Today in Titanicus I...

[malika666]

I thought these might come in handy for some Titanicus bases / terrain:

 

Novan Regulars – Siege Troops Casualties

Casualty figures that can be added to bases to create little vignettes and or for making 3D damage/wound/suppression markers, or anything else you can think of.

 

Set contains:

 

4 x casualties sprues (24 x figures in 6 poses)

 

1 x Quarter master team sprue (4 x figures)

 

28 x figures in total

https://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/shop/novan-regulars-siege-troops-casualties/ Edited November 23, 2021 by malika666

[Valdr Fell-fist]

Today in Titanicus I played my first game!

1250, using a mixture of basic and Advanced rules against some who’d only played one game previously themselves. Probably both made half a dozen mistakes at least, but a great deal of fun.

Will definitely be making this a regular thing!

[Brother Dallo]

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself Valdr Fell-fist.

 

Today, an interesting topic came up in our AT group chat. I was asking about the timing window of using two sets of (different) Mine stratagems and it was pointed out that using mines to delete a healthy Titan (likely a Warhound and would need decent rolls to pull it off) was a bit of a mean play and could create a “feel bad” moment. With this having been pointed out, I’m in agreement, but think there is a wider discussion there about “feel bad” moments.

 

Stratagems will generally either buff the player or debuff the opponent (whether it’s orders, damage, movement, Victory points etc), so all have some potential for “feel bad” moments.

 

What is the best way to choose stratagems, with this in mind? For example, if I take double mines and use them on different healthy Titans, I’ll probably just do a smattering of damage, which doesn’t result in the same “feel bad” as one shot-ing a healthy Titan. If I use them on two Titans who both have damage to the legs, I could potentially score two engine kills instead of one. Would this have less “feel bad” than scoring one engine kill with both? I’m assuming the answer is subjective, as there is an opportunity cost to damaging two Titans in their legs.

 

Another example is Cursed Ground. It generally screws over both players to a similar extent as both players rely on shield saves to a similar extent. However, if you see your opponent is running a melee focused Corsair maniple and has loaded up on Warp missiles, you essentially pay one Stratagem point to force an extra save each time they take void saves, but you don’t really lose out. Is this considered a faux pas, as it would cause “feel bad”? At what point is it acceptable to take Cursed Ground?

 

Dallo

[Noserenda]

Didnt they nerf the particularly nasty mines in the Loyalist and traitor books? I know the ones i commonly used are now pretty meh but once killed a warhound on a lucky triple 6 which my opponent took in his stride after a moment cursing my spawny luck, he won the game too :D 

Overall i cant think of any particularly grim stratagems they havent swung in and modified, though we havent had a chance to play with Traitor legions yet so there might be one in there!

[Gattopardo]

Most of the unbalanced and unfun strats (which were largely in the Molech book) have been nerfed - either by increasing in cost or becoming less effective. Vox Blackout, Quake Shells, Scatterable Mines, and Strafing Run all spring to mind. Thermal Mines has also been nerfed though I think that one was in the main rulebook. I've had it played on me a good few times and it's just part of the game. Now that it fails 1 in 6 times and is only strength 8 I think it's fine. Can still finish off a damaged Warhound of course but that's life.

 

I think they're all fair game now. You could indeed do some things that cause your opponent to feel bad - e.g. you could still play Vox Blackout when they've lined up a load of charges, or you could play Earthshaker Mines or Quake Shells on a Fortis maniple and make them collide with each other, or you could as suggested play Cursed Ground when facing a load of melee Titans. But that's just good tactics to be honest. Anyone bringing a Fortis maniple has to accept the risk of collisions and weigh it up versus the benefits gained. The same would go for the other strats now. People still complain about Vox Blackout ruining fun by preventing charges, but at 3SP it's a high cost, and you can still walk up to the enemy and punch them in the combat phase.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

Strafing run was over nerfed. It was too good for one SP when it was every turn, but now it's only one turn, it's not worth the 2 SP it now costs.

[malika666]

Coming soon...

 

Don't have your own printer but still wanna get your hands on the Alpha Hab Tower? DG Minis UK have got you covered!

 

Available here!

[The boater]

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself Valdr Fell-fist.

 

Today, an interesting topic came up in our AT group chat. I was asking about the timing window of using two sets of (different) Mine stratagems and it was pointed out that using mines to delete a healthy Titan (likely a Warhound and would need decent rolls to pull it off) was a bit of a mean play and could create a “feel bad” moment. With this having been pointed out, I’m in agreement, but think there is a wider discussion there about “feel bad” moments.

 

Stratagems will generally either buff the player or debuff the opponent (whether it’s orders, damage, movement, Victory points etc), so all have some potential for “feel bad” moments.

 

What is the best way to choose stratagems, with this in mind? For example, if I take double mines and use them on different healthy Titans, I’ll probably just do a smattering of damage, which doesn’t result in the same “feel bad” as one shot-ing a healthy Titan. If I use them on two Titans who both have damage to the legs, I could potentially score two engine kills instead of one. Would this have less “feel bad” than scoring one engine kill with both? I’m assuming the answer is subjective, as there is an opportunity cost to damaging two Titans in their legs.

