Adeptus Titanicus/Tactics

This is the Tactica page for the Adeptus Titanicus specialist game, for rules for playing with Titans in 40k click here.

The Rules

Official rules

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FAQ

Here are some common questions regarding the rules for Adeptus Titanicus. Several concepts/rules found in the rule book are unfortunately not very clear and open to interpretation. Note: These are not official answers!. House rule interpretation have been added to give a solution until official FAQ is released. This section is not intended for bible-bashing rules, but more a friendly section for those confused by the badly written rules as well. If you find a official answer, please update the question with a reference/link.

Shooting

• Question: Can I place blast markers anyway I want? E.g. can I shoot between Knights with a Volcano cannon to hit more Knights?
• Answer: No. Like most GW games, you place the blast markers hole anywhere over a base. For larger bases, this means there is still quite a big of freedom (Paraphrasing a Copenhagen GW employee)

• Question: Does the Warlord Titan's Ardex-Defensor Cannon or the Knight's torso-mounted Melta gun need to roll to hit?
• Answer: No. The terminal simply states the units "Suffers D3 Strength 5 hits" with no mention of needing a hit roll. It's not a ranged attack, rather a persistent effect which just happens.

• Question: If a Reaver (Scale: 8, almost 3" deep base) is exactly 9" away from a Warlord (Scale: 10), can the Warlord's carapace weapon still target the Reaver?
• Answer: No The rules use the word "within" with no mention of having to be "completely within". If even 0.1mm of the Reaver's base is within 10" then the carapace weapons cannot target it.
• Additional Explanation: You don't have to have the whole base within range to target it with any other weapons, you simply have to have part of the base within range.

Orders

• Question: Does a unit with Emergency repairs activate the maintenance roll in the movement phase OR the combat phase?
• Answer: The order says "As soon as [the order] is issued, make a repair roll." This would imply the repair roll is immediate. You make the Repair Roll as soon as the order is passed, and then have to choose wherever to activate the unit in either the Movement or Combat Phase.

• Question: Is a unit with Full Stride orders limited by the "full stride" rules in the movement phase as well? I.e. must move in a straight line in it's front arc?
• Answer: Official answer unknown.
• House interpretation: A unit with Full Stride orders can move and rotate normally during the movement phase, and only in the combat phase execute the "straight line" move that a full stride entails. Without the alignment flexibility in the movement phase, the criteria setup for a meaningful stride is basically impossible for anything but banners.

• Question: A unit who fired with First fire order in the movement phase must fire at the same target in the combat phase?
• Answer: No. A unit may fire at a different unit in the combat phase. (Paraphrasing a Copenhagen GW employee)

House rules

Here are some suggestions to alternative rules which you and your opponent should agree on prior to to playing. Some are there to smooth the game experience between players, some to enhance the fantasy of the God Engines and other to add more strategy to the game.

House rule: Corridor fire arc hit modifier

This house rules deals with the binary hit-or-miss nature of the Warlord Titan's carapace fire arc.

• The rules state that the center point of a target's base is used to determine a hit-or-miss by weapons fired using the Corridor fire arc. Instead, use a similar modifier logic as the cover system (it's simpler than it sounds):
  • If more than 50% (ie the center point is covered), no to-hit modifiers are added.
  • If less than 50% (but more than 25%) of the base is covered, add -1 to the to-hit roll.
  • If only 25% or less of the base is covered, add -2 to the to-hit roll.

• Rule creator's note: I recommend using this in combination with the pre-agreement. This enables a bit more strategy and nuance than the harsh binary model of hit or miss. /Windshield

House rule: Warlord vulcan mega bolter

The gun is on the power fist. Same stats as when on warhound, but no increase for any range. +20 points to activate this weapon for a battle.

House rule: Forest areas

This house rules adds tactical value to forest-like terrain.

• Designate forest (or similar in nature) areas before battle (preferably with tree-like terrain patches). Trees in the Titanicus scale could be around and 1" or 1.5" high.
  • Movement:
    • Light forests: No movement modifiers to Titans nor banners
    • Dense forests: Considered difficult terrain by all non-banners
  • Targeting units inside the area:
    • Banners inside the area always receive -2 cover modifier
    • Titans inside the area always receive -1 cover modifers (legs obscured)
  • Firing from within the area:
    • Banners can only fire 2" while inside the area (ie Melee range)
    • Titan firing out of the area are unaffected

• Rule creator's note: Since there wasn't any interesting official rules for things "less than difficult terrain", we came up with this rule to represent nuances on our battlefield. We found the variation of light and dense forest to be interesting in how different types of units could take advantage of this. I.e. it was interesting how conceptually a towering titan could shoot unaffected, while banners could use it as cover, but at the expense of not being able to shoot. We could have gone for a pure "forest" house rule, but the light vs dense variants we found important, as difficult terrain (halving movement) impeded Titans to a degree where it took away any value gained from entering these (rather large areas in our case). Be sure to agree with your opponent which is which before starting a game. We found this concept really made banners more fun to play, as they suddenly can survive a bit longer if placed strategically and therefore actually present a threat other than just sprinting behind titans. /Windshield

House rule: Machine God Walking

This house rule deals with knee-high terrain, which affect Titan movement in an unintended way.

