Legio Lysanda? (New to Titanicus)

[olsol]

Greetings fellow Princeps! Im hoping to start my Legio when GW stores finally open. Ive been reading through the rules and a lot of posts in this forum and the game looks like a blast to play.

 

I'm really liking the look of Legio Lysanda, their colour scheme look slick and is by far my favourite of the Legios. Their rules, seem very command check oriented, with the serene trait as well as their Legio specific wargear.

 

The Legio trait is a bit confusing to me, I'm not too sure what the benefit is for being completely counter deployed every game. The plus 1 to hit rolls and command checks is nice, but I doubt you'd be able to utilise them properly in the first turn. What do you guys think?

 

I think 'stillness of mind' is pretty good if you like to push your titans reactors - considering the 5+ to restart your titan becomes 3+.

 

I'm going to start with the AT Box set, then include the plasma Warlord and another couple cerastus knight lancers when I can. that should bring the list up to 2000 points.

 

Finally, I've been looking at the Dominus Battle maniple. It looks like a great way to counter going second every game, especially against titans with longer range weaponry.

 

I'd likely deploy my Legio in a bubble around my Warlord, and weather fire coming in using the knights and stratagems (blind barrage, void shield generator etc), then activate 'power to locomotors' without pushing the titans reactors (Vanguard Leader Personal Trait) moving my titans into (hopefully) good firing positions to start chipping away some void shields. 

 

What do you think? is this sound strategy? 

[Gryphonicus Walks]

It is really mission dependent. Like most games if you try to use one plan then the mission, the set up of the board and a 100 other things will go wrong.

 

The best bet is to maintain a balance of weapons in the maniple and stay flexible. Once you have practiced a few games you’ll get a better feel for how the legio traits work and can some tactics can be beat employed. I’ve not used the dominos maniple but be cautious as the number of activations you have can be very important in this

Game.

 

The game is awesome and the rule of cool regarding your legio choice is always the best way. The supplement books have additional maniples and stratagems in aswell so that may change your thinking down the line.

 

I’m looking forward to swing some painted titans, I love the Lysanda scheme. Welcome to the manifold!

[Mandragola]

Hi, and welcome to the board.

 

Lysanda are an interesting Legio. They're new so I haven't seen them used yet, but here are some responses to your points.

 

The issue of being counter-deployed is a really interesting one. That's certainly a disadvantage, but +1 to command and hit rolls is a big deal. AT uses alternating activations, so giving the first activation to your opponent is really no big deal, especially on turn 1 when they might not be shooting much.

 

One issue is that people can line up shots at you and go on first fire, knowing they'll get to fire before you move, but that will only be with one weapon. It does mean you probably won't want to go on first fire orders yourself. Overall I think +1 to command checks isn't a huge benefit on turn 1 because I don't tend to use many orders on the first turn. Lots of people like to put things on full stride but if you do that you won't be able to fire, so you lose the benefit of +1 to hit. First fire might work if you've got a lot of long-ranged guns. Split fire is also a possibility. Charge and repair orders won't be required yet. Still, it's a nice thing to have.

 

This trait is downright bad for knights though. They don't benefit from it but they do have to deploy early. So I'd recommend some other titan instead of the extra Cerastus knights. If you have 6 engines you'll be able to form them into two maniples of 3 - if you can find things that work. Another Reaver would let you have a Fortis manipe and either Ferrox or Venator, or you could go with Corsair and Mandatum maniples. By the way people generally take 1750 as a standard size game, though I have seen some going for 2k.

 

The real news is +1 to hit though. That's really nice and it's a bonus that's rarely available in AT. It means you'll want to have more long-ranged guns than you might otherwise, to make sure you're in range.

 

I don't find the trait about coming out of shutdown as interesting. Basically, switching your titan off in combat is an incredibly bad idea. Don't do it! But if you find it's happened involuntarily, sure, this will be useful.

 

There's a great command trait where the Princeps and any other titans within 3" get to move at boosting speed without pushing their reactors. That's a great benefit, especially for Warhounds which want to go fast but have bad reactors. It's also a good way to get your shorter-ranged weapons into range of something.

 

Overally I rate Lysander as a kind of average Legio. They will benefit from being built to hit hard on turn 1, as their bonuses don't really apply so much after that.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Mandragola

[Sherrypie]

Welcome aboard, Astral_Jackal!

 

Building on from what Mandragola wrote, I for one find their +1 trait excellent on many strategies because you can more reliably send your flankers on Full Stride early on while starting the accurate First Fire hammering from afar. Having a Warlord or two blasting away, especially if the enemy has managed to misdeploy within your fire corridor or you've gotten them there via stratagems, while others surge forwards is very potent. I rate that much higher than going first on turn one, more often than not I find myself not wanting to go first before turn two to see what the opposition is doing (even more so if you've had to deploy in blindly).

 

That Seniores trait for moving without pushing is straight gold, though. Take a tri-titan Ferrox or Venator with meltaguns and shield strippers as your flanking element and laugh all the way to bank as they'll be pushing upfield without machine spirit or heat troubles, saving the reactor for shields. Full Stride (with a command plus :D) first turn and they are 20" deep up your enemy's grill without a hitch, while the other maniple hammers First Fire with Moris and Belicosas as the flankers rip their shields (combine with Bombing Run or artillery supports for extra funsies).

 

Dominus though... that's pretty bad, since the knights want to be anywhere but in the open. Titans are big boys, they can take the opening shots without too much sweat. I'd rather use almost any other maniples that actually synergize with your Legio and preferred playstyle, letting the knights just hang around as support banners. Cerastoi are great for that, being fast and relatively cheap activations that can hit hard when not needed in screening duty.

[Fajita Fan]

Welcome! If I were to start AT over, wasn't quarantined, and had access to the fuller model range that's available now I would:

-Build bare legs and torsos (with armor plates off to paint separate)

-Blue tack my torsos on

-Magnetize all the weapons and shoulders

-Play some games (or at least skirmishes without strategems or legio rules) to get a feel for playstyles and ranges

-THEN paint them

I know there's others in Australia playing AT so do you have some local competition?  Getting a few games in before buying a bunch more models is how I wish I had done it.  The nice thing about AT is that with a little elbow grease* you can pretty easily magnetize everything including Warhound arms and Reaver shoulders so you can freely swap in every gun/fist that comes in your boxes.  You really don't have to make choices about what weapons to use, you can build your Reavers and Warlords as brawlers, shooters, or hybrids.  Knights are so much cooler than at release in 2018, I've gotten to the point where I prefer building/converting [gasp] knights to titans to be honest.  

 

*This terrible pun brought to you by quarantine

[schoon]

Welcome to the boards, Jackal!

 

I'll give the advice I usually do about selecting a Legio. Try a few games - even with just the mini bases while you're assembling your Titans - and get familiar with you play style and tactics.

 

Then look at the Legio that most closely resembles what you like (and has a cool color scheme), and go with that.

 

OR you could wait for the Defense of Ryza book and create you own Legio! I'm a bit biased in this regard, and love making the "perfect" Legio that matches the fluff you've written :)

[Rabenga]

You should totally make your own legio. DO IT!