Gattopardo's Titanicus - Legios Astorum and Vulturum

[Gattopardo]

Hi all,

 

I've recently signed up to Bolter & Chainsword after a long time lurking - having been out of the hobby for 10+ years (and even longer than that since I did any GW stuff), I've been sucked back in by Adeptus Titanicus. Thanks in no small part to some of the fantastic work on display on this forum!

 

Anyway, I've now dived into Titanicus fully, and am doing two Legios - I really wanted one traitor and one loyalist, and having two different legios on the go should help avoid getting too bored with paint schemes and the like. So, as per the title, I've gone for Astorum and Vulturum - I've always liked the Warp Runners, so they were an obvious choice for a loyalist legion, and then the Gore Crows have the potential for great imagery, and perhaps more room for interpretation than one of the more well known Traitor Legios. 

 

Overall, I like the Titanicus miniatures a lot, and particularly that they allow for a lot of interesting weathering and freehand - which are both parts of painting that I really enjoy. So, my thinking with my Warp Runners is to major on the astronomical patterns and freehand designs, rather than the flames. I like the flames, but they're not really my thing so much. I have sketched out some slightly more abstract flame designs, which I might use, but the dominant themes will be astronomical patterns and designs - so, the stylised star charts, but I'm wondering about some other stuff like comets, orreries, and the like. For the Gore Crows the link to birds provides ample scope for interesting designs.

 

Circumstances dictate that I'm much more of a modeller and painter than a gamer (I live in Stockport in the UK, so if you're in the area and fancy a game, do get in touch!), but I'd still like playable forces; at the moment I've got the models for a Regia maniple (2 Warlords and 2 Warhounds) for my Astorum, and a Ruptura (2 Warbringers, 2 Reavers) for my Vulturum, which are around 1,500 points each. Not sure where I'll go next.

 

Anyway, that's enough waffle - although I've not finished anything fully, I've made some good progress, and here is some of it.

 

First, a Gore Crows Reaver that is well on its way. I'm pretty pleased with it overall, especially the mean look and somewhat OTT power claw it's toting:

 

 

 

 

I've done some freehand on the carapace that I'm pretty happy with, as well as some heat glow on the carapace megabolter - those storm frag shells run hot!:

 

 

I've also got two Astorum warhounds that are probably tabletop ready save for basing, which give an idea of the direction I'm going in with them:

 

 

 

Sorry for the poor quality photos; I'll get the proper camera out once they're based and finished.

 

Comments and criticism very welcome, of course.

[Master Ciaphas]

Beautiful Titans!! I love the freehand on the Warhound carapace.Great job - and the Vulturum Titan also looks fantastic!

[Sherrypie]

Welcome aboard, your work looks great. Especially the orrery on the Warhound, very fitting imagery.

[Mandragola]

Welcome aboard. This is excellent work.

 

I'm working on Astorum myself, as well as some Mortis for my Traitor Legio. Check out the plog in my signature if interested. 

 

Personally I've gone for a mixture of flames, astronomical symbols and occasionally other stuff like check patterns. It seems that Astorum paint all sorts of stuff on their engines. Your stuff fits in with that very nicely. The yellow looks good too.

[Gattopardo]

Thanks all for the comments - it's good inspiration to keep going!

 

I'm working on Astorum myself, as well as some Mortis for my Traitor Legio. Check out the plog in my signature if interested. 

 

Personally I've gone for a mixture of flames, astronomical symbols and occasionally other stuff like check patterns. It seems that Astorum paint all sorts of stuff on their engines. Your stuff fits in with that very nicely. The yellow looks good too.

 

Thanks, Mandragola - and, yes, I've read through your plog a number of times. Your Titans look great - it was photos like those that gave me the final push to get started.

 

I've seen a fair bit of analysis of how to use Astorum effectively in the game, but I'd be interested in any thoughts on the Gore Crows. The Legio Trait seems simple enough - you get a bonus when you kill stuff. I guess at a push you want to make a killing blow as early in the turn as possible (on the charge would be ideal) to get maximum benefit, but it doesn't look like something you really build around as obviously you want to be killing stuff anyway. 

