SMM's Legio Fureans

[SkimaskMohawk]

@lord_borak thanks man. I kind of agree on the glaive needing additional details; the scheme and markings are based off my full sized glaive which had some brass etch and a bunch of storage to help break up the model. I don't have the green stuff skills to recreate that on 6mm sadly. The tank itself is metal from vanguard miniatures. Some great models for 6mm, my only issue was the insane shipping times even before covid from the UK to Canada.

 

@interrogator stobz yea the game was insane. When one of his reavers exploded and killed one of mine from full armour/no critical damage...which then also exploded I was pretty impressed.

 

@mandragola we're definitely trying to recreate the feel of giant robots. Lots of stuff you can just step on or through or shoot out of the way and can give scale to the titans. Now that makes making big los blockers a little trickier since we're trying to stay away from "everything's bigger than the titans" like you see with dro zone commander tables, or even the picture at the end of the new book. There's some shanties I've seen that I'm trying to get. One of our new guys (someone I haven't played 40k games with since 5th so it's pretty cool) has a 3d printer so maybe I'll get the stl for him and see what he can churn out.

 

Also we kind of discovered that the barrage rules are....terribly written. Raw you accrue a -4 to hit when shooting out of LoS (the native -2 and then an additional -2 from obscurement because you can't see 50% of the model from your weapon) and then also can't damage locations because you still need to see the location. We assume that they meant to have a caveat about counting as having los for purposes of obscurement and location because otherwise barrage is never worth shooting.

 

Did I miss something, is it intentionally made so bad or is it just one of those things where they infer a procedure in AT but never write the mechanics.

Edited November 15, 2020 by SkimaskMohawk

[schoon]

Love the superheavy miniature, and yes, some games end in epic fashion - even if it doesn't always go your way. 

[malika666]

Really, really nice stuff mate. The yellow on your titans is amazing. So is the metal work on the Glaive although I think it needs to hazard stripes and/or decals. I'm guessing that's a 3D print?

Psst, check this out. :)

[SkimaskMohawk]

Love the superheavy miniature, and yes, some games end in epic fashion - even if it doesn't always go your way.

I hilariously managed to win this one, but my last game had me lose on a disastrous last turn of failing orders and getting a reaver cored by a plasma blast gun.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Sicaran tank. Edited November 17, 2020 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Gore Crow]

Also we kind of discovered that the barrage rules are....terribly written. Raw you accrue a -4 to hit when shooting out of LoS (the native -2 and then an additional -2 from obscurement because you can't see 50% of the model from your weapon) and then also can't damage locations because you still need to see the location. We assume that they meant to have a caveat about counting as having los for purposes of obscurement and location because otherwise barrage is never worth shooting.

 

Did I miss something, is it intentionally made so bad or is it just one of those things where they infer a procedure in AT but never write the mechanics.

 

Yeah I think it could be clearer. IMO - Barrage ignores LoS, of which 25% & 50% obscured is a sub-mechanic, so you just have the innate -2 from Barrage. In my opinion ignoring LoS also grants the option for targeted attacks, subject to the rule where you can't do it if you need a 7+ as it would be at -4 to hit.

[SkimaskMohawk]

 

 

Also we kind of discovered that the barrage rules are....terribly written. Raw you accrue a -4 to hit when shooting out of LoS (the native -2 and then an additional -2 from obscurement because you can't see 50% of the model from your weapon) and then also can't damage locations because you still need to see the location. We assume that they meant to have a caveat about counting as having los for purposes of obscurement and location because otherwise barrage is never worth shooting.

 

Did I miss something, is it intentionally made so bad or is it just one of those things where they infer a procedure in AT but never write the mechanics.

Yeah I think it could be clearer. IMO - Barrage ignores LoS, of which 25% & 50% obscured is a sub-mechanic, so you just have the innate -2 from Barrage. In my opinion ignoring LoS also grants the option for targeted attacks, subject to the rule where you can't do it if you need a 7+ as it would be at -4 to hit.

While that's pretty much exactly how we assumed it worked, when we checked to compare Barrage to the Arcus maniple rules, we realized the mechanics are a bit different.

 

Line of sight comes up three times during a combat sequence.

 

1+2. During "Check Firing Solution" you are told to determine Line of Sight after Range and Arc. Being partially obscured is referenced, as is the shot failing without Line of Sight.

