It’s Thurston’s fault.
He’ll try to convince you otherwise, but it’s his
fault. Don’t you believe him!
It all started when Alex and Thurston put up the rules for
Mechan-Kon, to be run on October 6, 2012.
They were quite clear. No
Super-Heavies. Then they started to
describe valid army options and one formation listed as legal was 2 Titans. Of course Steve and I made fun and each threatened
to bring Titans.
Dang it, Thurston started to take it seriously! He actually approached me and encouraged
Steve and I to bring Titans, just to see what would happen!
Unfortunately, Steve wasn’t able to get 2 Titans ready in
time. I, on the other hand, have had 2
Armorcast Warhounds for a VERY..LONG..TIME!
I actually used these same Titans last at Warcon XV! (Anyone remember WHEN that was? I don’t!)
Again, I used Titans at the request of the Warcon Tournament Organizers,
just to see what would happen.
Hmmmm. Starting to see a theme here…
(Probably because rumors of my dice are true and TO’s don’t seriously
think anyone would be REALLY threatened if I brought the Titans. Someone else with Normal luck, on the other
hand…)
So, out came “The Emerald Twins”:
Smaragdos Ira (“Emerald Wrath” in English or “Old Blue (Eyes)”) &
Smaragdos Furo (“Emerald Wrath” or “Old Red (Eyes)”),
So my army list I submitted was Two Armorcast Warhounds, each with a Vulcan Mega-Bolter
and a Plasma Blast Gun, worth 750 points, each.
So, How Bad Are Warhound
Titans?
If you remember the old Vehicle Design Rules (VDR) from 40K
3rd edition, I had to design the Warhounds with those rules for
Warcon as the original Armorcast rules were deemed unfair/out-of-date. So I had a Lumbering, Agile Super Heavy
walker with 2 Void Shields, 3 Structure Points (SP) and 14/13/12 armor at
Warcon. With the Apocalypse Rules and New
6th Edition Super-Heavy errata from Forge World, not much has
changed. Well, maybe a bit more than a
little.
Titans move up to 12” and can turn where/whenever they want,
like any other vehicle. They used to
only get a 12” move and a 90 degree turn at the beginning of their move under
VDR. So the Warhounds are much more
agile than they used to be.
The Void Shields changed from the armor value of the facing
of the shot to a standard armor 12 on all sides, but can be “repaired” at the
end of a turn on a roll of 5+ (number of dice rolled is determined by number of
Structure points remaining).
Probably the most significant change in basic structure was that
Structure Points count as 3 Hull Points in 6th Edition. That means the Titan has the equivalent of 9
Hull Points!!! Before you all freak out
and call me a unfair cheat, every time a Titan suffers a Penetrating Hit, we
roll on the same chart with the same modifiers as everyone else. If the modified roll is a 6+, Super Heavies
lose an entire Structure Point (3 Hull Points), on top of the HP lost for the
initial hit AND the opponent rolls again on the chart (natural roll – no
modifiers). In theory, any Super Heavy Vehicle
can be brought down by a single penetrating hit. (It never happened in this tournament, but it
came close…)
Weapons: Now THAT’s where the OBVIOUS changes were!
Primary weapon is a new concept introduced in the Apocalypse
rules. Primary Weapons that hit roll 2D6
for armor penetration, discarding the lesser die value – great for chewing
through armor! The Vulcan Mega Bolter
can chew through a 12-armored vehicle in one turn, with luck! Also, any time a Crew Shaken, Crew Stunned or
Weapon Destroyed result is rolled on the table, the weapon’s redundant systems
allow it to continue to operate normally on a dice roll of 4-6! This saved my butt a few times as all
Warhound weapons are Primary Weapons!
(Sorry – Bane Blades do have SOME Non-Primary Weapons – it doesn’t
automatically apply to all weapons on a Super Heavy.)Vulcan Mega Bolter: When I designed it with VDR, it was Str 6, 4D3 shots, AP3, 48” range, and twin-linked. People thought that was over-the-top with the potential of 12 shots. They like it less now! Same Strength and AP, but now 15 shots @ 60” Range, Primary Weapon! No twin linked – Darn!
Plasma Blast Gun:
I don’t remember what it was under VDR,
but I knew I was terribly disappointed.
It couldn’t instant kill anything I really needed killed and seldom
damaged vehicles with its 5” template scattering frequently off target. Not an issue anymore! Plasma Blast Gun has 2 firing modes:
2 shots at Str 8, AP2, 7” Blast, Primary Weapon or
1 shot at Str 10!, AP2, 10” Blast, Primary Weapon! (YUP!