 

Another example is Cursed Ground. It generally screws over both players to a similar extent as both players rely on shield saves to a similar extent. However, if you see your opponent is running a melee focused Corsair maniple and has loaded up on Warp missiles, you essentially pay one Stratagem point to force an extra save each time they take void saves, but you don’t really lose out. Is this considered a faux pas, as it would cause “feel bad”? At what point is it acceptable to take Cursed Ground?

 

Dallo

I’ve been thinking a lot about these “feel bad moments” in my own gaming group lately. The one I keep coming back to is the “Overcharged Cannon in an Extermigus/ferrox/Lupercal maniple. Ferrox isn’t so bad cause you have to get super close, but an overcharged sunfurry on a warlord in an extermigus maniple is absolutely brutal, and it’s become so prevalent in my own groups meta, that we’ve brought up limiting or removing it entirely a few times. I think once a group has basically decided to auto take a strat, it’s too good.

I’m glad that they are continually adjusting these strats, but there’s definitely still a lot of cheese that happens

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I had a fully healthy Reaver cored out by a lucky quadruple crit from an overcharged extergimus'd sunfury! The guy who ran it doesn't do it anymore, it's overkill.

[Noserenda]

Yeah i was considering Overcharged cannon a bit much at our campaign weekend when essentially anyone with Warlords took it, well except me but thats because i melted my brain writing the pack and semi randomly drew stratagems out of the core deck lol.

Incidentally im not sure if i ever showed it here but i made an awful video to record the events Magos briefings and mid game slides for posterity, which game me a fresh appreciation for video editing :D The final unpolished pack is in the video description!

https://youtu.be/ydNQh23sCTw

Player feedback was the dropship scenario was great, Warhounds in the fog was a bit of a squib and the discount stratagems for the final mission were a mistake :D 

[Brother Dallo]

Nice to see there is a decent discussion on the topic.

 

I think, like many aspects of life, it comes down to treating your opponents the way you’d want them to treat you.

 

That overcharged Cannon strat sounds nasty. Will keep an eye out for it.

 

Dallo

[General Zodd]

I was part of the conversation with Brother Dallo, and I think my perspective comes down to whether or not my opponent can do something about it, and how big an impact it has on the game. The specific example we were discussing was the double whammy of Thermal Mines followed by Earthshaker mines, that could, with a bit of luck, take out a Warhound in one go. No void shields, no roll for location, all because you moved. Losing a totally healthy Titan (potentially) when you have no way of mitigating that threat or playing around it is the epitome of feel bad to me. Using Thermal Mines to finish off a Titan? That’s fine by me, you had to do some work to get to that point, and your opponent had options around avoiding getting that damaged in the first place. It’s all about how much agency you have in minimising your chances of losing something significant to it that makes a stratagem feel bad to me. I agree with Gattopardo, though, the strats at the moment seem pretty balanced, this was just a corner case that came up!

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I think overall, the strat rebalance has removed a lot of the worst feel bad moments from the game. The old Thermal Mines was horrendously unfun. It covered a huge area, stayed around all game, and hammered my warhound heavy forces. I don't miss it at all.

There are a few that are still around though, Dawn Attack and knights is pretty unfun, as you can't interact with them for several turns, and the way, RAW, vox blackout prevents upgrades from working is just flat out dumb.

 

For me, the bigger unfun things now are silly things like Ursus Claws not working against knights, (when they should clearly muller them!) The Warmaster weapon debacle and the fact that loyalist players probably need to invest in Psi Titans, and them being as rare in real life as they are in game!

Oh, and Volkite Eradicators! (In fact, Warhound weapon balance in general.)

[1ncarnadine]

For me, the bigger unfun things now are silly things like Ursus Claws not working against knights, (when they should clearly muller them!) The Warmaster weapon debacle and the fact that loyalist players probably need to invest in Psi Titans, and them being as rare in real life as they are in game!

Oh, and Volkite Eradicators! (In fact, Warhound weapon balance in general.)

Legio Mordaxis's Techno-Toxin has literally no effect on Knights now either, despite it being part of their big, cinematic moment in Shadow and Iron  

[General Zodd]

TIAT (well, actually the last couple of days, but I’ve been busy…) I finished my fifth Reaver for my Legio Atarus, so I can finally field a full Corsair maniple when I want!

 

 

Dutiful Son is sporting the latest in retro shoulder pad fashion, courtesy of BattleBling!

 

 

 

I also finally picked up some of BattleBling’s back banners, too, along with some 2mm brass rod. Here’s the first one!

 

 

And in situ on Al Mukhtari Malik!

 

 

For anyone thinking about getting these banners, there are some 3D printing lines on the larger banners where the contours are. I bought some very fine wet and dry sandpaper, and managed to get most of it off, though not all. A bit of patience and I might have been able to get it all off, but I don’t think it looks too bad.

[Squike]

TWIAT I finished basing my last 3 titans, completing my Arcus Maniple the basing pieces were 3d printed by a friend.