 

3. Under "Make the Armour Roll" you are told to determine line of sight from the attacking weapon to the location rolled and to reroll until you land on a location that is visible.

 

 

Now when we go to the rules for Barrage we get the following;

 

"Barrage weapons can fire indirectly at a target to which they do not have line of sight, as long as the target is still within range and arc. Firing indirectly confers a -2 modifier on the to Hit roll."

 

Unfortunately the rule doesn't tell you to ignore parts of the sequence. It just gives permission to fire on targets out of Line of Sight. Mechanically you still have to determine that they're obscured and apply it to your roll, as well as being unable to damage armour.

 

We don't really have any intention of playing it RAW because the weapons become beyond useless, and also it starts to impact things like strafing run and all the bombardment and mine stratagems.

Edited November 17, 2020 by SkimaskMohawk

[Mandragola]

AT isn't a game that you can play by RAW, unfortunately. The rules are mostly good but they are badly written. It doesn't help that the person who wrote them was only temporarily at GW, so they aren't there to refer to for FAQs.

[SkimaskMohawk]

Yea I understand the guy basically created a miracle just making the core rules on his own.

 

We decided to just axe location requiring los as it means you have to worry less about terrain that has a bunch of Los holes like the ruins or trees, as well as it solving the stratagem problems. As well as obviously playing barrage as total of -2.

[SkimaskMohawk]

I haven't had much time to play or paint any titanicus lately; I got a puppy at the start of November and all my free time goes towards simple projects that don't need a few hours of dedicated airbrush time, which means a lucius warhound I waited months to get is still sitting unprimed lol.

 

One thing that's gotten me excited to do more AT stuff is a psy-titan. My buddy already converted an arm cannon and alternate head for his warlord a while ago, but since I play fureans I was thinking of basically making a corrupted titan and just using the psy titan rules for it. The idea is to still have it be The King in Yellow but have it lean into its obvious cthulu connections and have those inspire the conversion.

 

The main source would have to be the mutalith vortex beast, with possibly the warshrine backing it up, but I'm not sure whether I should lean into the lovecraftian elements or it being an avatar/shrine of the humadru. Any ideas would be appreciated!

[Lord_Borak]

I have the same issue! So I'm glad its not just me. Although mine is a very adoring son. Which is kinda the same thing as a Puppy. So I only used to get 1 day off a week to myself whilst he was at school. Not, due to Covid, the schools are shut....... yay.

 

The conversion sounds cool. Isn't the Vortex beast quite big though? It's been ages since I saw one but I'm sure they we're fairly impressive size wise. I'm patiently waiting for FW to bring theirs back but might well end up biting the bullet and making my own. 

[SkimaskMohawk]

I have the same issue! So I'm glad its not just me. Although mine is a very adoring son. Which is kinda the same thing as a Puppy. So I only used to get 1 day off a week to myself whilst he was at school. Not, due to Covid, the schools are shut....... yay.

 

The conversion sounds cool. Isn't the Vortex beast quite big though? It's been ages since I saw one but I'm sure they we're fairly impressive size wise. I'm patiently waiting for FW to bring theirs back but might well end up biting the bullet and making my own.

I was mainly thinking of using its mouth tentacles and some of the horns from the slaughterbrute. But the kits also pretty expensive so I decided to get a greenstuff tentacle maker instead. A big problem is that other than doing an evil looking crown up and having some tentacles emerging from under the shoulder armour, I just don't know what else I can do modelling wise to show the lovecraft influence.

[Gederas]

I have the same issue! So I'm glad its not just me. Although mine is a very adoring son. Which is kinda the same thing as a Puppy. So I only used to get 1 day off a week to myself whilst he was at school. Not, due to Covid, the schools are shut....... yay.

 

The conversion sounds cool. Isn't the Vortex beast quite big though? It's been ages since I saw one but I'm sure they we're fairly impressive size wise. I'm patiently waiting for FW to bring theirs back but might well end up biting the bullet and making my own.

I was mainly thinking of using its mouth tentacles and some of the horns from the slaughterbrute. But the kits also pretty expensive so I decided to get a greenstuff tentacle maker instead. A big problem is that other than doing an evil looking crown up and having some tentacles emerging from under the shoulder armour, I just don't know what else I can do modelling wise to show the lovecraft influence.