REAL Pie Plates!!!)
No, not really. As
can be expected, using Super-Heavies in a tournament will make some scenarios,
ummmm, “broken”! So as the tournament
came closer, we all sat down to discuss what Special Rules we should use on the
Titans.
The biggest issue is, of course, was deciding how to treat
the Titan-Only force for the new standard mission conditions as well as special
mission conditions. I’ll list the problems
and our decisions/solutions.
Warlord Traits: Forget it – it wouldn’t have been fair. Everyone (myself included) said “no” to this
one.
Scoring / Denial
Units: Fairly simple decision.
Titans were deemed to be “Denial Units” only. I had no “hands” so couldn’t pick-up or claim
objectives. So the Titans were deemed to
be unable to be “Scoring Units”. May not
have been able to pick something up, but Titans could DEFINITELY deny anyone
else access to it!
Line Breaker: Obviously, if I wanted this, I had to send a
Titan across the board to get this one.
It was a fair objective that needed no modifications once it was agreed
that Titans could claim this objective.
As we had already decided Titans were Denial Units, the decision was
easily made.
Slay the Warlord: Obviously, I don’t have a single “character” model;
I have 2 huge war machines. To force my opponents
to kill a specific Titan seemed unfair.
Each Titan, in theory, could be its own Force Organization (Scout Titans
are 1-3 per Force Org)! We agreed, very
quickly, that if EITHER Titan was destroyed, my opponent would get this Battle
Point. They would have EARNED it!
First Blood: This was the hard one. It was not fair to wait until someone kills
an entire Titan to claim First Blood.
That would be the equivalent of destroying 3 Main Battle Tanks in most
other armies. Someone suggested if ½ the
Structure/Hull Points were gone from one Titan, that would be ok, but I still
felt this was not really fair for my opponents–we were still talking more than
1 tank to “kill” to equate my killing any unit.
Destroying 1 Hull Point was out too!
A glancing shot would be unnoticed on the Titan, yet would still cause a
single Hull Point! We finally agreed
that if someone could take off an entire Structure point (3 Hull Points), this
would be a Fair compromise.
Victory Points for
Unit Kills: We weren’t sure we would
have to deal with this possibility (I think Thurston and Alex desperately
wanted to avoid this kind of mission as some armies are far too vulnerable in
this kind of mission). It never came up
in the tournament, but I “think” we agreed each Structure Point (3 Hull Points)
was worth a “Victory Point”. That would
mean my force could give up a maximum of 6 KPs, 3 for each Titan.
Another issue was how to make the missions fair for my
opponents as well as for me. One
practical solution was to make sure at least 1 mission could not be won by
“Tabling an Opponent” (destroying the entire army on the table, ignoring all
other objectives). I was agreeable to
this, though to be honest, I never expected to table ANYONE after the last time
out with the Titan Twins.
We discussed a number of other issues but I don’t recall
most as they were minor and were cleared up reading the rules more carefully
and checking FAQs. My “biggest” concern
was that no one would be FORCED to fight me.
I didn’t want to be put up against someone who wasn’t willing to try to
fight Super-Heavies. Thurston and Alex
agreed quickly to this. So, to the best
of MY knowledge, everyone that I fought was a willing Participant in a huge
experiment.
The final thing we agreed on was to try and keep me
“out-of-the-way” of the Potential Tournament Winners. Basically, I was concerned that, depending on
the mission and player, I would reduce some player’s over-all scores and knock
them out of the running. This wasn’t ego
on anyone’s part. Remember, no one knew
what these new rules would be like or how the missions would play with any
Super-Heavies thrown into the mix. We
hadn’t even TRIED playing a game with Titans in so long, let alone in 6th
Edition, that it was really all a big unknown!
Basically, I was prepared to “bow-out” if I got too high in the
ratings.
So, going into the tournament, I knew I wasn’t going to win. Our discussions assured I would see at least 1
No-Win Scenario for Super Heavies, though hopefully I could draw them. Now we had to wait and see what was going to
happen…
Preliminary Posturing
and Psychological Warfare!
I actually arrived at Mechani-Kon the same time as Thurston
(I had to drop my wife off at work and then killed time rather than go
home). As I unpacked the Titans,
Thurston was quite insistent which table I setup on. He pointed out the table in line with and
closest to the doors…
“Point the guns to the doors! I want to set the tone!”
The games had already begun!
I didn’t have to psych out anyone – Thurston was doing it for me!!!