• Any (blocking) cover from 1" or 1.5" high is considered knee-high cover (to titans).
  • Titans can always walk through knee-high cover without movement penalty. Depending on the type of cover:
    • If cover is made of soft material (wood, fragile structures), then nothing happens to the Titan.
    • If cover is made of steel/bricks (agree beforehand with your opponent), then the Titan moving through the cover suffers a hit equal to the movement speed going through it.
    • Either way: Remove the terrain as it is passed and destroyed by the weight of God Engines.
    • Example A: A Warlord Titan walks through cover with a speed of 4", causing strength 4 hit on the legs. In other words, no affect unless it already has leg damage.
    • Example B: A Warhound Scout Titan sprinting 12" through cover is a less good idea, as it causes a brutal strength 12 hit.
    • The speed measured is the total distance travelled in that phase, including boosting. E.g. during full stride, it would count as two separate moves.
  • Banners: No effect.
  • Optional: A charging Titan with a melee weapon may deduct one attack (from the charge bonus) to remove one movement hit. This can be accumulated if crossing multiple hard knee-covers, as long as it has attacks remaining.

• Rule creator's note: We have a lot of one-story high terrain pieces (buildings, walls), which look cool on the battlefield, but works against the core of the game - movement. It's really not interesting to not be able to move around with your giant metal good engine because of some bricks. The speed (and indirectly also their size) of these Titans systemically reflect the risk of just rushing through a wall adds a tiny bit of risk, as illustrated by the examples above. Overall this rule makes the big feel bigger, paving way for banners with brute force through weak lemmings-built obstructions. /Windshield

House rule: Command points (and initiative roll)

This house rule deals with the initiative roll being too random.

• Command points:
  • A command point is a small token (the datasheet-markers from Titanicus work very well for this)
  • Each players starts with three command points
  • Every End phase, players gain one command point each
  • When rolling for initiative:
    • Both players secretly put any number of command points into one hand
    • Roll for initiative with a D6 (and don't re-roll if equal!)
    • Both players now reveal their hand with a secret number of command points
    • Add command points to respective rolls
    • The highest score decides initiative
    • In case of a draw: Before re-rolling, players can secretly add additional command points just like before. After re-rolling, add the original command points, plus any extras. Continue until someone wins.
    • Discard all command points used to modify the initiative roll. Any unused points are kept until the next initiative roll.
    • Any unused command points at the end of the game count as 1 Victory point each.

• Rule creator's note: We've lost several titans - even games - by more or less the initiativ roll itself. Who charges first, who gets to first fire before a move, etc., unfortunately has a very huge affect on the game which is supposed to be more strategy than luck. We think this mechanic gives some control and long-term strategy of when to push for initiative and when not to. Changing the roll to a D6 (instead of D10) gives the commands points more value (relative to how many points you have at your disposal). Try it out :). /Windshield

House rule: Smoke pillars

This house rule adds an easy mechanic to make the battlefield feel like "alive".

• Smoke pillars:
  • A smoke pillar is a smoke model, with a base diamater of a coin, with upwards stretching smoke (see rule creator's note below)
  • When a blast marker scatters due to a missed shot, add a smoke pillar
  • When a Titan is destroyed, add a smoke pillar
  • Smoke pillars do not affect movement in any way
  • Smoke pillars do not prevent line of sight, but ANYTHING partially covered by it counts are rolled with a -2 to-hit modifier
  • In the End phase, roll a D6 for each smoke pillar. On a roll of 5 or 6, remove the pillar

• Rule creator's note: We found that even though destroying terrain is fun, it quickly meant we just removed terrain. The smoke pillars made for a much more dynamic experience, as it sudden added terrain as well (gave us some interesting games!). This was just a side thing to begin with, but is by far one of our favorit house mechanics, and creates some very visually interesting perspectives . In terms of creating the smoke pillars, I glued a few coins together, glued a bent thin steel wire to it and glued black "pillow filler" to the steel wire. /Windshield

(These are not house rules below here. Just to be clear)

Maniples

Not "house rules" below here.

Battleline Maniples

Axiom Battleline Maniple

• Minimum: 1 Warlord, 1 Reaver, 1 Warhound
• Optional: 1 Reaver, 1 Warhound
  • Might of the Omnissiah: If a Titan in the maniple fails its command check, the others may still make command checks.

Corsair Battleline Maniple

• Minimum: 3 Reavers
• Optional: 2 Reavers
  • Fighting Withdrawal: Titans can move outside their front arc at full speed but may not use boosted speed outside of their front arc.