Make it posed "wrong"? Like, have it have things that are purposely incorrect on it?

 

Because the whole Lovecraft thing is sanity ruining things, and having a model that people know how it should look wrong, even subtly, can help with that

[SkimaskMohawk]

That's a great idea!

[SkimaskMohawk]

So I've finally started to work on my 3d printed Lucius warhound. A big mental block was that the print was...rough; a lot of messed up detail on eagles and toes and the arm legs dont quite clear the weapons. I also waited about a month from the guy who printed it, and both things really soured me on doing anything past assembly.

 

That being said, once I started to paint it I got all that motivation back. I really love the Lucius pattern and it just looks so cool and distinct from the Mars. I've basically finished the basic colour blocking and have to finish the black and non-trim metal and then I can go into highlights and details.

 

[SkimaskMohawk]

It's been a while since I updated this thread and it's mainly because...I just forgot to. And covid, obviously; haven't been able to get as many games, or have as much motivation to paint stuff as a result.

 

The first thing is that I finished the Lucius Warhound. I almost botched it right at the end when I didn't mix my enamel paint properly and it kind of adhered too much, so now it looks very weathered. I'm going to use it as Iben Faruk, and as a very subtle nod to the warlord's name, I did the flames on his back in more of  a tentacle design instead of the scallop flames. There just isn't something quite right with the Legio's most prestigious titans.

 

 

The base is a little wonky in terms of spacing, but it was the only one I had so I tried to keep some of browns and added some piles of dirt post photography. Very happy with the end result regardless of the mishaps along the way.

 

It was then almost immediately used  in a game of 1800 points.

 

 

This was the first time either of us had used squadrons, and Faruk's partner, Pardus, soaked up an unreal amount of shots on its voids and allowed them to advance up their flank....and with their Coordinated Strike, Iben Faruk killed the opposing Warlord in their first volley. Wild stuff. On the other side of the board, my dual chainfist Reaver, Malice, racked up a total of 3(!!!) kills in melee and earned his points back for the first time. The game was hardly one sided though, and by the end I only had Pardus surviving an explosion on its last critical track and Malice remaining on the board. Pardus finally living past turn 2 means it can get some added Fureans scheme like I originally planned over a year ago, delayed a bit by being blasted constantly. 

The second game that comes to mind was a starter game with another friend we usually 30k with. We did pretty simple stuff; no Legios, no stratagems, no allegiance abilities. I honestly don't remember the details too much, only there was a key turn where a lot went wrong for him, which led to my win. Regardless, lots of giant robots died and some exploded and it was fun.

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Warhound.

[schoon]

Great pictures and battle report. Thanks!

[SkimaskMohawk]

Thanks guys, there's a lot more pictures; I didn't want to hit the cap.

[SkimaskMohawk]

Alright guys, I'm finally doing it and trying to report on my past 3 games with all the pictures and all that I can remember. Probably going to be a triple post so I can do the pictures without hitting the cap.

 

The first (oldest) game was our first using Warmaster titans. We just added them onto our pre-existing lists so it wouldn't be stilted or anything like that. My buddy on the whole had a much better list than me, as I'm partial to my double-melee Reaver Malice and wanted to use my brawler-warlord as well, while he took a longer range array of reavers and a warlord, with a warhound or two, and a porphyrion. But, I won't lie; he screws up sequencing and some priorities and that can result in some opportunities for me to even it up.

 

On the other side of the board, my main force was taking a beating and wasn't able to stick damage onto his warmaster, but did stick around enough to delay his advance into the midfield. My warmaster got gunned down by his. There was some critical  explosions too iirc, leaving Pardus on its last crit track and able to limp onto the objective behind the big building; my opponent was used to emergency repairing his warmaster, so did that and shot on the last turn instead of walking onto the objective so we ended up tying 5-5.

 

 

 

As an aside, I'm not very happy with my warmaster's paintjob and I think it needs a lot of work back in the details and some more freehand to bring it up to standard. I am very happy with the base, and we said that it was Perturabo who got an engine kill; the titan was just his honour guard.