There were the appropriate number of groans and complaints
as my fellow players climbed the stairs, only to be confronted by two “Gods of
War”. Especially after I placed the
Apocalypse 10” blast template out in front of the Titans. Some people were paler than normal. Others were over-eager to take a shot at
them. Lots discussed how they thought
they would do if someone other than myself rolled the dice for them (thanks,
guys!). Overall, the other players were
receptive to the idea. It looked like we
were a go!
Then Jamie and Lauralee showed up.
“Aren’t they CUTE!!!”
I was mortified!
These were “Gods of Destruction”, and the ladies thought they were
CUTE?!?!?
Jamie would continue to fuss over them and take lots of
pictures throughout the day. She really
liked the models. I think it was a bit
of a morale builder for the Titans. They
didn’t seem to want to let her down. I
have no other explanation for their performance or what happened during the
tournament. (Maybe I should ask My Wife
for “Tournament Favors” (scarf, or part of a hanky as the Titans are so small) next
time I use the Titans…)
Game 1: The Paint
Gets Chipped (and BURNT!!!)
The Mission: Thunderhawk Down!
A Transport aircraft had crashed nearby, but not before they
pushed out supplies for troops on the ground.
The Mission was a Standard “Dawn of War” deployment; 12” along
the long table edges. The Primary
Objective was a standard “Pick up the Objectives” mission with 5 objectives on
the table, then roll on a table to determine if the objective was junk when it
was picked up. On a roll of 1, it was
useless. (I think we actually forgot to
roll for this – I couldn’t pick them up anyway so I didn’t care!)
As I couldn’t pick up anything, I either had to kill anyone
carrying objectives to draw or table the entire army to win.
My first opponent was . . Steve Brown! I guess Thurston and Alex wanted to punish
him for not bringing the Titans as promised, or had hoped he could get them
together for the last minute. Steve
Brown and I have fought each other countless times in countless game systems. I am usually the loser in these experiences,
but I try to make them interesting!
Steve brought out a well painted Space Marine Force:
- Librarian
- 10 man Tactical Squad in drop pod with Flamer & Missile Launcher
- 10 man Tactical Squad in drop pod with Melta Gun & Multi-Melta
- 10 man Assault Squad
- Storm Talon Gunship
- Contemptor Mortis Pattern Dreadnought (2 X Kheres Asssault Cannon & Cyclone Missile Launcher)
- Achilles Land Raider (Thunderfire Cannon & 2 X Twin-Linked Multi-Melta, etc…)
Against ME (2 X Warhound Titans – seems I’m to be
out-numbered. Who would guess?) ;)
I setup my Titans at each corner of my deployment zone, Emerald Wrath (Blue) on the Left, Emerald Fury (Red) on the Right, Plasma
Blast Guns inwards. Both Titans faced towards
the table center, presenting the highest armor towards the enemy (I HOPED). Steve set up his Dreadnought on my left, and
his Land Raider with the Librarian on my right.
Everything else was in reserve.
Somehow, I managed to get first turn!
With limited targets (2, actually), Emerald Wrath shot everything at the Dreadnought and Emerald Fury at the Land Raider. As impressive as it sounds, the Mega Bolters
were useless – both targets’ front armor was invulnerable to Strength 6 shots. So it was a single full-powered shot at each
with Plasma Blast Guns. Emerald Wrath failed to damage the
Dread, but Emerald Fury penetrated
the Land Raider, stunning it. Steve
dropped a pod with the “Melta-Marines” to the rear and left of Emerald Fury. In their hurry to get out of the pod, they
forgot to adjust for wind and all their shots missed Emerald Fury. The Land
Raider Snap-Fired at Emerald Fury,
but all the Raider’s shots missed, too! Meanwhile, the Dreadnought shaved all
the shields off Emerald Wrath after
walking into maximum range of his assault cannons.
Steve rolled for reinforcements and I think EVERYTHING
showed up. The Marine Talon appeared
behind the Dread and zoomed forward to target Emerald Wrath. Steve’s last
drop pod with Marines came in behind Emerald
Wrath and immediately split into 2 combat squads, one rushed to capture an
objective nearby, the other (with a Missile Launcher) stayed behind the Titan
to stay within 12” (avoiding the Void Shields).
The Dread came forward and prepared to fire. A Jump Squad came in closer to the center and
also split into Combat Squads, each going for an objective inside a stone
circle (think Stonehenge on a much smaller scale). Using the Machine Spirit, the Land Raider
continued to advance and prepared to snap-fire at Red, while the survivors of
the first squad circled around for a better shot.
The “Firing Squads” unleashed HECK on my Titans! When the smoke cleared, Emerald Wrath had lost a Structure Point (3 Hull Points), lost his
shields and taken a Stunned result – no move or shoot. Fortunately, BOTH weapons pass their
“redundant systems check” so could still shoot!