 

The stratagems and wargear seem like they need a bit more thought, though. I'd like to make use of them if I can, as they look fun and characterful. One idea is to load up on Quake Cannons and power fists, take Merciless as my Seniores' personal trait, and hope to get a lot of use out of Cull the Weak. I could see that working well, as the Quake and power fist seem like pretty good weapons anyway - and it would be cool as hell to punch someone backwards and then use Cull the Weak to unload a lot of Storm Frag shells or whatever into the damaged location. The Storm Frag upgrade looks like it could be powerful, but dangerous for a Warhound's reactor. So perhaps a better option as a Reaver carapace weapon.

 

So, I'm thinking something like the following:

 

Ruptura Battleline maniple

 

Warbringer Nemesis with Quake, Volcano and Gatling

Warbringer Nemesis with Belicosa, Melta and Gatling

Reaver with Gatling, Melta and Mega Bolter with Storm Frag shells

Reaver with Power Fist, Laser Blaster and Mega Bolter with Storm Frag shells

 

That comes to 1480. The idea would be to take Merciless as a Personal Trait and then hope for a couple of extra shots at key points by using Cull the Weak. The Ruptura maniple trait looks interesting in itself, but seems to me to have a particularly big benefit here because putting storm frags on the Reavers is obviously going to risk taxing their reactors, so a maniple that lets at least one of them move quickly without pushing is good. The Belicosa / melta / gatling Warbringer is intended to be more of a midfield titan, both to move forward to potentially draw fire from one / both of the Reavers as they move into position, but also to hopefully get kills to trigger the free moves that the maniple allows - which I could see as being pretty effective getting the Reavers into flanks or within 2".

 

All of that is totally theoretical though. I'd be very interested in any thoughts from people who've got a lot of experience of playing the game.

[Mandragola]

Cool. Glad you like my stuff.

 

Gore crows are interesting. You get +1 to hit in the combat phase if an enemy titan has died at any point in the round so far. This suggests you want to kill things early on in the round - preferably in the movement phase.

 

A Ruptura maniple is probably a good call because it lets you potentially kill stuff with first fire and charge orders. As such I think you're probably on the right track with the list you've drawn up. At 1750 I think I'd try and fit in the third Reaver, which ought to be possible.

 

In terms of stratagems I think you can use cull the weak as something moves away from you, to punch them again. Not 100% on this to be honest - it might be that they've gone already before your attack triggers. Even so, a charge that attacks their body might leave them very open to close-range targeted shots. This is another way to potentially get an early kill, or if nothing else to get a free shot in. Just bear in mind that it's right before the repair phase, so don't just fire at a fully shielded titan because you can. Chances are the damage you cause will immediately be fixed. And of course, watch out for sending your reactor orange in the process.

 

Scent of blood is probably simpler to use. I think it's very good. It's a way to potentially get a quick kill early in the combat phase with a Warbringer, which could result in your Reavers running all over the place, dodging fire arcs and causing confusion all round.

 

In the above list I think I'd replace the melta on the Reaver with a chainfist, because it makes sense to have two melee threats in a Ruptura maniple. If you really wanted to save points to get the third Reaver into 1750 then the best option would probably be to change the Warbringer's Bellicosa for a quake cannon. Quake cannons are just fantastic guns. Heat could be a bit of an issue for you, what with wanting to get near the enemy and your various draining/maximal weapons, the change isn't too bad. Quake can pin enemies down effectively, so they can't escape your melee.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Your Titans are well-painted. I appreciate the battle damage on the Reaver's carapace.

[schoon]

Welcome, Princeps!

 

That's some nice freehand work on the Titans. You've got a good eye for color and composition.

 

I look forward to seeing more of your work.

[Gattopardo]

 

Cool. Glad you like my stuff.

 

Gore crows are interesting. You get +1 to hit in the combat phase if an enemy titan has died at any point in the round so far. This suggests you want to kill things early on in the round - preferably in the movement phase.

 

A Ruptura maniple is probably a good call because it lets you potentially kill stuff with first fire and charge orders. As such I think you're probably on the right track with the list you've drawn up. At 1750 I think I'd try and fit in the third Reaver, which ought to be possible.

 

In terms of stratagems I think you can use cull the weak as something moves away from you, to punch them again. Not 100% on this to be honest - it might be that they've gone already before your attack triggers. Even so, a charge that attacks their body might leave them very open to close-range targeted shots. This is another way to potentially get an early kill, or if nothing else to get a free shot in. Just bear in mind that it's right before the repair phase, so don't just fire at a fully shielded titan because you can. Chances are the damage you cause will immediately be fixed. And of course, watch out for sending your reactor orange in the process.

