be =SUM(D:D) if the costs are all in column D. I do this for all games and it's become kind of second nature now. If you write in the costs of everything into the first couple of columns then you can just copy and paste stuff into a list. It's not very high tech but it's quick and easy to do, and you don't risk writing an illegal list because of a mistake somebody else made. Your list would look something like this: And me messing about this evening with 2k lists for February is like this: I like how I can see all the different things next to each other and stuff. There's no limit on how many lists I can set up this way - which may not be a good thing for my sanity. Edited November 6, 2019 by Mandragola Dragonlover 1 Back to top Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5421299 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fajita Fan Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 LOL That looks like my lists in Excel that I do at work. Excel always looks like work Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5421324 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted November 6, 2019 Author Share Posted November 6, 2019 Yeah that's an issue. Nobody ever had fun using excel. But then, nobody ever had fun using Battlescribe either so... Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5421328 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fajita Fan Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 No I mean when I'm playing with lists in Excel at work it looks like I'm working Sparika and Dragonlover 2 Back to top Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5421339 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share Posted November 22, 2019 (edited) I felt like doing a post in which I talk about all the different maniples you can (currently) take. For each maniple I’ve said what it’s good for, what its weaknesses are, and how to play against it. I don't think the maniples are equally strong, so I've arbitrarily said which ones I like best. Axiom Battleline Maniple What’s it good for? Failing command checks is annoying, and with the Axiom maniple you mostly won’t. This is particularly helpful for a close-ranged battlegroup, as these forces tend to rely on getting off full stride and charge orders. And it’s no bad thing for a shooty or mixed force either. Weaknesses Sort of boring. A full maniple comes to about 1550 points, which is awkward because it leaves 200 points spare to make 1750. You can take a minimum maniple for about 1k, but if you do that you’re sort of losing the maniple’s benefit, as the other maniple will often be unable to do any orders. How to play against it Play your own game. The Axiom maniple is pretty adaptable but can’t outshoot a really shooty list or beat a really fighty maniple up close. Corsair Battleline Maniple What’s it good for? Extra-agile reavers. The ability to move 6” in any direction and then turn 90 degrees gives you a surprisingly large number of options for your eventual position, and that’s really good news. Weaknesses? The benefit isn’t as big as it might seem, as reavers are already pretty agile. You might miss the raw firepower that warlords and warhounds can bring. How to play against it Your best bet is probably to stay at range and take down melee reavers first. Watch out for activations, particularly with any melee reavers. These guys are going to try and arc-dodge you, but that’s harder to do when you’re further away. Dominus Battleline Maniple What’s it good for? Having knights tank for titans is a bit odd, as titans are tougher. This is a tricky maniple to play but I think it has its uses. Knights are actually very tough against low-strength weapons. If you can tank missile hits and then let the volcano cannon shots (and similar) hit a titan’s shields, your army will take minimal damage. Some princeps traits might also apply to the knights in the banner (I think) and that could improve their command values. Weaknesses? Nothing obvious. The whole maniple can fit nicely at 1750. Not a weakness as such but you can’t bring Acastus knights. How to play against it Shoot the knights first, like you were probably going to anyway. All the maniple benefits then end. Fortis Battle Maniple What’s it good for? Durability. Reavers and warlords merging their void shields will take an awful lot of effort to kill. A Warlord that stands still can tank a lot of hits before dying, and all but ignore low-strength weapons. This maniple is great at doing missions. For example, you can have a reaver tag team its friends, merging shields with a new titan each turn, to do missions like retrieval or vital cargo. Meanwhile your opponent is going to have to work seriously hard on Glory and Honour, hold the Line – and even Engage and Destroy. As you can imagine, it’s quite useful to have titans that won’t die and which are good at achieving missions. I rate this as one of the stronger maniples. Weaknesses? Big titans that stand next to each other are a bit vulnerable to blast attacks and will sometimes get in each other’s way. The maniple might also be a bit low on activations if it brings two warlords. How to play against it Try to stay out of arcs and just keep pouring on the dakka. If you can make it to melee, great. Janissary Battleline Maniple What’s it good for? I’m not sure to be honest. I don’t think you’d often want to do the multiple activation trick. As a rule, it’s better to have more