Dominus Battleline Maniple

• Minimum: 1 Warlord 2 Reaver 1 Questoris or Cerastus Knight banner.
• Optional: 2 warhound 1 Knight banner.
  • Auspex bafflers: A Titan in this maniple that is within 6 inch of a Knight banner from same maniple gets a -1 modifier on attacks made against it from more than 2 inches away (Knight and Titan must both be visible to the attacker).
  • Knights in this maniple do not get modifiers to roll from cover, due to the auspex bafflers.
  • Noble Sacrifice: ("Look out Sir") When a Titan in this maniple takes a hit from ranged attack, it can transfer that hit to any Knight banner from same maniple that is within 6 inches. At least 1 of the knights must be visible to the attacker. The Knights then suffer the damage from the hit. If the attack uses a blast marker, centre the marker on the Knight. Firestorm weapons hits may NOT be passed on by this manner.
  • (My opinion, if you play as Legio Solaria you can replace the 2 reavers with 2 warhounds) or use solaria rules for a homebrew legio or a "counts as" legio. Just make sure your opponent understands that is what you are doing, before starting the game).

Janissary Battleline Maniple

• Minimum: 1 Reaver 2 Warhounds
• Optional: 1 Reaver 1 Warhound
  • Close Support: Janissary Battleline maniples learn to coordinate their actions with Household Support units, and can move to support them when needed. If a titan of this maniple activates during the Movement phase, choose a Knight banner within 6in of the activating titan. Once the Titan has finished it's movement, the chosen Knight Banner may now make it's activation.

Regia Battleline Maniple

• Minimum: 2 Warlords 1 Warhound
• Optional: 2 Warhounds
  • Royal Court: The two warlord titans play house. Within 12 of each other, when one passes an order, the other may automatically gain the same order. The Warhounds are their children and may merge void shields with their parents while within 3 instead of only in base contact.

Heavy Maniples

Myrmidion Heavy Maniple

• Minimum: 2 Warlords, 1 Reaver
• Optional: 1 Warlord, 1 Reaver
  • Overwhelming firepower: when issuing first fire or split fire orders the command check is always passed with 2+. Kinda meh, but the cheapest way to expand from the Grand Master starter set and get into matched play. <- Not sure who wrote this, but there's nothing 'meh' about getting to fire 2x a turn with your Warlords.

Light Maniples

Ferrox Light Maniple

• Minimum: 1 Reaver 2 Warhounds
• Optional: 1 Reaver 1 Warhound
  • Knife Fighters: When making attack within a number of inches equal to their scale, the titans add 1 to their armour rolls. Titans may also choose whether to use their weapon skill or ballistic skill within 2.

Lupercal Light Maniple

• Minimum: 3 Warhounds
• Optional: 2 Warhounds
  • Hunting Pack: At the start of the battle any or all Warhounds can form a squadron with others of this maniple. These squadrons last until the end of the round. In addition any Coordinated Strikes made by this maniple add 2 to the armour roll instead of 1.

Venator Light Maniple

• Minimum: 1 Reaver, 2 Warhounds
• Optional: 2 Warhounds
  • Opportunistic Strike: If an enemy Titan's shields are collapsed by the Warhounds in the Maniple, the Reaver gets a free shot at the enemy Titan. Take Apocalypse missiles and laugh as your reaver can potshot anything. Combine with warhounds with Vulcan mega-bolters to pop shields across the boards and unleash hell with your reaver. Taking full advantage of this rule by equipping the warhounds with shield busting weapons seem compelling, but don't rely on it too much. A single Reaver Titan will die quickly to concentrated enemy fire.

Titan Legions

Loyalist

Legio Gryphonicus 'War Griffons'

• Legion Special Rules
  • Lust for Glory: At the beginning of a game, the Gryphonicus player may nominate a target, and a Titan claiming that target. Said Titan may re-roll 1s to-hit when attacking their claimed target, and add 1 to the results of any armour rolls. However, it will lose those bonuses if anyone else attacks the claimed target.
  • Mainstay of the Titan Legion: May replace a single Warhound or Warlord in a Maniple with a Reaver.
• Legion Specific Wargear
  • Enhanced Auspex Relays: A Warhound may be given enhanced Auspex Relays for +10 points. Any targets within 12" of one of these Warhounds may be pre-measured by a Titan targeting them.
  • Gravatus Plating: A Reaver Titan replacing a Warlord may be upgraded with Gravatus Plating, reducing speed and manoeuvres by 1 but upping its leg and body armour by 1 as well.
  • Motive Sub-reactors: For +25 points, a Reaver replacing a Warhound can boost its speed and maneuver without pushing its reactor, but if it takes a critical hit to the legs, its reactor level is increased by 1.

Legio Astorum 'Warp Runners'

• Legion Special Rules
  • War March: In the first and second turns, Legio Astorum Titans May choose to add 2 to their boosted movement but, when doing so, must roll two reactor dice and choose the least favourable result.
  • Veteran Princeps: During the Damage Control phase or when rolling for an Emergency Repair, Legio Astorum Titans may re-roll one repair die. Warlord Titans May re-roll up to two dice instead.
• Legion Specific Stratagems
  • Bounty of Mars: Choose one type of critically damaged system or weapon at the beginning of the damage control phase which will get +1 to the repair roll for that phase.
  • Machine Defiance: When a titan's shields go down, roll a number of dice equal to the servitor clades. for each 5+ immediately regain one shield. nasty.