 

Scent of blood is probably simpler to use. I think it's very good. It's a way to potentially get a quick kill early in the combat phase with a Warbringer, which could result in your Reavers running all over the place, dodging fire arcs and causing confusion all round.

 

In the above list I think I'd replace the melta on the Reaver with a chainfist, because it makes sense to have two melee threats in a Ruptura maniple. If you really wanted to save points to get the third Reaver into 1750 then the best option would probably be to change the Warbringer's Bellicosa for a quake cannon. Quake cannons are just fantastic guns. Heat could be a bit of an issue for you, what with wanting to get near the enemy and your various draining/maximal weapons, the change isn't too bad. Quake can pin enemies down effectively, so they can't escape your melee.

Thanks for this - a really interesting response.

 

I agree that at 1750 it is important to field a full maniple with three Reavers to get maximum benefit from the maniple trait. Playing around with lists, it looks like it's difficult to fit in both a Belicosa and two storm frag upgrades at 1750. I'm not sure what would be best here - I like the idea of one of the Warbringers having a really high strength weapon to help it get kills, particularly if I do as you suggest and swap in a chainfist for the melta on one of the Reavers. As without the Belicosa I would worry that the list lacks high strength threats to hurt an unshielded but undamaged Titan. On the other hand the storm frag upgrade is characterful - and looks potentially quite deadly to a damaged Titan. I'm magnetising my Titans though, so can always experiment and see what works best.

 

I agree on the wording of Cull the Weak, by the way - it's very unclear. It talks about how the Gore Crow Titan can "immediately" make an attack with one of its weapon systems, which suggests you can attack as soon as they try to / are caused to move away but before they actually do so. But there again it states that the Stratagem can be played "when an enemy Titan moves..." which to me suggests it comes after the move. It's hopelessly vague on a point that is potentially vital - the move could take the enemy Titan out of range or arc, or into cover, or move it more than 2" away (e.g. if you punch a Titan with a power fist and knock it backwards). So it could be the difference between being able to fire or not being able to fire, whether shields are effective or not, etc. It needs an FAQ really. It's quite disappointing that something so obvious and crucial isn't spelled out clearly.

 

In terms of painting, I'm making good progress on the first of my Astorum Warlords. The skeleton is painted save for details (which you could be doing forever! the detail is amazing), and the base coat is largely done, including the highlights / transitions on the armour, as well as much of the trim. I've been thinking over how to decorate the armour; I think the right shoulder will have a stylised orrery, and the left hand probably a bronze shield to reflect the Titan's name - Clypeum Lucii, Shield of Lucius, the Sentinel of Old Night. The idea being that it's a venerable Titan that stood guard over Lucius during the horrors of the Age of Strife. I'll post some pictures soon, hopefully - probably once the armour plates are on.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Gattopardo

[Mandragola]

Good points on Cull the Weak. As you say, it's very impactful. I sometimes get the feeling that FW rules are never playtested outside of the team who wrote them. They know what they mean, but they don't check to see if things make sense to anyone else.

 

I think your analysis on the Ruptura is good. You do need a weapon to break through tough armour. I hadn't given this issue too much thought before now, but now I look at it I see a problem: no plasma. This maniple has no way to do repeated S10 hits on a location and that could be problematic, especially against Warlords.

 

Here's a Ruptura list I drew up for my Astorum a while back:

 

Ruptura Battleline Maniple                       1750

                            

Warbringer Nemesis Titan                         395

              Mori Quake Cannon      

              Volcano Cannon             

              Volcano Cannon             

                            

Warbringer Nemesis Titan                         430

              Bellicosa Volcano Cannon          

              Melta Cannon  

              Gatling Blaster 

                            

Reaver Battle Titan                       305

              Laser Blaster     

              Power Fist         

              Apocalypse Missile Launcher     

                            

Reaver Battle Titan                       305

              Gatling Blaster 

              Chainfist            

              Turbo Laser Destructor 

                            

Reaver Battle Titan                       315

              Melta Cannon  

              Chainfist            

              Vulcan Mega Bolter       

 

Now this is an Astorum list, so it works a bit differently. I've gone for melee weapons on all three Reavers, since I expect these guys to be very fast. I might actually be better off giving one of them two melee weapons and another two guns. Not sure. 