All shots at Emerald Fury missed! Steve was so shocked – he took a picture of
his dice!
Unable to move, Emerald
Wrath targeted the Land raider with another full-power plasma shot and was
just able to engage a Combat Squat of Assault Marines in the stone circle with
the Vulcan Mega Bolter. The Plasma Gun
got a glancing hit on the Land Raider, but the bolter vaporized the 5-man jump
pack squad. Emerald Fury turned and tried
to protect Emerald Wrath. Fury Snap-Fired at the Talon with the
Mega Bolter. The Mega Bolter missed ALL
15 SHOTS at the Talon (not ONE 6!)!!! Shooting
the Blast Gun at the Dreadnought, Emerald
Fury managed to shake the Dread, but the dreadnought just shook off the
effects due to its special rules.
Steve REALLY wanted to kill a Titan at this point and
decided Emerald Wrath was the one to
go. His Talon, in flight mode, had to
fly 18” minimum, so would over-fly the Titan and have to come on as
reinforcements later. Deciding that it wasn’t
acceptable, Steve took the chance and entered Hover mode with the Talon,
maintaining the side shot on Emerald
Wrath. The Dreadnought continued to
advance (I think it just got under the Shield this time). One of the combat squads behind Blue reached the
objective while the other stood still to maximize their firing. Steve’s Librarian jumped out of the Land
Raider as it continued towards Emerald Fury,
entering a stream. The final Jump Squad
managed to reach the last objective in the stone circle.
2 X 5 man Combat Squads of Marines,
1 Drop Pod,
1 Sky Talon (rolled a 6 on the Penetrating Hit table),
1 Contemptor Dreadnought (lost its last HP) and
1 Warhound Titan!
1 Drop Pod,
1 Sky Talon (rolled a 6 on the Penetrating Hit table),
1 Contemptor Dreadnought (lost its last HP) and
1 Warhound Titan!
After Steve and I stopped laughing at/with each other, we
moved on to the right side of the battlefield.
Between the remaining Marines and the Land Raider, Steve managed to do 3
Hull Points (1 SP) of damage to Emerald Fury,
destroyed the Plasma Blast Gun and Stunned the Titan, though the Vulcan Mega
Bolter was still operational. (Gotta LOVE those Redundant Systems!)
Emerald Fury had Line-of-Sight
on the Jump Squad in the Circle with the Mega Bolter and cut loose. A fine red mist emerged between the stones
and the Jump Troops were no more! We
were in trouble, but we were fighting to the bitter end!
The Librarian showed his true colors, grabbed an objective
and ran (hopefully out of Apocalyptic Explosion Range). So much for “And They Shall Know No
Fear”… Steve’s Land Raider got stuck in
the Stream (!), but still managed to do 2 more Hull Points of damage to Emerald Fury and destroyed the Vulcan
Mega Bolter with the Marines’ Melta Weapons shooting from behind. This left the Red with no weapons, only 1 SP
and 1 HP (4 Hull Points total).
Being weaponless didn’t mean Emerald Fury was harmless. I decided I had to try for a field goal: see
if I could kick the Land Raider (down to 1 HP) over the hill and onto the
Librarian (figuratively – I know the rules don’t allow for it, but hey!) Imagine the cheers from the stadium as the
crowd went wild:
“There’s the Hike!”
“The Kicker is lining up…”
“<KLANG!!!>”
Only, instead of my field goal, I tripped over my shoe lace
or stubbed my toe: I rolled a 1 for the Armor Penetration Roll for a total of
11: The Land Raider Lived with only 1 HP left!
ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!
I didn’t suffer too long. Steve proceeded to shoot me in the back with those Meltas and hit! Emerald Fury lost 1 HP, then rolled on the Vehicle Damage Table: a 6! Explosion! Emerald Fury lost 1 Structure Point (the last I had). So the Titan was down – what would happen??? Steve slowly picked up the dice and rolls to find out what happens: Wrecked! Steve started to breathe again in relief! He wasn’t sure his Librarian was out of Blast Range!
So Steve won because a) he Tabled me and b) his Librarian was
carrying an Objective. Rather than say
what died, it easier to say what SURVIVED:
4 Marines in one (BRAVE) squad (these guys need Purity Seals or promotion to
the First Company!)
1 Battered Land Raider with 1HP left and
1 (cowardly) Librarian! (The Inquisition
will be looking for this Heritic!)
This was a great game!
Steve and I wanted to know what could happen and just about everything
DID!
What was learned:
- Using Combat Detachments against a Vulcan Mega Bolter is a BAD idea!
