Belicosa Volcano Cannon for the Warbringer

[Marshal Loss]

 

In resin, available from Forge World later this week.

[The boater]

What a swing and a miss... no way to get the other arm weapons without buying two reaver sprues, no alternative head/tilt shields, and they’re probably going to charge $25-30 USD for it. Glad there’s a free stl floating around out there

[apologist]

Disappointed to see it’s resin; I’d hoped for a new sprue with some alt heads and alternative weapon options for the arms.

[malika666]

Just get this one if the price is too high: https://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/shop/heavy-ordnance-energy-cannon/

[Noserenda]

Yeah, shame its resin but on the upside it means anything could be next in plastic, including Corrupted titans (Clearly having an optimistic day today lol) 

[Mendi Warrior]

Disappointed as well. Extremely curious to see the back and hoping my use of magnets there will prove to have been useful ...

[Mandragola]

I’m... quite pleased actually. This means I don’t have to wait around for a plastic sprue with melta and Gatling that’s never coming. I’ve built myself all three guns and they look at least as good as this. Now maybe I’ll get a standard Warbringer for my Mortis force and maybe not.

 

The quake cannon is a better gun anyway really, and cheaper. No great loss for anyone. Grab one of these if you like.

[schoon]

Yeah.

 

While it's not "bad," it's just not to my taste.

 

I've seen some 3D files that just seem to capture the spirit of the weapon better, IMO.

[General Zodd]

I’m... quite pleased actually. This means I don’t have to wait around for a plastic sprue with melta and Gatling that’s never coming. I’ve built myself all three guns and they look at least as good as this. Now maybe I’ll get a standard Warbringer for my Mortis force and maybe not.

 

The quake cannon is a better gun anyway really, and cheaper. No great loss for anyone. Grab one of these if you like.

I partially agree, being able to just pick up the gun is a plus, but it’s a shame about not having the other arm weapons with appropriate mounts. It’s relatively easy to convert them from Reaver arms, but it’s a bit of a pain. The biggest shame is no new heads or armour panels, the head in particular is ripe for alternate sculpts. Still, plenty of third party options, I guess!

[Mandragola]

 

I’m... quite pleased actually. This means I don’t have to wait around for a plastic sprue with melta and Gatling that’s never coming. I’ve built myself all three guns and they look at least as good as this. Now maybe I’ll get a standard Warbringer for my Mortis force and maybe not.

 

The quake cannon is a better gun anyway really, and cheaper. No great loss for anyone. Grab one of these if you like.

I partially agree, being able to just pick up the gun is a plus, but it’s a shame about not having the other arm weapons with appropriate mounts. It’s relatively easy to convert them from Reaver arms, but it’s a bit of a pain. The biggest shame is no new heads or armour panels, the head in particular is ripe for alternate sculpts. Still, plenty of third party options, I guess!

 

Yeah that's all true. The head design is bad and we could definitely do with a Melta and gatling blaster designed to fit with the hoses on a Warbringer.

 

Ultimately I guess they've got a pretty limited amount of plastic budget they can devote to AT. I can kind of live with them using it on things like the Warmaster rather than a weapon sprue... though the counter argument goes that they are doing loads of little releases for Necromunda that I'd much prefer were AT instead!

 

I also think my original post could come across kind of self-satisfied. I've got the guns so I'm ok, and never mind everyone else. Sorry if that's how it looks.

[General Zodd]

Yeah that's all true. The head design is bad and we could definitely do with a Melta and gatling blaster designed to fit with the hoses on a Warbringer.

 

Ultimately I guess they've got a pretty limited amount of plastic budget they can devote to AT. I can kind of live with them using it on things like the Warmaster rather than a weapon sprue... though the counter argument goes that they are doing loads of little releases for Necromunda that I'd much prefer were AT instead!

 

I also think my original post could come across kind of self-satisfied. I've got the guns so I'm ok, and never mind everyone else. Sorry if that's how it looks.

Oh, no, not at all! The last Reaver I made had purely gun arm shoulder mounts glued in (I have enough melee-capable reavers, now, I think), with magnets glued in at the ends of the arms so I could make an extra set of weapons for that and the Warbringer without having to fiddle around with two magnet Reaver arms, so I’m equally okay personally. Just thought I’d mention it as a downside!