activations if you’re up close to the enemy (as this maniple seems to want to be) – not fewer. There’s a possible use if you want to activate a first-firing Acastus while also charging something. But in that case it would be unusual for your two units to be close enough together. Weaknesses? A lack of strengths. How to play against it As with the Dominus, shoot the knights first. The maniple then does nothing. Regia Battleline Maniple What’s it good for? In theory this is about warhounds guarding warlords. In practice it’s usually the other way around. A Warhound is a glass cannon unit so hiding it under a warlord’s void shields makes for a dramatic improvement. The hounds can now engage enemy battle titans head on. The 3” range of shield merging is really nice because it gives you quite a bit of flexibility – much more than if you need to be touching. Weaknesses? If anything, melee. Neither warlords or warhounds are especially good at fighting up close. How to play against it If you can reach these guys they’ll be clustered together, and an exploding warlord is especially bad news for its warhound friends. Arc dodge the warlords if you can – the warhounds will cover them but at least that divides their fire. Myrmidon Heavy Maniple What’s it good for? This was the first maniple I used and to be honest I don’t rate it much. Warlords already nearly always pass their command checks and reavers don’t want to go on first/split fire orders all that much. But it does let you field 3 warlords, or even 4 if you play Krytos. If you want to bring 3 warlords to a game, this is not the only way to do it. I’ve run 3 warlords and a reaver at 1750 – which is a bit silly but quite a lot of fun. Some stratagems are pretty brutal when applied to this whole maniple, such as the Fureans one where they all get to fire one of their guns again. Defensor can do this on turn 1 without even using a stratagem - though the impact is probably less at that point in the game while everyone still has shields. Weaknesses? Few activations, low speed and agility and the fact the maniple brings no obvious benefits. How to play against it Out-activate. If warlords go on first fire then get the hell out of their corridor arcs. Ferrox Light Maniple What’s it good for? This maniple is very scary up close – so much so that it’ll generally ignore void shields and just charge for melee, where it can often one-shot enemy titans. Even a warhound’s charge can do serious damage to any target, thanks to landing a bunch of S8 hits on any location it wants. Overall this is a powerful maniple, and lots of fun to play. Look for legios that give bonuses to movement (e.g. Astorum, Mortis) or up close (e.g. Gryphonicus) for best results. Weaknesses? Melee is generally harder to do than shooting, as you have to take a lot of pain on the way in without doing much of your own. You can mitigate this by bringing some actual guns of your own, as things like melta cannons and plasma blastguns will do fearsome damage up close. Getting to melee also relies heavily on getting first stride and charge orders off. Some games will go really badly because you fail your first order and end up stranded. Warhounds have bad command values and weak reactors, so can run into big trouble. How to play against it This maniple will tend to want to zerg you, which makes it somewhat predictable. The vox blackout stratagem can ruin its day on the turn when they all want to charge in, by meaning nobody can play orders at all. Having some melee options of your own will also help. Warhounds are very vulnerable to knights and you’ve got a good chance of getting behind stuff as it rushes you. Avoid missions like vital cargo and retrieval, which force you to advance. The midfield is not where you want to be. Lupercal Light Maniple What’s it good for? All the warhounds! This is potentially a very cheap maniple (so much so that you can potentially take 4 of them at 2500 points). The fact that you can enter and leave squadrons as you like means you can switch to having tons of activations or great hitting power, depending on what you need from turn to turn. Plus if you do go into a squadron you hit a bit harder, which can get scary, fast. Weaknesses? Warhounds are not tough. They’re particularly vulnerable to counter-attacks from melee reavers and knights. Command and reactor tests are always quite stressful too. How to play against it If you’re getting out-activated, try to pick on whatever moved first. Unusually, you should worry less about the mission and more about just killing the enemy, as it’s likely to be a very bloody game. Glory and Honour is a good mission pick if there are only warhounds in the enemy force, but not if there’s a warlord lurking at the back. Can’t go wrong with engage and destroy. Avoid hold the line. Venator Light Maniple What’s it good for? Extra shots are lovely. It’s generally a good idea to focus damage on one target and this maniple is great for that, kicking the enemy when they’re down. Legio Fortidas deserve a special mention because they can swap the reaver for a warlord. Various other legios can do similar, but only Fortidas can benefit from the reaver’s special rule to fire if something loses its shields. A warlord can be set up with its quake and/or bellicosa cannons covering a lot of the board, which will do bad things to anyone whose shields go down. Weaknesses? Basing the maniple around a reaver is a little awkward because it’s not