Archaeotech weapons – unofficial – new cards

[apologist]

Thought I'd have a go at drafting some weapons that existed previously, but that haven't appeared in the current version of the game. For obvious reasons you shouldn't use these in Matched Play, but should be fine for Open Play – just let the other player have first dibs!

 

They'd also be fun to use in Narrative Play, where you might have them as reserve weapons brought out from mothballs/captured from the enemy/precious archeotech prizes from a grateful Forgefane. If you like sticking closely to the Matched Play rules even for casual games, I'd suggest that you use the following stratagem:

 

 

Experimental Warfare stratagem

ARCHAEOTECH STOCKPILE

> Play this Stratagem in the first Strategy phase of the first round //_

> You may purchase this Stratagem multiple times //_

> The player selects a Titan and replaces one of its Arm Weapons with one of those listed [here]; or one of its Carapace Weapons with one of those listed [here] //_

 COST: 1

 

If you give them a go, I'd love to hear how you get on.

 

 

 

Designer's notes:

These are primarily based on what was available to Reavers and Warlords in various past editions. Most are fairly self-explanatory, and many are simply filling in gaps. 

 

The Reaver arm weapons are simply the Warhound weapons transferred (e.g. Vulcan Mega-bolter); or the carapace version made available as an arm (e.g. Volkite Eradicator); or a halved version of the Warlord carapace weapon made available as a Reaver Arm (e.g. Turbo Laser-Destructor). These are included to allow you to recreate favourite Titans from the past. The arm-mounted Apocalypse Missile Launcher is a good example, as the three-missile support Titan was a classic option from Epic: Armageddon and earlier. These weapon stats/cost etc, are identical to those originals; which seems to be how the other official weapons available to multiple chassis work.

 

Others are iterated versions of those weapons available to other Titan classes. These have all been designed conservatively, so they shouldn't displace any of the other existing weapons – they're intended as fun additions, rather than 'better'.

 

• The Inferno Cannon and Avernus-pattern Inferno Cannon are bigger versions of the Warhound Inferno Gun for the Reaver and Warlord respectively. Like the Warhound version, I suspect these are unlikely to see much use, but I hope they're fun to play with! 
• The Quake Cannon is a Reaver-scale version of the Mori Quake Cannon; the stats based on the changes between the Belicosa Volcano Cannon and Volcano Cannon. I reduced the blast size, but left the strength as-is. 
• The Ruinator Chainfist goes the other way – it's a Warlord-scale Chainfist. I compared the Reaver Power Fist to the Arioch-pattern Power Claw, and then applied similar changes to the Reaver Chainfist to produce the Warlord-scale version. 

 

The final few are:

• Barrage Missile Launcher – described as follows, this was a bit tricky to design, as weapons tend to be either good against shields, or good against armour. I plumped for a combination of special rules that make it either good at 'depleting void shields' (Shieldbane), or at damaging 'unshielded targets' (Rending, Ordnance). The downside to this wonder weapon (for it had to have one!) is that it is a 'one-shot support weapon', and is not as accurate as a standard Apocalypse Missile Launcher.

 

 

• Kamaki-pattern Trident – almost certainly the likely inspiration for the Ursus claw, the original Trident was pure Warhammer 40k (see the original rules below), and I couldn't resist writing up some rules to allow the Reaver to take it, too. The increase in Strength makes it quite a bit scarier on the Reaver, but this is balanced against it being unlikely to be able to be used in a squadron, so the points increase is modest.

 

• In addition to the Plasma Blastgun, the Reaver also gets access to the Plasma Annihilator. This is loosely based on the 'Plasma Cannon' from the original Adeptus Titanicus, and is intended as a midway point between the Plasma Blastgun and Sunfury Plasma Annihilator. It is essentially the Sunfury with one fewer shot – and this is why its price is comparatively high.
• Finally, the Sumer-pattern Power Fist for the Warlord Titan. A very simple card to allow people to use the Vulcan mega-bolter on the back of the Arioch-pattern Titan Claw. While it never particularly bothered me (the justification that it contributes to the punching power seems fair enough), a close combat build is already unpopular on Warlords, so if this helps to encourage it a little more, that's a job well done, in my eyes! For clarity, the intention is that the Long Range stats only benefit from Rapid; not from Melee or Rending.

 

 

Edited September 23 by apologist
Updated file