Edited October 1, 2021 by SkimaskMohawk

[SkimaskMohawk]

Game number 2 was another Warmaster affair. The board in particular needs a callout, it was filled with destructible terrain (that we use a different way of destroying; blasts landing or titans walking through breaks it) and looked awesome.

 

 

 

The highlights I can remember was my warmaster rolling exclusively Head for target location with every attack, and Malice carving a path around the entire board. This one ended a bit more decisively in my favor; the warmaster head-hunting sped things up quite a bit. He also took out the acastus for some atropos, and between that, the terrain and deployment my list was just far more suited compared to the long range of the first game. Also I tried stomping the train down, but the locomotor got away.

[SkimaskMohawk]

The last game was our first try at psytitans. We'd both use one and scrap the restrictions on traitor stuff; until the Traitor Legions book is out they're not more powerful than what loyalists can make. Both of us simply converted and painted up a counts-as Left Hand of Darkness for our existing warlords, with mine leaning into the corruption as a suitable counts-as; I'll probably be using it for a real corrupted titan soon enough though. Unlike the warmaster games, we didn't just add on the psytitan to a full battlegroup, so the model count was a bit smaller. I had more knights, while he had more titans.

 

 

 

 

Quick disclaimer before the pics begins, I might have played one power wrong, which had an impact on the game. We played Antipathic Tempest so that units tagged would get affected by quake and concussive; I believe the psi rule bypassing voids and rolling vs armour enables it to apply them regardless of the shields being active, but I could definitely be wrong.

 

So basically, I started throwing down Tempest into areas he was clumped and really hampered his movement on that flank, while building damage. I'd then target that area with the beam to quickly blast a titan down. The real decisive moment though, was Malice getting a long-bomb charge into his psytitan (who got awakened forward). I managed to do near-critical damage from that and then sniped it's weakened head with The King in Yellow, resulting in a magazine detonation. That cleared the mechanicum knights off of Malice before they could strike it, forcing his warhound to dump plasma into Malice, who then died and suffered a catastrophic meltdown which killed the offending 'hound, causing another meltdown. The next turn, my lancers attacked his last reaver, killing it with a third meltdown. As much fun as the explosions were, they were also extremely beneficial to me and I tabled him by turn 3.

 

 

 

Some spare thoughts

-Psytitans are a lot stronger than warmasters and a lot of fun to use; I'm very excited for corrupted titans.

-Knights are in a rough spot. They have compounding rules that screw them, from losing their save, to criticals potentially killing two knights at once. A couple effects (like meltdown) also specify models taking hits instead of units, really just wiping them out with no recourse. They pay a lot for their free range of movement and small size and are weighed down with those vulnerabilities.   

[Sherrypie]

Tempest is as powerful as you think, Quake and Concussive trigger on hits that don't get negated by shields and since Psi bypasses those... it's going to hurt. Psi-titans left to their own devices on large boards are very frightening machines. They must be focused down or harried at close range, which is part of the fun of playing with them. No hesitation, only direct action. Fear is the mind-killer.

 

As for knights, yeah... but I can't see it as too much of a bad thing. It's a titan game and a couple of nimble area denial skirmish Banners are a great tactical tool, while whole knight armies are a bit of a stylistic choice. I'd rather have GW keep the balance like this with knights being generally more conservative add-ons than dominating powerhouses that ignore most of the rules, while carefully giving the Households more tools in the supplements to up their game until a happy equilibrium is reached.

[SkimaskMohawk]

Well in that case I definitely feel like a mid range build might be better for a psytitan. Laser blasters up top to help with either blasting shields or doing hull damage. Maybe a quake cannon or macro gatling instead of plasma, but I just don't have any other load outs painted.

 

As for the knights, I definitely agree that the mobility can be great in the right hands, but so much of their strength depends on terrain imo. Also the fact that every titan can have STR 10 means one wrong move and the knights die as a result. I think just having the critical results reversed and having stuff like meltdown only apply to the unit instead of per model.

[schoon]

First - impressive painting on everything! The Titans, the terrain, it's all good.

 

Second - when I saw your Necron-based terrain, I imagined for a moment that you'd brewed up some homemade Necron rules for AT! (When I started reading, I was quickly disabused of that notion, and was only disappointed for a moment ;))

 

Third - thank-you for the great photography and equally impressive battle reports. Sounds like it was all fun!