 

Anyway, for Gore Crows, there are some points you can strip. The melta isn't great on a Warbringer that can't war march so you could trade that for a laser blaster - which is a useful all-rounder. The Turbo laser destructor on a Reaver's roof could be a VMB, and you'd have saved enough points to give it the crazy ammo. 

 

You probably don't want two volcano cannons on the other Warbringer if you lack Astorum rerolls. So I'd strip that off in exchange for... something. Probably a laser blaster again but potentially a gatling blaster if you want to save points. Gatlings are pretty good for getting kills, especially if there's a damaged Warhound you can target, and they do strip shields well.

 

You'd probably want two melee weapons and a third Reaver shooting, rather than tooling up all three Reavers for melee... I think. A Reaver with melta, gatling (or laser blaster) and boosted VMB would be pretty great, though not cheap.

[Gore Crow]

Great freehand on the Crow; looking forward to seeing more

[Gattopardo]

So, no real further thoughts from me on list construction at this stage (other than to think that a Ferrox - possibly with Warbringer support - could be another good option for my Gore Crows), but I have made some further progress on my first Astorum Warlord. All the armour plates are on and I've started decorating and weathering them - in fact, the head is pretty much finished, unless I decide to go for an even more heavily weathered look. I've done the bulk of the right shoulder plate (I love the plain armour plates, as they offer such a nice canvas to work on) - the design is somewhat based on some of the Astorum transfers, using a copper colour that I think on the whole works, though brass tones might arguably have been a better fit. I've also started adding some astronomical patterns. Here's a few (very bad!) photos:

 

 

 

 

I've spent a long time working on the trim, which hasn't come out that well in the photos above. It looks a lot richer and more golden in real life (as well as more aged, as I've done quite a bit of glazing with greys and greens to get an aged, discoloured look in places). Hopefully when I sort out a better setup for taking photos this will be apparent.

 

The Warlord really is a great model and I'm pleased with how this is coming along. There's a strong argument for just concentrating on my Astorum at the moment, and putting the Gore Crows on the back burner. I'll see how I get on with that, though, as I do like the variety of having two different Legios on the go.

 

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Warlord is beautifully painted and detailed. How will you decorate the base?

[Lord_Borak]

The free hand in this thread is grand mate. The Right shoulder on the Warlord is just Great, I'm kinda gutted I didn't put a plain one on my own now, oh well, the next one I guess!

 

Having two schemes on the go is definitely something I'd recommend, or at least a side project. If I get bored with painting one scheme or what have you I can just jump onto something a bit simpler, like scenery or a simpler colour/colour scheme on another model.

[schoon]

Really liking all the Astorum-inspired symbols I'm seeing on this Titan and others on the forum. Well done.

 

Very nice weathering on the head and missile launchers.

[Gattopardo]

So, I've been making some good progress on my Titans. I've not done much more on my Astorum warlord than is shown in the photo above - a bit more detailing and weathering - but nothing more. I've been working on the Gore Crows, though (and yes, it's nice - as Lord Borak says - to have two projects on the go, for variety's sake - especially as the Gore Crows scheme and feel is quite different to that of the Warp Runners). I've built and primed my first Gore Crow Warbringer, and started work on the skeleton. I've also made good progress on both of the Reavers I've got on the go. The freehand is taking a while, but coming on nicely I feel. I'm fairly sure of what I want on the carapace - basically, freehand of bird skulls. But the rest of the armour is a bit more difficult. The colour plates in Defence of Ryza suggest the Gore Crows don't really go in for much heraldry, which fits the background of them being pitiless, taciturn killers. On the other hand, I'm not sure it works to leave the armour all - or mostly - blank. I've tried a bit of freehand of things like the Xana symbol, as well as the Gore Crows symbol - which has come out ok but is very time consuming. So, I'll need to look at alternative approaches for detailing on the armour plates, and would be grateful for any suggestions.

 

 

The Warlord is beautifully painted and detailed. How will you decorate the base?

 

Thanks Bjorn! At the moment my plan is to make fairly plain (and matching) bases for both Legios. Probably a red dust (i.e. Martian style) landscape - as that should work well with both colour schemes. I have some weathering powders which I'll apply - in moderation - to the Titans' legs, to tie them to the base. I'm not sure how well that ties into the background, really - I believe there were some Astorum titans on Tallarn, which could legitimately have had a red dust landscape after the Iron Warriors virus bombed it. I'm not sure if there are any other examples in the lore of these Legios on planets with that type of landscape, though.