a particularly tough or shooty titan. I’d actually prefer to be able to fire a warhound’s plasma blastgun if an enemy titan’s shields went down, rather than anything a reaver can take. Firing a volcano cannon multiple times is not good for a Reaver’s health, but the other weapon options can have range issues. Melta and laser blaster might be the best set up, so you can hopefully use the melta but the laser blaster is still an option. Turbo lasers on the carapace might be a good option, so there’s always something you can do – even if something loses its shields behind you. How to play against it Kill the reaver! Sometimes easier said than done, if there are a load of warhound skirmishing for it. Especially hard if the Reaver is actually a Fortidas Warlord! Edited November 22, 2019 by Mandragola Sandlemad, corvus.calvariam, Dosjetka and 1 other 4 Back to top Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5432452 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beren Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 I thought this could be of some use, as it contains in depth tactica articles on each Legio. https://www.epicd6.com/blog-1/categories/category-2 Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5432461 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share Posted November 22, 2019 That’s cool. I’ve been thinking of writing something up for the legios myself. I’ll have a read of those. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5432506 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fajita Fan Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 Awesome post as always. I’m 99% sure the Corsair wording just says “titans” and not specifically “Reavers” so any legio rule that lets you swap a Reaver for a Warlord opens that up. It’s what my Custodes legio is built around, a Warlord and four Reavers. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5432516 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share Posted November 22, 2019 Interesting idea for the warlord on a Corsair maniple. I’ve often heard of the suggestion of using Solaria warhounds in a Corsair to let them run all over the place but I think the benefit there is reduced somewhat, as warhounds are already so agile. But it’s a really big help for a warlord. I think I’ll have a go at writing about the legios soon. People have pretty different opinions and I may as well have a go. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5432592 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fajita Fan Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 See I'm terrible at tactics in wargames, odd for someone as invested in miniwargaming as I am. That means I need advantages like extra mobility to make up for piss poor positioning! The Corsair appealed to me early on. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5432632 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted November 24, 2019 Author Share Posted November 24, 2019 I think a Corsair warlord is a legitimately good option, so you might not be all that bad. Or maybe you just got lucky this time. :) I think I'll try to write down something about how to use each legio and which go well with each maniple, rather than just talk about which are good and bad. That's kind of been done. I'll have a think. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5433442 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reyner Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 I think I played the Fortis Maniple wrong when I played, I completely forgot to keep my Reavers together and thought the merge void bonus only worked if you stood still... I played against a horde of Knights too it was like the outpost in Starship Troopers! Couldn't keep them away from melee and they out activated me considerably :D Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5433753 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted November 25, 2019 Author Share Posted November 25, 2019 Yeah the Fortis rules are written oddly. I think the bit about merging voids is a separate clause to the stuff about standing still. It could be clearer. In effect it's a lot like the Regia maniple, using reavers instead of warhounds. The Regia maniple lets you merge shields at 3" but the Fortis one lets any titans merge - which is more flexible. I managed to have a reaver run between a couple of friends to collect the head in a Retrieval mission, the one time I fielded this maniple. My rescuing titan went forward with a melee reaver, then ran back and merged with a warlord on its way to my board edge. It lost its own shields at some point along the way but that didn't matter. The two loyalist special character titans, Lucius Praetorian and the Defensor one, should both be very useful in a Fortis maniple, I think. They add even more survivability, so it'll be hard to kill the maniple except in melee. Reyner 1 Back to top Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5433783 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reyner Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 Yeah I think I'll try it again with the Defensor Reaver (which I have thanks to you ) either against the same Knight army or against another Titan Legio. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5433801 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparika Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 I don't play much, and last weekend, I played two games against the same adversary. In the first one, we played a 1250pts matched play battle where we tried a knight lance comprising 2x5 questoris banner, 1x2 lancer banner, 1x2 knight porfyrion, and 1x5 free blade questoris. In the titan legion there was a Warlord (2x volcano + missiles) and 3 warhounds (2 with inferno and bolter, 1 with 2x plasma). In the second game, we played the titandeath first narrative scenario (landing) where the defenders add a Janissary maniple (1500pts) 1x reaver (2x laser blaster, apocalypse missiles) 1x reaver (2x gatling blaster, apocalypse missiles), 2 warhounds (2x turbo laser), 1x3 questoris, 1x2 lancers for 1500 pts against a regia maniple (2000pts) comprising 1x warlord (2x volcano, apocalypse missiles) 1x warlord (gatling, claw, paired laser blasters), 2x warhound (plasma, bolter), 1x porphyrion, 1x3 lancer, 1x5 questoris. Well, I played the legio in the first game and the regia maniple in the second game and lost both games. The second game had a special rule for dust limiting range to 2d10+scale of target which limited my capacity to effectively engage targets, but in the first game I was almost wiped off the board. At the end, we were surprised by the extreme survivability of large knight formations and their capacity to inflict large damages. In particular, a 2x porphyrion banner launches 8 dices with their magma lascanon with each hit inflicting two damages due to the 3" template center hole. In the first game they crippled my warlord in the two first turns. Impressive ... Surprisingly, it seems that knights are more vulnerable to high strength weapons rather than quantity of fire and so vulcan mega bolters and similar are innefective. My mate is not good at positionning, flanking, manoeuvering, and so he found the knights to be clearly better than titans. Their shield always work, they do not overheat their generator, they have no firearcs, and they are quite fast. Even the porphyrion can move 7" and can unleash fire comparable to the warlord's plasma annihilator with more range even. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5457335 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 Thanks for this Sparika. Interesting to hear. Knight Porphyrions seem to simply be too powerful. As you say, each one has firepower almost comparable to a titan, for a small fraction of the price. They are potentially a real problem for the game. I haven't talked about them basically because it feels weird to have to come up with tactics to use for units that are so obviously a mistake. At Blood and Glory we used different rules for them. The lascannons had only 2 shots and 24" range and the missiles were 4 shots, 20" range and not rapid. Even with basically all their numbers halved they still felt like a decent unit in the game - just not a stupidly overpowered one. As you point out, low strength guns are no use against knights. I mention this earlier in this thread. Flamers in particular are a trap, allowing you to kill your own titan by putting it near knights, in exchange for killing ~1 knight. Vulcan mega bolters don't really do anything to targets with no voids to drop, ion shields and none of the bonuses to strength from structural damage and facings that can make them great against titans But on the other hand, plasma blastguns fired on maximal will take knight banners to pieces. Reading through your lists, it seems to me that's how you could do better in future. Hit them with high-strength blasts and the problem will go away quickly. Finally, the dust that limits visibility in that scenario is obviously a big benefit to the knights. I don't think the Titandeath scenarios were written with knight household armies in mind, so they probably aren't that balanced for them - if indeed they were ever balanced to begin with. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5457389 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparika Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Thanks for the reply. Your experience matches mine. On the first game I was expecting a lot from the warhounds with bolters and flamers but they were so disappointing. In particular, I fired the flamer once and that's when I discovered how it was inadequate against knights questoris. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5457535 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 Thanks for the reply. Your experience matches mine. On the first game I was expecting a lot from the warhounds with bolters and flamers but they were so disappointing. In particular, I fired the flamer once and that's when I discovered how it was inadequate against knights questoris. To be honest I have no experience using flamers on warhounds. All mine are still on their sprues, I think. I’ve never liked the look of them at all. So you can't call what I have "experience". Actually I've had flamers used against me a fair bit, and I'm always pleased to see them. I've enjoyed it when a flamer/bolter hound has sometimes run inside the shields of one of my warlords, and done no damage whatsoever. I apply a general rule to pretty much all games that I don’t like being forced to do stuff. Very short ranged guns like flamers force me to move towards the enemy or do nothing. That means I lose shooting at the start of the game because they’re out of range, only to put my unit in a hugely dangerous situation. And for what? 3 S7 hits on a random