- Full Power Plasma Blast Gun shots with a 10” template is AWSOME, but doesn’t guarantee a vehicle kill
- Apocalyptic Explosions are FUNNY! And a good way to clear a table!
- Table Placement is still important to Titans; you don’t want to turn your back to ANYTHING if possible.
- Hover Mode is not always a Good Idea!
While I did tease Steve’s Librarian, he really did all that he
could. Super Heavies are immune to all
Psychic Powers that do not have a Strength Value (pretty much means Psychic Shooting
Attacks only). Steve had a well-rounded
force, but his Librarian (also his HQ) did not have any means of damaging my
Titans, so the Librarian was really only useful for picking up Objectives. I’m sure that in other games against other opponents;
the Librarian would have been quite useful.
Game 2: The “Drive By!”
(or “Did you see something???”)
The Mission: Delivery
Each player will designate 3 NON-CHARACTER models in scoring
units to be “Messengers”. They must be
in different units. If they get within
9” of the enemy table edge (outside of any vehicle), they are removed from the
table and have completed their mission.
The Most Messengers off the table wins.
TABLING is NOT an automatic win!
So Thurston, Alex and I had discussed this one before. I can’t have messengers by nature of my list
(all vehicles – Messengers have to be Infantry). This is the mission I cannot win at all – all
I can hope for is a draw.
So my opponent for this would be Rod Murray’s Tau. I HAD his list, but it seems to have
evaporated somewhere. So working from
memory (and a photo):
- Shas ‘O with Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Shield and a Shield Drone
- 2 X Crisis suits with twin-linked Missile Pods
- 2 X Crisis suits with Plasma Rifles, Missile Pods and Multi-Trackers
- 17ish Kroot Warriors
- 10 Firewarriors in a Devilfish
- 2 Firewarriors on foot
- 3 Broadsides with Shield Drones
- 1 Hammerhead tank with the Twin Plasma Gun Turret from Forge World
- The Defence Line with Gun Mount
- 2 Tetra Scout Skimmers
So, Rod deployed his Tau in a half of the table’s width. It looked like a nice, fat juicy target for
some Pie Plates, but I failed to steal 1st turn. At that point, Rod’s Devilfish screamed
across the table at full speed, The
Hammer head came out from behind a hill and the foot troops all advanced except
for the Broadsides – nice and safe behind the Defense Line’s walls. The Tetras lit up Emerald Wrath, then the Broadsides cut loose (using marker lights
to improve Ballistic skills and remove any cover save Emerald Wrath might have had).
The Hammerhead fired on Emerald Fury
with all guns blazing. It was for naught. Emerald
Wrath lost all his shields, Emerald Fury
lost 1, but neither Titan’s armor was damaged.
Chuckling, Emerald
Wrath aimed his Vulcan Mega Bolter at the Kroot, and lots disappear in a
spray of .. never mind. Emerald Fury’s Vulcan targeted the
Broadsides and after a phenomenal show of rolling shield saves, 1 Shield Drone
died! Both Titans, forgetting their
mission, fired Blast Guns at the Hammerhead.
At this point, I realized my problem.
Having moved and carrying Disruption fields, the Hammerhead easily saved
both shots! (As would the Devilfish
carrying one of the Messengers.) In
conciliation, the Kroot broke and headed back to their table edge.
Back to the Tau’s turn, the Kroot recovered and consolidated
back towards me. The Hammerhead advanced
and inadvertently partially blocked Line-Of-Sight Emerald Wrath, providing a cover save against shots from the
Broadsides. The Devilfish continued to scream
across the table, turning its back to my table edge, and waited within the
Magic 9”. In the shooting phase, all the
shields were stripped off of both Titans, but I recorded no damage in my notes.
What was learned:
- READ THE MISSION OBJECTIVES!!!
- Disruption Pods make hitting Tau that much HARDER if you’re over 12” –
MANEUVER/MOVE!!!
- I really liked the Tau force, it was well thought out and well played.
Game 3: The “Denial!”
(or “Clearing the Guns”)
The Mission: Cache 12.
“Dawn of War” deployment, but with 18” deployment zones instead
of 12”. Five objective markers were spread
around the table. Players accumulated 1
point per objective they controlled (within 3”, no contesting models) per
turn. At the end of the game, a player
with at least 5 points more than his opponent; wins. Less than 5 points is a
draw. Oh, and only non-vehicle units can
claim points!
As I couldn’t claim points, I was screwed again (I thought).
My opponent was Ben Brennan’s Chaos Space Marine army. I can’t find his list, so from memory and
pictures:
- 19ish Chaos Marines on foot (!)