 

As you say, we only have a limited number of plastic AT sprues per year, but if we’re missing out on plastic alt-Warbringer I really hope they’re not saving that slot for more knights!

Edited May 10, 2021 by General Zodd

[SkimaskMohawk]

Hope its better sculpted than the macro gatling, because I I genuinely felt bad looking at the underside and back of that and thinking it more than half of the plastic upgrade set with four weapons, heads and armour pieces. As it is, they now have to compete with a market saturated with resin prints/variants since they decided to not do a plastic upgrade set.

 

Just don't mention that in the At2018facebook group ;)

[Gattopardo]

Yeah I agree with all the above. It's nice that they're releasing the Belicosa for the Warbringer, but a major disappointment that it's FW resin and in particular that it's not coming with a weapons sprue with Gatling, Melta and the alternate (and better) head. This is particularly annoying as the Melta and Gatling are two of the best Reaver arm weapons but currently you can't get them together (unless you buy the starter set). I also don't think the official design of the Belicosa looks that great on the WB. I get the thinking of moving parts of the gun down to where the magazines are on the Quake Cannon WB, but it just looks better with the Warlord arm Belicosa up there instead.

 

That means I won't be buying this gun I don't think. I'll finish off the converted Warlord Belicosa I started instead (inspired by Mandragola). All that said, I do like the Belicosa and dual Gatling loadout for the Warbringer. It's a very different Titan with that loadout I think. I've taken a Warbringer with that build in a Ruptura maniple at 1750, and in support of a Ferrox at 1500. I find this Titan attracts a lot of fire if you march it at the enemy, but the WB is quite tough so it can weather a bit of fire. This is good if you're trying to get other engines (like the Reavers in a Ruptura, or all of a Ferrox) up close without suffering too much damage. It's also more self reliant than the loadouts you often see on a WB, as it can strip shields, do damage with the Belicosa and then finish stuff as well. You could take one Gatling and a Melta instead, and that would probably be good too, although more expensive of course.

[Mandragola]

I agree it's frustrating not to have gatlings and meltas to fit on Warbringers. They're very good on them, whether or not they're really supposed to be!

 

The difficulty for this engine in general has always been that Reaver arm weapons are effective at short ranges, but its main gun wants to be far away. The only arm gun that's at all happy at range is the volcano cannon, which is draining and not all that effective. Two of them give you about the firepower of a single plasma blastgun, minus the option to fire on the low energy setting against shields - albeit with much better range. This arguably illustrates that PBGs are so much too good, rather than that volcano cannons are bad... or maybe a bit of both.

 

Anyway the argument for a bellicosa on a Warbringer is that it's got no penalty to hit up close. You can therefore make your engine sort of a midfield brawler with some combination of bellicosa, gatling and melta. I'm just not all that sold on this engine though, compared to other options. You could have a Reaver with a melta and some combination of other weapons instead for about 100 points less, doing arguably a better job. Or you could go with the classic midfield brawler Warlord, for not a huge amount more points than the Warbringer with its pricey bellicosa. That bellicosa is of course a carapace weapon with (probably) the corridor arc, which can cause all kinds of issues up close. And the Reaver and Warlord have all sorts of maniple options that can make them more effective in this role as well.

 

Having said all that, the Ruptura maniple exists and this is a good way to build a Warbringer that will get engine kills. So it does make sense to give a bellicosa to your second Warbringer, if (like me) you've gone mad and got two of them.

[Gattopardo]

Yes, I can't disagree with any of that. A Brawler Warlord is clearly better (both in absolute terms and in terms of points efficiency) than the dual Gatling and Belicosa Warbringer. That Warbringer is 60 to 80 points cheaper though depending on what carapace weapons you give it, so it fits into a 1500 point list as support for my Ferrox maniple of two Reavers and two Warhounds, whereas the Warlord doesn't. Of course I could drop a Reaver in favour of a Warhound and then I'd probably have the points for the Warlord, but I like having two Reavers.

 

The same arguments rear their head for the Quake cannon Warbringer really. A Warlord with two Quake Cannons and missiles is clearly better than a Quake Cannon Warbringer - if you have the points for it. Tracking Gyroscopes could help the Warbringer, but obviously also add to its cost.

 

Hopefully at some point we'll get new arm options that synergise better with the Warbringer.