Legio Atarus 'Firebrands'

• Legion Special Rules
  • Seizing the Initiative: In the first battle round, a force that contains at least one Legio Atarus maniple may re-roll the dice roll to determine First Player, but only if they rolled lower than their opponent. If they win the roll off they must nominate themselves First Player.
• Legion Specific Stratagems
  • Impetuous Machine Spirit: When the machine spirit awakens, this stratagem can be used to automatically used to choose the impetuous result and moving d6 plus 2 instead of d6 inches.
  • Maniple of One: At the beginning of any round, one titan replaces their maniple traits with the traits of any other maniple available to the firebrands.
• Legion Specific Wargear
  • Infernus Missiles: Any Legio Atarus Titan with Apocalypse Missile Launchers may upgrade them with Infernus Missiles for +15pts. If a model takes at least one hit from Infernus Missiles, place the large 5” blast marker under the model. In the end phase, any model at least partially on the marker takes a S4 hit ignoring shields (Titans are hit on the legs). In addition, blocking terrain touched by the marker takes a S4 hit and is set alight if not destroyed. Burning terrain continues to take and deal S4 hits to models within it until it is destroyed or extinguished.

Legio Solaria 'Imperial Hunters'

• Legion Special Rules
  • Wolf Packs: warhound squadrons in a solaria maniple can have up to 4 warhounds and can select a warhound titan in place of any reaver titan as part of its mandatory components of that maniple.
• Legion Specific Stratagems
  • Fog of War: play this in Strategy phase of First round; Solaria player may redeploy 1 warhound titan for every titan with a scale of 7 or greater in their force. Can only be redeployed to anywhere they can be normally deployed allowed by the mission you are playing.
• Legion Specific Wargear
  • Fortis Motivators: a warhound can be fitted with this for +20 points. In the Damage Control phase discard any repair action dice to repair a point of crit damage on that titans legs.(regardless of dice number)
  • Chameleoline shrouding: a solaria titan with scale 6 or less can take this for +35 points. Hit rolls shot at that titan from long range suffer a -1 to hit. The Shroud is destroyed as soon as the titan suffers 1 point of structural damage.
• Legio princeps traits:
  • 1.spear of tigrus: the princeps' titan may go into full stride orders without a command check.
  • 2.agile minded: once per game, when the princeps' titan is hit by an attack the titan may immediately make a single attack back at the attacker. This interrupts the activation of the enemy unit.
  • 3. Swift displacement: once per game when an enemy titan makes a smash attack as part of a charge order against the princeps titan, the princeps titan gets to run away 6 inches directly away from attacker, after the attacker has moved, but before any 'To Hit' dice are rolled for the attack. Facing of princep titan stays the same.

Legio Defensor 'Nova Guard'

• Legion Special Rules
  • Righteous Fire: In the first round, each titan can fire one weapon twice during it's activation, but you advance your plasma reactor two spaces to do so. Probably best used with a weapon that's good at stripping void shields
  • Indomitable Resolve: If one of your titans eats it, then everyone else gets +1 to command rolls for the rest of the game.
• Legion Specific Stratagems
  • A Day of Retribution: Make a single attack with one titan before the game begins, with your weapon doubling it's range. Advance that titans plasma three spaces.
  • Blessings of the Emperor: When an attack would force your titan to roll on catastrophic damage, don't.
• Legion Specific Wargear
  • Devotional War Sirens: Your Warlord blasts out glorious hymns to the God-Emperor, every titan within 8" rolls two dice when making a Command check and chooses the better result.

Legio Crucius 'Warmongers'

• Legion Special Rules
• Legion Specific Stratagems
• Legion Specific Wargear

Legio Fortidus 'Dauntless'

• Legion Special Rules
  • Children of Mars Titans never suffer penalties to their command checks and ignore effects that force them to reroll successful checks. Knight banners within line of sight of a friendly titan may reroll command tests to avoid being shaken.
• Legion Specific Stratagems
• Legion Specific Wargear

Traitor

Legio Tempestus 'Stormlords'

• Legion Special Rules
  • Glory in Death: When a Tempestus Titan suffers catastrophic damage, make a command check. If passed, the Titan can immediately attack with one of its weapons.
  • Fury of the Machine: A Tempestus Titan may re-roll any results of 1, 2 or 3 on the Awakened Machine Spirit rule.
• Legion Specific Strategem
  • Combat Drop: A Titan with a scale of 6 or less (i.e. Warhounds) can be deep-striked onto the battlefield.
• Legion Specific Wargear
  • Chasmata Pattern Laser Destructors: Adds 3" to short range and 6" to long-range on Tempestus Laser Blasters and Turbo Laser Destructors for the price of 5 points/dice of the weapons you increase the range of. Incredibly useful