 

 

 

my whole Legio (pre Arcus basing completion)

 

Corsair Maniple

 

I would like another Reaver I think but I'm happy with the size of the Legio for now.

[schoon]

Those banners came out great! Can't tell they were 3D printed at all.

[Brother Dallo]

TIAT I played in my first AT event. There were 10 players on the day (one drop out from sickness meant the organiser didn’t play).

 

It was good fun. I believe it was possibly the first AT event in Northern Ireland full stop.

 

I was pretty chuffed that I ended up coming third.

 

Dallo

[Lord_Borak]

TIAT I played in my first AT event. There were 10 players on the day (one drop out from sickness meant the organiser didn’t play).

 

It was good fun. I believe it was possibly the first AT event in Northern Ireland full stop.

 

I was pretty chuffed that I ended up coming third.

 

Dallo

 

Nice, any interesting lists? I'm always interested to see what other people use.

[Brother Dallo]

The one that went on to win was a Gryphonicus list with a Warbringer and two hounds, then three Reavers in an Extergimus Maniple. I played it in my second game and got

absolutely steamrolled. Lost all Titans bar one injured Warhound and didn’t even structurally compromise a single enemy Titan. Those Reavers were brutal.

 

In fairness to my opponent, I made some bad choices in deployment, so my Titans were bunched up and blocking each other’s movement, which meant I was appearing piecemeal and getting killed one at a time, so wasn’t able to focus my fire to down a Titan. I also lost maybe five weapons of the course of the game, so the Titans who were in range/LoS were pretty toothless.

 

Other than that, it was mainly Ferrox, Venator and Axiom, with Knight support. General Zodd brought his Warlord and four Warhounds, who ended up placing second.

 

A friend of mine brought eight Audax Hounds with full Ursus Claws. He ended up placing 4th.

 

Looking forward to the next event, which will potentially be a more narrative affair. I’ve got some Damicium Titans on the painting table for that.

 

Dallo

[schoon]

Awesome job Dallo, and thanks for the report!

[Squike]

TWIAT, I had a 2 day event the weekend just gone, in which I walked away with a 3rd place and most sporting award, it was 1750 points and I took a Corsair and Lupercal Maniples.

 

 

+ Maniples [1,745 Points] +

Corsair Battleline Maniple [1,055 Points]
. Reaver Titan [375 Points]: Apocalypse Missile Launcher [10 Points], Bastion Shielding [10 Points], Gatling Blaster [15 Points], 6x Hunter Shells [30 Points], Melta Cannon [RVR] [35 Points], Ranging Auspex [15 Points], Spark of Vengeance [10 Points]
. Reaver Titan [345 Points]: Bastion Shielding [10 Points], Null Emitter [25 Points], Princeps Seniores, Reaver Titan Chainfist [20 Points], Reaver Titan Power Fist [20 Points], Volkite Eradicator [RVR] [20 Points]
. Reaver Titan [335 Points]: Bastion Shielding [10 Points], Melta Cannon [RVR] [35 Points], Reaver Titan Power Fist [20 Points], Spark of Vengeance [10 Points], Vulcan Megabolter [RVR] [10 Points]
. Titan Legion: Legio Astorum (Warp Runners)

Lupercal Light Maniple [690 Points]
. Titan Legion: Legio Astorum (Warp Runners)
. Warhound Titan [230 Points]: Bastion Shielding [10 Points], Plasma Blast Gun [WH] [30 Points], Princeps Seniores, Vulcan Megabolter [WH] [10 Points]
. Warhound Titan [230 Points]: Bastion Shielding [10 Points], Plasma Blast Gun [WH] [30 Points], Vulcan Megabolter [WH] [10 Points]
. Warhound Titan [230 Points]: Bastion Shielding [10 Points], Plasma Blast Gun [WH] [30 Points], Vulcan Megabolter [WH] [10 Points]

+ Allegiance +

Loyalist

 

The event used the matched play rules but pre determined open war missions and deployments, with two randomly drawn open war secondaries, discarding one. Optional rules were not in use, crusade Legios were also not used and a max of 1 Acastus unless running a knight household.

 

I forgot to take any photos, but one of my opponents got a few, this was the first game and although I lost all but one of my titans I came away with a victory.

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by Squike

[schoon]

So here's a question: is it better to consider 2 low-cost maniples or 1 larger one?

 

You get 2 Princeps Senioris with 2 maniples, but I would imagine that the number of activations is roughly the same in both cases.

 

What else should I be considering?

[Brother Dallo]

I think the extra Princeps trait is a nice bonus, but it really depends what Maniples you’re bringing and which Titans.

 

If I was taking four Hounds and two Reavers, for example, I’d always split them into two separate maniples rather than a full maniple and support Titan.

 

Do you have specific examples in mind?

 

Dallo

[Noserenda]

Yeah on some level you will have more activations with 2 maniples minimum 6 titans than 1 maniples maximum 5 :P Typically it means smaller titans but ive usually had more success with double light maniples than heavy ones but then that does suit my temperament really :D