[Mandragola]

Ok so here you've got the fact that the Warbringer lets you bring a Warlord-class weapon on a slightly cheaper platform. That's certainly true, though really you don't save as much as all that. A Warlord's base cost is only 60 points more than a Warbringer and a double-quake/missile Warlord actually pays less for its guns than most Warbringer builds (quake and double gatling pays 5 points less). 440 points for a double-quake Warlord is an extremely good deal, arguably too good to be honest, and it's tough for a Warbringer to compete with that.

 

Adding a Bellicosa arguably works a bit better compared to the Warlord. It obviously costs the same for both, but it gives better synergy with the Warbringer's other weapons and actually makes the cheap gatling blasters more viable. 

 

I threw together a 1500 point Ferrox list with a Warlord in support, just to see what it looked like. I don't think I've had to make any massive sacrifices here. All the titans have proper load-outs, though I haven't added any upgrades.

 

Ferrox Light Maniple

 

Reaver Titan 315

Melta Cannon

Power Fist

Vulcan Mega Bolter

 

Reaver Titan 305

Laser Blaster

Chainfist

Vulcan Mega Bolter

 

Warhound Titan 220

Plasma Blastgun

Vulcan Mega Bolter

 

Warhound Titan 220

Vulcan Mega Bolter

Plasma Blastgun

 

Support

 

Warlord Titan 440

Mori Quake Cannon

Mori Quake Cannon

Paired Apocalypse Missile Launchers

[Gattopardo]

Yes, that list or something like it is definitely an option, and very possibly a better one. I'll probably try it out - though I don't really love the playstyle of the artillery Warlord so much. (The other reason I've not tried this is that I use a Ferrox maniple at 1500 for my Legio Vulturum, and I don't have a Warlord in Vulturum colours.)

[The boater]

Honestly I really don’t consider the warbringer for a support titan. If I have the points, the warlord IS just better, and if I’m struggling to make it work, the reaver will do just fine. That being said, the warbringer is quickly becoming my favorite titan, now that I’ve had a few games with the ruptura and arcus maniples. And having tested both the quake and bellicosa, I don’t really notice too much of a difference, unless I go with a dual Gatling for the arms or I’m fighting knights. Gatling arms need you to get in closer and you really can’t afford the minus 1 at that range, plus the extra strength goes that extra mile for the Gats to be the finisher. I’ll be honest though, I really only wanted plastic for the arms, not the actual cannon (haha)

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Honestly, while it would've been nice to have the 28mm alternative warbringer head & tilting shields in AT scale, even if there'd been a plastic bellicosa + arms sprue, it's unlikely there would have been the alt head with it given the warbinger's head isn't on its weapons sprue  

[schoon]

 

 Reaver Titan 305

Laser Blaster

Chainfist

Vulcan Mega Bolter

 

 

Just curious why you went with the Laser Blaster as opposed to a Gatling Blaster on this Titan...

 

[Mandragola]

 

 

Reaver Titan 305

 

Laser Blaster

Chainfist

Vulcan Mega Bolter

 

Just curious why you went with the Laser Blaster as opposed to a Gatling Blaster on this Titan...

I’m not usually a fan of laser blasters but I find them a lot better in Ferrox maniples. Going up to S9 up close makes them much more of a threat, as does the accuracy in melee. It becomes a weapon you could reasonably attack first with to break armour, before attacking wherever it hit with your melee weapon to finish the job.

 

I do like Gatling blasters but having just one of those and a VMB means it’s very hard to damage intact armour - and almost impossible to shoot knights. You could swap the vmb for a turbo laser but overall I think this way is better. You don’t want your high strength gun on the carapace against knights, for one thing.

[Mendi Warrior]

Well, the new gun is available https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/Warbringer-Nemesis-Titan-Volcano-Cannon-2021?_requestid=518075

£16 / €20

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Mendi Warrior

[Marshal Loss]

The lack of the platform is disappointing. Seems unlikely to me that this will be a popular product

[Sword Brother Adelard]

The lack of the platform is disappointing. Seems unlikely to me that this will be a popular product

I've seen another picture with a platform included? I'm confused.

[Lord_Borak]

It's up on the FW website now. It's just the gun.

 

To be honest, it's fairly easy to magnetise the weapon into the mount and swap the Quake/Belicosa out. I've done it already on mine and if I can do it..........