Legio Fureans 'Tiger Eyes'

• Legion Special Rules
  • Machine Rage: When rolling a reactor dice, blanks count as machine spirit awakened results. But if the command check is failed, the result may be chosen from the table instead of being rolled for.
  • Many Faces of the Omnissiah: Samurai fight start. You stand still for 1 or 2 phases of first turn. For each phase activated with no action you can reroll ONE DICE later in the game ( any dice!)
• Legion Specific Strategem
  • Offensive Surge: In any combat phase, choose a titan maniple. Each titan in that maniple may attack twice with one its weapons, increasing its reactor by 1 in addition to any other effects.
• Legion Specific Wargear
  • Hunter Auspex Relays For 20 points, a titan can ignore one -1 to hit penalty when firing at targets over 12 away.

Legio Mortis 'Death's Heads'

• Legion Special Rules
  • Reaper's Tally: For each enemy titan killed by a Legio Mortis titan a re roll of 1 can be made in the shooting phase. This is cumulative so the more enemy titans you kill, the more re rolls you get. A great fluffy rule to show Mortis' ruthlessness.
  • State of Decay: Once per game, a titan may ignore the effects of MIU feedback, moderati wounded, or princeps wounded for a round. It may not use any repair dice on its head for that round however.
• Legion Specific Strategem
  • March of the Dead: In the strategy phase of the 1st round, the player may make one regular movement with one of their titan. The opposing player automatically becomes first player.
• Legion Specific Wargear
  • Remains of the Fallen: For 20 points, enemy units with 8 increase their command characteristic by 1.
  • The Warmaster's Beneficence: For 20 points, the first time a titan fires it adds 1 1 to the strength of any of its bolter or missile weapons and may ignore draining.

Legio Krytos 'God Breakers'

• Legion Special Rules
  • Doom of Worlds: A Warlord may replace the compulsory Reaver in Myrmidon maniples.
• Legion Specific Strategem
  • Scorched Earth: Add one strength to any attack targeting terrain for the duration of any round.
  • Iron Endures: Damage suffered by dangerous terrain is reduced by 2 for the duration of a round.
• Legion Specific Wargear
  • Earthbreaker Missiles: Apocalypse Missile Launcher upgrade. Costs 10 points for a Reaver and 20 points for a Warlord. Removes 1 dice from a Reavers shots or 2 from a Warlords shots but the missiles gain the Quake trait. Adds 5 strength to the weapon if targeting terrain. Useful for stopping enemy titans from closing in and very good at destroying terrain.

Legio Vulpa 'Death Stalkers'

• Legion Special Rules
  • Honour and Blood: When a Legio Vulpa Titan is within 3" of an enemy Titan, increase Weapon Skill by 1 and decrease Ballistic Skill by 1.
• Legion Specific Strategem
  • No Pity for the Vanquished: When an enemy Titan is destroyed, the killing Titan may make another attack with the same weapon system against another target within 12" of the destroyed Titan.
• Legion Specific Wargear
  • Plasma Gargoyles: For 15 points, when this Titan vents plasma, units with 3" take a hit with Strength equal to 3 plus the level the reactor heat is decreased by.
  • Disruption Emitters: For 30 points, the Titan adds 2 to the Strength of any Melee weapons, and counts its Scale as 2 higher when making Smash Attacks.
• Legio Princeps traits:
  • 1. Razor Tongue: At the start of the round, the Princeps can choose an enemy Titan within 24". For the duration of the round, that Titan's Command characteristic is increased by 2.
  • 2. Bloodied but Unbroken: For each point of Critical Damage the Princeps' Titan has suffered (not including damage on weapons), increase the Strength of any Melee weapons and their Smash attacks by 1, to a maximum of +3.
  • 3. Cruel: When making attacks against units with Scale 5 or lower, increase the Strength of any hits by 2.

Titans

Warhound Scout Titan

Weapons

• Arm Weapons
  • Turbo Laser Destructor: Great at dropping shields as you can push the reactor to gain shieldbane on its shots, and strong enough to keep pushing damage through once the shields are down, it's a great multi-purpose weapon.
  • Vulcan Mega-Bolter: A brilliant weapon for collapsing void shields, a single one isn't amazing, especially when combating heavier titans. Two however is particularly horrifying.
  • Plasma Blastgun: Arguably the most practical weapon for harming opposing titans, with two shots and being able to boost itself to S10 (with a risk to its reactors) it has a very good chance of cracking Warlords. All the more so when behind them. It is a blast weapon though, so prepare for scatter. As it's a blast weapon with 2 dice it can reliably score 4 hits on Titans, which goes a long to way landing damage or dropping voids in a pinch.
  • Inferno Gun: As a teardrop style template it auto hits the target, and can put a lot of hurt on Knights or other Warhounds, landing several hits on the lead target. With the strength buff from side or rear shots it can threaten larger titans later in the game with a surprising amount of hits, even if the target is obscured.