- 10 Chaos Marines in a Rhino including a Hero
- 1 Vindicator Tank
- 1 “Heavy” Chaos Marine Squad in a Rhino
- another smaller squad of marines on foot
I walk over to Alex and apparently, I’m not the only one
with this issue – someone else has already arrived and complained. The response:
"Have you tried Tabling them?”
Du’Oh! Tabling opponent automatically wins the game! He had to repeat it twice, but Alex was right – I could still win!
Back at the table, the Titans cycled their weapons: Emerald Wrath buzz-sawed most of a unit
with the Vulcan, but failed to damage the Vindicator with the Blast Gun. Emerald
Fury destroyed 1 squad on a hill with his Vulcan (First Kill!) and took a
chunk out of another double-tapping the Plasma Blast Gun. Emerald
Wrath then charged the Vindicator, damaging it, but Demonic Possession
ignored the result on the table. The
Vindicator retreated back an inch per the Combat Rules for Super Heavies. (We probably did this wrong. The rules state enemy models that are not
Super Heavies or Gargantuan Creatures MUST consolidate 1” away. Vehicles should never consolidate. It was a “In the heat of the moment” thing we
both overlooked.)
Chaos Marines tried to grab 2 more points on the left, but Emerald Wrath contested 1, but Ben still
managed to get the 5 points he needed to win.
The Chaos Hero ran behind a hill for protection (he’s not dumb!). The Vindicator fired at Emerald Wrath, managing to Stun the Titan, but both weapons passed
their Redundant Systems Checks. Two more
melta shots at Emerald Wrath and they
manage to stun the Mega Bolter. Emerald Wrath had lost a total of 3 Hull
Points at this point.
Emerald Fury shot at
the Vindicator to protect his “brother”, causing another Penetrating hit and
Stun (which Demonic Possession ignores).
Emerald Wrath fired his Blast
Gun towards the rear of the Vindicator and thankfully the shot drifted enough
to clip the tank but miss the Titan (still counted as hitting front armor). The blast finished off the Vindicator.
Sadly, my notes failed at this point. What I can tell you is that both Titans
advanced up the short edges, Emerald Fury
got into the Chaos Deployment zone (+1 Battle Point). The Chaos Marines continued to fire on Emerald Wrath, getting a Drive Damage
result (moved at ½ speed), an Explosion that blasted away 1 Structure Point. Emerald
Wrath continued to move around with and survived the game with only 1
Structure Point (3 Hull Points) left! Emerald Fury survived unscathed. Going up the short edges allowed the two
Titans to get the entire Chaos army in a crossfire. The Chaos Marines scattered all over the
board, looking for shelter. If only 1
Marine survived, they would win. Sadly,
2 or 3 turns later, in the last turn, the last (POSSIBLE) shot was from a
Vulcan Mega Bolter at his Warlord and Ben just couldn’t make all the saves he
needed to win. I believe he failed by 1
invulnerable save – it was that close a game.
What was learned:
- READ THE MISSION OBJECTIVES AGAIN!!!!!
- Never Give Up! Never Surrender! This game was decided by the last shot I had
(it was Last turn!)
- Force Choices: I think this was an interesting mix of Chaos Marines, but Ben was
really limited in his Anti-Tank ability.
Ben was prepared to get in close with infantry and use various Chaos
Gifts to help rip apart the enemy in hand-to-hand. The Vindicator is a great tank, but I’m
seeing everyone needs more ranged weapons as vehicles have gotten that much
tougher and cannot be guaranteed a Single Hit = Killed anymore. Even Titans Blast guns needed 2-3 hits to
kill most vehicles.
Game 4: No Where To
Run, No Where To Hide!
The Mission: Purge
Sort of a “Vanguard Strike” Deployment but with only 9” from
table center, using diagonally opposite corners. This was a standard “Kill or be Killed”
mission. Victory points were awarded
based on value of units; ½ VP for half damaged units, full VPs for completely
destroyed / fleeing units.
I’ve known Sean Habing for years. We’ve talked, laughed at jokes, and been in
tournaments, but neither of us could remember ever actually fighting each
other. A NEW/Old player!
- Imotekh the Storm Lord (with a page of special rules, all for himself)
- Triarch Stalker
- 2 X 10 man Warrior Squads
- 2 X 10 man Immortal Squads
- Annihilation Barge
- Doom Ark
- Canoptek Spyder
- Canoptek Scarabs (I HATED these things!)
- 2 X Units of Necron Destroyers
Good thing we deployed angled across the table; I think the
Necrons used the entire deployment line to setup. Of course, first turn was using Night Rules
because of Sean’s HQ. Fortunately the
Lightning failed to damage the Titans.