 

 

Good points on Cull the Weak. As you say, it's very impactful. I sometimes get the feeling that FW rules are never playtested outside of the team who wrote them. They know what they mean, but they don't check to see if things make sense to anyone else.

 

I think your analysis on the Ruptura is good. You do need a weapon to break through tough armour. I hadn't given this issue too much thought before now, but now I look at it I see a problem: no plasma. This maniple has no way to do repeated S10 hits on a location and that could be problematic, especially against Warlords.

 

Here's a Ruptura list I drew up for my Astorum a while back:

 

Ruptura Battleline Maniple                       1750

                            

Warbringer Nemesis Titan                         395

              Mori Quake Cannon      

              Volcano Cannon             

              Volcano Cannon             

                            

Warbringer Nemesis Titan                         430

              Bellicosa Volcano Cannon          

              Melta Cannon  

              Gatling Blaster 

                            

Reaver Battle Titan                       305

              Laser Blaster     

              Power Fist         

              Apocalypse Missile Launcher     

                            

Reaver Battle Titan                       305

              Gatling Blaster 

              Chainfist            

              Turbo Laser Destructor 

                            

Reaver Battle Titan                       315

              Melta Cannon  

              Chainfist            

              Vulcan Mega Bolter       

 

Now this is an Astorum list, so it works a bit differently. I've gone for melee weapons on all three Reavers, since I expect these guys to be very fast. I might actually be better off giving one of them two melee weapons and another two guns. Not sure. 

 

Anyway, for Gore Crows, there are some points you can strip. The melta isn't great on a Warbringer that can't war march so you could trade that for a laser blaster - which is a useful all-rounder. The Turbo laser destructor on a Reaver's roof could be a VMB, and you'd have saved enough points to give it the crazy ammo. 

 

You probably don't want two volcano cannons on the other Warbringer if you lack Astorum rerolls. So I'd strip that off in exchange for... something. Probably a laser blaster again but potentially a gatling blaster if you want to save points. Gatlings are pretty good for getting kills, especially if there's a damaged Warhound you can target, and they do strip shields well.

 

You'd probably want two melee weapons and a third Reaver shooting, rather than tooling up all three Reavers for melee... I think. A Reaver with melta, gatling (or laser blaster) and boosted VMB would be pretty great, though not cheap.

 

 

This is really helpful - thank you. I've been looking a bit more at this and came up with the following at 1750:

 

Legio Vulturum Ruptura maniple

 

Reaver with Laser Blaster, Chainfist and Apocalypse Missile Launchers: 305

Reaver with Laser Blaster, Melta and VMB (with storm frag shells): 345

Reaver with Melta, Power Fist and VMB: 315

Warbringer with Gatling, Melta and Quake: 395

Warbringer with Gatling, Volcano and Quake: 385

 

So - no Belicosa on either Warbringer, which means there are more points available to equip the Reavers with more powerful weapons. Clearly I could switch the guns round a bit, and I might do that - a Gatling might work better on a Reaver rather than giving one to both of the Warbringers, for example. Although whatever way I slice it it's hard to come up with a good combo on the Warbringer's arms. The Volcano cannon fits in terms of range, but putting one on each arm seems to be asking for trouble heat-wise. Also, I don't want all the Warbringers' weapons to be blast as I want them to be able to make kills to trigger the maniple trait. It's tricky to work out what is best. The Warbringer would make a lot more sense in terms of role if it could have missiles on the arms, I feel.

 

Anyway, the result of all this is that there are now three meltas in the battlegroup, which is largely what I will rely on for high strength weapons to crack open tough armour. The idea of having one of the Warbringers armed with a Melta and Gatling is to move it up the field hoping to get kills to trigger the free moves for all the Reavers. That does mean it's likely to be in short range for the Quake - and I wonder whether I should take the Linked MIU stratagem (linking both Warbringers). This would let me move up with one and leave the other in the backfield, while firing both Quakes and (probably) a laser blaster without penalty for being a short and long range respectively. 