Squadrons

Warhounds have incredible benefits due to their being able to be grouped into squadrons of up to three

• Deployment: Squadrons are deployed together as one unit - so three Warhounds can be deployed simultaneously as opposed to a single Warlord for example
• Activating Squadrons: Squadrons are activated as one unit in each phase, when moving, all members of squadron must move simultaneously, shoot simultaneously and so on. They cannot be activated individually however
• Orders: An order issued to one member can be applied to all members - or not, as you choose. You can issue orders individually if you so choose
• Coordinated strikes: Squadrons can also declare they are conducting a coordinated strike - improving armour rolls. Most practical if a titans void shields are not relevant
• Void Shields
  • Void shield shenanigans in squadrons can massively improve their staying power
  • If a squadron of three is in base contact, hits can be fielded onto any of the members void shields using the best save in the group - equally, failed saves may be forced onto any member of your choosing. Effectively, Warhounds can maintain their 3+ void shield for extended periods making them surprisingly resilient, to collapse their shields, all three must be collapsed. Or, base contact must be broken
  • Equally, this can play into mobility. Their move may be boosted using their void shield instead of the reactor, whilst maintaining the save on one Warhound and passing this save onto the others

Reaver Battle Titan

Weapons

• Arm Weapons
  • Reaver Titan Power Fist This can be a pretty funny weapon, it has a good strength (9) with 2 attacks at +1 and being concussive, you can start slapping titans left and right and pushing them backwards with it. Don't forget, melee weapons can make targeted attacks with no negative modifiers!
  • Reaver Titan Chainfist While possessing 'only' a strength 8 when compared to the fist, it has an extra attack (for a total of 3), hits on a +2 instead of +1 and has rending. This thing hurts when it gets into close combat. Mounting two on a Reaver is a serious threat and will draw a mass of fire. Charge this at 9" for an extra three attacks on top!
  • Laser Blaster While having a good strength (8) and 3 shots, it does suffer a -1 to hit at long range making it somewhat difficult to use when negatives to hit start stacking. Despite this, it can make use of shieldbane if pushing its reactor. This can aide it in dropping shields from their 3+ position or collapsing them entirely. Definitely a weapon to consider, especially if using Legio Tempestus with Chasmata Pattern.
  • Volcano Cannon To all intents and purposes, this is a mini Belicosa, the only real differences are its lower strength (10) and small blast as opposed to large. If running a light maniple, this can open up your options when making a free attack. But beware of the drain on the weapon when doing so.
  • Melta Cannon This is a horrific weapon when in short range owing to its high strength and fusion trait. It has greater damage potential as a result of this.
  • Gatling Blaster destroy shields and smaller opponents, but might need to fire into side or rear of larger opponents to do damage when shields are gone.

• Carapace Weapons: Unlike the Warlord, the Reaver's carapace weapons have a 360° arc
  • Apocalypse Missile Launcher: Its great arc and the long range (120") makes this the ideal weapon to weaken the enemy void shields while moving into position, but its comparatively low number of shots mean it won't destroy shields on its own.
  • Turbo Laser Destructor: The carapace weapon with the highest strength value (8), only 2 shots mean its the most effective against Titans that have already lost their shields. Can also be used to strip shields when needed, as it gets shieldbane when pushing the reactor.
  • Vulcan Mega-Bolter: Same as the Warhound's but lacking in the short range accuracy buff, can be handy to dissuade flanking Knights or used to strip voids, especially with a split fire order while the main cannons focus on something in the distance.

Warlord Battle Titan

Weapons

• Arm Weapons
  • Arioch Titan Power Claw: While a seemingly odd choice of weapon, this hits like a Belicosa and has a +2 to hit bringing it into usable territory for the Warlord. Having this and another weapon which does not have draining can enable you to use your reactors to boost your movement instead. It can also be useful as a deterrent to Knights and Warhounds which may try to get up close and personal. Charge your enemy with a Warlord armed with a pair of these just to see the horror on their face.
  • Belicosa Volcano Cannon: The real workhorse of the titan legions. Stands a good chance of wiping out a group of 3 knights in a single shot; 2 will make it almost certain. Don't waste it on void shields though - it's almost never worth the reactor increase. On which note - watch the reactor increases! You also can't call your target zone because blast weapons, so don't count on it to finish anything off.
  • Sunfury Plasma Annihilator: A solid all rounder, good number of shots and able to boost its strength. While its range is not the biggest, its not the worst either. Good for finishing titans off when closing in or using to help drop shields if desperate.
  • Macro Gatling Blaster: A decent enough weapon, while hampered by its range, it can be used to drop shields nicely and with its reasonable strength and ordnance, it can do a fair amount of damage to titans, particularly smaller ones. It can also pose a threat to knights, but beware their saves.
  • Mori Quake Cannon: The bread and butter. This is your basic all rounder. A few shots, no toying with reactors, high strength, concussive to boot. If you’re not sure what to arm your warlord with, this is a safe choice no matter the occasion. It is a blast, so like the Belicosa, don't count on it to finish anything off. It is compulsory to fire this at a banner of knights with full stride or charge orders.