Warriors and Immortals on my left ran forward while the rest of the army
advanced slowly, steadily. The Doom Ark
took down one of Emerald Wrath’s shields,
but that’s it.
The Titans unloaded everything they had. 8 Warriors, 2 Immortals and 1 (WHAT?!?!? Only 1????) Scarab were “killed”. Of course half the Warriors and Immortals
stand back up. At least I managed to
regenerate the shield on Emerald Wrath
…
Next turn, Night faded away (Hurrah!). The Spyder “pooped out” another Scarab,
replacing the one I killed, but wounded itself in the process. All Necrons advanced slowly… One unit of warriors was close enough to
shoot at Emerald Wrath and take down
1 shield. The Arc took down a 2nd
shield. No other damage.
At this point, I’m ticked (figuratively)! These Titans are (supposed to be) Gods of War!!! There shouldn’t have been anyone left alive
after that last volley. I inch the
Titans back a bit to buy some time
(range wasn’t an issue for me) and suddenly: there he was. Stormlord.
Finger pointed at me, beckoning me, tormenting me.
I HAD to have my REVENGE!!!
It took all 4 Titan Weapons, but there was a big smoking
hole where Imotekh WAS! Got me the Warlord
AND First Kill points in one turn!!!
Sean, of course is laughing at me – all those weapons to
kill 1 figure while the rest of his army slowly advanced. One squad of Destroyers came in by Deep
Strike close to Emerald Wrath,
drifting in to his front arc. The Spyder
generated another Scarab. The
Destroyers, from inside the Void Shield, took a Hull Point from Emerald Wrath. The Stalker and the Arc took down Emerald Wrath’s shields. In the Assault Phase, the Scarabs assaulted Emerald Fury.
Scarabs do WHAT?!?!?
Suckers chewed on Emerald Fury’s armor
– brought it down from 14/13/12 to 12/11/10!!!
Emerald Fury used the Titan’s
Stomp attack to engage ALL the scarabs but only managed to kill 3 stands of
Scarabs.
With Imotekh gone, and Night no longer an issue, the Titans
finally showed what they could do. They
wiped out an entire squad of Warriors, another of Destroyers, and destroyed
both the Stalker and the Spyder! How’s
THAT for fancy shooting?
Apparently, the Necrons were unimpressed. They continued to advance across the
table. The Barge took down one of Emerald Fury’s shields and the remaining
Warriors shot, glancing the last shield away and damaging Emerald Fury, who lost his first whole Structure Point. The Scarabs assaulted Emerald Fury again, this time brought his armor down to 11/10/9 and
took away another Hull Point. Emerald Fury was starting to look a
little shaky there!
Titans backed up and fired again, but with less than
impressive results. They finally managed
to take down the barge, but it took 3 of the weapons to do it. The last shot (a Plasma Blast Gun) wounded
only 5 warriors (4 would stand back up) and 2 Immortals!
The entire Necron Army (or what was left of it) concentrated
their fire on Emerald Fury. When the smoke cleared, Emerald Fury was down to 1 Hull Point (not even a Structure Point),
the Drive Damaged (moved at ½ speed) and the Plasma Blast Gun was off-line! Emerald
Wrath’s crew must have chuckled – nice to see someone else get hammered for
a change!
Emerald Fury retaliated
against the remaining Scarabs with its Mega Bolter and FINALLY killed the last
of the Scarabs. Emerald Wrath slid up the field a bit (we’d seen Apocalyptic
Explosions before) and destroyed the Doom Arc.
The Necrons tasted blood now! (Or was that just high-quality machine
fluids?) The Necrons advanced on Emerald Fury – closing for the
Kill! Immortals got side shots (only
Armor 10 now) and cut loose! The last
Hull Point disappeared and we rolled on the destruction table: a 6!
Fortunately, Emerald
Wrath is out of range, but pretty much everything else in the Necron army got
caught in the Warp Reactor Breach Explosion.
Apparently, we were laughing so much, my notes show: “Explosion killed
Immortals, Destroyers, etc…”
There must have been something left because Emerald Wrath managed to move over the
deployment zone line next turn, gaining that extra Battle Point and managed to
kill off the rest of the Necrons.
Titans won AGAIN! 2nd
Army Tabled!
- Don’t stand too close to a Titan with only 1 Hull Point left! ;)
- Scarabs eat vehicles for lunch – KILL WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!!!
- Many Necron weapons glance on a 6 – enough of them will ruin your vehicles
(even Super Heavies) day!