location, or on shields, just isn’t dangerous to any target. You inevitably take more damage as you go closer to the enemy. You end up in line of sight of more things, they get bonuses to hit and so on. So there’s a bigger risk of losing your unit. And of course there’s a delay in actually doing anything yourself even if everything goes perfectly. You won’t be firing your flamer on turn one and you’ll probably have to go full stride to shoot on turn 2. That’s an order you can fail, which causes you other problems. And of course, if there’s a melee Reaver or some Cerastus knights coming in the other direction, you look very silly indeed. One of the ways in which Titanicus is not like other games is that the weapons don’t work the same way. Usually in wargames, you want to fire big guns at big targets and small arms at infantry. But as discussed, you don’t want to be firing your dakka weapons at knights in AT, because they’ll do nothing, and actually the biggest gun – the Bellciosa – doesn’t tend to get many titan kills. It massacres knights though, sometimes with scattering shots that take them out by accident. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5457703 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fajita Fan Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 (edited) I wonder how the rules for ursas claws will work and how it will affect a Warhound's role or loadout. I would think they'd probably restrict the movement of the target, maybe by an inch for each Warhound who makes a coordinated strike with them, but that seems a big points sink. I also have to assume they'll have a tiny range so they'd be better paired with a plasma gun if you're going to potentially get in close inside a target's shield. Given how weird the Acastus knights are point/firepower-wise I wonder how the next knight releases will be handled. I have to assume variants like the Atropos or Styrix will eventually come but will they try to make them more balanced? Also do we need the little knights, those tiny ones? I don't think the game lacks flanking unit choices. Speaking of flanking are any of you using small bits of scatter terrain or just buildings? I'm trying to make some smaller pieces that are meant to break up large gaps but I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. Edited January 7, 2020 by Fajita Fan Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5457752 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandragola Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 It's hard to say what they'll do next, and to be honest this isn't really the thread for that kind of speculation. Let's try and just discuss strategies for using the models there are rules for. What I will say is that GW always tries to write balanced rules. Their writers genuinely like the games they play and they want to make them better. They just quite often fail and the Porphyrion is an example of that. That puts us in a tricky position as players: what are we to do with our toys in this situation? Arguably, in a tactics thread I should be advising knight players to bring 18 Porphyrions (or actually the other ones that are even more insane) to 1750 point games, but we all know that would be no fun for anyone. Actually I'd suggest using Rob Crouchley's rules that make them useful, but not game-destroying. On the terrain point, personally I don't like stuff that will have no effect other than to prevent titans from standing in particular places. Cover is cool and difficult terrain can add to the game, but creating bottlenecks generally reduces the options for both players and turns the game into a shoot out. The small bits of terrain FW released a while back baffle me and I've no idea what you're supposed to do with them. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5457866 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fajita Fan Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 (edited) I’m more wondering what roles among existing models are empty as it appears you’ve got a solid base laid out. Warlord: slow gun platform Reaver: jack of all trades Warhound: short ranged glass cannon Questoris: speedbump and tarpitter Acastus: sniper in a moving bunker Cerastus: jouster Has anyone tried the Cerastus variants at all? I made a couple for my household command banner but I can’t picture why you’d want the gun/flamer variants over a straight up jouster. What role would they serve or am I missing something? I actually sorta replaced most Questoris knights with Cerastus in my Excel lists. Separate small banners of two or clump them up by fours for the better shield save? This keeps me up at night I’m tempted to run Cerastus as minimum three but preferably four to a banner to flank the most important target. I love the Warhound breakdown even though I’m disappointed no one has found a use for the flamer as I plan to run my Ember Wolves using their rules till the ursas claws rules are released. I’ll bet Warhound flamers and the shooty Cerastus will be far more useful if/when Epic is released, they’ll make mincemeat of infantry but they seem undergunned for anti titan use. The FW terrain looked like overpriced casts of hardware store bits Edited January 8, 2020 by Fajita Fan Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357441-principia-titanicus/page/2/#findComment-5457991 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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