• Carapace Weapons
  • Vulcan Mega-Bolter Array: The ultimate in void shield removal technology. 12 shots, an ungodly hail of dakka in itself, with even more shots on 6’s. Somewhat limited range but you don’t you’re not limited by long range negatives. Don’t expect much if you’re trying to knock a freshly unshielded Titan down, but once you’ve knocked them around a little it may be able to steal a killshot
  • Paired Turbo Laser Destructors: These may seem like a bit of a raw deal compared to the laser blasters, but they have some advantages. They have no modifiers to hit at any range compared to the blasters. This can be extremely useful when firing at an obscured target. Other than that, bog standard lasers, S8 with shieldbane capabilities.
  • Paired Laser Blasters: These have an additional two shots over the destructors, but sufer a -1 to hit at long range which can be a problem. Not game breaking, but can be infuriating hitting of 4s or 5s. This can benefit from chasmata pattern laser destructors.
  • Apocalypse Missile Launchers: 10 shots at strength 4. Superb at stripping void shields in the early game and finishing off wounded titans in the late game (when the bonuses from structure damage mean it can actually do something against all that armour). Don't waste it on Knights; it's weak enough that they get their full ion shield saves. Gets an accuracy bonus at long range and can ignore LoS so works well in an artillery role. Just watch the facing (especially if you're moving first) - it's very easy to mis-judge the firing lines.
  • Paired Gatling Blasters: A strong contender, while lacking in range, they can strip shields comfortably and then cause enemy titans some pain with their strength and ordnance rule. Definitely worth using.

Knights

Questoris Support Banner (3-6 Knights)

Weapons

• Arm Weapons
  • Questoris Melee Weapon: If you're taking Knights you likely have at least one per of these. They're not worth building to be "shooty," as Knights who try to position themselves to shoot Titans will find themselves dead.
  • Avenger Gatling Cannon: Don't bother, seriously. It does put out a lot of shots but those shots are too weak to even take other knights out, or damage void shields. If you're looking for cheap knights for screening you're better off doubling up on melee weapons. Might get better if infantry is introduced but that's a long way off.
    • Second Opinion: I have personally seen AGCs kill Warlord Titans. If you're aiming to kill Titans with Knights, you will want to usually be in melee. Add in using your amazing manoeuvrability and positioning, you will be hitting Titans in their rear arc for that sweet +2, making you effective strength 5. Add in maybe +1 to a location for strength 6 (or 7 or 8 if you stripped more). Add in bonus to hit for the range countering the location aiming penalty, you're gonna real rip and tear. TL;DR: AVG are good for focus firing inside shields to finish Titans.
  • Thermal Cannon: The real star on knights. With a high base strength and the Fusion trait increasing your armour rolls to a d10, it gives you a really good chance of putting hurt even on the biggest opponents. Take 6 of these and pop an unshielded titan in the ass for near guaranteed crits. Fun for the whole family.
  • Rapid-Fire Battlecannon: Old reliable. Decent range, two S5 shots with the Ordnance trait, and a bonus to hit within 8".

• Carapace Weapons
  • Stormspear Rocket Pod: Relatively expensive, but adds an extra three S5 shots for stripping shields out to 16".
  • Meltagun: A solid, if expensive upgrade for your knights: When the banner activates in the Combat phase, each Knight with a Meltagun upgrade can target an enemy unit within 3" for an automatic S8 hit. Generally a safe bet to give it to your Lord Scion for a bit of extra dakka up close, which is where you want your knights to be. Good for filling 15 points somewhere but not an autotake.

Cerastus Knight Banner (2-4 Knights)

• These are bigger, faster and slightly tougher than their smaller brethren, the Questoris Knights. With a 12" move, one extra structure point and an easier time passing orders, these are an extra layer of threat in addition to Questoris Knights.

Variants

• Cerastus Knight Castigator
  • Castigator Bolt Cannon: Akin to the Avenger Gatling Cannon, it is of little real use unless getting up close in the side or rear arc of an opposing titan
  • Tempest Warblade: An improved Questoris Melee Weapon, at S7 with 2 attacks and rending, this is slightly more capable. Same stats as the Reaper Chainfist.

• Cerastus Knight Acheron
  • Acheron Pattern Flame Cannon: A 2 dice S7 template weapon on a Cerastus frame? Yes please! Take four in a squadron and find some knights or a squadron of Warhounds to toast.
  • Reaper Chainfist: An improved Questoris Melee Weapon, at S7 with 2 attacks and rending, this is slightly more capable. Same stats as the Tempest Warblade.