 

Having two Quake cannons and a Power Fist opens up the possibility of getting a lot of use out of Cull the Weak. Alternatively, I could take Enigmatic as a Princeps Trait and have the option to redeploy one of my titans - I'd probably make one of the melee Reavers my Seniores in this case, both to get more reliable charge orders off, and also to get the benefit of redeploying him to give him the best options to close with the enemy.

 

Anyway - that is all very nice theory, but clearly I need to get all this built and painted and get some games in! But, I'd be very interested in any views on the above.

[Mandragola]

Cool. I like your new list a lot. Melta cannons probably are your best option as a weapon to break holes in armour so having three of them is great. A linked MIU for your Warbringers is also a nice option. You can use it to get the best mods on weapons like quake cannons, laser blasters and gatlings. If you are going that way, you could consider two laser blasters on your stand back warbringer, instead of the volcano cannon. It's better against shields (with or without shieldbane) and won't heat you up unless you need it to.

 

It'd be a bit of work to try and keep one WB outside of 24" and the other inside 16, but it's possible. Between the two of them they ought to be able to claim some kills I think.

[Gattopardo]

Hi all,

 

It's been a bit of a while since I posted anything on here, but progress has been made, both on the gaming and painting front.

 

First, the painting. I've been working on my first Astorum Warlord, which is really onto the finer details now. The main things I've been working on are the decorations on the shoulder plates, as well as a bit of weathering. Most of it is freehand, but I added a transfer to the weapon guard on the Belicosa arm. Here's a couple of photos.

 

 

 

You can also see the second Warlord I'm building in the background of these photos - he's plodding forward in a sort of relentless pose. Not got any paint onto him yet. 

 

I find this a difficult stage to be at with any model - as it's a question of how much more do you do before it's done? Still a fair bit of weathering and decoration to go but it's usable, at least. I can't decide on the yellow panel on the left thigh armour. Should I leave it all yellow, or paint on some blue - probably blue checks? No idea; suggestions and thoughts welcome.

 

I'm also making progress on my Gore Crows. Here's the first of the two Warbringers I'll be doing for them.

 

 

I'm pretty happy with how this guy is coming along, although as always taking a photograph shows up mistakes that aren't otherwise apparent! It's going to be called Stercorarius, hence the Great Skua painted on the left carapace armour - which needs a fair amount more work but I feel is headed in the right direction. I'll probably do a skull with a crow on top of it on the right carapace armour, and then some Xana signs and techno-runes (or whatever they are) on the rest of the plates. Plus weathering of course. I've been using some water soluble oil paints on this model and feel they're getting a nice effect.

 

I've also managed to get some gaming in, but will do a separate post on that in due course.

 

C&C very welcome.

[schoon]

Great freehand on the Gore Crow pauldron!

 

Astorum is such a beautiful color scheme with the astronomical fiddly bits when done right. It tempts me from time to time...

[Gattopardo]

Great freehand on the Gore Crow pauldron!

 

Astorum is such a beautiful color scheme with the astronomical fiddly bits when done right. It tempts me from time to time...

 

Thanks Schoon. Progress is being made, I'm happy to say, if only gradually. To be fair, it would probably help if I just concentrated on one model at a time....

 

Astorum has a great scheme, I agree. The astronomical stuff really makes it stand out as different. Having decided against doing any flames I have to say I'm now starting to rethink that and may do a few panels with some flames on here and there.

[schoon]

Yes, I've decided that my custom Traitor Legio pretty much has to have some sort of flames on them.

 

It's so eye catching, and gives you an enormous variety of cool techniques (and color combinations) to choose from.

[Mendi Warrior]

I love your free-hands, they are superb!

[Gattopardo]

Thanks Mendi. I do enjoy painting these models a lot. They offer so much opportunity for different interpretations.

I've actually made some pretty good progress over the last few days - I've built another Warbringer, made further progress on the Warbringer in the photo above, started painting my second Warlord, and got most of the way through painting my first banner. Nothing photo worthy just yet though, but still, nice to be making progress.

 

In the meantime, I've managed to get a bit of gaming in - on Tabletop Simulator, rather than in person, but it's still been great fun. Last time I took a 1,500 point Legio Astorum list of a Regia maniple with two Plasma/VMB hounds, a Gatling/Sunfury/Gatling Warlord, and a Missile/Quake/Belicosa Warlord. I thought this worked well and all four of the Titans did solid work, though both of the Hounds ended up dying!