Final Battle Record:
2 Wins, 2 Lost!
So What? How did they PLACE??? The Scores Man! The Scores!
Overall, I didn’t do too badly.
For Composition: I was told in advance they would grant me the
average (I was taking an entire Org Chart for all intents and purposes). So the average was 13.??? Alex rounded it up to 14. High score was 17, low was 4. The 4 got special mention during the Awards
Presentation – the player had to work REALLY hard to get that low! (He confessed he didn’t have time to do a
proper force so concentrated on a force he could finish in time.) I didn’t “Earn” my score; it was a case of
the organizers trying to make it fair for the Titans. I’ll need to chat with them about this in the
future.
For Generalship: 2 Wins at Max score and 2 losses with 1 bonus
point amongst the losses got me a decent 53 points. Max score was 67. Low score was 34. I was roughly in the middle of the pack (as
expected with 2 wins).
For Sportsmanship: I got 46 – an over-all good score. Players that fought me seemed to be happy
with my play style and the only real rules issues we had were generic rules –
not Titan or Super-Heavy specific. 55
was the highest score. We won’t mention
low scores…
For Appearance: 20.
THIS is where I got smacked!
These Titans were probably painted over 15 years ago. While it was a decent paint job for the time,
there was nothing special about it. More
importantly, extra points were awarded for Objectives (didn’t know, didn’t have
any), customizations (these are Collector’s Items – I was not willing to chop
them up), Interesting bases (what bases?), Banners (ok, I probably could/should
do banners now – they’ve earned them) and Movement / Display Trays (I had 2
models – I didn’t figure I needed one!).
Hind sight being 20/20, they did post what they were looking for in
advance of the tournament, but again, with 2 models – I wasn’t going to be able
to do much…
In spite of my complaints, I look at what others had done
and I think I got what I deserved. There
were some AMAZING works of Art on the floor this time. Probably enough Green Stuff was used to fill
a car! (Compact one, maybe, but a car,
none the less.) The High Score was 47
and deserved it. Most players were in
the 30’s (mostly High 30’s). And they
deserved it. Needless to say, Appearance
was my Achilles’ heel.
Overall: 119 Points.
The High Score was 158. I was
tied for the 16/17 positions out of 22 players.
There were 13 players with over 130 points at this tournament so I don’t
feel bad at all! If my appearance score
was higher, I could have been in the top ½ of the competition!
So? What do you think? Would you use Titans Again???
I think so. I had fun
using them and most of my opponents seemed to enjoy the challenge and the
change of pace. Having said that, I’m
not “Super Competitive”, I wouldn’t expect to win a tournament with just Super
Heavies. If you’re looking to be a “cheese
player” and an easy Tournament Winner – this is probably not going to be an
army for you.
One of the TO’s actually has an Eldar Phantom Titan – worth
exactly 1500 points. I’ve already
started trying to convince him to bring it for next year – just in case there
are an odd number of players and we need to prevent a “Bye”. Another person has threatened to build a
Reaver (1450 Points – 3 weapons), but he wants to raise the tournament limits
to bring in some “assistance”. The
organizers have stuck to their guns and said next tournament will be 1500
points as well.
Which brings up the point of “Allies”. In theory, Chaos, Guard and Space Marines
could bring in a Warhound as a 750 Point Allied Contingent and spend 750 on “Regular
Forces”. Eldar also have a scout Titan,
though I don’t remember its points value.
To be honest, I was originally pushing for this and hoped to prove that
Titans were not so powerful as to allow it next time. (My Titan would be teamed up with Space
Wolves – wouldn’t that be fun?) However,
I can see where a Titan with the correct escort would be particularly difficult
to deal with. This really requires a lot
more testing to see if it’s viable in a tournament setting – especially at 1500
points!
I suspect if the Tournament Organizers were to allow it,
they would have to really check and tailor their mission objectives carefully
to avoid giving such a combination an overwhelming advantage. Also, keep in mind, we only used 2 types of
Titan Weapons: Vulcan Mega Bolters and Plasma Blast Guns. There are other weapons that can be far more
deadly to Infantry OR Vehicles. The
Plasma Blast Gun is a good all-purpose weapon but a Turbo Laser would just be a
can opener with its Destroyer rules. The
flamer weapon would probably do more against infantry than the Mega Bolter
could. How would these weapons impact a
1500pt game?
As with fliers, it will take some time to determine whether
we, the Gamers, will want to include or disallow these Super Heavy Vehicles
from normal play. If the demand is high
and the rules are well written, then we will probably see more Super Heavies in
the future.
How many Baneblades can I get into a 1500 point army list?