• Cerastus Knight Lancer
  • Cerastus Shock Lance: A nasty CC weapon on a small and nimble chassis, hitting at S8 with two attacks this can hurt titans and other knights in no time. Coupled with the Ion Gauntlet Shield, you've got a pain in the backside.
  • Ion Gauntlet Shield: This provides a +1 to all ion shield saves as long as there is at least one in the unit. Definitely take a Lancer, if not for their shock lance, at least for the shield. It also has a 2 shot S6 shooting attack, which while not amazing, is rather nice. It's worth noting that the WH Community article is incorrect in its statement that this always confers a 6+, it does not. If the shield save is '-' it confers no benefit. Expect maximal plasma, melta and volcano weapons to hurt like a truck.

Knight Lances

With the release of the Doom of Molech book, Knights now have their own version of a maniple and plenty of rules to go with it!

Forming a Lance

• • A lance must have three banners of Knights, two of which must be the same type. (It says nothing about having more banners in a lance however, probable FAQ territory?)
  • No Freeblade banners may be included in a Lance
  • Each individual banner must equipped in the same manner i.e. one banner consisting solely of Paladins, another solely of Errants and the third solely of Lancers
  • One banner must be the High Scion's banner
    • Multiple Lances may be used, if so, one banner in either Lance must be the Knight Seneschal. This will replace the High Scion in one lance. E.g. you have three Lances, on lance will have a Knight Seneschal, the other two will have a High Scion each.
• Freeblades
  • These are banners of knights which are separate to a lance, but, they can mix and match weapons across the knights as you see fit, i.e. you can have a Warden, Errant and Paladin in the same banner. It does mean they cannot make coordinated strikes however.

Activating a Lance

• Knight Lances are effectively one big knight unit, and is reflected in their activation and coherency.
• A Lance is activated at the same time. Each banner will be activated in turn, in whatever order the controlling may may choose, and will continue until all banners have been activated.
  • So, you may have a lot of banners, but you dont have a lot of activations. This can screw you if your opponent simply has Titans, as a larger banner can be as much as some maniples. Be wary.
• They must maintain a 3" coherency within banners and a 6" coherency within the Lance. If a banner is not in coherency, it is shaken. If a banner is not in Lance coherency, that individual banner is shaken. Once coherency is restored, they are not shaken. This, equally, can screw you. Hope your opponent has not brought quake cannons...

Lances and the Strategy Phase

• Lances may be issued orders to each individual banner, or be issued a Lance Order. If choosing the latter, the highest command roll within the lance is used and between one and all of the banners in a lance my be issued the same order.
• New orders available include:
  • Charge: Yes, this isn't a new order however the FAQ has made some changes; gone are the days of charging in bendy lines. Knights must now take the shortest distance when charging a target, and while their front arc is 360, a turn is defined as making a 45 degree pivot of the base irrespective of arc. So Knights may not make any turns after beginning their charge. They can turn before it, but not after.
    • Knights may now make smash attacks against units which are of the same scale or smaller than themselves now as well!
  • Coordinated Strike:Used when making shooting attacks only - This can make avenger gatling cannons somewhat more useful. When making a coordinated strike, nominate one knight to make the attack and then add one to the strength of the weapon for each knight which is in range and has LoS to the intended target. E.g. A unit of 4 Knight Errants makes a coordinated strike, one thermal cannon is fired, but its strength is increased to S12, S8 + 4 knights in range and LoS.
    • This could be useful on the Avenger Gatling cannon more than anything, but it does mean you are losing out on all your other knights making ranged attacks to increase the strength of one weapon. Very situational.

Tactics

It's very tempting to take two Warlords, slap the big ol' volcano cannon and missiles on it, and call it day. However, even playing a few games will tell you that mixing different weapons is one of the best ways to excel at this game. Once you get past the temptation to sit at the back of the boards and vomit firepower at long range all game, you will find every weapon has a place. Most weapons can be put in four categorys:

High capacity weapons (apoc missiles, gatling blasters, mega bolters) are your standard shield stripping affair. Weak against armour, you'd think once they kill shields they're useless. Wrong. On Reavers and Warhounds, they can hit sides and flanks of other Titans for those sweet bonuses, where your huge number of attack dice means you will likely roll one or two high dice. Add in the fact that Gatling blasters and mega bolters get more accurate the closer you get, you will find that if you flank effectively they can still contribute to the battle.

High power weapons (volcano cannons, quake cannons, melta cannons) are great for punching holes in the enemy armour, with blast helping them land multiple hits or mitigating misses. They can even help with shields.

Hybrid weapons (turbo lasers, laser blasters, plasma weapons) these are weapons which have a good rate of fire, so can meaningfully contribute to the void shield killing (sometimes with shieldbane to help take a Titan off 3+) while also having a high enough strength to help with armour. Plasma weapons with maximal can highten the strength even more to help with armour. This kind of firepower is also good nailing weak spots to help finish off wounded Titans.

Close quarters weapons (all knight weapons, fists, inferno cannon) are extremely strong but require some planning to get the best use out of. With a lower penalty to aimed shots and a usually high bonus to hit, these can really put the hurt down on enemy Titans, ignoring shields since you're so close. These weapons can be used defensively depending on your list, allowing you to put damage on more aggressive maniples as they close in. Melee weapons often need no support from the other weapon types.

• Building your army