 

I'll probably play 1750 next time out, and I'm thinking of sticking with the Regia, but adding a support Reaver. I found the Warhounds started to suffer existence failure as soon as they ventured out from the Warlord's shield bubble, which is suboptimal when they are attempting to retrieve a fallen crew! Having a Reaver in the list will help there I reckon, as it's a tougher Titan that can afford to be a bit more self reliant.

 

So I'd probably be looking at something like:

 

Legio Astorum battlegroup  - Regia Battleline Maniple

 

Warlord Titan with Sunfury, Macro Gatling and Paired Gatlings - 490

Warlord Titan with Belicosa, Quake and Missiles - 475

Warhound with Plasma and VMB - 220

Warhound with Plasma and VMB - 220

 

Reinforcements - Reaver Titan with Carapace VMB, Melta and Chainfist (or Power Fist) - 315

 

Total 1720

 

So I've got 30 points to spare here. Not quite sure what to do. I could upgrade the fire support Warlord to match the loadout of the midfield Warlord - so two Warlords both with Sunfury, Macro Gatling and paired Gatlings. Or even give him two Sunfurys. I could see that being a very intimidating group of Titans to take control of the middle of the board, but I found the fire support loadout very good - you're hitting things from turn one, stripping shields and nuking Knights. I'm kinda minded to keep things as is, therefore, as I think I have more options this way. 

 

Alternatively, of course, I could go with a different maniple - Fortis, maybe, or an Axiom with some reinforcements (not sure what). I did like the Regia, though, with the ability to share voids at 3" and the war marching Astorum warlord, and I've still got variety in the above list what with fielding one each of the three original classes of Titan.

 

Thoughts and suggestions very welcome.

Edited November 13, 2020 by Gattopardo

[Gattopardo]

Some more progress on my Astorum - my second Warlord is well on the way now. Nearly all the armour plates went on yesterday - the only ones that are left are the ones for the weapon mounts.

 

Still lots to do - finishing the trim, highlighting and shading of the skeleton, getting the base colour of the yellow plates finished, doing details such as the targeting optics, adding heraldry and patterning, and of course weathering, so in terms of time I'm probably no more than half way there, but nonetheless it does feel like a big achievement when you get the armour plates on!

 

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I painted most of the armour on the sprue, and somewhat embarrassingly managed to do the fade on the blank shoulder plates upside down! I'm not going to redo it, though, as I think it looks ok and a lot of it will be covered in Astorum heraldry anyway.

 

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I should be getting a game in tonight at 1750. I think I'll take a slight variation on the Regia maniple I planned in my previous post , as follows: 

 

Regia Battleline Maniple

 

Warlord with Sunfury, Macro Gatling and Twin Gatlings - 490

Warlord with Belicosa, Sunfury and Missiles - 500

Warhound with Plasma and VMB - 220

Warhound with Plasma and VMB - 220

 

Support

 

Reaver Titan with Chainfist, Melta Cannon and VMB - 315

 

That comes to 1745. I'm not sure whether it's an improvement on the previous list really. The idea is that the Warlords both have loadouts that work at mid range, so they can advance in a big group with the two Warhounds (or separately with each Warlord accompanied by one Hound, depending on mission and terrain). In other words, both the Warlords move up protecting the Warhounds under their shields. That would have made less sense with a Belicosa / Quake Warlord who clearly wants to spend the whole game quite static and at long range.

 

The problem is that the Belicosa might be dangerous to fire at the same time as I'm War Marching up the board (and probably pushing the reactor for shield saves), and it feels rather a lot of points to take a gun that I might opt not to fire...on the other hand it's a big blast at s12 that might be useful later in the game or if there are knights to shoot. Double plasma might be better but seems a little boring - and less effective against knights.

 

Anyway, I'll give it a go and see what happens...

[Mandragola]

That looks like a good list. I do agree with your analysis of the Bellicosa though. An Astorum Regia maniple tends to want to push forward quite hard, so a gun with infinite range and the draining trait is not really what you want.

 

A Bellicosa is good against knights, but (otehr than Acastus) they shouldn't really be a big problem for you. Between the Sunfury, plasma blastguns and melta cannon you already have a lot of good knight-killing weapons. As a result I quite often put together lists without any Bellicosas on my Warlords.